EXECUTIVE BOARD Mary Kernahan - President mckernahan@yahoo.com Julie Sanford - Vice President juliesanford@charter.net
FALL 2016 NEWS From the President
Lori Brauer - Vice President lorib@mi.rr.com Ericia Bartels - Treasurer ericiab@yahoo.com Jennifer Marcson - Secretary jennifermarcson@gmail.com Christine Bossler - Past President christine.bossler@gmail.com Danielle Blanchard - Newsletter daniellesings@comcast.net Janice Degen - At Large janice.degen@gmail.com Sondra Hoffman - At Large shweaver1@comcast.net Katie MacDonald - At Large katie.macdonald@wayne.edu
Dear Members,
Thanks to Billie Thiede who juried the exhibition, to Janice Degen who Welcome to the 2016-2017 organized the exhibition, to the BBAC membership cycle! for hosting, to our sponsors, and to all September was a busy month for who worked to make this event MSG. On September 9th and 10th we possible. held a workshop with Billie Thiede where participants were assigned 2 To end that very busy weekend, we non traditional materials to make a held the annual all member meeting runway style piece. While most on September 11, hosted by Eastern participants reported a significant Michigan University's Metals amount of initial angst being pushed Department. Billie Thiede provided an outside of their comfort zone, there excellent lecture about the influences were some incredibly inspired results, in and the evolution of her work and all reported having a great time. throughout her career. As always the meeting was a day full of fellowship, We also held the opening for the food and sharing. Thanks to all who Jewelry and Objects Exhibition on attended and who worked to make it September 9th at the Birmingham such a great day, with special thanks Bloomfield Art Center, which to Gretchen Otto and EMU. showcased some amazing work. (cont.d p. 2)
John Myer—Webmaster john-myer@yahoo.com
Jewelry & Objects 2016 Winners
Chloe Lewis—At Large erbabellaverde@gmail.com Eric Okon - Publicity ericokon@gmail.com Ralph Paruszkiewicz - Sponsors rparus2000@yahoo.com Lyn Wagner-Ditzhazy - Membership funkybeadz@comcast.net
MSG Lifetime Membership Award: Marie Dewerff “Box Brooch”
Armstrong Tool & Supply ($50): Sue Szabo “Sushi Brooches”
MSG Award of Excellence ($500): Leah Hardy "Love letter, en route”
Bill Fitzpatrick Award ($50): Beverly Seley “Mr. McGregor’s Garden”
Anonymous Award ($100): Tom Muir "Elegant Gentleman’s Prosthetic Mustache”
June Hauk Award ($50): Lorraine Kolasa “Arachne, I’m Sorry”
CR Hill Award ($100): JoJo Macey Bronze “Vessel”
MORE Winners, Sample Photos and Catalog Order Info on p. 8,9
During the annual meeting we also held board elections. Let me first begin by thanking all who have served as MSG board members. Each of them brings their own unique talents to their positions, and each has devoted a lot of time and energy to provide our membership the leadership, events, networks and knowledge that we share in amongst our community. We are pleased to welcome back our returning board members: Julie Sanford and Lori Brauer, both serving as Vice Presidents, Jennifer Marcson as Secretary, Ericia Bartels as Treasurer, Christine Bossler as Past President, Danielle Blanchard as Newsletter Editor, Janice Degen as Exhibition Chair, Sondra Hoffman At Large, Katie MacDonald At Large, Eric Okon as Publicity Chair, Ralph Paruszkiewicz as Sponsorship Chair, and Lyn Wagner-Ditzhazy as Membership Chair. Leaving the board this year were Carol Tomasso, Jason Burton, and Emily Saling. Your contributions have been many and much appreciated, and we thank you for them. Joining our board this year Chloe Lewis, and Tina Sayer, both in At Large positions, and John Myer who joins as our new Webmaster. We welcome you and look forward to working with you.
