MSG is proud to announce that Masako Onodera will be this years guest lecture at our All Membership Meeting September 19th. Along with our lecture we will have a tool swap, snacks and an open all membership meeting to vote for officers board members and discuss the years activities. This event is free and open to the public. Biography: Masako Onodera received BFA in Interior Design in 1989 from Joshibi University of Fine Arts and worked full time as a landscape architect as well as a part time glass blower for eight years in Tokyo. In 1999 Masako moved to the United States to pursue her education in art and started working in Metal at Cabrillo College in Aptos, CA. In 2003, she relocated to Smithville, TN to be the artist in residence at the metals studio of the Appalachian Center for Craft. In 2005 she was accepted for the graduate program in Metals at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, IL and expanded her interest to variety of materials. Masako received her MFA in 2008 and began to work as an instructor in the Jewelry and Metals program at Bowling Green State University, OH the same year. Masako has been honored with numerous scholarships and awards, for example, the Society of North American Goldsmiths student endowment scholarship and the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship. Her work is featured in prestigious art publications and exhibited in the museums and galleries internationally. Masakos art is part of many private and public collections such as the Museum of Contemporary Craft, OR, the Mobile Museum of Art, AL, and the Toledo Museum of Art, OH.

More Info: Eruption Necklace by Masako Onodera, click here to see more images of Masakos work. Share

This years All Membership Meeting will take place Sunday, September 19th, 2009 at Eastern Michigan University. Events will get underway at 12:30 pm with a silent auction of tools, materials, and finished crafts. Remember this is a great opportunity to force yourself to either clean your workshop and bring some tools to sell or save some money to buy some additional equipment. Auction forms will go out with the next newsletter in early September and are available now by clicking the link on the left. In addition to your tools to swap we our inviting our sponsors and additional business members of the community back again this year, so remember to bring plenty of cash and checks for new tools, supplies. Our Annual Meeting will start at 1:00 an overview of last years activities, projections of activates planned for the upcoming year and a vote for open board positions. This years open positions include: five to six Board of Director positions with the inclusion of responsibility of membership, web communications and publicity, historian, and sponsorship. If you are interested in running for a position feel free to contact our Nominations Chair, Ericia Bartels at ericia@misilversmith.org. At 2:45pm Masako Onodera will present a lecture titled Tactile Bodies. Her bio and more information about her work is available on our website, please see the article below.

More Info: Click here for tool swap form Share

An exhibition featuring work by pairs of artists who cooperatively create a set of tableware, functional or nonfunctional. To be exhibited at Fancy Gallery, Seattle during the SNAG conference 2011. Premise: Eating requires the systematic use of a variety of serving tools from flatware to dinnerware to serveware. Many functional serving elements combine each time we sit down to enjoy a meal. A cup and a saucer, a knife and a fork, a soup bowl and a spoon, diverse items work hand in hand at the breakfast or dinner table. Can two artists create cooperatively too? Can two artists who typically work in different media create a set of objects that when combined allow for a meaningful function at the table? This exhibition would like to show how two individual makers develop a tableware set together. These objects can work together, respond to one another, converse between each other, or work dependently with one another. We are looking for work that has been developed by artists from a variety of craft backgrounds. The goal of the exhibition is to show where the influence of each individual artist ends, and FLOWS into the creative sphere of the team, thus picking up on the SNAG conference theme FLUX, Flux as a Process. The end result will be an exhibition of items or sets on which both artists worked cooperatively, and that complement each other in their function examples include: ladle and gravy bowl, fork and knife, pots and pans, cup and saucer, etc. or one piece on which both artists worked cooperatively bowl, pepper mill, plate etc. This is a jured exhibition, applications are due November 5th.

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Whats so funny? People of all ages and cultures respond to humor enthusiastically and craft artwork definitely can be very funny! Often, the work exudes a sense of the absurd due to exaggerated size or by being executed in unusual materials. Craft artwork can be highly ironic, political, sarcastic, or just plain amusing, and it comes in a variety of media, such as metals, wood, fibers, ceramics, glass, mixed media etc. Brigitte Martin has joined up with Schiffer Publishing to develop a book about the role humor plays in contemporary craft, and we welcome your submissions in image and text! We are looking for the following contributions: images of humorous artwork, texts and essays by the contributing artists, commenting about humorous aspects in their artwork, essays by writers about the role of humor and fun in craft. Can you show us humor in all its shades expressed through craft artwork and text? Who decides what is funny and what is not? What topics are offlimits? Is irony funny? Sarcasm? Are politics funny? Religion? This book aims to provide the viewer with entertainment, commentary, and of course, many fine craft pieces by makers from all over the world. Humor has no borders. Or does it? It might be interesting to learn how a piece will be hilarious in China, but only garner mild astonishment in Sweden and vice versa. This call is open to craft artists working in all craft media. International entries are particularly welcome and encouraged! The book is scheduled to be on the market in 2012. This is a rolling call: THE SOONER YOU SEND IN YOUR ENTRY the greater your chance to be considered!

More Info: Click here for more information Share

MSG Member Tom Muir was recently written featured in Ancora Imparo. Click the link below to read the article as it originally appears in Ancora Imparo.

More Info: Click here to read the article as it originally appears in Ancora Imparo Share

The Saul Bell Design Award competition has both inspired and challenged jewelry designers around the globe for the past decade, and now in its tenth year, it continues to recognize artists whose work challenges traditional perceptions of jewelry design. Named for the founder of Rio Grande, the competition celebrates Sauls spirit and legacy by inviting artists and students to enter their most innovative creations in any of six categories: Gold Platinum, Silver Argentium Silver, Beads, Metal Clay, Hollowware or Enamel. Deadline: September 17, 2010.

More Info: Click here for the full call for entry Share

The College Art Association recently revived its Professional Development Fellowships in the Visual Arts. They again offer 5,000 grants to promising MFA candidates who will receive their degrees in calendar year 2011. These grants facilitate the transition between graduate studies and professional careers, whether for job search expenses or purchasing materials for the studio. Applications must be postmarked by Friday, October 1, 2010.

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Crafthaus has just announced its new Grant and Scholarship Opportunity for funding for individual/group projects (due in September) and funding to attend a conference (due in January).

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This years All Membership Meeting will be held September 19th from 12:30 to 4pm at Eastern Michigan University in the metals shop in Briggs Hall. Please make note that EMU is still under construction, this year we are going to try to make finding the shop easier by having volunteers out and about directing everyone. Events will include our annual tool swap (forms will be in the newsletter), all membership meeting and vote for board members, snacks, and a fabulous lecture titled Tactile Bodies by Masako Onodera. Please see the two articles to the left for additional details.

ODCs annual juried members exhibition, featuring work in clay, glass, metal, fiber, wood and mixed media.

Forging is one of the most basic & useful metal working techniques. Sig will share her tips for using hammers & pliers to shape, forge, & form wireworks into the next dimension! Students will leave class with multiple examples & finished projects. One session, 2 hours.

Surface enhancement can turn the most ordinary jewelry piece into a one of a kind masterpiece. If youre ready to turn your work into masterpieces, then this is the class for you. All patina types will be covered, from heat patinas, to commercial chemical patinas, to those made from simple household chemicals. You will never produce ordinary work again. One session, 3 hours.