New Studio!

I recently moved to a new studio space within the Switchyard Studio Warehouse in Southeast Portland. I am no longer crouching over my knots and beads under lamps clamped to the top edge of the 5'8" walls built by the previous artist. Today I spent all day in the studio with not one lamp turned on. I felt peaceful sitting by the window in natural light, no longer feeling disconnected from the outside world.
The framed painting on the left of this photo montage is hanging on a wall Noah and I built. Well, we used the wooden easel made from 2' x 4's also built by the previous artist in my former space as the frame for the wall. We then bought more wood and a 4' x 8' sheet of drywall, which we cut into smaller sections and screwed onto the wooden frame. It was good practice for what might be an up and coming project - building a wall to close our space from the communal area. I share this space with another artist, a painter. Her space is in the background on the right of the picture.
After a full day in the studio, I feel worn out, but definitely fulfilled by my productivity. I have a three day holiday fair in about a month and the Portland Saturday Market.
Here are some photographs of some recent pieces.

F*@#! This is so cool!

Clusters of Asymmetry

Here's a little unbalance for all you lovers of order! These pieces feature a single stone, dramatic and bold, yet dangling lightly with an asymmetrical cluster of canvas, leather and recycled vinyl hand cut leaves on an antique brass chain and sterling silver wire rings. I am very into the mixed metals right now, love the contrast of the old and weathered brass accented by the sparkling fancy silver. Just about ready to paint a new set of canvases of different colors and patterns. I'm thinking details; lines, honeycombs, contoured floral patterns and animal print! Also excited to incorporate more salvaged and hand-me-down fabrics I have acquired from my sister, a textile designer in NYC, and from one of my favorite places in the whole wide world (for real), SCRAP!

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!

Harper's Magazine April 2010

One of the many benefits of having a studio space within a community of artists is that there are tons are art, social, fashion and other magazines lying around at my disposal. I came across this poem today in the April 2010 Harper's Magazine and it made me feel warmth. It was written by Jorge Luis Borges (1988 to 1986), an Argentine writer who's progressive blindness, according to some Scholars, helped him to create innovative literary symbols through imagination since "poets, like the blind, can see in the dark". Having lived in Buenos Aires, the city where he was born and spent most of his life, I feel very connected to his words. While reading his poem, I could see the narrow streets, the European influenced buildings decorated with authentic wrought iron balconies, artesanos in the ferias, plazas commemorating fallen Argentine Heros, brightly colored walls and incredibly rich and detailed graffitti, and, of course, the tango dancers in the street.

Sonnet For a Tango in The Twilight

Who was it that said it all in a homegrown tango
Whose drawn-out, lovely sweetness made me pause
Under some unassuming little balconies
In that leafy neighborhood that isn’t even yours?

All I know is that in its sorrow I saw a simple yard
Within whose earthen walls the whole sunset fit,
A place I’d glimpsed a few months ago in some slum,
And that I loved you more than ever, hearing it.

Caught in that music, I stayed there on the sidewalk
Facing the lonesome moon, the heart of the street,
In the relentless wind that came down driving the night.

That infinite tango pulled me toward everything.
Toward the fresh stars. Toward the chance of being a man.
And toward that clear memory my eyes keep seeking

materials, materials, oh how i love thee!

Everywhere I go, the hardware store, pharmacy, post office, on a hike, supermarket, you name it, I lose track of time. I end up wondering what I could create with whatever object my eyes have noticed. Ace Hardware is amazing! Chains, screws, electrical wire in tons of colors! Needless to say, it sometimes takes me close to an hour to run a 15 minute errand. Going to SCRAP, A School and Community Reuse Action Project in Portland, Oregon, is a trip never under 45 minutes in length. Leather, wood, yarn, donated clothing tags, styro-foam, TONS of fabric, old magazines - this place is a 7 days-a-week yard sale! (www.scrapaction.org)

I recently returned to Portland from the East Coast where I spent 7 days visiting with family and friends. I cannot tell you how much I loved and needed their hugs, kisses and talks. On the last day of my visit, I packed up the belonging I brought with me, and a few extra items, clothing, an old painting, and a purse. As I shoved these items into my backpack, I realized the purse I was bringing home was actually quite gross and that maybe I could use its components (buckles, straps, fasteners) to make something really cool. So, I grabbed some scissors and began cutting. In walks my brother, also frantically packing for his trip back to Switzerland, and gasps,"What are you doing?" I replied, "What. I can use these pieces to make jewelry!" He gave me that look. He knows me very well. What probably flashed through his mind was the time I "destroyed" his Bronx Zoo wallet only to put it back together with collaged imagery covered with clear packing tape (so cool), or maybe the time I cut his olive green cargo pants to make a cute mini skirt. He knows me very well.I love materials. While on the East Coast, I also made a trip to the Fashion District in New York City. My mother and I spent about an hour drooling over brilliant stones of varying color, shape and size. We went to Phoenix Beads on 37th between 5th and 6th Ave. I am eager to start working on some mixed media necklaces, earrings and bracelets. I envision delicate necklaces with chain, a few stones, and canvas cutout leaves or feathers. Whimsical and feminine. Very sexy. Also, some macrame circles with dangling stones and canvas.

