Wire and Beads !

Yesterday I taught my first Wire and Beads Bracelet Class at Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria. We had a wonderful time and my students made some amazing pieces of jewelry!!

Once I got them past the fear of making an error when bending the wire and we discussed some design and structural points, they were all off and bending and adding beads!

Below you can see the works in progress.  We had a marvelous time catching up and sharing bead stash and helping each other make design decisions.  All three left, after shopping in Judy's amazing shop of artistic must have 's and delectable  and enticing creative supplies , with their beads and wire and plans to go home and complete their masterpieces.  I will definitely be offering this class again soon, as many shop patrons came by to see what all the hub-bub was about .

This is Jackie's piece using antiqued bronze wire.

Kathy used silver wire and primary colored beads for her striking piece.

Janice went with purple beads and black wire to add her special style to her bracelet!


Artistic Artifacts has a wonderful roster of classes and we are adding new classes and dates on a regular basis.  Prices for our classes are incredibly reasonable and we are always anxious to work with individuals who have new class ideas and a group who wants to learn.  Bring us a small group and we will design a  class to meet your specific needs and desires.  it does not get better than that!!!
Art On everyone!!!




http://www.artisticartifacts.com/annex.htmhttp://www.artisticartifacts.com/annex.htm

Studio 7- Artful Dimensions- A New Art Home!

It has been a long stretch since my last post. I was on track to change this habit for 2012 but then something came about that put all of my Art Spaces in a Dither!!! Art Spaces?? Plural??? "What is she talking about?", you may be saying to yourself. I know that I would be if I were you! Well the bottom line and big news is, I am now the proud and delighted resident of Studio 7 at Artful Dimensions Gallery in Fredericksburg Va!! My fiber art was juried intot his unique gallery dedicated solely to 3-D works, back at the beginning of December and I was thrilled. This is a true artists cooperative with each member working at the front desk several times a month and sharing all of the duties for keeping such a concern running. We are also a Non- Profit organization and one of the top goals on our mission statement is to offer lots of community outreach in the arts. That means lots of classes at reasonable and affordable prices as well as free events . I have searching for a teaching venue and now I have one!! Artful Dimensions has a dedicated classroom space that will soon be buzzing with activity with all sorts of artistic exploration.!

I took my husband down to see the place on New Years Day as I had to drop off some new work. There we met our organizational President and ceramic sculptor extraordinaire, Christine Lush -Rodriguez. Tom was so impressed with all that had been done to renovate the warehouse/garage/wood workers/Rave site/space and so impressed with the atmosphere and the all that came with the organization, that as we were leaving he asked me when I was going to apply for a studio space!!! I was flabbergasted!! Now you all know that I have a large space in my basement and that it is in a constant state of use and upheaval and I thought that in no way would I even begin to consider renting a studio as I had all that I did already. He obviously thought other wise! it took him about 5 minutes to convince me that I NEEDED to be down at Artful Dimensions and a vital part of the community that was being created and that I could not afford not to rent a studio!! So I am now fully ensconced in Studio 7 with the beautiful purple transom over my door- Meant to be!!!

(At the time that I made my move in plans ,there were only Studio 7 and 8 free- The transom of Studio 7 would have been one of my favorites had all the studio's been available!!)

moving in

We made the decision on Thursday January 5, delivered the check on Friday January 6 and started to move tables form my basement studio down to Studio 7.

One corner of my space with a comfy chair waiting for visitors , next to one of my shelf units full of fiber books and some art samples.

(Bringing in a comfy chair started a bit of a ruckus in the gallery as several of my fellow studio artists scurried about to outfit their spaces with comfortable seating. It was either that or lock my door so my yellow chair did not up and leave the room!!:) )

My plans are to move my fiber arts work- Embellisher machine, felting, some sewing and book arts projects down to Studio 7 and leave everything else at my home studio. There were some added benefits to all of this moving. Much of the overflow clutter in our garage has now been sorted, purged and reassigned to spaces in the basement studio , freeing up lots of garage space.

