Eleanor White

Jack of Spades II © Eleanor White

Last weekend the hubby and I attended the Beacon Open Studios event going on across town as a way to get out and connect with some local artists. It was a lot of fun and we met some great folks that I'm very much looking forward to connecting with again.

Jack of Spades II (detail) © Eleanor White

One artist that I was particularly curious about was Eleanor White. I had seen her work online before, so I was excited to get a chance to see it in person. Unfortunately, she was not in the studio at the time we were there, but we did get a chance to speak to her husband a bit.

Eleanor creates what she calls, "playing card drawings" which are assemblages/arrangements/alterations of playing cards. She draws on the cards, scratches away, or uses gold and silver leaf to affect the surface of the cards.

Card Variations © Eleanor White

King of Hearts (detail) © Eleanor White

King of Hearts © Eleanor White

It was cool to learn that Eleanor received her MFA in sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art - my alma mater! She was also the recipient of a 2007 NYFA fellowship for drawing which is a huge honor.

Jack of Clubs © Eleanor White

Queen of Hearts, Jack of Spades, Queen of Diamonds © Eleanor White

I really responded to these works, particularly the circular pieces. Perhaps it's the patterning effect or their almost floral-like symmetry, but I immediately see the "wear-ability" of these works. Definitely inspirational for me! What do you guys think? …you like?

For more images and information about Eleanor White check out: http://eleanorwhite.blogspot.com/

King of Hearts II, Queen of Hearts II © Eleanor White

circular works (framed) © Eleanor White

As a curious side note… also on display in her studio was this gigantic hairball, collected and made out of her own hair…

Shed (hairball) © Eleanor White

I found this hilarious, because I too used to collect and make (smaller) hairballs out of my hair once upon a time…

Caged Hair Necklace © Margaux Lange 2000

(PS. I still have this piece I made back in college. I know! - shocking it never sold! hahaha)

Barbie goes to Paris

I guess the e-newsletter I sent out on Sunday was a bit confusing… let me clarify: I am not going to Paris for Fashion Week, just the Barbie that I designed jewelry for will be making the trip. Sorry for the confusion.

Despite a lot of last minute scrambling, I finished her jewelry and shipped her off this afternoon! This is the necklace design I was perfectly content with up until about 20 minutes before I was to send her on her way…

However, I decided I liked one of my other configurations better after all, so this is what I ended up sending them instead:

By flipping up the hands in the back, the necklace has more collar-like dimension, which I think makes it more sculptural and interesting.

The cool thing is, the necklace can really be worn several ways, it's just a matter of adjusting the hands and the way they're situated on the neckwire.

She had to have some fabulous sterling silver heels as well (*these were cast)…

I also made her a ring to match the nipple-esque end caps used in the necklace:

I'm pleased with how she turned out. This project was a lot of fun, and it makes me want to play around and make more jewelry for Barbie. A friend of mine wisely suggested that I actually make the jewelry wearable when off of the doll, so that it can be worn on the (human) body as well which I thought was a great idea! Like a "hers and mine" set. I might just have to make a series of those. I've been trying to think about ways to "display" some of my pieces when not being worn anyway, and that might be an interesting solution. When not wearing the jewelry on your body, Barbie wears it on hers. ahh the layers…

So, which design do you prefer and why?

Hilary Pfeifer

© Hilary Pfeifer

When I was living in Boulder, CO in 2002 I was working with jeweler Todd Reed on a project and while visiting his home studio, I noticed these amazingly colorful sculptures "growing" across the walls of his stairwell. I asked who the artist was and he told me it was Hilary Pfeifer. I've been a fan of Hilary's work ever since. So when I heard about the telephone interview "Insights" with Alyson Stanfield of artbizcoach.com and Hilary Pfeifer, I jumped on the chance to be in on the call. And they did not disappoint. It's a new series Alyson has been promoting lately called "Insights," phone conversations with artists about how they've achieved their level of success. A great idea because instead of having to attend a lecture in some designated location in the US, anyone can participate and be in on the call, right from the comfort of their own home.

© Hilary Pfeifer

Although trained as a metalsmith, Hilary works primarily in wood. Though she cites metalsmithing techniques as playing an important role informing her designs. Colorful and bold with a nod to the organic, her miniature plant-life, creature-esque sculptures captivate the imagination. Although unique on their own, the character of Hilary's pieces truly come to life when assembled in groups, each sculpture relating the next in a conversational way.

Hilary and Alyson discussed the advantages of having a line of installation art pieces that allow collectors to add to as they see fit. Whether one piece or fifteen, arranged in their homes as they please, accumulated as quickly or as slowly as their wallets will allow. I think this is a fabulous way to appeal to a variety of art collecting budgets. I hope to "grow my own" collection of Hilary's work on my walls someday.

It was interesting to hear Hilary talk about the paths she took with her career to get to where she is now. Particularly resonating for me was the way Hilary found a balance with her production work and the one-of-kind gallery pieces.

