The Art of Creating Beaded Jewelry

                    Professor Norton here, teaching my " Beading Magic: A Creative Jewelry Workshop" at the Sedona Arts Center last Saturday. Here is my student, Sharon, who had fun getting out of her head while expanding her creative boundaries.

I have been a teacher of some form of art for the last forty some years. Usually it has been Calligraphy, but I find myself eager to share new artistic dimensions . I like it that the student can actually Finish a piece within a day's workshop. It is such a reward for them to actually leave with their own completed  creation .

Since I also work in ceramics, I am enjoying the immediacy that jewelry  can offer myself, and my students. I still make my own high fired porcelain beads, each one a unique treasure. This is how I actually got into the jewelry making business, to give the gallery what they demanded. But that can take  months to create; fill the kiln; fire the kiln: stain, and fire again. With the gorgeous array of beads we have available, it can be so nice to  just pick out one's design from the array of beads I have to offer my students.            Yes, I Do go to the Tucson gem show, and any other location where I can score unique, and quality stones. What an array awaits me: crystal beads from Europe; coral, pearls, and shells  from the sea; jasper from our own state of Arizona; rose quartz that has been worn for thousands of years. The list is endless.                                                 What is so liberating is to experiment with color, textures, layout and designs. I am a teacher that really leaves those decisions to the student. I can offer suggestions, but they are sometimes not taken, which is fine by me. I am always surprised; impressed, and even amused to see how everyone's process is so different. Each person follows their own vision and how fun is that!                                                                                     Comments?

 

 

Art of Flower Arranging

 What fun to play with flowers! Here I am at the Arizona Federation of Garden Clubs Convention down in Phoenix last Sunday. As well as being a working artist here in Sedona , AZ., I love plants and flowers and joined our own SAGC here in Sedona a few years ago. I was fortunate enough to take a workshop with a Very well know flower designer, Brent Leech.  One of his first questions went something like  " How many of you just take your flowers from the grocery store  and  put them in a tall vase?" Ok. I have been guilty of that. I do often go outside and see if there are any interesting blooms in my garden to add, but not always. 

Brent does have an advantage over those of us who live up in Sedona, and other small towns in Arizona. He can go to the flower market in Phoenix, open to professionals and others. That is now on  my list of " must do" in My future. He  likes to work with the "Tropicals", those exotic flowers that grow in the tropics and are not readily available here in dry Arizona. Perhaps some local flower stores will sell them? Another thing to follow up on in my future.  

His goal was really to get us to think "out of the box" when making a design. Notice the other materials included here as well. There are large  leaves that can be folded; rolled; split; anything to add interest, or the branch that also adds support to the tall blooms. There are clever little bamboo pins to hide these methods of manipulation.

 Notice the difference in heights; the directions of  the blooms; the way the eye circles around the whole. A very low vase for a very tall arrangement. Even the little bamboo like stems we cut up and put on a copper wire , which flows out of the arrangement and keep us intrigued. Something mosslike is added to hide the "frog" or  foam, keeping the flowers in place. We all were doing the same arrangements, but there was always an individual interpretation. The Art involved in your next flower adventure! Comments?

Creating with My New Dremel

 

What fun it is working with my new Dremel! My fellow gardeners and  myself are creating table decorations with stones from our own  properties. Our conventions are coming up soon, in April. There will be gardeners from both the State and the Pacific Regions, including our own Sedona Area Garden Club. There are demonstrations, classes, and well known experts in their fields. I went two years ago and learned new techniques and information, as well as meeting very interesting people from other locations in our state. 

 However, not everyone knows about our state's natural beauty and historical petroglyphs and pictographs. The former are carved into the rocks: the latter are painted on.  We were inspired to try to reproduce some designs from the petroglyphs found around Sedona, where I live and create, as well as the many ruins in our Verde Valley . We are talking about art that could be as much as 1,000 years old.  

As I tried to hold my hand steady with my electric tool ( that really does not like to go in circles) , I wondered, "What were the tools the Ancient ones used; what did these symbols actually mean; what was the intention of those people: and especially, How the heck could they carve into these hard surfaces by hand ??". These   images are found not only near Sedona, but in many locations in the west. 

It was very humbling to create figures as exacting  as these images we were emulating.  I am impressed and will always wonder about the methods used and meanings of their creations. These are some of my results that my cool tool helped me create. 

