This show featuring 3 southern Colorado artists is in our gallery from July 20 through August 15. We are hosting receptions on July 20 and August 3 at 5-8 pm. "Photo, Fiber, Silver" features three artists working in three different art forms will be showcased in “Photo, Fiber, Silver”--photography by Brianna Rizzi, felted fiber animal sculptures by Diane DelDuca, and silversmith work by Suzi Popkess. These artists all show their work in Blue Spruce Gallery in Florence and are bringing their individual talents to Manitou Springs for this group show. We asked a series of questions to these artists. Here are their responses. Brianna Rizzi—Photo In a short paragraph, tell us about yourself. I grew up in a very artistic family, and have always been interested in hands-on, creative things. I began my photography career after taking classes in college. Soon after that, I set up my own darkroom, which I still have today. I love the practice of developing pictures and watching the negatives turn into great pictures. Over the last 12 years, I have entered several photography shows and now have my work hanging in two permanent galleries: The Blue Spruce Gallery in Florence, and The Avenue in Pueblo. What does making art mean to you? Making art means the world to me. It gives me focus and purpose in the hectic world that we live in. Taking the time to slow down and capture a moment in time through photography seems to help the world calm down a little bit. What has inspired you for this show? I am starting to work primarily with aluminum prints because of the way colors "pop" off of them. I love the lightness of them as well, they can be hung on almost any surface. For this show specifically, tell us about your process. Walk us through the steps of your flowing creativity to achieve one of your works. My process for this show was to capture images that tell a story. Each of my pictures has a narrative behind it that I hope the viewer can understand. When taking photographs, I look for those special moments in time that seem to have more depth than what you see on the surface. What emotions/reactions/thoughts do you want to create in the public looking at your artwork? I hope the public feels a sense of calm and curiosity when looking at my work. I hope they can see the story behind the image and the reason why I took that particular picture. What is your favorite piece for sale at this event? And why? My favorite piece for sale at this show is the Vatican Through the Window. I was in Rome and we were touring a castle that is adjacent to the Vatican. We came upon this window and the evening sun was cascading in as we gazed out towards the Vatican. The light, coupled with the red tiled roof and the curtain in the window, all help transport the viewer to Italy. Where can we find your work? www.coloradoshots.com Facebook.com/landscapes17 The Blue Spruce Gallery in Florence, CO The Avenue in Pueblo, CO Park East Restaurant in Pueblo, CO Diane Del Duca—Fiber Tell us a little bit about yourself. I have always been an artist at heart. Since I was a little girl I sketched faces, animals, and people. I tried all media, never satisfied until I discovered fiber. I took needle felting classes and finally realized my dream of being and accomplished and fulfilled artist What does making art mean to you? My art is my passion. I love animals (always have) and their beauty, Their eyes are the soul of my creations, and I strive to capture their essence. Creating fiber sculpture s my way of representing these amazing beings and their place in the world. I especially take pride in addressing our endangered animals. What has inspired you for this show? My inspiration for this show is that it is a new arena for me I love to hear feedback and reactions to my unique art form. For this show specifically tell us about your process. Needle felting is a dry felting process. I poke a special barbed needle thousands of time into loose fiber to form the desired shape. (All fiber—no molds or glass eyes.) The detail is accomplished by using my different alpaca colors and felting by layering the fiber. It is a slow process and a finished portrait takes many hours. It’s like lifting the soul out of the animal through sculpting the fiber. What emotions, reactions, or throughs do you want to cause people to reach when looking at your artwork? It’s so much fun to see how people respond