Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Tea Shop Sale
My next big sale is the first few days of December. A friend of mine has a great tea shop and we have an open house every year with my jewelery and her tea and cakes. Since she is also American and French, we have a lot of fun speaking Franglais, or Frenglish with our bilingual friends and customers who come to the show. These are silver pendants that will go on chains or neck wires,the stones are jelley opals from Madagascar, and a nice green chrysophrase.
Monday, November 1, 2010
METAL INCLINATIONS 2
Now this is really big news!
My Surplus Corn Lei was selected to be part of the international online exhibition
"METAL INCLINATIONS 2"
organized by The Society for Midwest Metalsmiths
check out the exhibition to see some really amazing contemporary jewelery!
http://smm-metalinclinations.org
My Surplus Corn Lei was selected to be part of the international online exhibition
"METAL INCLINATIONS 2"
organized by The Society for Midwest Metalsmiths
check out the exhibition to see some really amazing contemporary jewelery!
http://smm-metalinclinations.org
More travels in the US
After California, we traveled to the midwest, and specifically to Columbus, Ohio, to visit my cousins, who live down the street from the Ohio Craft Museum. Lucky me! The museum was hosting -
"Dichotomies in Objects" Contemporary South African Jewelery from the Stellenbach Area. The work was all of great quality with much diversity in material, technique and concept. My favorite work was by Idane Burger and Ackeem Ngwenya. They both spoke to me of contemporary Africa, but not in too direct a manner. My photos are bad, but if you can always look back to http://www.velvetdavinci.com if you would like to see the entire show.
Gussie van der Merwe
Jacomien Labuschagne
Nanette Nel
"Dichotomies in Objects" Contemporary South African Jewelery from the Stellenbach Area. The work was all of great quality with much diversity in material, technique and concept. My favorite work was by Idane Burger and Ackeem Ngwenya. They both spoke to me of contemporary Africa, but not in too direct a manner. My photos are bad, but if you can always look back to http://www.velvetdavinci.com if you would like to see the entire show.
Gussie van der Merwe
Jacomien Labuschagne
Nanette Nel
Travels in the US
Every 2 years or so we take a long trip to the USA to visit family and freinds and of course jewelery. This year we were on the west coast and I got to visit the VELVET DAVINCI gallery in San Francisco. How exciting. I took my daughter and we stayed for over an hour. They were in between exhibitions, but the permanent collections and showcases were full of amazingly creative, inovative, well crafted jewelery and sculpture. Here are a few photos of work I especially liked, (I should have taken about another million photos) I didn't buy any work, but I did buy the catalogue from "The Pocket Guide to New Zealand Jewelery"
Sebastian Buescher
Joanna Golberg
Anthony Tammaro
Sebastian Buescher
Joanna Golberg
Anthony Tammaro
Contemporary Jewelery is Alive and Well in NZ
Les Arts Bougent
that means "The Arts Are Active", is the first visual arts promotional bi-monthly magazine in New Caledonia. It highlights local artists, art happenings, galeries and exhibitions, etc. As art jewelery is not a hot topic on my tiny island, I decided to write an article for the Sept-Oct issue of this wonderful publication, to share my views on contemporary art jewelery. Here is the article translated into English.
"Contemporary Jewelery is Alive and Well in New Zealand"
So why make contemporary jewelery in NC? So many people ask me that question. Because jewelery is universal. Humanity has forever needed to decorate itself. Jewelery speaks with a language of it's own. Each culture has it's own jewelery language, and contemporary art jewelery looks at and questions, challenges, recalls, teaches, and shares this language through inovation and creation. Another reason is to remind the community that local artists exist and need to be supported and encouraged. The last reason is that I LOVE JEWELERY! All kinds. I love to see what amazing new things jewelers, crafts people, and artists can do with jewelery, and I love to share this passion.
In other parts of the South Pacific, contemporary jewelery is alive and doing really well.
The strong New Zealand contemporary jewelery scene is creating a lot of talk on an international level. While using the language (techniques, materials, and strategies) of contemporary jewelery, these artists are asking questions about the identity of Maori and Pacific art and what it might evolve into in the future; begining with questioning the use of Maori or pacific island forms and materials to express a New Zealand identity.