The Art of Making Books

      What do artists do for fun? They go to art workshops. This is what I created on my recent  trip down to Phoenix from my studio here in Sedona. I have been a member of the Calligraphy Society of Arizona for over 30 years. Every once in a while I like to take advantage of one of the great workshops they sponsor, including this one making a Long Stitch book , hence the name.                                 I like to think that Lewis and Clark wrote in their journals that were made similar to this. A soft leather on the outside with " signatures" of paper , a grouping of pages, sewn into the spine. This is book format and what you read today does this made with machines. But how much sweeter to see it all made by hand, which is where the book artist comes into the picture. Also, instead of just some stitches showing, I tied them together with some red, waxed linen thread, and added a touch to the closure. A little adornment to catch your eye.

I will be teaching Not this book, but an equally fun "Envelope book"   on November 16,2024,  at the Sedona Arts Center, here in uptown Sedona. In only three hours, you will leave with your own magical book. There is still time to sign up, so be sure to contact SAC and enroll in a great adventure! Comments? I love to hear from you.  

Raku at the Ranch

 

It was a lovely day out at the Reitz Ranch ceramic studio in Clarkdale, AZ. a few weekends ago.  Here I am with my hand built  platter, or wall hanger, just  after  I  pulled it out of the Raku kiln.  Well I waited till it cooled off to take this picture!  The ranch  was formerly  the home and studio of well known ceramic artist, Don Reitz. I'd see and talk with  Don occasionally  around Jerome or  Sedona before he passed away. He was fun. Sheryl, with her husband, Ted, are now carrying on his tradition at the ranch, where people can work in clay and use various kilns and firing techniques. 

This day it was Raku, an ancient style  of ceramics dating back to the 16th century. The Zen Buddhist monks would use it for their tea ceremonies. Clay pieces are fired to a lower temperature and isn'

t really meant for function, more for its decorative qualities. Back in the old days , some glazes had lead in them, although not recently. It is a very " hands on" technique, since the pots are taken from the red hot kilns with tongs, then put into a trash can containing combustible material , such as paper or sawdust. It  catches fire, then gets smoking when the lid goes on. Afterwards it is put into water, which can accelerate the crackling effect, so common in this style. 

It was a team effort, with some nice Michiganders who had won a Raku firing at the library benefit. Sheryl was the kiln master, with Jerry, Jo , Dave and I working the kiln and pulling out the pots. That can be a little hairy, reaching into fire. I try to be well covered and use heavy gloves.  Large porcelain  platters like this  can be a challenge. I may yet add some glitter to a hairline crack that appeared. What comes out is always a surprise. I read that the definition of Raku is " happiness in the accident." Comments? 

The Merlot Collection

Why has it been so long since I have written on my blog, I have been asking myself ? Travel was one reason; working in new directions with both my clay and calligraphy another. Let's not  forget that old catch all, writers' block. Anyway, new pictures, new thoughts, new blog for today and a welcome into 2024.                                                                      Here are some of my new creations, all in the purple family.AS always everything is lead free and food safe. A well known teacher of mine once said " Victoria, Practice only creates practice. " So I follow that school of thought and try to create something beautiful with each experimental piece. How will a new glaze go on a curved surface ? Does creating texture on a pot bring a new dimension to what is there? How thick and how thin to apply is still a work in progress. A friend of mine sat around and we decided to call this color my "Merlot Collection". Comments?

Mission San Juan Capistrano

 Here I stand before the ruins of the original cathedral at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, in California. A friend and I went to the ocean and made a visit to this small town north of San Clemente. I had been there once, over 50 years ago, on my first sojourn west. This visit was a whole new experience.                                                        You may have heard of this place because of the festival of the swallows returning  to build their nests here every March, after their long flight back from Argentina.  There was even a hit song about it, way back when. It is a significant part of California history, as it was one of the many missions founded by Saint Junipero Serra , this one  in 1776. These missions were established by Spain to expand their territory and spread Christianity to the  indigenous natives, here it was the  Acjachemen tribe.  But an earthquake in 1812 caused thus great stone church to collapse, leaving only this wall of niches. I seem pretty small in comparison.                                                                                                      I loved all the history that is displayed here. I learned that after Mexico won independence in 1821 the Governor, Pio Pico, sold the land and mission to a Mr. John Forster. He just " happened ' to marry the Governor's sister, who was a 30 year old spinster at the time. Connections are all. But Mexico lost this land  after California  became a state in 1850. The Catholic bishop petitioned the US government to have the mission returned to the Catholic Church. In 1865, not long before his death, Abraham Lincoln did just that.                                                                                   Today the mission is restored to beauty. There is an existing chapel; historical exhibits; gorgeous rose and flower gardens ; and a reminder of the preciousness of life, today.