Artist Profile - KeelyB

Keely Beth, a full-time student and regular participant in her hometown’s “First Fridays in Florence”(Alabama!) is one of my favorite Etsy vendors. Her gorgeous glasswork is her way of combining her enthusiasm for both art and jewelry, and her skill recently won her the ‘Best of Show’ prize at Art on the Square 2007 in Athens, AL! Her keen eye for color and design added to her quality craftsmanship results in beautiful one-of-a-kind pendants, earrings and pins.

My favorite of her available items, her red Tree of Life pendant, is a hand-drawn illustration with richly-toned watercolor, sandwiched between hand-cut, hand-polished and hand-notched pieces of clear and white glass, and suspended by hand-wrapped sterling-silver wires. Add in the fact that she uses recycled shipping materials and offers free shipping on multi-item purchases, and how can you go wrong? You can find her work at keelyb.etsy.com, and visit her on the web at keelybeth.blogspot.com.

Post written by miscelena.

Val Lucas - Bowerbox Press

I've always been an artist- my parent's house is full of drawings and paintings, ranging from second grade to more recent prints. My first art competition was in fifth grade, when I entered the Junior Duck Stamp contest at the urging of Mrs. Bourke, my art teacher. I think I got first place in my age group- and continued to enter through high school, getting firsts and seconds but never winning. Throughout school I drew all the time, painted, made little sculptures and projects nonstop. In junior year of high school I realized, hey I am an artist- since I spend all my time in the art room, painting and drawing, maybe I should go to art school! Before that I had not really thought about what to do- I was good in all my subjects- physics, biology (I loved biology- especially the insect collection project!), english, calculus- but I hadn't thought about college. After I decided to go to art school my calculus teachers were heartbroken. I started to concentrate on getting my portfolio ready for art school applications.

I ended up at the Maryland Institute College of Art, thinking that I would major in painting. However, being exposed to new techniques made me choose General Fine Arts as my major, and I tried a little bit of everything. Painting, drawing, ceramics, and printmaking- I fell in love with printmaking in my first screenprinting class. I began using a lot of bird and pattern imagery in my work, and learning more printmaking techniques such as etching, lithography and relief printing. (I remember once, after finishing a large linoleum cut, saying that I really didn't like relief printing and if I never saw a linoleum block again I wouldn't be sad. Now that has changed completely!)

After my freshman year the Duck Stamp entries came into play- I got a call from the Delta Waterfowl Research center in Manitoba, Canada, about doing an artist residency for the summer. I jumped at the chance and spent the summer living in a cabin on the shore of Lake Manitoba, painting landscapes and watching birds. There was a bird observatory where I got to help with banding and counting migrating birds, and the research station where I helped with duck research and learned about the diving habits of Spectacled Eiders. I had two small solo shows and came home ready to keep working.

During my junior year I was encouraged to apply for the study abroad program, and spent a semester in Aix-en-Provence, France. Along with a dozen other art students, I worked in a 17th century monastery in Aix and traveled around the south of France. Since our studio was not well ventilated, there was no oil painting allowed- so I began to track my travels with watercolor maps of remembered places. I made a painting for each day's journey, and later created books of a collected month. My time in France was definitely my favorite semester- I loved the different atmosphere, the crows that came cawing into the city at night, the new birds (flamingos, magpies, and pheasants) and the varied landscape available to me by a long walk or a bus ride.
I continued collecting my daily journeys when I returned, but also took my first letterpress class- I walked into the room full of cases of type, big old machinery and the smell of ink- and knew that this was for me. I also had an internship at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, where I learned how to make paper and perfected my printing and bookbinding skills. I also returned to relief printing, after realizing that I could carve an image and print it along with the type on these presses.

After graduation, I rescued a hundred year old letterpress from a basement in Baltimore and spent 2 months fixing it up. I didn't have huge plans yet, I thought that maybe the press would be fun. Now, 2 and a half years after graduation, I have my printing business up and running (slowly), and I'm optimistic about the future.


