some favorite quotes

It's another blog carnival and we are sharing some of our favorite quotes. I have several journals of quotations, and some of poetry and Haiku (yes, that little moleskine says "Recipes and Haiku"), some of my journals do double-duty. Here are some quotes and (unattributed) Haiku that I really enjoy.

"I always prefer to work in the studio. It isolates people from their environment. They become in a sense... symbolic of themselves." -Richard Avedon

"The only thing I know is that if I get to my studio, that means I'm alive today." -Robert Farber

"I am a night painter, so when I come into the studio the next morning the delirium is over. I come into the studio very fearfully, I creep in to see what happened the night before. And the feeling is one of, 'My God, did I do that?' ". -Philip Guston

"I see more and more that my work goes infinitely better when I am properly fed, and the paints are there, and the studio and all that. But have I set my heart on my work being a success? A thousand times no. I wish I could manage to make you really understand that when you give money to artists, you are yourself doing an artist's work, and that I only want my pictures to be of such a quality that you will not be too dissatisfied with your work." -Vincent van Gogh

"Guided by my heritage of a love of beauty and a respect for strength - in search of my mother's garden, I found my own." -Alice Walker

"Apathy is a vice." -Oscar Wilde.

"One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art." -Oscar Wilde

"What lies in our power to do, lies in our power not to do." -Aristotle

"I'm looking for the face I had before the world was made." -Yeats

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." -Thoreau

"A man is a god in ruins." -Emerson

"Art is a jealous mistress." -Emerson

"I am out of estrogen and I have a gun." -Anonymous

with the last lamp

stripping

her shadow off

not seeing

the room is white

until that red apple

loving

you

in poor light

the space

between the deer

and the shot

walking into and out of

the sound

of the brook

nailed on the door

men

out of order

Please visit my friends who are also sharing their favorite quotations:

Andes Cruz

Brad Severtson

Kathleen Krucoff

Wendy Kelly

Mary Spencer

Stephanie Clark

Barbara Donovan

Laura Flavin

Beth Cyr

Shaun Young

Kathryn Cole

Natsuko Hanks

Andrea Bell

art and copyright

Today some members of the Handmade Division are talking about the question, "How do you view the topic of copying?". This has certainly been a hot one lately, both Metalsmith and Jewelry Artist magazines have recently published related articles, and it's pretty well saturated the virtual craft community.

I believe that art is derivative by it's very nature, it comes from the human mind and spirit and therefore artists often have similar ideas - sometimes simultaneously, and sometimes separated by hundreds or thousands of years. Art builds on itself over time because artists are inspired by art and one another and this eventually leads to major art movements.

Of course intentional copying happens as well, and to keep this short I'll define a copy as a near to exact replica of an object, not a piece made in a similar manner or style.  

If you're a person who consciously copies the work of another to call your own, then you're a fraud and you already know this about yourself. No one likes a copycat, and no one should be a copycat. On the other hand, if your work has been copied and you spend valuable studio time contemplating and complaining about it (been there), you could be missing out on creating your next big work. Keep moving forward.

If your art/craft is your business and you are losing money as a result of someone ripping off your designs, that's clearly a problem that should be addressed. But so often the issue seems to be one of ego, of an artist wanting full credit and recognition for having had the idea first. Completely original and innovative ideas are painfully few and far between when it comes to art, most of us will not have one in our entire lifetime. Lets get over ourselves and focus on making great work.

*4/16/10. A friend sent me a link to this wonderfully written, insightful post from Michael deMeng about art and the sharing of ideas. I love his positive, supportive, and embracing attitude, I bet he's a great teacher.

*4/18/10. Wow, this has caused quite a stir! I have written another post on the nature of original and innovative artwork.

Please visit these other network members to read their ideas on this topic:
ArtJewel Designs
Andes Cruz
Jewelry by Natsuko
Beth Cyr
Tosca Teran
Tamra Gentry
Mary Spencer
Susan Moloney
Rosy Revolver

planning for design

On the first Monday of each month some members of EtsyMetal write blog posts around a central theme or question. This month's topic is, "How do you plan and organize for design?" You can see in this pic of my bench, taken an hour ago, that I am not organized. Not at all.


As far as planning my designs, I sketch and brainstorm a lot, I have more sketches than I could realize in a lifetime. I also think about new work when I walk my dogs, getting outside is great inspiration for me. I like to "sleep on" new ideas and often have to get up in the middle of the night to find a sketchbook, as I never remember to leave one by the bed. Oddly enough, I rarely bring my sketches into the studio, my process there is much more organic.

Graduate school taught me to focus on creating cohesive work and to continually critique and resolve problems, refining with each piece. I am obsessive-compulsive by nature so this way of working really resonates with me.

Crown of Thorns, sterling silver and sharpened copper nails

I am currently striving to create two separate bodies of work, one a collection of wearable jewelry that is well-designed and well-crafted, the other a series of conceptual pieces (my dangerous jewelry) to submit for exhibition and publication. These two goals keep me moving forward and constantly planning new work, despite my abhorrent organizational skills.

Please visit these other EtsyMetal members to see pictures of their benches and learn of their different approaches to design.

Victoria Takahashi/Experimetal
Su Trindle/QuercusSilver
Inbar Bareket
Stacey Hansen
Nina Gibson
Danielle Miller
Corliss & John Rose/2Roses
Maria Whetman
Beth Cyr

treasured item

Some members of the Handmade Division are talking about the question, "What item have you created that you most treasure and why?". This is a collection of items, my MFA thesis installation from 2001 at the Memphis College of Art. Titled Risen, it was an homage to the struggle of textile workers of the past and present.


