Thursday, July 22, 2010

News - Old and New

Downtown Fredericton has restarted their Thursday afternoon artisans market in the Wilmot Alley that runs between King and Queen Streets. It's a pleasant little market with all hand made craft, visual artworks and music. Worth dropping in to see between 4 and 8, if not to see me, than to see the other artisans or listen to some cool beats. Rain location for days like today is King's Place Mall center court.

The Fredericton Arts Alliance, that has been providing a summer residency program for a number of years, is holding their residencies at the York Sunbury Museum this summer. Located in gorgeous downtown Fredericton's Historic District, and it's not hard to find which of the 2 city blocks it's on.

My residency starts on Saturday July 24th. My residency partner for the week is Leigh Merritt, a talented potter that I had the pleasure of working with last summer at the casemates. I am looking forward to seeing what Leigh has planned for the week, while I am wracking my brain for inspiration regarding the word "Metamorphosis" for the upcoming Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia's annual competition and exhibition.

Monday, July 5, 2010

River Valley Craft Show



All good things must come to an end and something else will refresh it and take its place.

Those of us that are fortunate enough to participate in the first River Valley Craft Show are hoping for a glorious weather day on Saturday July 10th in Quispamsis, New Brunswick as we take over the Art and Culture Park at 12 Landing Court.

This show will be fine craft as it is only juried members of the New Brunswick Crafts Council. This show is effectively replacing the Rothesay Fine Crafts Festival which didn't happen to get off the ground this year.

See you there.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Cynthia's in Jewelry - Cynthia Himmelsbach

In returning to our regularly scheduled programming, this morning's find is Cynthia Himmelsbach of California.

As a side, one of the interesting things that I have noted in this journey to find Cynthias is that it is often very hard to figure out where the artist is from. This particular one doesn't have an address listed, let along town. The only clue is the statement on sales tax being charged in the state of California.

This particular Cynthia has used her childhood interest in beads as a stepping stone to her work in jewellery. She also took advantage of her 30 year career as a flight attendant to "bring home interesting findings, beads and rare objects from all over the world". She cited her job flexibility as a contributor to her ability to pursue her jewellery studies in "beading, wire-wrapping and metalsmithing".

I do like her work, it is organic in nature and ethnically inspired.


"Sea Wheel Ring"

Enjoy and until next Tuesday, go browse the web.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

News Round-up

We will returned to our regularly scheduled programming next week, but there were just too many fun titbits in the news this morning for me to ignore this opportunity to share...

Everyone is going green, including the Indian military which is set to weaponize the world's hottest chili as a form of non-toxic tear gas... I'd say that's rather cool, except the pepper measures in at more than 1,000,000 Scoville units, so that's hot, hot, hot and then some.

Now this headline got my attention: You have to go through Murder to get to Purgatory, and it lead to this web which has the entire quiz on oddly named places. I've always liked oddly named places.

Spice adds life too apparently, not that some things aren't the spice of life, but cinnamon is really good for you, which means that I now have a perfectly good scientific excuse to have my cinnamon-sugared toast in the morning.

Lastly on the fun side was a little article on an Argentinian vegetarian spider, who knew?

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Cynthia's in Jewelry - Cynthia Nash

Cynthia Nash is a jewellery designer from Nashville, Tennessee who uses Swarovski crystals in her designs.

The collection that caught my eye was "My Aunt Grace" where she states "She loved amethyst, and I loved her. It is simply wonderful, just like "my Aunt Grace."" My great Aunt Grace loved her amethyst as well. I remember as a child staring into her jewel box and admiring the amethyst rings and earrings. She had collected a couple of stunner's, which now would be antique, as they certainly would have been vintage already.



My Aunt recently passed away one day shy of her 92nd birthday on the 10th of March. She was the dynamic spinster aunt, who travelled around the world and worked across Canada. She was a women's liberationist before anyone really knew what the word meant. Married at 16, soon with 2 children, and separated from an incredibly abusive husband in her very early 20's; she made a decision to live and left her small rural Nova Scotia home for Halifax where she started in domestic services and then moved on to nurse's training and worked in the mental hospital. From there she worked in the 'old ladies' home', went to Windsor, NS for another job, so that she could be closer to her own family. When her mother died there was no great need to stay in the area, so she left for the west. Working with the First Nations youth in the Yukon, then Manitoba, then a girl's school in Ontario, and finally ending up at a very exclusive girl's school in Vancouver. After retirement, she returned to Windsor, Nova Scotia.

I adored her. The only glitch in our relationship occurred in the late 80's, when it was disclosed that her son was one of Canada's more notable poets and a long-time writer in residence at UNB. Those were difficult years and I mourned her passing long before it happened. We made up in recent years and had some nice visits. I will always be grateful for her influence and her assertion that not every woman is maternal material. I will always be grateful for the advice to follow your heart and your dreams. Life is richer because she lived.