Bowerbox Press is a way for me to keep doing all the things I love- I set type by hand, carve woodblocks of birds, and incorporate the imagery and text into cards and fine art prints. I'm working on an artist's book, as well as a line of greeting cards and stationery. I love the processes involved in printing- everything is dependent on every step of the way. I love to be able to be part of each step- making the paper, setting the type, cutting the image, printing each and every piece of paper by hand, binding the book. It makes my artwork unique and unrepeatable, and I can truly say, I made this. Every piece of it.

In addition to printing, I am teaching the occasional workshop on printing and presses. I'm helping Towson University get a letterpress shop together, and I also am keeping in touch with the people who've been printing all their lives- to keep their knowledge and skill alive in an increasingly digital world.


Post written by BowerboxPress

Megan of Van Wagoner Studios

Born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, I grew up in a community filled with artists, musicians and lots of mid-west practicality. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to create things––bridges, buildings––I wasn't sure what, but I wanted it to be useful. It wasn't until I started my studies in engineering that I realized art was my calling.

After a year at Northwestern University, I returned home to study at the Cleveland Institute of Art. The ceramics department was a natural fit. I learned both the science and sociology of making pots and was inspired by the variety of expression I saw around me. As I became more interested in communicating, I added sculpture to my repertoire and began to branch out into other materials. By the time I completed my BFA I was working on two concurrent bodies of work––sculpture for the gallery, pots for the home.

In few years later I began graduate studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art in the Mount Royal School. Open-ended and encouraging of mixed-media exploration, the Mount Royal School is where I began actively using the computer to document my mixed media installations. After two years of study I graduated and began working as a graphic designer. Passionate about the value of aesthetics in our everyday lives, it was easy to become completely engulfed in the world of design. It took me a couple of years to get out from under my desk and back to a gritty hands-on studio.

In 2002 I started teaching––design workshops at Johns Hopkins University, then graphic design courses at the University of Maryland, and now ceramics at Montgomery College. For me teaching has become an integral part of making stuff and provides inspiration for actively experimenting in the studio. While themes run through my work for years at a time, I am always looking for a new way to express them and leave it to students to get you thinking in new and exciting ways.

Post written by VWStudios

Miscelena Handmade Papercrafts

Born into a family full of crafty (in the best sense!) women, my mom taught me the
value of a hand-written greeting when I was barely able to form the letters. Our shared enthusiasm for papercrafts - handmade cards and other remembrances - is still going strong.


I spend most of my weekdays working at a computer (albeit luckily as a commercial interior designer - a job I love!), and while I enjoy the connection and communication available via the internet, I believe our world will be a bit less beautiful if we lose the ability to touch one another with our own handwriting, our own words in ink on paper.




Shop: miscelena.etsy.com
Flickr (my blog!): flickr.com/photos/miscelena

Post by Miscelena

Block Party Press

Hey there! I'm Tamara from Block Party Press and I make everything from jewelry and accessories to magnets, ACEO's and wall art. My favorite medium is polymer clay which some folks seem to think is just kids stuff, but there are a ton of things you can do with it and it is slowly becoming a more accepted art medium.


Most people are surprised to find out that my pieces are polymer clay. In the summer of 2006 I had a bit of an epiphany and found a way to harness all of my favorite creative interests (clay, painting and carving) into one area. I use hand carved stamps (blocks, hence the Block Party title) to create relief texture and imagery with polymer clay. I bring out the texture with acrylic paints and then I distress them to further bring out the details. I haven't gotten tired of the technique yet and I have been trying my best to stretch it as far as I can.

As with many artists, I was born this way. I have been drawing and making things for as long as I can remember and I have to create often or I just don't feel right. Sometimes my brain overflows with more ideas than my hands and my wallet can keep up with. I love texture, patterns, contrast, and of course color. For fun, I love creating art with recycled items(trash).



I am self-taught through much trial and error and a SAHM of 2 very active boys, 5&8 years old, although with the way my business is going, I guess I am a WAHM now. I also recently fell in love with macro photography, so when I am not creating with clay, or trying to keep up with my boys, you can usually find me behind a camera.

