Bethlehem House Gallery

So, I have the honor of participating in the current show at Bethlehem House Gallery.  This gallery is pretty amazing.  My silly pictures do not do it justice.  If you are local, please stop by the gallery and take everything in, in person.  

(this picture is by the Bethlehem House Gallery)

Here is a video about Ward, the gallery owner, his art, and his vision for the gallery.  I really hope you will watch it so you too can see what an amazing concept this is.
(this video was done with on the first show and grand opening...the music room you see is now where my jewelry is)

He completely changes artists every 3 months, as well as re-does the gallery, to better accent their art.  He does an amazing job of showcasing the artists as well as finding a wonderful variety of talent.

So the opening of the current show was Thursday November 6th and runs through January 1st.  The current artists:

Artists include: Jessica Bastidas, Erin Anderson, Khalil Allaik, Thomas John Shillea, Vivian Fishbone, David Sommers,Doug Kozo, Stephen Metz and Staci Louise Smith

  So Justin and I cleaned ourselves up a bit, and went out to see how everything turned out (since we had only seen the place during set up).

What a fun time!  I got to meet a few of the amazing artists that Ward had there, had a few glasses of wine, and talked about art with artists and art lovers.  What could have been better?  

This is the amazing painting that you see when you walk in the door...and that is Ward sitting in the chair- minus that pipe I think he should have had for the pic...lol

I got to see "my room" all done.  I still cannot believe the detail and thought Ward put into this room.  Everything in there is so perfect and accentuates my jewelry style.  He wanted to have it set up sort of like a jewelry studio.  So he had come and taken pictures a week or so ahead of time, of my studio.  

a really bad selfie with my pic and artist statement

He got these little cabinets with windows, 

a large glass top piece of furniture to put more of my work in

he used shutters for my earrings like I do

he got all these tools and stuff to make it have that studio workbench feel

he had this old workbench as a table

he got this mannequin which I may have to purchase after the show

and best of all, the art in the room is all stuff I just love, including this carpet which is made by the sculpture in the gallery, because he wanted to mimic the doodles I did on my floor.  It was made by Khalil Allaik.

Seeing my work like this makes me want to have my own store!!!  I am so excited to be a part of this and have the chance to see my work displayed like this.

This room is the front room too, so people on the street can look in and see my jewelry and some of the paintings by Vivian Fishbone, the ones hanging over the workbench and tools.

The gallery was so packed I didn't get pictures of all the rooms...because I had to wait until later to get pictures....and i was sooo tired!!

Here is Jess (Jessica Bastidas) and one of her paintings.  She brings a life to her work, that i find hard to give words to.  There is a visual texture in her brush strokes, and the colors just glow with life.
Oh, and she is really nice too- and so young.  She sold two of her paintings that night!  I am not surprised at all.

 Here are a couple of sculptures by khalil that I adore as well

Ward and his family talking in the "sitting room"

the dining room

the most fun people working the drink table!!!

all tired out at the end of the night, but happy, oh so happy

I learned a couple things: I love art and being around creative people even more then I thought, and two, I need to get out more!

I am totally humbled to be a part of this show.  I never thought my jewelry would be showcased in such an amazing way.  

Please make sure to stop by for this show if you are local.  It is worth the time.  I cannot wait to see what is next!

This is what I'm dealin with People.............

I feel so far behind.  After Beadfest, I had two days to get the kids all they needed for school, and then two days to pack and leave again for a long weekend away with the family.

I am finally unpacking stuff.  But none of it is business related.  Right now, the studio is so bad, I can't even go in.  I laugh, cause its all I can do.  In order to really capture the chaos, I made a nice little video of it.
The phone rings in the video- with 3 kids, I already did 4 other takes....then the phone rings.  so I left it, its better then "MOM!!!!" and lego men fighting.  

So there you go.  I promise, a fun blog about Beadfest with lots of pictures is coming up.  And listing of beads too.............

Tomorrow, I tackle this monster!

Moving In and Movin On

So, now that I am in the studio, there is still alot of little fine tuning to do, and a lot of fear on my part, that I will trash it quickly and it won't be so nice anymore!

 

I tried to set things up in a logical way, giving myself extra room to lay things, since I tend to pile..............and pile............and pile.

 

What can I say, I like things in arms reach.  That is why I made this.

 

 

 

It is a shoe rack, that I used on my desk top for bead storage.  I spray painted it, and drilled holes on the bottom to add casters.   (ok, the hubs did that part!  not me)

Then I added an extra crate I had on top. 

 

Since I LOVE to have everything within arms reach when I work on stuff, and never have enough desk top, I needed something that would help to avoid the piles of things next to my desk. 

 

This can be wheeled over to sit beside me, and hold things like my stamps and molds, polymer clays, metal clays toold, paints, whatever I am working on, and then, if I am not done at the end of the day, it can be wheeled to the side, out of the way.

 

When I am done with say, polymer clay, the bins can go back on the shelves here and my "pile cart" gets wheeled to the side again.

 

Then I can always walk through the room, which didn't happen too often before.

 



 

So I got to use my cart today while making some long overdue polymer beads. 

 

I really just played, I had nothing in mind when I sat down. 

 

I made some big top drilled spikes that I really think will make nice sets.



I made some funky start spikey donuts

And some black beads to be painted with coppery metal paint.

 



 

 

I am going to paint designs on them, like my floor.  The donut below is a sample.

 

 

 

 I also got to play with some metal paint and patina's.  LOVE the results.  These are gonna be REAL fun!

Some more new shapes and things

 

And my favorite beads of the day, skinny sugar skulls!  Can't wait to paint these!  Such a fun shape.  I even made some double sided.

 



Have I mentioned I love my studio?  (sorry, still in shock)

 

Here she is all moved into.

 

 

 

 

Stop by tomorrow for a post about Bead Fest Philly in August, and where you can find me and some other great beady friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!



The Artists Studio

Well, the studio is done.  I just need to put it back together today. 

 

Here is a photo progression of the events.

 

messy over crowded studio

 empty with carpet still in tact

carpet is out

 

 my super handy hubs measuring (this is what he does professionally)

 framing

 framing

first layer of plywood

 

topped with finished plywood- smooth oak

edged with trim

 

a little mineral oil on the surface

 

 

 

moved in

 





 then decided to paint the sub floor- grey base, black doodles

 

 

 

painted the framing of the table black too, to hide the cheap lumber

~~~~~~~~

Now I am just waiting for it to thoroughly dry before moving the rest in.

 

My hubs did an amzing job building my desks, they are open underneath, which was important to me, but also SUPER sturdy.  He does NOT mess around.  That man builds things to last.  If a tornado ever hits, I am ducking under these babies.

 

The painting of the floor was such an amazing zen experience.  I have always loved to paint (the moon painting over my workbench is one of mine) and painting on this scale, with endless free form, no thought, nothing is wrong, possibilites, just freed my mind.  It was meditative, and I was able to enjoy it with my entire being.  You can read more about that experience tomorrow (friday) at Love My Art Jewlery.

 

So that is it. What a feeling of joy and relief.  I am almost in shock.  I now have a beautiful and functional place to create.  I have wanted this for soooooooooo long.  And thanks to the fact my hubs is a carpenter, it cost next to nothing.  He used lumber and trim he had, I just had to buy the finished plywood, a new light for the room (cause it was so very very dark in there) and paint.  He didn't even charge me labor ......lol.  He built it just the way I wanted, even though I changed it 20x, even as he was building it.  I am sure I am on his difficult customer list now, but thats ok.  It's perfect, so it was worth it.