My First Group Gallery Exhibition!

Last night my husband and I, along with our daughter and her boyfriend, attended a gallery show at Oso Art in Capitan, NM. This show featured a group of artists, and several of my pieces were included! My first group gallery exhibition. Quite a few people turned out, and it was a lot of fun, with finger foods, drinks of all sorts, and plenty of mingling and visiting. The chosen theme was “Zen,” and the manager had asked to display my polymer clay dragon pieces because she wanted pieces featuring dragons and dragonflies. Inspired, I finished three more pieces in addition to those already at the gallery. Here are pictures of the three latest polymer clay/wire wrap combo pieces that were part of the exhibition.

“Azura” — The stylized Celtic knot dragon that adorns this blue fan with its subtle chatoyant snail designs was originally one of my watercolor paintings. The dragon design was reduced and transferred to a thin sliver of translucent clay, then fused to the fan design.  A blue kyanite briolette dangles from the fan, and the necklace features kyanite ovals and pale blue freshwater pearls.

 ”Freya’s Mask” — This one-of-a-kind Art Nouveau polymer clay pendant  was influenced by some ideas in one of Donna Kato’s polymer clay books. This pendant and necklace features a dragonfly woman I’ve named Freya. Freya was the Nordic goddess of love associated with dragonflies, and this piece has subtle Nordic influences in the wire knotwork of the dragonfly’s body. Above Freya’s face is a faceted amethyst solitaire embedded in a foiled polymer clay bezel. Amethyst, dyed blue aventurine, and tiger eye beads, along with handcrafted twisted brass beads, complete the necklace.

 ”Akitsushima” — Japanese for “Land of the Dragonfly,” or possibly “The Dragonfly Island.” I’m not exactly sure, but both possibilities were mentioned in the research I did on dragonflies in Asian culture. In any case, Akitsushima is supposedly another name for Japan. This golden polymer clay pendant features iridescent green dragonflies against a background of chatoyant snail designs, which are echoed in the coiled wire embellishments. The replica Chinese coin serves as an escutcheon to protect the hole in the polymer clay, where a textured bronze-like polymer clay  bead connects to a handwoven brass wire bail. The woven bail is decorated with small peridot beads and tiger eye beads. The wire-wrapped necklace features tiger eye, etched yellow jade, and carved green jade.