Kalaya Steede

Walking into Jazz Fest last Thursday was like walking on the beach with a cool breeze wafting in from the ocean. As I approached the Contemporary Arts area the wind swirled around me and blew sand in my general direction and then Mother nature decided to sandblast me with her white sand!  Thus transporting me to my childhood days in Arizona.  Where the desert decided to sandblast me frequently. Okay so real quickly lest you get bored. Three ways to lighten your load BEFORE you enter the fair grounds. First stop, looking at your left (if you entered River Side)... Contemporary Crafts Tents Three Artists MUST sees for the last weekend of Jazz Fest. 1.  Michele A. Friedman Tent H Picture from Michele A. Friedman Michele had these beautiful earrings and necklaces that captured the vibrant colors of the rainbow but what was most fascinating was the versatility of her pieces.  You could add a blueberry to your necklace or ...

I had the most intensive Faux Bone workshop EVER!   Robert Dancik decided to play in NOLA in the month of May teaching anyone who wanted to learn about Faux Bone at Thomas Mann's studioFlux and I was up to the challenge. What is Faux Bone you ask?   Well, it is PVC but a higher grade of PVC.  It is non-toxic, malleable, can be stained, dyed, twisted, and was founded by Robert. It comes in sheets of various thickness just like metal but sawing is like cutting through butter. I started off making one of Robert's designs so I can learn everything about the Faux Bone. After cutting out my shape and sanding to make it real smooth I used a Dremel engraver to draw my designs into the bone.  Next was to make those engraved sections pop, basically just adding some acrylic paint in the crevices and then wiping the excess off.  Last was to give it a good stain to make it look as though it had been aging for thousands of years. How do you ...

Bonjour everyone! I wanted to share some exciting news.  Tinskulls will be making their debut during Art for Arts' Sake this Saturday, October 6th at Adorn and Conquer Gallery , 2038 Magazine Street!!! I will be there around 6ish so stop by, say hello, and stroll along Magazine. Tinskulls were all made from found objects, hand made rivets, recycled LA license plate and Mexican tin.  So fun to make and wear!  Tinskulls Also, do not forget to stop by and say hello to Ms. Catrina by Raquel Jasso and Jesse Bert at Thomas Mann's Gallery .  Catrina has been waiting for this weekend since August! I also want to mention that there will be a joint workshop with glass artist Ginger Kelley and Thomas Mann on October 6th-7th.  It is called... "Captured" Pendant Making .  Looks like pretty cool stuff!  Click here to find out more information. I am so excited and hope to see some of you out there on October 6th. ...

Over the next few days I will post about our journey south of the border to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  There is so much I would like to share but I just do not know where to begin.   I guess I should start at the beginning, eh?   We went to San Miguel for two reasons the elevation and to visit our friend and artist Jesse Bert .   Waking up in San Miguel was absolutely beautiful.  The temperature was cool, as compared to our New Orleans heat in August, and I was finally taking a much needed break from summer.  There are clouds about but it is rainy season, and there were just sprinkles every now and then, not downpours. View from the roof of our room. First thing we did was EAT!  We ate at this  scrumptious  breakfast place called Cafeteria Los Bisquets.  Yuumm...I can taste it still. Me trying to understand what they were saying! Next thing was to send Sam (my Sweets) off on his running trail.  ...

Hope everyone is managing to stay cool.   It is so hot outside even the mosquitoes are staying indoors and they had me for breakfast! Last weekend Thomas Mann's  studioFLUX  hosted Richard Salley .  What a great surprise when I found out Richard was going to be here in NOLA!  I have been wanting to take a workshop with him since FOREVER. It was a two day workshop about making a locket cuff.   So what did I do?   Got to see old friends... and make new ones... and made a couple of tools.   Which was totally cool!   I like making tools but I think you guys know that already.  Mr. Pointy was a scribe and then there is the bezel pusher/burnisher.  Fun to have your own tools that you make to work with. Here is my messy bench.  Everything had been etched, textured, punched, and hinged.  Putting it together is all that was left. Voilà  It was a locket for the man who had ins...

As I mentioned earlier Thomas Mann studioFLUX has been bringing in visiting artists from all over the world!  Okay maybe not ALL over the world but at least from North America.  Ha! It started with Jesse Bert from San Miguel de Allende in Mexico and now Richard Salley will be visiting from  Sante Fe, New Mexico in June. Picture by Thomas Mann studioFLUX Richard is teaching two workshops at studioFLUX ... The Found Object Pendant and Behind Closed Doors: The Locket Cuff .   Richard also just finished a workshop in Virginia at artBLISS . Beautiful pendant by Cindy Wimmer (photo by Cindy) Visit what Cindy (who was one of the workshop hosts at artBLISS ) of  Sweet Bead Studio  and  Laura of  Souvenirs From Life  had to say about it.  Ahhhhh...good times! Well it is time to go get busy at the bench.  I have procrastinated long enough. I hope everyone is having a great Friday! Namaste Kala...

Usually I post on Fridays but I did not know that Friday already passed.  It is great not knowing what day it is.  What a blissful life. Ha! I just finished taking a workshop with visiting artist,  Jesse Bert , last week at Thomas Mann studioFLUX here in NOLA.  It was pretty amazing! I do not think I have the words to describe my experience.  There is so much I want to share but I will try and keep it simple.  So...let me introduce you to El Maestro. Jesse Jesse is originally from the U.S.  Although you would not have guessed it. Anyway one day he followed his heart to San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato in Mexico and decided to stay and to never return.  Just kidding, he does come back to visit the states every now then.  What a romantic notion to runaway to Mexico, hmmm. I digress.    Jesse likes to incorporate recycled and found objects into his sculptural pieces.  I particularly like the details you see on ever...

I think it's always a good idea to take workshops if you can.   And even better if you got a friend to drag along.   My friend doesn't have any experience (none necessary) and I could use some exposure.  So we called Angele (she's AWESOME!) and signed up for Tom's Fastenation workshop here in New Orleans.  It's about time this city had some workshops!    We arrived at Thomas Mann's studio and received our supplies.  It was a box of metal, screws, headpins, faux bone, and a name tag with our names on it!   There was no one from New Orleans.  How can that be?  Me and Tysheena were the only ones.   It felt like we were at a convention.   Fun!  Anyway first things first...lecture on how to do things.  Next...time to use tools. Look at everyone.  So busy at their workbench. There's Tysheena using a hammer to give her metal some texture.   I had to remember that we were there to learn the tec...

Wow! Has it been a week?  Time is just passing me by at light speed.  And what have I done?   I haven't been making ANY art at all but I've been thinking about it.  One thing I've been doing is getting a tutorial together for my leather wrap workshop.  It's not an easy thing to do but I'm almost done.  The hardest part is the layout (pictures with text).   But my latest adventure was at Thomas Mann's I/O Gallery.  I wasn't able to make it on Art for Arts Sake.  :(  But I managed to go and take a looksy last Wednesday. Rockstar Dieting Spoon Bonnie Miller Delicious Sperm Karen Christians Free Range organic Cornfed Chicken Catherine Butler Artichoke Neckpiece Thomas Mann Bon Appetit Neckpiece Dawn Nakanishi The Peach Danielle Smith Great work by great artists!   Happy Friday everyone! Namaste Kalaya