ArtBeadScene Editors Take the Challenge Blog Hop: December

Choir of Sint-Bawokerk by Pieter Jansz Saenedam

This month some of the ArtBeadScene Editors are taking the Challenge for December and having a blog hop.
I enjoy a challenge but I must admit this month's painting, Choir of Sint-Bawokerk,  pictured above, has been difficult for me and has taken me way out of my comfort zone.  I looked at this painting a long time before I came up with an idea.  I decided to focus on the many arches that make up this painting.  I even made a drawing of the the shape I perceived-- inverted and reshaped a bit.

I made the sketch on an envelope handy on  my computer desk and then copied and resized it both larger and smaller on my printer/scanner.

Once in my studio I began to render it both in polymer clay and copper.  For technical help with the polymer version, I am indebted to my two master teachers, Claire Maunsell and Christine Damm who have taught me everything of the little I know about this amazing material.  I made a very large pendant in the polymer and used the burgundy brown in the painting for the color inspiration.

Polymer Clay pendant by Mary Harding

 The pendant measures 4 inches tall and 4 inches wide.  I envision it used in a freeform peyote stitch piece I might make in the future where it will fit in despite its large size.  I know to pull that off I will be again very challenged.  But I always learn so much when I travel unknown terrain and am grateful that our Editor in Chief at Art Bead Scene, Heather Powers, continues to encourage us to participate  in these adventures.

I tried a smaller version of my sketch in copper and envision these to become earrings.

jewelry components inspired by the ABS Dec. painting

I went out doors early this morning and picked some Holly and styled my large polymer pendant with a seasonal flair to wish you all Happy Holidays and an enjoyable, or at least doable winter!!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope this post will encourage you to participate in this month's ArtBeadScene Challenge.( the particulars for entering are below)  You can see what the other editors made too.  The list follows:

Heather Powers

How to enter the Monthly Challenge:

1. You need to have a Pinterest account. Go get one ASAP if you don't have one already. It's easy, fun and inspiring. 

2. Email us at absmonthlychallenge@gmail.com to get added to the monthly challenge board.

Subject: Monthly Challenge Board Request

Indicate if you want to be added to the Jewelry Board, Bead Board or both.

You will be emailed an invite to the board within 48 hours. Accept the invite and you are ready to pin your entries.

3. Two ways to pin your entry to the board.

Pin your photo from the internet (on your blog, Etsy shop, etc.) 

Add your photo directly from your computer

Create something using an art bead that fits within our monthly theme. We post the art to be used as your inspiration to create. This challenge is open to jewelry-makers, fiber artists, collage artist, etc. The art bead can be created by you or someone else. The challenge is to inspire those who use art beads and to see all the different ways art beads can be incorporated into your handiwork. 

An Art Bead must be used in your piece to qualify for the monthly challenge.

***Beads strung on a chain, by themselves and beads simply added to wire or cord will not be accepted.***

Please add the tag or title DEC ABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.

Deadline is October 31st. Photos are approved by our moderators, if a photo hasn't followed the guidelines it will not be approved. You may upload 2 entries per month.

ENTRIES for ART BEAD ARTISTS!!
• Beads Makers Pinterest Board-Art beads must be created by you and fit the Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge theme. They can be made for the challenge or ones you have made before. 2 entries per month are allowed. 
One entry will be picked by the editors on the 28th of each month for a free month of advertising on the Art Bead Scene. Bead entries have to be pinned by the 27th of the month.
Beads only - do not post jewelry on this board. If a post doesn't fit the challenge it will be deleted.

What is an Art Bead?

An art bead is a bead, charm, button or finding made by an independent artist. Art beads are the vision and handiwork of an individual artist. You can read more about art beads here.

***A bead that is handmade is not necessarily an art bead. Hill Tribe Silver, Kazuri ceramic beads or lampwork beads made in factories are examples of handmade beads that are not considered art beads.

Beaded beads, stamped metal pendants or wire-wrapped components are not considered art beads for our challenge.***

p.s. If you have a blog, post your entry and a link to the ABS challenge to spread the beady goodness.

Inspired by Reading Book Club Interpreter of Maladies

                                          Mrs Sen's  Short Story  by Jhumpa Lahiri

For April we read Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri for Andrew Thornton's Inspired by Reading Book Club. I have read several books by Lahiri:  The Namesake,  Unaccustomed Earth and part of the Lowlands ( that was in the New Yorker Magazine) so I thought I was ready for this book of short stories.  I especially admire Lahiri for her eloquent prose, articulate portrayal of anguish using the smallest details of daily life, poetic story construction and array of  interesting characters.  But I was not expecting to be ravished by the beauty, the sadness, the prose that is so engaging that one is no longer reading but being, and the images of landscape, dress, hair, weather, and the inside of feelings made into tangible objects that I found in Interpreter of Maladies.  Caught up in all of these experiences, I created the fish in the picture above and from there went on the create a necklace inspired by the story, Mrs. Sen's.
A brief summary would be that Mrs. Sen, a young married woman ( about 30)  is missing her homeland of India,  feeling isolated and lonely and unable to find her way.  The loosely parallel situation of Elliot, a young boy she is babysitting after school  propels the story.  About halfway through the story, we learn through Elliot that there are two things that make Mrs. Sen happy:
the arrival of a letter from her family and fish from the seaside.  How letters from home and fish play out determine the remainder of the story.  I chose to make a necklace with fish because I felt it was the best way I could portray the poetry of feelings in this story.