© Hilary Pfeifer

Check out more from her portfolio here, her production line "Bunny with a Toolbelt" here. And for more upcoming artist talks in Alyson's "Insights" series, click here.

© Hilary Pfeifer

Happy Halloween!

It is indeed scary that it's the end of October already. wow. Halloween has long been my favorite holiday. The costumes, the crisp cold smell of fallen leaves, and especially the pumpkins. I adore pumpkins. I have to hold myself back from buying more than I need every year. This year we settled on three. (Yes, I NEED three.) Two small ones - one for Smudge, one for Charlie - and a big one, that Dave and I carved last weekend…

We think he came out pretty great! OK, maybe not as great as the pumpkin gutter Scott Cummins, but still! If you haven't seen this man's pumpkins you are missing out. He does the most incredible carvings, and all without the use of stencils or patterns or anything. It's truly sculpture (of the rotting, ephemeral sort.)

Examples of some of his amazing work…

Just as engaging and interesting as his pumpkins, are his FAQ's which made Dave and I hurt from laughter. Definitely worth the long read!

We're off to see my favorite band play tonight and in costume we will go! I'll try to share pics tomorrow. Happy Halloween everyone.

Oh… one last thing! I wanted to announce that on Friday I'll be starting a "Friday From the Bench" feature on my blog. I've been realizing I'm not showing as many images of my current works in progress as I should be and I'd like to get back to what this blog was intended for. It can't all be about other artists who inspire me ;-) "Thankful Thursdays" will also be starting up again for the month of November - in celebration of thanksgiving of course.

Cheers!

to scale

I have always been fascinated with plays on scale. Particularly things in miniature. (obvious, given my profession?) The most logical explanation for this would probably be my childhood with Barbie, other "traditional" doll houses and the tiny worlds they occupy. I'm compelled to this day to search eBay for small items I have absolutely no need for but would love to collect for an elaborately decorated doll house. I see a crocheted doily and I want to make it into a rug with a little plastic tri-pod pizza box center for the coffee table. Perhaps for this reason I was enthralled and excited to see these photos via poppytalk recently:

Of course the gigantic lamp in this image, juxtaposed with the mini vignette makes it that much more fun. Larger than life scale can be incredibly fascinating (The artist Ron Mueck comes to mind). We as humans are so conditioned to relate to the world around us according to certain designated sizes, it jiggles our sense of reality to see those normality's pushed to outer limits in either direction, small or large.

I find it so inspiring and fun to look at these teeny glass worlds and would love to see my own variations scattered across my home. (Of course that probably won't happen in the small brooklyn apartment we currently occupy, but a girl can dream…) At Swallow, the store where I work part-time, we sell glass bell jars similar to these and I've admired them but wasn't quite sure what I would choose to fetishize inside one. I'm getting closer to having that figured out now.

These images have also inspired me to think about this sort of display in a sculptural, art jewelry context. A way for jewelry to exist (safely!) inside a designed confinement when it's not being worn. I admire art jewelers who incorporate a display element into their work. (Tod Pardon and his wooden jewelry stands come to mind.)


Tiny vignettes, wonder-filled menageries… too fun. It ignites my desire for retreat into the miniature realm of fantasy I so relied on as a child. Where hours would pass without notice as I was literally living inside my dolls world without need for reality in any other scale.

Shary Boyle

This is certainly not the first time I've been seduced by strange, perhaps mildly disturbing artworks …though I'm not sure when this fascination with "cute things gone wrong" first began for me?

Toronto artist Shary Boyle makes wonderfully captivating porcelain figurines. Of course her craftsmanship is stunning, but it is the narrative, the dark fairytale from which these characters spring to life that truly awakens my imagination…

"Boyle is a performance artist, sculptor and painter as well as a filmmaker. She has become known for the deeply personal and psychologically moving content of her imagery, which recalls the anxieties, desire and bittersweet fantasy worlds of childhood and adolescence. Critical, enchanting and at times humorous, Boyle's work is raw with human vulnerability and dysfunction."

Boyle has also collaborated with Peaches and Feist (two of my faves) and other various musicians to create "live drawings" projected onstage during their performances. Her drawings and paintings are perhaps even darker than the sculptures: definitely worth checking out.

Liu Jianhua

I recently discovered Chinese artist Liu Jianhua's porcelain plate series (via Phantasmaphile) and was completely blown away. I find these works to be so erotically charged; disturbing as well as slightly humorous, utterly compelling and undeniably well crafted.

"Liu Jianhua creates small-scale sculptures from fibreglass and porcelain. Trained as a ceramicist from the age of fifteen, he is well-known for several series of works of headless and armless female figures dressed in cheongsams and high heels and lying in erotic poses. His works comment on attitudes to women as well as the place of China on the contemporary art scene and political world stage."

For even more information go here.

Earth Art at it's best

I've been meaning to share this link for a while. It's an Underwater Sculpture Gallery created by artist Jason Taylor, located in the west indies. Being slightly afraid of all things in the deep I find this idea both alluring and frightening. For the life of me I can't remember where I first came across this website but anyway it's pretty amazing. Check it out…



So haunting, no? If you have a moment, watch the decay slideshow - it's very cool.

