Artascope Steward News- Ann Liller & Libby Barrett

Ann Liller has made quite a name for herself at Artascope as our PMC guru. That's Ann posing with fellow artist, Dan Clark, last Saturday during their art opening at SASS-Second Saturday Art Stroll. Their PMC and metalsmithing work will be up at the Artascope Gallery through the end of the month.

Ann's been working with PMC for quite a while now and her innovation and desire to deepen her knowledge has recently led her to become PMC certified with Tim McCreight, a true leader in the world of PMC.

Thought you might enjoy hearing first hand from her experience, so here's Ann: "I have just come from the 3 day PMC certification class with Tim McCreight and all I can say is WOW. I have never worked so hard for three days in my life or learned so much. Out of 15 students, only 4 were from Maine and they came from as far as CA. There wasn't an extra minute to spare built into the program, we had to check our creativity at the door and we even ate our lunch at our desks! Rio runs a great program and Tim is just the best instructor that I have had in a long time. He debunked a lot of PMC myths, taught me new ways to do things, gave me a whole new perspective on the medium. This next ArtEscape weekend group is in for a real treat because I am still on a PMC-Tim McCreight high and I have some great new ideas."

Ann will be heading the PMC Art Escape Weekend starting tomorrow May 16th-18th. It's a full weekend of amazing fun. You start on Friday at 6-9pm. You will be in studio all day Saturday and 1/2 day Sunday. It's going to be an absolute blast. We are all extremely proud of Ann's accomplishments and just in time for her birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday Ann!!

In some other exciting Stewarding news at Artascope Studios, one of our newest Stewards, Libby Barrett informed me about her floorcloths and artist's books are being shown in the Stable Galleryin Damariscotta May-October. The season opening is this Friday, May 16th from 5-7. Sounds like it's going to be an exciting weekend for both our artists! You can check out more about Libby Barrett's work at her website http://www.libbybarrett.net/. We are excited to welcome her on board at Artascope Studios. Here are a few examples of her beautiful work. You will find a link for her website along with many other current and past stewards and teachers from Artascope under links we love.

Metalsmithing Studio- Soldered Ring and PMC Pendant

Our Metalsmithing Studio is one of the most used spaces at Artascope Studios. We host a plethora of metalsmithing, PMC, beading, wire wrapping and sea glass jewelry classes in our fantastic studio. Equipped with drilling centers, acetylene solder stations, a jewelry kiln, tumbler and a wall stacked with hammers, filling, cutting and beading tools , this place has become the hub of jewelry creation in South Portland.

Recently, Gayle, our stained glass expert, switch gears and taught a fantastic Solder Ring Class. This was a great introduction to metalsmithing and they were thrilled with their results after just 4 hours of work. Sisters, Julie and Diane were excited to make their own rings. Leslie had such a great time and she can't wait to practice her new skills, so she joined Artascope Studios as a Member to have access to the studios. Kelly was able to refresh her skills from a class last summer and even set a dichroic stone that her sister has made. Very successful class indeed!

PMC is one of our hot classes right now. PMC, Precious Metal Clay, is fantastic product that combines artistry, clay and silver into one amazing jewelry experience. The creators of PMC found a way to combine tiny silver fragments with a binder to create a porcelain clay-like substance that can be molded, carved and formed into the most amazing pieces. Once dried and fired in a jewelry kiln, your final product is a pure silver unique creation. Check out the results of Deb's PMC pendant class. Students came in with their own ideas and in some cases, objects to mold in plastic in order to make a PMC replica. The detail and designs are very personal and the possibilities are endless. Although the pictures look like students are working in clay, once their pendants were complete bone dry and fired, their final products were 99.9% pure silver jewelry.