Quirky

Momento-Mori

2012-07-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

Experimental Art subject just got interesting with our new brief Momento-Mori.
A Latin phrase that means : "Remember that you are mortal" mmm interesting so what does really mean for an artist and for a jewelery maker in specific? It means a lot and here is a peak to what it means:

Memento mori is a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die".^[2] It refers to a genre of artworks that vary widely but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their mortality, an artistic theme dating back to antiquity.

Popular belief says the phrase originated in ancient Rome: As a Roman general was parading through the streets during a victory triumph, standing behind him was his slave, tasked with reminding the general that, although at his peak today, tomorrow he could fall, or — more likely — be brought down. The servant is thought to have conveyed this with the warning, "Memento mori".
It is further possible that the servant may have instead advised, "Respice post te! Hominem te esse memento! Memento mori!": "Look behind you! Remember that you are but a man! Remember that you'll die!", as noted by Tertullian in his Apologeticus.^[3]

Europe — Medieval through Victorian

Unshrouded skeleton on Diana Warburton's tomb (dated 1693) in St John's Church, Chester

The thought came into its own with Christianity^{[citation needed]}, whose strong emphasis on Divine Judgment, heaven, hell, and the salvation of the soul brought death to the forefront of consciousness. Most memento mori works are products of Christian art^{[citation needed]}, although there are equivalents in Buddhist art. In the Christian context, the memento mori acquires a moralizing purpose quite opposed to the Nunc est bibendum theme of Classical antiquity. To the Christian, the prospect of death serves to emphasize the emptiness and fleetingness of earthly pleasures, luxuries, and achievements, and thus also as an invitation to focus one's thoughts on the prospect of the afterlife. A Biblical injunction often associated with the memento mori in this context is In omnibus operibus tuis memorare novissima tua, et in aeternum non peccabis (the Vulgate's Latin rendering of Ecclesiasticus 7:40, "in all thy works be mindful of thy last end and thou wilt never sin.") This finds ritual expression in the rites of Ash Wednesday, when ashes are placed upon the worshipers' heads with the words "Remember Man that you are dust and unto dust you shall return."

Prince of Orange René de Châlons died in 1544 at age 25. His widow commissioned sculptor Ligier Richier to represent him offering his heart to God, set against the painted splendour of his former worldly estate. Church of Saint-Étienne, Bar-le-Duc.

The most obvious places to look for memento mori meditations are in funeral art and architecture. Perhaps the most striking to contemporary minds is the transi, or cadaver tomb, a tomb that depicts the decayed corpse of the deceased. This became a fashion in the tombs of the wealthy in the fifteenth century, and surviving examples still create a stark reminder of the vanity of earthly riches. Later, Puritan tomb stones in the colonial United States frequently depicted winged skulls, skeletons, or angels snuffing out candles. These are among the numerous themes associated with skull imagery.
Another example of memento mori is provided by the chapels of bones, such as the Capela dos Ossos in Évora or the Capuchin Crypt in Rome. These are chapels where the walls are totally or partially covered by human remains, mostly bones. The entrance to the former has the sentence "We bones, lying here bare, await for yours.

Quit an interesting phrase don't you think? The jewellery designs that emerged from such a movement is vast and usually has a Dark side to it.

Contemporary approaches to the notion is quite Quirky indeed Julia deVille's designs are the best I found to represent contemporary Momento-mori.
http://juliadeville.com/

So what Momento-Mori jewellery I will come up with that i will leave till next week sure it will be a brief i will enjoy.

Back to School

2012-07-29T04:15:00.000-07:00

I must admit I did enjoy my mid year break and I am now ready for round 2 :).
I have a lot to report on about the past 3 weeks however I will start with a fun blog about my new Canon EOS 600D.
Mouthfull lol however its my first step into serious photography. It was not cheap but I am sure the results are well worth it.
Tonight I will start essembling it and fingers crossed I will manage not to destroy it :))))).
Tomorrow I will take new pics and share with you guys.

Talent is a gift

2012-06-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

I read those words today well I twicked them a bit "When I stand before God at the End , I hope that I won't have a single drop of talent left in my veins and that I could say "Thank you God for the gift you gave me I used it All"

What does talent mean?

1. A marked innate ability, as for artistic accomplishment. See Synonyms at ability.

a. Natural endowment or ability of a superior quality.

b. A person or group of people having such ability: The company makes good use of its talent

What a lot of people dont know is that Talent also meant 3." A variable unit of weight and money used in ancient Greece, Rome, and the Middle East"

I can relate to no 3. it makes perfect sense talent is an artist asset or shall we say an artist currancy.

Well I hope that I have enough talent in my veins to make me an Artist.

What makes an Artist????

2012-06-03T02:32:00.019-07:00

Can I call myself an artist?

A question that has lingered for more than 20 years. Am I an artist or just a hobbiest of some sort? I have regard for artists to the extent that I have feared calling myself one. For the past 20 years I have expressed my art or my love of art in many ways.
I started by drawing and painting then I did stained glass then went onto jewellery designing and making. I have made beautiful jewellery over the years.
However my designs started to become like every one else just some pretty objects with no meaning and now I know that till that moment I was infact an artist then I got lost because I have stopped expressing myself and started to follow trend.

So if you have lost the way may be going back to basics is a good idea.
So lets look at the basics:

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common u
Wiktionary defines the noun 'artist' (Singular: artist; Plural: artists) as follows:

A learned person or Master of Arts

One who pursues a practical science, traditionally medicine, astrology, alchemy, chemistry

A follower of a pursuit in which skill comes by study or practice

A follower of a manual art, such as a mechanic

One who makes their
1. A person who creates art.
2. A person who creates art as an occupation.
3. A person who is skilled at some activity.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the older broad meanings of the term "artist": craft a fine art

One who cultivates one of the fine arts – traditionally the arts presided over by the muses

A definition of Artist from Princeton.edu: creative person (a person whose creative work shows sensitivity and imaginationsage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only.

The present day concept of an 'artist'
Artist is a descriptive term applied to a person who engages in an activity deemed to be an art. An artist also may be defined unofficially as "a person who expresses him- or herself through a medium". The word is also used in a qualitative sense of, a person creative in, innovative in, or adept at, an artistic practice.
Most often, the term describes those who create within a context of the fine arts or 'high culture', activities such as drawing, painting, sculpture, acting, dancing, writing, filmmaking, photography, and music—people who use imagination, talent, or skill to create works that may be judged to have an aesthetic value. Art historians and critics define artists as those who produce art within a recognized or recognizable discipline. Contrasting terms for highly-skilled workers in media in the applied arts or decorative arts include artisan, craftsman, and specialized terms such as potter, goldsmith or glassblower. Fine arts artists such as painters succeeded in the Renaissance in raising their status, formerly similar to these workers, to a decisively higher level, but in the 20th century the distinction became rather less relevant^{[citation needed}

Well based on the above I am an artist who has been expressing my self in one way or another in one form or another and its only by seeking to refine my art that is when I become a Fine Artist.

In conclousin this is how I see it:

Art: true its hard work over time to accompolish your skills.
But skill alone doesn't make an artist. Art is an expression of our life and ideals.
This expression takes many forms, drawing,painting, music, dancing, jewellery.... but in the end its a way for the artist to express him or herself.
The artist learns the form and seeks the formless, learns the way then makes his own way.
The true artist learns it all, but then forgets it all to be able to create his/her own vision.
When you stop thinking about the skill and the process and seek the inspiration and free expression. That is when you create your own art not follow the trend.

There is an artist inside of You and only You can free it .when you bravely take onto a journey to discover yourself and the world around you and learn to express it freely.

Self Potrait

2012-05-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

Photo Styling

2012-05-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

Couple of months ago all I could do was take a "Good" pic using my mobile camera. Well that's not the case any more.
Thanks to my NCAT teacher Niel I have progressed a lot and I do photo styling today we did a piece on Portrait and we had fun.
Next will be photographing my jewellery pieces.

Here are some of those pics I took before and after. As you can see we had funnnnnnnnnn

Grunge

2012-04-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

What is Grunge? Its (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is a sub-genre of alternative rock that emerged as a fusion of punk, alternative, and heavy metal^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song dynamics, and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics. The grunge aesthetic is stripped-down compared to other forms of rock music, and many grunge musicians were noted for their unkempt appearances and rejection of theatrics.
The early grunge movement coalesced around Seattle independent record label Sub Pop in the late 1980s. Grunge became commercially successful in the first half of the 1990s, due mainly to the release of Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten. The success of these bands boosted the popularity of alternative rock and made grunge the most popular form of hard rock music at the time.^[5] However, many grunge bands were uncomfortable with this popularity. Although most grunge bands had disbanded or faded from view by the late 1990s, their influence continues to affect modern rock music.

I am particularly interested in Grunge as I was lucky enough to live through the 80's and early 90's. As a teenager I loved Grunge fashion hair do's and jewellery but I did not know it was called Grunge.

When our teacher Ian presented us with a brief about Grunge I couldn't help but think of Adam Lambert as a contemporary Grunge. And straight away the idea of Grunge jewellery which is both contemporary and grungy came to mind. Also another brilliant idea poped into my head but I wont talk much all I am going to do is include a teaser and next week I will show what it is.

Lose Control

2012-03-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

I went for an interesting drive one weekend ago. I just got out of the house and went to no where. I did not plan my destination! why? Well I am such a control freak as a banker but as an artist I need to learn to let go. Since I did not have much time on my hand to get lost for the whole day I kept the GPS in my dash board in case I needed it. So "calculated risk".
Any way I am glad I did, I felt good and did not panic as usual like the Rabbit in Alice and Wonder land screaming all the time "I am late I am late">
Where did I go I am not telling lol its my secret :) but sure I need to go there again.
I met some ladies and made friends with them wawoo total strangers I actually got jam as well.
Its funny how can a simple hello with a smile start things.

Here are some pics I took with my humble IPHONE I hope you like them.

PS: everyone was shocked I left without telling them where and how long I will be out for.
My mom had a million dollar look on her face when I said "I don't know Where I am going or When will I come back"

Sustainable Australian Design

2012-03-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

My motto as an artist is to create wearable art that is Sustainable Australian Wearable Art.
Oh and its going to be a hard journey cause as usual I have challanged myself, both aspects are broad and will I ever be saticfied or a 100% true to my motto?
The answer is No not 100% its going to take a long time for all of us to be 100% Sustainable. But the first steps pave the road to our next genrations I guess. I am happy to hit 80% of it before I leave this world.

Since my 2 aspects Sustainable and Australian are broad and complex I will introduce them one at a time.

Today I will talk about sustainable and hope this introduction will prompt you to take it further.

Sustainable design (also called environmental design, environmentally sustainable design, environmentally conscious design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability.

What does that mean to me a Visual Artist and a Jewellery designer? Before I answer this question let me first introduce you to the Bill of Rights to the Planet.

We all know the Charter of Human Rights or at least what it involves but do we ever think Planet Rights? We recycle because we want to or because we have to? Some of us are really concerned about the Planet but lets be realistic some of us simply don,t care. The Bill of Rights for the Planet was introduced by William McDonough Architects during Expo 2000 in Hannover Germany.

The Bill of Rights:

Insist on the right of humanity and nature to co-exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse, and sustainable condition.
Recognize Interdependence. The elements of human design interact with and depend on the natural world, with broad and diverse implications at every scale. Expand design considerations to recognizing even distant effects.
Respect relationships between spirit and matter. Consider all aspects of human settlement including community, dwelling, industry, and trade in terms of existing and evolving connections between spiritual and material consciousness.
Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems, and their right to co-exist.
Create safe objects of long-term value. Do not burden future generations with requirements for maintenance or vigilant administration of potential danger due to the careless creations of products, processes, or standards.
Eliminate the concept of waste. Evaluate and optimize the full life-cycle of products and processes, to approach the state of natural systems in which there is no waste.
Rely on natural energy flows. Human designs should, like the living world, derive their creative forces from perpetual solar income. Incorporate this energy efficiently and safely for responsible use.
Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not an inconvenience to be evaded or controlled.
Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge. Encourage direct and open communication between colleagues, patrons, manufacturers and users to link long term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility, and re-establish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity.

For a Visual Artist it could simply mean UP CYCLING. Oh another expression to explore.
Up-cycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.

Simply for me it is to use beads from an old necklace in an OP Shop or the back pin of a broken piece of jewellery to make a new one. Or using wool from old jumpers.
My studio is set outdoors to save on energy. The possibilities are endless.

In conclusion nature has much to offer us and we have a duty towards our Planet, so if you think this is hard well let me as you this, if the ancient Egyptians and Natives Indians could create such amazing pieces of wearable art why can't you?

The Art of Candy Jernigan

2012-03-14T22:46:00.001-07:00

I found this inetersting book and I conceted to Candy stright away maybe because she died at the age of 39 or maybe because she suffered most of her life, maybe because she died out of cancer or simply maybe beacuse of the artist she was.

Damn I wish I had seen this wonderful woman in action and I am trying to buy the book for my self and if you find it then go ahead and enjoy it.

New day new idea

2012-03-14T18:26:00.001-07:00

Visual Literacy finally done

Visual Arts

2012-03-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

Add caption

Cult Breif Fanzine

2012-03-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

Not bad for my first attempt specially under the influence of medication.

Photoshop

2012-03-13T20:04:00.001-07:00

Today I have managed by a miracle to finish my Briefs in photo shop I am tying not to miss any of my home works and deliver them all in time before Easter Brake. I am happy with the result.

Search for the artist within

2012-03-10T20:38:00.000-08:00

I spent most of my adult life searching for my sixth sense. Why am I so sensitive to things happening around me.My ability to foresee events. My highly developed observation skills. Why do I get involved with my surroundings. I collect things for no reason or do it seems to me at the time. A lot of questions that I have no answer for well not yet any way. All I know that I had a dream that I am back in England and I am running around in a filed of poppy flowers! I woke up drew the poppies then made some out of polymer clay. But poppies are still in my head. God knows where they will lead the artist within.

Quirky

2012-03-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

World English Dictionary

quirk (kwɜːk)
Sue my teacher at NCAT uses this adjective all the time and funny enough even though I think I could be sometime classified as a quirky I have never heard the word till she said it.

1.	an individual peculiarity of character; mannerism or foible
2.	an unexpected twist or turn: a quirk of fate
3.	a continuous groove in an architectural moulding
4.	a flourish, as in handwriting

[C16: of unknown origin]

'quirky

Now I love the word and the meaning so much that I will do a secret project around it but first let me add some "Quirky" pics of some drawings/paintings.

I feel Good

2012-03-05T22:33:00.000-08:00

Since yesterday I can't get the tune out of my head "I feel good tratrararar" why well couple of resons. I am going to join couple of compitions awwwwwwwwwwwww hard work challenging mmmm love it. Also today Sue my teacher from NCAT saw my first attempt with painting with acrylics and loved it and I feel really gooooooooooooooooooooooooddddddddddddddd she did. I am changing in just 3 weeks my artist mojo is back I thought I lost it forever 21 years ago. Long time I sound old already.
Tonight I am drawing my master plan and I will execute it.
I will post my Koweriii acrylics later. I am starting to really love this work Kowerkii I should ask Sue how to spell it correctly lol :)

Another Manic Monday

2012-02-26T13:45:00.001-08:00

Woowww weekend is over. I spent the weekend working on my mono printing skills and I am happy with the results I will post a pic by end of today. It was an interesting experience and I had fun despite the fact the I tried using paint and it dried too fast and drove me nuts in the end I managed to take control over it by making the glass surface a bit damp and did my printing fairly quickly.
I like the fact i can create my own back rounds it will enable me to make up my own unique advertisement so try to search mono printing and see where it takes you.

Craft Advocate Running for Congress

2012-02-22T13:51:00.000-08:00

Wendy Rosen publisher of http://www.americanstyle.com/ is running for congress! So who is Wendy Rosen? Wendy is known to many Arts and crafts artisans in the US as a serious art and craft advocate. Since late 80's she has been helping artisans all around the US present their work to the public. She knew that most artists weakness was in the business skills or knowledge and has helped so many improve and move forward.
If Wendy is elected for congress this will give an enormous boost to artists and well help push forward more grants towards art and craft.
I can't help but wonder where is our own Wendy in Australia.
http://blog.glassquarterly.com/2012/02/21/craft-advocate-and-magazine-publisher-wendy-rosen-running-for-congress/

Crystal Mode's photostream

2012-02-20T13:38:00.001-08:00

Crystal Mode's photostream on Flickr.

NCAT Photo 1

Back to the Drawing Board

2012-02-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

I have been officially a student since Feb the 2nd and its been fun. I am happy I made up my mind and joined the course cause over the past 18 days my view and perspective of things has changed dramatically. Everyday presents a new challenge and I am loving it. I had to face my own demons in the live Drawing class I haven't drawn for 20 years when I decided to foolishly listen to my parents and be serious about my career. "Drawing is not a serious profession!" I was told.
Now I see all those 18 year olds with me in class and think guys you are lucky you are here and I hope you make the most of it.
I spent the whole weekend taking photos for my first assignment it was going to be about my pieces of jewellery but I decided to challenge my self and do what the others will do take photos I have never taken before. Later this week I will play around with photo shop so I will post the pics after adjustments.
Also check my album to see more pics

If you think I can't Watch Me

2012-02-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

I haven't been blogging for the past few days fr a lot of reasons. Most important reason is that I have been heavily involved with my 2 girls returning back to school. Speaking of returning to school I am going to be a student this year as well as a teacher. And I have to admit I do enjoy being a student more than being a teacher at least I can be my cheeky self in the class room. What am I studying well its a secret for now lol, all I can say its research work in my field. I am working on a very ambitious project and it will take a good five years to make it to the level I want and this year is the foundation research year. As I said on the 22nd of Jan Dragon year is always a big year for me. I have been struggling lately between my role as a mother and my professional ambition and the way out was to be involved in both at the same time. So I will do all my research work while the kids are doing their home work so we are all "Studying" lol and my design work on weekend so we are having fun together in fact the kids will accompany me for all my classes cause both of them are keen to learn. That leaves me with my day job which I will be involved in it while they are at school. OMG the things that we have to go through as women "sigh". When am I going to do my shopping lol???? When am I going to go out with my freinds? most importantly will I ever have time to sleep?????????????????

Well long ago my lecturer challenged me to go through with the year I had taken 8 units per term and had 2 part time jobs. He said "Mona you won't make it! you will be as slow in giving in your research as a turtle!". I then turned around and said " a turtle on the right way will reach the end before a fox on the wrong way" if you think I can't watch me! That turtle did reach the end (well she carefully planned the way and stuck to her guns). This year I will stick to my guns I will do what counts more and I will not pay attention to what doesn't.

Cause over the years I became like him and started to think I can't! its too much kids, 2 careers, family awoooo so this year at Dawn I looked at my own image whom I hardly recognize any more and said "If you think I can't watch me"

Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-22T18:16:00.000-08:00

Its the Dragon year once again. This year its the Mighty Water Dragon. Its said that the Dragon brings luck and wealth. Funny enough the last three dragon years I have been in Asia some how! 1988 I was in HK with my dad. The 2000 I was in Taiwan and finally 2012 I am in Malaysia.

Last night I watched the fire works and the traditional Dragon Dance and this morning woke up to a lovely breakfast by the pool.

The Dragon has been always kind to me and this Dragon comes at a time of my life where I need luck and lots of it.

So I hope this year 2012 will bring me all the luck that I need and to bring everybody else all that they wish for.

Be My Valentine Workshop

2012-01-12T03:36:00.000-08:00

Its strange but I seem to be in Asia every dragon cycle. 2012 I am in Malaysia giving create your style workshops. 2000 I was in Taiwan working and beading. 1988 I was in HK with my father on a business trip and 1976 I was in Australia. I love Dragons and I am holding workshops to cover the mighty Water Dragon. However since we are close to February I am holding a more special workshop for my students in KL "Be My Valentine".
I am being a bit hush hush but will reveal all interesting details all in good time. My plan is to run the same workshop in Australia as well. It turned out to be more fun and wilder than I thought it will be.
All I can say is I am happy I decided to trail it here cause I knew my students will miss me till April.

New Year New Dreams New Resloutions

2012-01-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

2011 was an interesting year to me, cause after so many years as a jewellery designer I decided to get out there to the big wide world. Tough move I have been an observer so many years and now as I made my first steps into the lime light I realized that I was well known among friends or my own group of bankers/hobbyists but out there I was not known at all. 2012 come my resolution to show what I am really made of. There is this saying "a woman is like a bag of tea you never know how strong it is till you put it in hot water". How true I am well known in the Mortgage and Finance industry in fact I am one of the 18 Certified MFAA Mortgage Mentors.

So my first resolution is to get into the jewellery world with a new product. Last November I found the product and I am just waiting for my samples to arrive to play with it and my beloved Crystallized Elements from Swarovski.

So watch this space for new designs.