Poly Poly Polymer! Part 2

On the previous post we had a look at the jewelry Polymer artists are creating. This post will concentrate on other artistic uses of the material; as a laminate for furniture, boxes and vessels; in sculptures, mixed media, paintings, mosaics and installations.  

If you’d like to try your hand at Polymer clay Laura Tabakman will be teaching two workshops at SCC:

Try it: Polymer Clay T013012 Wednesday, January 30th  @ 6-9

Polymer Necklace MM020913b on Saturday February 9 @ 10-4 

For more information or to register, call Sherrard Bostwick at 412.261.7003 x25, email thestudio@contemporarycraft.org or use our new online registration by clicking here.

Bonnie Boshoff and J.M. Syron

Rachel Gourley

Laura Tabakman

Laura Tabakman

Jeffery Lloyd Dever

Jeffery Lloyd Dever

Pier Voulkos

Kathleen Dustin

Kathleen Dustin

Lindly Haunani

Anne Klocko

Jill Penney

Edgar Hernandez

Julie Eaks

Laurie Mika

Poly Poly Polymer!

In January and February SCC is offering a couple of Polymer clay classes. This is a first on a series of posts to show the variety of work created with the material.

Polymer clay is an incredibly versatile material. It is a synthetic modeling compound that comes in a variety of colors and ranges from translucent to opaque to metallic and liquid. It hardens at a low temperature (between 250°F and 300°F) allowing it to be cured in a regular oven. During this process the material doesn’t shift colors or size. Once cured it is strong, durable, flexible and lightweight.

Using accessible tools It can be rolled, sheeted, molded, sculpted, textured, stamped, extruded, it accepts inclusions, holds inks and paints, is conducive to image transfers and silkscreen; once cured it can be carved, sanded and polished. It also lends itself to imitative techniques: glass (millefiori), jade, coral, turquoise, ivory, wood, opal, and really anything people can imagine.

Polymer began being used by artists in the 1970s. Now a day it is used in jewelry, sculpture, wall art, furniture, installations, mosaic art, books, just to name a few of its uses.

But there is nothing like images to show the possibilities…

Elsie Winters

Maggie Maggio

Loretta Lam

Janna Lehman

Donna Kato

Celine Charuau/Grisbleu

Ronna Sarvas Witman

Tory Hughes

Wendy Malinow

Ford/Forlano

Cynthia Toops

Julie Eaks

Sarah Shriver

Carol Simmons

Melanie West

Rachel Carren

Dan Cormier

Kathleen Dustin

Katrin Neumaier

If you’d like to try your hand at Polymer clay Laura Tabakman will be teaching two workshops at SCC:

Try it: Polymer Clay T013012 Wednesday, January 30th  @ 6-9

Polymer Necklace MM020913b on Saturday February 9 @ 10-4 

Laura Tabakman

For more information or to register, call Sherrard Bostwick at 412.261.7003 x25, email thestudio@contemporarycraft.org or use our new online registration by clicking here.

Handmade Arcade is this Weekend!

I can not tell you how excited I am for Handmade Arcade (HA) this weekend! I have been diligently saving all of my shekels to get presents for the art appreciators on my list. And, this may be a bit overboard, but I went to the HA website and researched all the vendors so I know exactly who I want to hit first! As far as I know, Early Bird passes are still available for $15. This is a great option if you don't like the crowds or you just like first dibs. There is also a huge list of hands-on activities this year that you can read up on at handmadearcade.com. 

Internship Opportunities!

It's that time again! SCC is now accepting applications for our annual Judy  Cheteyan Scholarship. The scholarship is to provide an art student with the  opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a professional art environment. The scholarship will be used to pay a $3,000 stipend to the student during the internship. 

Deadline March 15, 2013 View Application Here!

SCC is also accepting application for their year-long Studio Apprenticeship!


The Society for Contemporary Craft is offering a year-long studio apprenticeship, July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2014, to an emerging artist seeking to develop professional skills working with one the nation’s only non-profits focusing exclusively on creation, exhibition, and education across all contemporary craft media. 

Application deadline March 15, 2013 View Application Here!

Handmade Arcade is only a month away!

December 8th, 11am-7pm
David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh

"Handmade Arcade (HA), founded in 2004, is Pittsburgh’s first and largest independent craft fair. Now in its ninth year, HA brings young, innovative crafters and progressive do-it-yourself designers to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on December 8, 2012 to sell, their handmade, locally produced, and offbeat wares at a bustling marketplace. A highly anticipated annual event, HA attracts more than 6,000 attendees in one day. HA provides craft artists working outside mainstream and fine arts sectors with a grassroots, high-visibility venue to sell wares, build community, network, and share their artistic practice.

Handmade Arcade is run by a collective of creative Pittsburghers who have helped to shape and bolster Pittsburgh’s independent craft scene over the past nine years. The group’s founders — who, along with new volunteers, still run the event today — were inspired to organize a craft fair of Pittsburgh’s own that would tap into a national movement and provide a welcoming venue for artists and shoppers to come together. Handmade Arcade’s growth has coincided with the international resurgence of crafting, as new generations are reclaiming and reinventing craft materials and methods."

