Continuing on with the food/health/diet/slow food related theme, I stopped in at Powell's bookstore the other night to see if I could find another one of Michael Pollan's books. All they had on the shelf was In Defense of Food, which I've already read (and loved), so I went searching for a book that I've been wanting to get for a while--Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I have read all but two of Kingsolver's books (those two being mainly essays), and have loved them all. I decided that I needed this book, that I have been refraining from buying since it first came out two years ago.

The first bit of the book felt somewhat redundant, since this subject is all I've been consuming lately, but Kingsolver has such a wonderful 'voice' that it doesn't matter too much. I find myself wistfully dreaming about building a garden and investing the kind of time and effort into it as she and her family have done in this year long journey (which I'm guessing has continued since). Living in an apartment that has no viable space for a garden can only last for so long, I say. Especially for someone who grew up with plenty of open space and wilderness to explore.

If nothing else, reading all of these books has at least awakened the forager in me--I will soon be hunting the plum trees and blackberries of Mt. Tabor, followed by hunting for mushrooms in the fall, and clams in between, as well as the local farmer's markets.

I have noticed that I tend to get a lot of traffic through my blog for "cuttlefish casting", so I thought I would post some helpful links to a tutorial and video for those who are interested (see below). I plan on doing my own tutorial of cuttlefish casting sometime in the next two weeks, so stay tuned!

Tutorial

Video

For the month of July, I will be having a clearance sale in my Etsy Shop. Be on the look out for a lot of things marked down drastically. I am purging old pieces from my shop in lieu of an evolving style. I will soon be featuring more one-of-a-kind pieces, patinaed jewelry, and a little more sculptural work too. Stay tuned!

These rings have traveled far and wide. I first created them in Australia as part of a self-directed body of work, which was based on playing with anodizing and working with Titanium. As I could not find Ti where I was living in a form that I could make into rings, I ended up purchasing a Ti rod from Reactive Metals here in the U.S.

The rod arrived, and I embarked on learning and applying a series of techniques that I had no knowledge of. First, came the lathe. This was a large, industrial lathe that I was introduced to. I learned how to drill out a variety of ring sizes into the rod, and then how to slice them at varying widths. Then, it was on to grinding. I did some grinding of them on the steel grinder in the sculpture studio, but then moved onto the lapidary grinders in the metals studios to get the shapes. Most of the shapes are simply an exercise in exploration.

Following that, I used a special set of files to smooth edges and sand each ring. Some were brought to more of a polish, others were left with a texture. This was followed by cleaning them, and finally, anodizing them. Each ring is anodized to match the color of an endangered plant from Australia. I decided to do that as a way to educate the buyer (if they're interested), which can be passed on to other people who remark about the jewelry. Sort of a "pay it forward" education about endangered plants, which is usually something people don't think about too much. After all, most of them aren't cute and fuzzy like leopards.

These rings (the ones that are left) will be part of my clearance sale starting July 1. It is a month long sale, and you can find out more about them at my Etsy Shop.

...though you would probably never know it at first. As a child, I used my imagination a lot. I read a lot of books, which I believe helped me in that department. I always wanted an imaginary friend, but didn't have one. I had my horses, my climbing trees, a pond, and multiple forts, not to mention brothers and sisters and neighborhood kids. That was all we needed.

That, and the animals. I have loved animals since I was a baby. My most prized book that I own today is the Macmillan Illustrated Animal Encyclopedia, which I have had for all of my 27 years. I have spent many hours poring over the pages, drawing the animals, writing animal reports in school, researching and reading.

I absolutely love the whimsy in these paintings by Jennifer Davis. Full of beautiful colors in varied hues and shades. The lines and textures draw the viewer in to take a closer look, which is always rewarding in some sense.

You can find more (much more!) on Davis' website. Enjoy.

Coming up in July, I will be hosting a month-long clearance sale to get rid of old stock that I no longer want. Anything that is left over will simply be added to the scrap pile, to be made into something new in the future. Much of my stock will be reduced except for my signature items. Those will be reduced, but not as drastically as the rest of it.

During the month of July, I will also be taking a bit of a break from a lot of creating actual jewelry, and concentrate on building my business's identity as a whole, including logo, font, colors, photo backgrounds, etc. Good graphic design cannot be rushed, and I have a lot to learn, so I'm giving myself that month. Wish me luck, and keep your eyes peeled for drastically reduced items!

The other night, D and I went out to Ping, in Old Town, Portland. Ping is sort of a sister child to Pok Pok, on SE Division st. My main attraction to it was that when I looked at their menu on their website, I saw that they serve Laksa. Laksa is a malaysian curry soup, that is divine, and next to impossible to find in the Northwest.

We started with drinks (jack & sour for me, scotch & sour for D), followed by the baby octopus skewers (wonderfully spicy yet balanced in flavor) and wild-caught prawn skewers (also wonderful). The kopitiam toast was a wonderful balance to the heat of the skewers, with its custard-like topping.

Our main courses were Laksa for me, which has a wonderful flavor. It wasn't as sweet or citrusy as I remember the Laksa in Australia, but I have a feeling it's much more authentic. D had the African chicken, which had a nice smokey and dark, yet somewhat sweet flavor, as if it was flavored with coffee or cocoa.

The skewers and appetizers are great portions for light meals, and main courses are fairly sizeable and great for sharing or if you're really hungry. And did I mention the atmosphere? The space is long, with tall exposed ceilings, and a great use of space. Minimalist yet antique-ish decorations give it a great atmosphere for socializing and dining. This is definitely my new favorite restaurant, by far.

