emiko-o reware

Well in an earlier post I wondered where my circuit boxers would end up, and who knew it would hit Europe so fast, but I’m super stoked that I finally got some screen time on engadget (the German version, but I’m not going to be picky). Even better, engadget picked up more of the Critique Collective’s images from our Jewelry_cycle show!
Here are some screen shots from engadget and Novinky, followed by their Google translations which are pretty amusing. I just learned tonight that Google can translate foreign languages listed on web pages; pretty cool.

Well, not literally, but man, I haven’t seen such excitement in the bloggisphere for men’s underwear until now. Population Control 2.0 is on fire! All it takes is one good blog (and something tech related like circuit boards) and the rest follow suit (or manties, I should say). Ecouterre.com broke the story Jan 27th (featuring many of the Metal Art Critique Collective members work from our Jewelry_cycle show!).

Population Control 2.0 was originally created as part of a collaborative project by the Metal Arts Critique Collective to bring public awareness to the issue of e-waste and the benefits of recycling. Each member of the group was given access to small, pre-cut circuit board rejects to make a piece of “green” jewelry. The works were showcased in the exhibition Jewelry_cycle at the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design in fall 2008. An accompanying catalog documented the artists’ process in making.

GreenMuze.com

While the circuit board pieces used for Jewelry_cycle were mostly from cellular technology, I tend to associate circuit boards with computers and guys and all that is geekery, this being the impetus for my Population Control 2.0 boxer briefs. Having a boyfriend who uses laptops for endless hours daily led me to revisit medical studies on continual laptop use linked to male infertility. Could it be a male form of birth control? My process in making the briefs became a public crafting event in which I brought all my tools, parts, and male dress form “Julian” to a 3-day chill music festival/campout and constructed the piece right out on the lawns. Working on “Julian” became the perfect icebreaker to engage the public in a dialogue about recycling, circuit boards, and art.

It gives one pause to think how technology will affect our generation’s health 10-20 years from now. Not only is the production and conspicuous consumption of computers toxic to our environment, it may possible hinder our ability to repopulate future generations.

Greendump.net

Shortly after Ecouterre posted the circuit boxers, then followed Apartment Therapy Unplggd, GreenMuze, Green Dump, Tree Hugger, Techtv101, Earth Blips, tweetmeme, Eco Friendly Mag, the Find Buzz, etc etc. Who knows where it will end (perhaps in traditional print?), but in the meantime I’m coming across some great eco blogs. Click on the links and see what I mean.

Treehugger.com

EcoFriendlyMag.com

EarthBlips.dailyradar.com

Yesterday Christine and I sadly packed up our shows at the SF Museum of Craft + Design, marking the end of a spectacular run for both My First Royal Jewels, MakeArt and Jewelry_cycle. Ahh, the memories…the group tours, the press, Sept & Oct’s never-ending adrenaline rushes. Now it’s how to fit it all back into the apartment.

We just received a copy of our TV debut interviews of our exhibitions on Comcast Channel 104′s Inside City Limits, and hopefully will be able to post clips online soon. There really is nothing like a 3-month run for an exhibition to get the word out on the street and online. Here is the clipping from Dec 14th’s SF Chronicle Datebook, where The Duchess is featured.

Apparently, Reed Easley’s circuit board series was featured on Dec 25th; haven’t seen it yet, but will post it when I get a hold of a copy. Her fan showed up on eventful.com (events posting site), as did my Maharajah piece.

Tempted by all the recycled circuit board parts laying around the house, leftover from the Jewelry_cycle project, I had to make some jewelry from it. The mini collection certainly was a hit a my Holiday Sale at Google last week. Here are some of the pieces, mostly earrings with a pair of cufflinks for extra geekery. Just posted to my Etsy store, for those interested in purchasing for the holidays…

Circuit cufflinks

Circuit Trio earrings

Circuit LG Drop earrings

Circuit Duo earrings with synthetic alpinite set in silver

So much press has come out in the last week or two for all my current local shows, it’s hard to keep up! Today local cable show, “Inside City Limits“  did an onsite interview with me as well as with Christine for Jewelry_cycle. Even after doing the artist talk at the museum on Sunday, I still managed to miss mentioning stuff during the interview. Hard to think ahead of myself while concentrating on looking natural and standing up super straight. Our 20 min interviews will get cut down to 7 min each anyway. Looks like it may air the first week of December, comcast cable channel 11 and 104 (not sure what that translates into non-comcast-wise).

In newspaper land, I was shocked to hear, then see that Lionize was chosen for the SF Chronicle’s Sunday Datebook, Art section. Check them apples out! If anyone local is reading this, I would love to have your copy of this Datebook page when you’re ready to recycle….

Man, that collar is sure living up to its name, even in it’s second generation. Another winning bathroom “studio” photo! Who needs fancy lights when you’ve got glossy Pantone paper and diffused natural light!

The SF Examiner came out with an opening week article (Oct 13) by Sasha Vasilyuk, for the SFMCD shows, and the print version here used the Queen Margherita necklace, the first of the Royal Jewels series (though not present at this exhibition). Click here to read the online version.

In Blogland, many many great posts: Capitolagirl.com interviewed me about the Royal Jewels show and my process and posted to her blog as well as to PoshMama.com, where I was the Friday Spotlight.

Fellow jeweler and blogger, Amy Tavern had a great post Friday as well, titled, “I left my jewelry in San Francisco”, which included the SFMCD shows among her Bay Area artscapades.

Jewelry_cycle was a hit with the bloggers too: the lovely Cindy Edelstein of Jewelry Business Guru kindly posted us. It’s great that the media has all managed to use different images  to depict this show.

Then American Craft got in on the act for their Calendar of Events, highlighting Reed Easley’s fan:

And last, but certainly not least, JCKstyle posted our show and Aimee’s bracelet in their online newsletter:

What’s next? Now if we could only get Population 2.0 (circuit board boxers) out there for some local event….

Mark your calendars for this Sunday, Nov 9 from 1-3pm when I and fellow Critique Collective members are hosting a Meet the Artists Open House at the San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design. Artist walkthrough/tour begins at 1:30. I’ll be giving a tour of My First Royal Jewels Jewellery Collection LEGO necklaces, and the Collective will be talking about the Jewelry_cycle exhibition.

Jewelry_cycle:Artists Discover Hidden Sparkle in the Discarded is an educational showcase of wearable treasures made from re-purposed and re-cycled materials. With the idea of an exhibition in mind, co-curators Christine Dhein and Christoph Koch asked the Critique Collective to create wearable art from a variety of small, discarded circuit boards. Circuit boards are commonly made from fiberglass, epoxy resin, and a variety of metals, which is likely to be one third of the material. These metals include copper, silver and gold, which add a precious element to what would otherwise be considered e-waste. These artists discovered the hidden potential, and transformed these materials to create brilliant, sparkling jewels.

Participating artists are: Shana Astrachan, David Casella, Christine Dhein, Reed Easely, Aimee Golant, Christoph Koch, Kelly Nedderman, and myself. Shout out to Christine for working extra hard to have the exhibit be super clean and pro looking! Check out Julian on the job!

Come join us and learn some facts about environmental waste and how you can do your part to lesson your carbon footprint while being creative!  Plus sit down and make your own jewelry from recycled toy parts at the MakeArt:Jewelry + Objects self-serve table that I developed.

Shout out to SCRAP and UGlu for being awesome sponsors of my MakeArt table and workshop!