Class Album: Wood Jewelry at Pratt

 

Jewelry That Grows on Trees 

Pratt Fine Arts Center, October 27-28

My fall wood jewelry class at Pratt has become an annual tradition that I look forward to even more than sweater weather and almost as much as the return of brussels sprouts.  I always count on the weekend's students for an injection of ideas and energy, and this batch certainly didn't disappoint!

Class Album: Multnomah Arts Center II

Jewelry That Grows on Trees
Multnomah Arts Center, October 6-7 2012

I had another great weekend teaching at Portland's Multnomah Arts Center.  As usual, it was as much an educational experience for me as for my students; I gave them my same old wood jewelry spiel and they cranked out another gallery full of work like nothing I've seen before.  Also, I learned that there is such a thing as Competitive Frisbee Dancing.  Who knew?  

Class Album: Multnomah Arts Center

Jewelry That Grows on Trees
Multnomah Arts Center, Portland, OR
March 17-18, 2012

The only thing I enjoy more that just teaching my wood jewelry workshop is taking my show on the road. It's always so energizing to face the challenges of a new space and unfamiliar tools and to work with a totally new group of people. I therefore jumped at the opportunity to take train down to Portland for a weekend of wood jewelry at the Multnomah Arts Center.

Housed in a converted elementary school, MAC is a community resource that pulses with activity. During my weekend there, I noticed events as diverse as filmmaking, trick frisbee, youth cello, pre-school ballet, and a stage production of "Little House on the Prairie."

The jewelry studio is well equipped and scrupulously organized--a huge help for a visiting teacher and students grappling with a new material. Check out these images to see what they were able to accomplish in just two short days.

If you're reading this in or around Portland, please keep your eyes open for the MAC schedule; I hope to be teaching again later this year.

Review: MORE Jewelry that Grows on Trees

More Jewelry That Grows on Trees
February 4-5, 2012, Pratt Fine Arts Center

After all these years, I've accumulated more ideas about wood than one syllabus can accommodate. In this follow-up to my regular Jewelry That Grows on Trees workshop, I had the chance to introduce students to my own recent experiments with new surface finishes, constructed stone settings, and inlaid, laminated, and bent veneers. Check out this impressive range of samples and finished pieces...

Review of Chainmail at Pratt

"Chainmail: Strength in Numbers"
Pratt, October 15-16 2011

Like knitting or weaving (or doing sit-ups, maybe? I'm not sure), making chainmail is satisfying in a way that only something so tediously repetitive can be. Open a jump-ring, close a jump ring, and eventually a fabric appears, like a trace record of your gestures.

The principles are simple, and once I'd managed to make up some vocabulary and sound effects to describe them, my students were off and running. As in my wood jewelry classes, I was amazed to see the variety of ways in which each person used the same materials and techniques to express their own ideas, from bias earrings and a rosette chain (above)...














to stamped-link and color-block samples (left) and a twisted tube bracelet (right)...














to a necklace combining 4-in-1 tube and spiral (left) and a multicolored spiral chain (right)...














to a set of finger-puppet armor: a 6-in-1 tube with a 4-in-1 cape. If you aren't a little bit crazy at the beginning of a chainmail weekend, you will be by the end!

Pratt 2011 Class Gallery

This was my fourth time teaching "Jewelry That Grows on Trees" at Seattle's Pratt Fine Arts Center. By now it shouldn't surprise me, but it does: I give the same information to a new group of students, and out comes yet another stunning collection of unique pieces.

Wood Jewelry Workshop Review

Another year, another bumper crop of new wood jewelers. The students in my second annual "Jewelry that Grows on Trees" weekend workshop at Pratt were an ambitious and hard-working bunch. These are some of the pieces they produced in just two days.