Lorena Angulo

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Happy Summer to all !!

I am so sorry I have been so quiet in my blog this year. Lots of new opportunities are coming my way and I have been very busy. I can not say that I am sad about it because I am learning so much and having a great time, but I do missed writing in the blog and sharing with all of you what I am doing.
The kids are out of school now and we are getting ready to spend a wonderful summer with them. They did a great job at school and deserve to have a trip maybe next month.
What are your plans for summer? Are you traveling or taking any classes?
I will be going to the last PMC Conference at the end of this month and although I am sad because it will be the last, I can not wait to be there and see again wonderful friends and meet some of them for the first time.
If you are going to the PMC Conference, SEE YOU THERE !!
I am also teaching a class at SSA in July, my class name is PMC3: Making a Hollow Ring.
I have also been busy making new pieces and working more with Sterling PMC, I am very happy about this type of metal clay.

Here are some of my new pieces.

FAMILIA (Family)
©2012 Lorena Angulo
PMC3 and Sterling

FOLK BIRD
©2012 Lorena Angulo
Sterling PMC and Sterling chain

LOVEBIRDS
©2012 Lorena Angulo

I have also been working on some pieces I will display at the Dia de los Muertos: La Ofrenda altar at SSA. I was invited to be the lead artists and I am enjoying making these pieces and much more to come for that event.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Metal Clay & Color

I am very happy to share with all of you that I am part of a wonderful new book coming up this summer. I was invited to be part of a group of artists who will share projects made with metal clay and different mediums to add color. The book's name is Metal Clay & Color by Kalmbach Books and complied by Mary Wohlgemuth.

20 leading artists (Janet Alexander, Lorena Angulo, Lorrene Baum-Davis, Maggie Bergman, Pat Bolgar, Susan Breen Silvy, Barbara Briggs, Sandra Butchko, Catherine Davies Paetz, Pam East, Joy Funnell, Vickie Hallmark, Hadar Jacobson, Patricia Kimle, Irina Miech, Kim Otterbein, Cindy Pankopf, Cindy Silas, Jewelyn Vanoni and Michela Verani ) contributed ideas and projects for adding color to metal clay.

I created two projects for the book with bronzclay and added color using Creative paperclay and Gilders Paste, I will also have some images of my work for the gallery.

I am sure you will be inspired by the 25 projects included in the book.

Humor in Craft by Brigitte Martin

Since I learned about the title of this book, I was very curious to see what the book was going to be about.
Humor in Craft is a wonderful book showcasing incredible pieces of art, the title could not be more perfect. The author Brigitte Martin, who is the creator and editor of Crafthaus , features a wonderful array of art works from artists around the world.
The book itself is beautifully made and has great quality, a perfect book to have in any coffee table for everyone to enjoy.
Every page is filled with great images of pieces made with all different types of materials and mediums, each representing the personal way every artists views and makes humor be part of their work.
Schiffer books is known for publishing very nice gallery type books and this one is no exception.
Brigitte Martin did a great job putting together this beautiful book, it is definitively a book to have in any art studio or home of anyone who enjoys and appreciates art.

Monday, May 7, 2012

I am the Lead Artist for Dia de los Muertos: La Ofrenda at Southwest School of Art

It is a great honor to have been invited to be the Lead Artist for Dia de los Muertos: La Ofrenda at the wonderful Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, Texas.

I am very happy to have the opportunity to share this wonderful tradition from my country, Mexico, with all the community in San Antonio.

Southwest School of Art has been doing the altars for years and this time I will lead this wonderful event.

The invitation came at the best moment for me after having a very difficult summer in 2011 when I lost three very important family members.

This will give me the incredible opportunity to make a day of the dead altar to honor them and all my other family members that are not with us any more in body, but they will always be with us in spirit.

I will make my best to transmit why the altars are so important in our culture and why we see dead in a totally different way.

Hope you will come to see it if you live in San Antonio and the surrounding areas, I will love to see you there.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

New pieces in my Arbol de Vida Collection

Since I started making and designing my jewelry I have been making various trees of life in different forms. I always love the symbolic meaning of the "Arbol de Vida" and it has been my passion to make them all the time.

The tree of life represent the union between earth and heaven. It was said that the founder gods in Mexico came down to earth through the trees. I love to make them using flowers and birds because they represent new life, hope and love.

My latest piece is going to be a necklace and I am still working in it. It gives me joy to see this piece come alive little by little.

My other pieces in this collection are one more brooch and earrings. Every piece I design is unique and have the same feeling of nostalgia about the wonderful folk art from my beautiful country, Mexico.

Amor
©2012 Lorena Angulo
PMC3 (silver)

Arbol de Vida Esperanza
(tree of life hope)
©2012 Lorena Angulo
PMC3 (silver)

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The making of my "Tree of Life" brooch

Going back to my first days when I played with metal clay, I still remember how confusing this material was for me at the beginning. I already started taking silversmithing classes at Southwest School of Art and my mind was use to the rough playing with hammers, jeweler saws and metal sheets. Metal clay was such a confusion but I knew I will like it.

I played with metal clay two or three times and then I just decided to leave it on the side and focus on my metalsmithing work. It was until I took a casting class that I totally understood what this wonderful new material will do for me.

Casting is an option but I did not have the equipment to do it in my home, this is why metal clay was the perfect option.

I love to hand sculpt and carve and metal clay will give me the amazing opportunity to make pieces I have always had in my design note book. My designs are very three dimensional and with lots of details, metal clay will make all my ideas come to reality.

Since that day I have not been able to stop creating with metal clay, I still do some fabrication work but most of my pieces are made with metal clay. I absorbed myself into this way of working with the material, time can fly by and I feel like I have only been minutes working. I am so relax and happy hand sculpting and carving every detail in all my work and finally yesterday I finished my first brooch I made with my tree of life design.

The Tree of Life (Arbol de Vida) is one of my symbolic pieces, I have made it into earrings, pendants, necklaces and cuffs. Now it was my turn to make it as a brooch.

I am a passionate about detailing my work with a lot of attention in every side of my pieces. Spending time to make nice and clean finishing in the front is as important as taking your time to do the same on the back. I am not only talking about having a secret detail on the back, I am talking about having a clean and nice finishing. Craftsmanship is very important and we all must take our time to do so.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

My Reliquary Collection 2012

I am so happy to share with you all about this new project I am working on this year. I started drawing reliquary designs a while ago but it was until now that I started to make them.

I can honestly tell you that the time I have spent making them has been a great journey. I only draw a small idea in paper but the actual finished project comes alive while I am working with it. I design following my heart and most of the time ideas just flow in the moment.

I have spent whole nights working but very happy !!!

Here I will show you my first finished necklace in this new collection.

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