emiko-o reware

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!

Getting some of my exhibition pieces ready for the upcoming SCRAP show, which opens Monday, Nov 3 here in SF, called Recollections: Celebrating 30 Years of SCRAP. I can’t tell ya how much I love SCRAP (Scroungers Center for Recycled Art Parts)–I don’t know where I’d be today as an artist without such an inspirational source of materials. Even more fitting is that my Lionize II collar is on the postcard and PR, being that it is the reincarnation of the original Lionize collar which was the first serious exhibition piece i created 10 years ago from materials I salvaged at SCRAP.

The Market Street Gallery (1554 Market St, SF) is again hosting this SCRAP show, this time featuring 18 artists, which appears to be mostly female, including moi and my fellow recycling cohort, Christine Dhein.

I heard that the Bay Guardian had selected this show as its Monday Pick of week, very cool, and it didn’t occur to me until tonite as I was flipping through this politically laden issue (what to make of Prop H?), that hey, the show must be featured in THIS WEEK’s issue, since the opening of the show is Monday. Lo and Behold, almighty, can you believe what I saw:

Here’s a closeup–even has artist and photo credits–yeay!

What an amazing month it has been for PR!  For those who want to see the show, it runs Nov 3-25th, with an Artist Reception on Saturday, Nov 15 from 6-8. On Saturday, Nov 22 there will be a silent auction for which I’m donating the Mondrian Limited Edition bracelet (see right).

To attend the auction event, there is a $30 entry fee, the proceeds going to SCRAP; word on the street is that Ruth Asawa is donating a piece! Could be worth it to check out the auction….

For more info on the show and events, go to The Squid List.

Tomorrow: I hunt down the address of the SF Examiner’s Circulation Desk and get me that Oct 13 issue that apparently my LEGO necklace is featured in!

‘Twas the night before Maker Faire and all through the kitchen,
Every creature was crafting–and boy was it b_tchin’!
Shana and I getting ready for the Big Weekend of Recycled Jewelry Madness; going to Maker Day was just the medicine we needed to charge ourselves up for the crowds of eager burgeoning jewelers. Spent the afternoon taking inventory of the treasure tub of random collected pieces parts of toys, games, as well as investigating what each other has picked up in the last few weeks from Mission Thrift (5 Monoply games in one visit–pure gold!) and our favorite, inspirational supplier of recycled whatnot, SCRAP. Our goal: to make some new samples, namely, necklaces with the latest additions in jewelry findings from Rio Grande.

I am MOST EXCITED about this generous shipment of UGlu samples from my fellow Clevelander, Justin, over at MACtac, an adhesives company. This stuff is the greatest, non-toxic, STRONG (but not take-off-the-paint-on-your-walls strong), semi-permanent adhesive I’ve ever worked with (no small beans, as there are two tubs full of adhesives drying out in the back workroom as we speak). Shana and I met Justin a few months back at her friend Susan’s house for a focus group, where he had us brainstorm about tapes and glues. Most memorable was he stuck a full bottle of beer to the wall with this stuff and it stayed there all night. It was That Strong.

Anyhow, I really wanted to use it for our workshop at Maker, so now we have enough to hand out a package to each person–no more toxic goopy glues. Should be perfect for the kids!

Look at all the goodies (good thing you can’t see the rest of the room, it’s like a small monsoon hit)–here we are making samples, me taking way to long to make one necklace while Shana makes the cutest cat hairclip ever!

Cute in that Amy Sedaris kind of way, as Shana pointed out. Too bad we don’t have an entire bag of cat figurines….

You must see the whole picture to really appreciate its charm:

12 hours later, the suitcases are packed by the front door with care, knowing that Maker Faire day soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
Dang, I should be too, but I’m blogging instead….

Hope to see you fellow Makers in San Mateo!