joya

Big Square - Making Of from Sam Thompson on Vimeo.

Momentary Jewelry from DAN/NAD on Vimeo.

just a little busy

Sooooooo. After returning from Norway I immediately left to teach a workshop and give a lecture at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. I just got back on Saturday. Yet again, something deep inside me confirmed that the Midwest is best.  I had such a wonderful experience living in Indiana for grad school, getting back to that general area was a treat.  What a great time. The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee was impressive to say the least. In the metals studio, there were so many things happening.  I see great things on the horizon for them.  New equipment, new instructors, visiting artists, grants, research....the list goes on and on and on.   If I was finishing up my undergraduate degree in metal and was compiling my short list for grad schools, UWM would make that list. Currently the faculty body consists of Frankie Flood, Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Michael Dale Bernard and Stephanie Voegele. It is normal to have one metals instructor. It is above average to have two. It is becoming more rare to find three and almost unheard of to have four. Their students are so lucky to have so many great people in one place.  Of course we also have four metals faculty at New Paltz as well.....ahem. 

Some of the highlights of the trip.... The Fine Arts Museum (the Tara Donovan and Grete Marks exhibitions in particular), The Aquarium, Discovery World (so many buttons to push), the UWM metals and digital studio, Frankie's studio, Michael's studio, Maders, All you can eat Friday night fish fry, my hotel, and of course the students.  Thanks for inviting me.  I wish I could have stayed longer.

Upon my return...actually, Saturday night I got straight back to work. We are renting a new studio space with some fellow metalsmiths. The space itself needs a tremendous amount of work. It is super cheap so we are making the best of it by completely restoring it!! New electrical, new drywall, new plumbing, new paint etc etc. My back is killing me. Sooner than later I am going to need a real vacation. Sometime to unwind and stay in bed for a week straight. For those of you who have not heard from me in a while now you know why. Also, while I was in Norway out to eat with all of the metals folks a reporter came up to me and asked me if I wanted to be part of a photo shoot. I agreed and this is where is ended up.

NORWAY!

Liz and I just returned from Norway.  I was invited to give a lecture and to co-lead a symposium called"Hot Week" where the National Academy of Arts of Oslo invites two jewelry artists to give a talk on their work and to discuss students' work while they are there. Each "Hot Week" has a theme and this year's theme was "links".  Students were encouraged to produce a piece of work inspired by the week's theme and to submit it to the gallery for a show at the end of the week.

Liz and I spent 8 days in Oslo, which is currently under much construction.  The city is quite beautiful.  Our hotel was next to a very quiet neighborhood just off the city center.  Often I felt like we had never left the US because everyone spoke English and the entire city was peppered with American muscle cars.  Several people before we left said that Norwegians are not friendly people but we found it to be the opposite.  Norwegians are super friendly and always willing to help or at least try.  We found more smiles than frowns.

Most of the week we spent at the National Academy touring the school (which is amazing!) and visiting with students.  On top of the main building of the school is a neon sign that says This Is It.  And it is!  The school is mind blowing!  They have so many nice tools and equipment.  It made me want to go back to school. Their 3D fab lab had FIVE 3D printers! two laser cutters, a water-jet, a CNC and two 3D scanners! I can't even mention all of the wonderful tools in the metals studio.  

On the last night, we went out to dinner with the chair of the jewelry department, Heidi Sand, the other visiting artist, Iris Bodemer, and two other women, one who works for a small jewelry gallery/workshop center in Copenhagen called Goldfingers and the other is part of an artist collective called Klink.

There was so much to do in Oslo.  We went to the botanical gardens, the Opera House which is made out of Italian marble and situated right on the waterfront, the Munch Museum, and toured the fjords in a small boat. We really had a wonderful time.  I actually would recommend going.  Bring your wallet because it is expensive. 

Here are some highlights from the trip.  If you want to see all of the photos you can visit my flickr page. 

Soooooooo.  Liz and I will be leaving for Norway on Friday.  I have been invited to lecture at the Oslo National Academy of Art's Metal and jewelry program.  I am VERY excited.  Of course it means a lot of sleepless nights working on my lecture.  

