Seven years in the making

Published on 12/07/2009 in News.

Seven years ago, with the fall quickly becoming winter in manhattan, I went to a place called Dikra in midtown and purchased a few cabochons for my jewelry class. I used two out of the three, and while having great plans to set the third stone, time flew, the semester was up, and I never finished that piece.

This weekend I finally set this turquoise-blue amazonite stone:

Seven years in the making   

 

Throughout the process my mind was flooded with memories of where that stone had been that year, of the plans I had to set it (numerous and I never settled quite fully on one), the people I knew then, the places I went with them, and in the end of all that, I abandoned the stone…it stayed with me in the recesses of my house, piled with the other neglected art projects that I am now excavating and expanding on.

I never expected working again on this stone to create such an intense sense of time travel. It really could have been 2002 in that room when I burnished the stone in place (Burnishing by the way has become one of my favorite processes in jewelry-making. It takes a lot of muscle and focus to get a sweet, smooth line around the stone. In class my nickname became "the Burnisher" set to the tune of the end of Big Punisher's "Still Not a Player"  around min. 3:12 …burnishaaaa)

And after that incredibly cathartic experience, another creative process began. Elise, a fellow Crucible hooligan, was in the two-day intensive workshop with me. She and I fell into that kind of talk that issues from nowhere while you aren’t looking at each other, but focused on the file that is shaving off atoms of silver before you. She was soldering gemstone eyes onto a metal dental mold (an octopus form of sorts), and I ended up working on this ring:

 

Cue the surf guitar. Or a ring in silver

 

I can’t recount all that went into this piece, but I will say that I didn’t go into the workshop with this form in mind. To see it now after having gone through the process of creating it is surprising even to me. I’m definitely loving the adventure. (The stone is glass, by the way, and it is even more intense in person. And no, that psychedelic patina color won’t last forever. The patina will eventually go darker black, but hey, I can dig rainbows as long as they last!)

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A visit to the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza 2009

Published on 11/16/2009 in News.

Mid-November is always an exciting time for me. For two days, some of the best craftspeople come together to showcase their latest work at the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza. The event isn’t limited to beads alone though. Lots of suppliers supplement the offerings. The organization offers classes as well, but this weekend, I was mostly interested in seeing what this temporary respite of the Picking World had to offer. I spent both days perusing the aisles, talking to the artisans and those who delve deeper than me into the world of vintage German and Japanese glass. Toni Lutman’s new line of glass beads really stood out to me. And I got to visit with my favorite people from Baubles and Beads, right down the street from me in Berkeley.

On Sunday, I volunteered to man The Crucible’s booth. We spoke with hundreds of people. Some of them had heard of The Crucible before, some hadn’t. I love it when someone walks away excited by the possibilities that they can explore at The Crucible. I love it even more if and when I see them again, after having taken a class…the classes are addictive! (I’m taking my next one in early December!)

The BABE show was my second time volunteering to man a Crucible table. Lots of people say, "I always say, I’ll go, but I haven’t gone yet." My reply to them is always, "don’t let some day become six years!" In 2003, I told my friend Erin that when I moved to Berkeley for grad school, I would be at The Crucible every day. This January, I realized 6 years had lapsed, and I hadn’t even stepped foot in the place. By the looks of this photo, you can see that’s all changed now! 

 

 

It was great to spend time around so much raw creativity, both people and materials. And I can’t wait to make new pieces with the loot I collected this weekend. It’s going to be so much fun!

 

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Mini Moo!

Published on 09/01/2009 in Behind the scenes and News.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately into packaging, and the recent trend of Moo minicards was just too hard for me to resist. Coming up with my own set was a difficult design challenge. Should I take pictures of the various pieces and add a few moo cards that match that very piece? (but that seemed to be a bit too matchy-matchy.) Or should I take something that has nothing to do with the individual pieces jewelry but reflects the nature of Art by Zahrt? And if so, what would that look like? At the root, the conflict was the tension between using them primarily for packaging or mini business cards.