STUDIO
Once again the upcoming year looks to be a busy one for MSG. Julie Sanford and Lori Brauer continue to work to offer you a great selection of workshops
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beginning with the recent Anne Havel enameling workshop and the upcoming Tom Madden pewter workshop. Carol Tomasso is already working on another unique and interesting holiday party to be held sometime in the spring. Planning is underway to bring the old College for Creative Studies Hammer In back this spring, and discussions are ongoing for additional collaborative events with local colleges and organizations. MSG will also be returning for its 12th year at the South University Ann Arbor Art Fair. We will keep you informed of all of these events as they develop via all our usual methods (email, our website, Facebook and US Mail). One of the most exciting things to come is development and implementation of the new Student Liaison Committee, which was formed to boost our student membership and increase collaboration with college and high school programs. We have already recruited several student and faculty members for the committee, and are looking forward to seeing what new and fresh ideas, activities and networks develop. Enjoy the upcoming holidays, no matter which you celebrate! Sincerely, Mary Kernahan
Schedule your own class! See a project that interests you, but it's not offered when you're available? Pick a date, invite 6-8 friends to join you, and we'll schedule a private class just for you. Give us a call at (616) 607-2470 or email us at studiojsd@gmail.com and we'll set you up. Great for girls/guys night out, birthday celebrations, bachlorette parties, or deer widows weekends--bring refreshments and have a great time learning and laughing together!
WORKSHOPS at STUDIO JSD Gemstone Stack Rings with Julie Sanford
Stretch Chainmaille Bracelet with Randy Bennett
Friday, November 18,
Saturday, December 3,
10 am-1 pm
1-3 pm
Torch Fired Enameling with Joyann Sabo
Spinner Ring with Julie Sanford
Wednesday, November 30, 10 am-Noon
Sunday, December 4,
Diamond Pattern Chainmaille Earrings
Swing Top Bracelet with Julie Sanford
with Randy Bennett
Tuesday, December 6,
Saturday, December 3,
1-4 pm
6-9 pm
10am-Noon
www.StudioJSD.com
MEMBER PROFILE
Center for Metal Arts New Metalsmithing Tools for Sale For member Jason Burton, his fast growing company Burton and Levy was born out of necessity. No matter what comb he tried, nothing could tame his wayward foot-long beard, so he set out to make one that did. And so, Burton and Levy was born. Jason named his company for his parents, combining their surnames, then he set out to design combs inspired by family members – his great grandfather, both grandfathers and his older brother. His intention was to create a comb for every need. After hand designing each comb, he carefully re-drafts the each design using a computer. After cutting using state of the art laser and water jets, Jason finishes each comb by hand, drawing upon his vast metalsmithing background in jewelry and fabrication. An eye to environmental friendliness including the use of recycled materials for packaging, and locally sourced processes and materials are hallmarks of Burton and Levy. Jason is also dedicated to making sure each customer ends up with the right comb for them with the detailed guide for comb selection on his website, as well as personal assistance. That dedication is paying off – Burton and Levy has grown quickly in the past 2 years, and it's getting a lot of press. Well done Jason! Burton and Levy is proudly based in Detroit, headquartered in Jason's Russell Industrial Center studio. For more information visit their website at www.burtonandlevy.com.