Buy your Early Birdie Pass today.

Early Birdie Passes are $15 each, which provide shoppers with the exclusive opportunity to shop one hour before the event opens to the public. Early Birdie shoppers will have first pick to purchase all the unique and one-of-a-kind items that crafters will be selling and be given a bag full of goodies and coupons. 

This is a super fun event, just in time for the holidays! Make sure you visit SCC's hands-on table:

“Headdressed up” (1 p.m.-3 p.m.) / SOCIETY FOR CONTEMPORARY CRAFT
Create make & take headdresses using paper and found objects from the “cool” bag.

Betty Vera comes to SCC

Artist Betty Vera

Photographs of a textile mill floor—subtle scars, stains and roughened surfaces, the only evidence of a refrigeration plant that once occupied the site—are transformed into abstract images woven in fine threads on a Jacquard loom. Through these weavings, on view at the Society for Contemporary Craft as part of the Bridge Exhibition Series, New York artist Betty Vera searches beneath the superficiality, noise and visual clutter of everyday life to reveal the underlying solitude, deep silence and fleeting nature of existence. Also featuring solo exhibitions highlighting Kevin Snipes’ ceramic vessels patterned with figurative drawings, and Melissa Cameron’s saw-pierced recycled objects that investigate pattern and the interdependence between elements and organic systems, the biennial Bridge Exhibition Series opens with a public reception on Friday, November 9, from 5:30 to 8 pm and continues through March 30, 2013.

Betty Vera, Fenced, 2012, Cotton, Jacquard weaving, 47” X 102”

Photo: D. James Dee

With her use of a digital Jacquard loom, pixels become threads as the artist creates woven images that blur distinctions between computer technology, weaving, painting and photography. In her tapestries, aesthetics of form, texture and space reference human relationships, the environments people inhabit or the intangible forces of nature, such as the wind that pushed some trash against a fence to accumulate in the shadows or the graffiti occupying an otherwise empty wall. Vera explores aspects of reality that are often unseen, ignored or forgotten. About the work, the artist comments, “Industrial and urban surfaces record our own comings and goings—often without our realizing it—but sometimes intentionally as we scrawl cryptic messages for passersby to discover. Leaving traces of ourselves everywhere, we continually impose new layers of history over the old.” 

Betty Vera, Imprint, 2010, Cotton, Jacquard weaving, Procion dyes

30” x 32”, Photo: D. James Dee

Vera grew up in the Midwest and attended Southern Illinois University before graduating from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, with a B.F.A. in drawing and painting. She studied textile design at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and Parsons School of Design in New York, and subsequently began merging painting and fiber art, and combining warp painting and tapestry weaving techniques to create two-dimensional art textiles. Vera earned her M.F.A. in Studio Art at Montclair State University in New Jersey, where she expanded her studio practice into fiber sculpture and digital weaving technology. She has studied Jacquard weaving at the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles as well as The Jacquard Center in Hendersonville, NC; and currently lives and maintains her studio in the rural Hudson Valley.

Betty Vera, Grid, 2012, Cotton, Jacquard weaving, 53” x 47”

Photo: D. James Dee

Vera has taught fiber art classes at Montclair State University and FIT, as well as intensive workshops at Penland School of Crafts, NC, Peters Valley Craft Center, Layton, NJ, and Harrisville Designs, NH. The artist’s work is in corporate and private collections, and has been exhibited widely in galleries, museums and art centers across the United States. Her work has been critically reviewed in American Craft, Fiberarts, Surface Design, and Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, and featured in Interiors Magazine, as well as Weaving for Worship: Handweaving for Churches and Synagogues by Lucy Brusic and Joyce Harter; Fabrics: A Guide for Interior Designers and Architects by Marypaul Yates; and Fiber Art Today by Carol K. Russell.

Betty Vera, Layered, 2012, Cotton, Jacquard weaving, 46 ½” x 52 ½”

Photo: D. James Dee

To complement the Bridge 12 Exhibition Series, educational programs are planned to encourage an exchange of ideas. On Saturday, November 10, from 9 am–3 pm, Vera will teach Line & Space: An Intuitive Approach to Fiber Sculpture, a studio workshop in which students explore simple strategies for constructing lightweight forms to exploit the expressive potential of line and its dynamic relationship with space. Class tuition is $100, with a $25 materials fee. Like many artists who love handweaving for its color potential and tactile qualities, Vera is also part of the digital age and uses new technologies in her work. In a slide lecture, From Hand to Computer-Assisted Loom: Following the Thread, also on November 10, from 5–6:30 pm, the artist examines the relationship between her handwoven tapestries and a more recent body of work consisting of computer-assisted Jacquard tapestries. Suggested donation is $5. 

