Dana Constance Thomas of DCTdesigns.com writes about fashion and art on her well followed blog. She is also a talented artist herself.

Fashion Illustrator Dana Thomas

One of her columns, Tuesday Talent, interviews designers and artists and provides insight into their inspiration and ways of working. I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by her last month and you can see the conversation here: Tuesday Talent Interview

Dana's Illustration of Material+Movement!

For those of you in the Seattle area, I’m delighted to be having a trunk show at the Baas Studio this Saturday, February 4th from 2-5!

I’ll be setting up shop in their wonderful show room alongside painter Jeanne Edwards. Jeanne, a Northwest Native, paints beautiful scenes from everyday life.

The Yellow Dress

The Baas Studio is located at 2703 E Madison St, Seattle, WA 98112. They’re open Monday through Saturday, 10-6 so if you can’t make it for the show you can drop by and see my work anytime. Come on out and buy a little something for your Sweetheart!

With the West Coast Tour complete and the holidays coming to and end, I’m ready for a new year. But first a review of the last leg of the tour:

San Francisco was a blast, and getting there was just as fun as the Renegade Craft show itself! We skipped from I-5 to HWY 101 and drove along the stunning Pacific coast. Just past the California border we drove through the Giant Redwood forest and witnessed living trees as old as 1000 years.

The Pacific

A rare afternoon of sun along the coast!

Immersed in the forest

I tried to crawl into this colossal tree stump

This tree is close to 1000 years old

We arrived in San Francisco and had a wonderful day before the Renegade Craft Fair visiting the Museum of Modern Art and exploring the Mission district. Our hostess, Dawn Revett, is an amazing illustrator and children’s book author. Check out her brilliant images and stories here. It was great to catch up.

At the fair we saw fellow craft pals and met new talented artists, such as:

AMiRA Jewelry

Amira Jewelry

Cutesy But Not Cutesy

Cutesy But Not Cutesy

Make It Good

Make It Good

MaryKateMcDevitt

MaryKateMcDevitt

I am proud to say I sold my favorite necklace of the season:

Bird Necklace

After a successful month I was ready to head home, but we stopped in Newport, Oregon on the way to visit my brother, Derek, and his girlfriend, Brittany:

Happy Family

Derek distills liquor for the Rogue brewing company, and Brittany is a marine mammal trainer at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We were lucky to get behind the scenes tours of both attractions.

Rogue's Pot Still for making liquor

Brittany feeding the seals

Max, the Sea Lion painter

Love at first whiskery kiss

A sea lion kiss feels like a horse's nose, except larger and plumper!

Finally I arrived home, feeling spent and satisfied. This year ended with my large family coming together to celebrate my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary. What a model of accomplishment!

Grandma and Grandpa

Happy New Year everyone!

Thanksgiving has managed a sneak attack this year, and following in it’s quiet footsteps come the rush of holiday sales. I’ve piled my plate high, both with turkey and post-Thanksgiving craft shows.

For those of you in Seattle, come to the 7th annual Urban Craft Uprising show at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall December 3rd and 4th from 11am-5pm.

www.urbancraftuprising.com

They’ve expanded the show this year to offer you a better variety of artists and craftspeople. You can find me at the left-front corner of the show as you enter. Be one of the first 100 people to enter the show and receive an amazing Swag Bag, full of goodies from a lot of the vendors as well as postcards and coupons (the luckiest person will receive a pair of my earrings!)

If you can’t make it to UCU, be sure to visit FiftyfourSixteen, an artist collective featuring glass artists, jewelers, and the letterpress mavin: Jenny from Wendu Ink! They’re having a studio sale two weekends in a row, December 3-4 and 10-11 in their impressive studio – 5416 Shilshole ave NW. They’ve graciously allowed me to show with them.

So many talents! You must go

December 8th-11th I’ll be in Vancouver, B.C. for the One Of A Kind Show at the Convention center. I’m so excited to be a part of Canada’s finest craft exhibition!

www.oneofakindvancouver.com

I’ll be sharing a coveted booth with Michelle of Sew.Miishka, an amazingly talented leather bag maker that I tend to rave about from time to time.

From the far reaches of Canada I travel to San Francisco for the Renegade Craft Holiday Show December 17th and 18th at the Concourse Exhibition Center.

www.renegadecraft.com/holiday-sf

This will complete my Winter West Coast Tour and I’m looking forward to traveling all the way down the coast in a strategically packed SUV. I’ll be posting along the way and I hope to see you at some point along my travels.

Get an early start on your holiday projects with 20% off custom orders until Thanksgiving! If you have a special plate that you’d like to turn into a beautiful wearable heirloom, drop me a line and let’s make something wonderful!

For examples of past custom projects check out this post:

Custom Projects

If you don’t have your own plate, there’s lots of new pieces on Etsy waiting for you:

To purchase these and other pieces go to my Etsy shop: www.materialandmovement.etsy.com 

Chicago here I come! I’ll be there for two weeks exhibiting at the Ravenswood Remix show and the Renegade Craft show.

www.ravenswoodremix.com

Ravenswood Remix is a recycled art fair that benefits local school art programs. They’ve got workshops, live music, local food, and of course stunning art and jewelry all made from recycled materials. If you’re in the area on Labor Day weekend (September 3-4) come visit! 4100 N. Ravenswood Ave., 1 block north of Irving Park.

The fun continues September 10th and 11th in Wicker Park with the Renegade Craft Fair.

www.renegadecraft.com/chicago

Celebrating it’s 9th year, the Renegade Craft Fair is Chicago’s largest Indie Craft show and one of the most recognized in the nation.

I’m so excited to be traveling with my work and to explore Chicago during the week. If you have a favorite thing to do in Chicago let me know! There are just too many things to choose from.

This weekend, Memorial Day weekend, marks the 40th anniversary of the Folklife Festival; a four day music and dance extravaganza celebrating music, culture, and community. They always have a craft fair as part of this celebration and I’m proud to say Material+Movement will be there!

www.nwfolklifefestival.org

I’ll be spotlighting my earrings this time around with plates from early 20th century England to modern American productions.  Come visit me at Center Square May 27th through the 30th  from 11am to 11pm except….

Saturday night at 7pm when I will be teaching a blues dancing workshop at Fisher Pavilion in between live blues bands! Dancing is another passion of mine and you can find me teaching or DJing in the blues community at least once a week.

I had an interview with the ladies from Urban Craft for this event, check it out here: Material+Movement Spotlight

So come dance with me and visit my awesome booth at Folklife.

Remember a few posts back when I told you about Lizzie and her coveted ceramic shard she found when she was eight years old? I finished her necklace and am proud to say she now wears this sentimental artifact every day around her neck!

Before:

Lizzie's Ceramic Piece

After:

Lizzie's Necklace

One of my favorite custom projects involved a bag of old broken china from a man who wanted to make a 15 piece necklace for his wife to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary. The shards were from his grandmother’s cherished collection. I think it turned out lovely….

Happy Anniversary!

Necklace Detail

The best thing about doing custom projects is knowing the object you’re creating already has so much meaning to the person it’s being created for. I’m honored to be a part of that.

For those of you in Seattle, don’t forget this is the last weekend of our studio sale, happening Saturday and Sunday from 10-7. The address is 4136 Meridian ave N, around back!