"Rapports Familiaux"

This neckpiece is the third of five neckpieces created for my BFA Thesis Exhbition. It addresses familial relationships and how sometimes those relationships are so damaged they cannot be repaired. The necklace was created with old records and forty-five adapters; these objects are tied to memories of my oldest sister and her relationship with family members.

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts

This was what I worked on for two straight weeks while at Haystack in the summer of 2009. I would wake at 5:30 am shower, get dressed, head to the metal studio and work all day and into the night taking breaks for meals and occasionally a stroll to the water for some relatxation. I often worked until 11:00 and 12:00 at night and headed back to my room to write in my jounal. Some nights we had demonstrations from other artists and mediums, auctions, etc. Occasionally I would take an afternoon off to head to town and check out the gallery's and do some shopping and some afternoons I would go for a run. The best part of the trip were my instructors, Fred Fenster and Hiroko Yamada. They were fabulous and fun and very knowledgeable in Pewter. The theme for the class was "Tableware". Our instruction included, raising to make cups, score and fold, a collapsing technique and some anticlastic raising. I decided to make a teapot, it was something I had wanted to make since my start in art metals. Hiroko made sure I was challenged and had me add some design elements that really made the teapot more interesting to look at. I went with the asian inspired roller print on the four sides. I was very interested in curved lines, but had no experience in the sinking or raising at that point, so I settled on making a four sided teapot. I used the score and fold technique on the lid, which used to have a pewter ball on top (this was lost while being displayed at the Meridian Library) to help with the removal of the lid. The teapot is usable, and in fact the holes where the water drains through on the inside were drilled to spell out Hiroko and Fred in Japanese, so if someone were to take this apart one day they would find those names. I learned lot while I was at Haystack and being on an island with many artists for two full weeks was inspiring.

Art Metals

The images from left to right: a raised cup in copper, a sanddollar in copper and brass, hotwheels in cast bronze and leggo wheels, a bowl sunk in copper. I really had fun with most of these projects. The sinking and raising of bowls and cups was really quite fun; the planishing was the best part. The sanddollar was a great project as well and I enjoyed making something that reminded me of home. The hot wheels was my least favorite project, it involved casting three found objects, trading with classmates and winding up with three that we had to put together in a narrative. I ended up a frog, a half of hollow pepper and a slice of pizza. My narrative is about a memory of playing with my brothers hot wheels cars and his yellow hot wheels race track. I wasn't able to find any yellow tracks or a piece of that would have been included.

Sculpture

These are images of two sculptures that I completed in my advanced sculpture class Fall 2010 semester at Boise State University. In the first piece, the human heart with the needle through it, the assignment was to take a small object and enlarge it, and take a large object and shrink it then put them together to create a sculpture with a meaning. Because heart disease was big in my family and I lost both my brother and dad from enlarged hearts within 6 months of each other I decided on a needle through the heart to represent heart attack. The second piece was a pez with a little duck on it, I cast the fly out of wax and added the fly in between the pez dispenser and the duck. The assignment again was to take two objects and create a narrative. The whole idea behind this piece was how Pez puts cutsy or popular characters on top of their dispensers to lure kids to buy their product and eat their candy, while at the same time rotting their teeth. The fly represents both the marketers who use any means possible to sell products and tooth decay.

Art Metals

These are images of some of the projects that I worked on in my art metals class at Boise State under the direction of Professor Anika Smulovitz. The first image from left to right; guitar pic and sterling silver earrings (an assignment), the other three pairs of earrings, ring and bracelets were done for fun on my own time.

The second image contains a few of my plexiglass themed rings I did for our multiples assignment and metals sale.

The next photo is my "Breathe" necklace which was done as an assignment. The reuirement was to use multiples of an object and create an adornment with it.

My daughter is an asthmatic and I had a collection of hundreds of these asthma medication vials along with an outdated nebulizer, so I created this piece. I also used the twist off tops of the medicine vials to add to the necklace.

To the right of the "Breathe" necklace is just some computer part earrings and necklace that I was experimenting with. Although the necklace and earrings are pretty simple looking they are really quite pretty as jewlery and I have been experiementing with cutting the materials and trying to layer different shapes and pieces.

Container Ring

This is a ring that I made in my second metals class. I had a lot of fun with this project, and although it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to I was still pleased with the end result. My plan was to have a bow on the top of the ring to represent eternal families, but time and inexperience prevented me from attempting the bow so I settled for these flowers. The ring contains small sterling silver symbols that represent each of my immediate family members, each with their first inital stamped on it. It is not a very practical piece to wear because of it's size.

Mid Coast Art Glass and Restoration

These are just a few images of the work that I was commissioned to do when I had my glass business. I started this business both out of enjoying the hobby of glass work and out of the need to pay for the hobby. I first started by putting displays up in local stores like lumber companies that put in kitchens, a local clay place, and places that sold windows and doors. I made business cards, and advertised in both the newspaper and the yellow pages of the phone book. My business exploded within a year and I was booked a year in advance for commission pieces. I was the only stained glass business in the coastal area of Maine. My mentors, Jim Nutting and Nel Bernard, who own Maine Art Glass Studio and Gallery, sent business my way that they didn't have time to do, and I would send business their way that was too big for me to do. They continued to mentor me when there was something that I didn't know or when I needed help on certain projects. Sadly I was forced to close my business when we moved to Idaho and shortly after I began attending classes at University of Nevada Reno. My hope is to start teaching classes again, and maybe a little bit of commission work once I graduate.