an update

There has not been much worth writing about lately. I have just been working on commissions. More lock picks, mostly the same design as the photo I posted Sept 19th, just different colors. It's kind of boring making the same thing over and over, but at least I know I am being paid for them. When I make a new noncommissioned piece it might not sell, it might not be accepted into any juried exhibitions or competitions, and it will end up sitting in a box. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a waste of time, but I like to get something out of my work, like money or recognition. Sure I get satisfaction out of making something, but satisfaction plus money and/or an award is better.

I was going to take a machine shop class again this fall at the community college, but decided to take a vessels class in ceramics instead. I used to love working with clay, and it's been about 9 years since I have worked with it, so I was really looking forward to it. Since the class was only 2 credit hours, it was scheduled to start Sept 22, which is about a month after the semester starts. So I went to class on Sept 22, and no one was there. I called the college the next day and found out the class had been canceled. And since it was already a month into the semester it was too late to register for another class.

I got the exhibition catalog from The Ring Shows the other day. It's small, thick and spiral bound, which is different from most exhibition catalogs. I don't really like it.

Ornament Magazine

Me and my blog were mentioned in the article "Georgia's Ring Shows. Pretty Cocky Stuff" in the latest issue of Ornament magazine. It is about The Ring Show and Putting the Band Back Together exhibitions. Here is a link to the step by step process they mentioned:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonmryan/sets/72157603705389088/

Still Putting the Band Back Together

The exhibition Putting the Band Back Together, which I am participating in, will be at the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, GA, Aug 23 - Nov 2, 2008.

Putting the Band Back Together

I just found out my ring got into the juried exhibition "Putting the Band Back Together," which will be up at the Savannah College of Art and Design Feb 22- March 9. The reception is March 7 during the SNAG Conference.

new ring pic

This is the ring I finished last week and entered in the ring show:

It is anodized aluminum and sterling silver. This is the first piece I have titled in almost 3 years. I called it Cylinder Ring. Not because I really want to give it a title, just because things are starting to get confusing when all my work is untitled. In August, when I got the email about one of my pieces being a finalist in the Cheongju craft competition, they said it was my piece"untitled" that got in. I had to email back and ask which untitled piece it was cause both pieces I had entered were untitled. So I guess I will start giving my pieces descriptive titles.

ring

My ring is almost finished. It should have been finished 3 days ago. It seems the closer I get to finishing something the more I start to procrastinate. I am taking a lot of photos of the process, which are in this set on flickr. When I redo my website I might use them on my site to show how my pieces are made. I'm not sure when that will be, because I really hate working on my website.

ring show

There is a juried exhibition coming up called The Ring Show: Putting the Band Back Together, that will be up at the same time as the SNAG Conference this year. Entries are due soon: Jan 24th. This is the prospectus.

I am working on a new ring for that. In the past rings were my favorite thing to make, and it seemed good designs came to me easily. Eventually I forced myself to stop making so many rings and make some other things instead. Now I am finding it difficult to come up with a good ring design. I think the design I settled on is ok, I don't think it's my best work, but I needed to start on something if I am going to finish it in time to enter it in the exhibition.