My favorite blog at the moment

gray area symposium

Alice Necklace, at marchimadeit

This necklace is crocheted cotton, with a knit cord, and a czech glass button. It is 25 1/2 inches or 64 cm around. I think it is very pretty. It comes in red, brown, or black to white.

People ask, why wool jewelry?

Wool is something that people live with in their home and on their body, but for some reason, they pause when it is jewelry. Wool is a beautiful sustainable resource. It has a richness and texture which is a pleasure to work with. It has a long history going back to nomads. It is light weight to wear. And I meet new people when I wear it because they are curious. They think it is stone, or shell, or even bone.

On a personal level, the negative impact wool usage has on the earth and its inhabitants is minimal. This is important to me. I have worked with many materials which leave a dark trail of impact and I am not comfortable now with my legacy in this area.

For me it is part of a whole life philosophy, which includes valuing healthy seasonal food, owning items which are meant to last (but not forever), and having true friends in my life which nurture my spirit.

Wool is lovely and a pleasure to work with. I like that I can sculpt it and that it echos natural forms; and nature for me is the highest art which influences and inspires my creativity.

How a failure is an advantage

When I am making something, be it art or jewelry and if something goes against my plan, I tell myself it is an advantage because there is a solution waiting that I have not discovered yet and I need to keep working to find it. It keeps the work fresh and current.

At my etsy shop, marchimadeit

Plum Purple Coil and Big Bead necklace

A coil felted necklace with a large felted bead as a pendant and 2 more felted beads next to the clasp. Elegant, unique, original.

25" with 3 inch pendant

about my work space

Some artists/craftists have been showing their work spaces on lovely blogs or on flickr. I see their situations and am full of longing and awe. But not everyone has a studio set up for their work or the space to do it. So this is to show you what I do and how I manage to have a work space in the middle of my home space. What makes it especially challenging is I am in a loft. So a mess anywhere affects everywhere. And I am not the only one here, so I need to be respectful of his life and comfort. Sometimes art is chaotic. That is part of the process. So I have limitations which impact what I make and do not make. My living space impacts my choices as does my ecological concerns. I see this as good. I say to myself,

this is my situation, now what can I do with what I have.

I use large ikea drawers made for big closets to create work spaces. I can keep tidy and/or make a mess and then tuck it under the couch when I am done. I keep a third drawer clean in order to use it for wet and messy projects. It is kept in our utility closet. The drawers can be moved from table to table to floor to ottoman depending on what I want to do. It is very easy.

I also have large closets and hidden spaces to put supplies. And believe me, I have supplies everywhere, but only in my areas and not so it impacts my loft mate negatively.

Sometimes I work bigger. Then I make arrangements to work elsewhere. But I like to work where I live because I like to work alot. I do work alot. What I really like about where I live and work is the light which comes through a huge window and brings the outside in.

My new web site

I am building a new web site for my art and jewelry. And I am working hard at creating good photos with the tools I have available to me. I think this one photo turned out very nice and it makes me think I might actually learn to take good art shots. (cross my fingers for luck and persistence.) My web site is here.

Art as Business: Selling Your Art III, Alexandra Hedberg

"Let's be cheetahs."

Alexandra has written a very good post this week. go see it here.

marchi wierson, artist

2009. untitled.

12 8” squares, wall hanging. All parts belong and make the piece. It is not meant to be deconstructed in to individual squares.

Made with wood, wool, ikea screens, light bulbs, nails, and fabric swatch books. This work functions as a group.

The idea of common materials and usage is considered. What is the purpose of a nail? What else can it be? Look at a light bulb. What function can it fulfill other than light? Notice the inner filaments. It has beauty before it has light. A fabric swatch book is a reference tool. What else is it? This is the type of question I entertain in this work. An ikea screen sits on my floor having been used but it is no longer useful as a screen. What options do I have with this object? I could put it in the garbage. I could try to sell it on craig’s list. I could play and imagine with it to see if it has another form which I value.

This work is about known materials changed by perception and use. It is an exploration of value. It is about the role of an object. It is about alteration, play and surprise. And it is about the beauty in the organization of form and how reorganization changes how we consider a thing.

For more of this work, see my new web page here and click on "art" at the top of the page.

marchi Made It, jewelry

marchi Made It, jewelry