Fluency

Over the past few days, some conversations (in person and also on the radio), have led me to think about the practice of craft and the process of mastery. The word that seems most appropriate is fluency. When one becomes fluent in a language, the listener can focus on the words and the expression of the speaker rather on their grammar or even accent. Whether it is a craft or dance or language, it is the repeated, accumulated action that turns into a natural grace. This is the thing, I think, that there is no way to fake. This is the element missing from much contemporary art, especially that of the young, hot stars of the art world.

I made it to the the Cai Guo-Qiang exhibition at the Guggenheim on the very last day. I found the process videos to be the most engaging. His fluency (that word again), with gunpowder has clearly developed over the years. We started at the top of the Guggenheim and spiralled down, which is how Frank Lloyd Wright intended it. However, it was reverse chronological order (the curators intended us to go up the ramp). Seeing the works that are the more masterful first allowed a contrast with the earlier works, in which he was trying out the language for the first time.

In short, there is no way around the long hours of repetition and focused concentration. However, when one can joyfully embrace the incremental progress along the way and be absorbed inthe work, these hours can become a sactuary rather than a chore.

Show Applications

Brocade Garland Collar
blackened silver and 18K

When I first started my jewelry collection, I had only the faintest idea about craft shows. One of the first shows I visited was the Philadelphia Museum Craft Show. I had heard that this was one of the premier shows in the country, so I talked a couple of my students into taking the Chinatown bus to Philly with meto check it out. Looking at the show, I realized just what standard I had to seek in my work. My students were adamant that I belonged there, but I knew that I had a lot of work to do, and knew that they were just a little bit biased.

That was in 2002, and I have applied every year since. At first I had a huge amount of optimism, and was crushed when I didn't get in. As I got to more more and more people in the craft world, I realized that this is a show that even the best don't count on getting into. Instead of getting down about it, I used this as a motivation to keep pushing my work. I told myself that I would make work that it would be impossible for the jury to ignore.

Well, the results of the jury were e-mailed yesterday. I was astounded to see that the title of the e-mail in fact said "Invite Notification". What!?! Yes, I have gotten into the show!! It is not until November, but I am already thinking excitedly of all of the fantastic pieces I am going to make for the show. Collectors beware, I am marshaling all of my creative energies to entice you....

Washington Craft Show: Karin Worden

Phlox Brooch
gold, blackened silver and rubies
by Karin Worden

Although I won't be at the Washington Craft Show in person this year, I wanted to highlight the work of one jeweler who will be showing. This is one of the best craft shows in the country, with a small group of jewelers, making mostly one of a kind pieces. It is from November 30th through December 1st.

Lotus Boat
18k, blackened silver and ruby
Karin Worden

Karin Worden makes small poetic pieces, including many brooches. She uses a combination of fresh flowers with twigs and other elements such as small boats. The piece above has a tiny boat near the bottom of the twig. Her work is very sculptural, with a lot of contrast in color and texture.

Flowers and Leaves Brooch
18k, blackened silver and mixed sapphires
Karin Worden

Last year, she had a series of brooches like the one above, with a variety of colored flowers, such as one with flowers of pink gold, which happened to be my favorite. All of these pieces are one of a kind, so those that fall in love with one, but decide to think it over for too long, will likely be disappointed to find that "their " brooch has sold.

Karin will also be in New York next week to show her work at the new Couture Jewelry Award and Sale, which is December 8th at the Pratt Mansion, across from the Met.

Philly Museum Show: Christy Klug

Every year, the Philadelphia Museum hosts what is considered one of the premier craft shows in the country. It is one of the five shows that everyone that does retail shows hopes to get into in their career. It is coming up this weekend, staring on Thursday the 8th of November, running through the 11th.

There, of course, are many booths filled with well-known artists with long lists of accomplishments. I get excited, however, about the artists that are closer to the beginning of their careers that get the chance to show for the first time.

Christy Klug and I are friends, dating back to the first ACC show in Baltimore for both of us, in 2004. Considering her history, her progress in her work and achievement is really remarkable. She has art training in her background, but it wasn't until she became a divorced single mom that undertook the making of jewelry as a career. As she recalled to me, she made five pieces, had them photographed, and got into the Baltimore show on the first try!

When she arrived at the show, she fast dumbstruck by the fact that she was showing with so many renowned people. Luckily, she had her friend with her to man her booth and take orders, while she wandered around wondering what she was doing there. She even got an order from a gallery that she used to frequent in Boston when she lived there.

