Ghosts of Lascaux

February 23, 2009

In my last blog entry, I mentioned the sprayed handprints on the cave wall at Lascaux.  16,000 years, and it’s still crystal clear what their message is:  “I was here”.  There’s something universal about that impulse to make a mark on time. In an odd bit of karmic symmetry, I was watching the DVD of […]

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Whither the hand?

February 19, 2009

I recently organized a large order of metalsmithing books for students in my classes at Adult-Ed.  These were all good books, well written, explaining some of the most fundamental aspects of metalsmithing as a craft.  Many of the students admitted to being ‘collectors of books’ who had large libraries devoted to the subject.  Lord knows […]

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The Jewelry of Silence?

November 6, 2008

Picture standing in a redwood grove, looking up at the play of light across the leaves.  Deepest shadow dotted with flitting patches of brightest emerald green.  Soft browns deep enough to fall into, and silent stillness, reverential and poised. Imagine standing on my grandparent’s back porch on the plains of eastern Colorado, feeling the sunwarmed […]

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Santa Barbara Snapshot

November 3, 2008

This doesn’t really have anything to do with metalworking except that metalsmiths tend to collect tools.  This means we need space.  Space in southern California is hard to come by, and nearly impossible in Santa Barbara.  I counted once:  standing on my back balcony, I could hit no fewer than 12 different apartment buildings with […]

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The Rosenbergs: pipe smashers & changing context

October 12, 2008

This is going to be an odd one for someone who’s theoretically a jeweler.  Jewelers, afterall, make pretty baubles to decorate the body.  What am I doing pondering the Rosenbergs? Well, it’s like this:  there are times when I make pretty things to delight the eye, and there are times when I make things to […]

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What’s a Metalsmith?

October 9, 2008

Let’s start off with a bang. This is something that I wrote during the whole firestorm over Metalsmith’s Exhibition in Print this year.  It went into my “sleep on it before posting” pile, and then the conversation changed, so I never did post it. I’m posting it here, because I’m still curious about the message’s […]

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Who is this guy Alberic, and how’d Brian end up with his website?

October 7, 2008

Greetings all: First, I’d like to thank Hanuman for offering to drag me (kicking & screaming) into the 21st century.  I’m a relatively private sort, so I’d never considered a blog before Hanuman contacted me.  Although I never would have admitted it before I arrived in California, at heart, I’m a midwesterner.  What this means […]

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