Hey there.

I’m in the process of rebuilding my inventory.  To view available items please visit my etsy shop:    http://www.etsy.com/shop/MettleArt

To see a catalog of my work please visit my page on Facebook: mettle.art

Thank you  muchly!

Hello.

Firstly, I’d like to take a minute to thank the friends, family and strangers that came to the McNeil Mansion and left with a bowl, ornament or magnet.  Thank you!  It feels so damn good to know that a little something I have worked on gets a chance at a brand new life in the world of someone else.

Generally, I take a picture as the bowl changes hands and begins its new chapter.   It’s kind of difficult to do that at the McNeil Mansion, but I did manage to snap a few.  As always, permission was granted by each person:

Lora!

Brenda!

Rene!

Here are a few new bowls I’m working on:

new bowls

I’ll be at the Winter Market – Elgin, this Saturday from 8am-2pm, sharing a booth with my friend Cherylyn of c-lyn studio:  http://www.clynstudio.com.  Come visit us!  We don’t bite.

Please support the vendors at the market this Saturday, and every Saturday through March.   Enjoy a reprieve from the mall and buy something that was made in your neck of the woods.

I’ll post more pictures of current projects soon.  In the meantime, you can find Winter Market information below:

Winter Market - Elgin

See you!

Please come to the McNeil Mansion 12th Annual Holiday Open House.  I will be bringing “up-cycled”  bowls, glass balls and recycled glass magnets.  This beautiful old mansion will be jammed with the work of local artisans.  If  the 11th annual open house is any indication, this is guaranteed to be a twinkly, joyful event.

November 4 – 6 and 11 – 13

10am – 5 pm

162 S. State St. (Hwy 31)  in Elgin, IL.   A short walk from the Metra stop.

I will be working  both Sundays from 10 – 1.  If you’re in the area please come visit!

$3 Admission

Hope to see you.

Jess

Bowls in progress

Magnets!

On my last visit to Seattle I stopped by Bedrock Industries and bought bags and bags of glass.  I was back in Woodstock for about two days before I cracked the bags open and got to magnet making.   Here’s my fridge.  Just a sample.  I believe I made about 75 magnets in one afternoon – each made with love.  I wonder what my fridge would look like if I lived right next to BI?

I have not touched this blog in months.  I’ve been adjusting to a new job, a new state, new town, new reality in general.  I know myself well.  I predicted this:  the pendulum swing.  When I first arrived here I had no job and I painted every day and every night.  I numbed out with painting.  Eventually, I painted the desire to paint right out of me, but I called it back then and knew it was temporary.  Of course, I do get freaked when it goes away because I’m not sure how long it will be gone for.  I think I talked about this in an earlier post that referenced Patti Smith.   When it’s in you, it always comes back.

I gave myself several months to get lost in the confusion and panic (and frequent catatonia) that comes with picking up your life at 37 and moving back to the place you left when you were 18.  Then I reached a breaking point – the Jessica, it can go one of two ways here moment.  A grip was gotten.  Sure, I still lay in bed, or on the floor sometimes, my eyes as big as saucers, staring at the ceiling,  immobilized.  But the amount of time I spend doing that has lessened considerably.  I am painting again and it is a drug.  It’s not numbing me out this time around though, it’s calming me.   My little acrylic Lorazepams.  I can feel myself gently swinging back to center.  I’ll post pictures soon.

I stayed in last night.  Gone are the days when I walk down the street to a friend’s apartment to watch fireworks shoot from the Space Needle.  But, here are the days when my new webcam gets set up and I join Skype!  

Last year to ring in the New Year I walked two blocks from my place to the home of my friends John and Susan.   We drank wine, played Celebrity, took in the fireworks from their expansive patio and watched R.Kelly’s (gross) Trapped in the Closet (so, so awesome).  I have never laughed so hard.    John and Susan have since moved just north of Seattle,  out of their condo and into a home with a yard, and they were blessed with a  son, McIntyre (Mac) Featherstone, in early December.  

Susan & I, NYE Seattle 2009

Two years ago I was in San Francisco, bringing in the new year with my friends Michelle and Kyle in Michelle’s Tenderloin apartment.  Very cozy and mellow.   I knit and drank beer by candlelight, Michelle painted and Kyle told stories. 