Fast forward to today, and it is obvious that she has really risen to the top. I am hoping that she will find a great number of new admirers at the show in Philadelphia.

What I appreciate the most about Christy's work is the way she has taken the one technique of sawing in so many directions. Her style has remained very true to the first collection she showed in 2004, except that it has included so many dimensions and forms along the way.

Stuck in the Middle

As a studio jeweler born well after the last of the baby boomers, I often feel like an artist out of place. I feel an affinity for the craft movement that their generation -- and even the generation before it -- created. Yet my career trajectory is happening in a different time and place. I cannot expect to have the same path they did. The structure that supported their work is well past its heyday.

In my own generation, there is a new wave of craft whose goals and means seem fundamentally different from mine. They seem to be after a granny's church craft fair with a twist aesthetic.

The work of this new wave craft movement seems to embrace amateurism and an outsider artist ethos. However, it is not true outsider art. So much of it is derivative work. Irony trumps craftsmanship. Wouldn't be so much more subversive to be a master of a difficult medium, leaving the viewer startled by the convergence of mastery and message?

Some examples:
Jan Yager
Richard Notkin
Keith Lewis

I have a hard time relating to the new wave crafters; in fact, I don't even know what to talk about when I meet them in person since I really don't have an inclination to make cute things with skulls on them in the name of being subversive.

Where does this leave someone in their 20s or 30s seeking to become a master of their medium first and foremost? (I am not promoting a message with my work at present, but who is to say that it won't happen as time goes on?)

Germantown Craft Show

This weekend I am travelling again to the beautiful and craft-loving city of Philadelphia to participate in the Germantown Friends School craft show. A small well-curated show, it should be easy for collectors to see and contemplate all of the work available.

I managed to make a new pair of earrings and a new necklace, both hand-fabricated in gold, since I arrived home last Friday from the last round of shows.

The bracelet above is one that I made from some beautiful aquamarine beads that I happened upon last year. There is also a matching necklace and they are both accented by orange sapphires and my metalwork in 18K gold.

It may be strange to use the phrase "happened upon" when describing sourcing the materials for my work, yet with colored stones, that is usually how it happens. Supply and demand are so volatile that if something is nice and not too expensive, it will not be around later when I decide that I wanted it. Likewise, if one should happen upon a piece of colored stone jewelry that astounds and is unusual, don't hesitate to buy it. The stones may not be available to make that piece later! I know people who have been haunted for years by the one that got away.

The February Shows

As an artist that has chosen to work closely with galleries across the US, one of the adventures/ordeals that I undertake each year is showing at two shows in February. One of them is located in Philadelphia and is sponsored by the Rosen Group. The other show is in Baltimore and is sponsored by the American Craft Council. These are the primary shows where galleries across the country come to meet and select work from a couple of thousand artists.

Not all of these artists are in both shows, partially because they are back to back in two cities. The most stressful day of the year is the day that I must break down my display in Phildelphia at 3PM and be phisically present in the Baltimore convention center by 8PM the same day. Well, that would fall mostly in the ordeal category, but fortunately it went smoothly this year.

The thing that was most apparent this year is the reality that shows are becoming less important in the plans that gallery owners make for finding new artists. That is combined with the fact that the gallery business in the US has been having a number of difficult years, with 2006 being the toughest. under those conditions, galleries are disinclined to take on new artists, and thus the urgency of going to shows is eliminated.

This all ties into the question of where the American craft movement is headed. When the first craft show started in a field in Vermont in the 60's, there was nothing like it. No craft galleries, no craft shows every weekend, no craft artist websites. The artists put their works on a table and after a frantic weekend of selling, went home and bought a house. Yeah, I hate it when the veteran artists talk about the good old days. Yet, it really puts in perspective the current market. We exist in a very saturated market... for our own work. At the same time that we are growing in numbers, the interest in what we make becomes less and less.

One of the greatest controversies is the word "craft" itself. To talk of dropping that description, well those are fightin' words to a large number of craft artists. I am personally ambivalent about the word. I don't neccessarily call myself a craft artist, but I wouldn't deny it either.

So, what I am getting at is the fact that I sense a great upheaval on it's way in the craft world. I have entered the world of shows at their twilight. Is it going to be blogs and websited from here on out. Isn't touching part of the experience of buying handmade objects? Am I anachronistic in my shopping habits as well as my profession??

OK, enough of that. I came home from the shows and made some new earrings. I am still fired up after the projectOBJECT workshop that I took in January. Now that I have digested the experience, I will blog about it soon.

The earrings are 18K gold with beryl: