A couple of posts back I talked about the ornament making mini-workshop we were hosting at the Hillsborough Gallery as part of our holiday show opening reception.  It was well attended, lots of fun, and was a successful first attempt at such an activity.  Not to say we didn’t learn a thing, or three that we will change the next time around.

The ornaments I helped participants create were metal foil repoussé (French – push from behind) panels that we attached to a sparkly card stock, and finished with edging tape, a metal grommet, and raffia ribbon for hanging.  These are similar to repoussé panels I make and affix to one-of-a-kind greeting cards.

Susan Hope, one of the other talented HGA artists who was instructing participants in making fused glass ornaments, suggested that I combine the ornaments and my cards for sale.  I thought that was a good idea, so I did…

Ornament Cards

Little interactions like this are one of the things I enjoy about being part of an artist-owned gallery.  A collection of creative minds working together is always fertile ground.

Many of us artists add smaller, more gift-able items to our selection of work in the gallery for the holiday season.  So, now I’ll be adding a few “Ornament Cards” as well, a holiday greeting and a small piece of original art in one.

Here’s a link to Susan’s web page if you’d like to see some of her beautiful work.

Last week I promised to share more information about out ornament making mini-workshop at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts this Friday evening, November 29th.  During the first hour of our monthly Last Friday reception (6-7pm) three of the gallery artists will be teaching customers how to create unique holiday ornaments.  We hope it will be the start of a new tradition, and a fun, low stress, and creative way to spend “Black Friday.”

Fused glass ornaments taught by Susan Hope.

Ali Givens, fabric artist, will be presenting fabric collage ornaments on miniature canvases.  Fused glass artist, Susan Hope will provide instruction of kiln-fired ornaments.  I will be showing how to create a tooled-metal ornament.

Each ornament will be $6, and all materials, tools, and instruction will be included.  We will be limiting to three ornaments per customer as this is our first time, and we want to make sure that there is enough for everyone to join in the fun.

Tooled metal ornaments with Lynn Wartski.

Art, conversation, refreshments, and creativity, what fun!

Along with my art dolls and sculptures I am lucky enough to be part of another unique creation… The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts.  This Monday we did our annual holiday show installation.  We install a new feature show in this artist-owned gallery each month.  The entire space is re-hung during four of those installations, and November is the biggest of all.

Snow Queen

The new artwork is accompanied by ornaments, hand crafted scarves, original textile items, and additional jewelry offerings.  What appears like a space in chaos in the morning is all ready for those looking for those one-of-a kind items by afternoon.  It is an interesting choreography of 22 artists and their work, but it all comes together beautifully.

hand hammered copper star ornament

If you would like to read more about the HGA annual holiday show, “The Art of Giving”, take a look at the gallery’s blog.  This year we will be making a fun addition to the show’s opening reception on Friday, November 29th.  Three artists (myself included) will be offering an ornament mini-workshop during the first hour (6-7pm) of the evening.  I’ll share more on that in a future post, but mark your calendar.  The idea is a non-typical “Black Friday” activity with art, conversation, refreshments, and a bit of creativity.

You may notice some changes with my website.  I can’t guarantee that it will even look the same next time you visit.  As you can see I am in the process of converting my old somewhat static site with a blog.  I hope that this will allow me to share more of what is going on with my art, events, inspiration and other interesting sculpture and art doll related stuff more.  So check back in soon.  See what I’ve been up to.

Ammorette’s Heart – 2013