my first "review" per the Duluth News Tribune

you can find the article online here..... or read below:

WORKS BY FINNISH ARTISTS WORTH A SECOND LOOK
By ANN KLEFSTAD
News Tribune Staff Writer

“Luonnollisesti Suomalainen” means “naturally Finnish.” That is, the artists are Finnish by birth, so what they do is Finnish by nature. Also, Finnish artists tend to use nature. Both threads weave through the work on exhibit at the Duluth Art Institute through Aug. 24.

Four designers — ceramicists Lenore Lampi and Kristin Pavelka, glass artist Lynn Korhonen, and jeweller Tia Salmela Keobounpheng — show work. Lampi has done ceramic vessels that look as if they’re made of birchbark for many years. This set, called “Place Setting for the President of Finland,” would look wonderful on any table. The cups’ handles are perfect curls of bark, the glaze colors rich and natural.

Pavelka’s dishes seem uneven — her nice fat bowl is a pleasant form but the rest seem almost good. Korhonen’s glass platters suffer from “almost” as well: the forms are fine but the colors edge toward muddiness. But Keobounpheng’s necklaces pair disks of fine wood with bright plastic polka dots and pierced forms, and the warmth of the natural mates well with the glee of bright colors. Their exuberant size works, too.

Painters offer the most rewards here. Surrealism and magic hover over the work, even that of the masterful watercolorist and incisive realist John Salminen. But a Salminen painting can transform the teeming detail of ordinary life into a transfigured moment. His “San Francisco Lantern” takes a morning in that city and dwells radiantly on the qualities of light that emerge just after a fog has lifted.

Joyce Koskenmaki is another secret surrealist. She has two pencil drawings of stones and two paintings of the same subject. Her drawings ignore the weight of the stones. They say, “This is not a rock. This is the thought of a rock.” The paintings, by contrast, say, “This is the real experience of a rock,” their tender rich colors like those rocks look in sun — not like when you pull them out of your pocket and put them on the kitchen table, dull and almost colorless.

Scott Murphy’s work is confounding and wonderful. He’s a furiously skilled painter who doesn’t seem to mind being ridden by spirits who rant and complain, sing and coax. In “Eve and the CIA,” the mother of the world in a pair of tacky flag-striped shorts and a carnival Uncle Sam hat has the American empire carved on her naked back. But this is no political cartoon. It gives rise to associations like a pinball game, never at rest; the meaning is up to you. “New Money” is a little quieter, but still a restless allegory with no easy solution: the ancestors, swathed in a sepia mist of history, fronted by a sprightly, beautifully painted, feral weasel.

Space forbids covering all the works in this rich show. Virginia Maki’s theatrical paintings, Laura Ahola’s subtle small windows into a Paul Klee-like world, Cherie Sampson’s photos of herself cavorting naked in a Finnish bog, Natalie Salminen Rude’s snipped collages of a dreamy avian paradise, and Tiffany Besonen’s carved log nests — all are worth more than one look.

ANN KLEFSTAD covers arts and entertainment for the Duluth News Tribune.

.......i guess it is ok.......what do you think?

shop update

i've updated my shop with the obama pin and brooch. i've only added one each in inventory on my shop to gauge people's response .. but there are more to be had....

trunk show : a success

i had a great time at the trunk show last saturday. i met karin only 2 months ago at the walker jewelry mart but i must say we are quickly becoming friends and she is a pleasure to be around {especially during the lunch-time lull when we snuck in some snl-videos online!} it was fun to be in her studio and to pretend for a day that i don't work in my basement. you can see the general layout of the space. my stuff was on the white wall on the left and karin's on the pink wall and on the right. i loved the way my necklaces looked hanging on the wall! it was a refreshing alternative to the table-only displays at previous shows, and actually reminded me of the exhibit at the Duluth Art Institute and how they displayed my work. {i just might start hanging some on the wall in my work space so that i can be visualy stimulated...}

the turn-out was for the show was good considering it is the middle of the summer and the sun was out. a few friends stopped by, including amanda {of eastvold custom} and anne {of anne's chit chat} pictured below. i put my camera away once the conversations started, so don't have pictures of everyone... but thank you beth, ryan, nicole and gabi for making your way over to see me! and thank you to all of the new people i met and who purchased some of my jewelry. i had a fantastic time!

i also wanted to include a snap-shot of some new pieces that i included in the show this time. they are an adaptation of my HOLLOW necklace and bracelet, but made out of polymer. a while back i discovered some places online that offer laser-cutting and immediately felt my heart drop ... natural defense mechanism, i guess. for several days i found myself really questioning what i was doing and what made my work different from everyone else who could have something laser cut. {doesn't really matter that i'm opperating the machine} well, it inspired me to think about my ideas/designs in a different material and i absolutely love the organic quality of these pieces. i opted to put them on loose chains instead of the neckwires, because it just seemed appropriate.

it is also ironic that karin was debuting some of her own laser-cut plastic jewelry {ordered from the site i just mentioned} and i loved to see the way that she used the tool. we had many people comment that our work compliments eachother really well, without really competing with eachother. a confirmation for me that a laser-cutter is one of many tools that designers and craftspeople use to make their own unique work. i like to think of it as a sewing machine.

i had a great conversation with willie willette {of willie willette works} at the end of the day saturday about the concept of art and ideas. he mentioned the old comment that people often make when seeing a piece of modern art or an abstract painting ... "i could do that." yes, you could, but you didn't. my work is my work because i thought to do it. and as long as i remind myself of that fact, i hope my heart will stay in the right place!

update: i should clarify ... willie willette did not say 'i could do that' ... we were actually discussing the notion that people in general say those things about pieces of work that appear to be clean and simple etc. when i brought up my own thoughts regarding tools & technology becoming accessible to the general public. he is a craftsman and has struggled with similar sorts of things. -- after reading martha's comment i realize my phrasing could be taken wrong. ;)

more new earrings

here are a couple other earrings that i will have at the trunk show tomorrow. the HOLLOW_jumbo and POMEGRANATE_earring. it has been fun to make larger scale earring options while working within the formal vocabulary of my current line. i was over at karin's studio at the northrup king building yesterday setting up for the show and am looking forward to spending the day with her tomorrow ... while {hopefully} seeing & meeting a bunch of new people. hope to see you!!

pins/broaches

despite the fact that i finished the 27 mn_necklaces, the special order was not complete. a request for 3 pin-versions proved to be a very fun project in itself. i'm really excited about how it turned out and admit it has my mind spinning with ideas! proof of my new commitment to more broaches is the fact that i ordered a bunch of smaller boxes for them!

my first pin-endeavor after finishing the 3 special order pins was to adapt the OBAMA necklace into a pin for the male supporters out there.

i tested out 2 different sizes {both smaller than the necklace} - one that is more of a pin {appropriate for neckties or suit-lapels} and one that is more of a broach. i can't decide which i like more....although the small one is so *cute*!!

i'm also really happy with the backing mechanisms. much cleaner than the one with the little 'butterfly-wings' that you see every where. mmmmm i love the adrenaline that comes with working on new things --- even if they are adaptations of an old idea.

HOLLOW_dangle

i've been working on a handful of new things and plan to have them for purchase at the the show on the 19th at karin jacobson's studio. amoung them, some big and dangle earrings.

trunk show : july 19

i'll be joining karin jacobson for a trunk show in her studio at the northrup king building. you can find more info here