Buy from the blacksmiths at the Center for Metal Arts, and buy for life. Our tools come with a lifetime satisfaction guarantee. If at any point you're not happy with the function or quality of our tooling send it back and we will ship another free of charge. Always forged to finish, means your getting the highest quality tool money can buy. Forged to finish means all the shapes and peens are forged deliberately and with intention. This provides a stronger tool with a tighter packed grain structure, one of the main benefits of the forging process. All tools are forged in small batches, this helps keep the quality as high as possible and allows us to really consider our work hand made and not mass produced. We welcome custom orders, and as always feel free to contact us with any questions. To view availability and shop visit www.centerformetalarts.com
City Hall Artspace lofts is just one of the projects created by an organization named Artspace projects, Artspace projects has been developing live work spaces since 1990. Their website states that: “Artspace's mission is to create, foster, and preserve affordable space for artists and arts organizations” Artspace projects has developed nearly 40 similar artist communities through out the country. Go to artspace.org for more information. The grand opening of the Artspace project in Dearborn, at the old Dearborn City Hall building and its annex building, was 09/21/16. It was attended by aprox. 500. After the speeches by people involved with the project there was an open studios tour. Some of the resident artists opened up their studios to show their studios and work. Along with the open studio tour the residents art was displayed in the halls and in the galleries throughout the buildings. The displayed art included paintings, fabric, metal and clay sculpture. There were also working artists. There will be more open studio’s tours in the future. All of the future tours are in the planning stage , but I can safely say that there will be at least one before the holidays. Hopefully there will be one every month after that. I will have an open studio in my loft and I will ask at the next events committee if I could include other guild members to show and sell their work. Besides myself there is one other guild member here at City Hall Artspace. In the near future there will also be a commercial area. The commercial area will be in an existing enclosed walkway between the two buildings. That same area also includes the room where the city council met. A short while ago, letters of intent to use the city council meeting space as a theatre, were requested from anyone that had an idea for a theatre. The commercial area will have area for studio’s and galleries as well as shop space. Hopefully at least one coffee shop. All of the residential units at City Hall Artspace Lofts are occupied but the waiting list is open and applications are being accepted. Just contact Karena Voldman at karena.voldman@kmgprestige.com for information regarding residential units as well as information regarding commercial space. Artspace is very interested in working with other art organizations in the communities where their projects are located. Contact Karena also if you have questions concerning City Hall Artspace Lofts and another art organization in the same community.
Ralph Paruszkiewicz
CREATIVE PROCESS & RITUAL Idelle Hammond-Sass “It is vital to establish rituals-automatic but decisive patterns of behavior-at the beginning of the creative process, when you are most in peril of turning back, chickening out, giving up, or going the wrong way… Turning something into a ritual eliminates the question Why am I doing this?....The ritual eases the question of wether I like it or not I like it. Its also a friendly reminder that I am doing the right thing. (I’ve done it before. It was good. I’ll do it again.) Twyla Tharp, choreographer, “The Creative Habit”.
Studio Process, some do art and some do not but are receptive and in synch with creating a space for creative work. It seems to be a positive experience and I leave with a sense of gratitude that others have gained insight from the process. My own drawing led me to use the edge of the table to make lines and I like the energetic quality it has. I put it up in the studio, living with it a few days. In writing about the piece, “witnessing it”, I learn that I have a desire to find the edge and my wild heart. I get some paint and begin a few tentative color washes. Color is a mystery, how should I use it? Where to begin? What do these colors have to tell me? Suddenly, it’s a bit overwhelming, and I am not clear where to start. I make
The past few summers have been special times of reconnecting with nature, Lake Michigan, light and water, lake and river. I am very lucky to have access to a small studio again this summer to play and make art in, while I am up north. We stay in tiny quarters and spend time outside exploring, kayaking, walking. People gather for sunset. We look up to the sky, look into the woods, and join young and old picking up rocks along the shore. Time slows down. Shedding my usual work and surroundings, this is a rare opportunity to get a chance to draw and paint, or just mess around. Here, the landscape dominates, its personality and sense of place unmistakable. Iconic images of Lake and dunes surround us. But it is my inner landscape that is shifting, relaxing into a state of observation, curiosity and spaciousness. In Frankfort I lead a short “Drawing from the Heart” workshop for a small group of new friends. It offers me a way in to this inner landscape as we set an intention for the group and for ourselves. Some are new to the Open
an intention to play with paint. I notice using the brush is different and softer than drawing, and the absorbency of the paper leads me to overlap the strokes. I relax, cut some out, throw stuff on the floor and have a few little studies to look at. I’ll come back and do this again, with Yupo, a non-absorbent paper, and even try out some of the cold wax I bought in Detroit. I spend a day in the company of other artists and writers in a “Small Pages” workshop with poet Holly Wren Spaulding, (Poetry Forge), and Gauche Painter Carol Spaulding. We use writing prompts, collage, fragments of words and images. We are encouraged to work in a series, which is something I yearn to do. A spontaneous collage of flowers in a cup happens- it takes about a minute to make it. Satisfying and surprised, I am grounded in the exercises we did to play with what is available and remember that humble materials, just magazine pages and a few pieces of cardstock can really be a gateway to working in a series. Something I might have done in a 2d design class, yet freer. They are fun, so I come back to the studio and make 1 more group of these. I like that they are immediate and not precious, and help me be present, and pay attention to the here and now- these colors, these shapes.
