I'm a laughingstock!

Stevie B. is very happy to be participating in

LAUGHINGSTOCK - Humor in Art & Craft

Luke & Eloy Gallery

5169 Butler Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15201

"Laughingstock: Humor in Art & Craft"
Exhibition: November 15, 2008 - December 23, 2008

We explore how artists use irony, goofiness, satire, and sarcasm in their work. Can humor and satire stimulate laughter as well as serve as a vehicle to explore serious subjects, such as feminism, the natural environment, the excesses of consumer culture, religion, sexuality, social injustice, and war ? Can artwork be "funny" and critical at the same time? How does the artist's choice of materials affect the outcome so that the work is perceived as "funny"? What are the boundaries in humor and who gets to decide what these are?

Are there topics we are not allowed to laugh about ?

Various Media.

Participating artists:
Cheryl Eve Acosta
Stevie B.
Karen Bondarchuk
Sally Bozzuto
Chun Chun
Michele Cleveland
Gabriel Craig
Wendy Emery
Karen Gallup
Mindy Herrin
Rumi Ishino
Katrina Kosturko
Dan Krueger
Julia Lowther
Heather McCalla
James Obermeier
Deanna Ooley
Tod Pardon
Kerianne Quick
Corliss Rose
John Rose
Demitra Thomloudis
Amy Weiks
R. Weis
Colette Zilka

For more information please click here Luke & Eloy Gallery

Finished that Martini!

The Lover's Bench (with removable brooch)
martini glass created for Art of the Martini VII,
Zaruba & Zaruba gallery, Frederick, MD
Sterling silver, PVC, aluminum foil, resin, pigments, Prismacolor, charcoal, gesso, polyfiber, 23K gold leaf, yellow sapphire, Burma rubies, found objects, steel


The Lover's Bench (brooch)
removed from martini glass created for Art of the Martini VII,
Zaruba & Zaruba gallery, Frederick, MD
Sterling silver, PVC, resin, pigments, Prismacolor, 23K gold leaf, yellow sapphire, Burma rubies, found objects


Well, it's finally done :)

It was a very challenging project, and that's a bit of an understatement.
I've had millions of ideas buzzing in my head recently, none which would work with the glass, which only served to make matters worse. When my brain finally decided to give me a usable idea I quickly found Stainless Steel much harder to work with then I first imagined, and had to completely abandon my favorite idea because of time restraints. Silly brain.

Still, I am very happy with the way the glass and brooch turned out. I hope I have a chance at another glass next year, before this idea completely burns a hole in my head.



Visit ZaRUBa & ZaRUBa for more information. You can even go and buy my glass if you wish ;)

Foiled!

The Collector's Gambit : from the Foiled! Series, Brooch, 2008
Sterling silver, Faux Bone™, aluminum, epoxy resin,
pigment, pastel, charcoal, marker, patina

This is the first piece from the "Foiled!" series, one of the three series I am working on. I need to re-shoot the picture at some later date but it's alright for now.

There's a meaning to the series but I'll leave that to interpretation...

...Have to run anyway, need to finish something else...

Hope you enjoy it :)

I'm Going MAD!!!

MAD MUSEUM GRAND OPENING

September 27-28, 2008

Grand opening of MAD's new home at 2 Columbus Circle
10 AM to 5 PM

Free admission to the public.

Exhibitions:

Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary

September 27, 2008 - February 15, 2009

Elegant Armor: The Art of Jewelry

September 27, 2008 - May 31, 2009

Permanently MAD: Revealing the Collection

September 27, 2008 - February 15, 2009

There is a pre-opening for members
on September 25.

I will be attending the pre-opening and artists reception and will also try to make the public opening on the 27th or 28th depending on what life throws my way.

For more information: MAD MUSEUM

What Do You Hope To Find When You Search For That Elusive I?

Venus I Trap

When I first finished the brooch Fresh Clean Scent I didn't imagine I would make it into a series. But I kept getting compliments on it, and since I like the challenge, I've decide to see what I can do with the same laundry cap.

Venus I Trap is the 2nd of the Fresh Clean Scent Series (tentative series name only), and will probably be the last flower-like piece I do. The cap takes too easily to flower shapes, and who want's easy?
I'm kinda happy about this series as I've been meaning to do a full series or two. People seem to like art jewelry in a series, and galleries definitely do. And since my focus is now getting into a gallery (I have a few in mind) I welcome the change.

