My word for making art today is “Resolve” .
Making art is a deliberate choice. You are deciding to make art.
In music ‘resolve’ is a progression from dissonance to consonance. In other words, you are gathering the fractured parts of your life and putting them together in a harmonious way.
Re-solve: something is not working, you want to find a new solution.
(from Making Room for Making Art)
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A reliquary is a container for something sacred. We are making objects that elevate and achieve the mandate. , a container that holds a body (coffin). How about this Canadian artist’s version of a coffin?
Tomorrow, I will be giving students a history of “Love Jewerly’ for Valentine’s Day. It sounds a bit cheesy but jewelry was once very meaningful to people. I believe it still is and can be. I hope to someday podcast the lectures but in the meantime, I will update the blog with the highlights from the students – responses from the sketchbook.
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I took students to the Field Museum to view the ‘Dazziling Diamonds’ show. It was strange to me because it seemed as if the exhibition was fashioned after the how the Granger Hall of Gems used to be. I am getting ahead of myself. There are two new exhibitions at the Field. The Diamond show is temporary and the Granger Hall of Gems is Permanent. The diamond show was dark, felt temporary, and was difficult to see information. They had pieces of material laid over mistyped in the print. There were some lovely examples of how light travels through a brilliant cut diamond but an illustration does just as well. A nicer example of the phosphorescence of some diamonds. Lots of technical panels on the physical properties of diamonds. Then you get to see the jewelry. I know this is an extremely expensive show to insure, it must be. I would have prefered that the jewelry be singled out more. It reminded me of the old hall of Gems; dark, somewhat dull and stressing the mining/industrial/physical over the artistic and human aspects of diamonds. They only had one panel on the famous who wear diamonds. I appreciated that this wasn’t the focus of the show but I know that’s part of the guilty pleasure of loving sparkle. The contemporary, designer pieces on display were strong. I am returning to the show on Thursday and have hired a docent for the class so I will learn more then. First impressions were not strong. I don’t know if I would have been impressed without already knowing so much about diamonds.
We then went upstairs to see the remodeled Granger Hall of Gems. I am very familiar with these stones having seen them on each visit to the Field that I have made over the years. The light airy and large feel was much more comfortable. The pieces are better organized and grouped with extra information running along the top. The diamond brooch in the Granger Hall sparkles like diamonds on display are supposed to. To me, the Granger was better than the Diamond Show.
What did you think of this of the show? Would you go to see it again?
Becca has been playing with forks again!
This time, she put a fork through the rollermill. She has a good sense of form and created this neckpiece by manipulating the flattened fork.
Besides being unusually expensive right now (somewhere around $18.75 per ounce – I’ve stopped looking as I find it too depressing). I thought it might be interesting to know where Sterling Silver comes from.
Fine Silver is 999.99 parts silver (the element Ag)
Sterling silver is one of the most useful metals. In the Middle Ages silver coin was minted by German Merchants trading with England. the merchants came from a family called ‘Esterlings’. Their coin was 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. The copper alloyed into the silver makes the silver harder. The word ‘Sterling’ came to mean honesty and integrity owing to the standard character of the coins that they produced. Around 1300, Edward I of England decreed a standard for alloyed silver of the Sterling variety and required that ‘Sterling Silver’ be stamped with a leopard’s head. In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the National Stamping law. Sterling is stamped “sterling” or “925″. Silver coins are usually 900 parts silver.
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Suzanne and Denise working hard
“Find your joy in something finiished, not a thousand things begun”
- Douglas Mallock, poet
Words that are especially important at this time of the year. It’s taken me years to overcome the half-finished project in metal. The due date set by a client or a particular show that I want to enter does wonders. Unfortunately, sometimes the more interesting work can sit on that backburner. When I come to a problem in the work that I am unsure how to solve, that’s when it feels like starting a new piece will make me feel better. I do work several pieces at once and have a few in drawers waiting to be resolved. Eventually, I take out the problem piece and ask myself ’what’s the worst that can happen?’ In some ways, it seems like asking for trouble, but for me, that statement gets me through the fear and moving forward. The old Walt Disney line of ‘Keep moving forward’ is another helpful mantra. Whatever it takes to get you moving again. It’s much worse to have an unfinished project than to fail. When you fail, you’ve learned and now you have permission to recycle the metal! Would you agree?
