a quiet, on the splurge of the moment holiday open studio with a couple of neighbors, patty o’connor (beautiful and colorful blended media on canvas) and terri miller (very interesting recycled art out of old tires), for hot cider and sunshine from the new mexico’s sky.
here are a few shots. the sun’s glare was really bright…
holiday open studio 2016 – my display
holiday open studio 2016 – patty 1
thank you to all who could stop by!
sometime it happens in a flash, sometime it takes longer… but each piece always finds its human match. always.
this one below is the last of a one-of-a-kind brooch series from a few years back.
the first three were bought by jewelers’werk galerie at an american craft council show in baltimore, some while ago.
round stained brooch
she walked confidently into my booth, looking straight at it.
round stained brooch was hanging on the wall, pinned to a little black neoprene panel, swinging from a chain in the sunny november day.
she picked it up, running her fingers around the edge of it, then she put it on.
adjusted it to the soft woolen collar folds of her sweater and looked in the mirror.
everything was in place just then: the bluish greens of the brooch perfectly matched the color of her sweater, the darker tones her pants, the silver blended smoothly with her short hair and her hat was calling to the subtle greys of the metal.
there, they had found each other.
i love plants. outdoor plants, indoor plants… there is a relationship with a plant, subtle, unnoticed.
like anything ‘different’ than oneself, it is another language, a different way of relating, an unfamiliar, at times, way of perceiving.
having been now here, miraculously put, in my cozy 400 sqf of space, i began noticing several months ago that a specific plant was missing from my outdoor surroundings… a beautiful plant that had been around all of my past places for the last 15 years, a plant with a presence.
a neighbor had one growing by a ditch down the road, a big one, all bright and white in its big flowers.
but they were nowhere else to be seen, and not on the piece of land my current studio is on.
i asked my landlady about them but she said she had not seen them around her house for the past several years, as long as she could remember…
i began to long for this plant to be in my front yard, right outside my door, so i could look at it everyday and see if blooming at night… i threw my silent wish out there, in my mind, in my heart.
i wished myself this plant.
and one day, looking down on the dirt outside the door i spotted it: a couple of small ‘suspicious-looking’ tender green leaves, quivering in the dust.
the one on the left was the first one to pop up
wasn’t really sure at first, kept an eye on it and put a couple of stones around to mark the spot; then a few more showed up the following days and i piled more little rocks around them.
all this makes me go back to stephen buhner’s books and to his very intriguing writings about the intelligence of plants…..fascinating.
they are sturdy plants, they survive harsh winters if you respect them and let them be…
i just can’t wait to see the flowers next season, i am simply grateful.
drawings. matter-over-mind sketches.
it happened a few weeks ago, bumping yet into another pile of books … looking for boxes and older folders i could not find …. where ARE my drawings?
quickly, after a few minutes of deep desperation, i grabbed some color faded markers and a stack of A4 scrap paper and spun fun into motion again…
alongside the filing and the melting of my last silver just the other night, these are my walking sticks, warm-up exercises back to bench work, helpers, friends in the making.
some from the last days of february:
And so here it is: spring 2016 is happening.
Not too sure how long it will last, maybe it will be winter tomorrow, maybe summer all at once the next day… Nature is trying to stay sane, winter was dense and scattered in million directions, the apparent stillness fooling some cloudy days.
But now, celebrating!
There are new shoots on my lemon trees, the avocado seed has sprouted after the cold, I need to give it more solid ground.
Celebrating the sprouts of spring, outside and inside my crammed studio…
Still pulling out of the recent past 3(studio) moves, it is all taking so long to stop spinning, from a 1500 square foot open space to a tiny 400…. keep bumping into things.
Hurts to bump into metal, the wire coils, the copper pipes and all the scrap I just could not part with….you get bruises and scars for just trying to work.
But I l love my scars.
Zeige deine Wunde…thinking of ‘der’ Beuys and countless discussions around a kitchen table, so long ago.
(It’s in german, the way he spoke it….)
I put some of my scars in a story in a book last October, a way to pin a few things down after the storm. CraftsPEOPLE: In their Own Words features stories by circa 75 artists and crafts people, their work, the struggle, the pains and joys of following one’s own path…all the tests and difficult roads that lead to beautiful destinations.
It’ll be out in digital version first end of March, in print later in the spring, will keep you posted.
There are things stirring on the bench though, and despite the tight space, trays of work in progress are being shuffled around in search of their own order.
Something is even leaving the bench….
Like… the Cone Pendant, a new addition to the Solids line!
A few last footnotes:
2016 started out on a mellow note, endings and beginnings rolled in and out without much fuzz for once… had my first (for this year) and last (for last year) frozen mango margarita at Maria’s here in the city different and slid seamlessly into the new year.
Highlights of the first days of this year was going through the experience of sitting on the jury for a local show…. short and sweet, it was very interesting for me. Grateful for the opportunity and the insights it gave me into my own work and on ‘jurying’ in general.
I know, a long post for another time, maybe.
And then, there is drawing…. and that is the next post!
Happy Spring!
2015 is moving out fast, all of a sudden just 5 days to its closing!
it’s been another dense one, caught in between studio relocations and time spent in catching up with studio relocations… i still have most of my tools and equipment with me, amazingly so i must say, after all the dirt and rocky roads traveled this past year.
view from the studio window
right now, staying put.
outside, the mesa to the south
inside, looking in…
inside.
inside a much smaller (but ahh, so focused!) space now, studio is slowly in becoming again and taking on a new shape.
it is going to take some time.
in retrospect, not much work at the bench….
most of all the new and old ideas, thoughts in the making, drawings and visual notes scattered about and on hold, for all the right times to come.
a closing wish for a year ahead of new things and new beginnings, welcoming all the unknown and intriguing challenges to come…
and so, to celebrate and summarize a time of seemingly unchanged progress, in these last few days of these last 12 months, this came to mind:
13 gift boxes for closings and new beginnings!
put together a ready-to-go last (or first!) minute gift idea, small collections from the twisted&wires line arranged, as per arbitrary play of color, in suggestive line drawings…
offerings, tokens of appreciation and gratitude we gift one another with.
snow storm is intensifying outside, firewood, black tea, honey within reach.
and a tool or two, beckoning.
can be here for a while, hands begin playing again, rhythms of continuity for the making.
wishing all reading this a peaceful end of this year and a joyful beginning for the new.
to you!
i might be in this one.
all i remember was that it happened in a flash.
and under pouring rain…
click robert below, standing on the train, find out where you can watch it in your area….happening NOW!
(and let me know what you think)
happening tomorrow!
move 15 studio sale LIVE NOW!
studio sale 15: september 10 – 13, 2015 ONLY
sign up for a unique offer on this studio clearing!
emanuela aureli / art 