new new

the good news is, i'm alive. just pretend i was abducted by aliens {very friendly aliens}

so hi, how are you?

good? oh goooooooooood. things around here are gettin' weird to be honest. feels like the summer just started and simultaneously the end seems so imminent. i need a pause button. the three of us are taking route in different directions come the end of july. i'll finally be leaving kalamazoo after 7 years of calling it home. then i'll be headed off to grad school, to work my ass off, and try and make something of myself.

so of course this summer we are trying to accomplish a lot of things before we leave. like swimming in lake michigan (a lot), eating ten thousand popsicles, getting long islands and shakin our booties at our favorite gay bar, and finding a new home for scary mary...

any takers?

{thanks for reading} lynn

oh my! summer & all that

hello world!
i have been away from michigan almost all summer and without high speed internet.
most of the summer i was in connecticut but first i went to north carolina for a couple weeks at the beginning of june to take a class at the Penland school of crafts. (oh, sweet penland!) one of my favorite places. i actually have dreams once a month or so in which penland is the setting. so much can happen there in two weeks, it's amazing. my class was with Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, who is without a doubt one of the best teachers i have ever had. we learned various methods of forming/raising metal. so much hammering.. and... um.. i forged an f-ing spoon. it rocked my socks. here are some photos of unfinished projects mainly:

{we had an ice cream social with all our spoons (finished and unfinished)}

{in the process of polishing}

{then i made an extra tiny spoon, and extra tiny dish tray. my girl alissa made an extra tiny fork and enameled the tray for the penland scholarship auction. (it's like 1"x1"). the dish tray is an integral part of your everyday work study sweaty dish-washing life. but you love it because you're at penland and being sweaty and smelly suddenly seems like the best way to live}

so this makes me miss penland, i need to get back there soon.
if you've never been, go on.
i'll update the rest of my summer soon, too many photos for one post.

{thanks for reading}lynn

don't be an idiot with the tweezers (paraphrased)

while laying in bed last night flipping through the pages of "form emphasis for metalsmiths" by Heikki Seppa(required read/resource for my class at penland), i came across this most hilarious and true statement. the wording is so matter of fact (don't be an idiot with the tweezers!)... i can't get over it.

"Among the many securing devices, the tweezer (self-closing) on a stand is much abused. Its proper use is so limited as to hardly justify owning one; its improper use is so common that it is surprising anything is ever accomplished with it."

{thanks for reading} lynn

suzanne beautyman

a while ago we went to the museum of contemporary art detroit to see cranbrook's graduate show.  apparently it is not usually held at this location and is not usually such a mad house (it was very overwhelming).  i believe the cranbrook galleries are being remodeled. anyway, we really went to see work by suzanne beautyman.  i innitially met suzanne last year during a workshop she instructed while i was a student and she was in the midst of grad school.  the photos do not really do the work complete justice, but her display was really beautiful. see better and more photos of her work here. this show is titled Oppulent Boarders, a series of brooches...

{thanks for reading} {lynn}

midnight gardening

{i came home from work monday night to a silent house and an orange extension chord which i followed to our back door to find this gardening operation, terrarium style}

GRAM

A week (or maybe even 2 weeks) ago, Alissa & I went to Grand Rapids to see the Alexander Calder Jewelry exhibit at the Grand Rapids Art Museum.  We went on the last day it was open of course. I had not been to the museum since they remodeled it years ago, it's really quite nice. We also saw the "Artprize" winning piece from last year which is a giant oil painting (that looks like a photograph) of what I assume to be the waters of Lake Michigan. It's a very comforting piece.

The Calder show was just outstanding.  I was blown away with a lot of the pieces in the way that I cannot believe he was making this type of work in the 30's. Many of his pieces were actually created as loving gifts to his wife and others in his life, which i thought was really sweet and honest.  The work is all hammer-hammer-hammer-cold-connected, but movable and lovely and simple. It all looks like gold, but most is brass. I forget to love brass sometimes. Once again, I only have a few images as I was not allowed to photograph in the museum, but I did anyway (please do not hate me, it was done only in adoration).

{thanks for reading}
 lynn

listening in the studio III

something you might not know about me,
i have a weakness for rap music.
get this album.

variations of home

these works are from of a thesis exhibition by a friend of ours, erica stephens. the work is all in ceramic and is dealing with the idea of home and what it might mean to other people. erica was in many of my jewelry classes while i was in school but decided to get her bfa in ceramics instead of metals. check out the jewelry influence! you can take a girl from jewelry but you can't take the jewelry out of the girl (or whatever cliche thing it is that people say). anyway, it really pleased me to see these little ceramic decal "home" pins.

on another note, it's always a little uncomfortable to go back to school and in the gallery after having graduated. i end up feeling like i want to get out of there which is too bad because i enjoy showing up and supporting other artists. i think there is definitely pressure after graduating to sort of get out of town or do something "great" outside of kalamazoo. but the thing is, you can do something meaningful anywhere you are. it just might involve an occassional pep talk and reminding yourself to go and brush ya shoulders off (thanks jay-z).

thanks for reading
{lynn}

KIA Area Show

Last night was the opening for the West Michigan Area Show at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. There were many nice pieces and it's great to see the enthusiasm for the arts in Kalamazoo and great work coming out of the area. Alissa has a necklace in the show and she will hate me for bragging for her, but she was awarded the Daniel J. and S. Denise Fletcher Award for exceptional jewelry. Truly, her piece rocks my socks. I will show you some of my favorite pieces (well, the pieces i photographed before i was reprimanded by the guard... it's good to break the gallery rules, no?)

{the piece is tited "Tchotchke" and is made of sterling silver, wood, plaster, wax, pigment}
{alissa & caroline chatting}

{another favorite piece at the show by Maureen Nollette titled "White" and made of a length of ribbon and straight pins.}

{below-- a brooch by Devin Ragotzy - copper, paint, plastic, paper}

{textile work by Jennifer Moss}

{photography by George Crow - the background should be black but there was a lot a reflection, it's like he's standing in the gallery, actually this guy really was in the gallery}

{"frenzy bowl" by wade macdonald}

thanks for reading!
{lynn}

spring

i wanted to post these on sunday when they were taken, but my internet wasn't letting me. these are alissa's two bunnies, roxanne and moose. roxanne wanted our raspberry/blueberry pancakes. they are crazy furry beasts, but exceptionally cute.

so, happy spring! (it finally feels like it) go out and absorb the sun when it isn't raining. and, well, absorb the rain when it isn't sunning.
{lynn}