Lorena Angulo

"Cultural Messages: Symbolism Through the Ages" Exhibition at Perdue University

2010-03-05T04:51:00.007-06:00

I am honored to be part of the "Cultural Messages: Symbolism Through the Ages" Exhibition at Perdue University during the PMC Conference 2010.

My piece selected was my copper clay "Calavera" that symbolized the Day of the Dead in my culture from Mexico. We celebrate the loves ones that have died by honoring them with alters and skulls that represent them in life.

For my culture, dead it is not something that we need to be sad or scare of, on the other hand, we celebrate our loves ones for what they lived and their love for life and family.

It is a pleasure to share some of my traditions with my work and I am going to be very happy to part of these group of talented artists in the exhibition.

The exhibition was curated by the PMC Guild Director Jeanette Landenwitch specifically for the conference.

The making of...

2010-02-18T06:47:00.004-06:00

Some of my friends have asked me how it is the process of making my skulls or masks and I thought that images can say more than words.
I created these collages with some of my photos that I always take during the making of my pieces.
I hope you like them !!!

Love,
Lorena

A little about my life.

2010-02-16T08:10:00.016-06:00

This picture means a lot to me ! I took it for a challenge I got myself into this year to make one ring a day for the whole year.

Why is this photo so important to me, you may ask.

I was diagnosed with Diabetes type 2 last year at the end of May. For me to find out about this was devastating because I am young and have two small children.

Although I knew I will have a big possibility to have diabetes because it runs in my family, I did not pay attention to it and just let go of myself. I gained a lot of weight since I have my first kid and did not loose it. Being overweight triggered my illness and made it present in my life sooner.

I will never forget the day my doctor told me, "You have diabetes and I will explain to you what can happen to you if you do not control it."

He was very REAL and I knew he was not making the problem bigger because I have seen what diabetes can do to you and your family. A dear uncle die last year of this illness and it was very sad.

I was scared and cried with my husband a lot !!! But the second day I got my plan together and started to take control of my life and my health. I knew what I have to do and I was positive I will control my diabetes by eating healthy and taking my medication.

Medication is not the only answer, what we eat plays a crucial role in our control. It will not matter how much medication you take if you are not eating healthy and exercise.

Since then I have lost almost 40 pounds and let me tell you, I am eating very good !!!

There are some days, like today, that my sugar is not normal but everything can get out of control just because you may be getting a cold or having stress.

I know I am doing a great job but days like today make me feel a little sad because I remember again that I am living with Diabetes and it will never go away. I will control it but I will live with it forever.

I am fortunate to have the big support of my husband and kids, they are my big motivations and I will live healthy for them and me.

You may be thinking why am I writing about this in my blog and the answers is this:

I am writing this in my blog because I want to share my experience and inform you about this silent illness.

Take care and all my love for you all !!

Haiti Ring Auction !

2010-02-02T11:39:00.009-06:00

Come and visit the "Haiti ring auction" to help the people from Haiti.

Artists got together and donated beautiful rings to help in this terrible disaster.

Every day two new rings will be in display to be auction, all the process will be going to an organization that is helping Haiti.

My ring is made with pure silver metal clay and has a beautiful LOS patina, the size of this ring is 8.

Superbowl 2010 !

2010-01-28T17:51:00.007-06:00

Sorry!!! If you thought this was going to be about football, it is NOT!

I am talking about a bowl that I made to celebrate the coming Superbowl.

A group of artists is going to be making a bowl to celebrate this event and I decided to make it with copper clay.
Copper clay is the newest of the metal clays in the market and I LOVE IT !!!!
The color and feeling of this wonderful metal creates beautiful pieces.

In this collage you can see a little of the process for making a piece with metal clay. I am always trying to make bigger and bigger pieces, this is my third bowl or pot that I make. The first one was bronze and it is only 1.30 inches, the second one was copper and it is only 2.20 inches by 2 inches. This bowl is about 3.40 inches by 3 inches.

I fired my metal clay bowl at full ramp up to 1700 F and hold it in that temperature for 3 hours, my final bowl came out great with some imperfections but I will learn from them !!!

Artists united for HAITI.

2010-01-15T09:34:00.002-06:00

As we all know, the beautiful people from Haiti is suffering a lot after the terrible earthquake.
This country is one of the poorest countries in this continent but despite their living conditions the Haitians are people who live life to the fullest. They are happy people and know they are suffering and need our help.
A wonderful group of artist by the hand of Thomasin Durgin is organizing a Haiti Ring Auction. Each artist, me included, is going to donate a handcrafted ring to this auction and the money collected will be donated to a charity that is helping Haiti.
The auction will take place on Ebay and as soon as I have more information about this I will post it in my blog.
Please, if you want to help this is a great opportunity to do it. You will give a hand to Haiti by buying one of the rings in the auction.
If you want to be informed about this event please send me an email, info@lorenaangulo.com, and I will let you know when the auction will be active on Ebay.
Check my blog for future information.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Love, Lorena

"Ring a Day"

2010-01-04T19:00:00.000-06:00

A wonderful idea came to life in Flickr about creating a Ring a Day for the whole year.

