Lookit, I'm an Artist! Ha.

Last night glenn and I had ourselves a date at The Blue Room. I had soft shelled crabs with greens and roasted tomatoes and a remoulade sauce. I really never have figured out how much I like soft-shelled crab vs. how much I like that they look really creepy on a plate. Either way I enjoyed them. I then had lamb, which I rarely eat. These were steaks cooked in herbs and served with what I think was sautéed pea tendrils and a cassoulet of beans and garlic and other yummy bits. It was enough that I'll have it for a couple more meals. It was unusually delicious, as was the planked arctic char with preserved lemon and duck cooked in a port reduction with Brussels sprouts and wild rice timbale that glenn ate.

Today we were deciding between a bike tour of historic buildings in Somerville, a bike tour of green buildings in Cambridge, and the South of Washington Art Walk. Waking up a bit late made the decision. We'll likely go sample a new place in Chinatown for lunch, and then go to the South End and prowl galleries and open studios and the season opening of the South End Open Market.

I'm struggling with the concept of getting studio space myself, and have been looking at all kinds of spaces. I think I want my own space to be a freak in, where there are not these two incredibly cute kittens curious about everything I'm doing, and playing with my stuff. It would remove lots of toxic and sharp things taking up half our living room. Maybe if we had a people-friendly living room more of our friends and their kids would come over.

So I've been talking about sharing space with a friend, and that seems okay, but we need a small space that allows torches, which has been harder. One space I saw was really office space. Another would be built out for me with ventilation, but would be way too much money. Another is deciding if I'm a good fit in a coop that would require me at meetings and on committees. And now there's the possibility of sharing someone else's metal studio in an artists building I rather like, which would give me access to a rolling mill and some bigger torches and whatnot. But it wouldn't be My space then. Hard to say how to proceed.

In the meantime, I was asked to come up with an artist's statement for Penumbra, the gallery in Gloucester that is carrying my jewelry. It opens this week. I hate artist statements. Here's what I came up with:


I spent most of my years working online and on television. So, it's no wonder I spend most of my time now hitting things with hammers. I published numerous articles online and in print, read my work on NPR, oversaw a number of major websites, and was a regular on several international television shows. I left the business on a severance check, which I used to write a travel book, and then I took up jewelry making.

I needed this journey, and this degree of maturity before I could work with metal. Metal smithing is a wonderfully balanced activity requiring a meditative and yet vigilant patience. It requires inspiration as well as careful, logical plans for each step. When my life was more scattered, I pieced together mosaics and quilts. These days I form metal into new shapes, experiment with etching and patinas, and ponder transformation.

My college degrees are both in writing. I have studied metal smithing at Massachusetts College of Art, the Decordova Museum School, Metalwerx, the Sturbridge Village Education Center, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. I was a bench jeweler for Chris Ploof, working with alternative metals such as meteorite, mokume gane, and Damascus steel, and currently do some work for Jade Moran, where the focus is wax casting.