Artist's Work That Has Influenced My Own

Etsy Metal Blog Carnival - July 11, 2011


The first thought that comes to my mind is Andy Warhol. What I love most about him is the idea that you should be who you are. And... I love 'pop art.' I love movies-particularly B-movies, and TV, and comic books.

Photo Booth Ring

Photo Booth Strip

Photo Booth Box

Pendant of My Mother

 I was inspired by his work to use photo booth pictures and shinky dinks to create narrative jewelry about myself and my family. 

I was a teenager and in my early 20's when things started getting crazy. Pop art, conceptual art..., what is art? It wasn't just visual art that influenced me, but at that time music was very influential and was just turning from 60's, early 70's anti-war, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Joni Mitchell to Patti Smith, the Ramones, Elvis Costello. Very edgy, rebellious, questioning everything, I guess you could say maybe a little paranoid! 

Heavy Metal Ring

How I feel that this has affected my more current work is that it is rebelling against high end, finely made work. Not that there is anything wrong with that! It just never fit who I was. My style is the opposite of that with fat welded seams and metal where there should be a stone. I like to think of it as working (wo)man's jewelry, meant to be worn every day.


Please check out where other artistic influences lie by going to these other Etsy Metal sites!!

1. Theresa - http://tkmetalarts.blogspot.com 
2. Kate Jones - http://www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com 
3. Fluxplay Jewellery (Maria Whetman) - http://www.fluxplay.blogspot.com 
4. 2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com 
5. Elizabeth Scott - http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog 
6.Andrea Ring- http://www.amuckdesign.blogspot.com 
7. Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/ 
8. Beth Cyr http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com 
9. Inbar Bareket http://www.inbarbareket.net 
10. Cynthia Del Giudice: http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com 
11. Evelyn Markasky: http://markasky.blogspot.com/ 
12. AdobeSol - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog 
13. Quercus Silver http://quercussilver.blogspot.com/

No Photos Today

So I got a new camera, Canon Rebel T3i, the latest edition of that series -- cool -- one might think... but after 2 days of trying to figure out why I couldn't open raw format pictures, I found out that my operating system on my mac is too old to use the software that came with the camera that would open the raw files.

Aughhh. Why is everything so difficult!!?!

So my option is to spend another hundred for the upgrade and another 150 to have it installed -- unless, of course I feel comfortable doing the upgrade myself... which of course they made me not feel comfortable doing myself...

...or after talking with Canon support, I found out that the Canon T2i will work on my operating system!! So, I opted for taking my camera back and exchanging it for the T2i, which is almost identical to the T3i, except that it's not the latest edition and will work with my operating system. The view finder doesn't rotate out... I can live with that... and I think the recording features are better... that's ok too! It's also $100 cheaper. So I made the switch today... although the T2i wasn't in stock so they had to order it. It will be in on the 15th.

"Etsy Metal Studio Tour"

"Etsy Metal Studio Tour" Blog Carnival June 6, 2011
This month's blog carnival is a tour through Etsy Metal members' studio. Find a link at the bottom to see studios of other members.


My studio is a mess right now, and I just didn't have it in me to clean it up for these photos! It's on the list, but, right now, now very high up.

This first shot is a picture of a bucket of mini forming hammers and a chasing hammer. To the left is a small anvil on a block of wood where I do a lot of pounding. To the right, is a big vise with a sinusoidal stake sticking out of it. On top of the vise is the remote control to my little portable TV, where often I am accompanied by sit coms like 'My Name is Earl,' 'Friends,' South Park',... or if it's a Saturday afternoon, some very low budget horror movie.

This next shot is my laboratory of enameling. I got 3 sets of spice racks from Costco and put my enamels in them. It makes me feel like a scientist. I have 2 annealing pans. The one on the left is for annealing and soldering and the one on the right has a tripod set in it that I use for enameling. I line my pliers up on the drawer. The bottom right is my Smith mini torch.

 This is where I do most of my forming, chasing, stamping, dapping. There is a small pitch bowl with red pitch to the left, letter stamps and dapping tools behind it. On the shelf are files and chasing tools. To the right a small vise and lots of miscellaneous pieces that I'm working on.

 To the left of this shot is some little Bonny Doon press I found at the used tool store. I haven't used it yet, but is was kinda cool, so I had to buy it. Behind is a Cavallin rolling mill that I use for fold forming and texturing. And behind that from right to left is my polisher, drill press, combo grinder/belt sander (hidden behind the mill) and a drum sander that my husband got me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I haven't figured out what I can use it for yet, so I just set things on it for now.

Another bucket of hammer and some small drawers filled with copper pieces.






After writing this and looking at these pictures, I am inspired to clean up. If I could change anything... it would be me trying to stay more organized. When it gets like this it's hard to stay focused.






 Click the links to see how other people work!!
1. Rebecca Bogan - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog
2. Shirlee Grund - http://lichenandlychee.com/blog/
3. Beth Cyr http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com
4. Elizabeth Scott http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog
5. Cynthia Del Giudice http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
6. Michele Grady http://www.michelegradydesigns.blogspot.com
7. Erin Austin - http://metalmusing.blogspot.com/
8. Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/
9. Evelyn Markasky -- http://markasky.blogspot.com/
10. Kathryn Cole - http://www.kathryncolejewelry.blogspot.com
11. 2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
12. Lauren Anabela Beaudoin/Creative Dexterity - http://creativedexterity.com/Blog/main.html 

