Sunday, October 26, 2008

About the Artist - Eduardo Milieris

We have have fabulous watches by Eduardo Milieris!

These watches could be called "industrial chic", they're made from recycled metals, embellished with sterling silver, copper and brass. The metals are distressed and oxidized to give the watches a look as though they were buried treasure. Finally, Eduardo paints each watch face by hand giving it a distinct appearance.

Eduardo Milieris was born in 1960 in Montevideo, Uruguay. After visiting an exhibit of Alexander Calder's work Eduardo went home and made his first clock. He was seven years old.

Talking about his early years Eduardo says "By ten I was painting the glass of my watch with beautifully-colored markers. In the process I also managed to decorate my shirt sleeves - an art project my mother did not appreciate. I made my first seconds-meter-machine at age fourteen. It had an old, enameled face with only one hand ticking the seconds away. Below it a sign read: Ars Longa, Vita Brevis ( Art Lasts, Life is Brief). It could not have been more apropos for a young artisan who is still, today, fascinated by the integration of art and time.

From 1985 to 1990 I attended the School of Liberal Arts in Montevideo, where I experimented with photography, video art and sculpture. It was there I conceived and built my signature work, the Slow Reading Clock: a piece comprised of three, one-handed dials, each dial reading the hours, minutes, and seconds respectively. It was a natural step toward the beginning of my company, Watchcraft (R)....

But alas, vita brevis... so between family and work, I still manage to find a few moments "on the dial" to experiment with photography, and if I can, get my shirt sleeves dirty with something new.

Today a line of more than 100 unique watches are crafted in my New York City studio. Watchcraft (R) is represented by over 400 galleries, and museum stores around the world."

The watches come in sizes for both men and women. The bands are made of links that we can add or remove for fitting your wrist.

We have a wonderful selection of Eduardos work!

We have a few of his pieces available on our website.

Friday, October 24, 2008

View from the Porch & Christmas


We see the most interesting things from our porch!
Last night at our Downtown Business Meeting we presented the calendar for our Christmas Season. It's amazing what all is going to be going on.

A few highlights -

Read the story
A Christmas Carol in Downtown windows
Friday night luminaries throughout the business district
Friday night Dickens of a Christmas Trolley Tours
Open Houses in 12 Downtown Shops the Friday & Saturday after Thanksgiving
Scrooge at New Bern Civic Theatre
The Nutcracker at New Bern Civic Theatre
The NC Symphony at the Convention Center
Candlelight tours at Tryon Palace
Living Nativity at Centenary United Methodist Church
Pets on Parade
Hand crafted Ornament and Nativity show at Carolina Creations
Sculpture show at Craven Arts Council
Community Caroling 300 block Pollock St Dec 4
Historic Bed & Breakfast Open house
Lighting of Community Christmas Tree
Holly & Ivy Tour
Whew! These are just the Highlights, there is also the parade, flotilla, Christmas Tree Ship and more....

To view the details visit www.downtownnewbern.blogspot.com

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

New Glass artist Josh Simpson


We are thrilled to be representing world renowned glass artist Josh Simpson! We have several vases and quite a few of his inhabited planets.

Donna who helps us in the gallery has known Josh since his early days working with glass and has been after us for some time to carry his work.

Watch Josh create a piece, click here to see a video.

Click here to see prices and to order one of these pieces.

Here Josh talks about his inspiration.

"The last thing I do before I go to bed is walk out to my studio to check the furnaces. Seeing an aurora borealis, or watching a thunderstorm develop down the valley, or just looking up at the sky on a perfect summer night inspires me to translate some of the wonder of the universe into my glass. That wonder comes out in my work, not in any purposeful way but slowly. My work evolves in such incremental steps that I often don't recognize the natural influences until someone points them out to me.

Along with the natural world, my motivation comes directly from the material itself. Glass is an alchemic blend of sand and metallic oxides combined with extraordinary, blinding heat. The result is a material that flows and drips like honey. When it's hot, glass is alive. It moves gracefully and inexorably in response to gravity and centrifugal force. It possesses an inner light and transcendent radiant heat that makes it simultaneously one of the most frustrating - and one of the most rewarding - materials to work with. I attempt to coax it; all it wants to do is drip on the floor. Most of my work reflects a compromise between me and the glass; the finished piece is the moment in time when we agree.

Josh Simpson Contemporary GlassWhen I haven't made a particular kind of object for a while, it takes a day or two to get back into the rhythm. After only a few days, boredom sets in; at that point I can lose interest and make terrible work or I can begin to push the material and start to have fun. Exploring often leads to something new and interesting - sometimes it just adds more broken glass to the local landfill. I always seem to have more ideas than I will ever have time to make."

