I have a big show opening next week!  The show is titled eleMEnTAL and features the work of Tedd McDonah, Becky McDonah, and myself.
I hope to see you all at the reception next Friday, but if you can't make it, the show will be up through August 12th!  Details below!

eleMEnTAL

Featuring Arizona Artists Becky Chader McDonah, Tedd R. McDonah, & Lynette Andreasen

When:

Friday, May 25 - Sunday, August 12, 2012

Where: 

North Gallery: Mesa Art Center, (480) 644.6500

One East Main Street

Mesa, Arizona 85201

This exhibition brings together three Arizona metalsmiths, whose aesthetics complement each other but retain their individual forms of expression. With precious and semiprecious metals and stones, these artists create reliquaries and containers, fishing lures, jewelry and other intimate art objects that beacon closer examination. Beyond the elegant surfaces, the work provides a deeper conversation on relationships, attraction, heritage, status and other implications of society.

Opening Reception: Friday, May 25, 2012 (7-10pm)

FREE and Open to the Public
• Musical Entertainment by JT’s Island Steel
• Artists in Attendance
• Benefit Raffle Drawing (Raffle items on display and tickets available for purchase starting Friday, May 18. Contact Betty at 480-644-6567 for more information or visit Mesa Contemporary Arts’ front desk.)
• Light Refreshments and Cash Bar

Rosette Collar

This is one of the new pieces I just finished for my upcoming show at mesa art center.  

Rosette Collar

silver plated copper, sterling silver, fine silver, freshwater pearls, antique chandelier crystals

I outlined most of the process of making this piece below-with pictures!

 I had the parts waterjet cut from copper sheet metal.  To give you a sense of scale, the copper piece below is 36"x36".  The parts for this necklace are towards the bottom-they look like flowers but have little tabs sticking out all around the petals.  I had several other pieces cut for other projects as well.  Normally I do all my piercing by hand, but I ran out of time and had things I wanted to get done for the show and this saved a TON of time. 

 These are the parts once cut.  The waterjet cutting also makes finishing super easy because they are cut perfect-no need for filing, just a little bit of sanding!

As you can see, the longer tabs on these are bent around the back and soldered, to form links for the jumprings to join each piece. 

 

 Here they are all set up for soldering.

This is after they have been soldered, connected with jumprings, and the jumprings soldered closed.

After that I took it to a silverplating company and had a really thick plating put on the whole chain.

This is after the patina was put on, and the crystals were set.  I just used a wood dowel and a bezel pusher to push the prongs over the edge of the crystal and into place.

 

And this is the finished piece.  I forgot to take pictures while I was adding the pearls.  They are just attached with a fine silver pin, balled on both sides of the crystal.

I really want to keep this one!

ASU Metals Alumni Exhibition

Tonight is the opening reception for the ASU Metals Alumni Exhibition.  I have a piece in the show as do many of my friends.  Please make sure to attend the show to see some great metalwork out of the program at ASU!  Also, this show is part of a number of metals exhibitions being held in conjunction with the SNAG conference later this month (you know, that one I've been helping plan for over 2 years now:)  Lets just say I'm excited about everything happening in May but I can't wait for June!!!  See details about the show below!

ASU Metals Alumni Exhibition

NIGHT GALLERY

May 4 - 27, 2012, Tues.-Sun. 6- 9 p.m.

School of Art
Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

Campus: Off-campus           
Opening reception: Friday, May 4, 2012, 6-9p.m.
Cost: Free and open to the public, donations welcome

ASU Alumni artists include recent and not-so recent graduate students and undergraduates in a program that has produced talented, award winning metalsmiths and jewelers.  From one of the best Metals programs in the country, this exhibit showcases the many talents and detailed workmanship of a variety of artists with diverse approaches to working with metal.

Along with the traditional materials and techniques such as blacksmithing, forging and forming, these artists include contemporary practices in enamel, found objects and mixed media.

Some of the artists included in this exhibit are Becky & Tedd McDonah, Deb Lozier, Jessica Calderwood, Lauren McAdams Selden, Eric Burris, Nissa Kubly, Lynette Andreasen, Jill Baker-Gower, Victoria Altepeter, Polly Smith and Dale Wedig.

The Night Gallery at the Tempe Marketplace is an exhibition space for ASU School of Art faculty, graduate students and alumni in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. The gallery is a result of a partnership between the Herberger Institute and Vestar Development Company.

The Night Gallery is located at Tempe Marketplace (intersection of McClintock Rd. and the 202 at 2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway) in the District (west end, south side) between Barnes & Noble bookstore and Aeropostale.

The gallery is closed on Monday.

Phoenix Magazine

I'm excited to share with you that I've been featured in the May issue of Phoenix Magazine. Check it out on newsstands now...I'm on page 38!

The feature includes a plug for my upcoming 3 person show at Mesa Art Center. The exhibition is called "eleMEnTAL" and includes the work of Becky McDonah, Tedd McDonah, and myself. See details below.

When: Friday, May 25 - Sunday, August 12, 2012

Where: North Gallery, Mesa Art Center, Mesa, AZ

"This exhibition brings together three Arizona metalsmiths, whose aesthetics complement each other but retain their individual forms of expression. With precious and semiprecious metals and stones, these artists create reliquaries and containers, fishing lures, jewelry and other intimate art objects that beacon closer examination. Beyond the elegant surfaces, the work provides a deeper conversation on relationships, attraction, heritage, status and other implications of society. "

Opening Reception:
Friday, May 25, 2012 (7-10pm)

FREE and Open to the Public

Family Matters

I will have several pieces in an upcoming exhibition at Tempe Center for the Arts. The show is entitled Family Matters and "explores the multiple dimensions and meanings that surround the word family. For some family describes the 1950s ideal of the American dream that included two parents, two children and a white picket fence. For others, family can be a contemporary concept made up of extended relationships and non-traditional ideas. This exhibition will feature a wide variety of artistic styles and media. The overall tie that will bring the work together focuses on the saying, “Home is where the heart is.”

