Designs By Kaska: January 2013

Monday, January 21, 2013

It has been a while since I was here last. A lot has happened. The whole summer and fall have gone by and with it some great shows. My beautiful daughter got married in September to a very handsome and kind young man whom I am happy to call my son-in-law.

My Freeform Wire Weaving book is nearing completion. Less then 2 weeks to the deadline. And of course I will be working on it till the very last minute. If everything goes according to plan it should be in bookstores in October.

This year I will be teaching at William Holland School and Bead and Button Show. Check out the schedule of my classes.

William Holland School of Lapidary Arts230 Lapidary Ln
Young Harris GA 30582-0980

April 28 - May 3, 2013 Wire Weaving Course

In this week-long course you will learn several weaving techniques while completing 5+ projects. For more information and to sign up please go to the school's website www.lapidaryschool.org
Enrollment starts Dec. 3rd at 9am

Bead and Button Show
Delta Center
400 W. Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
June 5, 2013 8:00am - 3:00pm Woven With Flair Necklace
June 5, 2013 4:00pm - 7:00pm Pinwheel Woven Pendant
June 6, 2013 8:30am - 3:30pm Woven Bracelet with a Twist
June 7, 2013 8:30am - 4:00pm Woven Wing Pendant
June 7, 2013 5:00pm - 8:00pm Treasure Necklace
June 8, 2013 9:00am - 5:00pm Woven Filigree Ring
June 9, 2013 9:00am - 12noon Pinwheel Woven Pendant

For more information and to sign up for classes please go to the show's website www.beadandbuttonshow.com
Enrollment starts Jan. 8th at 12 noon

About Me

Kaska, an award winning jewelry artist, has been involved in various arts all her life. In 1988 she graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a BA in Interior Design. Her
interests in other arts and a strong desire to create with her hands led her to pursue other creative avenues as well. She has spent time with clay sculpture, stained glass, and sawing eventually arriving at wire art.

Kaska has been designing and crafting wire jewelry since the summer of 2000, when she took her first instruction in that medium. Since then she continued to advance her skills in jewelry arts - wire, lapidary, silver-smiting, metal clay, chain-making, glass fusing, and wire weaving - by attending William Holland School of Lapidary Arts in Georgia, taking classes provided by local and visiting artists, and through her own experimentation with various tools and materials.

Kaska displays and sells her work at 10 to 15 shows each year. She teaches wire-wrapping, wire-weaving and chain-making classes locally at her studio and and AllyBeads Shop in Milford, OH, as well as nationally including Interweave Bead Fest in Philadelphia, PA.

Kaska’s other interests include: downhill skiing, Taekwondo (2nd degree black belt), hiking, cooking, reading, and writing. Most of all she enjoyers spending time with her three children, Katherine, Robert and Chris, and her husband Tom.

Awards:
2nd place in Fine Arts- Madison-Chautauqua Arts Festival, 2011
1st place, Cane Park Arts Festival 2011
1st place, Madison-Chautauqua Arts Festival 2009,
1st place, Mariemont Art Show 2009,
3rd place, Upper Arlington Labor Day Art Show 2009
3rd place, Hyde Park Square Art Show 2009
3rd place, Wyoming Art Show 2009 and 2011.

Published Articles:
Leaf Bracelet, Step by Step Wire Jewelry,
June-July 2010, Weave Earring, Step by Step Jewelry, fall 2009
Woven/Braided Bracelet, Art Jewelry, March 2012 issue

Books:
Freeform Wire-Woven Jewelry to bepublished in November, 2013.

Artist Statement

Creating with wire is my way to open my inner self to the
world. Each piece I make is like a page from my journal, encapsulating my emotions and holding within it the record of my struggles and triumphs. Working with my hands, transforming raw materials into beautiful, usable objects, I feel a sense of continuity, a connection to the ancestry of my craft.

In designing my jewelry I use traditional and innovating
wire techniques as well as those borrowed from the textile and basket-weaving arts. Knitting, weaving, crocheting and manipulating the wire, I constantly look for new and more challenging ways of using and combining the techniques, as well as interesting ideas for incorporating stones, beads and other elements into my designs.

I prefer to use materials with lasting beauty and strength:
fine metals, precious and semi-precious stones, hand-crafted glass, unique carvings and other one-of-a-kind objects.

My inspiration comes from endlessly varied shapes in nature,
interesting architectural elements, everyday objects, beautiful tools, graceful musical instruments, other artists’ work, and many other things in the rich world around me.

My
goal is to create pieces that are visually complex, provide tactile variety and inspire curiosity.