You can find more out about Ping at their website, or on Oregon Live: "Rising Star of the Year" and "Portland's Most Talked-About New Restaurant".

image via pingpdx.com

Happy Father's Day, Dad. I think of you, and miss you every single day. You will always be my best friend. I am forever grateful for not only the lessons you taught me, but those I learned simply by having YOU as my father.

I love you, forever.

This is something I've been meaning to do for a while. A bit of a redesign to my shop and business. First, I'm starting with my logo/maker's mark. The one I have used in the past on my computer comes from the days of drawing, scanning, and very low-tech application. I finally got around to playing in photoshop to create just about the same image--my version of two C's facing each other (without ripping of Coco Chanel). This new one is clean, crisp, and high quality so it can be used for various applications.

Next? My banners, and photos...oy. I'm not very good at graphic design.

Months ago, while I was taking a class on Modernism (the culture, not the art genre), I decided to do my research paper on why we eat the way we do today, and where that change in our diet sprang from. I quickly realized that this was far too broad of a subject (after I had bought a bunch of books to research), and moved to a different topic.

However, part of that research that I had started introduced me to Michael Pollan's writings. I started with his most recent book, In Defense of Food, which is amazing, and am now working on The Omnivore's Dilemma. I find his style of writing to be fully researched, and it speaks to the every day person. I highly recommend his books, and will personally be reading all of them (along with seeing Food, Inc., and other productions).

You can also find a great TED talk from him HERE.

Long ago, in a land far away, I took a professional practices class as part of my degree. We had to do a presentation, and I chose to do mine on "alternative exhibition spaces", as a way to encourage my fellow artisans to break out of the idea of exhibiting only in a gallery space, and seek alternative venues. Luckily, the Adelaide Fringe had been going at that time, so I'd been able to snap some snazzy pics of paintings hanging in a rug shop, with a rug as each painting's background (a great use of color and texture, mind you), as well as some intriguing street art.



There has been a lot of buzz about Store For a Month, a collaborative artistic venture here in Portland to create a gallery space for 1 month in an abandoned building space (sadly, the previous tenants there went out of business). First off, I have to applaud the organizers of Store for taking the initiative to create this space for a month. It's a fantastic idea, and I'm hoping to see future ventures much like it.



My partner and I went to visit Store For a Month yesterday, and it was wonderful. There's a lot of experimentation with materials, which is always encouraging, as well as some more established art forms. I was pleased to see a wide variety of pieces and forms, and am hoping my budget will allow me to take something home in the next two weeks. I definitely encourage everyone, who is able to, to visit Store For a Month. You can also check out a fantastic write up on the PORT blog, and more on Store at their website.

images via Store For a Month

Here are a few more shots from our recent adventure to see the new niece, Lyla. A gorgeous drive down the gorge, followed by a few very mellow and lovely hours with the new parents and baby!

I've not been working in my studio much lately, but am getting back into it today (and this weekend, hopefully!). Here's a couple shots of works in progress.

I recently assisted a resins workshop with Heidi Schwegler at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. Heidi is an amazing teacher and all of the students had a blast exploring techniques and materials, as well as mechanisms.


We worked with tin- and platinum-based silicone molds, water clear and EZ-Flo resins, as well as plaster and concrete. People brought a variety of different materials to mold and create resin pieces from, as well as to embed into their cast materials. Heidi also did demonstrations of a variety of mechanisms that could be embedded or fabricated with the resin/concrete/plaster pieces. It was amazing to explore different materials and techniques. I never thought that I would really like resin, etc., but ended up being really excited about them.


You can see more images on our Flickr Group, The Resin Workshops.

Slipping Underwater, 2009

The first time I heard of Heidi Schwegler, I was living in Adelaide, South Australia, and doing research for one of my metalsmithing classes. Now I can't remember what project it was for, or what I was searching for exactly, but I found a write up of her mouthpieces, as well as another installation, and was amazed. I recall being enthralled with the use and creation of forms that were wearable, yet not traditional jewelry. At that point in time, the internet was established, but not the booming mechanism it is now. It was still difficult to do decent research on it.

Plastic Mouthpieces
Resin, nickel
3 x 3 x 2”
1998
photographer: Bill Bachhuber

Later, when my return to the U.S. was imminent, I stumbled across Heidi Schwegler's name while researching two institutions to finish my degree at, and discovered that she was a professor at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. Although my decision between institutions was based more on my experience during my tour (the kind of community, customer service, environment, and metals facilities), I have since been eternally grateful to be able to work with Schwegler. In addition to being an extremely motivated and unrelenting artist, who has the ability to explore a variety of materials, techniques, and technologies, Schwegler is also an incredible teacher. Kind and patient, yet unforgiving, Schwegler is the kind of teacher that your parents told you you would be grateful for later in life (and they were right).

In the last few years, Schwegler has produced a number of bodies of work that explore a variety of materials and forms, as well as media. From "the body transformed" series, through to the most recent "slipping underwater" (on display at the Hallie Ford Museum), alternative materials have consistently taken the stage in her work, ranging from plastics and rubbers to plaster and wax, to simply transforming an alternative material or found object into metal, creating a whole new object. And although the work is presented as a series or a body of work, each individual piece can often stand on its own and be equally relevant, such as in "antistatic" and "slipping underwater". In addition to this range of materials, Schwegler has also utilized print, photography, and film in her work--the latter usually documenting a performance piece. My favorite, by far, is the documentation of her performance piece during "utopia sighs"(click below).


film still from Utopia Sighs, 5 minute dv
2007
Videographer: Scott Tebeau

Schwegler is currently exhibiting at the Hallie Ford Museum in Salem, OR, and will also be exhibiting at the Museum of Contemporary Craft later this year. You can find more information about Heidi Schwegler, and her work, on her website.