Family Matters: June 23-Aug. 25

Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe Arizona

I would love to see you at the opening reception on June 23rd. More details to come.

Also, as part of the exhibition, the gallery will have an area of local teen work. If you know of any Tempe teens, encourage them to apply! Info can be found here.

Hand Fabricated Chains Workshop

This weekend I taught a Hand Fabricated Chains Workshop at Mesa Art Center. This is a class I have been teaching and developing for a couple of years now and each time I teach it it gets better. It may be my favorite class to teach. The possibilities are just endless with chain, which I guess is what makes it so much fun. Some people don't like the detailed monotony of it, but I love chain making.
I start the students out with a discussion of their backgrounds and goals, and then I show them a powerpoint with about 200 slides of historical and contemporary chains. We discuss chains in depth from historical, industrial, and adornment viewpoints. It really helps to get their creative juices flowing.
After the discussion, I move on to talking about wire, different shapes, metals, gauges, hardnesses, etc. I talk about how to choose each of these before getting to work on their designs. Then we go in to making and cutting jump rings, soldering, and assembling.
The format of this workshop is two 8 hour Saturdays. I've taught the class in an 8, 6, and 4 week format, but never 2 days. I like the weekend time frame but there is so much to cover!! The students learned how to make round and shaped jump rings, solder, and texture. I demonstrated traditional chains like the loop in loop and sailors knot, and also a dozen or more cold connected chains with NO soldering. We briefly touched on forging and twisting as well. Whew, it was one packed Saturday! Next week we go in to using the Smith Little Torch and working with sheet metal for linkage. I hope the students are having as good a time as I am!

Favors

I recently worked on a special little project out of the ordinary for me. I was asked to make about 65 favors for a baby shower. The shower was for graphic designer Angela Hardison. Being a graphic designer, her friends thought it only appropriate for the shower to be an alphabet theme. The friend that asked me to make the favors had Angela write out the alphabet for us and I made little initial letter charms for all the guests. It was fun. I only wish I knew Angela so I could have attended this straight out of a magazine, adorable baby shower!!
My friend Debbie is one of the ladies that planned the shower. She throws some pretty gorgeous parties:) She also helped me make the charms.
All photos were taken by Angela unless otherwise noted.
And if you like design, be sure to check out Angela's Blog.

(photo above taken from here)

This was the alphabet I was given, and below are the charms. This project was such a fun little disctraction from the current chaos that is my life!

Commission

Just wanted to share some images of a recently finished commission piece. This was commissioned by a husband for his wife as a gift for her 50th birthday. The silhouette was taken from a photo of their 3 kids.

My favorite detail of the piece is the untied shoelaces of the son. materials: found silver platter, copper
size: approximately 14"x10"x2"

Here and There

I feel like I have been all over the place lately. Lately as in the last several months. I have a 7 month old baby now. 7 months!!! How did that happen?! Needless to say the last few months have been busy and somewhat non-productive in the studio. I love life as a mom but have been struggling to find balance between that and all the other areas of my life. Things are getting better, I feel like I am settling into a fairly steady routine now and I've gotten a bit of work done in the studio these last few days. Here are just a couple of snapshots of some things that are on my bench at the moment. Nothing finished...just bits and pieces waiting to be fit together.

These are a few of my favorite (handmade) things...

I've been meaning to post this for a while. We got a TON of baby gifts before we had the baby, and though I loved and appreciated all of them, I wanted to post some of the handmade ones on here. Of course I went through a little nesting phase getting ready for the baby to come and had to make some stuff for her room (above). I've always wanted to learn how to sew so I made it a little project to make some scalloped bunting for her walls. I also did the little yarn wrapped letters of her name that hang over her crib. In my dream world, everything would be handmade...from her clothes to all of her toys to her furniture. But yeah...thats not reality. She does have some amazing handmade things from people I love though and I'd like to share a few of them with you. Some of these are gifts, and some are things we bought, but all are awesome in their handmade craftiness!

This gift was totally awesome and so special to me. The picture really doesn't do it justice at all, its so cool. My graduate school professor, Becky McDonah, made this baby spoon shaped like a shovel. It's sterling silver and copper and the coolest spoon you will ever see in your life!!

These awesome little bandsaw boxes were made by my friend Ellie, who I just happened to name my baby after. Check out her etsy shop here.

This crocheted blanket was made by my friend Allison and matches the colors we chose for the baby's room.

My grandma Hanson made this quilt for Ellie and it looks a lot like the quilt she made me when I was born. Its hand stitched and quilted with so much love you can feel it in the fabric:)

And this amazing quilt I dont even have words for. I LOVE love love love love it. My super talented and creative friend Debbie made it. I wish you could all see it and feel it in person. She used a mix of new and vintage fabrics and it is just so sweet.

She also made this darling banner for Ellie's room. It makes me happy every time I see it.This is me with Debbie and the gifts she made for us. Seriously, this is one talented lady and she is also an amazing mom. I want to be a mom like her.

I made this whale out of old jeans for Ellie for Christmas. The one pictured above is from the tutorial I followed here, and the one below is the one I actually made. Its pretty cool. Now I want to make a whole fleet of ocean creatures out of old blue jeans. Maybe this summer:)

Thats all for now!