The Potential of Craft Wire

Early this past summer I attended my brother's wedding in Puerto Rico. I sat on the plane next to a young woman native to the island who was 'blinged-out' in what look to me like craft-wire jewelry. I told her I loved her necklace and asked her where she got it. She said this kind of jewelry was so popular on the island that it was everywhere. Sure enough while I was in PR, I saw mall shops with walls draped in this kind of jewelry. However, what was more impressive was that my town had a small craft shop with the wire necessary for people to make their own versions of these pieces and it was primarily islanders supplying many of these mall shops with their wares. So I bought a bunch (over-priced compared to what I can get it for here or over the internet) for my cousin who lives on the island and loves to craft and for me. Here is a glimpse of the potential of plain 'ol craft wire: Heart Necklaces by marisol diaz Heart Necklace with Ring by marisol diaz

I sold a set like this for $15.00. I have not listed any of these designs on Etsy yet, so if you're interested in a piece like this contact me!

At Corning

Well I am off on my own for two weeks for another glass class...but this time - its at Corning! I have to say - I have taken classes at the following glass schools, Haystack - in Deer Isle- Maine, Pilchuck (2x on scholarship), Urban Glass in Brooklyn, NY, Bullseye in Portland Oregon, and none of these are physically as close to me in location as Corning is and it is now over ten years into my love affair with glass that I get know the Corning Glass Museum. It is the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of the glass world!

I am on my third day and I have so much to show everyone...I have already made 5 sand-blasted pieces but unfortunately my camera will not work with my laptop and I will have to wait to show you all my pictures. The class I am taking vitreous painting and sand-blasting class taught by Denise Stillwagon Leone...a wonderful teacher and amazing artist! Some of the work we are doing is similar to work I have done in the past, but the vitreous painting is the same process as one of my favorite artists who I have blogged about in the past... Judith Schaechter Definitely click on that if you did not get a chance to see it before...there is also one of my stained glass pieces there.

I know this wasn't the most exciting blog but stick with me until I can get my new glass work up here for you all to see. Hopefully, this weekend when my husband comes we can get some new pics,...until then I am back to the glass classroom!

A Puerto Rican Wedding and a June Bride

Despite the fact that I return to Puerto Rico yearly to be with my father, brothers and family, this summer's visit held an extra-delightful purpose...my brother Michael's wedding. Meet Sharon Ortiz...whose name I'm sure has something like 'de Diaz' as part of it now. I have been blessed to share with both Sharon and my brother as a couple for the past few years and have even had them vacation with me here in my home in the States. The greatest gift however is that Sharon is now my sister-in-law.

The wedding which was held at their church (Casa de Avivamiento), was absolutely beautiful flanked in one of my all time favorite colors orange! Their Pastor Javier Rodriguez was their officiant. He made a powerful sermon of their wedding vow exchanges, considering that both my brother Michael and his new bride Sharon are long standing, active parishoner's and are in the process of building their own branch of the church.

Unlike me or our other brother Chayanne, Michael has both 'been chosen' and has chosen to follow in the divine path of preaching. Where as I am more spiritual than religious, Michael has found an extraordinary community, purpose and goal in life through his church and their religion.

Sharon's dress was absolutely gorgeous! And Cheers! to whoever designed the format of the wedding decorations which were stunning with coordinated drapery, columns, flowers and table linens...designing that effectively requires great artistic vision!

The cake was delicious and also designed in such a sophisticated and elegant manner, complementing the decor flawlessly! It was truly a spectacular event...check out the flower girl my niece Chamirelis!

Here is our side of the family, My brother Chayanne (Chami's dad), my father, Sharon and Michael, my aunt (Micheal's mom), and me.

I have a lot more images but I will be posting them all on my new FLICKR site soon (in a few days).

