Check out the new tools in my Ladysmithsupply shop on Etsy!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Architectural Jewelry
Today Beverly Ash Gilbert and I walked along Milwaukee's riverwalk. She showed me these wonderful pieces of GIANT jewelry called "River Gems Urban Jewelry" made by John Ready. I ADORE them!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Chopstick Hammah!
Ken Bova was recently here in North Carolina and did workshop at Pullen Art Center in Raleigh. He taught how to make these adorable little homemade riveting hammers with a nail and chopstick. This is one I made. I'm currently pestering Ken to teach this more! Especially at Adorn Me, or Artfest or Bead & Button. I KNOW you folks would eat these up! And Ken is a fabulous instructor and generous, kind person... a metals rocks star!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Re-adjustments
So I'm driving Meredith around... traffic jam, gridlock we can't see what the problem is. I'm about out of gas so I make a U turn and we go a different direction, clear the other end of the county... she's slightly late to her end of year party... I have to drive home and then turn right around and come right back to get her. I have things to do! a workshop tomorrow... stressssss! Then at the next stop light I am roasting in the baking 6 o'clock NC sun, soI roll down my window. Suddenly to my left in the other lane there's a man 50's I guess? graying hair, in a beat up older elantra... he's singing. I mean really singing! as in belting out opera!
...nice, mellow, tenor voice drifting out of his rolled down windows.
wow.
traffic what traffic?
...nice, mellow, tenor voice drifting out of his rolled down windows.
wow.
traffic what traffic?
Friday, May 6, 2011
Manteo, NC!
Imagine yourself on the waterfront in Manteo, NC making art with me and my artist/metalsmith pal Kim Beller.... well make it a reality!
Join Kim and I, June 18th for a day long Book Making Journey at "Good For You" in Manteo, NC. "Good For You" is a sanctuary of calm, a yoga & massage studio and emporium of unique gifts on Sir Walter Raleigh Street. Beginning at 9 that morning, Kim and I will guide you through carving a stamp all your own and etching your stamp's design onto a copper bookplate to adorn you book. We will then delve into the delights of art journalling. We'll show you a plethora of techniques for painting, collage-ing, decorating and embellishing your own special art journal unlike any other. You will walk away with knowledge, a stamp to use over and over, memories and a fabulous keepsake book that you will enjoy for years to come. And here's the icing- you get to do all that in Manteo, NC! Walk the waterfront, visit the Elizabethan gardens, explore Sir Walter Raleigh Antiques next door, rent a bike or kayak the next day, walk the quaint streets, enjoy the brewery cafe down the street... What a weekend!
The Saturday workshop is $125.00 and includes materials and supplies, lunch, goodies to take home and an unforgettable journey!
pre-registration required (contact me for more information)
cash or checks accepted
*please bring anything personal you would like to use in your journal….
(old photos or copies, fabric, yarns, ribbons, cord, love notes, post cards, stamps, etc) the sky is the limit!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Home Stretch
So, I got back from Art & Soul Hampton Tuesday night and had to hit the ground running Wednesday as it was the last day for my Metals 1 and Metals 2 M/W/F classes. All their grades and attendance needed logging in and final submissions were due to the college. Today is the last day for the two Metals 1 T/TH classes. *sigh* ah.... it's almost over. While I love my students (and WAIT til you see what my Metals 2er's made for me while I was in VA!!!! more on that later!) I just desperately need a break. I awoke to soft cool temperatures... what a blessing... and this! I have to share what my fabulously clever colleague Ben Billingsley so humorously wrote this morning:
"Captain's log - stardate 05052011... By 9:30 a.m. grades will close for 3 classes, by 12:15 p.m. 2 more - last one by 1:45. Final grades and online attendance - from hell's heart I stab at thee!"
I agree..... from hell's heart......
well, maybe you had to be there but I thought it HILARIOUS!
Mica Mania
I will be teaching a day workshop, or as my friend Kim Beller says "playshop", at A Place To Bead here in Wilmington, NC. Join us on Saturday, May 14th.