The recent work moves away from trying to create powerful statements about identity, and begins to think about other aspects of jewelery and its history. Where the idea of identity is touched upon,it is done so less intensely, less directly, and with an aversion to using clichés and stereotypical symbols.
New Zealand contemporary jewelery has been called authentic in it's ability to combine a sense of past and place in a distinctive and skilled way.
The exhibition "A Pocket Guide to New Zealand Jewelery" is touring the United States. To have a look at the pieces in the exhibition, and other interesting work, check out one of the leading American galleries for contemporary jewelery
http://www.velvetdavinci.com/
Or you can go to the Tjibaou Cultural Center and see an incredible piece by Niki Hastings, which was used as one of the objects as starting point for the expo REBOUND, by the artists from SOAPART.
that means "The Arts Are Active", is the first visual arts promotional bi-monthly magazine in New Caledonia. It highlights local artists, art happenings, galeries and exhibitions, etc. As art jewelery is not a hot topic on my tiny island, I decided to write an article for the Sept-Oct issue of this wonderful publication, to share my views on contemporary art jewelery. Here is the article translated into English.
"Contemporary Jewelery is Alive and Well in New Zealand"
So why make contemporary jewelery in NC? So many people ask me that question. Because jewelery is universal. Humanity has forever needed to decorate itself. Jewelery speaks with a language of it's own. Each culture has it's own jewelery language, and contemporary art jewelery looks at and questions, challenges, recalls, teaches, and shares this language through inovation and creation. Another reason is to remind the community that local artists exist and need to be supported and encouraged. The last reason is that I LOVE JEWELERY! All kinds. I love to see what amazing new things jewelers, crafts people, and artists can do with jewelery, and I love to share this passion.
In other parts of the South Pacific, contemporary jewelery is alive and doing really well.
The strong New Zealand contemporary jewelery scene is creating a lot of talk on an international level. While using the language (techniques, materials, and strategies) of contemporary jewelery, these artists are asking questions about the identity of Maori and Pacific art and what it might evolve into in the future; begining with questioning the use of Maori or pacific island forms and materials to express a New Zealand identity.
The recent work moves away from trying to create powerful statements about identity, and begins to think about other aspects of jewelery and its history. Where the idea of identity is touched upon,it is done so less intensely, less directly, and with an aversion to using clichés and stereotypical symbols.
New Zealand contemporary jewelery has been called authentic in it's ability to combine a sense of past and place in a distinctive and skilled way.
The exhibition "A Pocket Guide to New Zealand Jewelery" is touring the United States. To have a look at the pieces in the exhibition, and other interesting work, check out one of the leading American galleries for contemporary jewelery
http://www.velvetdavinci.com/
Or you can go to the Tjibaou Cultural Center and see an incredible piece by Niki Hastings, which was used as one of the objects as starting point for the expo REBOUND, by the artists from SOAPART.
HOMO RELIGIOSUS EST
I've got some catching up to do, so we'll start with July.
The local association Homo-Sphere organized another art exhibition this year to correspond with the international fight against homophobia day. This years title and theme was
The local association Homo-Sphere organized another art exhibition this year to correspond with the international fight against homophobia day. This years title and theme was
HOMO RELIGIOSUS EST
I thought this was a very daring and provocative subject. I was raised as a Catholic, so I thought I would do some reserch into what the Catholic church really thinks about homosexuality. Interestingly, homosexuals are allowed into the church and can participate in the mass, as long as they are not participating in any homosexual physical activity. I thought that was kind of a difficult place for someone to be in. The funny thing is that all Catholics are supposed to be practising chastity. Sexual intercourse for the sole purpose of making new baby Catholics. And how many babies can a woman actually have, 10 or so max. That would be a long life trying not to think about sex. But then basically all religions function in the same way. The Islamic and Judaic doctrines are basically the same. Not sex just for fun, enjoyment, pleasure, destressing...
So my reaction to all of this information was to create a chastity belt. Luckily I'm not religious in any way or else I would definetly have to wear one of these things to keep me on the staight and narrow path.
Anyway, the expo was a success with a lot of student work and work from some of the young people in the homosphere association. Local discussion groups where also organized, to talk about the Christian faith's views on the subject.
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