Stumbling upon Cynthia Nash's collection for "My Aunt Grace" is rather serendipitous.

Until next Tuesday...

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Cynthia's in Jewelry - Cynthia Bloom

Today's hunt turned up Cynthia Bloom Collectible Jewelry.

Cynthia Bloom of Austin, Texas, started her work in jewellery in 2001 when she reconstructed a vintage glass bead necklace and started to sell her pieces at the restaurant where she worked. She now has a good distribution of retail stores across the US through her wholesale efforts.

She focuses on using vintage, antique and rare Austrian, Czechoslovakian and Italian glass and crystals. There is a nice section on bead history on her web.




It is the vintage/antique glass that makes these pieces interesting and give, what could look like the more ordinary contemporary beading, a splashy and unique flare.

So until next Tuesday, go browse the web.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Cynthia's in Jewelry - Cynthia Gale

A brilliant thought hit me on the weekend: blog about other Cynthia's that make and/or design jewelry. Not a hard thing to find really, looks like there are a lot of us. It will be a rather fun adventure meandering around the web seeing what other Cynthia's do.

The first hit this morning yielded "Cynthia Gale", a Manhattan-based jewelry designer, who has designed a line of sterling silver work for the New-York Historical Society.




To quote the press release: "
Manhattan-based sterling silver jewelry designer, Cynthia Gale, is creating a buzz with her new Signature Collection, The City That Never Sleeps. The result of a collaboration with the New-York Historical Society, the jewelry is an aesthetic tribute to the New-York Historical Society’s Irving Browning collection, which consists of 1,885 gelatin silver photographic prints and ephemera relating to his career as a photographer and cinematographer."

Here is Cynthia Gale's site: Geo Art


So until next Tuesday, go browse the web.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Free Speech in Canada?

A couple of things crossed my computer screen this morning as I was scanning the news...

I'll start with a disclaimer, I am not of Israeli descent, nor of Palestinian... I am Canadian, and perhaps the reason why reading these news blurbs is so troubling today is that Canadian Pride and Patriotism is at a pretty substantial high right now with a record number of Gold medals at the just closed Vancouver Olympics. On a personal level I have stayed away from the politics of the Israeli/Palestinian debate. I always figured their political issues were theirs and didn't involve me regardless of how fair or unfair I feel certain political actions are or how many friends or colleagues I may have of either descent.

I'm a bit of an history buff too, and I see a similar strain of events having occurred in a particular European country in the 1930's... only this time it's different, it's current history and it's in the democracy of Canada.

First I would like to draw your attention to the arts news: Artists Unite to Protest Israeli Apartheid. I have no issue with artists standing up for what they believe in or feel. In fact art is one of the first areas that often shows, through literature, film, visual art forms, and music, sea-changes that are occurring in our national and international social milieu.

...but that isn't really the headline or story that got me, this is... Parliament to Vote on Tory Motion Against Free Speech By Corvin Russell, March 1, 2010. At first glance I was thinking that this was occurring in some back-water, non-progressive, democratic-in-name only nation that wasn't in this hemisphere. Opps, wrong! It's Canada, my home nation, my pride and joy, a bastion of free speech and democracy even if we have been legislating gun ownership since the 30's and been actively trying to disarm sane Canadian citizens for the past 25 years.

So here's my problem... being a self-absorbed Canadian and not really having given Israel or Palestine a passing glance for their conflicts... We have provincial and federal Parliamentarians bringing bills forward that will restrict the hard fought and hard won rights (through the battles of World War 2) to maintain democratic free speech in Canada, where we can as Canadians support any religion, ideology, political theory without fear of repercussion provided that we aren't being nasty and violent while we are protesting or supporting the ideology.

Seems to me that the some twisted up German psychopath went to work at first disarming the country's law-abiding citizens, picking out the troublemakers and having them quietly disposed of, stifling free speech by passing legislation in whatever their Parliamentary system was, segregating the population, and hosting some Olympic games in the late 30's. We called them Nazi's when we fought them in WW2 and lost 46,998 of the 2.5million Canadians that were enlisted in the effort.

I fear that we have started down a slippery slope that has nothing to do with skiing, sledding or skating.

When it happens in Canada, what are we going to call them?

I also wonder if I am still allowed to ask that question?
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Spring & Fall Fashion Round-up

Pantone has worked their usual magic and recently released their 2010 Fall Fashion Colour Report. The hot colours are:
PANTONE 13-0632 Endive
PANTONE 15-1050 Golden Glow
PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral
PANTONE 19-1764 Lipstick Red
PANTONE 18-3027 Purple Orchid
PANTONE 19-1526 Chocolate Truffle
PANTONE 16-5418 Lagoon
PANTONE 18-0538 Woodbine
PANTONE 14-1107 Oyster Gray
PANTONE 14-1307 Rose Dust

You can grab a copy of the free report here. It's a fun document because not only to you get an explanation of the colours but there are pages of fashion design where designers like Simmons of Baby Phat show a design concept in a particular colour. This may prove to be a useful tool for anyone planning a colour series for jewelry projects.