To be honest, it's been difficult changing my mindset. I usually just like doing what I feel like and exploring different medium and techniques. I usually have way more ideas that I have time or hands for, my overwhelming number of filled sketchbooks ((DIB) Dead Ideas Books) attest to that. But doing a series is helping me to focus (of course I am currently working on 3 different series at once, but I need to do that for sanity sakes). Now when an idea pops in my head, usually while I am working on something entirely different, I write it down and do a quick sketch on a scrap of paper, and continue to work on what I was doing before I was rudely interrupted by myself. Later, I staple them or re-sketch them in a new DIB, with the hope of resurrecting them all one fine day.

A day when I have 13 arms and all the time in the world.


Venus I Trap on Canvas*

*On the back of the canvas:
"What Do You Hope To Find When You Search For That Elusive I?"

Now That I Have It, What Do I Do?

My Steel Martini Glass

Ever since I learned about the Martini 7 event over at Zaruba & Zaruba (I know it says 8 but I'm sure it's 7) I've had a few great ideas.

When I found out I was accepted I had a few more great ideas.

As I waited for my glass to arrive I had even more great ideas.

Now that I have the steel martini glass in my hands I have no ideas at all, and all those past "great ideas" I now hate.

Oh well, I have almost 2 months to come up with something... Any suggestions? :)

AKA-Object and Image

Marjorie Simon

"The original members of AKA:92, an association of jewelry artists were students of the noted metalsmith and teacher Bob Ebendorf. The four women artists, Susan Kasson Sloan, Marjorie Simon, Biba Schutz and Ginny Whitney, rightly suspected they might have more visibility as a group than as individuals, and in 1989, AKA:92 was born."

The show is at the the Lynn Tendler Bignell exhibition gallery at the Brookfield Craft Center and runs from August 17 – September 28.

I got to catch the opening and the work is fantastic! I also had the chance to talk with Susan and Ginny and both women were happy to share their vast knowledge and expertise. A very inspirational show! For not only was the art work inspiring but now I am in search for a few local artists to form a group-- May we last as long.

19th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show

Stevie B. is proud to be one of the artists featured in the upcoming 19th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show and plans on attending the artists' reception on Saturday, July 26, from 2 - 4 PM. Stevie B. was also included in the 17th show in 2006.

"The 19th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show features artists who reside or work, past or present, in New Jersey or are otherwise connected to the state. This year's esteemed juror is Dr. Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, the curator of the Jersey City Museum. Awards are presented at the artists' reception."

Quote from The Art School at Old Church website.

For further information and directions please visit http://tasoc.org/

"The Process" - Part 1 - An Introduction

"Enjoy the process"

How many times have you heard that phrase? I have, many times, and I think all artists have from time to time. It's something instructors love to say, like a simple mantra, which is suppose to answer almost everything.

To be honest, when I first started making jewelry I hated this mantra. I fought against it and everything that it stood for. I would ask questions like,

"Why do I have to cut this piece of silver with a jeweler's saw? Where's the jig-saw?"
"Why can't I just use the belt sander instead of a file?"
"What do you mean I have to sand this by hand!?"
"When will my piece be done? Isn't it good enough?"

I would get tired with my piece, the holy "process", and decide quickly that the piece was "finished". I just wanted it done and "poof!", like magic, it was.

Of course I made a lot of crap back then. Expensive crap, but crap nonetheless. Of course, the refiner loved it.

It took me years to "enjoy the process", to understand its Way. And in turn how to better understand myself and how I relate to "the process", and how it relates to me.

Do I still make crap? Sure! That's the risk we all take as artists when trying to do anything out of our zone of comfort. But to me, that's what being an artist is all about. Pushing ourselves, our skills, our art, beyond that which we know.

So, even though I do "enjoy the process" ("love" may be a better word), I still, sometimes, make utter crap. The diffrence now is that I learn from the crap I make, and use that knowledge to refine my skills and my art. And I enjoy it the whole time.

Stevie B.
www.steviebjewelry.com

The hope for "The Process" and this blog in general is to try and help other artists and to educate the interested who may be unaware of what really goes on and how much time and effort is spent when making studio jewelry. I plan on doing this by documenting what I went through and sharing those things that helped me. I also plan to share a few new works, from conception through to completion.