Elissa Paquette

Calico at Heir


Elissa


Heir

Elissa Paquette- fashion extraordinaire in New Bedford, and now in Providence! Elissa's fabulous shop, Calico, which carries hand-picked vintage and designer goods, is located at 173 Union st. in New Bedford. If you can't make it to New Bedford, try Providence! She has just aquired a space in the antique store Heir, calling it a "micro-boutique". I can't wait to see it next time I visit Providence! Heir is located at 231 Westminster st. in Providence, RI. Oooo, and for some fashion insight, visit Elissa's blog.

EXTREME BEAUTY

"Extreme Beauty," a show curated by Kim Cridler, will be opening on March 5 for the 2010 SNAG conference, "Going to Extremes". I am so excited to be a part of this show- the artists participating are some of my all-time favorite metalsmiths. I nearly died when I saw the artist list. Kim Cridler did a fabulous job choosing metalsmiths whose work I wholly admire. The show represents 23 artists from 8 countries, showcasing work that questions and interprets beauty. Here are some of my favorite artists participating:



Lauren Kalman



Karl Fritsch



Andrea Wagner



Anya Kivarkis



Exhibition blurb by Kim Cridler:
Extreme Beauty features contemporary makers who pursue beauty and adornment through metalsmithing, jewelry and site-specific body works. The quest for beauty involves complimentary and contradictory approaches: dogged compulsion, alchemic-like processes, curiosity, joyfulness, and the simple desire to honor. But beauty is also at times bizarre, shrouded in our anxieties about the deceitful, and at times so longed for that it mutates into the grotesque. Works included in this exhibition engage a range of approaches from the devotional act of replication, to works that assume a critical or historical assessment of the problematic nature of beauty.

TRANSMUTATIONS: Material Reborn

This week, Transmutations: Material Reborn, curated by Susan Kasson-Sloan, opens at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. The opening is January 15, and the show will be on view until March 21. I am really excited to be a part of this show, and I hope to catch it when it comes to Gallery Loupe.
Here are a few images from some of my favorite artists participating:


Jantje Fleischhut (please check out her website- her work and the photography is incredible)


Masumi Kataoka


Rebecca Hannon.

After Houston, Transmutations will travel to Facere Jewelry Art Gallery in Seattle, WA. Dates: May 5-May 24.
After Facere, the show will travel to Gallery Loupe, in Montclair, NJ.

oohhh nancy

perhaps it's a little late to be writing about this, but this past summer i had the opportunity to join my friends, nate wellman and fionn mccabe in a collaborative art project called "oh nancy." each artist created work authenticating the "oh nancy" story (which involves sky messengers, the champion of the sea, talking seals, and a football team who is run by the corn alliance, a group of religious extremists). i worked with alison layton to create championship football rings for the corn alliance football team. art pulse magazine recently published a review about "oh nancy", featuring an image of our football rings. click here to read it.
championship football rings:





here are a few other images from the show.
player cards by vanessa irzyk:



sculptures by nate wellman:



painting by daniel szymanowski:



the show was on view at gallery diet in miami this past summer, and will hopefully travel elsewhere.

SMFA holiday sale!

Oh, its that time of year again... holiday sale time! Fortunately, I don't think I'll really be participating in any holiday bazaars, craft shows, etc. (though I will be attending them!!!). I will, however, have a few things at the SMFA InsideOut sale.

Sale Dates:
November 18, 12-8 pm
Opening Celebration: 5-8 pm
November 19, 12-8 pm
November 20, 12-6 pm
November 21, 12-6 pm
November 22, 12-6 pm

Aaaaand, here's a pic of my "office" at SMFA.

carlsbad caverns

one of the highlights of my trip to santa fe was visiting the carlsbad caverns. the main room has walkways that are lit up so you can see the massive cave and rock formations. we also took a guided tour with flashlights, which was really amazing. my favorite formation was the sparkly "christmas tree" (pictured above). at that point, the tour guide had us turn off our flashlights, and we couldn't even see our hands in front of our faces. really neat.

500 plastic jewelry designs

Oh my, how I love Lark Book compilations! I was recently published in this one; 500 Plastic Jewelry Designs, curated by the fabulous Susan Sloan (pages 246 and 394). The funny thing is, I took an epoxy resin workshop at Haystack with Susan when I was 19. Before the workshop, I never used color in my work. Though I don't use epoxy in my current work, my use of color is apparent. I will also be in the traveling show associated with this book, Transmutations: Material Reborn.