#berkshiresaf

Today's artist hightlight is from another one of our lovely exhibitors for the Berkshires Arts Festival, Marthe Roberts Shea at MAR/S Unique Jewelry Design.

Shea describes her work at 'industrial chic', which are proven through her proficiency with silver, gold, and diamond. She can either create something bold and demanding with wild reds, blues, greens and gold, or invite onlookers through more subtle means, outlining each detail with fluid accents and textures. Her accessories can easily earn a home in your jewelry box.

Artist Highlight : Shauna Burke

Good Morning! Today's Artist Highlight is Shauna Burke.

A teacher, social media manager, and multifaceted jeweler, Shauna Burke spent a majority of her artistic career practicing her craft since she was 14. Her unique fashions pay homage to her inspiration of valuing any imperfections life presents. Doing so, she combines her passion to form fantastic designs fit for any admirer of accessory. She currently works in-studio located in Brooklyn, NY.

In an effort for always trying something new, our Artist Highlights for Berkshires and beyond can be found here! This time we're proud to present Peter Handler, one of our exhibitors for the Berkshires Arts Festival.

Based in Philadelphia, Handler is a furniture specialist and self taught student of jewelry, earning his MFA from the School for American Craftsmen at Rochester Institute of Technology. As part of his creative process, he spent time perfecting metal machining to supplement his growing expertise of aluminum for his pieces. 

Peter Handler currently works on many commissioned projects that involve custom built tables, chairs, cabinets, and displays all fashioned from aluminum. When the fixtures are complete, he powdercoats or anodizes his pieces to give off a decorative finish that perfects his vision. 

Handler explains,"My goal is to design and create residential and commercial furniture that portrays beauty, sometimes whimsy, that enhances the use and utility of a space, and that gives lasting joy to my clients."

If you want to see more of Peter Handler's work you can head on over to his site at  www.handlerstudio.com.

Hello All,

Today we'll be taking a look at metal crafting to continue showcasing what you can expect with our upcoming Berkshires Arts Festival this July.

image credit Gil Bruvel (website)

There's a history of how metal crafting was popularized in America thanks to Craft In America's excellent article about it. It's a worthy read for those who want to know more in depth about how metal was purposed for both domestic and artistic use. It continues to this day by many artisans and hobbyists, providing a challenge for those who want to work with a material that's more resilient.

image credit Innovative Design Specialties (Visit their Etsy here)

Like with many other crafts, beginners might have a difficult time choosing what kind of metal they need to start their project. While it does depend on the vision of the project, certain metal types are chosen more often for what can be made with it. Materials like:

Brass can be used for hardware, jewelry, or sculptures that provide a clean finish. Brass is very popular with tabletop pieces.

Iron is the all-purpose metal to use for any size project and can be quite sturdy to apply to additional craft projects as well. It's easy to mold into fluid and elegant shapes, which is perfect for jewelry or industrial furnishings such as ceiling fans.

Bronze, like brass, is a popular choice for sculptures of any size.

Silver is the most commonly seen metal along with iron. Nicknamed "White Magic" by some hobbyists, it's appearance can produce sophisticated utensils, jewelry, decorations, and serve as finishing touches on glass and wood pieces.

Steel is one of the more rugged metals, a good choice for an outdoor art project. Stainless Steel on the other hand, is the more popular iteration of this metal and is seen just about everywhere.

Cast Iron isn't well received due to it's poor malleability but is often used to supplement other metals in large scale projects.

Wrought Iron is used as the choice metal for creating beautiful gates and fences. However, it's been seen more often in smaller sculptures where the artist wished to give a more weathered look.

Nickel Silver is perfect to line designs in cutlery, decorations, and kitchenware.

Copper is a very soft and malleable metal to use with wrought iron and steel. It comes highly recommended for beginners wanting to test their molding skills on an easier metal.

When the material is chosen, making the piece is a straightforward process. For those fortunate to have a local blacksmith or welder, you're welcome to ask for their services if you need an art piece professionally done. Depending on who you ask it'd be more beneficial to ask them about their process. Metals have to be heated until it's soft enough to bend, stretch, roll, twist, fold, or hammer to your heart's content. 

image credit Canyon Trail Tools (website)

Again, what tools you use to do all that to the metal depends on the project-and there are wide number of them. The more basic ones come in the form of hammers, snips, braces, and tongs while more advanced tools can be available. Metal formers are able to stretch or shrink a piece of metal (preferably iron) without it breaking. Milling machines remove unnecessary metals from a project that need multiple pieces of scrap metal.

For smaller and much thinner versions of metals, you can use tools like molds, punches, liners-which trace and add finishing touches, modelers, solders, and awls. All are available at specialty craft stores or online. Cutting tools like saws, lasers, shears, chisels, drills, and taps are also needed to complete your set. With all these sharp tools on hand safety should be your top priority along with your vision for the project. Everything-even the metals being used-can be dangerous when handled poorly.

image credit Dennis Boyd Designs (Visit his Esty here)

Metal might intimidate first timers due to it's increasing difficulty to mold and shape, yet it's the best way for a craftsman to test his skills should he or she want to stray from their favorite medium. The best way to deal with metal is to start comfortably small and build up from there. Happy welding, bending and molding!