Michelle & Kyle, NYE SF 2008

NYE SF 08, beer & knitting

Kyle is now in Antarctica and Michelle lives in Astoria, New York,  and I am in Illinois.  Much can change  in a year (or two). 

Last night I used Skype for the first time and toasted the new year twice with my friend Michelle – New York time for her and Illinois time for me.  Wow.  Skype blew my mind!  We are officially in the future.  At midnight I was fielding texts on my phone from friends and family while talking to (and SEEING!) my friend in New York through the computer.  Really?!  I am always a few steps behind when it comes to technology, and its amazingness is not lost on me, but how ‘ bout we  just rest here for a while.  Two years from now will I be able to smell Michelle’s perfume or touch one of her paintings through the computer?  That freaks me out. 

Tuesday and I waiting for Michelle on Skype, NYE 10

Michelle and I spoke for a long time - about home, love, creativity and whether to call this year “two thousand eleven” or “twenty eleven” – I am of the mind that “twenty eleven” sounds too much like abbreviated texting language - LOL, TTYL or an emodicon – and that business makes me absolutely bristle.   I prefer that we take the time to say the words, write the words.  Sure, I never said, “Happy New Year!  I can’t believe it’s one thousand, nine hundred ninety four!” But these days, taking an extra fraction of a second to say “two thousand eleven” means much more than it did back then.  At least to me. 

While I have you here, if you’ve got the time please check out Michelle’s art.  When she’s not working in her Astoria home studio, she’s reading tarot or walking the streets of New York taking amazing photographs. 

http://michellebloomsart.wordpress.

http://www.cafepress.com/thebirdies

I have taken a break from painting during the holidays.  For two months it was pretty much all I did and I was beginning to lose zest.  Michelle reminded me that this is how it is – fever and obsession have to give way to rest, and then naturally, fever and obsession take over again.  I used to panic about the rest phase when I was younger.  Oh, no!  I’m not really an artist.  If I were I’d never want to stop, I’d always have ideas.  About a year ago I stopped freaking out about it entirely. 

Last February I had the good fortune of seeing Patti Smith.  She read from her memoir, gave a brief musical performance and answered questions from a salivating Seattle audience.   First off, I want to be her – with my own touches of course, but dear god this woman is amazing.  You know she won the National Book Award recently - with her memoir, the first book she had ever written, at 64.  I have never seen a person so obviously comfortable with who they are.  As honest and authenic as I have always believed myself to be, I realized I have a lot of work to do.  I can’t explain it, but you’ll know what I’m talking about if you ever get the chance to share a room with her.    Anyway, someone in the audience asked her what she did when she felt stuck creatively.  Smith said that a long time ago she used to fall into a panic – “That’s it, I’m done.  That’s all I had in me.”  But time after time it always came back.   She finally realized that if it’s in there, it will always be – even if years pass between creative endeavors.  What a liberating realization.  She went on to say that these days, when she seeks inspiration, she fills a big thermos with coffee and walks along the beach. 

I don’t know if I’m making any sense, I feel like I’m all over the place.  But to summarize: so much can change in a year, technology is beautiful and strange, my friend Michelle is an amazing artist,  Patti Smith is a personal hero, creativity is a boomerang. 

I won’t be walking along a beach anytime soon, but I’m sure I’ll pack a thermos of coffee for my train ride to the city for this bit of inspiration:

Lori Nix - makes miniatures, photographs them.

The work of Lori Nix at Chicago’s Catherine Edelman Gallery from January 7 to February 26, 2011.

Lori Nix’s Stunning, Tiny Dioramas Depict an Abandoned World [Slideshow] | Co.Design

 A year moves quickly.  Hold on, make the most of it. 

Hope to see you around. 

Greetings!

Thanks to everyone who braved the snow last week to come to the first of (hopefully) many winter market Saturdays at the Haight building in Elgin.

As a new arrival in Elgin who’s still working on building community, the universe was really providing for me last Saturday.  I met countless positive, silly, open-hearted, open-minded, dynamic locals and I left the market believing that Elgin may be a good place to hang my hat for a while.

I received a lot of positive feedback about my bowls.  Thank you!  Many bowls were touched, quizzical looks were exchanged. Some of you looked at me like I may be a little crazy, two of you thought my dotted bowls resembled  a test for color blindness.  I love this!  See below.

test for color blindness?

Well, are you color blind?

Thanks to all the strangers out there that took a few minutes out of their hectic holiday lives to talk to little old me, and to those who thought it would be a good idea to purchase something that I had made.  You will never know how much that means to me.

I tried my best not to seem creepy while asking  bowl-buyers if they wouldn’t mind being photographed with the bowl they bought for the purpose of posting it here. What great sports!  Permission granted by every last one!

Again, thanks to everyone for stopping by.

The weather is supposed to be much better this weekend, so if you’re in this neck of the woods try to pop into the market.   Saturday, December 11th, from 10-5 at The Haight.  166 Symphony Way, Elgin.  This week there will be a $1 entrance fee for adults 18 and up.

Oh, and last week among all the other goods, the market offered free wine tastings and massage!  The massage booth was right across from mine and those women worked hard and sent a bunch of people on their merry way, certainly more relaxed than they were when they arrived.  My dad stopped by and indulged in a massage and he said it was great.  No guarantees, but my fingers are crossed that wine and massage will be offered again.

Almost forgot, I was fortunate enough to neighbor a booth run by two charming veterans who were at the market raising funds for an organization in Dundee that sends cookies and other delights to troops around the world.  Nice!  They need your help.

If you have Facebook, please visit the Elgin’s Urban Eden page for more information about this incredibly exciting sustainability project emerging in your very own backyard.

Hope to see you Saturday.  I’ll be bringing bowls, ornaments, magnets and mosaics. Everything I make (sans ornaments) comes from recycled/reclaimed materials.

Take care and bundle up!

This Saturday, Dec. 4th from 10-4 please come to the Haight Building at 166 Symphony Way in Elgin for the inaugural INDOOR monthly market.  Hot cider, fresh bread, local food, organics, wine, antiques, art and craft, music, song and so much more.  Come by and visit with your neighbors, escape the snow,  and learn about the stellar Urban Eden project.  From the Urban Eden Facebook page:

Urban Eden is a co-creative process among innovators of the Elgin area & surrounding communities designed to utilize the sustainability concept in urban renewal, to develop a multi-media education platform implementing technology & design.

I’ll be there with magnets, mosaics, bowls and ornaments.  Everything I make comes from reclaimed/recycled objects.   The glass ornaments are the exception.  Hope to see you! 

I am honored to be a part of this event.  Illinois friends, I am telling you, this place is amazing!  Built in 1881 for  John McNeil, this 25 room home turned into a sanitarium in the 1930s, electric shock treatments were delivered there in the 50s and presently, it’s a home once again.

Mary Krebsbach lives there with her husband Tom and once a year they open up their home for two weekends to the public for an art and craft extravaganza.

I popped into the mansion for the first time last week and you can feel the past inside.  It was a bright and sunny afternoon so I wasn’t creeped, but left alone there on a cold, windy night with nothing but my imaginings, I’d lose it.  I’m sure.

Nobody has to worry about losing it there this coming weekend (Nov. 12-14) or the following weekend (Nov. 19-21) from 10am-5pm because the place will be packed to the gills with the work of local craftspeople.   Myself included.

Stop by and see me on the next two Sundays from 1pm-5pm when I’ll be working. Come by anytime to see the work of your neighbors, to feel the history of this house, or to buy gifts for you and your loved ones.

162 S. State St. (Hwy 31)  Elgin, IL

A short walk from the National Street Metra Stop

Admission is $3

Hope to see you.

Will be bringing bowls, glass balls and magnets.  More pictures soon.

I’ve been busy.

I can’t stop making these glass balls!  I’m addicted to the feeling that anticipation provides.  You know that tingly feeling you get when you’re about to look at the poker hand you’ve been dealt?  Or, in the olden days when we developed our own film?  Putting the piece of  photographic paper in the solution, waiting to see the image pop up – that feeling.   I am learning that I really dig when there are parameters (control) - but when what happens within those parameters cannot be predicted (chance).   Glass balls, I want to thank you for giving me the tingles.