Philadelphia Art Vacation!

I've high tailed it off to vacation in the great state of Pennsylvania until the end of the month.  Unfortunately, my productivity has taken a total nosedive because of it.  On the other hand, there are a lot of good things going on here, so I'm pretty excited.  I expect by the time I get back to my studio, I'll be completely ready to explode into creating lots of things.

As for things I'm already excited about, I'd definitely count the fabulous new necklace that my boyfriend bought me as an anniversary present.  (Best ever?  I think so!)  It's a Margaux Lange necklace with a sweet little mouth and moonstone drops.  Let it never be said that I don't spread handmade love wherever I go.  I've been wearing it around everywhere since I got it, and it's a pretty sweet little piece. 

The next thing I'm excited about is the giant stash of embroidery floss I've acquired by way of Craigslist.  I started using some of the silk floss from Treenway on the inside of one of my felted bracelets (and the outside as well, but the seed beads make too rough of a surface to put on the inside so it's primarily embroidery floss on the inside.)  And I've been absolutely loving it, except that if you know anything about silk, and hand dyed variegated colors, you know that if you want a good selection of colors to pick from, your price jumps drastically.  I haven't got a local needlepoint shop, and it's really a problem when I need embroidery floss in a hurry.  So I did what any frugal, city-wise member of my generation does: hopped on Craigslist and posted a plea for something cheaper than four or five dollars a skein.  And Philadelphia came through for me.  I've now got a hefty stash of 160 skeins of cotton embroidery floss in an excellent range of colors.  I'll still be searching out a skein or two of silk floss to finish the bracelet I've already started, but the next few will be done in cotton.  (It's got a little less of a shine to it, so we'll see how that works out.  But I think it's going to come out nicely.)

Speaking of cotton embroidery floss, I was surfing the internet and stumbled across this gem.

 

It's by Claire Taylor, and it's called New Natural Occurrence.  And I love, love, love it.  I spotted it on the Society for Contemporary Craft website, and freaked out.  Because this is something like what I want to be making.   (Also, I really need to learn some embroidery stitches, and soon.)  It completely addresses the issues of man vs. nature, and the strange cross pollination of the two.  But I'm not completely terrified by it, because it's addressing our debris, while I want to talk about us, humans ourselves, down to our very bodies.

And I nearly forgot!  In addition to being in the lovely city of Philadelphia for my anniversary, and my boyfriend's birthday, I'm also here for some wonderful things that are happening at my alma mater!

You see, the Preview Party for the Art Unleashed Exhibition and Sale is this Thursday evening, the 22nd of April, and the Public Sale is Friday and Saturday.  Mallory did a great write up on it over on her blog so you should pop over there and read about it.  I've got three pieces on display (and for sale!) and I will be at the Preview Party, looking fancy and talking to people.  (Probably wearing my fancy new necklace as well!)

Not only is the Art Unleashed thing going on this week, but next week is the UArts senior crafts show!  It's at the same place as the Art Unleashed Exhibition, but the public opening is on Friday, April 30 from 5 - 7 pm.  I have no doubt that the work is going to be absolutely awesome, and I'll be there as well, slightly less fancy like.  If you're a Philadelphia native, or in the area, you should certainly check out both shows.

The Results of Being Snowed In

So I've spent the weekend snowed/iced in, and haven't made it into the studio. Unfortunately, that means I haven't got new pictures of my work to post.  Mostly I've been doing some sketches so that I can finally finish my poor lionfish, and wandering around the internet.  And here's what I've found:

This is a belt buckle by an artist named Billie Lim, and I'm just so incredibly blown away by it.  I love the combination of the chameleons and the geometric forms, which is actually a design by Escher called "Stars" Absolutely amazing.  And her skill at chasing & repousse?  I am floored.  It makes me want to push myself.  She got an exceptional appearance of depth here, which I can only image is horrible difficult, considering the tricks Escher plays with depth.

 

This is Margaux Lange, who makes a whole series of jewelry out of Barbies.  Every time I look at these, I like them more.  They've got this whole commentary going about Barbie, and physical ideals, and childhood.  And she's also a fairly big name in the art jewelry community who sells stuff on Etsy.  I'm always excited when I find artists on Etsy I've heard of, because most larger name artists only sell through their own websites or galleries who represent them.

I've also spent some time thinking about the nature of art, and the work I've been producing lately, but that's a subject for another blog post.