I will show you how to work with sheets of mica, a natural mineral that forms right here in the mountains of NC. We will use the mica to make little window panes over tiny images with copper washers, like little portholes. I will show you how to texture, drill, and rivet. This will be a fun day making charms for beginners and veteran metalsmiths alike. Bring your own little images or use some of mine. Learn to connect your window charms to chain or earwires and have a blast browsing A Place To Bead's extensive collection to add to your jewelry.
If you'd like to see the charm samples in person, go by A Place To Bead on College Rd. next to Dick's Sporting Goods.
For more information and/or to sign up, contact A Place To Bead at 910-799-2928.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Limits
I'm reaching limits.
Fraying
Unraveling
...becoming unglued.
...Too many obligations, too much to try to keep together. It is SO true that if you do too many things you do none of them well. A Chinese proverbs says that if you chase two rabbits you catch neither of them.
So what to do? What spinning plate do I drop?
Thankfully the long weekend offered some respite.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Taking Stock
So, maybe I'm a little strung out... I've had a LOT going on, book edits, students needs, health issues, dealing with doctors, bills... no insurance... *sigh* whatever! That's not really the point, except I feel all weepy writing my letter to an award committee at the community college where I teach.
I'd like to share it with you. Because whether or not I get this award (LOTS of other talented folks have been nominated) I know deep inside that.... hm... well that this stuff is good stuff... the teaching, the connecting, the sharing and imparting knowledge, the laughter and comraderie in the studio. It's all been worth any hassles or politics or not enough pay.
Marilyn Goodman Anderson
Endowed Award for Excellence in Teaching
April 8th 2011
Dear Award Committee,
I want some specific transformations to occur in all my students. Some of those will occur, some of them might occur, and then some of them I hope for, but will never see because they will occur many years from now.
I intend for my students to get the fundamentals of the subject matter, of course that’s a given. I want them to walk away with a basic understanding of say, how to solder, or what controlled deformation of metal can occur through folding and annealing, or the concept of intaglio etching on copper. I want to be able to measure improvement from the time they enter my classroom, to the time they leave it. That’s the bottom line. But that’s just nuts and bolts - teach subject, impart knowledge, test, grade, end of subject. That’s nice, and well, a tad boring. Teaching dry like that doesn’t cause a whole lot of transformation. But metalsmithing has at its roots ancient magic, alchemy! So as a metalsmith I have to wonder what is a college experience without a little alchemy? Why am I doing this if not for the love of my subject, and the giddy pleasure of sharing it? There are other jobs for pete’s sake. Why should I do this then, this teaching?
I deal with flames and crucibles. I forge and mold. I refine with the fire and shape with files and grinding wheels, removing material, smoothing hard substances and shining them up to a glow. I do this to my students. Sometimes they are aware of it, most of the time they are not. They do the assignments, but often don’t see the subtle texture that my class might leave on them. I feel the metaphors we borrow from metals are no accident. Therefore, I illustrate this with every demonstration of a tool or a technique. Artists wrestle through process. Life is process. We all must continually process information, decisions, directions, paths and outcomes. I strive every day to make my classroom the crucible where I illustrate conceptual thought about physical process. I want my classroom to be a place in which my students not only come to understand physical processes and their outcomes but how those processes, those lessons, those assignments are a microcosm of their lives. I try to open their minds to thought as they work. I vigilantly illustrate metal to hand to mind to world. I instill that what we do we become. What we think we become. Metalsmithing is an exacting craft that requires so many qualities that are missing in our young today, or are not emphasized in our fast paced world: discipline, diligence, patience, presence, mindfulness of the current moment. In these things I hope to make an impact on my students.