You can find me all over the internet:
blockpartypress.blogspot.com
flickr.com/blockpartypress/
trunkt.org/theblockpartypress
trunkt.org/blockpartypressaccessories

Post written by BlockPartyPress

IamMyOwnInvention

Hi I’m Claudia from IamMyOwnInvention! I generally make one-of-a-kind pieces using refurbished antique and vintage jewelry, but I’ve also been known to be a designer/seamstress when the mood strikes.


I moved to Bmore last March after accepting a product developer position with Under Armour. UA is a great learning experience – although my position isn’t as creative as I’d like, it’s still pretty cool having to figure out how to piece together a garment… like a 3D puzzle. I haven’t’ totally made up my mind about Baltimore just yet but it grows on me a little every week!

I either heard or read somewhere that whatever you’re the happiest doing at age 5 is what you should pursue as a career in life. I clearly remember sitting in my room for hours drawing fancy dresses and stringing sequins and paper clips together to make necklaces. I’ve also always been a nut about antiques and have been raiding estate sales and thrift shops since I was a kid. I’ve been making things my entire life but it wasn’t until a year or so ago that I actually started selling my creations.



The jewelry thing came about almost inadvertently out of sheer unemployed boredom. Someone told me about Etsy, I thought I’d give it whirl and voila – IamMyOwnInvention was born…

Post written by IamMyOwnInvention

dandelionblu

I can remember painting seashells and selling them to neighbors on the side of the road. The best were shells that had holes in them so I could make necklaces. My Grandfather was a jeweler, I had a Great Grandmother who was an outstanding artisan wood carver, and my father is a landscape designer, so creativity is genetic it seems.

In undergrad I majored in photography and creative writing, but somehow always seemed to be making artist books and more sculptural objects. I started teaching black and white photography at UMCP while wrapping up my degree at UMBC. I taught at several different schools and art programs once I graduated, and then started my own business shooting weddings and events. That same year I took a job teaching photography at the high school level and got accepted into MICA's MFA program for photography and digital art. The following year I got engaged, bought a house that needed total renovation, continued with my teaching job, was shooting several events every weekend, and juggling grad school. Busy.


Between the teaching, my event photography business, and developing my thesis, I became very burnt out on photography. Once I completed my grad program, picking up a camera was the last thing I wanted to do. My thesis show involved steel frames I had fabricated and welded, and I became intrigued with metal working. I had always been interested in small scale sculptural jewelry, so not long after graduating from MICA, I returned to take some metalsmithing classes.


Fast forward 2 years and I am now enjoying working with enameling and metals. Color is very important to me, and as a photographer I worked with color extensively. I even painted my entire house specifically for my thesis body of work. I have since closed my event photography business, preferring to have my weekends back to work in the studio. I am currently still teaching photography and studio art full time. I started my etsy shop last year and am hoping to work towards being a full time working artist next year.


I mainly work with enamels and metals, but also have a line of jewelry with vintage beads. Today, I am living in my second house that is a total renovation in progress, with my graphic artist/musician/home renovator extraordinaire husband, and a menagerie of rescued animals. In my spare time I manage to squeeze in volunteering with Adopt A Boxer Rescue, and when I can, donating a portion of my etsy sales. Thanks for reading!

"The one absolutely unselfish friend that a human can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous... is his dog."

Post written by danelionblu

littlest bean - jen menkhaus

hi! i’m jen! i’ve been around craft and baltimore most of my life. i did my first craft show with my mom at about eight years old, but it wasn’t until i was 18 that i got my first real experience with CRAFT. i took a job working at a small but very well stocked craft store, which sold mostly hand-crafted jewelry, and i was completely amazed by the fact that someone made all of those things. i mean, most of us have grown up in a world where everything is either made by a machine, or made by several people, who only touch it for a minute. anyway, that’s where it started.

the last year of school, i worked for what was then a teeny tiny company called anthropologie, and when i graduated and discovered there were no jobs in the paper for english majors or artists, i decided to continue at anthro, having been offered the coveted display job there. i learned so much from that job, and it was such a creative and free atmosphere. i stayed there until i moved back to baltimore and took a job as a merchandiser / decorator for an independently owned lifestyle store here. i ended up doing buying, bookkeeping, and inventory analysis there as well, and learned tons about running a small business.