My Husband (Gregg Emery) and I made our six year wedding anniversary just a week before Michael and Sharon's wedding and here is our toast to Sharon and Michael:

We wish this young couple the great happiness, deep friendship, and un-bounding love that we (Gregg and I) have found together. Marriage is a lot of work and it takes clear, constant and caring communication, those of us who survive it, know that the ease of wedded bliss comes only with trust, clarity, mutual support and shared dreams. You are beginning a new nucleus, a new unit, a new family... begin your own new traditions and share the growing pains together (there will be pains and of course great joys)- the reward is indescribably beautiful. Never take the companionship for granted, for life is mutating and changing constantly and in each other you seek a changing constant not a familiar presumption. Respect each other's minds as library resources, as well as mirror reflections. Discover life together the beautiful and the ugly - for it is these experience that will bond you both to each other...no object has that power.

Puerto Rico's Portals II

Puerto Rico's Portals - Doors and Windows

Well, I haven't been keeping up with my blogging as well as I should have because I was traveling again. When I travel to my other home (Puerto Rico)- it's country living and very difficult (although getting easier every time) to have internet access at my every whim. I generally visit PR every year since my father, brothers and much of my mother's side of the family have always resided there. Every time I go I visit Old San Juan either by 'Carro Publico' (public transport vans) on my own or in a car with friends or family. My favorite shops the bookstore Cronopios and Lace shop (The Linen House) are faithfully there every time I return. I have started a collection of images of Puerto Rico's Portals (windows and doors) that I would love to share on this blog much like the images of my trip to Europe this year. In addition to my usual Puerto Rican escapades, this time I had another extraordinary event; my brother Michael's wedding so you might see some of those images coming up soon too!

More Berlin

Some more Tacheles...the door to an artist's gallery.

At first I really didn't get this... especially that there was no question mark at the end of what I thought to be a question. It was just one of those things that I knew had enough value to merit a picture, but I just wasn't feeling the deeper meaning at the moment that I clicked the shutter button. Than I a wrote a poem for a prompt from 3WW (empty, highway & ignored) and found myself contemplating my present situation Today and asking 'how long is now?' and I got it. Now luckily I have the Berlin pic!

The Reichstag Parliment building. We waited on a two hour line to enter this building on a frigid day...I'm convinced it was the moment my resistance dropped beyond current repair!! Apparently, you haven't visited Berlin if you don't go to the Reichstag. I saw old postcard images of the fire that ravaged this building and its old dome. What you see now is a contemporary resurrection.











Here is a view of the Berlin wall you may not see often - A CHEWING GUM MOntage!!!
The last pic is part of the Berlin wall located at the East Side Gallery. I loved that car busting through the wall!

Street Art in Berlin, Tacheles & Andras Bartos

Gregg making a rubbing of a manhole in Berlin. You may think why? Well, that rubbing is an excellent image for us to make our OWN silk-screen in order to make our OWN Berlin t-shirts, instead of buying mass produced touristy ones! Once we have our t-shirts made - I'll post them here for you all to see.

Some of the best gummy bears I have ever eaten in my whole life were from Potsdam, Berlin. They actually tasted as though they were made with real fruit juice - not to mention they were mammoth in size.

Berlin's mascot/national-animal is the bear - hence we saw lots of artist renditions of the form. Like these! Since these particular bears were in the lobby of our hotel - they 'embody' paintings of all the popular tourist attractions in the area.

Now for another kind of street art...see that building- that is the Kunsthaus Tacheles. If you look closely you can see the name of the building written on it.
Tacheles is not so simple to describe, although the tourist's books try to do it justice. It is a counter-culture artist space. A former department store, it now looks like an abandoned building that has been taken over by a self-organized collective of artists. There are studio spaces, a cafe, cinema, performance space, workshops and exhibition space. In the evening it is a night club. The grounds, hallways and ever architectural feature has had an artistic mark placed on it. There are stunning sculptures out back, in addition to surrounding buildings used as canvases. I was so enthralled I took so many pics. SAdly, we saw many petitions out while we there and upon returning have learned that the lease runs out this year - it seems that the future of this space is yet to be determined. For the 'creatives' out there that read my blog, this is sure to be a treat.

Here I am out in back of Tacheles in their sculpture garden. I love charging bulls so when I saw this I knew I had to have a pic with it! There were quite a few welded- sculptures out back that were beautiful in their execution. There was also a train, automobile and helicopter covered in graffiti.

Here is Gregg out back in front of the helicopter

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This is Gregg in the Tacheles hallway. Now you see what I mean about every iota of the space having a mark on it.

