Afternoon tea at Fancy? Don’t mind if I do! Come for the plates, stay for the tea!
Nicolette Absil – Krinkled Peony Saucer, 2017
You are cordially invited to join me and Sally, staunch patron of the arts here in Seattle (and not to mention gallery owner), for afternoon tea tomorrow from 2pm. Come sip and munch delectable treats surrounded by beautiful art, in the freshly landscaped garden of delights that is Fancy, at 1914 2nd Ave, Seattle.
With exquisite treasures on show (such as the work by Nicolette Absil, pictured above and Steffi Götze, below) there will be something to surprise and impress even the most winter-weary residents of the Emerald City.
Do come!
Steffi Götze – Raum. 2017
For those who simply can’t tomorrow, the exhibition closes March 10th.
Mondays is when I look up the guns that killed the first 60 people in 2017. All these people died on Jan 1st, 2017.
Bushmaster XM15-E2S with bayonet affixed
Y’all hoped that was it for today, huh? But I owe you an AR-15, with a bayonet, from our last ‘episode‘. I was not aware of the difference between a carbine, a mid-size and a rifle, but now I have learned. It has to do with the size of the gas system that allows the propulsion from the firing of the weapon to be recycled to expel the spent jacket and chamber a new cartridge. Simple, yeah? Anyway, as it happens, the AR-15 that I drew from my Gun series of works appears to be a carbine.
And now the image that was the basis of that work has been ‘modded’ to include a bayonet. I found an image that had a similarly-sized carbine with bayonet affixed and I’ve made my own Frankenstein’s monster of a gun/bayonet combo, because, well, I wanted the continuity, despite what might be perceived by purists as an inaccuracy.
I’m an artist. I’ll draw what I want to.
See you next time for another drawing of a gun, or several. I’m going to have to speed this up, I’ve got a lot more of these to get through.
My work for the Artist Trust Auction, coming up later in February.
Point Line Plane brooch iv, 2013
You can touch this. If you go to the Artist Trust auction (Saturday, February 24, 2018 at the Fisher Pavilion, Seattle Center) you could even win it! The menu is up and the artist works already online look good. Just sayin…
And on now:
I am very pleased to have my work Ruchnoy Protivotankovy Granatomyot (or RPG) in this exhibition, which, as the exhibition media tells it, “drew over 1,000 submissions from 8 countries around the world. Juror Perry A. Price selected 70 works for exhibition at the Patterson-Appleton Arts Center including works from 27 states in varying media including metal, wood, plastic, ceramic, fiber, glass, and mixed media.”
31st annual Materials: Hard + Soft International Contemporary Craft Competition & Exhibition
Meadows Gallery, Patterson-Appleton Arts Center
Opening Reception | Friday, February 2, 6 – 8 PM (Artist Awards at 7 PM)
February 3 – May 5, 2018
Recognized as one of the premier craft exhibitions in the country, Materials: Hard + Soft began in 1987 and was originally initiated by area artist Georgia Leach Gough. Now in its 31st year, the exhibition opens to international artists as we celebrate the evolving field of contemporary craft and the remarkable creativity and innovation of artists who push the boundaries of their chosen media.
Plate Glass on tour – a show I curated of enamelists who each worked on a plate at my request. See it in Seattle soon.
The Plate Glass exhibition opens next Saturday in Seattle. The opening celebration is on February 10th, from 2-5pm. Our full dates are from February 8 – March 10 at Fancy, 1914 2nd Ave, Seattle.
I may have promised somewhere to speak around 3pm, but I really don’t intend to. I’ll just be chatting all afternoon. Please come say hi!
Artists:
Nicolette Absil, Alicia Jane Boswell, Susan Buchanan, Kat Cole, Katie Collins, Danielle Embry, Laura Eyles, Annie Gobel, Steffi Götze, Aurelie Guillaume, Naoko Inuzuka, Kaori Juzu, Rachel Kedinger & Eleanor Anderson, Inari Kiuru, Mio Kuhnen, Zachery Lechtenberg, Camilla Luihn, Sharon Massey, Lindy McSwan, Marissa Saneholtz, Samantha Skelton, Demitra Thomloudis, Claire Townsend, Jen Townsend, Hsiao Ai Wang, Kate Wischusen and Aurelia Yeomans.
We have seven new works (yup, that’s over one quarter of the show) that did not appear at the last outing at Arrowmont, because Seattle is Special. Or, maybe it’s because our artists are so amazing that we sold a quarter of the show in its first iteration. Take your pick 😉
(I’m just repeating myself to the German speakers…)
The Enamelist Society (TES) would like to know what’s going on in the wider world of enamel, and somehow Anne Havel has roped me in to write a little something for their newsletter. That’s where you come in, with the whole email-me shenanigans.
If you in an upcoming enamel exhibition, or have enamel works in an upcoming show that you don’t think I’m familiar with; if you have you seen a cool collection that you’d like to share with the greater world of enamelists; or if you are leading a workshop, or doing a residency, or are in the know about some enamel event that needs more media coverage, then…
Drop me an email!
Include details, dates, images (with artist and photographer captions at the very least) and other relevant info, and I’ll personally add your secret spices to the gumbo that is the TES newsletter. And I’ll email you back, though probably not until within a week of the next first-of-the-month deadline.
enamel (at) melissacameron (dot) net
☝ add the @ and the . and lose the spaces. obviously.
Another Monday with more guns, more people dead. Researching a new work, online.
There’s been a bit more time for research today, and have been trying to get to stop at a point with a new gun introduced into the chain (beyond my alternating default pistols), but we’ll see if I make it that far.
First up, 31 year old Gregory Clark was killed by a “handgun” at 1:52am on January 1, 2017. A person named Charles Hundley (47) was arrested over the incident, which occurred at a New Year’s Eve house party. I could find nothing beyond handgun, so this shooting will be attributed to Default Pistol 1.