Science has shown that working with the hands can unlock primordial learning centers in the brain. It can fire synapses that need a jolt, synapses that have been numbed by our gadget using video game playing young. Many of the students I have enrolled in my classes have never used a tool of any kind! The real magic comes when they master the tools and techniques and they are proud of what they make. I am so fulfilled when they tell me how much they love using their hands to produce things of value. Humans have a deep need to produce, to create. I know my class empowers my students to see the impact they make on the metal. And it changes their perspective of themselves when they are proud of their work and then see the ripple affect of their work on the people around them. And when others admire their work it infuses them with even greater inner value! What a joy to make a difference in a student’s life, to help them see themselves as valuable, and to help them glimpse what they are capable of!
Again, I deal with flame and I want to ignite my students. I want to see them burn with passion about whatever subject they choose. Metaphorically, I pile wood up everyday just anticipating the moment when I get to light the match. That match might be handing them just the right book, or showing them a new tool. Sure, I could just show techniques. But please know the rapture I feel when I can get across the interconnectedness of that one technique, to the history of mankind, man’s relationship to his hands, to tools, and to the metal, and what it means to us now, in this place, on this day, in this time. I see the world as a fabulous place to learn with amazing revelations around every corner, with so many disciplines intertwined in our human history. I want them to see that too. I take utter and delicious glee when the moment comes that I might perform just the right demonstration and pair it with just the right verbal lesson about history, chemistry or best of all philosophy, or traits like patience, or diligence and their payoffs. I love the “Ah ha’s!” spreading about the room. I feel then like the magician who tears away the cloak and reveals that the sawn lady is in fact all safely in one piece. Life is too short for learning to be boring. Learning should have drama! Learning should be full of thrills, chills, laughter and emotion. I like them terrified of melting their hard won work, and then ecstatic when they succeed without melting it. I tell them my classes can be like roller coasters. If they aren’t feeling these things then they don’t care. If they don’t care, how will they ever care to remember anything I tell them? People need to invest themselves in the process. I require it. I require intention. I tell them this everyday.
I know I have succeeded and my students are consumed, burning with questions, thought, contemplation. I know I have won them when they tell me that they couldn’t sleep for solving some logistical metals problem, or when they come into the lab three hours early just to execute an idea they had while driving home last night, or when they email me bursting with excitement about figuring out a project’s conclusion. These are the times I know they are thinking critically about the subject, and that they are making the connections. The synapses are awakened! These are the transformations I get to see. The ones that I may never see are the ones that I hope will occur possibly long after I am gone, when they teach someone else what they learned from me, or when they reflect on a concept we discussed many years ago.
Like an ancient alchemist, I am on a burning quest to take my raw material and through transmutation in the furnace of my subject matter, create gold. My students are the lead that I hope to change. But long ago in the pursuit of ancient alchemy and its allegory and metaphor, it was believed the alchemist himself was improved. And thus I am myself changed. I learn and am forever making adjustments in my own processes. I become addicted to this give and take, the process occurring within the process of teaching them. The more passionate they become, the later after class I linger to see how their project turned out. Passion is infectious.
I confidently know, without a doubt that I have changed some of my student’s lives in a positive way. I had a student tell me the other day, “Ms. Manley you may not know this, but I really don’t have very good self esteem. And I am so utterly proud of this (holding up a piece she made in my class). I have never been so proud of myself. I just keep looking at and thinking about the whole process of making it and it’s kind of amazing. Thank you.”
Yep, if I could I’d teach for free.
I'd like to share it with you. Because whether or not I get this award (LOTS of other talented folks have been nominated) I know deep inside that.... hm... well that this stuff is good stuff... the teaching, the connecting, the sharing and imparting knowledge, the laughter and comraderie in the studio. It's all been worth any hassles or politics or not enough pay.
Marilyn Goodman Anderson
Endowed Award for Excellence in Teaching
April 8th 2011
Dear Award Committee,
I want some specific transformations to occur in all my students. Some of those will occur, some of them might occur, and then some of them I hope for, but will never see because they will occur many years from now.
