and a few more reliquaries

spinal notes (2008), 7½” x 7½”, cast paper, silver wire

spinal notes (detail)

waiting... (2009), 4½” x 4½”, cast paper, beeswax, glass

waiting... (detail)

resolve (2009), 4½” x 4½”, cast paper, ptarmigan feathers, shale fragment

resolve (detail)

more reliquaries...

despite harm (2009), 4½” x 4½”, cast paper, washi, silver, tangerine tree thorn, ink

despite harm (detail)


thwarted (2008), 7½” x 7½”, cast paper, beech seed pods, waxed linen cord

thwarted (detail)

seeking tenderness (2008), 4½” x 4½”, cast paper, silver, washi

seeking tenderness (detail)

backtracking 7/8: mint museum of craft + design

We also squeezed in a visit to the Mint Museum of Craft + Design which I thoroughly enjoyed. Here are some of my favourite pieces. I seemed to be in a glass and metal mood. Must have been the influence of the city. The last two photos are jewellery pieces and the very last one is made entirely of hypodermic needles.

hammering in haliburton

My second course at Haliburton School of the Arts was a silversmithing course on the main campus (pictured above) given by the patient and respectful Todd Jeffrey Ellis, who is a great silversmith and a wonderful instructor. In my first paper course we were embracing happy accidents - welcoming them! In this course, precision, planning, and technique was everything. We spent the week hammering (sinking, raising, and planishing) to create one bowl. I worked on a second bowl in the evenings, taking advantage of being able to use the studio after hours.

I was very excited about this course because I love hammering metal. At least I thought I did! I had lots of emotional ups and downs: I am one with the metal; I am born to hammer; the metal hates me; I hate the metal; frustration to the point of tears; wait - the metal is starting to listen to me; I love the metal; I start listening to the metal; nope - it isn't listening to me anymore; or is it me not listening?; more frustration; many technical errors; metal moving well; back in love; and the saga continues... But it was so satisfying. And I love my bowls which fit perfectly into cupped hands.

My copper bowl made in class

My silver bowl made in the studio after hours

This video clip (not my forte so forgive the shaky and slightly-too-fast tracking) gives you an idea of our workspace and the constant hammering. Through my earmuffs, I found this quite comforting. All of us working together, yet apart in our little ear protection bubbles...making stuff!

Stages of my copper bowl...from a flat piece of metal to a lovely round vessel. Click on photo to get a better look.

I was a beginner but there were various levels in our class as seen by these bowls of my classmates. Everyone did a great job!

the wives

When I saw my friend Laurie Boisvert's latest piece, "the wives", I was awestruck. She has created a series of silver lockets to represent each of Henry VIII's wives. I find this work to be very evocative and a good balance between well-conceived and visceral. You won't see these lockets on her website - these photos were taken by one of the galleries that show her work - but you will find many more fascinating pieces on her shiny objects site. She has given her permission for me to share them with you here. Enjoy...

wall art, open frame-mounted sterling silver with pomegranate seeds encased (Catherine of Aragon)

wall art, open frame-mounted sterling silver with hinged links (Anne Boleyn)


wall art, open frame-mounted sterling silver locket with needle point inside/silk thread (Jane Seymour)


wall art, open frame-mounted sterling silver with kuembo interior: 22 karat gold leaf fused onto sterling silver (Anne of Cleves)


wall art, open frame-mounted sterling silver locket and rose bush clipping (Catherine Howard)


wall art, open frame-mounted sterling silver and paper (Catherine Parr)

recycled art

I had to cancel a workshop planned for today due to low registration. Everyone is busy in the summer! It's a shame because it's a really fun day! The workshop involves watching a presentation on assemblage (to situate its place in art history and for inspiration) and then receiving a package with $3, a map of local garage sales, and some scavenging guidelines. We go out to garage sales and find our treasures (within our $3 budget) and then come back to the studio to create assemblages. I did a trial run with my friend Carole a few months ago and here is what I purchased: a collapsible vegetable steamer and a string of IKEA lights with colourful candy-like disks. The items cost me $2.50 and I made two pieces with them! I took the steamer apart and used the base for my piece above, my favourite of the two pieces I made. I used an X-acto knife to strip away the plastic and expose the fine wires from the string of lights (a very tedious and tricky business) and attached them to form a nest-like structure (surprise, surprise). Eventually, when I have some extra time, I will add more of these wires to plump up my nest, but in the meantime it just sits on my work table catching the light and making me smile. Below is another piece I made using the the other components of the vegetable steamer and one of the colourful disks and a wire piece from the string of lights. It's mounted on a scrap piece of wood painted black. I'll keep them around as examples of what you can do with a few garage sale buys!

multiples

Jo's last post got me thinking about repetition in nature and multiples in general. This is a metal piece I found laying on the road many years ago while I was attending art school. For some reason it interested me and I asked a friend to make multiples of it in the jewellery studio. I wasn't sure what I would do with these pieces and eventually I created a kind of bouquet from the 13 new pieces that had been made. For the past 12 years they have been displayed individually, each "flower" with its group of "stems" side by side, stapled onto my wall. A strange decoration indeed, but pleasing to me. But now I have taken them down and brought them together to be photographed in a bouquet. I like the bunchiness of them.

prickly pendant

I will be attending a vernissage this evening at Mouche Studio Gallery. The last Friday of the month they have an open house so people can come, meet the artisans who show in the gallery, and partake of wine and nibbles. I show my work at the gallery so I will be there, although probably hovering in a corner somewhere, being the introvert that I am. My art is a bit like a security blanket. If I stick close to it, I can always talk about it and avoid those stressful "small talk" situations. I think I will wear my prickly pendant. It's an ice breaker for sure. Or is it a warning to stay back? I made it in a silversmithing class I took a while ago. Not sure if I could make another one now...

As I was posting this I was struck by the similarities between my pendant and the photo I've recently chosen for my desktop. It's a dandelion that I photographed while I was in Poland in May (Wałcz to be exact). It's beautiful.

remnant reliquaries

Last night I was adding some photographs of my latest pieces to my website, and while I was dragging them around the page they happened to end up in a clump resembling a grid pattern. It occurred to me that they looked very cool like this, so I am posting them all here in grids. I love them all together!