Anna Monichi's blonde chair

Anna Monichi, is the Italian designer behind this clever and hilarious chair that I really wish I owned. She contacted me recently and I'm so glad she did - what an amazing chair!

Seeking #2 pencils…

Jewelry/sculpture artist Harriete Estel Berman is creating a sculpture about standardized tests and is trying to collect 30,000 used pencils for the piece… sounds pretty great to me! I've been gathering up the old #2's from around our house. If anyone would like to help, here's the info:

Seeking #2 pencils:
Any and all used pencils, including
broken, chewed, stubby, or erasers worn to a nub.

I need over 30,000 pencils to assemble a new
sculpture about education and test taking.

‑‑Clean out your junk drawer of leftover pencils;
--Rub out memories of erasers too small for mistakes in life;
--Protest the tyranny of standardized tests.

Ask local schools, students, or teachers to help.
Share or send this email to anyone and everyone else who might like to participate and contribute pencils.

Send pencils to artist:
Harriete Estel Berman
www.harriete-estel-berman.info
657 42nd Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94403-5059


If you include your name, address and email, I’ll send you a card of the finished piece. If you would like to write a comment about your experience with standardized tests, send a statement with your pencil contribution.


SMALL PRINT:
· The testing industry is calculated to be a $400 million to $700 million industry.
· In 2001, the New York Times reported that the U.S .Department of Education set aside $400 million to help states develop and administer the tests that the No Child Left Behind Act mandated for children in grades 3 through 8. Among the likely benefactors of the extra funds were the four companies that dominate the testing market .
· Do you know that Educational Testing Service (ETS), best known for its administration of the SAT college-entrance exam, won a three-year, $50 million contract in October 2001 to develop and score California's high-school

kinetic sculpture

I was in Denver, CO for the 2002 SNAG conference as I was living in Boulder at the time. I went on the gallery tour they offered as part of the conference to view various art jewelry on display in local galleries, however, it is Tim Prentice's kinetic sculptures I remember most from that day at the Robishon Gallery that I had veered off tour for. In going through my filing cabinet to gather papers for my last minute taxes, (I just made it… ugh) I came across Tim Prentice's postcard I had saved from the gallery visit that day and was gently reminded of how wonderful I find his work to be.

I remember standing in awe as these massive floating forms gracefully moved with the gentle flow of air inside the gallery. An entirely different visual experience from one moment to the next, I loved the idea that the art changed before me without my moving one foot. The concept of "art that moves" or interacts with the viewer is not that much of a leap from jewelry, as those are ideas we as jewelers deal with all the time. It reminds me a little of Rachelle Thiewes or Tone Vigeland, art jewelers utilizing multiples, sound and movement, forcing interaction with the wearer.

Prentice's website is very cool and worth a look because of course, it is in motion. How could one be a kinetic sculpture artist and not have video footage on their website? These still images do not do the work justice so go have a look. The "studio visit excerpt" is very insightful and beautiful to watch.

Ron Mueck

I wish there were a way to describe the truly life-like qualities of the sculptures by Australian born artist Ron Mueck. Every pore, every detail and difference in the texture of the skin from chin to toenail, exact and so very, well… REAL. I am utterly fascinated by his work in a way I haven't been by contemporary art in a LONG time.


We went to the Brooklyn Museum this weekend to check it out in person before the closing of the exhibition. If you haven't seen it yet, GO. It really is something you have to experience in person. The photos just don't do it justice.

The giant baby was one of my favorites. The scale of this piece definitely threw me the most. So delicate and fragile in nature, her enormousness contradicted everything we know and feel about babies. It felt as if we were all observing a 'circus freak,' and yet despite her size, she still seemed vulnerable. From certain angles, looking at her giant head made me feel like I was inches away from a real live newborn held in my arms, as if close up into its' face, captivated by the miracle of her tiny, living, breathing body. However there's a strange sensation of role-reversal, as if she were the one to look upon the tiny fragility of us, the adults standing around her. Is she staring in disbelief at our tiny, living, breathing bodies? Who is the baby, the vulnerable one, in this situation?

Of course I'm usually drawn to the slightly creepy or high discomfort factor in art (see toddlerpedes post - May 11th), but there was something about this work that affected me in a whole new way. I've always been captivated by artists and objects that challenge our sense of scale. Part of this probably comes from my experience as a child, my love of traditional doll houses as well as Barbie and all the miniature accessories of those worlds; the forks and knives, the fake fruit, the toaster… there's just something about seeing objects smaller and LARGER than we're accustomed to that is inherently fascinating and challenges the way we relate to that object. Mueck creates work that plays with a full range of scale, large and small. The "Spooning Couple" below is only 65 centimeters long - and by far the most intimate piece in the show, eliciting many emotions.

More than anything Mueck plays with our sense of what feels real.