June & GlassBoston

Hello! I have been very busy since last I updated. I attended the GlassBoston conference in mid-June, and have also been busy working on new glass projects and preparing Dichotomy for its opening on July 27th. Below are the beginning stages of a "tree woman" series I am working on, and you can see how I begin my human figures. They start out indistinct and I add detail as I go along.

And here is my first try at making an octopus! This attempt was inspired by Jeremy Sinkus' squid demonstration at GlassBoston, which appears in the photo following my octopus. Pretty impressive stuff. I'm always saying how I need a bigger torch - this octopus is about four inches at its longest point - but maybe I should get as good as I can on my own torch before stepping it up...

GlassBoston was a wonderful experience! The first day of the conference was held on the MIT campus, with its crazy architecture, and I met a number of excellent people there. The second day was held at a place called APG-NOCA, a glass studio in North Cambridge. I saw some demonstrations (Matt Szosz, Jeremy Sinkus, and portions of some others), heard a few fascinating lectures (Ioannis Michaloudis - look him up!), and went on a tour around the city that included several art galleries, the Mapparium (a three-story to-scale inverted stained glass globe that you walk inside of - incredible), a private collection of glass art, and the studio of Wayne Strattman, which had the feeling of a brilliant mad scientist's laboratory.

All of this was punctuated with eating, drinking, and socializing with fabulous glass artists and enthusiasts from all over the country. I admittedly had a little bout of post-conference blues when I returned home.

Crazy MIT architecture:

A piece by Peter Muller (blown portion, outside) and Joe Peters (flameworked portion, inside). Just straight up awesome. This piece was on display at L'Attitude Gallery in Boston.

Perk Peek

Tonight! Come visit Dichotomy Rochester's studio at the Hungerford Building for an exclusive sneak peek at our IndieGoGo perks! With just 11 days left in our campaign, we'd really love to drum up some more financial support ASAP! Come to the event and donate, and you can take one of our many awesome perks home with you on the spot, instead of having to wait for the campaign to end.

Dichotomy Rochester Perk Peek
Friday, June 7th
6pm - 9pm
The Hungerford Building
1115 East Main Street, Studio #345

Also, snag a poster for our Art Bazaar this Sunday - if you bring it to the bazaar with you, you'll receive a free raffle ticket! (There are some pretty sweet raffle items... all made by local artists of course!)

Dichotomy Art Bazaar
Sunday, June 9th
10am - 6pm
Java's Cafe
16 Gibbs Street

Both events will be a great time! I hope to see you at one, or both!

Canal Days

Festival Heads Up!

This coming weekend I will be participating in Fairport Canal Days, on Main Street in Fairport, NY. You can find me in the Emerging Artists tent on Saturday June 1st (10:00am until 6:00pm) and Sunday June 2nd (10:00am until 5:00pm).

It should be a big, exciting show - one of the largest held annually in Rochester, with vendors, food, music, and a duck race (I think with rubber ducks to raise money for a nonprofit, but still)!

Also, Dichotomy's IndieGoGo campaign is still trucking along! Check out the long list of perks, and see the gallery for photos!

And - Happy Memorial Day.

Dichotomy Rochester

Tonight I would like to share with you a project that I have been involved in developing that has gained  some major momentum over the course of the past few months. It is called Dichotomy - this will be the name of a storefront opening on Park Avenue in Rochester, NY that will feature exclusively locally handmade goods, including but not limited to functional goods for the home, jewelry, and art.

Rochester is lucky to be host to so many craft festivals over the summer and even into the winter months. Exciting though these may be, they are fleeting, usually lasting only one or two days after which point the artist disappears into a puff of smoke. Of course, you can take a business card, which may direct you to Etsy or another online marketplace that many artists utilize, and some with great effectiveness - but online shopping is very different experience from shopping face to face and being able to interact with the work. Dichotomy will serve as a sort of permanent craft show, a venue to give exposure both to brand new emerging artists and artisans and also to those that are established.

We want to make it easier for local makers to support themselves, easier for the community to access high-quality, locally-made goods, and easier for Rochester to sustain its own economy by offering something of an "alternative to Target" or other big box store and keeping local dollars local.

Please take a look at our IndieGoGo campaign and if you'd like to help us along in our process, you have the option to either donate or simply share the link. We have just under a month to reach our goal, and there are some fabulous perks to snap up. We hope you like our idea, because we would love to make it a reality in Rochester!

Beads of Courage

If you attended Mayday Underground last weekend, you may have noticed a little sign next to my dishes of beads for sale that read "For every bead you buy, I will donate one bead to the Beads of Courage program." Beads are not something I have tended to make in large quantities as production items, but I find them to be fun, whimsical, and cheering both to make and to use. I found out about the Beads of Courage program several years ago, and have been waiting for the right way to include them as a part of Fine Specimen. I think I've found it!

Beads of Courage is a non-profit organization focused around giving heart and hope to children dealing with cancer and other illnesses. In their words, it is "a resilience-based intervention designed to support and strengthen children and families coping with serious illness. Through the program children tell their story using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path."

You can read a summary of how the program works here.

So! I sold ten beads at Mayday Underground, and here are my ten best remaining cupcake beads, which I have selected to send to the program. I figure most kids like cupcakes, so I hope they make somebody happy!

My next craft show will be the first weekend in June, (Saturday the 1st and Sunday the 2nd) at Fairport Canal Days in Fairport, NY. I will be at the Emerging Artists' tent. Come find me and buy a bead or two!