On Sunday, November 11, Vera shares her personal journey as a fiber artist in a Meet a Maker program, Touching Threads: An Artist’s Passion for Materials & Process. Replete with “please do touch” examples, this presentation covers her involvement with handweaving, sculpture and computer-assisted Jacquard tapestry. Participants will look at her creative process, materials, techniques, influences and sources of inspiration, and receive tips on how to display and care for fine textile art. The program runs from 11:30 am–1 pm, and tuition is $20. These programs are co-sponsored by the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh. For more information or to register, call The Studio at 412.261.7003, x25.

Betty Vera, Residue, 2010, Cotton, Jacquard weaving, Procion dyes

30” x 32”, Photo: D. James Dee

An exhibition brochure documenting Vera’s solo show includes biographical information, photo-documentation of the artist’s work and an essay, title, written by Patricia Malarcher, a studio artist, art critic and former editor of Surface Design Journal and SDA Newsletter. Bridge 12: Melissa Cameron, Kevin Snipes, Betty Vera is made possible, in part, by the Allegheny Regional Asset District, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Elizabeth R. Raphael Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation and other generous donors.

Betty Vera, Vertical, 2010, Cotton, Jacquard weaving

76” x 46”, Photo: D. James Dee

How does music inspire art? Find out....

Metalsmiths Lisa and Scott Cylinder and a Pittsburgh treasure, Chatham Baroque, join forces for a night of musical collaborations at the Society for Contemporary Craft (SCC) in the Strip District on Friday, October 26, from 6-8 pm. Much like changing a piece of music from one key to another with historical reverence, the Cylinders transpose discarded musical instruments into exquisite jewelry. A series of the Cylinder’s wearable works will be featured on exhibition and available for sale. Chatham Baroque, an ensemble of baroque violin, viola da gamba, theorbo and baroque guitar, will perform a concert as part of the program. The event is free to the public and includes light refreshments.

 “Peg-Eyed Violin Scroll Snail Necklace” 2010 -  Vintage Violin Scroll,  Epoxy Resin, Copper, Sterling Silver, Ebony Violin Pegs, Cello Strings, Paint and Patina. Fabricated, Cast and Carved.

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Nationally recognized artists Lisa and Scott Cylinder began working together in 1988, after graduating from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia. For 22 years, this husband and wife team has collaborated from their studio in Oley, PA, to make small production pieces and one-of-a-kind, highly collectible art jewelry under the label of “L and S Cylinder.” Their influences are as varied as their materials. With a reverence for Lalique, Spratling, Los Castillo, Jensen, Ken Cory and many other fine handcraftsmen, the Cylinders are always looking for that elusive inspiration from which their next concept will emerge. The work that will be on view at SCC is the result of an exploration that began with a discarded clarinet. Disassembled and repurposed, the deconstructed instrument merged into a body of work that transformed a once aural implement into a visual one. About this series of jewelry Scott comments, “these well-crafted instruments carry with them a rich history of use: played, tarnished, worn, repaired, loved and hated. From practice room to concert stage, we are left only to imagine the stories each instrument could convey.” During the evening, the Cylinders will talk about their artistic process and how their love of music has directed them to an exploration of musical instruments. 

“Planar Pony Brooch” 2012– Bronze, Sterling Silver, Vintage Ebony Violin Tail Piece, Patina.  Fabricated. 

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With their sharp technique and lively interpretations of 17th- and 18th-century music played on period instruments, Chatham Baroque engages local, national and international audiences. Founded in 1990, the ensemble presents a full calendar of concerts, tours and musical collaborations, and has recorded nine critically acclaimed CDs. With a nod to the repurposed instruments used by the Cylinders’ to create their unique art jewelry, the 30-minute concert by Chatham Baroque will offer audiences the opportunity to hear baroque music that is accessible and thrillingly vivid, with an improvisational freshness akin to jazz.

Baroque violinist Andrew Fouts joined Chatham Baroque in 2008. In performance with the ensemble, he has been noted for his “mellifluous sound and sensitive style,” and as “an extraordinary violinist” who exhibits “phenomenal control”. In 2008, he won first prize at the American Bach Soloists’ International Baroque Violin Competition. In addition to Chatham Baroque, he has performed recently with the Four Nations Ensemble, Apollo's Fire, Musica Pacifica, Philharmonia Baroque, and as a soloist with American Bach Soloists. Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba) holds a doctorate in Early Music Performance Practice from Stanford University in CA. After completing her graduate work, she studied in the Netherlands at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. A native of Duluth, MN, she is a founding member of Chatham Baroque. Her recent performances include concerts with Ensemble VIII of Austin, TX, the Washington Bach Consort, and a duo viola da gamba recital in Pittsburgh with Martha McGaughey. Scott Pauley (theorbo and baroque guitar) also holds a doctoral degree in Early Music Performance Practice from Stanford. Before settling in Pittsburgh in 1996, he lived in London, where he studied with Nigel North at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. There, he performed with various early music ensembles, including The Brandenburg Consort, The Sixteen and Florilegium. Pauley has also performed with Tempesta di Mare, Musica Angelica, Opera Lafayette, the Folger Consort, the Four Nations Ensemble, The Toronto Consort and Hesperus, and has soloed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.