In reading the Spring 2010 Fashion Report from Bloomingdale's article on the Fashion Newspaper there is a predicted focus on wrist-wear and Lucite for the Spring 2010 season to go with the new leather shorts that you picked up to go with that great suit jacket.

Until next Tuesday, go browse the web.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Fringed Earrings

I remember making earrings out of fish lures years ago, more as a joke than anything. I also used feather fishing flies. Always removed the hook mind you and they always sold.

Fashion will always produce the last laugh by ensuring that the currently fashionable fringed earrings that are sported on celebs actually look a lot like fishing lures and sell for way more money.

Here's some fine examples of the fringe look that don't actually look as much like lures as some of the others on the market.



These are the Rachel Leigh Earring Pyramid Fringe Earrings. Cool, simple and elegant.

Have a fun week, and until next Tuesday, go browse the web.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Unusual Fashion Trends

Trends are an interesting thing to watch. They are sometimes fleeting and low cost, and other times, trendy items actually 'take' with the fashion audience and stick around for ages. Things that never seem to go out of style are classic trench coats or pearls, they just ebb and flow in the quantity and quirkiness.

Now the unusual fashion trends are fun to watch because one never really knows where it is going to go. Spotted the following article this morning:

Unusual Fashion Trends

Some may see the latest fashion trends as unusual or maybe just different from the norm. Either way, popular styles can stay or fade away faster than a pair of worn-out stonewash jeans. Some recent “unusual” fashion trends include:

* Makeup for Men: Makeup is no longer a tool for women to enhance their beauty. Men are now using makeup, too. Many men use everything from foundation to eye liner. While it seemed the norm for rock stars and news anchors to wear makeup, now more and more men are using cosmetics.

Yes, I am seeing this a bit more and more in the local club scene
where it doesn't seem to be just the domain of the Goth or Emo youth anymore.

* 'Hello Kitty' Jewelry for Adults: Hello Kitty has advanced from school supplies, stuffed animals and stickers to products for adults as well. There is a Hello Kitty-themed MasterCard, kitchen toasters, Bluetooth® head sets and diamond jewelry.

Scary but true, this has been an ongoing trend in the fashion forward jewelry magazines for at least 2 years. I also know that at least 5 years ago, someone re-skinned one of the guns for Unreal Tournament '04, and made an "Hello Kitty" version.


* Multi-colored Manicures: Celebrities such as Rihanna and Lindsay Lohan are oftentimes seen wearing a different color of polish on each fingernail polish.

Seeing this more and more too but it still seems to be in the domain of youth.

* Skinny Jeans for Men: Similar to makeup, skinny jeans started as a fashion trend for women. Now, men are shopping brands like Gap and Levi Strauss for jeans with tapered legs and narrow ankles.

Not for general use in this neck of the woods yet, but is visible in the club scene on a lot of ages.

* Liquid Leggings: This look is part of the rock star style. Liquid leggings are a leather version of the common Lycra or nylon stretch pants.

Leather leggings, bring 'em on. Far more durable then the other materials that have been popular in the last couple of years.

This article is presented by IADT – Nashville. Contact us today if you’re interested in developing marketable knowledge and career-relevant skills with an industry-current degree program from IADT – Nashville.

Have a fun week, and until next Tuesday, go browse the web.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Monday, January 4, 2010

Planning

Warning: I am navel-gazing today.

It's time for the word "planning" again. In the latter part of the year, it gets too busy to plan and I find myself on autopilot based on the plans from the first half.

I have almost printed my 2010 calendar where I have started to plot in the events for the 1st quarter. These include meetings and parties and appointments that I know about already. Show dates are getting penciled in for the year too. Classes will be added to the calendar as we go along.

The hardest is scheduling the not fun part of the work, that's the stuff that has nothing to do with being social or creative, like paperwork and planning, but still has to be done. One thing though that I have learned over the years is to schedule about 2.5 times more time for the job than what I initially estimate it taking. That allows time for errors, corrections, distractions, disturbances and just generally underestimating the work to begin with. It's pretty bang on for me at 2.5 times.

One of my main objectives for this month is cleaning out the magazines that have accumulated in the studio. This is something that I have been putting off - do I toss them completely into the recycle bin, or take the time to go back through them and clip the articles that may contain useful information? How much time do I want to spend on this becomes the real crux of the matter for me. I want the shelves for books, but I also want the information, but that means finding a way to file it so that it is still not consuming double digit feet of shelf space. Arghh... it's just a matter of time until what to do with this gets figured out, in the meantime, I am doing a Frenchy's run on Thursday.

Oh yes, Happy New Year, by the way.

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