molliemade design: doing benchwork

Click on the images to see a larger view! The Above Images: Ink and Watercolor sketches for Stackable Starter Home [working titles here people] This weekend I plan to focus on the fence choker pictured on the watercolor board. Several views into my studio showing my tabletop of works in progress, custom pedestals evolving, the closet door full of calendars...counting the emaining days until my exodus from studentdom [new word?]! Six months until commencement/graduation ceremonies: May 16th One month of that is Winter Break: Spring 2010 Semester starts January 14th Three months until Thesis Exhibition Installation begins: March 27th Soon I will know the exact date of the show and will be sending out show cards/invitations! As always, keeping you posted.

Below are a few more photos of the garden cuff bracelet and some studio shots. The bracelet started out to be an iris garden, but the flora finished out in more of a rose form. I have decided not to take my final photos until it gets closer to my thesis exhibition date. Keep checking in! I am looking forward to seeing all of the pieces come together in one cohesive show. The end of this semester draws very near...three to four months until thesis exhibition 2010...six months until graduate school completion. For my last semester I will be teaching my first advanced metalsmithing and jewelry course: Casting!

I have been taking thesis on, one step at a time. Deciding on themes, titles, and display. Once I finalized my overall concept it was time to start making the pieces come together. Here are a few photos of how things are progressing. Right when I was starting to think I would have to learn the art of turning wood, a Saturday afternoon hunt brought success at the Re-Store! These banister railings coupled with my iron garden edging and topped with glass domes is just the beginning of my miniature victorian-esque garden world coming together! Pictures should begin to appear rapidly. With the help of the amazing Cotter the railings will be transformed. If I had not left my camera in the studio you would be able to see his "rough draft" with craved legs and table toppers attached. Sometime this week I will find out the exact date of my thesis show and be able to update with specifics.

A quick post to illustrate my progress on this piece. Some of the parts have been colored, but there is still work to be done before I can call it finished!

The post below contains images of my current piece in progress to show detail of it's hollow construction, etched brick wall and hand cut, silver lace bottom It will become an iris garden cuff bracelet that is one part of my 2nd stackable wearables: Home Is Where The Heart Is This post contains images of Home Is Where The Heart Is still in pieces and in it's natural copper state. I will shoot more professional photos when the piece is completed. 1st in my stackable wearables: Tower Of Joy shown stacked and apart to illustrate bracelet, brooch and ring

I wish there was a way to say this without having flashbacks to my 6th grade attempts to keep a diary. Though, please note that I always made it a point to refer to it as my journal . I have never known who to address my entries to and I always, always fail to update on a consistent basis. My apologies to anyone out there who is disconcerted by the nine month time lapse between entries; life and university have kept me in constant motion lately. I am working through my last year in the MFA program at KU. Which means, that I have been completely focused on my thesis work and teaching Intro to Jewelry & Metals for the fourth time. I continue to love introducing new concepts and techniques to my students in the studio. I am glad to report that my work has taken some exciting new directions lately! For now, I will leave explanations up to the images.

Here are a few snapshots of what I am doing on the wall in my studio and in my sketchbook. This wall is ever changing and helps me to work through ideas. I continue to examine ideas about the garden, home & myself.

This is a preliminary image of the latest piece in my cameo series. After silhouettes became a part of my design palatte, my research lead me to discover the great and moving work of Kara Walker (look her up!). I also took a History of Photography class, taught by KU professor John Pultz, where I learned much about how mankind's desire to capture the exact, physical lines of their loved ones lead to the invention of silhouette machines. Prof. Pultz was kind enough to let the graduate students do extra projects in place of the exams. For my replacement project I made a brooch series inspired by the photograph's history. In the series I used a photo that was taken of my paternal grandmother, Anna Maye when she was teaching grade school in Austin, TX. First as a silhouette. Second in color with facial details. (ink & watercolor on mylar) Thirdly in a photomontage with part of the original photo and a photo of the live oak in her front lawn. All of the brooches are made of

“Nothing is more the child of art than a garden” Sir Walter Scott In my most recent work, I am fabricating wearable pieces that utilize garden imagery as metaphor for the connection between human beings and the natural world. The garden references place and the inclusion of garden walls imply that these are safe locations, set apart from the overwhelming chaos of the world. It is an environ of peace that nurtures the life inside of its walls; a haven where one can retreat to observe the cyclical nature of life. Literary critic Robert Haas once stated, “The first fact of the world is that it repeats itself.” I believe in the interconnectedness of all life and to translate this fact through the medium of jewelry, I employ repetition in form and visual elements. Although my work utilizes repetition in formal aspects each piece remains one of a kind, just as we human beings do. Circular constructions are fabricated to se as framing devices fo