The Broken Plate @ Crafty Bastard's in Silver Spring, MD this Saturday!

Crafty Bastard's Arts & Crafts Fair is this Saturday and I'll be there standing in for the illustrious Juliet of The Broken Plate Company at Booth #47. Check it out:

Saturday, June 28 from 10am-5pm

Pyramid Atlantic Art Center

8230 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, MD

This weekend will be sure to please with many great crafters including some other notable Towson jewelry ladies: Imogene, Liz Mathews, and Beth Pohlman. Stop by, say hi, and cross your fingers for no rain!!

Red Barn Vineyard??

Photos by Maria & Boris

As the seasons pass, I'm slowly discovering all the secrets Red Barn Farm, our home, has to reveal. Last year I was delighted to discover our grape arbor amidst a massive pile of weeds. I cleared everything out leaving the vines exposed where I had found them and was able to salvage a few bowls of concord grapes before the end of the season. Nevertheless, other projects prevailed and the weeds were back with vengeance this year. I readily accepted my denial of the mess due to more immediate chores until this weekend when we were very fortunate to have our friends Maria and Boris up to help tackle the task of properly setting up the grape arbor, sans weeds. Right now the vines are recovering from a major overhaul and look a little frumpy, but I know we'll see the improvement in grape yield for seasons to come. This land is truly ripe with inspiration.

We also discovered some wild blackberries and mulberries today. I'm very excited about the blackberries and couldn't resist staining my fingers and snacking on them right off the vine, but haven't the foggiest idea what to do with the mulberries... they taste like cotton balls!

Darn Good.

Today was beautiful:

• Just the right combination of sunny and breezy,
• The first ripe blueberries straight off the bush are here (I'm working on turning into Violet Beauregarde),
• Great music all day,
• And I got paid to smell flowers... literally.

The smelling flowers thing isn't a regular gig and I got a little sneezy at points (and stung by two wasps!), but it was well worth it. To be honest, I've felt a little frustration over not being able to get everything done recently (or ever!), but a day like today makes all the difference. I'm a truly lucky girl; doing exactly what I want to be doing, surrounded by great people, living the life I want to live. Who could ask for anything more? Wait... I can!! I need my order to arrive from Albuquerque!!

Salad of the Week: Garlic Scapes with Apple, Artichoke, and Sheep Brebis

Today's lunch turned into a blog-caliber treat. I started with garlic scapes, an ingredient whose name and appearance I felt was worth my bewilderment, but once I cooked up and tried these tasty tendrils, the rest came together...

Ingredients
Bed of red and green baby lettuce topped with:
Garlic scapes sauteed in extra virgin olive oil
Marinated and quartered artichoke hearts
Chopped Pink Lady apples
Chopped walnuts
Sheep brebis crumbles from Highland Farm
Julienned purple and yellow sage from the garden
A drizzle of sweet balsamic vinegar

This was my first time preparing and eating garlic scapes. I followed the recommended cooking method of sauteing in olive oil and checking for done-ness and found them to have a delicate garlic flavor that was very complimentary to the other ingredients. The texture was nice, not unlike thin asparagus spears, but I found the tips a bit tough so I will be cutting them off before cooking next time. Overall, this salad was wonderful and filling (Elaine Benes would be proud); a great success!

Happy Father's Day!

To all the great dad's out there... especially mine!




Some of what I learned from my dad:

1. While a guest at someone's house, always offer to help in the kitchen
2. Never take life too seriously (regardless of age)
3. It's all about teamwork
4. How to draw
5. To lie is one of the worst things
6. How to plant flowers, scramble eggs, and swim
7. Straight men can decorate
8. Anything can be achieved with enough hard work
9. Family is #1
10. Don't forget to say, "I love you."

Thanks for everything Dad, I love you.

Still Here

Rather than feeling guilty for not posting recently, I've decided to list five very good distractions that have kept me busily away:

1. Toiling away on new work for my future etsy shop and the On the Rise show in the Museum Shop at the DCCA. See the Press Release (and stop by if you're in the Wilmington area)
2. Working on a couple of exciting commissions. More information and pictures to follow, but I can't ruin the surprise.
3. New great job! Yay!
4. Yard work... better than it sounds, we've been putting in several great shrubs and trees, taking out a lot of weedy invasive messes, as well as working on my first garden.
5. Lots of cooking... we're two weeks into our 2008 summer CSA and those veggies don't prepare themselves! The benefits: endless, but beyond that... supporting the local economy, environment, and our personal health.

