one shnazzy piece of razzle dazzle

I finished this custom order mixed media bracelet today. The request was for a feminine and whimsical piece in muted purples, pinks and grays. I am pleased with the result and am looking forward to using elements of this work in future pieces, like the rose quartz and crystal dangles resting on the greenish/gray feather adding a little bit of silly to the more serious macrame work. I think I just described myself!

I will soon be posting more photographs of recent work. Some more mixed media bracelets with zippers, felted wool, torn fabric, macrame, stones and canvas, and some fallen leaves macrame necklaces - one with rough cut pyrite stone - so funky!

Mailing out samples to the buyer at the Seattle Art Museum tomorrow.
Send positive thoughts my way please!

Thanks!

Custom Orders

This past weekend marked the beginning of my 2010 season as a vendor at the Portland Saturday Market. While the build up was an intense mix of stress and excitement, it felt good being back under my pop-up tent surrounded by new displays, new pieces, new faces and even some familiar ones.
On Sunday, after a slow period, as sells tend to occur in waves, I heard a very relieved voice, "Amira! I found you!" A returning customer all the way from Wisconsin, here in Portland visiting her brother, had been searching for me at the Market. She visited my booth last summer and had asked me to create a custom made pair of earrings. Well, she was very happy to see me and inform me of the loads of compliments she receives every time she wears those earrings. This time around, my devoted customer wanted to purchase a gift for her friend who had been expressing a deep craving for some of my jewelry! So, she bought a bracelet for said friend and ordered yet another custom order for herself. She particularly liked this one bracelet, but wanted a slightly different feel, something whimsical, feminine and in muted purple, pink or gray tones.


I have searched through my bottomless pit of materials and am now focusing in on this collection of treasures.

How will it turn out? You'll have to wait and see!

Studio visit

Welcome to my studio! This is a place where I spend most of my time. I am a member of Switchyard Studios, which is in Southeast Portland, quite close to the river. There are about 30 artists renting space on one floor of a warehouse. The floor above is home to a recording studio and below us is a ceramics distributor. Oh, I cannot forget the man who makes chicken coups on one of the floors above us, as well. The building is also situation right next to train tracks. So, I hear my fair share of train horns, rooster crowing and hip hop artists getting down! Its quite entertaining. The other day I sat in my studio working on a canvas necklace while listening to this really talented female vocalists record a song with a solid drummer, bass, piano, and sax. It can also be quiet and peaceful at times.


Here are some of the bracelets I described in my first blog post. Ah, it seems like only yesterday, I was a novice at all this. These bracelets are made from scrap fabric, macrame, stones, buttons, leather and shells. I will be posting them to Etsy and my website very soon.


I have also been painting a bit. Man, not nearly as much as I used to. But, I feel like my focus on jewelry has been a means of shedding some of the "what to do and not to do" lessons of art school. I often wonder what my paintings would look like if I had not attended and graduated from Art School. I am allowing myself the room to be creative in any means I see progressive at the time. I enjoy having these two creative outlets and I feel like they inform each other.

I have been working on this painting for months. Different ideas and images have soaked into like a sponge of information. The Swifts, my inner SE industrial neighborhood, my tiny macrame knots...

And here is some advice, check out the work of Todd Kelly. He is a Brooklyn based artist. I really like his work. www.toddkellyart.com. I won't describe it, just go see for yourself.

everything you imagine is real

In addition to being an artist, I am preschool teacher.
My kids are hilarious! They are also true. These kids respond to other people and things they see with such genuine feeling. They are inspiring. The other day, I was making sandcastles with one of my students. She watched with such focus as I filled a bucket with sand, packed it down and then turned it over to reveal - A Sandcastle! Her response, "Oh!! It's beautiful!!!!!" Pure joy! This same little girl is the smallest in our class, but attempts to drive the largest of toy tractors when we play in the gym. She's got such might, such conviction to be independent. We wash hands in the bathroom before snack and if I ever turn the faucet on for her, she turns it right off and then on again. She can do it! Inspiring.


Watching my students explore, learn and stand up for themselves makes me think, if they can do it, why can't we all accomplish what we want? What's stopping any one of us from creating that picture we have in our minds? I'd like to thank my preschool classes for giving me strength.

I think they have all the answers. Its like that Picasso quote that I love so much.
"It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child".
Here's another one, "Everything you can imagine is real".
It's too bad he treated woman so poorly.

Here's a secret. When I paint canvases for my canvas jewelry collection, I imagine a child painting. I imagine how they move the paint across their paper, sometimes slowly, sometimes quick. I image them paying more attention to the colors swirling together in one tiny area, than if the piece has a nice composition overall. If you have not already, take a good long look at the painting of a child. It is of a world which most of us have forgotten.

I am contemplating the start of a series of paintings. I want to somehow take my many years experience watching kids paint and draw, and create a tribute to them. A tribute the truth of children. Hmmmm...

Next time you share an experience with a preschool aged child, remember that they may have all the secrets. Or, at least they will make you laugh, maybe thats the real secret.