Product for the Vessel exhibition shop

 

As I worked on my three pieces for the Vessel Exhibition I also worked on a few pieces that might go into the gallery shop.

Over the weekend I completed making some sail form bowls/incense burners and some sail form earrings. You can see 5 pair of highly polished solid brass plate earrings in the opening photo.

I made 7 incense bowls-burners; including making the incense holders our of melted metal - beautiful silver-brass metal with gorgeous tops as you can see in the photos below.

An another look at the earrings- reflecting a painting on the wall - as you can see one pair is made from patinated copper.

Another productive weekend.

Ready or not - for Open Studios

Tonight I was going to post on a beautiful surprise peace gift I received from one of our gifted fellow artists in our blog community; but the day (and indeed most of this week) has been given over to finalising the products and getting our studio-gallery (601 mvr) sorted for the first weekend of the Sunshine Coast Open Studios 2012 that starts tomorrow. So I'll post on the preparations today; and then post on that special gift on Sunday.

Fiona and I are better prepared this year in that we have a wider range of pieces that showcase the diversity of what we do; and we have enough stock to deal with any demand on the first couple of days. My work ranges from small hand formed jewellery pieces to the larger outdoor sculptural pieces. But I will let the photos give an insight into my work and presentation in 601 mvr. I would say most if not all the works on display are created from recycled materials - apart from jewellery findings.

©2012 Barry Smith - Leaves and leaf spoons displayed on Fiona's rusted paper

©2012 Barry Smith - An array of Found and Formed earrings

©2012 Barry Smith - Rings, pendants and simple bowls.

©2012 Barry Smith - A cabinet of goodies

©2012 Barry Smith - Metal. stone and wood 

©2012 Barry Smith - Small leaf bowls

©2012 Barry Smith - A selection of 'sacred' ladles

©2012 Barry Smith - Small light fathers and 'sacred' water vessel.

©2012 Barry Smith - A .75m rusting leaf

Both Fiona and I are tired but we are feeling we have put in a good effort to share our studio space and our art forms with the public. We will see what tomorrow brings. Now off for a little sav. blanc and dinner.

Incense Burners for steampunks?

Over the past few months I have made a few incense burners as gifts for friends. I have been experimenting with a combination of quasi-steampunk assemblage art and beaten recycled metal.

The emphasis is on using found objects that have had a functional and mechanical purpose and combining them with a beaten bowl to create a quirky piece that can be functional again as an incense burner.

I'm going to do a series of these burners to sell as part of the stock exhibition a couple of galleries.

The small candle holder like incense burner above is made from a number of copper and brass bush bearings and a shallow bowl made from a square piece of recycled copper plate.

The second incense burner has a closer association to fire in that it is in the main made from the burner of a solid fuel stove (found by the side of the road), some other bits and three small shallow punched bowls set inside each other.