Holly encourages thinking about artmaking as a contemplative practice, for its own sake, without the need to sell or put it out there for approval. We can share when we are ready, or if the piece demands it. It is the process of making that connects us to our own authenticity, for us to witness our patterns and passions. And it is for us to decide if we are ready for it to be witnessed by others. Where does the pressure come from to put it out into the “marketplace”? Sometimes from our financial needs, sometimes from our own expectations, sometimes from friends who “like” it. Rather than bring lots of jewelry tools, I brought up my enameling kiln and some things to work on. It is a new process for me that brings color into my jewelry and my students work. I plan to make color sample tiles that identify colors with their numbered jars. As I turn the kiln on, it becomes a beginning ritual as it defines the time
frame I am working in (3 hrs) and while it is on, I am committed. As the colors multiply, and they reveal their possibilities, I am already wondering how many color combinations there are with these 8 colors. It seems I won’t run out anytime soon. I make notes, recording the interactions of copper/color/foil and glass. I am excited by the color and can’t wait to see what will happen! I am engaged with the craft process and learning what it can do. From experience, I know that I will develop my intuition about the process and its possibilities.
have to adjust to my home studio which is in a basement, and will have to work a little harder to maintain my direction. I plan to order more colors and dream of integrating color into my work through enameling.
As the weather shifts, and I get a pang of homesickness. We’ve kayaked and gone to some beautiful places. I feel blessed to have this time to observe my creative process and find balance with the need to play and be outside. We pack up and return home to our house and studio and projects needing my attention. I realize I have been in the flow of my art and life, and grounded in the process. The flow between direct process work and building my skills with the enamel have me noticing my own limitations with water media. I am thinking it would be good to find a painting class and stretch a bit more. Through witnessing and paying attention to my thoughts I can see that I am being judgmental about some of the images and critical of my skill. But what has emerged is more valuable to me in terms of my process- an interest in finding the edgesometimes that is where I am uncomfortable or not in control. I can go forward with compassion for myself and regardless of the product I make, I trust my creative
Tools are just tools, and they are useful as long as you use them. It is the hand that animates and brings these tools to life and show the mark of the maker. It is not a necessity to have a million choices of art supplies, glass, color, or hammers. Being able to bring just a few things to work with has simplified my choices, but not my options creatively. Now when I turn on the kiln, I follow a ritual. The enameling process is labor intensive, but with repetition, I will develop muscle memory and learn the steps. As I turn on the kiln, I feel a sense of anticipation. I am engaged in the process, and willing to see what will happen today. There is also a synergy between playing with collage, and drawing both from nature and imaginary landscapes that I am playing with, and the colors of the enamel. Continuing the idea of the edge, I do a rubbed texture and color this on vellum. A house shape emerges. Other sketches show dunes, abstractions, fish in the river, darting like the thoughts that swim through my mind, passing through. Over the next week, the cloisonné progresses and I have two pieces I can complete at home. I love the natural light of this small studio with trees surrounding it. I will
process to guide me. Being outside so much and transitioning to fall and a more interior space has me wondering if I will lose that flow. It’s been too easy to be busy, But tomorrow, I will return to the ritual of turning on the kiln…and for three hours, I am committed. Idelle Hammond-Sass is a local artist, jewelry designer and facilitator of the Open Studio Process. She shows her jewelry at WSG Gallery on Main St. in Ann Arbor and offers Open Studio Process workshops for anyone interested in connecting with their natural creative process. She can be reached at Hammond_sass@msn.com. Originally posted on www.crazywisdomjournal.com
CLASSES AT
ARMSTRONG www.armstrongtoolsupply.com/classes.html Basic Soldering with Lesley DiPiazza Wednesday, November 9, 6-9 pm Basic Metalsmithing w/ Christine Bossler Tuesday, November 8, 6-9pm Barrel Weave Bracelet with Mary Kernahan Wednesday, December 7, 6-8:30 p.m. Twisted Wire Applique with Mary Kernahan Saturday December 10, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Stamping on Metal with Mary Kernahan Wednesday December 14, 6-9 p.m.