There were three red velvet capes, each trimmed with with hundreds of keys and embossed with images of bread loaves, wheat, and roses. Cornell University gave me an audio recording of an interview with a survivor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, and her voice emanated from one of the capes. 146 people died in the Shirtwaist fire because they were locked in the factory, many jumped to their deaths from the windows. From another came Utah Phillips telling labor camp stories and singing Bread and Roses, a famous protest song from the Lawrence textile mills strike.

keys make the capes very heavy

hat pins form a pattern on the interior

stamped with the names of US designers
and the Chinese cities where their factories reside

A nine foot banner hung on the wall, made from fabric, clothing labels, sewing pins, and hundreds of black buttons spelling From Nimble Fingers a Fist. A pile of mens white dress shirts sat in the center of the gallery.




A black protest armband was displayed on a pedestal. The black seed beads spell the names of clothing designers who produce their lines in China. I was honored when this piece was purchased by Marilyn Lanfear, whose work I so admire.




I'm not sure if treasure is the right way to describe how I feel about these pieces, the few that remain were stashed in the attic long ago using non-archival methods. But I truly treasure having had the experience of immersing myself in art and academia for two solid years with not much to distract me, and the opportunity to grow creatively and find the discipline to create a cohesive body of work that really meant something to me.

Please visit the other artists talking about this topic:

ArtJewel Designs
Jewelry by Natsuko
Alice Istanbul Designs
Bill Martin - Purified Art
Rosy Revolver
Andes Cruz Designs

kickstart creativity

On the first Monday of each month some members of EtsyMetal write blog posts around a central theme or question. This month's topic is,

Twenty Things to Do to Kickstart Creativity

1. join the Ring a Day project
2. sketch
3. take walks
4. look at other work
5. fall in love
6. go in the studio and sit down for 10 minutes
7. avoid looking at other work
8. challenge yourself to do something consistently - daily, weekly, or monthly
9. organize a group of local metalsmiths/artists for regular meetings
10. buy a new metalsmithing book or video
11. take a break from the studio and don't think about it
12. meditate
13. forget about metal for a while and make mailart
14. break up with someone
15. start a challenge/swap with other metalsmithing/artist friends
16. research new techniques online or at the local library
17. sketch some more
18. take a class or workshop
19. give yourself some parameters (use only found materials, make a piece in 30 minutes, etc)
20. look for exhibitions with calls to artists and design something specific, here are some links:

exhibition calls on the SNAG web site:
http://www.snagmetalsmith.org/Events/Upcoming_Deadlines/

the Klimt02 whiteboard lists various opportunities:
http://www.klimt02.net/forum/whiteboard.php

Metalinclinations is an annual show, deadline 6/30/2010:
http://www.smm-metalinclinations.org/enter.htm

ArtDeadlines features ongoing calls for various media:
http://www.artdeadlineslist.com/

Susan Sarantos lists design competitions on her Metalcyberspace site:
http://www.metalcyberspace.com/design.htm

Susan also posts upcoming exhibition deadlines to the Metalcyberspace blog:
http://metalcyberspace.com/blog/

Lark Books regularly posts artist calls for their publications:
http://www.larkbooks.com/submissions/artist-submissions

Please visit the other EtsyMetal members blogging on this topic to view their twenty suggestions:

Chris Parry
Victoria Takahashi
Maureen "Cosmo's Moon" BZ
Beth Cyr
Catherine Chandler
Katie Miess Kohlhagen
Ann Hartley
Amanda Conley
Stacey Hansen
Esther Eve
Maria Whetman
Berenice Schaltegger
2Roses

my favorites

On the first Monday of each month, some members of EtsyMetal write blog posts around a central theme or question. This month's question is, "What is your favorite ring a day?" I have two favorites of those I have made, a favorite ring and a favorite photo.

My favorite ring is my Bad Girl Button Ring. I like this piece both because it is conceptual in nature, and is the most technically complex work that I have made to date.

When the button is depressed, a steel spike stabs the wearer in the finger. I made a short video demonstrating its use:

I am interested in danger and compulsion, and how the two drive our actions and reactions. This is the second of three rings I have created exploring these ideas, and I plan to take the theme further, incorporating other forms of jewelry in addition to rings. I hope to eventually create a full body of work to submit for exhibition.

I have been working conceptually as an artist for the past 10 years, primarily with fiber, and in recent years mixed materials. Making jewelry is fairly new to me, and my education consists of a 6-week introductory community ed. class taken in 2007. At this point my technical skills have not caught up with my design sensibilities, and I have MUCH to learn and work on to hone my craft.

Ring a Day has been wonderful for me, as I have the freedom to work with ideas, rather than focusing on marketable, ornamental pieces. Of course I always have the option to make conceptual work, but it seems I need a little push now and then, and that's what Ring a Day has given me. It has also given my work a more unique voice, and myself more confidence - as lately I have been painfully aware of how much I have to learn, and how many tools I need to complete some of the ideas in my sketchbook. I want to learn to forge! I need expensive stakes and hammers! A rolling mill, hand engraving tools, to learn chasing and repousse, the list is endless.

My favorite photo is of my kite ring:

I made the ring specifically for the photo, so really the photo is the art. My camera has a fairly wide angle lens which is useful for playing with scale, I had a very clear image of this picture in my mind, and was thrilled when the actual photo mirrored it so perfectly. Here is a more accurate picture of the ring:

I also have many favorites from others participating in Ring a Day, you can view some of them here. I will be adding more as the year goes on. Please visit the other EtsyMetal members blogging on this topic to view their favorite rings and insights:

Alisa Miller
Colleen Baran
Danielle Miller
Stacey Hansen
Chris Parry
Kerin Rose
Sara Westermark
Victoria Takahashi
Su Trindle
Nina Dinoff
Maureen "Cosmo's Moon" BZ
Beth Cyr
Caitlyn Davey/discomedusa
Catherine Chandler