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We're halfway into the month and we'll be diving into wood next, so stay tuned! If you haven't already, check out our Facebook site for artist highlights involving our exhibitors for the Berkshires Arts Festival! If you're in the Massachusetts area July 4-6 we'd love to see you there!

Today we'll be taking a look at this time are ceramics and pottery, inspired by Berkshires Arts Festival attendee Gail Markiewicz.

image credit Gail Markiewicz

Ceramics have been known and used worldwide for centuries. Having the same amorphous capabilities as glass, it makes it easy to form the clay into any desirable shape or structure.The craft has expanded into common placeholders and items that we recognize in the household today: countertops, tile floors and toilets. Vases, figurines, urns, busts, decorative plates and some furniture have eased their way into the art world from domestic origins. And rightly so.

image credit The Potter's Connection (link)

Pottery and ceramics are more than just taking a piece of clay and applying heat and pressure to it.

While clay is a core ingredient, choosing which clay is right for your piece is just as important has having it. Potters take a moment to choose and test the type of clay that they want through a bar test. This is where slabs of clay are already heated to show off the final texture, color and durability of each type. If a bar test is not available for a first timer they're better off with commercial-standard clays.

image credit Pouted (link)

Once the shape of your ceramic piece has been decided, potters are tasked with heating it in a kiln. While most advanced works require that you take out your piece after a few minutes to apply other resources such as metals, wiring or additional clay, many beginners are better off taking time to allow their pottery to heat the interior and exterior while giving it time to cool down, also known as the soak period. However, kiln atmospheres can differ with each project, and depending on how much heat being applied to the clay could affect how potters can decorate their pieces.

This is where glazing comes in.

Glazing is a unique method that serves as a "final step" after the soak period. Applying a glaze to the surface of a ceramic can strengthen it for long term use while giving the piece that signature shine. The Potters Council (link) explains glazing even further:

"When a clay body and a glaze are fired in a pot, they fuze together. As they cool, if the glaze contracts more than the clay body it cracks or crazes. If the opposite occurs and the clay body contracts more than the glaze, the result will be shivering, where the glaze will pop off the pot."

Heat types can vary when it's time to fire in the pot, so what type of glaze you use (again, standard is fine) comes into the preparation process as well.

image credit Heinrich (Etsy - 1001 Vintage | Pintrest)

For potters who want to add more texture into their piece while forming can apply a slip, which is adding an additional piece of clay of another type or texture. This is done during the molding period-the ceramic is decorated while it's slowly being formed on the pottery wheel.

The most common decoration for pottery is paint. Painting on your finished ceramic isn't difficult and the most basic type of paint can be applied on an acrylic surface. Special glazes can be found and applied to a pot's surface immediately after the soak period, allowing an artist to take advantage of the extra time to apply their brush strokes. There are a number of tutorials on how to start with pottery and even more finished pieces (Pintrest) that could serve as an inspiration for your first or next venture into ceramics.

Pottery is a time tested art that offers the eyes and hands a valuable exercise in craft which could easily turn into a hobby or passion that thousands of people already enjoy. 

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Next time we'll be taking a look at metal and wire arts! If you're interested in what we've shown so far, be sure to cheek out the Berkshires Arts Festival next month! Visit the site if you haven't already.

We hope that everyone is enjoying their first weekend of June! This time during AAM's Craft Month we're taking a quick look at glass artistry. We've been inspired by Berkshires attendee Sam Stark, who immersed himself with glass sculpting for more than thirty years. 

image credit Sam Strark

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Glass Art is known for it's wide selection of decorative approaches. Whether you mold in the furnace like Stark, stain, frost or paint on the surface, there are many ways to apply your own rendition to glass. Glass has grown from a nontraditional way of art to a craft that thousands of people take up as a hobby and even subscribe to organizations, such as the Glass Art Society, for. 

image credit Brighton Body Casting

While glass has been seen as an appealing craft by many, history would claim that only stained glass was seen as true art while molds were only reserved for practical applications in the modern world. Tables, bottles, jars-they can attract eyes so long as it serves a purpose.

image credit PineKnobs and Crickets (Etsy)

Yet many do it yourself fans and hobbyists have embraced glass casting and custom molds for decades. This reemergence of using everyday items made from glass present pieces that exceed conventional standards both visually and through texture. Glass can also be a resource for mixed media, as glass can be applied to pottery, metal, and copper foil.

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Glass is a craft that's more common now than ever. We invite you to check out any artists that specialize in glass in your area. You might sees something you haven't before.

As always, you'll be able to check out more glass art at our Berkshires Arts Festival. If you haven't already, visit:

Hello Everyone,

We wanted to take a moment to thank those who were able to make it to last May's Contemporary Art Fair in New York City. We hoped you enjoyed yourselves and wish to see you all next year!

With June underway we're now gearing up for our Berkshires Art Festival to kick off our July 4th weekend!

To celebrate what is known as America's Premier Cultural Resort for the last twelve years, we'll be taking a look at our attending artists while taking a closer look at the subject of craft.

You'll be seeing a lot of genuine and contemporary works throughout the next month, so be sure to check back with us through June to see it all.

To find out more about The Berkshires Arts Festival, visit us at www.berkshiresartsfestival.com