After visiting with the guy at the AT&T store I have found out that my phone is going to be  almost 1$ a minute.  So I am not sure how much blogging I will be doing while I am there.  I will however take tons of photos so I can remember the experience.  I have a bad habit of not remembering when I am in the thick of it.  I hope to have some free time to visit some sites etc.  Liz and I have been so busy lately that it has been hard to sit down and write something.  We have had a number of crazy things that have put the studio and the blog on hold.  On a sad note we had to put down our dog.  He had a slew of health issues.  The vet told us that anyone of them he could drop dead from.  I felt like he was keeping himself alive for us.  After realizing that he must be in agonizing pain I had to make the call.  It was probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and I hope that I will never have to do that again.  For 15 years I have been getting up and letting him out or taking him for a walk.  I still find myself rushing home to let the dog out or getting up early when I hear what I think is scratching at the door.  I am sure this will pass but in the mean time sleep has been VERY hard to find.  


The schedule is filling up.  After Norway I immediately go to Milwaukee to do a lecture and a workshop.  This summer I will be teaching at Haystack and Penland.  Somewhere in the middle I have two shows and a couple of pieces being made for themed exhibitions.  Of course during all of this I am teaching and doing my tech job at New Paltz. Liz and I are considering renting a large studio space.  I think it is about time to finally do this.  Forever my studio has been in my house.  I worry sometimes about the hazards of having a studio at home and I feel like if i was paying for it I would use it more. I think at this point in my career I actually need it in order to keep up with everything.  

That is all for now.  I will try to make another blog entry before our trip.   

 

thanks ford

The book is in!!

So the book is in. A while back I was asked to curate a lark book. Here it is. It turned out great. The folks at Lark did a great job! Go buy it!

The Birth Of A Tool. Part I. Axe Making (by John Neeman) from John Neeman Tools on Vimeo.

The Sound Of Damascus (by John Neeman) from John Neeman Tools on Vimeo.

The Birth Of A Tool. Part II. Chisel Making (by John Neeman) from John Neeman Tools on Vimeo.

machine crazy!

mobile woodshop?

This guy even posted the plans on google sketch up

Manufacturing Super from retrosuperfuture on Vimeo.

Printing titanium bicycle parts. A Charge Bikes collaboration with European Aeronautic Defence and Space from Charge Bikes on Vimeo.

arrowmont

So I just got back from Arrowmont. What a blast. I met so many interesting artisans and students. I taught a "green studio" class which involved alternative techniques to keep your metals studio environmentally friendly. Of course working in metals as a whole is kind of nasty.  It can be almost impossible to get around using chemicals and acids that often create fumes and hazardous waste. For my workshop I demoed different pickle recipes, pouring ingots from scrap, Japanese alloys, alternative patinas etc etc etc.  My mantra for the workshop was "don't be lazy". I learned a lot and I hope that the students took home a lot of new information to make their home studios safer. Arrowmont is a magical place. I often find myself wishing that academia could be more like a workshop. There are no grades, there are no due dates and everyone has a great attitude. I can't wait till next summer when I can have the time to teach another workshop. Also, the food at Arrowmont touched my heart. Being from the south and living in the north I have missed some of Virginia's staple foods. Grits, biscuits and gravy, pie, country ham, BBQ, they had it all! I would highly recommend taking a workshop, retreat or just a visit really. I loved meeting with the resident artists and assistants. I also loved talking with all the instructor and finding out their format for what they were teaching. Over all I brought back a ton of info for future workshops and future projects. I am very excited to get the year started at SUNY. We have a bunch of incoming grads and undergrads and I will be busy whipping the studio into shape the next couple of days.

Thanks Ford

Final Coin

So I think I have settled on the final finish for this thing. Here is what I did....The sprues were cut off from the casting.  Then the edge of the coin was polished with a rubberized abrasive wheel.  Then it was bead blasted.  Then it was darkened.  Then it was brass brushed with dove dish soap.  Then it was rubbed with a abrasive pad to bring out the highlights. They all have little doodads here and there (pits,slugs,flashing and seams showing) but over all I am VERY happy with it.  I finished 30 of them and now I have 70 left to do. I am lucky enough to have a few folks helping. Lynn Batchelder and my wife to name a few.