Here is another video of Josh working, click here to see it.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Platter - a piece a day (almost!)


I just finished this piece, it's large enough for a turkey!

14 x 18 1/2 x 2 1/4 deep

This is done on a nice, cast piece.

Most of our creations are thrown by Michael and decorated by me, this is an exception. Decorated by me but not thrown by Michael.

view on our website.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Another View from the Porch


You probably think I do nothing but hang out on the porch!!

Not true but there is a lot going on just outside my window.

Friends of ours who have spent some time on the porch say it's like watching tv!

This weekend was the Mum Fest. The streets were full of people, food, crafts and entertainment. I wouldn't like it all the time but for a couple days it's fun to look out the window and see bumper cars and a ferris wheel.

Changing the subject, some of my friends do a painting a day that they sell on their blogs. I paint every day, not a painting necessarily, I decorate a lot of pottery that Michael makes. I also do tiles and wall hangings.

I'm going to start posting pieces here as I finish them.

Using white earthenware Michael throws the pieces on his wheel, we then bisque fire it, I decorate it with underglazes then add a clear glaze over it. We fire it again and vuala, it's done!

This piece is a bowl, decorated inside and out, is approx 11" and cost $74. I paint each piece by hand, while I do variations on the same theme, I always vary it. I could do a special piece just for you, add your words, names and dates. Personalization adds $8 to the cost.

This piece is available for purchase by clicking here

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Ada Mae - View from the Porch


Last Sunday was a beautiful day.

The Ada Mae which is docked at the base of Pollock Street, right across the street from my house.

She is a North Carolina Skip Jack that is owned by the Carolina Coastal Classroom a nonprofit foundation whose mission is to provide environmental education programs promoting understanding and appreciation of our coastal waters and maritime heritage through hands-on shipboard educational experiences. The centerpiece of this program is the environmental education curricula taught onboard the skipjack ADA MAE.

The skipjack ADA MAE was built in 1915 in Rose Bay, North Carolina.

Programs provide educational opportunities for students of diverse racial, ethnic, socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Students participating in these programs learn about themselves, their abilities, their environment and their maritime heritage through hands-on experiential education. Trained educators serve as the crew and will conduct the onboard "classroom."

Shipboard experiences involve team-building and practical applications of shipboard skills using math, science, ecology, social studies, reading, writing, computer science and critical thinking.

Shipboard experiences and skills are linked to achievement expectations from the North Carolina Department of Education Standard Courses of Study for certain public school core curricula. Shipboard curricula include water quality analysis, marine life studies, hydrodynamics and aerodynamics, sail theory, navigation and studies in environmental stewardship.

Students participate by steering the ship, raising and lowering the sails, dredging and trawling for oysters, fish, crabs, shrimp and plankton to be used for onboard study, making weather observations and discussing environmental concerns affecting marine life in surrounding waters.

For more information visit their website at http://carolinacoastalclassrooms.com/

Monday, October 06, 2008

A Sneek Peek


I talked about Carol and I painting the artwork for our Downtown New Bern Christmas Season.

Here is a sneek peek of what we're doing.

We'll be telling the story "A Christmas Carol" in Downtown windows.

To see what all is going on during the season go to www.downtownnewbern.blogspot.com

Sunday, October 05, 2008

The Pumpkin Patch




The Pumpkin Patch at Christ Church Across the Street from Carolina Creations opened today.

It's fun watching the event unfold.

Saturday, October 04, 2008

The Touring Club

I've been hearing about a couple ladies here in town, Barbara Lubsen and Libbie Griffin that have put together a touring club that travels near and far and puts together great experiences like:
Carolina Arts & Music - Opera, Symphony, Ballet and Choir Tours
Big City Tours - New York City with a stop en route in Washington DC Nov 30-Dec 5 Christmastime Tour of Charleston Dec 16-18

I particularly think these one day trips are great!
A Farm Family's Life - a NC farm, a winery & the Tobacco Farm Life Museum Nov 13
Autumn in the Garden - Montrose Gardens, Niche Gardens & Multiflora Greenhouses
Holiday Treasures in Our Capitol - Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, Governor's Mansion & State Capitol
The Epicurean Club - A day trip to special markets in Raleigh

I hope to be able to go on a trip or two with them myself one of these days. If you go email me and tell me about it!

Their website is http://www.thetouringclub.net