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All that glitters

November 19, 2019 by Jennifer Hofmann Leave a Comment

Art glass pendants galore

As the holidays approach, I’m turning out lots of fun and colorful glass pendants using lampwork focal beads from some of my favorite glass artists.

From wise owls and cute pups to seasonal, wintry themes (I love the steaming cup of cocoa), I’m having a blast creating lots of swishes and scrolls to embellish these fun pieces.

Just a few of the dozens of glass pendants on my work bench

The wire in these pendants is copper that’s coated in colored enamel. It comes in so many shades, so it’s easy to find the perfect match with specific hues in the glass beads.

The wonderful thing about pendants is their simplicity. You can wear them with nearly anything—from dressing up your jeans or adding a little pizzazz to your favorite turtle-neck dress.

I’ve been collecting lampwork beads by various talented artists for years,  and it’s been so fun to revisit my favorites. I am always amazed by how much creativity, sparkle, and whimsy they bring to creating focal beads. I might have trouble letting go of a few of them!

With creative embellishments and colored wire to highlight each unique piece, each one becomes wearable art for everyday or the holidays!

I’ve created about 50 pendants in advance of the holiday season and will be displaying them at three different local art galleries. If you’re in the Fresno area, you’re invited to visit and take your favorites home with you!

  • Mixed Messages Art
    1310 8th St., Sanger, CA
    Wed-Sun 11am – 6pm
  • Circle Gallery – Madera County Arts Council
    424 N. Gateway Drive, Madera, CA 93637
    Tuesday-Friday 10am – 6pm
  • Chesterfield’s Antiques and Consignment
    5092 North Blackstone Ave, Fresno CA
    Wed-Sun 10am – 5pm

It’s an honor to have my work featured at these creative local galleries. If you need a little more sparkle in your life (or know someone who does), I hope you’ll come by!

Filed Under: art glass beads Tagged With: art jewelry, Chesterfield's Antiques, Circle Gallery, Fresno, lampwork, Melanie Schow, Mixed Messages, necklace, pendants

2017: A year of art jewelry (and inspiration for 2018)

January 5, 2018 by Melanie Schow Leave a Comment

Off the charts creativity

2017 was an incredible year for my art, inspired by the many shows where I was invited to participate. The amount of new pieces grew all year. In celebration, I’d love to show them all off here!

In early January, I participated in Madera Circle Gallery show called A New Journey my wire sculpture piece entitled, “Same Ocean, New Tide” otter piece. Little did I know then that this year would have many animals in it!

2017 was also the Year of the Tiara. It all started during bloom season with the pink princess party—a fun, playful event at Mixed Messages Gallery in Fresno–making sparkly tiaras on headbands. I loved it! Of all the jewelry I’ve made over the years, creating crowns and tiaras was a completely new outlet for my wire art and design skills.

This one-off princess project sparked new enthusiasm and creativity. I designed well over a dozen tiaras that honor the many roles that women play in their lives.

My intention was to bring pride, joy, and playfulness to the ordinary, making the wearer feel like the queen of her life. I even submitted a trio of tiaras to Bead and Button.

My tiaras went on tour as I participated in the Circle Gallery’s “Reflections” show in March.

In spring, I participated in Fresno Artist’s Gallery show, Bead Dreams, Chris Sorenson’s Gallery, Vintage Market at 601, and Mixed Messages Gallery’s spring-themed event.

Here’s “Golden Microcosm” in the Landscape Show at Sorensen’s.

Recognition for my art

One of the stand-out events of the year was receiving Honorable Mention for my submission to the Celebrate Agriculture with the Arts show—and the piece sold too! I really honed new small-wire skills to create this barn structure.

My other huge project was to participate in Mixed Messages’ Baker’s Dozen show, each artist featuring thirteen original works featuring animals. Because I had a great stash of animal bead options on hand, I produced a lot of new pieces on a very short deadline!

bakers dozen display at Mixed Messages, Sanger California

Reflections on the year

From animals to tiaras, shows to events, it’s been a year of producing a lot of new work, new skills and connections. Having shows throughout the year helped create a flow of opportunities to make things I won’t normally try. I love the challenge and variety!

I feel good about the art I’ve created and stretching my creativity in new directions. What a blessing it is to do what you love and share it with so many people.