I intend for my students to get the fundamentals of the subject matter, of course that’s a given. I want them to walk away with a basic understanding of say, how to solder, or what controlled deformation of metal can occur through folding and annealing, or the concept of intaglio etching on copper. I want to be able to measure improvement from the time they enter my classroom, to the time they leave it. That’s the bottom line. But that’s just nuts and bolts - teach subject, impart knowledge, test, grade, end of subject. That’s nice, and well, a tad boring. Teaching dry like that doesn’t cause a whole lot of transformation. But metalsmithing has at its roots ancient magic, alchemy! So as a metalsmith I have to wonder what is a college experience without a little alchemy? Why am I doing this if not for the love of my subject, and the giddy pleasure of sharing it? There are other jobs for pete’s sake. Why should I do this then, this teaching?
I deal with flames and crucibles. I forge and mold. I refine with the fire and shape with files and grinding wheels, removing material, smoothing hard substances and shining them up to a glow. I do this to my students. Sometimes they are aware of it, most of the time they are not. They do the assignments, but often don’t see the subtle texture that my class might leave on them. I feel the metaphors we borrow from metals are no accident. Therefore, I illustrate this with every demonstration of a tool or a technique. Artists wrestle through process. Life is process. We all must continually process information, decisions, directions, paths and outcomes. I strive every day to make my classroom the crucible where I illustrate conceptual thought about physical process. I want my classroom to be a place in which my students not only come to understand physical processes and their outcomes but how those processes, those lessons, those assignments are a microcosm of their lives. I try to open their minds to thought as they work. I vigilantly illustrate metal to hand to mind to world. I instill that what we do we become. What we think we become. Metalsmithing is an exacting craft that requires so many qualities that are missing in our young today, or are not emphasized in our fast paced world: discipline, diligence, patience, presence, mindfulness of the current moment. In these things I hope to make an impact on my students.
Science has shown that working with the hands can unlock primordial learning centers in the brain. It can fire synapses that need a jolt, synapses that have been numbed by our gadget using video game playing young. Many of the students I have enrolled in my classes have never used a tool of any kind! The real magic comes when they master the tools and techniques and they are proud of what they make. I am so fulfilled when they tell me how much they love using their hands to produce things of value. Humans have a deep need to produce, to create. I know my class empowers my students to see the impact they make on the metal. And it changes their perspective of themselves when they are proud of their work and then see the ripple affect of their work on the people around them. And when others admire their work it infuses them with even greater inner value! What a joy to make a difference in a student’s life, to help them see themselves as valuable, and to help them glimpse what they are capable of!
Again, I deal with flame and I want to ignite my students. I want to see them burn with passion about whatever subject they choose. Metaphorically, I pile wood up everyday just anticipating the moment when I get to light the match. That match might be handing them just the right book, or showing them a new tool. Sure, I could just show techniques. But please know the rapture I feel when I can get across the interconnectedness of that one technique, to the history of mankind, man’s relationship to his hands, to tools, and to the metal, and what it means to us now, in this place, on this day, in this time. I see the world as a fabulous place to learn with amazing revelations around every corner, with so many disciplines intertwined in our human history. I want them to see that too. I take utter and delicious glee when the moment comes that I might perform just the right demonstration and pair it with just the right verbal lesson about history, chemistry or best of all philosophy, or traits like patience, or diligence and their payoffs. I love the “Ah ha’s!” spreading about the room. I feel then like the magician who tears away the cloak and reveals that the sawn lady is in fact all safely in one piece. Life is too short for learning to be boring. Learning should have drama! Learning should be full of thrills, chills, laughter and emotion. I like them terrified of melting their hard won work, and then ecstatic when they succeed without melting it. I tell them my classes can be like roller coasters. If they aren’t feeling these things then they don’t care. If they don’t care, how will they ever care to remember anything I tell them? People need to invest themselves in the process. I require it. I require intention. I tell them this everyday.