This is what I do. I turn these little treasures into pieces that make sense to me. I'm not sure how I reach a finished piece. I do research what other artists are creating. And nature, fashion and the city influence me, as well. Often times I'll start with one idea and end with something entirely different. I don't always know what a piece needs. A button, a buckle, a bead. Some canvas, some leather, some fabric. A braid, a knot, a chain, a crystal! Variety is crucial. It is so important to play with materials. Get a sense of what you are working with and break down those fearful thoughts - "I'm gonna ruin it", "I' m gonna run out of material", "I don't know what I am doing" - these thoughts freeze you as an artist. You'll never get anywhere with these thoughts hanging around.
And get messy. My studio is usually covered with scraps of string, canvas, fabric, wire, etc. But this is what it's all about. Organized chaos. And sometimes just chaos!

Calvary Cemetery, Queens, NY

I arrived at JFK airport in New York City this morning at 8:05am and hired a cab to take me to my sister's place in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I asked the cab driver how much this ride would cost. He replied its on the meter since we are going to Brooklyn and not New York City which is a flat rate of $45. Yikes! I gulped and buckled my seatbelt. I kept thinking its OK to spend some money, I'm seeing my family after 11 months of being independent in Portland, Oregon. So, instead of dwelling on the upcoming dent to be made in my wallet, I began talking with the cab driver. We started with the usual weather chat, followed by some traffic updates and the New York City cost of living coupled with the poor job market, then silence, a bridge, more silence, and then I saw it. First the light caught my eye. Then the shades of white and gray. Then the rectancilinear shapes all fairly similar in size, but shifting in height due to the rolling hillside they stood upon. These rectangles echoes the much larger ones in the distance. We were driving past the largest cemetery in New York, The Calvary Cemetery of Queens. Now, this is a cemetery I have seen before. But having been away from the enormous and over populated city that is New York, my memory was a bit foggy. I should mention that upon leaving the airport, I was drawn to the low income housing units sprawled out in every direction. So many people living so closely in such mediocrity. This is not what life is about.

I asked the cabdriver for the name of this expansive city of the dead. I began to feel confused about it. Why do we bury our dead in a plot of land to just sit and take up space? I then asked him from where he came. India. I asked him if there are such places in India where the dead are buried. He said in Hinduism the dead are cremated. He said that we all have a light and that when we die that light leaves us, and then we are just a dead body. He said that burying a dead body in the ground is the same as cremated it and returning the ashes to the earth. Some people have their deceased loved ones cremated and then keep them in an urn in their home. He said that is the same thing as a cemetery.

I continued to think about all this as we drove through the congestion and honking. Is burying a loved one in a cemetery a means of holding on? Does it make some people feel more comfortable and less alone? Is it a form of denial? Does burying someone or cremated them and keeping the ashes interrupt the natural cycle of life?

As we neared my sister's apartment, one more conversation took place. We spoke of the hustle and bustle around us. The cab driver said that a person's pressure goes up living in the city. He said you miss one train and you are 30 minutes late to work. People are stressed. I said that's why I live in Oregon. He said that you have to have lots of patience to live in New York City and that everyone is in rush. I sat there looking out the window, listening to his words, thinking of how calm he seemed. He sits there in his cab all day long watching New York City as if it was a movie. Scene after scene, new characters, new stories, new conversations. I wonder how many conversations he thinks about after a ride is up. Is he writing about me right now?

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.

News

Tomorrow is Monday. On Friday night, I sent out more than ten emails, with photographs, describing my jewelry to various Art and Craft Museums across the country. And now I wait. I am still waiting for the buyer at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to write me regarding the samples I sent her upon her request. The ball is rolling. This is a very exciting time.

The Saturday Market has opened for its 2010 season, but I am waiting until April to begin my season for it is still quite chilly out and I am still quite in need of my creative studio weekends. I have been very busy making new pieces, new designs and working with new materials.

I will soon finish a canvas collection for the fabulous Tender Loving Empire, a funky store and recording label in NW Portland, which will be moving to a hot new location next to the Radish Underground and near Powell's on Burnside. I slightly altered my circle canvas earrings by using very small circles that float and dangle of shimmery sterling chain. They remind me of fish scales!

Upcoming goal? Take a silversmith class. I am eager to start forming my own silver pieces to use with macrame, leather, canvas, fabric, stones and more!
Variety is the spice of all life!

Almost 11 Months

In ten days I will be going home. I almost erased "home" and retyped Connecticut, because my home is now in Portland, Oregon and has been for almost eleven months. The apartment I am sitting in feels like home. It is comfortable, decorated with our photographs, settled in. Home really is wherever Noah and I are together. Yes, thats sweet, I know. But, I really began writing about home because a lot has happened since we left our parents' basement and spare bedroom. The just over a week visit with my family is beginning to feel like a race. So much to say, so many hugs to give and receive, so many different locations. But, I really began writing about home because I feel proud. Despite my moments of insecurity, feelings of not achieving my goals or falling short of success, and admiring (envying) the accomplishments of others, I know that I am doing great, that we are doing great! Life...

My life consists of a few things at this moment. Sharing my life with Noah, teaching preschool, and spending time creating jewelry in my studio. Yes, I have a studio! I love it! I could spend every day, every week, every month there. Well, maybe not, but my point is that I love having my own space to create freely.

My studio is currently covered in fabric scraps. I finally jumped into my plastic bin of old clothes and recycled fabric from SCRAP to create some necklaces I've wanted to attempt for quite some time now. I also just finished 6 bracelets using macrame, braided fabrics, leather, feathers, snaps and stones! Oh my they are fun!

My only fear at this moment is that I may not be able to create every design that enters my mind. Lack of time.

Good night!