Well that's pretty much it. I'll try to check in a little more often with the progress of new work with photos. Thanks for stopping by... and have a great summer!

PRESS RELEASE: On the Rise

On the Rise, Work From the Metalsmithing & Jewelry Program at Towson University

Curated by Jan Baum

Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts

Wilmington, Delaware

June 5-July 31, 2008

Opening reception 5-8 p.m., Friday, June 6th, 2008

On the Rise represents the diverse cross section of current undergraduate and graduate work as well as recent alumni from both degree programs. Work comprising this exhibition stretches the traditions and boundaries of both the metalsmithing and art jewelry discipline. Age-old impulses of body adornment are reinterpreted individually and personally in 2008. The Metals & Jewelry discipline attracts artists drawn to the intimacy and site specific nature of the art jewelry object and objects historically associated with the Metals & Jewelry discipline. A number of works bridge multiple disciplines in conveying the artists’ conceptual ideas.

The intimate and site-specific format of the art jewelry object and objects historically associated with the Metals & Jewelry discipline attract artists by virtue of the ideas they are seeking to express. A number of the works here bridge multiple disciplines.

Many of the artists in the exhibition are exploring non-traditional materials in the expression of their individual artistic pursuits while others utilize prominent materials in new and individual ways. A handful of artists are engaged with new materials and new technologies while simultaneously pushing and exploring the boundaries of art jewelry object.

The work in On The Rise has been selected because of its forward thinking and level of investigation into diverse and rich frontiers, which are evolving the Metals & Jewelry field.

Jan Baum is Professor and Director of the Metalsmithing and Jewelry Program at Towson University. She holds an MFA from University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and a BFA from Arcadia University.

Photo: Norway Maple, sterling silver and tourmaline, 2008, Whitney J. Marsden

Greetings from Red Barn Farm!

Things are continuing to come to life up here on "the farm." Immediate duties like mulching, weeding, and clearing are keeping me from the studio... but plans abound! These beautiful photos were taken by Maria and Boris.

Spring Arivals!

Daffodil

Star Magnolia

Forsythia

I couldn't resist some pictures from around the yard. Things are ever changing around here and the scents and colors are breathtaking. I've been out working hard appreciating the beauty and trying to stay ahead of the weeds. Next up: dogwoods, lilacs, and apple blossoms. I can't wait.

Discovering Auctions!

I have a new past time... auctions! It must be the thrill of holding that little number up and battling it out (really, I'm a wimp) while racing the "clock" with the fast talker (do they go to auction school for that?!). Steve and I met up with his friend Ray on Saturday and hit three auctions before 2 p.m. Seriously, it hurt waking up that early! The first two auctions were take-it-or-leave-it in addition to cold and windy, but the third had some very unique things only found in that part of Pennsylvania on that particular day. It was great! We came away with some much needed (and wanted) items: a large Persian-style wool rug, an oak swivel office chair, an electric griddle (for PNP, a resist used for etching metal), and an old wood and cast iron sled... at $71 for everything, we made out! Of course I am currently thinking back longingly about a couple of things, but that's to be expected. Then there's the added bonus about auctions; you can buy whatever you want... so long as you're willing to pay for it! Three cheers for giving new life to old objects!

Update: Above you will see a picture of our new rug. I love it. The colors and design work well with our little farmhouse and we really needed something on the floor to separate the living room from the dining room. Nevertheless, as my mom says, "there's a price for getting things so cheap..." With rain comes humidity and thus new odors in our rug have surfaced. Despite doing EVERYTHING I can come up with, we have been confronted with (like a brick wall) the ever permeating smell of WET DOG! Tonight I'm taking the third pass with the steam cleaner! Help! Any suggestions?! Editors Advisory: although we don't have a dog, we think dogs are great, but YUCK!