Field Trip - Cleveland Museum of Art

I've been wanting to visit the art museum for a while.  They opened the new atrium a while ago and it has restored the flow of traffic through the museum.  It's gorgeous.  They also have a new gift store which has a fantastic selection of art books and gifts.

We went down to see the Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andies exhibit.  It focuses on the art of this civilization that existed in Peru between 600 and 1000. It's a great exhibit and fills 4 rooms.  The pictures are from the CMA website.

This urn is about 3 feet tall.  It's huge.  This piece was found in fragments and was reconstructed.

The tapestries and weavings were amazing.  Most of the pieces had ~250 threads per inch.

Silver warrior plaque

 Inlaid shell,wood, stone and silver.  This guy was little...about 5" tall.

  This is a handbag with real human hair.  It had coca leaves inside....it's an ancient coke bag.

I have to make the time to get down there more often.  It really is a great museum.

Books on my Wish List

I'm always scouring the internet for sources of inspiration and books are one of my most favorite things. 

Here are some books that I have on my wish list for this year.  Just a little light reading and a little drool...LOL

Gold Jewellery of the Indonesian Archipelago

 

 

 Ethnic Jewellery from Indonesia: Continuity and Evolution

 Motifs d'Oceanie (French Edition)

 

Gold, Silver & Brass: Jewelry of the Batak in Sumatra, Indonesia

All Done...

My shows are done for the year.  LOL...I only had two but both were in the last two months.  This last show was at the Screw Factory in Cleveland.  I love this show.  It's the whole warehouse setting and the transformation from factory to shopping bazarre in a couple hours. 

I have a differnt set-up here.  I only use three tables and put them in a "V".  It's an easier layout to manage.

Part of the ambiance of the show is the factory setting. The estimate was that ~4000 people came to the show. 

 

Now like Santa I'm ready for a long winter's nap.  Actually it feels like I'm coming down with something so I really am ready for that nap...zzzzzzz.

.

Pretty Lights.....

 

 

This year there seems to be more Christmas lights up around the neighborhood.  Of course we haven't put any up.....who has the time.  It's the end of the year and I find myself wondering once again....where did it go.  I looked under the couch...its wasn't there.  It's just gone....another year. 

 

Enjoy the lights!!

.

Last Minute Market

Come see me at the Last Minute Market on Saturday, December 15th!!!

A Hurricane in Cleveland???

Normally when the east coast gets hit by a hurricane...we might get some rain and a little wind.  Well...Sandy was so large that it hit in Cleveland at the same time it hit the east coast.  And although we didn't have to live through a storm surge from the ocean...we did have 90 mile/hour sustained winds....all night.  Cleveland is called The Forest City...for a reason.  We have trees....everywhere.  Well...now we have a few less.  This is a common site all over the city and the suburbs.

 

We were lucky in that we had some flooding in the garage...it's half underground...and a small leak in the roof.  The biggest thing that we have to endure is no power.  It went out about 8pm Monday night and the estimate is that we won't have it back until Monday night.  We aren't on an important grid.  If you are on a grid with a hospital, police, or fire you pretty much got power back right away.  Next in line are grids that have government buildings.  We are just on a grid with houses...so we have a low priority.  We do have hot water so we can shower.  We also have a gas stove so I can cook.....hahaha....yeah right.  What I have mostly been doing is boiling water on the stove top to add heat to the house.  When I left this morning it was 50 degrees.  It suppose to be sunny over the weekend so I hope that helps heat the house up a bit.

What has been hard to do is live in the dark.  I don't know what is going on in the world which... on the upside I don't have to listen to political ads or phone calls.  But sitting in the dark is making me nuts.  As you can imagine...all the lanterns, generators, kerosene heaters that can be had....are all sold out.  We did manage to snag a couple small Riyobi lanterns last night at a Home Depot about 30 miles west of us.  So at least we have a small amount of light.  And last night we watched TV on my iPad.  We were watching Revolution.  The show starts with..."We lived in an electric world.  We relied on it for everything...and then the power went out.  We weren't prepared".  We both started cracking up.  But we bundled up under blankets and our 2 cats and watched TV. 

I have a show next weekend and this week is usually late nights as I make my final pieces....well...I'm just going to have to live with what I have for the show.  I will get some work in over the weekend since I will be home in the day light. 

One last pictures...Lake Erie waves crashing up over the shoreway.

.

Today's Lessons

I'm still prepping for the By Hand show.  Took yesterday off to get some work done.  I spent the day making some bits and pieces of bronze metal clay.  When the kiln hit 700 I opened the door.  I let it sit for about 15 minutes but then got impatient.  So I decided to sift the carbon to find my pieces.  Lesson number 1....don't sift hot carbon through a KitchenAid plastic pasta scoop.

Damn...I loved that scoop.  It's just the right size to sift the carbon out fast and leave even the smallest pieces behind.  Luckily I can get a replacement through Amazon.

The next problem came along when I decided to tumble the bronze.  At the same time I was putting a patina on some brass washers.  Instead of pouring in a capful of Supersheen, I poured in a capful of brown/black patina solution from Rio.  I only tumble for about 10 minutes to knock the the color down.  I opened up the tumbler expecting all the suds...what I had was black....all the bronze had turned black.  At first I was baffled..then I realized what I did.  I flushed it out and replaced it with Supersheen. After another 10 minutes of tumbling, the pieces came out beautiful.  Lesson 2...pay attention to what you are doing... actually turned into a happy accident....so maybe the lesson is to be open to the unexpected!!

.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Getting ready for the show.  As I put together pieces I realize I need more of one thing or another so I've been hopping back and forth between the production bench and the metal clay bench.  I made a bunch of spacers and little pendants....and some big pendants.  I ran a couple of batches in the kiln and got two different sets of colors.  This never ceases to amuse me when I open up the kiln.

I've got all my little pieces parts sorted out.  One of the labs at work were throwing out these little tiny petri dishes so I brought them home.

And put together these pendants... pretty pendants all in a row...this is a pendant I learned form Mary Hettsmansperger. 

With fabulous beads by Angi Graham.

So I'm in the studio all weekend long.  I have four weeks to finish up my inventory, card the earrings, price everything and make sure I have everything I need for a three day show.  So I'm going to be.....busy, busy, busy.
.

By Hand Show...

Hi All....I will be exhibiting at the By Hand Fine Art and Craft Fair in November!!!!

 

.

Gallery Show Pics

I have pieces in a show at the South Wing Gallery in Cleveland Heights.  The opening reception was on the 14th.  I took a couple pictures of the displays. The did a nice job of displaying all the artists work. 

All the artists were introduced and we were asked to speak about their work.  I stumbled my way through a few minutes of how I make the pieces and what inspires me.  I gave the camera to Lou and asked him to take a few pictures while I was speaking....this is what I got....

Ansel Adams has nothing on Lou.........LOL.
.

Anatomy of a Design

Years back I took a bead stringing class in Santa Fe from Marla Gassner.  I remember she described a design technique she used called "puddling".  In creating a new design she would put together puddles of beads so she could decide which combinations worked best. 

When I create my jewelry, my bench usually ends up with multiple puddles on it.  When they all converge into one large puddle I know it's time to clean the bench. 

Recently I put together a necklace around a large lentil for my gallery show.  Here are some pictures of the puddles I made.

I put beads in and take them out until I have something I like.  Here is the finished necklace.

 

 

 

The cats were hard at work being puddles of fur...........

 

 

 

.