The Results Are In! METALinclinations 2

Seems like this has been a couple weeks of non-stop Election Results! OK - don't get worried this isn't going to be a political rant!!! I am referring to all the Award results lately!

...and today it is METALinclinations 2:

METAL Inclinations 2 is an International competition and exhibition sponsored by Hauser & Miller - presented by The Society for Midwest Metalsmiths. Check out the Gallery to see all eight award winners and all 50 pieces chosen for the 2010-12 exhibition.

JUDITH KINGHORN

FIRST PLACE WINNER
$2,000 SOCIETY FOR MIDWEST METALSMITHS AWARD

SUZAN REZAC

SECOND PLACE AWARD
$1,000 HAUSER & MILLER COMPANY AWARD

Be sure to go to the Award Gallery and check out the entries - some really fabulous makers!

Jewelry for Jewelers - Lee Marshall

I was reading a blog post from one of my favorite MetalSmith pals BZ - of Cosmos Moon. She talks about "Gifts for MetalSmiths" this being the season of giving. The first thing that came to mind was this wonderful post by my go-to Tool man - Lee Marshall of Knew Concepts - the designer of the Bonny Doon Hydraulic Press, Knew Concepts Saw, MicroFold Brake and multi award winning engineer.

Photos Include: Bracelet by Cynthia Eid using the MicroFold Brake; Microfold Brake; Knew Concepts Electric Saw; thrilled workshop attendee using the electric saw!

I Make Jewelry for Jewelers

by Lee Marshall

Who hasn't seen Tee shirts emblazoned with sayings such as "TOOL FOOL", bumper stickers with "I BRAKE FOR TOOLS"?

How many times have you as a jeweler, given an encircled

picture or catalog description of a tool or machine with the notation saying: "This is the one that I want for my anniversary, wedding, birthday, holiday, etc"?

Jewelers fall into a very special category of unique individuals. Those on the "outside" have a hard time coming up with gift ideas for them.

Flowers won't work with this crowd; candy leaves them cold, brandy isn't the answer, and diamonds...they would only use them to make something for someone else! No, the best way to show love or friendship to this group is to give them a tool.

These folks still cherish their very first good tool, and probably still use it every day. In my case, I still have tools given to me by my father over sixty years ago, and even though I don't use them much anymore, as our interests diverged, I still fondle them with reverence.

Good tools free creativity, while poor tools limit it. I have been making tools for jewelers and metalsmiths for more than twenty years, and for the longest time didn't recognize that my appreciation for tools and machinery was shared by others. This was brought home to me when I shipped a tool

to a customer and it happened to arrive on her birthday, along with a box of long-stemmed roses from her brother, and a package from her husband. As she related this story to me later, she confessed that she opened mine first. After all, the piece that she was working on needed the tool to finish it, and her husband would get to see her open his gift to her. Now, this is rationalization of the first order.

For the past 20 years, I have been trying to figure out how to describe to others what it is that I do. I realize now that I occupy a very small niche within the universe circumscribed by the field of jewelry. While some would say that I am an insignificant piece of the larger puzzle, I feel that I

participate in making objects of beauty.

That's good enough for me.

What I do is create jewelry for jewelers.

Saturday - Blog Reads

A gathering of blogs by artisans, jewelers and hobbyist!

Beading, Wire and Metal Bloggers
...discover - inspire - learn!

Snap out of it Jean! There's beading to be done...

The Beaded Lily's Sketchbook

Bergin's Jewelry

Haifa Shawwa's Jewelry

Shaktipaj Designs - No Detail Too Small

Steam Powered Rings

Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

Cosmo's Moon Jewelry

...and for a great range of inspired designs and beautiful gems...

Magpie Gemstone's Client Gallery

Call for Entries: eXtreme Tea Exhibition

eXtreme Tea Exhibition

An exhibition of historic and contemporary tea infusers and strainers curated by Tom Muir.

The exhibit will be shown from January 16 – March 21, 2010 at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

Introduction:
If you’ve used a teabag, you’ve used the least attractive, and most common, form of contemporary tea infuser. A tea infuser is simply a device that holds loose tea leaves for brewing in a pot or cup. But this simple, useful object has a history of extraordinary artistic elaboration, in common with all tea implements. Today, as tea is a popular beverage around the globe, the tea infuser presents an exciting challenge for contemporary artists in many media. The contrasts between tradition and contemporary possibilities for the tea infuser are extreme indeed – even more so is the inventiveness that takes this simple function to imaginative extremes!
High craft and low craft are contrastingly represented in tea infusers, which can be made of metal, glass, ceramic, fiber and plastic – and combinations of mixed media. The functional solution that artists have found to the problem of steeping tea have varied widely and wildly – from figural, thematic depictions and literary references to visual and functional puns and engineering tours de forces.

With possibilities for multiple use in the contemporary context, tea infusers provide unlimited possibilities for artists! Besides the popularity of tea itself, new forms of contemporary tea infusers will also share in the world-wide status of teapots as culturally significant artforms.

To have work considered for the exhibition:
please send high-quality digital images
and information to:
Tom Muir
Fine Arts Center
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43402
or tommuir@hughes. net

Deadline for submission: October 1, 2009

Photo: Courtesy of Powerhouse Museum's Photostream

Announcing the Orchid Blog Network

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(Currently Online - 65 blogs)

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