Ruger SR1911 – Default Pistol 1
Kyle Androsky, 21, was shot and killed outside Third Base Bar in Superior, Wisconsin. His brother, David (27), was also shot in the chest but survived. A man has been taken into custody with having a firearm whilst on probation, but was not charged with the murder. With no information about this gun, aside from the bullets being found, this one is going to Default Pistol 2.
Default Pistol 2 – S&W M&P
Jeffrey Gooden (60) was killed just before 1pm when attempting to break up an argument over a girl, identified as his daughter, not wearing shoes while outdoors. The matter escalated quickly with gunfire exchanged. He and a fellow resident of Riverview Park Apartments were shot. The other victim drove herself to hospital and was expected to make a full recovery, one of his daughter administer CPR, but he was pronounced dead at St John Medical Center. I found no gun details, while the police were making pleas for two men involved to hand themselves in for questioning. Default Pistol 1, again.
Ruger SR1911 – Default Pistol 1
Here’s one that I’m just not sure should be on the list, but since the gun Violence Archive deems it so, I’m going to stick with it.
Twenty year old Juan Legarda Jr. was killed in Rapid City, South Dakota. A 26-year old man, JJoseph David Rich, was charged with first degree manslaughter,for using a bayonet, attached to a firearm, to stab Legarda, and two others. The others, Trevor Chief Bear and Bradley Randall, resulted in an additional two charges of aggravated assault which were combined with outstanding warrants. Rich received a 10 year jail sentence after pleading guilty to 2nd degree manslaughter.
The bayonet is a tried and tested weapon, but is gradually falling out of favour owing to the fact that its original purpose was in infantry attacks, but it has become “a weapon of last resort” since World War II. From my research it seems they really are mostly a weapon for the military, though classic versions are traded by military enthusiasts. I’m going to use a drawing of the M9, which affixes to the ever-popular M-16 rifle. Given the M-16 is a version of the AR-15 by Armalite, made for the US armed forces, and I just happen to already have a drawing of another version of this weapon, the Bushmaster XM15-E2S, I’m going to reuse that image and affix to it the bayonet. Next week…
It’s been a long day of staring at weapons already.
More exhibitions open around the USA this weekend.
‘Checking the Cost of Gun Violence’ by Harriete Estel Berman.
Imagine Peace Now continues it’s journey this weekend, opening on Saturday (or tomorrow evening if you’re among the artists or invited guests) January 20 – March 16 at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, 1701 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd. You can see my gun work, Resilience, there, but if you’re closer to the Metal Museum then perhaps you’d like to go see HEAT at the Enamelist Society’s Alchemy 4 exhibition.
The opening reception for Alchemy4 at the Metal Museum will be Sunday, January 21, from 3PM-5PM. There will be a gallery talk given by the Director of Collections and Exhibitions, Grace Stewart, beginning at 4PM. The show goes from January 21 – April 29, 2018.
I’m on my way to East Carolina University for the Material Topics Symposium which begins tomorrow. Eep! I’ve just checked out the action packed schedule, and Nadia, Adam and co. have given us a Sophie’s Choice for the breakout sessions on Saturday morning. Or maybe to keep up with the parlance of the kids, it’s a Hunger Games kind of scenario. Now I’ve said it, the idea of seeing Stone vs Cooperman in a battle does tickle me, but to the death might be going a bit far. Though something tells me that Matty Lambert could (albeit with a heavy conscience – which would make for a gripping finale,) take them all out. However, I’ve not met Kimberly Winkle, so she is the dark horse in this competition. From the few images I’ve googled, I feel like she could be an unassuming type (not necessarily a closet killer, but it’s always the quiet ones, y’know?), so I’m not ready to lay any bets…
Anyway, that bout of creative writing (I think I’ve been cooped up too long today…) has not helped me to triage the list at all, so it remains to be seen who I will end up learning from on Saturday. But there’s time to influence me if you have any intel on ways to break the Cooperman-Lambert-Stone-Winkle dead heat. What I do know is that I’m on last on Sat afternoon, so if you have been on the fence, you still have time to head on over and check out what has been manifesting in my basement since I got to the US in 2012. And to catch the infectious Mike Holmes, a literal treasure-trove of information and history about the industry.
Though you will have missed the slew of openings scheduled for tomorrow night, as well as the keynote slot by Andy. Yeah, you should probably leave now.
In case it wasn’t obvious, I’m really looking forward to this one.
It’s been a couple of weeks owing to celebrations, and my participation in Smitten Forum (more on that soon.) We all enjoyed the reprieve, but now here’s a few more guns for your consideration.
Juan Carlos Cuadra was killed by an officer in NW Houston after brandishing a gun at officers who had come to investigate complaints that he had stabbed someone and fired his weapon into the ground. Houston police have a bunch of weapons on the books, according to Wikipedia, and since we used the SIG Sauer P226 last time, we’ll move to the second on that list, the SIG Sauer P229 (considered a close cousin to the former pistol.)
SIG Sauer P229
Allen Brandon Terry was shot in Walthourville, Georgia. His age is only listed as 18+ on the Gun Violence Archive, and there are no facts about his killer, or the gun that was used. For him, Default Pistol 1.
Ruger SR1911 – my Default Pistol 1
Sheamon Pearlie was found shot by officers in the Franklin neighbourhood of Baltimore, Maryland, around 3:15pm on New Years Day 2017. The 20 year old was pronounced dead at the scene. There are no details about his killer or the weapon used, but Cham Green maps it on her blog in the post 2017 Baltimore City Homicides – List and Map which I will likely consult again. And so soon after the 1st, we get the second used of Default Pistol 2.