to an art form they haven’t seen before. I love to see people’s delight to my realism and texture. Those who love animals seem to appreciate my work the most People also appreciate the time invested, and the love apparent in each portrait I create. I receive frequent requests for special orders. What is your favorite piece for sale at this event? A piece of me is in every portrait I create. My pieces are a labor of love—there is no way I can pick a favorite. I love them all! Where can we find your work? I show at the Blue Spruce Gallery in Florence, CO. I also show at the Gunnison Gallery in Gunnison, CO . I had a solo show at Gunnison Gallery which just ended at the end of June. Anne Michel has taken videos and photos of me demonstrating (video below). I have also been interviewed by a writer who contributes to the magazine “Colorado Life”. She came to my place and took pictures of my 8 alpacas and llama. I don’t know when it will be published. Suzi Popkess—Silver In a short paragraph, tell us about yourself. I’m a retired nursing educator from Kansas and enjoy silversmithing jewelry and watercolor painting in my rural studio outside of Florence, Colorado. I was inspired in my early years by my father, who was an artist in Native Americans and animals in high-relief woodcarving, which he oil painted. I have been an oil and watercolor artist most of my life but began silversmithing after moving to Colorado in 2006. Working in my mother’s jewelry store cultivated my interest in jewelry, but the stones and designs of Colorado and the Southwest inspire my silversmithing today. What does making art mean to you? I call my artwork ”my therapy”! Not only is art therapeutic for my soul, but also therapeutic for my arthritic hands! If you don’t want to lose it, use it! As a nurse, I’ve studied the brain and realize that while creating, I’m in an alpha rhythm (slower brain waves compared to beta rhythm, which is more rapid and somewhat chaotic). Others have called this creative state “the Zone” or “the Flow”. Thus, the meaning of art to me is a positive, therapeutic, and enjoyable state in which time flies! What has inspired you for this show? What is your favorite piece for sale at this event? My inspiration for this show is creating different designs for turquoise. Although there will be other semi-precious stones featured, turquoise holds warm feelings and special meaning from my childhood. My parents bought me my first ring as a little girl while on vacation in Colorado—five small turquoise set in sterling silver in the traditional Native American style. I hope to express those warm feelings and special meaning in my turquoise pieces. For this show specifically, tell us about your process. Walk us through the steps of your flowing creativity to achieve one of your works. My silversmithing process begins with the stone; I look at in the mirror as a pendant or on my wrist as a bracelet. The shape of the stone usually directs which it becomes. Before I start silversmithing, I look for other stones and silver beads to complement the main stone. The process of silversmithing includes cutting/sawing, soldering, filing, and polishing the silver plate upon which the silver bezel is soldered. To the finished plate, bracelet wires are soldered for bracelets or a silver tube bale is soldered for pendants. A blackening solution is usually added to the crevices to accent the sterling. Finally, the stone is set into the bezel by folding it snuggly around the stone. The process for each piece usually takes one or two days; more complex pieces may take several days to finish. What emotions/reactions/thoughts do you want to create on the public looking at your artwork? I believe that art is truly in the eye of the beholder; thus I find it difficult to predict the public’s reactions to my jewelry. Instead, I shape sterling silver around semi-precious stones to enhance their natural beauty. My silver pendants, bracelets, and earrings are of a Southwest style with stones of native turquoise, lapis, malachite, onyx, and other semi-precious stones. I add matching beadwork to finish the silver pendants. Where can we find your work?
My website is: suzipopkessartdesigns.bigcartel.com. My jewelry is displayed at: the Blue Spruce and Blue Heron Galleries in Florence, Colorado, The Artists' Gallery in Canon City, Colorado, and the Avenue Gallery in Pueblo, Colorado.
