Here’s a big shout-out of THANKS to the fantastic women who joined me for the “Twists & Turns, II” class at Rock Paper Scissors last night. We had a blast! I wish I’d taken a photo or two, but I was too wrapped up in all the fun we were having. We bent, twisted, coaxed and molded copper and sterling silver wire into some amazing shapes, and students left with earrings, pendants, abstract art (that will live in a plant!), and ideas to spare. I’m looking forward to the next installment…
Just a reminder that I’m teaching wireworking classes again this week at Rock Paper Scissors in Montclair: “Twists & Turns” (Level II) on Thursday, 11/11; “Twists & Turns” (Level I) on Sunday, 11/14. Call the shop to sign up: 973-337-6759.
This is the last time the “Twists & Turns” series will be offered in 2010. Got a request for a class you’d like me to teach in 2011? Comment to let me know!
This is a high-treasury time for me at Etsy! My THRIVE earrings of copper and amazonite made it into this collection (here photographed on a stack of vintage Nancy Drew mysteries that I treasure myself). Please click through to see the full Etsy Treasury and click the photos to help out the featured artists. Thanks!
This weekend, November 6th & 7th, I will be one of a selection of artists/artisans selling wares at the Montclair Art Museum’s “Holiday Gift Boutique.” 10% of the weekend’s sales go directly to support the museum, and 20% of my profits will go to the UUSC/UUA Haitian Earthquake Relief Fund. (What’s better, my donation will be tripled under the Fund’s “3 for 1 for Haiti” matching grant challenge.) Here are the event details, and I hope to see you there!
MAM Holiday Gift Boutique
Saturday & Sunday, November 6th & 7th
12:00 noon – 5:00 pm
www.Montclair-Art.org
My TANGO earrings (with orange agate drops) are featured in an Etsy Treasury today, which spotlights artists from the greater-Montclair, NJ area. How wonderful to be included! (If you are so inclined, please click on the image below to go to the Treasury…and you can help out all the artists by clicking on the images and maybe even leaving a comment. The more clicks and comments, the more likely the Treasury will make it to Etsy’s home page: The Big Time!)
Getting ready for the pre-holiday shows and sales (the first one of which is this coming weekend, November 6th & 7th), I hand-forged 100 of my original-design earwires this past weekend. My fingers are sore, but my sense of accomplishment is sky-high!
One-hundred earwires in progress
Starting in November, I’m going to be teaching a series of 1-1/2-hour jewelry-making classes to seniors in long-term care facilities, through the non-profit arts organization Arts Unbound. The “students” with whom I’ll be working will have a wide variety of abilities and limitations, and I’m working on a series of lessons and projects that will have multiple access points and opportunities for success — so that no one feels left behind or under-challenged. I will lead them and assist them in making a collection of bracelets and necklaces — from the whimsical to the elegant (and I wouldn’t be surprised if we break out in song somewhere along the way). Having spent time with nursing home and assisted-living residents before, I know that loving, supportive, and playful contact can radically alter the course of their day. If I can provide that contact PLUS opportunities to create — and to be honored for who they are and how they create — I will have been fully of service to them and to the greater good.
About Arts Unbound: Located in the Valley Arts District, a cultural revitalization zone in Orange and West Orange, NJ, Arts Unbound provides arts programming to 250 youth, adults, and seniors each month in its own classrooms as well as schools, community centers and agencies throughout Northern New Jersey. Artists regularly exhibit their work for display or sale in the Arts Unbound gallery and offsite venues. Arts Unbound also provides them with vocational opportunities through the production of greeting cards, craft and gift items and prints. (Arts Unbound language courtesy of Gayle Mahoney.)
