emiko-o rewarejewelry from LEGO and recycled materialsSome rapid-fire catching up to do, and can’t believe I haven’t posted this awesome article from California Home + Design magazine Nov/Dec 2009 issue. Writer Mikhail Romain picked my to feature in his Building Blocks article. Much thanks to Raymond McKenzie, buyer at the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design and my roomie Christine Dhein for getting my image to the magazine while I was in Europe!
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.
This weekend’s MakeArt: Accessorize with Toys workshop @ SF Museum of Craft + Design was a hit was kids and adults alike! The museum’s biggest turnout yet for their MakeArt workshops, not to mention there was a surprise visit from Cabrillo College. Fellow Metal Arts Guild member, Dawn Nakanishi, brought her Metals students from Cabrillo for a field trip to SFMCD. The students got a treat to have a special artist tour (by me), plus they got to play at the MakeArt table with all those irresistable toy parts donated by SCRAP. It was definitely a fun afternoon.
There were 8 kids (7 boys and 1 girl, go figure!) in tow with moms, who worked right alongside their busy bees. 
Shana & I, along with Margaret, the Education Coordinator, oversaw the makers, making sure no one hammered or hot glued a finger. The wondrous UGlu saved many a project as well, stealing Elmer’s thunder yet again. The time just flew by as everyone was deeply engrossed in their projects.
See more photos of the workshop on the museum’s flickr set, and see more images from the MakeArt table on my flickr set. More images will be uploaded in the days to come.
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!
My show has been getting lots of attention on the web, I can barely keep up with the thank you emails. It is truly awesome. My favorite post so far has been from an Italian journalist, Anna Battista and her blog: Irenebrination: Notes on Art, Fashion, and Style. See her Oct 23rd entry:
She covers both my ready-to-wear line and the exhibition pieces. She writes, “Oye’s best pieces though are the ones she has done for different exhibitions and events.”
The day after that, LEGO blogger, Michael Huffman posted my show on his BrickBuildr blog; which is great since I don’t usually hear from fellow LEGO lovers.
Yesterday, the show was posted on Object Fetish, an online jewelry gallery run by Whitney Couch.
Lots of fun, seeing the work get posted. Check out more images on my flickr set, as well as images of people wearing my work on the SF Museum of Craft + Design’s flickr set. Here is a sneak peak at some of my fav photos from the interactive, digital part of my show…
People definitely discovered the Effects in Photobooth. Would be awesome to print all of these and plaster a wall with them….. stay tuned for more people images…
