Monday, January 31, 2011

Up-Cycla!

Come watch cut paper artist Kathryn Carr create an original sign for the newest Craft-O-Tron! The Craft-O-Tron is a recycled cigarette machine that is being refurbished to dispense hand made crafts for only $5!

Visitors can also help decorate the machine and get a sneak peak at some of it's treasures.

This version, the Up-Cycla will feature hand made items crafted from recycled materials. It will be Unveiled at our For the Love of Craft event on February 10 from at 6:30.

Check out this article in Pop City to learn more!

Monday, January 24, 2011

For the Love of Craft - Re-Post

This is reposted from the PCC blog because they said it SO well!

Location: Society for Contemporary Craft {2100 Smallman Street}
Date:
Thursday, Feb. 10,  2011
Time:
5:30-8 p.m.
Cost:
No admission price. There may be a small fee for charm making.

It’s time to break out the scissors, glue and glitter because the Pittsburgh Craft Collective and I Made It! Market are teaming up with the Society for Contemporary Craft (SCC) For the Love of Craft.
Enjoy a social evening of hands-on paper crafts including make your own Valentine’s Day card, and goodie bag, create a faux diamond ring with a pattern from SCC exhibiting artist Sarah Kate Burgess, -or- for a small fee {$10}, the SCC is offering charm making in their Store!
We’ll have conversation, of course, and snacks, and you can even discover just the right words to tell your honey you love ‘em by piping them onto a sweet sugar cookie!
Come and create with us on Thursday, February 10 from 5:30 – 8:00 pm at the SCC in the Strip.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Craft's New Consciousness

We got a two-page review in American Craft Magazine! Yay! Download it on our website.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Bridge 11 - Three Amazing Female Artists

We are deep in the planning stages of our next exhibition—well...next three. Coming up will be the 11th installment of our biennial Bridge Series, which features 3 solo shows. This year we are featuring three female artists who are creating exceptional works that express progressive and unconventional points of view around social, political and philosophical themes.

The solo exhibitions will be featured concurrently at SCC April 15 - October 22, 2011 with a reception on the 15th from 5:30-8.  The wonderful artists who work will be on view include Lia Cook, Anne Drew Potter, and Mariko Kusumoto! Here is a peek at some of the work....

Mariko Kusumoto, Side Show (Music Box with Movement and Metal Pop-Up Book)
Nickel silver, brass, copper, sterling silver, found objects.2003
Mariko is a Japanese-born metalsmith who now resides in the US. She creates intimate metal environments that evoke the rich, sensual Japanese culture of her childhood. Each work is comprised of dozens of small parts - boxes, hinges, musical elements, wheels, etc. A brilliant technician, she uses a variety of techniques including etching, electroforming, and patination. 
Fun Fact: Her formal educational background is in painting and printmaking, not jewelry or metals!

Lia Cook, Facing Maze, Cotton, rayon. 2010
Lia Cook uses portraiture as a way to explore her interest in cloth, touch, and memory. Last year she participated  a residency at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine called TREND (Transdisciplinary Research in Emotion, Neuroscience and Development) in collaboration with Greg Siegle—a PhD professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh—who collected computer data in real time and mapped the human brain at work in response to her woven faces as stimuli. Some of her work created in response to this residency, including the above piece, will be in the exhibition.
Fun Fact: Lia was an early adopter of the computerized loom, making work with it in the early 90's when it became available outside of industry.

The Captain's Congress (detail), 2011

Anne Drew is creating a brand new installation for the upcoming show at SCC, so the image above is just to give you an example of her work. She sculpts “performative” ceramic figures and unsettling installations that address the ways in which social meaning is projected onto forms of the body. By creating a tension between physical forms and exaggerated expressions Potter highlights signifiers of gender, race, and age and encourages viewers to confront their feelings about normalcy and difference. 
Fun Fact: Anne Drew studied dance and history in her undergrad at Swarthmore College in PA.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Yarn Spinning Demo!

On Saturday, January 8th from 10 - 2pm, Cozy Makes owner Cosette Cornelius-Bates will be in the gallery demonstrating the art of spinning yarn from wool! Stop by to have a look a the process, ask questions and find out how you can learn.

Cosette works as a spinning teacher, some time yarn store employee, indie pattern writer, craft fair booth keeper, handspun hand dyed yarn seller. She is the author of Knit One Embellish Too: Hats, Mittens and Scarves with a Twist, a book about how to embellish and customize handknits.

Check out her blog for more info!