Friday, March 27, 2009

this is not art related

waitressing on 2 hours of sleep is heinous.

heinous

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Ponoko and Other

Okay so....I finally got my first order from Ponoko! Very exciting! this was my introduction to having things laser cut.
So, the smallest shapes are destined to be earrings, the others pins, also down at the bottom of this is a piece I hand cut from this kind of felt board? It's felt...but it's been stiffened somehow, anyhow, it's based on growth of nerve cells.






Saturday, March 21, 2009

Back in New Paltz!

Okay so, here's a couple more images of whats currently happening. I'm still working on that netting piece, but since I have another head and I can never work on one thing at a time, heres some further progress with a piece of cell-colony inspired work. I am still very interested in the idea of something taking over the face/upper body of a person.




And my business cards finally arrived! I got them from http://www.moo.com/flickr/ and I am incredibly happy with the way they came out.

Friday, March 20, 2009

it just occurred to me I have not soldered anything together in about 2 months. I should fix that soon.....

Trapped, continued

continuation of work on netting:





Wednesday, March 18, 2009

MAD

Okay well I have a bit of downtime while I embrace some public transportation back to jersey so I thought I'd get a post in. The jewelry exhibit was very impressive,and I ran into Beth! Haha quite the nice surprise, so anyhow, it was pretty interesting going through all the drawers and getting to see so many vastly different pieces. I appreciated the diversity of forms and mediums and overall I found the collection stimulating with the exception of a few rather obnoxious items I personally could have done without. I got the chance to see a side of Myra's work that I had never experienced before and that Beth and I both considered very very different from any of her forming works that we had previously been exposed to (although a few floors up I saw one of her melting teapots as well). I also got to see a few Joyce Scott pieces, one of Ted Notens resin necklaces (one of my favorite collections) and a good lot of works concerning the body in a variety of ways. I'm pretty sure that's the "category" I will be focusing on for this paper (oh and I plan to post images later when I am not still on my blackberry :-) ) after seeing all this I left the Tiffany gallery and headed up through the rest of the museum. There were a few pieces I found intriguing for the most part though this place is really now my cup of tea....and for 15 dollars entry fee it is suuuuch a tiny museum. But I digress. In the open studios I met an artist who is collecting fingerprints on glass in enamel paint for a huge collection she's putting together, so I offered up my right hand.
I'm going to end here for now by just saying I loathe busses and bumpy roads.

Edit:
Okay home now, FINALLY off that god-awful bus so as promised, some pictures! (And this way I have a running record of influences =) )
Julia Barello, Vascular Studies II: Lung, 1996

Flora Book, Birds I, 1986

Rian de Jong, Vessel 2006-07

So this one was definitely one of my favorites for the day.
Marie Aimee Grimaldi, Bracelet, 2001

Dorothy Hogg, Neckpiece in the Artery Series (Large Circle), 2005

okay and one last one for today:
Lam de Wolf, Yellow Shoulder and Body Piece, 1983

That's all folks.

Wednesday

So today I'm trekking into the city to go to MAD. I hope I see something inspiring....

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Day 1 Continued

Older work that I haven't really posted anywhere. So these pieces were made in Fall of 2008. Having previously worked in a fine jewelry store, I have spent many hours untangling people's neglected, improperly stored chains. These pieces grew out of my desire to highlight these "flaws" as something beautiful. Imagine purchasing a chain that already had a knot carefully worked into it? The jeweler would hand you the box, chain inside carefully pinned into place so that no unnecessary knots would be added, and so that it was very clear all knots included were intentionally. The last piece shown "Purposeful Placement" arose from a common habit I have observed in people. Whenever a chain slips its way around the neck of its wearer so that the clasp is in the front, those who notice are inclined to reach up and adjust the wearer's jewelry for them. The lobster clasp shown in this piece is attached to a pin so that the wearer can fasten it where they wish the clasp to remain, short of ripping the wearer's shirt there is no chance the necklace can be repositioned, much to irritation of those who see it, and the amusement of the wearer who is aware of the hidden secret.



"Knot" Sterling Silver Fall 2008
"Knot" Sterling Silver Fall 2008
"Knot" Sterling Silver Fall 2008
"Knot" Sterling Silver Fall 2008

"Purposeful Placement" Sterling Silver Fall 2008

Day 1

Ah spring break. About time to catch up on half finished work, overlooked ideas and....to start a blog. Why not?
So, I suppose a little introduction might be in order, for anyone who sees this that doesn't know me. My name is Melanie, I am currently a senior at SUNY New Paltz, set to graduate in Fall 2009 with a BFA in Metals. I have a love/hate relationship with metal as a medium, and a life long love of jewelry and everything related to it. Although this blog will showcase a wide variety of mediums and works, I am most interested in exploring non traditional materials, and materials that are often overlooked and not generally considered to be of value. The ability of the title of jewelry to elevate the status of these materials fascinates me, and I feel opens the door for substances other than gold, silver and precious stones to be showcased on the body as a means of adornment. So for the moment I'm going to just post some in progress works, and from this point forward I'm going to do my best to keep everyone updated on my process as it happens. Comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome and appreciated.

On a whim a few weeks ago I ordered 2,000ish o-rings, these tiny little things have been made into chains, clusters and all sorts of things, until I decided to bust out my trusty Krazyglue and get to work on this :
For the past few months I have been exploring ways of incorporating science and cell biology, one of my other loves, into my work. I am very interested in this piece as it continues to grow, how the smaller o-rings are forced into position by those around them, and the clusters that they form.

Also in light of the suffocating feeling I have had in the past few years concerning my work, academics and the state of the world around me, I have started working in a very different direction. Using sewing thread and a crochet hook, I have been attempting to create a piece of work that slightly resembles fishermans netting. This will be the first piece I have ever worked on that will encompass the head/face region of the body, and I am hoping to achieve a sense of being trapped. I will post more photos when I have progressed further.