                                                Polymer Fish  Mary Harding

                                     Polymer Fish  Mary Harding


 I call the necklace Mrs. Sen's Fish.  I made the fish from polymer clay, my now go to medium for creating 3 dimensional images of the imagination.  This fish just sprang from my hands and I felt that Lahiri was guiding me all the way--that is how deeply her work has been affecting me for the past weeks.

But as usual for me, the making and the thinking are different and I have struggled to turn these fish into a necklace that at least comes close to what I wanted it to be.  I knew from the beginning that I wanted the  larger fish to curve around like a necklace so I constructed a framework out of 10 gauge copper that I annealed and forged and then wrapped in linen.

                                               Copper frame wrapped with linen

Copper frame for necklace

I had originally planned to have the clasp in the middle of the back of the necklace but soon learned it would seriously throw off the balance of the necklace so I chose a side clasp which surely worked better.

Early on I decided to change the linen wrapping for a Sari silk dark burgundy since it showed off the focal fish better and I liked the idea of making a reference to how Mrs. Sen dressed:  " a different Sari everyday."

                                          Fish on dark burgundy Sari silk


The necklace went through several other changes but in the end I went for a slightly asymmetrical simple design and two different Sari silk wrappings of the forged copper frame.  Here it is:

                                 Mrs. Sen's Fish  Necklace by Mary Harding


Thank you once again Andrew for creating and continuing to lead this wonderful book club Inspired by  Reading.  I am looking forward to another year as I realize that Interpreter Of Maladies was the last book selection for this one.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope you will check out what others have created.  You can find a list of who is participating here. and below:
Jenny Davies-Reazor http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog
Sarajo Wentling http://sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com/
Jeanne Steck http://www.gemsbyjeannemarie.blogspot.com/
Mary Harding http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com/
Karin Grange http://ginkgoetcoquelicot.blogspot.fr/
Ann Schroeder http://www.beadlove.wordpress.com/
Mary K McGraw http://www.mkaymac.blogspot.com/
Rachel Stewart http://www.bluefinchjewelry.blogspot.com/
Christine Damm http://storiestheytell.blogspot.com/
Andrew Thornton, Laurel Ross, Alison Herrington, Terri Greenawalt, and Karen Hiatt http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/

Art on the Farm: A Calling to Explore and Create

I have just been home one full day since I attended Christine Damm's Stories They Tell Intensive workshop.

I felt called to Art On the Farm by Christine's vibrant, creative and distinctly original art work which I have been following for some time.  She is a strong voice.  I wanted to spend time learning from her.

And so I packed up and went to Central Vermont at the peak of the Fall LeaF season and had a wonderful experience.

Christine arranged for us to stay in this lovely 1830's home.

View of the landscape in  Full Fall Color in Vermont

Christine's medium is polymer clay. Mine is ceramic clay.  I had never had any experience with polymer before I entered the doors of her classroom.  It was my thought and Christine's too that her teachings can be transferred across many mediums.  

We learned about FORM

work created by me in Christine Damm's workshop

Form in polymer is much more spontaneous than in ceramic clay due to the fact that the curing is so fast and the ability to add on is so easy.

AND COLOR

pendant colored by me in Christine Damm's workshop

Polymer is a color lover like myself's heaven

All these colors were added to the surface of the polymer. 

supplies table at Christine Damm's workshop

Christine demonstrating color applications to polymer

at her Art On the Farm Intensive Polymer Clay workshop

AND Assembling

Polymer is so easy to add on to that it really appeals to my way of thinking.   None of what is here in the picture was pre-planned.  I added on the loop to hang to the pendant by affixing it to the back after it had been cured and colored.  I then decided it needed the flower in the center so I made that and added it by drilling a little hole and affixing it with a balled end head pin I had brought along to the class.  The bead and tassle at the bottom, also an afterthought, as well as the colorful silk tie.  I liked the fact that I could build on and change directions at almost any point in the process.

How do I plan to transfer all this new knowledge to my ceramic clay work?  I am not sure.  Am I going to switch mediums and give up ceramic clay?  Not that I know of.  But  I do know that this workshop has been a very freeing, eye opening experience;  that I see ceramic clay differently than beforehand; and that I am artistically richer for having  been in Christine Damm's Intensive Polymer Workshop. 

Christine encouraged us to keep a journal of ideas and I know that I have been busily writing down and drawing out new ideas spawned by the workshop. I am excited to try them out soon.

When the workshop was over, we spent some time hanging out.  We visited  a charming cafe in the old train depot for breakfast where we could have talked for days and then went to some of Christine's favorite antiquing spots.
             

I love this wall of rust at one of the places 

And then it was time to say  "Goodbye."

Thank you Christine for everything!!!!

I highly recommend Christine's tutorial in Cynthia  Tinapple's Polymer Clay Global Perspectives.  Her work is cutting edge!!