I know I have succeeded and my students are consumed, burning with questions, thought, contemplation. I know I have won them when they tell me that they couldn’t sleep for solving some logistical metals problem, or when they come into the lab three hours early just to execute an idea they had while driving home last night, or when they email me bursting with excitement about figuring out a project’s conclusion. These are the times I know they are thinking critically about the subject, and that they are making the connections. The synapses are awakened! These are the transformations I get to see. The ones that I may never see are the ones that I hope will occur possibly long after I am gone, when they teach someone else what they learned from me, or when they reflect on a concept we discussed many years ago.
Like an ancient alchemist, I am on a burning quest to take my raw material and through transmutation in the furnace of my subject matter, create gold. My students are the lead that I hope to change. But long ago in the pursuit of ancient alchemy and its allegory and metaphor, it was believed the alchemist himself was improved. And thus I am myself changed. I learn and am forever making adjustments in my own processes. I become addicted to this give and take, the process occurring within the process of teaching them. The more passionate they become, the later after class I linger to see how their project turned out. Passion is infectious.
I confidently know, without a doubt that I have changed some of my student’s lives in a positive way. I had a student tell me the other day, “Ms. Manley you may not know this, but I really don’t have very good self esteem. And I am so utterly proud of this (holding up a piece she made in my class). I have never been so proud of myself. I just keep looking at and thinking about the whole process of making it and it’s kind of amazing. Thank you.”
Yep, if I could I’d teach for free.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Candy
Wish I could enamel these all day long, everyday, and do nothing else.Now to make earrings and things out of them!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Zombie!
My community college student and friend Ashley, wearing her fabulous zombie jeans!
Isn't she clever!? I bet I could get her to take commissions......
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Oxygen
I'm now back from "Adorn Me!" in Houston and what a great time!
Met Janice Berkebile and what FUN we had! Up to all hours yaking.....
I thought I'd share this image. Its creativity coach Jill Badonsky's from her freeing your creativity newsletter. You can subscribe here. The newsletter title this time was "Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard".
The image came with the caption "creativity is my oxygen".
So true.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Western Tapestry
I love films. Hey, we all do, right? Often I love films others could care less about or even can't stand! And often I stumble upon things way after they've been long forgotten by the rest of the world. And I really love westerns.
I recently saw True Grit. Enough, I'm sure, has been said about it these days. Fantastic of course, and I plan to see it again. My western obsession needed another fix last night, so Robert and I watched The Missing with Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones, two of my favorite actors. I had no idea what to expect. I'd just gotten into grad school when this movie, directed by Ron Howard, came out. So I was among the missing myself, so to speak! All I can say is WOW. Why did I not hear about this film? Did everyone hate it or something? I found it riveting. Cate performance was astounding. Maybe I'm too easy to please, who knows. I do know I adore being mesmerized by lighting, textures and I get real into art direction,wardrobe, set design and direction and props. Hey lets face it, I'm visually oriented, like you probably are. I was so stimulated by the texture and lighting and wardrobe in this film that I think I dreamed about it all last night.
Cate's wardrobe was late 1800's perfection. The two coats she wore in the film... well now, I must have! I have been thinking all morning about how I could make them. Then again having her figure would be a necessity too and that's not going to happen any time soon! I could go on and on.... the house, Cate Blanchett's hat and belts, the quilt on her lover's bed, the winter light coming through the windows, the little rock structure towards the end of the film, the mocassins Tommy Lee Jone gives her daughter, the necklaces he wears, the silver cross they exchange, the leather saddlebags on his horse, his silver embellished Mexican saddle (made by Mortenson Saddlery), Tommy Lee Jones' shirts and the silver button at the neck in one scene, and the coup de gras the found object chest embellishment on the evil Yaqui shaman! (Who is played by the same actor who plays the beautiful Uncas in Last of the Mohicans, believe it or not!) It's a brutal film, a hard one for a mother to watch, but as Cate's character says in the film you don't know how to stop.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Elbow live, with the BBC Concert Orchestra
"We make the moon our mirrorball....
Everything has changed"
I just can't get enough of this song, so beautiful. It permeated my dreams last night.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
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