The surrounding buildings are used like mammoth canvases. This soccer mural below is mind-blowing. Click on the thumbnail to see the soccer image up close.

Gregg and I discovered these small paintings by painter and graphic designer Andras Bartos and we bought one! His paintings are whimsical and also somber takes on humanity. While walking around the neighborhood we also saw his studio.

Well, I have more images but I think is this enough for today. I hope I haven't drowned you all in visual noise!!

Berlin!

The remnants of the Berlin Wall and an old watch tower on top of what is now a hotel/casino.

In my opinion Berlin must be the graffiti capitol of the world. As an artist, I was mesmerized by the sheer passion of expression. How anyone can say that they don't see art in these images is beyond me. I will let the images speak for themselves.

A clothing boutique. Imagine this kind of sign-age.

Munich Ecstasy, Agony, Bratwurst & Grafitti

The following images are from the Glyptothek in Munich Germany. Though the elderly figure above cannot be easily categorized as either ecstasy or agony...there are few artistic symbols for physical, animalistic ecstasy (or the moment right after) as the Sleeping Satyr below. Whew! Did it just get hot in here or what??

Full Sculpture at Dachau Click to see

The above image I chose for agony is of a sculpture at Dachau, a preserved concentration camp in Germany. I wish I knew the artist's name (I will research it and try to find it out!) The faceless people are deeply riveting. I also find a strange resemblance between this image and the creature in the film Pan's Labyrinth (one of my all time favorite movies!)that had it's eyes in its hands and consumed children as opposed to a table feast. A metaphor perhaps of the horror we are all capable of experiencing, if not inflicting.

The creature from Pan's Labyrinth

Gregg and I love this 'self-portrait/s' that we took at Dachau, because it resonates so deeply with our outlook on life. What we do as people - whether removed, foreign or local affects us all and is a reflection of our very being, a reflection of the whole human race. Gregg and I are not Jewish and to there is no need to be inorder to feel the deep pull of pain that being in Dachau reminds us of.

Here are a couple of pics some traditional Bavarian clothing, which is so charming; dirndls, lederhosen, bundhosen, plattlerhosen! However, they are expensive! I heard you can get more affordable sets at second hand stores, but you would need to know where to go. On another side note, if you're thinking about going to try some on and taking a picture of yourself - no camera's allowed (since it seems too many tourists have abused that and don't buy!

And of course you can't go to Germany and not eat some Bratwurst!!! Well, actually you could, but you shouldn't! On a daily basis, Gregg and I tend not to eat meat. We save a lot in the grocery that way. We don't support steroid, antibiotic-infused, slaughterhouses. We do feel that the extreme of fast-food meat consumption in this country is beyond decency. However, we don't call ourselves vegetarians. Thankfully, because if we did we wouldn't have had the internal moral freedom to try these absolutley delicious things! There was a line that extended well beyond us for some.

Finally, on the walk to our hotel we passed a bridge and under that bridge there was a walkway filled with stunning grafitti!!! Check out these beautiful pieces and let me know what you think!!!

Funny, I wasn't the only one cold in Germany, looks like the inanimate objects shared my plight!

Munich Jewels & My Knight in Shining Armor

The Rathaus Glockenspiel! So we have finally made it to Germany! By this point in the photo diary we had already taken a night train from Paris (I spared you those pics) and we have arrived to a very cold Munich.

Click to see!

Gregg Drawing @ the Square CLick Image!

click on this little thumbnail of Gregg's drawing to see it's gestural mastery up close!

We saw the collection at the Royal Palace in Munich. I saw jewels and crowns unlike any of those I have every seen before. Now you may think Gregg is my Knight in shining armor (and you would be correct), however I wouldn't say no to this kind of Knight in shining armor either:

Click on this neck piece to see it in all its glory!

A different kind of colorful eye-candy isn't it?

What would I do with palaces, crowns and knights in shining armor anyway? When all I seem to need is in my beautiful puppies, their wagging tails and cries of joy when I walk through the door. Still, not sure I would turn down a palace...especially if it meant I didn't have to commute to work anymore!!