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Kathy and WIllard R Smith III in August of 2009
History of the Jewelry Program at COD
Willard started the Jewelry program at the college in 1969. It was placed in my stewardship upon his retirement in 1994. He is looking fabulous at age 82. We are all so grateful to him in the Jewelry studio because of his work to keep the program active through countless relocations throughout the campus – including many buildings that no longer exist. The jewelry program owes everything to Willard!
EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES
The Kinsey Institute 2010 Juried Art Show
Category: Exhibition Opportunities [View all]
Posted by: The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction
Deadline: 02/01/10
Call for Artists:
The Kinsey Institute 2010 Juried Art Show is now accepting submissions from all artists 18 years and older creating work relating to human sexual behavior, gender and/or reproduction. We welcome a broad range of submissions exploring subjects including: sex, gender, sexuality, eroticism, reproduction, romantic relationships, the politics of sex and gender, human figure, sexuality and illness. The exhibit will explore the positive and negative ways these topics affect individuals, couples and/or society.
Entries must be original works from medias including: painting, drawing, video art, installations, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, fibers, computer based art, or mixed media. All selected works will be exhibited at the Indiana University SoFA Gallery, May 28-July 30, 2010, and @ http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/services/gallery/jeas/.
Enter @ https://www.indiana.edu/~kipics/jas2010/.
Additional questions @ kiart@indiana.edu.
Posted on 11/23/09
EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES
The 25th Annual Tallahassee International
Category: Exhibition Opportunities [View all]
Posted by: FSU Museum of Fine Arts
Deadline: 02/14/10
The Tallahassee International is a juried competition open to artists 18+ worldwide, with all media eligible for consideration. A color catalog is produced, there is a first prize of $1000, a second prize of $500 and return shipping is provided in most cases. Entry Fee: $20 for 2 works. Digital images in jpeg format are preferred but slides will be accepted. Only one entry per person. Juried by a panel of FSU College of Visual Arts faculty. The exhibition is currently scheduled for August 23-September 26, 2010. Deadline to enter: February 14, 2010. For a complete prospectus and printable entry form, please visit our website: www.mofa.fsu.edu/pages/participate/tallahasseeinternational.shtml
Posted on 11/19/09
EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES
Embracing Our Differences
Category: Exhibition Opportunities [View all]
Posted by: Ringling College Art & Design
Deadline: 01/09/10
Embracing Our Differences invites artists, photographers, professionals, amateurs, teachers and students to participate in its 7th annual visual art exhibit celebrating diversity. 45 artists will be selected for the exhibit. The Embracing Our Differences exhibit will be displayed throughout the month of April 2010 at Island Park. Since 2004, the exhibit has been viewed by more than 700,000 visitors. The exhibit will contain 39 billboard-sized (16 feet wide by 12 1/2 feet high) images of the selected artworks. An additional six “honorable mention” selections will be made.
A total of $3,000.00 in awards will be presented.
Deadline for submission is January 9, 2010. There is no submission fee nor limit on the number of entries.
Submission forms and more information concerning past winning submissions are available at www.EmbracingOurDifferences.org or by emailing MichaelJShelton@comcast.net.
EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES
CuDC – Flashpoint Gallery Request for Proposals
Category: Exhibition Opportunities [View all]
Posted by: Cultural Development Corporation
Deadline: 12/17/09
Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) is requesting proposals for Flashpoint Gallery’s September 2010 – August 2011 season. Open to all artists, independent curators and arts organizations presenting contemporary work in any medium. The Request for Proposals may be found online (flashpointdc.org). All proposals must be received no later than 5 pm on Thursday, December 17, 2009. Flashpoint Gallery presents cutting-edge contemporary art and provides a springboard for talented artists and curators to enhance their careers. The gallery seeks to inspire creativity and encourage the creation of new work by emerging and under-represented artists and curators. CuDC is seeking inventive, original proposals in any media.
This year, for the first time, CuDC is partnering with The Community Foundation of the National Capital Region to make grants to artists participating in the Flashpoint Gallery Program. The Creative Communities Fund (CCF) will provide grants of up to $2500 to artists.
Posted on 11/06/09
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The word Nice comes from the Middle English for ‘foolish’, the Old French for ‘stupid’ and the Latin n
escius meaning ignorant, not knowing. Think of this the next time you do something because you are compelled to be ‘nice’.