In 2018

With the new year in full swin, I’m thinking about what I hope to create in the months ahead. While the creative muse won’t allow you to push her, I am looking forward to several shows to spark more creativity. After 2017’s experiences, I have discovered how much I enjoy that regular intensity to inspire me and create new inventory.

Whatever happens in 2018, I’ll be sure to share about it here. Feel free to follow me on Facebook where I share lots of photos from shows and works in progress.

Wishing you a happy new year!

Filed Under: art jewelry, Uncategorized Tagged With: art, art show, Fresno, Madera, Mixed Messages, Sanger, Show

A flowing year for my art

December 24, 2016 by Melanie Schow Leave a Comment

Celebrating a year

In some respects, this month is the most productive of the year as I prepared for holiday shows and created new art for them. In other ways, it’s a time when I reflect on the year’s accomplishments.

2016 was probably my most art-filled year in recent memory—a fact I’d love to celebrate with you. I haven’t had a year with this much artwork in a long time.

Here are my four big successes from 2016….

One: A more satisfying process for producing art

This year has been about flow and new energy. Instead of being surprised by deadlines, I planned ahead and got the dates down on my calendar. This allowed me to focus on meeting one deadline and then look ahead to what I wanted to participate in next.

What was really different is how I planned in enough time for the creative unfolding process. You can’t execute big art pieces in a day, but it sometimes still surprises me how long things take. Every project has at least one “OMG this is never going to come together” moment. With better planning, I could work on it, step away, and keep coming back until it starts to come together.

Spaciousness and time make better art and a happier, saner artist.

Two: More art pieces than in recent years

This spring, something just clicked for me when I started working on the piece below, a free-form sterling wire necklace with a lampwork blossom bead.

art jewelry floral lampwork piece

Then I created Breastplate for Ninsun using this same free-form style. I loved it so much, I even decided to submit it to Bead and Button.

BreastPlate for Ninson wire art necklace (c) Melanie Schow

BreastPlate for Ninson wire art necklace (c) 2016 Melanie Schow

It’s common for artists to focus on a particular color or medium for a while, creating a series of pieces that use a similar style. Once I got rolling, this new, bigger style kept flowing through the subsequent pieces of jewelry and wire embroidery.

All of the designs revolved around the theme of precipitation and water. Talk about flow!

 

Organized Precipitation Little Sister necklace

Organized Precipitation’s Little Sister necklace

Three: Recognition for my art

I entered Organized Precipitation (below) into Madera County Art Council’s Celebrate Agriculture with the Arts 2016 23rd Annual competition and exhibition. It won second place for the category “Water… Agriculture’s Lifeblood.” I received a Certificate of Recognition for the award from California Legislature assembly and senate with my name and title of piece and stamped with a silver emblem.

organized_precipitation_9-2016

The Alliance of California Artists Open Show’s theme was Falling into Winter. I submitted The Sky is Falling, a wire embroidery piece depicting rain turning to snow. For the rain, I used glass beads, crystals, bugle beads, and wire. The snow is wire with sparkly Lucite beads in stars and shapes. I won Honorable Mention in the category of Three-Dimensional Drawing and Non-Traditional Artwork.

The Sky is Falling (c)2016 Melanie Schow

Four: New venues for my art

The Art Shop at Vintage Market at 601: This year, Paul Parichan created an art shop dedicated to local artists. All of the participating artists make diverse and high-quality art in a variety of media—including mixed media, ceramics, fabric pillows, wire work, paintings jewelry. I’m really honored that he invited me into this prestigious group and featured three of my artworks (Monarch Duet, Breastplate for Ninsun, the “baby sister” of Organized Precipitation).

New online shop: People have always asked if they could purchase my work online, and this year, it’s finally possible! Although, it’s on vacation mode during the holidays, my online shop will be active again in January. Here’s the link to see what’s new in my online store.

If you’re in or visiting the San Joaquin Valley, I’m also showing my work at:

  • Mixed Messages in Sanger, CA
  • The Art Shop at Vintage Market at 601 in Fresno, CA
  • Circle Gallery in Madera, CA

My hope is to ride the energy and success of this year into the new one. In the meantime, I’m wishing you a fruitful and flowing new year!

Clouds in my Coffee (c)2016 Melanie Schow

Clouds in my Coffee (c) 2016 Melanie Schow

Filed Under: wire art jewelry Tagged With: art, artists, California, fine art, Fresno, gallery, jewelry, Madera, Melanie Schow, Sanger