Fall SoundBytes… what’s behind the techniques, tools, & processes of the Artisans & new works for the Fall tour.
Beth Williams Studio
“Lampworking”, “flameworking” and “torchworking” are interchangeable terms for what I do, which is melting glass to create beads over a torch powered by oxygen and propane. Working with a 2000 degree flame and beautifully colored rods of glass = (almost) instant gratification! Some of the glass I use is still made in the same Venetian factories that have been producing for over 400 years; I have been to those furnaces and watched the glass-creation process – the memory of powerful images continue to inspire my contemporary work. On my workbench, alongside some beautiful Muranese-made tools that I purchased from the 9th generation glass toolmaker himself, sits a humble paring knife, the blade blackened and etched from years of flameworking and in these tools I see the new and old traditions and techniques that honor the beautiful craft that I practice. Demonstrations at the torch will be ongoing as time permits.
Cynthia Curtis
I have a new line of work titled Sea Fossils. I use a brown high fire stoneware clay to make wheel thrown and handbuilt platters, vases and bowls and imprint the clay in a circular mandala-like pattern with favored beach finds, sea stars, shells, coral, sea urchins and sea horses. After glazing the pieces in a matte eggshell glaze, I wipe off the glaze in places, giving the pot an ancient look. This year, I am celebrating my 20th year as a potter and teacher and am grateful to the over 1000 students that have come thru the studio.
Jacqueline Ganim-DeFalco: Cape Ann Designs
As I have often said, the shapes and sizes of the glass challenge me to look for more ways to use my collection in the form of jewelry and hair accessories. I look forward to sharing new sea glass accessories such as bolder cuff bracelets, hair combs, and sweater guards plus lighter, smaller earrings. These all due to new findings that allow me to use more of my glass.
Pat Lowery Collins
Although I often work in oil on canvas, my favorite medium is pastel on paper. There is an assumption by many that pastel is a fragile medium. However, It actually retains its vibrancy and color better than oil paint because it consists of pure pigment plus a binder. If handled properly, it lasts indefinitely. I have seen work from centuries ago that still glows.
Camilla MacFadyen
I have been experimenting with gelatin mono prints on fabric and paper as well as some new, fun silkscreened items.. I am reorganizing the studio for the studio tour, and hanging a new display of colographed wall panels. I am really looking forward to welcoming everyone in for a glass of wine and a feast of color and surface design.
David Montgomery
This summer I’ve been traveling by boat up and down the Annisquam River to paint areas that I love: the small unnamed island that I “discovered” and claimed as my own when I was 6, the special blue green color of the water at Wingaersheek at high tide, and unspoiled Merchant’s Island with its cottages that have not changed since the turn of the century. I also have been painting some of the fish class cat boats that have been built at my family’s boatyard since 1921. The challenge is to take these things that I love and which have always been around me and to make an artistic statement about them and not simply to illustrate what I see. Of course a painting from a tippy skiff is not the easiest thing to do either.
BOND STREET STUDIO: Terry Del Percio-Piemonte
One of the best parts of creating mixed media paintings is that I can use a multitude of materials to create each piece. I often use oil sticks, pencils, pieces of handmade paper. The use of the term “mixed media” came into use around 1912 when artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque began using collage and assemblage in their work. They weren’t, however, the first mixed media artists on the scene. Way back in history in the Byzantine Empire (330 to 1450 AD), artists often used gold leaf on their paintings, frescoes and mosaics.
BOND STREET STUDIO: David Piemonte
I use traditional film to create my black and white photographs. Each one is developed and printed by hand in my darkroom using archival processing techniques. The final images are called “Silver Gelatin Prints”. Many people are confused as to what the name “Silver Gelatin” means. This term comes from the actual suspension of silver salts in gelatin and is coated onto resin-coated paper. Once development is complete, the undeveloped silver salts must be removed by fixing in a chemical bath and then the print must be washed in clean water. The final image consists of metallic silver embedded in the gelatin coating. One of the joys of looking at a black and white silver gelatin print is to see the richness of the blacks and sense the depth in the photograph.
Pamela Stratton
I use a Mosaic hammer and Hardie for cutting materials in my mosaics. The hardie is like a chisel mounted in a piece of wood. Since antiquity, the most satisfying tools for accurate cutting of glass smalti, stone and marble have been a mosaic hammer and hardie.
Rob Diebboll
This summer I’ve been experimenting with a new product, Arches “oil paper”, a heavyweight paper specially designed for oil paints. This allows me to do studies in the studio or on the beach in a much more lightweight manner than using canvas & easel. These are also an affordable entry point for new collectors.
Ruth Worrall
Most of my work is wheel thrown stoneware. The pottery craft process takes time and patience. The repetition of throwing, centering, opening, pulling up, and trimming allows your fingers to acquire a memory of how they moved the last time you had a small measure of success. There is a wonderfully meditative quality to this work.
As important as throwing a good form is, glazing is an equally important part of this craft. A well thrown vessel’s beauty can be accentuated by the wise use of a glaze and a well- considered firing technique, the end result being an object whose form, color, and design make it beautiful and pleasing.
I am at this time experimenting with hand building and carving porcelain.
Judith Wright
Granite is all over Cape Ann. We see it everywhere….in quarries, in the ubiquitous stone walls, and in our yards. Recently I’ve started to decorate some granite stones, large ones but not boulders, with mosaic design inspired by the colors around me. I love seeing them placed as if incidentally in places where they might surprise you. It feels right to be using local materials like this granite. The stained glass that I use for the mosaics comes in sheets and I cut it with an ordinary glass cutter to create all the small pieces (tesserai) that make up the design.
Bart Stuyf
Bart is in the Pingree Flying Horse Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit which runs throughNovember 27th. The opening is Saturday September 27th at 1:00. Everyone is invited. It is a beautiful location and a lovely way to spend an autumn afternoon. Added bonus, Chris Williams is the honorary chair this year.
Bart has well over 100 hammers, 5 anvils and 50 hardies and dapping blocks for forming different shapes. He shows visitors to the tour how each tool is used to affect the shape of the copper. Children are often delighted to try it out for themselves and come away with a little fish as a souvenir.
