right now, i have a photo editing obsession. 

yard sale find

I went to this yard sale yesterday and found these old welding goggles, they are plastic, leather and have glass lenses. There's a piece missing so one of the glass pieces are loose so it was only $15. But they came in this sweet metal case that looks like it was simply welded together. I was soooo excited to find these! Plus, i got a case of old, several, different, tiny glass bottles for only $5! Good yard sale finds :)

(photographs taken by Susannah Fitz)

NEW YORK CITY!

The class trip to the Cooper Hewitt and the Droog dutch design festival was awesome!!

market research

the idea that i came up with has already been done :(
Hopefully I can think of something else.

social issue: backyard breeding, puppy mills, "designer dogs", adopting dogs from shelters, etc

At first I wanted to address racism but it is such a broad topic that i felt like i needed to narrow down my idea for this project. I want to address racism in a future project.

The dog issue is something that is close to my heart being a dog lover. I was thinking of putting out a fake ad in the classified puppy section and making "missing dog" signs but for ones who had died because no one wanted them?? rough ideas i know but i need to do a brainstorming session with the group. While doing some research on the topic i have found out that there are tons of organizations that feel the same way i do! So instead of making up a new site/ blog, i'd just be their advocate and help spread the word. I came across some really awful pictures, that made me sick when researching. I don't think I want to go about the shock value direction.

I love my mutt!

Ode to Things

Many things conspired

to tell me the whole story.

Not only did they touch me, 

or my hand touch them:

they were

so close

that they were a part

of my being, 

they were so alive with me

that they lived half my life

and will die half my death.

-Pablo Neruda

getting intrigued yet?

I just read Taking Things Seriously:75 Objects with Unexpected Significance by Joshua Glenn & Carol Hayes today. [you can get a lot done when you get to school 7 hours before a class!] It was such an interesting book with amazing stories. I was expecting more heart wrenching, emotional stories with the objects but most were just random. It was just the book I needed to read for inspiration. It was an easier read than the essay/ deeper thinking art books; it was a breath of fresh air compared to some of my other readings. Sometimes it's nice to read something that you don't have to reread several times to try and understand what the heck they are saying. Another refreshing, inspirational book was The Uncommon Life of Common Objects: Essays on Design and the everyday by Akiko Busch. Busch picked out several objects in her life and studied them as more than an ordinary object. 

jewelry from RECYCLART:

still aimlessly browsing the internet... here's some fun finds:

from RECYCLART

laddershelf

intertube bag

tea bag art

My honors thesis ideas are floating around in my head... here's a few images i found on the web for inspiration.

Mette Saabye

"Mette Saabye addresses the concept of value materialised by her plethora of jewellery that put a spin on the established conventions regarding the value of the material and an artistic enrichment of the once prized but by later generations discarded piece of jewellery or material. Mette Saabye's eye for aesthetics and her remarkable technical skills bring to this cycle of change new content in jewellery, that is sometimes functional but always lending new value to the essence of the art of jewellery and to jewellery's relationship with the bearer. Mette Saabye's work is a powerful manifestation of a great talent on the contemporary scene of arts and crafts in Denmark, that once again is placed on the cultural political agenda thanks to artists such as Mette Saabye." -Bodil Busk Laursen (www.klimt02.net)

soooooo freakin cool

I cannot get enough research on artists specifically metalsmiths and art jewelers right now. It used to be hard for me to find artists in my field just through search engines but the best way now for me is through gallery websites. All summer i've been trying to figure out what i like and why. What am i attracted to? What elements of people's work do i find pleasing? I think it's important to take a look at those things in order to find your own style/ brand.

Today i was checking out http://www.klimt02.net/ and there was a piece that really stood out to me. it was a cow tooth necklace by Teresa Milheiro. (her website is awesome)

I used to have this weird fascination with animal bones/parts as well but never made a successful piece out of them. I collected antlers, bones, teeth, etc buthad a hard time combining them with silver and setting them.

Teresa Milheiro's work is amazing; her use of the 2 elements flow in a natural way and she takes into consideration the form of the bones. Each photo of the work inspired me more and more. Look how cool her work is!!

issues in my community

I was trying to think of social issues in my community so here's a few off the top of my head:

- the bypass just opened up in town (farms/fields being destroyed, accidents in the circles, devaluing houses, etc)

-littering. pollution

-underage drinking/drugs

-racism/ discrimination (it's a small town)

-homelessness

- loss of jobs

a great group

*one of lockets

*senior show opening [last semester]

We had a kick ass group of girls last semester, some have graduated (we miss you) and some are still around like me!

in the news

COLLEGES RAMP UP EFFORTS TO HOLD ONTO STUDENTS 

On my way home from school, I listen to either 88.5 or 88.1 for the day's news, traffic updates, or interesting stories. Tonight there was a story about how "as much as half of all students who attend college might never complete their degrees." One professor in PA felt in order to keep the students until graduation, is to create a bond between them and something at the institution early on. When asked some students felt things like homesickness, bad grades, no guidance, and boredom were reasons for leaving. The schools loose money when a student leaves and students could end up never returning to earn a degree. They say students get discouraged and can't wait to get out. 

It was a particularly interesting story to me because I never really got involved with college distractions, didn't have much of a social life, and always overly stressed over my grades. You could say i was a bit of a nerd but it kept me focused even when i had little guidance on my academic track. It wasn't until junior year when I finally found my love, my major, Metals & Jewelry. It's totally true about having some connection to your school that keeps you in. My connection to TU now is the program, professors, and peers. I now don't want to leave, i am actually in my 5th year because i felt like i was getting way too much to leave. 

SIDE NOTE: Did you know Disney is paying Marvel $4 BILLION for 5,000 characters? Apparently not enough little boys want the disney princess balloons at their next birthday party.

beginning to think about social design

What is social design? ... according to Socialdesignsite.com

"Design, in its broader sense, is more than the creation and shaping of products and services; it is anything and everything man-made.  This broad understanding of the term also implies that design can be unconscious and is, therefore, inevitable. We believe this also applies to social design. We understand social design as the inescapability of social interaction and the resulting consequences of such action. We are social beings: we interact everyday with people and we cannot escape acting in relation to others. Every single day, we are faced with choices: we may do today what we did yesterday or we may do something different, altering our daily routine. The resulting actions from our choices, no matter how insignificant they might appear, have consequences. We create and design our social world with these choices and actions. This is the concept behind our claim: "You cannot not change the world." Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that you will not leave this site KNOWING what social design is. Rather, you will leave contemplating what it may be, just as we do. There is no single understanding of social design and there are final answers in this emerging discussion. This fact, however, should only make this discourse all the more compelling."

I don't know enough information YET but i will keep posting.

Senior show display

Senior show display -Spring 2009

fresh start

Welcome to the fall 2009 semester, the first week of my last year of my undergraduate career! *Super senior* I just do not want to leave, as much as it stresses me out, I honestly LOVE learning new techniques, finding new inspirational artists, and being around my peers/ design team. :) 

I'm excited to do an honor's thesis and work on a year long collection. I still am brainstorming potential ideas but no matter what i think it's going to be a great opportunity. I might continue with my ideas from last semester which i'll post pictures of my senior project very soon!