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By Leti Wesolowski, blog contributor Tell us about yourself and how did you get started with your art? I am a Uruguayan-born, Colorado-based Jewelry designer and self-taught maker. I’ve been part of Commonwheel artist co-op for the past 4 years as a jeweler, blog contributor, art show curator and participating artist at many gallery shows with different designs, mediums and creations. Making jewelry started as a hobby 14 years ago. Before that, I was focusing more on my architectural studies and I painted in oil as a past time. I took classes in pottery and photography for fun, I did pet portraits for friends and designed my own Christmas cards for my family. However, I found the most challenge with jewelry making, not only a whole new world of exciting gemstones, but also so many different jewelry techniques to create my designs. Within the first few months, my jewelry grew in complexity and craftsmanship and it didn’t take long before I started my own jewelry business. Today I still dabble in different mediums and keep exploring new techniques—you can read more about my last collection submitted to the Garden Art show at Commonwheel here. What are you currently working on? I am currently working on my Summer collection consisting of pretty, bright colors and a mix of statement necklaces and easy to wear bracelets—you can visit my Facebook page to check my latest news. My favorite style lately has been the long braided necklaces usually paired with ethnic amulets and vintage objects I find while rummaging through gem shows and antique stores. It takes many hours of design, creation and full attention to detail, however the end result is an elegant and strong necklace that feels soft and flexible when worn. Tell us about your creative process. I apply my own personal methodical process learned from my studies on Architecture, Art history, design and lots of practice and patience! I work with a variety of metals –sterling, gold filled, copper, brass—in a free but selective process. Most of my silver and copper pieces get oxidized and polished by hand to create a vintage look or to emphasize contrast between the gemstones and the metals. I use semi-precious stones and freshwater pearls with occasional swarowski crystals, African trading beads and Japanese beads, mostly depending on what the design calls for. When I was a child I loved to collect old coins and keys, so I bring that element into my designs as well, incorporating interesting found objects, amulets, crosses, religious medals, chandelier crystals and antique pendants that add an intriguing, old-world touch to the whole line. I want each piece of jewelry to have a special meaning and character so that the owner will cherish it and wear it with intention and appreciation to handmade. What do you enjoy most doing? One of my favorite jewelry techniques is wire-wrapping stones where I use very thin wire to link or attach gemstones or beads. Earrings are a process of love and patience. Teardrops are matched closely, wire wrapped like a science, and ear wires are shaped, hammered and smoothly filed on the ends for a comfortable fit through your earlobes. All the rosary-style wire-wrapped beaded chains you’ll see in my collection are entirely made by me, bead by bead, link by link, in a lengthy but therapeutic process. In the past years I’ve incorporated crochet, macramé and braiding as a way of mixing in fiber and bringing in a more organic feel to my wire designs. What I enjoy the most is to plan the whole collection with a cup of coffee in one hand and a sketch book and pencil on the other and seeing it come to fruition on my working table. It is very rewarding to admire the final result before it’s all gone to different boutiques and markets. What tool(s) in your studio could you not live without? Two tools are essential that I hold on each hand at all times: my round nose pliers and my chain nose pliers. Just add beads and wire for a great start! Is there anything new in the shop that you are very excited about? Besides my colorful crochet wrap bracelets that are fun to wear, I’ve introduced a new line of macramé bracelets with stamped words celebrating all things Colorado. I am working on new Summer colors that are really beautiful and easy gifts for any age. Where can we find your work? You can find a specially selected jewelry collection displayed at Commonwheel gallery at all times, as well as these local stores: Green Horse Gallery in Manitou Springs; Poor Richard’s Bookstore in Colorado Springs; EllyBlue in Old Colorado City; Honeycomb & co in Denver; Fratelli Restaurante in Colorado Springs. If you are looking for something unique and love outdoor art fairs, visit me at any of this Colorado shows coming up: Greeley -Park your Art, July 28-29; Woodland Park -Mountain Artists, August 4-5; Loveland -Art in the Park, August 11-12; Commonwheel Art Festival in Manitou Springs, September 1-2-3; Rock Ledge Ranch in Garden of the Gods, September 14-15-16. I always bring one-of-a-kinds and special pieces that cannot be find anywhere else. If you live out of state and wish to purchase online, please visit Commonwheel online store and my Etsy shop. For more info about me and my line, visit my website www.dolcedeleti.com and Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/dolcedeleti Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DolceDeLetiJewelry/ Visit our Commonwheel Artist Co-op store to receive 10% off Leti’s jewelry through the whole month of July (in-store sales only). |
Juanita Canzoneri
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