After spending some time I chose to compromise by selecting various photos I’ve taken from my travels. I not only collect beads and supplies everywhere I go, but more often than not, those are the places that inspire me to create, whether it’s artwork, photography, or even academics (9 times out of 10 I’m in Germany! Lately though, Croatia has been beating out the German-speaking lands). The natural textures of the images I capture from the places I visit dovetail with the designs I end up creating. It’s a win-win!

So, a few weeks ago I finally designed and ordered a set of minicards with an avatar on the back (next to the contact info), but the avatar was very pixellated. Luckily, when I asked the people at Moo how to fix it in the future, they gave me a coupon for a free set (Thanks Moo!), which just arrived. I’m super excited with how they turned out! These cards put the perfect touch on the jewelry I’m making.

Take a peek at how it is all coming together:

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Metal Corrugation Workshop

Published on 08/11/2009 in Artists, News and Techniques.

This week I’m taking a metal corrugation workshop with Trish McAleer. She’s amazing, and the techniques she is teaching are blowing everyone away. Her workshop is part of the “Surfacing” conference of the Enamelist Society. The Crucible has been kind enough to host the workshops for the conference, and so far, everything is going really well. I’ve taken some pictures of my progress so far. I can’t wait for tomorrow. I’ll definitely be doing more corrugation in my future work.

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Monday morning inspiration

Published on 08/03/2009 in Artists.

Mateo’s art is amazing. I’ve been following this artist ever since I stumbled across his work at a flea market in Berlin in 2005. His paintings continue to get better and better. The strange beings he paints inspire and fascinate. He often shows with his friend Johan Potma, an exquisitely talented artist in his own right.

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Welcome!

Published on 04/29/2009 in News and The Picking World.

Welcome to Art by Zahrt! It has taken a long and windy path to get here, but I am happy to finally share the results of my creative endeavors with you. In this post, I’ll share a bit about my background and how Art by Zahrt came to be.

Seven years ago, I stepped into my first jewelry-making studio. I took an introductory course while at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study in Manhattan, and that kicked off a journey into what I came to know as “the Picking World.” The course instructor sent us all uptown to get supplies from a store called Metalliferous. Little did I know that this place would change the course of my life forever. When I walked into the second story shop, a narrow counter, crowded with strange supplies on all sides, forced the customers into a bustling huddle. The store itself is a wild beehive with cavernous bins filled with dreamy, disorganized knicknacks from all over. Anything you can imagine having to do with jewelry-making is in this space. Over the course of the next two years in Manhattan, I practically lived here.

Many of my guiding philosophies and nuggets of wisdom come from encounters in this store. The owners of the shop used to get their inventory from the most random of places. I started to collect random objects and beads anywhere I went in an effort to amass a mini-Metalliferous in my apartment. It’s amazing what you can find when your ears and eyes are perked. I continue to collect at least something, anything I can use in my creative work when I travel. Each little object brings those trips and adventures back to life, and I hope to share those moments of inspiration with you here as I actually put these materials into pieces of jewelry.

In 2004, when I moved out to Berkeley to pursue my PhD in German Literature and Film, my experiments with jewelry-making took a backseat to my academic life. Coursework proved to be intense and time-consuming. I spent most of my free time taking up the sport of cycling in the Berkeley and Oakland hills on the Calcycling team. The athletic life in the Bay Area stimulated my body, as the books were stimulating my mind, but after my qualifying exams, I felt the urge to get back into making jewelry in serious way. I started to take courses in jewelry-making again, and I found myself on the hunt for more ways to improve my skills. Don’t worry, I’m still writing my dissertation! But that is a topic for a different venue!

The idea for Art by Zahrt came into existence this January, after a great conversation with an owner of a jewelry business in Oakland. His advice to me was “just do it!” and so, after piles of paperwork, Art by Zahrt is now the newest small jewelry business in Berkeley, CA.

On my blog, you can read about the materials I use, my encounters in the picking world, and the sources of my inspiration. No two pieces of my jewelry are ever alike. Part of this has to do with how I find my materials, but also, I find that it feels great to wear something that no one else on earth can wear. So come back often, dig around in my slice of the picking world. Hopefully you’ll like what you see and like wearing it even more!

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