ORDER YOUR OWN EXHIBIT CATALOG NOW FOR MORE GREAT PHOTOGRAPHED WORKS The Michigan Silversmiths Guild is publishing a full color catalog of the Jewelry & Objects 2016 Exhibition. The catalog will include the juror’s statement, over 25 images of exhibition work and artist statements, and 23 images for the high school exhibition. Catalogs are being sold for $25 each plus $5 for shipping. Send Name, Shipping Address, Email and Phone with check or money order (payable to MSG) to: MSG Catalogs, 1484 Atkinson, Detroit, MI 48206) Catalogs are also available through lulu.com via this link: http://tinyurl.com/j846pys Top to Bottom: Marie Dewerff “Box Brooch” Leah Hardy "Love letter, en route” Tom Muir "Elegant Gentleman’s Prosthetic Mustache”
THANK YOU to BILLY THEIDE Juror & Clinician For being with us during our Annual Meeting and Exhibition Opening
J&O STUDENT Participants: Brett Barr Jake Belanger Wes Bertschy Amelia Cunningham Aidan Darby (award winner) Peter Gallette Noreen Khan Sloan Kiriluk (award winner) Lucy Liu Becket McNulty Elise Nehasil Annalise Neitzke (award winner) Catherine Noonan Jayson Olson Akashi Rau Paul Roesler Isabella Rosenberg Nicholas Shamen Justine Thomas Chris Terrance Stephanie Yim (award winner) Sophia Gallette
J&O Professional Adult Participants Christine Bossler Ella Calas Janice Degen Marie Dewerff Leah Hardy Daniel Juzwiak Dallas Kang Lorraine Kolasa Andrew Quebec Melissa Lovingood JoJo Macey Thomas Madden Tom Muir Dan Neville Beverly Seely Sue Szabo
Cranbrook School of Art EMU School of Art CR Hill Armstrong Tool & Supply
MEMBER NEWS: Betsy Lehndorff, Hubbard Lake Silversmiths What I Did This Summer: Discovered that a remarkable metalsmith in California could teach me galvanic etching of sterling silver via email and phone. For free. It solved a weakness in my jewelry designs. Worked long hours for 75 days to create 46 pieces of sterling silver jewelry for the Gifts of Art show at the University of Michigan Health System on display through December. I owe them a big thanks. For more go to www.med.umich.edu/goa Saw my jewelry sales really skyrocket for the first time in 8 years. Anyone else have this experience? Taught a new pearl carving technique to students in Ann Arbor, Grand Haven and Denver, and arranged to teach it in April at the William Holland School of Lapidary and Denver again and hopefully the Bead & Button show in Wisconsin... Learned that my favorite editor at Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist was leaving. I can only give the staff my love and appreciation as my writing career slowly fades to black. It was a fun ride.
MEMBERS IN ACTION: L. Sue Szabo recently was published in Art Jewelry Today 4 by Schiffler Publishing. See Also MSG J & O Awards. www.lsueszabo.com
www.lsueszabo.etsy.com
LET US KNOW WHAT YOU ARE UP TO — AWARDS, WORKSHOPS, BLOGS, INTERVIEWS,TIPS, PHOTOS...