after that, i took a job with the Buyers Market of American Craft, and it was funny, because all of these retail jobs finally meant something to someone else but me! i worked there as the Exhibitor Services Director, and aside from organizing a huge trade show hosting close to 1600 wholesale craft exhibitors, i was able to use my experience to help artists. i advised them on things like product line development, pricing structures, business basics, working with galleries, displays and other things nobody learns in art school. i loved that job, but a year after my daughter was born, i gave it up to stay home more with her. i now work part time for Maryland Citizens for the Arts, an agency that advocates for money for the arts, doing development work.

i’m still a major craft addict, and even when we travel i scope out the galleries beforehand. when we used to travel abroad, i always learned the words for “art,” “craft,” and “jewelry.” (beer, too, but that’s another story.)

whew. and i didn’t think i’d be able to write enough. well, aside from being a mom, and working part time, i’ve been selling on etsy for about four months, as well as developing another business with a friend… my etsy shop, littlest bean, is mostly the work that i am able to do now. i used to like to make pieces that would require a large pot of coffee and half a night, but now i make more portable work. i chose felt because it’s beautiful, versatile, and safe to be around. (when i think of how many hours of my life i spent holding turpentine-soaked rags in my hands, or in my MOUTH!) now my work mingles peacefully in our home, where i live with my husband, daughter, two cats, and one really weird little weiner dog. i’m really proud that my 2 ½ year old now asks “who made that?” instead of “where did you buy that?”

i’m really happy to be a part of b.e.s.t., and looking forward to the good things to come!

CuriousZoo Bio - Leah Bloomfield

Hey everyone out in blog land! This is Leah from CuriousZoo. I'm one of the primary contacts for BEST right now.

So today is my bio day. I'll go ahead and start off with one of those silly memes, just because it's fun. And easy. As seen on Sew, Mama, Sew

1. When did you start to create and make craft?
When I was little, I lived in Colorado. I can recall finding huge white quartz rocks and painting them with water colors and melting crayons on them in the sun. That's when I remember starting... pressing flowers in phone books, drawing Ninja Turtles from dijon mustard glasses, making a styrofoam christmas ornament with my school photo on it, then poking out the eyes so that I could shove green and yellow christmas lights through it. (Hey, it was really neat). I've always been very crafty. Only about a year ago did I start to seriously focus on selling what I create though. I've come a long way, I don't think people would really want to buy bug-eyed christmas ornaments with my photo on them - except maybe mom.


2. Why did you start creating?
I have to express myself, I have to play and experiment. That's what a lot of my craft life has been like, and to a large extent, I'm still figuring things out.

3. Why do you create?
I want to be self-sufficient, I can't stand big-box stores, I want to fill people's lives with art and life and story. I feel satisfied when what I've created goes to live in other peoples' houses - especially childrens' rooms. I want to start making a living off of craft- that in itself is an important goal, not only for the ability to support myself, but to be able to say - "I accomplished this!" .

4. What do you create?
Wow, I've tried everything. Sewing wallets and purses and bibs, industrial jewelry, bead jewelry, collage, knitting, sewing doll clothes and people clothes, pottery, soap making.. I could go on and on. I'm now focusing on photography and art though. It's a good way to get the art out, to spread handmade, and still have time for kids and $ for other, personal endeavors.

5. Has this changed since you began crafting?
I've gone through selling a lot of different sorts of things and I think I've finally settled on what I really enjoy!

Some additional info: I was born in NY. We travelled all over the US until I was about 9, and then we moved to France, then the Philippines, followed by the Netherlands. (My father was in the air force). I have two little boys 1 1/2 and almost 4. My husband Marc is a government code monkey. The both of us are nerds and we tell way too many stories (we write together). Storytelling and mythology are very important to us (:read: we like RPGs) , and we're avid Joseph Campbell fans.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment!