What's Old is New Again?

My previous post was titled "What Goes Around, Comes Around" and offered a glimpse of my ventures to revisit jewelry design after spending many years in academia and the world of painting. I haven't abandoned either of those, just feeling a bit nostalgic for the hammers and tools of the workbench.

As I have been pulling out packed jewelry supplies, I came across a carton of laminate chips better known as Formica samples. Speaking of nostalgia, some of you know my father was a residential builder so we always had a plethora of paint chips, charts, sample books, catalogues, plan books, material specs, and fixture catalogues. I guess that had an impact on my never ending interest in materials !!

Laminate samples are about 3 X 2" and held together by brass ball chains. Unable to throw out something this good, I kept them thinking there would be a time when I would need these. Many are from the 1960's and some of you will be reminded of a former kitchen table or countertop while others will see connections to contemporary graphics and color palettes influenced by the retro effect. Reviewing the the design names reminds me of the time of George and Jane Jetson, with names like Envy Daisy, White Gold Satellite, Green Irish Linen, Neutra Fantasia Marble, Nougat Grey, Island Drift Wood, Tawny Walnut, Golden Buckskin, and Blonde Marble. Several of the brand names and manufacturers are included with the most recognized as Formica, and also Wilson Art and Micarta. 

I have been using acrylic (known as Lucite or Plexiglas) in many of my new jewelry designs, so when I came upon this carton of laminate chips I realized it was finally time to use this bounty. Below I share with you examples of the vintage laminate material and then examples of how I am incorporating it into the jewelry.

Enjoy !

Now, see how I am integrating laminate into the jewelry!

@janenodinejewelry

Check out my jewelry ventures on Instagram, Facebook and the web Jane Nodine Jewelry.

Feel free to email or message me if you see an item you wish to purchase. I will be glad to post it in the store section of my website !

"What Goes Around, Comes Around"

Some of my followers know that in a previous life I owned and operated a jewelry design and manufacturing business called Jane Nodine HARDWEAR. I've always loved bold, forward fashion, and since I minored in metalsmithing I was able to make my own art jewelry. It is always a pleasure to have strangers compliment something you're wearing and then ask if you made it. 

It's funny how life takes you places you really didn't plan on visiting. The more I wore the jewelry, the more attention and requests I got to sell or consign pieces to individuals or boutiques. I had finished grad school in the late 70's during the first big recession and I wore out a car commuting to several institutions where I was teaching art and design. So one day I decided to stop commuting and dedicate the time I was traveling and teaching to designing and making jewelry. I had a studio in Spartanburg, South Carolina that was focused on my painting practice, so I reconfigured the space and set up for metalsmithing.

Long story short, I sold one piece and bought materials to make two pieces. Made three that sold to make six and so on. Soon I had a small team of college students working as assistants duplicating the prototypes I designed and crafted by hand. There were sales reps, fashion and apparel markets 5 or 6 times a year, and even a retail shop at one point. It was fun, and an interesting ride being in the fashion industry. In coming blog posts I'll give more details on past and present as I introduce followers on my return to handcrafted art jewelry in 2016. with a new name and new designs with Jane Nodine Jewelry, Jewelry Inspired by Nature Crafted by Hand.

Follow along with me and see where the journey goes in this era of hi-tech 3D printers, marketing on social media, and selling electronically. Below are a few shots of past designs from the 1980's (oh those big shoulder pads!!) and a few new designs as I am getting back to the workbench.

Jane-L and Susan-R in our retail store Miss Minnie located in 
Spartanburg, SC 1980's. I'm wearing one of my belts with my favorite leather pants.

Photocopy of my jewelry featured in WWD in the 1980's.

Now, forward to 2016 and the 21st Century!!

I love wearing statement neckpieces, so I've been focusing on that the last few weeks.

Brass and lucite pendant on fiber cord with copper accents.

Brass and steel on white lucite and leather cord.

Red lucite and brass pendant on fiber cord.

Lucite pendant  embellishment on fiber cord.

See my designs on the web: 
Jane Nodine Jewelry, Inspired by Nature Crafted by Hand 

Just Don't Quit Your Day Job.....

Portions of this post are included on the GoUpstate Blog, Culture Aplenty, 9/14/15

I have been an artist most of my life and  have had an active studio practice since the mid 1970's. During the 1980's my focus was on design and manufacturing of fashion and art jewelry in a business known as Jane Nodine Hardwear. The fashion business is exciting, exhilarating, and hi-energy, but it is also stressful, risky, and competitively exhausting. Trends change over night and as many of you may remember, that mood ring that was so much in demand last month is deader than a doornail the next month.

In the early 90's I began employing student interns in my business and it reminded me of how much I enjoyed my teaching in grad school. Little by little I began to gravitate toward education and in 1995 I accepted a full-time position at the University of South Carolina Upstate as an assistant professor of art and gallery director. Since that time I have taken over as coordinator of the art program and Assistant Chair of Fine Arts and Communication Studies, all while still directing the gallery and exhibition programs.

As professor of Art and Gallery director at University of South Carolina Upstate, I enjoy working with talented colleagues and eager students in the visual arts. I feel fortunate that we have received support from administrators that allowed us to develop a vital program producing qualified designers and art educators who serve this region and beyond.

As a metropolitan university, a major component of our role is to interact with the community and to create opportunities that engage business and industry with students and residents in an effort to encourage lifelong learning.

Installing work by sculpture Bob Doster on Upstate Campus.

One of the most effective ways our art program can reach beyond the campus grounds is through our gallery events that are free and open to the public. USC Upstate sponsors three exhibition spaces and a collection of monumental sculpture. This effort supports not only our academic mission to students, but has brought many visitors to campus. Being located at the crossroads of I-85 and I-26 has allowed for travelers to stop by and see the outdoor sculpture that decorates our campus and is accessible 365 days per year. 

The Curtis R. Harley Gallery, named for the late well-known Spartanburg artist Curt Harley, is located in the Performing Arts Center and sponsors regional and national exhibits with lectures and receptions from August through May each year. The FOCUS Art Education Gallery located on the second floor is our teaching model for pre-service teachers. This space provides an area where art teachers in K-12 schools from Spartanburg and surrounding counties can exhibit student work with lesson plans. It also allows K-12 students to be paired with an Upstate Art Education student for mentoring opportunities.

Curtis R. Harley Gallery in the Performing Arts Center at USC Upstate.

UPSTATE Gallery on Main, located at 172 E. Main Street, downtown Spartanburg, is our newest space. The gallery opened in January and is focused on contemporary original works of art that may veer from the conventional, while also supporting exhibits of our permanent collection that include work by Andy Warhol, Jerry Uelsmann, Beatrice Riese, Jack Tworkov and Will Barnet. By making our collection available for public viewing, students and scholars are free to utilize the works for scholarly research and the community is free to visit. Our focus on contemporary and non-conventional exhibits allows us to offer opportunities that are typically not available in our area. The overall response to the new location has provided several new opportunities to students to include internships with the gallery operations, participation in the monthly Spartanburg Art Walk and presenting the Annual Portfolio Review, where design seniors can display their work for potential clients and employers. Direct experiential learning is emphasized in the Upstate curriculum and we engage our students in all aspects of the operations and management of our gallery program. In addition to the displays and educational offerings, the space is also available for rent for receptions and meetings.

Installation by Shannon Lindsey, UPSTATE Gallery on Main, 172 E. Main St.

We are here to offer our events to Spartanburg and we invite you to take advantage of the activities that now run throughout the year. The UPSTATE Gallery on Main is open from 12 – 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The Curtis R. Harley Gallery and FOCUS galleries located on the USC Upstate campus are open from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. All USC Upstate gallery events are free and open to the public. 

Shannon Lindsey working on her installation.

Detail view, Shannon Lindsey Installation.

Shannon Lindesy's installation is on view from September 7th to October 30th, 2015. Public receptions will be held during monthly Art Walk on September 17th from 5–8 PM and October 15th from 5–8 PM. Events are free and open to the public.

Details on the galleries can be found on Facebook: UPSTATE Gallery on Main and Curtis R. Harley Art Gallery or by contacting Jane Allen Nodine, gallery director at 864-503-5848 or email: jnodine@uscupstate.edu .

The Savored Line, Summer in the Studio, #thesavoredline

Summer.........and this too shall pass.....

As professor at a modest-sized university, I enjoy my job and gain knowledge and satisfaction from working with talented colleagues and eager young students. As much as I like my work and the position I have earned, it is always glorious when spring semester ends and the rains, flowers and temps of May flood the environment with delicious sounds and smells. The first week or so after school ends I tend to bask in this freedom and look forward to what seems to be a long stretch of summer before early August when the emails return with numerous duties and concerns.

I am grateful for that summer break and I do not take those times lightly. In my past career life I worked at jobs year-round, so I know how precious a summer break can be to feed the soul and rejuvenate the mind. Once I get acclimated to the new schedule, I get started on my lengthy to-do lists that include miscellaneous appointments, repairs here and there, a bit of travel, reading, reading, farmers markets, boating/laking/fishing, yoga/workout, and mostly a schedule for concentrated time in the studio.

This summer I have had a good and enthusiastic experience with the work I am developing. I started in May on a group of 24 X 24"  panels with a collaging process using wax monotypes and encaustic medium. Those have been well received and several will be included in up-coming exhibitions this fall. While working on the panels I needed to develop more monotypes on papers so I switched from the panels to the hotplate. Working with this monotype process, I am highly attracted to the qualities of that bring drawing, painting and printing into one activity. Being able to move the heated liquid on a warm surface just like paint, then marking and incising into that pool of wax and pigment, and quickly placing fibrous papers over the wet surface to grab the liquid before it sets, is a good feeling. It often reminds me of when I was printing film photography and would watch the paper give rise to images in the liquid developer. It typically renders a thrill, sort of magical.

Currently I am scheduling exhibitions of The Savored Line, and would love to hear from you if this work would enhance an upcoming project you are developing. I post dates of up-coming exhibits on my website NEWS page, and I email Jane Allen Nodine, Studio News, an-e newsletter 4-5 times per year. If interested in the newsletter please sign-up at the link. Also join and follow me on Instagram for daily posts of what is In The Studio. 

Interaction is always appreciated and I value your visits and comments to my blog, website, and social media sites.

Follow me on:
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter

• See Jane in the Studio

All work ©2015 Jane Allen Nodine.

Enjoy looking ! 

The Savored Line  

24 X 18" wax & pigment on Washi paper © 2015

24 X 18" wax & pigment on Washi paper © 2015

32 X 21" wax & pigment on Masa paper © 2015

32 X 21" wax & pigment on Masa paper © 2015

40 X 25" wax & pigment on KOZO paper © 2015

DETAIL, wax & pigment on KOZO paper © 2015

24 X 18" wax & pigment on Washi paper © 2015

DETAIL, wax & pigment on Washi paper © 2015

24 X 18" wax & pigment on Washi paper © 2015

24 X 18" wax & pigment on Washi paper © 2015

24 X 18" wax & pigment on Washi paper © 2015

26 X 20" wax & pigment on Rives lt wt paper © 2015

DETAIL, wax & pigment on Rives Lt Wt paper © 2015

40 X 25" wax & pigment on KOZO paper © 2015

40 X 25" wax & pigment on KOZO paper © 2015

#thesavoredline

Oh yes, not to forget........on the water and deep dish peach cobbler with SC peaches!!

Art and Education in a Brave New World

It's a brave new world and Dorothy doesn't live in Kansas anymore.

Like most businesses and organizations Art is seeing paradigm shifts that are leaving seasoned professionals feeling like we've been banished to a deserted island or launched to the planet Mars. Education is no longer tied to bricks and mortar classrooms and MOOC courses include participants from around the globe in such quantities that instructors filtered by layers of assistants never have contact with their students. Art students rarely dirty their hands with such things as charcoal or turpentine, and most arrive at their educational institutions with little or no knowledge of historical art-making techniques and supplies.

No caption needed.

You might say the world has gone to pot! And though it appears I will see legalization of marijuana in the US in my lifetime, I cannot say all is bad in the world of art and education. Thinking historically, if we look at the Industrial Revolution, we see definitions that include 'moving from hand production methods to machines'. This was not necessarily bad since it allowed us to move forward and reach avenues that no one had previously accomplished or even considered. But in art and design, the 'IR' distanced and separated the artist, architect, and designer from the very thing he or she conceived. Eventually products in particular seemed sterile, obviously manufactured and eventually influenced an Arts and Crafts style that emphasized traditional craftsmanship described to be 'essentially anti-industrial'.

Even today we see DIY movements popping up across the globe where artists seek a return to low-tech and historical processes that include hands-on and the identifiable touch of the artist. As for myself, I am very interested in natural materials for painting, dying, printing and drawing. Gathering walnuts in the fall is a great way to bring a class to bonding camaraderie. Soaking and processing the nuts and hulls, (while students snap selfies with their bounty), renders wonderful brown liquid that is used for dying, drawing and printing. Suddenly those students see the tree, the nuts (fruit), the brown liquid, their iPhone and computer in a different way. Starting small can lead to bigger things..........Making connections and making art from those connections may be just what we need to get us through this "Brave New World".

Happy Labor Day !!

Walnuts in the shell with outer hull.

Walnuts with hulls in a cast iron pot soaking in water.

BTW, Hemp is a great natural material that (among other uses) renders oil, wax, resin, rope, cloth, pulp, paper, and fuel. All can be used in 'making'.

Thermal Response, Jane Allen Nodine

Mid-July and Forecasts Predict, "Polar-Vortex" is Back?

Warm up with my new catalog "Thermal Response"

• Works on paper and on panel.

• Available for sale and for solo exhibition or group shows.

• Please contact me for details: jane@janenodine.com

• See Jane in the studio.....

Sketchbooks, Journals, Notebooks ………....Collecting the Idea; Part II

I have had loads of if interest in the topic of artist's journals since I published Part I, so I am pleased to share with you several more artists on the topic "Sketchbooks, Journals, Notebooks…Collecting the Idea; Part II". I noted in the first post that it was dedicated to my students. I require a comprehensive approach to journaling and sketch booking in my courses, but I find most students resist the process and seem to view it as insignificant and unworthy of their time, a vantage not within my personal perspective. As I mentioned in Part I, journaling forms vary from artist to artist, but the collection, contemplation, research notes and visual thinking are consistent for us all. The act of recording the process is important to who we are as artists, and to the art we make. In many ways our journals and notes become our sounding board and assessment tool when we leave the cocoon of an educational system that students often take for granted with their daily access to peer comments and professor reviews.  So, in Part II we will look at several artists across the country who are well established in their studio practice and who rely journaling.

David A. Clark lives and works in Palm Springs, California. (Ahhh, warm sunny days in southern Cal, must be nice !!)  David's focus is on printmaking that includes traditional prints on paper, and installations where his iconic symbols emblazon environments. I love in his statement for this topic he said "Ideas are currency…to capture elusive bits of wonder..". So true. Capturing or recording ideas and bits of wonder are so very significant to growth and development of work.

David A. Clark uses Post-It notes grouped on his studio wall and diagrams and notations in books.

David told me, "Ideas are currency and when they get lost it's a terrible thing. I takes notes in many ways, both notebook and not. However the notes are manifested, they are an effort to catch thoughts and the golden nuggets before they drift back into the river where they have to be panned for again or float downstream to someone else. I keep notes in books, on cards (mostly to notate color) and I make hundreds of notes on Post its which litter the walls of my studio. They are my effort to capture the elusive bits of wonder that come drifting by and yet so easily flutter away if they are not in some way caught and recorded. Some of these written seeds lay dormant, germinating for many years before they have their day in the sun." David A. Clark

Eileen Goldenberg holds degrees in ceramics and glass and works extensively in encaustic wax. Living and working in San Francisco, Eileen is active in arts festivals and American Craft Council exhibitions across the country. Traveling and exhibiting work in these temporary presentation systems requires a high level of organization and discipline. In my observations Eileen is proficient in both and she has also developed strengths in marketing her work. Eileen is very grounded in drawing, and from her posts I see from time to time, it is evident she uses drawing as a practice like musicians use scales and as reference for surface patterns and configurations in her work. 

Eileen said, "I draw for my paintings, planning and trying concepts and I also create drawings that are a different thing. I have sold complete sketchbooks...the leather ones here are my favorites...and I have hundreds of different books…" Eileen Goldenberg.

Organization and detail are hallmarks of Eileen Goldenberg's journaling. She has sold completed
sketchbooks to collectors. The lovely leader bound ones are handmade by a bookmaker.

Friend and fellow artist Toby Sisson lives in Worcester Massachusetts where she is Assistant Professor of Studio Art at Clark University. When Toby saw my interest in journaling she was generous to share with me a PowerPoint of artist sketchbooks she uses with her students. Here are a few examples I found of interest:

A selection of artist books and pages Toby Sisson uses in teaching her students the importance of journals.
I like the tactile and visual qualities of the assemblage piece.

"I do know that it's been a crucial and constant part of my studio practice. My sketchbooks are where I can feel safe placing the barest glimmer of an idea, the faintest whiff of what may (or may not) become something real and possibly seismic to my work. I really cannot imagine not having a sketchbook near, always at the ready, just in case. you can quote me on that!" Toby Sission

Jeffrey Hirst is prolific in several areas with work in both two and three dimensions that often takes the form of installation. In Jeffrey's artist statement he says,  

" I create shaped abstract paintings that function as fragments and are often exhibited as installations where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. " Jeffrey Hirst

The selections of the working images he sent, directly reflect his statement about fragments and parts rendering something larger than the whole. Here I am showing a group of finished works in the first three images with a selection of working images below.

Finished panels by Jeffery Hirst.

Selections of working images  from sketchbook pages by Jeffery Hirst.

Ann Stoddard's journals accumulated on her bookcase.

Ann Stoddard, director of the Harper Gallery at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC, works in a variety media developing relief paintings, sculpture and installations. I have know Ann for many years and her interest in journaling parallels my own. She shared a photo of her sketchbooks assembled on a small bookcase. An avid collector, Ann notes in her artist statement, "I cannot help myself but create and explore and for some reason there is a common denominator that resurfaces; it is associated with quilts, with cutting, piecing, sections of memory, patterns…Ann Stoddard.  That idea of piecing, assembling, and seeing something develop from those parts is the thread that binds us all as artists.

There are thousands of journals and sketchbooks in closets, attics, garages and studios. They hold insights to their makers and maintain secrets that will never be deciphered. I hope this post has given you fresh eyes toward the collection of material we use to create, and might just spur you to get out your books and look back at the journey traveled.  

My thanks to the artists that were willing to share their personal sketches and journals.

Happy sketching !!