Portfolio

I'm finding that right now, I'm not so much needing inspiration or making new things (although that really is ongoing) but more so that I need some sort of organization. 
 Last year, I had gone to a workshop on how to sell your art with Jason Horejs, the owner  of Xanadu gallery, in Scottsdale, AZ.
One of the many, many things that he talked about was portfolios. And you know, I know what a portfolio is, but you know, I don't have one. And I started thinking... why don't I have one?!
 So I am spending some time going through my pictures and creating a portfolio. I'm just doing a few a day and I'm also hoping that it will organize what I have in my mind. I can see what I make and finally start creating some of those collections!!
I have done several workshops with Jason. The 'selling your art' one was in person, here in CA and it was fantastic. He is very professional and every minute of those 3 hours was packed full of very useful info. He also, regularly, does free or very low cost webinars and if you happen to miss them, he has them on his website so you can listen to them whenever you want.  His book 'Starving to Successful' is basically his 'How to sell your art' workshop. Very easy to read and lots of useful info.
Here's a link to his website and specifically to his free broadcasts. Xanadu Gallery


TADA #135/365 5/17/11, a photo by markasky on Flickr.

Sketch Books

Etsy Metal Blog Carnival

I love to sketch, I probably have 10-15 sketchbooks of every size. 

For me it is a way of thinking out loud.

Sketch books have 3 directions for me to go in.

One is I like to draw and that becomes the experience in itself. It's also I way I can think. I will, lots of times, use stream of consciousness writing trying to figure out where I'm at with my work or in my life... I've always liked letters and the lettering, lots of the time, will be part of the page.

             

Another direction for me is that I sketch to get ideas to work in metal. That is the hardest for me because my brain has a hard time going from 2D to 3D. My 2D sketches usually don't look very good in 3D. Sketches help if I'm trying to figure out something technical. In metal, I work better if I can hold it in my hand and see what it can do. I'm not good at visualizing with my eyes. When I was a little girl, my mother used to make most of my clothes and we would go to the fabric store to look for patterns and fabric. I always had a hard time because I couldn't visualize how the pattern would look made out of a certain fabric until it was actually made. Fortunately, my mother could. I think I work more kinesthetically. I like to hold it in my hand and feel what needs to happen, to sense the balance in a piece.





The 3rd direction is when I've made something in metal and I want to remember how I do it, so I will sketch the piece in different stages of being made and write notes about the process.

To see how other Etsymetal members use the sketchbook check out the following blogs:

1. Rebecca Bogan - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog 
2. Shirlee Grund - http://lichenandlychee.com/blog/ 
3. 2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com 
4. Beth Cyr - http://www.bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com 
5.kate jones http://www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com 
6. Erin Austin http://metalmusing.blogspot.com/ 
7. Nodeform http://nodeform.blogspot.com/ 
8. Michele Grady http://www.michelegradydesigns.blogspot.com 
9. Elizabeth Scott http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog 
10. Su Trindle http://quercussilver.blogspot.com/ 
11. Evelyn Markasky http://markasky.blogspot.com/ 
12. ArtigianoJewelBox: http://www.artigianojewelbox.com/category/blog

Ring A Day Exhibit in Seattle at the SNAG Conference

 PUNCH Gallery

Located in the Pioneer Square area of downtown Seattle in the Tashiro-Kaplan Building.

Photo by Shannon Conrad http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubygirlcreations/

Opening Reception: 5 - 8pm
First Thursday, May 5, 2011
119 Prefontaine Place South

Seattle, Washington 98104

206.621.1945  General information and appointments

art@punchgallery.org

Hours: Noon-5pm Thursday-Saturday, or by appointment.

As a tie-in to the annual SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths) conference, PUNCH presents this totally RAD (Ring a Day) exhibition showcasing 365 rings, accompanied by select photographs to illustrate the diverse, creative and inspiring rings artists have made from Day 1 to Day 365. Colleen Baran, Kathryn Cole, Shannon Conrad, Nina Gibson and Sara Westermark juried RAD from over 16,000 rings submitted to the Ring a Day group on flickr. The exhibition features 65 international artists with work ranging from ephemeral and conceptual art rings to functional jewelry in both alternative and classic materials.
This project was an open challenge to metalsmiths and other artists across the globe to make one ring a day out of any material for the entire year of 2010. Over the course of the year artists continually added rings, new artists joined the group, ideas morphed into new ideas, artists played off the ideas of other artists, and materials were used in new and unexpected ways. On a daily basis, rings were created, photographed, and posted to the Ring a Day Flickr group. The majority of the artists represented discovered the project through social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, blogs and word of mouth. This project reflects a population of metalsmiths and jewelry makers who are facile with current online technology.

Ring a Day is part of the Society of North American Goldsmith's yearly conference; an event that brings together 800+ visitors from around the world for exhibitions, artist's talks, trunk shows and more. SNAG is an international educational non-profit organization that supports and advances the professional practice of artists, designers, jewelers and metalsmiths.

Ring a Day would like to thank Artist Trust, Crafthaus, EtsyMetal, Etsy and SNAG for their sponsorship.

Slump

Available on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/markasky?ref=seller_info 

I don't know what happened, maybe staying up all night to watch the Royal Wedding did me in, cuz I haven't posted any new pictures since then.
I also haven't been sure what I want to do right now, so I tend to avoid doing anything. I did watch an 'I Love Lucy' marathon last Sunday.

Slumps are dangerous because it almost becomes a challenge to stay in it. You start to get an attitude. 'Yea, well I'm not going to do anything today... ha, so there,' except I'm not really saying that to any real person, just the air around me and I'm pretty sure the air doesn't care!

Fortunately, my friend had a birthday this week and I made her a couple of things. Yes, I went into the studio... it was scary at first, but after a couple of minutes, it was good!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markasky/