In my next post I will have more pictures of my space but for now I want to share some of the artwork that is featured in our wonderful gallery and created by the 14 other artists members of our cooperative. ( I will provide links to web sites for those artists who have a web presence so be sure to check them out.)

Ceramic Sculpture by Christine Lush-Rodriguez

Fabulous wood sculpture by artists Brian Raynor (right) and Joe Wilkinson (left)

ceramic wall piece by Christine Lush- Rodriguez.

Amazing miniature polymer clay relief sculpture by artist Melissa Terlizzi. This piece measures 5 x 7 inches in total.

Sculptural work with found objects (racing bibs) by mixed media Sculptor Laura Allen.

The stunning silk weavings of weaver Diane Kowalski, amazing to see all done is silk!!

Three of my sun printed and beaded art quilts.

Wonderful fiber wrapped cactus sculpture by fiber artist and painter Lynette Reed.

The delightful Mantis Praying by metal artist Bill Richardson.

Stunning glass work by glass artist Ben Childers.

Wonderful semi -precious stone and bead jewelry by artist Dee Antil.

These are just a few of the highlights o the artwork behind offered at this amazing new Gallery! I hope that any and all of you will drop by in person or virtually to see what is going on as we continue to grow!! We are on the hunt for at least 15 more Artist members so if you do 3-D work and live int he area and want more info, drop me a line and I will set you up with an application to begin the jury process!! This is going to be so much fun!!!!

I will be back very soon with more news about my new adventures, some new projects and processes and general info about my whirlwind art adventures!!

Big Book Project

I have been holding off on sharing this commissioned book project till after the holidays. A good friend from my previous home in Stillwater, OK, asked me to create a Journal/Book for her cousin for Christmas. I am a friend of the cousin as our tow boys were in Scouts and school together. I was given a list of things that I might consider including and set on my task. The book was delivered and it drew raves!! I was so excited to get such a response. I have yet to hear how the gift was received but I trust that all is well- No News is Good News, after all!
I am going to post a bunch of pictures with very little chatter. The covers will be first and if anyone has any questions be sure to leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail and I will be glad to share!!!

I used two covers from a discarded book for the supports and covered them with a first layer of denim form an old pair of jeans. Then I collaged the denim with various fabrics most of which I designed myself. (sun prints, clean up rags,) Any of the other fabrics used were reclaimed from my fabric scraps or repurposed thrift store finds.
I stitched int he fabric covered signatures with linen thread and secured them to the spine with my hand made beads.
Inside front cover.

random pocket page on the right

pocket made with security envelope (on the right)

I am gathering more materials daily and I plan to make several more of these journals in the near future! The biggest issue that I had with creating this piece was knowing when to stop adding special touches!! Oh yes, and then when it came time to send it out into the world, I really wanted to keep this one but convinced myself that I had plenty of supplies to make many more!!!

I hope that everyone is able to squeeze in a tiny bit of time to be creative every day in 2012~~~

Happy New Year!!

2012 Creativity Kick Off Winners!!!

So sorry to be so tardy with the results of the Give Away. I have barely had time to sit at the computer over the past several days!!
I have just plugged the numbers assigned to each comment-or into the Random Numbers Generator and ............................. Drumroll, PLEASE

The winner of the BEADS is Wendy with #7!! Congrats to Wendy of Quilts by the Sea and it is delightful to meet you!!!

The winner of the Fabric is Penny of Back Valley Seasons with #4. And you said that you never win anything- can't make that claim any more!!!

Both of these creative ladies have wonderful blogs that I am just now discovering so be sure to stop by and pay them a visit. And if you would be so kind,leave them a quick comment , I am sure that they enjoy comments as much as I do!!!
So ladies, I need to get your snail mail addresses so I can get these little tokens on their way to you!!!
Thank you all for sharing your words for 2012 and your many comments and all of the support that you give me throughout the year!! Getting comments from my readers really means a lot to me.
Let the awesome creativeness that we all possess begin !!!! May your Muse feed you well all year through!!!