This is a wonderful opportunity to make anyone use their creativity every day.

Although it is a challenge , I am willing to take the opportunity and make a Ring a Day.

The rings can be made with whatever you have in hand and this makes the challenge more creative and fun.

Thanks to Lora Hart, who share this information in Facebook, I joined the group and Today I made 4 rings to catch up for the days I missed already.

If you want to take a look at all the rings made by very creative artist, visit the group's page in Flickr, the name of the group is "Ring a Day."

Enjoying Texas !

2009-12-27T13:35:00.000-06:00

We live in San Antonio and have so many wonderful towns close to the city that we decided to have lunch Yesterday with my parents in Fredericksburg, Texas. On our way back we stop in Johnson City with the kids to see how this wonderful little town decorates the town for Christmas.

Christian and Veronica in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Johnson City, Texas

My parents with my kids in a wonderful German restaurant in Fredericksburg, Texas.

"Daily Survival Kit"

2009-12-19T08:57:00.007-06:00

A good neighbor had a Holiday party yesterday and she gave us this survival kit that I really liked so I want to share it with you ;-}.

TOOTHPICK is remind you to pick out the good qualities in others.

RUBBER BAND is to remind you to be flexible. Things might not always go the way you want, but they will work out.

BAND-AID is to remind you to heal hurt feelings, yours or someone else's.

PENCIL is to remind you to list your blessings everyday.

CHEWING GUM is to remind you to stick with it. You can accomplish anything!

MINT is to remind you that you are worth a mint.

CANDY KISS is to remind you that everyone needs a kiss or hug everyday.

TEA BAG is to remind you to relax daily and go over your list of blessings.

Finally I finish my ring and pendant.

2009-12-12T05:38:00.006-06:00

I mentioned I will be posting my final piece with the copper etched and my ring with the reticulation.
I finished the copper etched piece and I like it so much that I decided to make earrings for the pendant.

The earrings were not rivet because they are very small and I did not wanted to miss any detail in the copper etched. I soldered the copper to the brass.

This is my ring I made using the techniques I learned in my metals class.
I have my reticulation in silver all the way on the top of my ring with some LOS to give the reticulation more personality ;-}. I wanted to play with layers and I used brass, faux bone and my silver to create this piece.
The way I attached my layers was my soldering two brass tubes to my first brass layer and then solder that piece to my sterling ring band. Finally I ensemble the layers one by one and riveted the tubes.
I enjoyed a lot making this ring and I will be making more in the future !

Next Show of the Season.

2009-11-25T18:04:00.004-06:00

This year I was invited to be part of a group of artist for the annual Holiday open house organized by The Southwest School of Art and Craft.
This wonderful art event is named Art-i-copia.
If you live in the area I will love to see you there ! ;-}

Having fun in my metals class

2009-11-24T10:42:00.013-06:00

I have been taking metals classes since 2006 and I LOVE them but it was very funny that since then I never had a class about etching, cold joins and inlay.
When I knew this class was going to be open in South West School of Art and Craft given by Gary Schott, I was very excited.
We did etching using a saline solution that can etch your metal in one hour ! I was surprise to see how fast and easy this can be. I love the texture I got in my copper metal piece.

I had a 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches piece of copper etched and I love the final results, when I had my piece I started to look for possibilities to make a jewelry piece with the etching.

This is what I came out with ! I will be attaching my etched metal to the brass with three brass rivets. This is going to be a necklace. The brass chain that will be added in my piece will have Mexican Milagros charms hanging from it.

The inlay technique was very fun to make. I used a copper sheet and soldered brass wire to it for the inlaying. When I had my piece finish I decided to make hearts with it.
As you may have notice already ;-} I am obsess with hearts. I will never get bored with making them, every heart I make has a very particular feeling and I really like that.

This was my first piece I made with my inlay. The heart was attached to the brass with the stilt tab technique that I learned during our cold joins section of the class.

These earrings were attached by soldering the hearts to the brass metal.

My final piece with my inlay is this big Heart pendant. I used the stilt tab connection in this piece too.

I also learned to do reticulation in this class but to be very honest with you ;-} I was not very good at it !!!! I love the look of the reticulation in silver but I will have to keep working on that.
With my reticulation I will make a ring. I will post my ring project in a later day.
In general I was very happy on this class, I learned a lot of new techniques that I am sure I will be using a lot in my future designs.
Thanks Gary for such a wonderful class !!!!!

New Adventures with Bronze Clay

2009-11-15T09:17:00.005-06:00

I love to work with metal clays and create a lot of different designs but I notice that although I LOVE to wear bracelets or cuffs I have not made almost any of them.

A really good friend of mine is celebrating her 30 years anniversary with her wonderful store here in San Antonio and she is organizing an event for next month for the celebration. She invited some artist to make bracelets ( her favorite jewelry piece) to make an incredible "Bracelet Show."

I was one of the lucky ones to get invited and this invitation made me think about why I have not been making any bracelets.

I am happy to participate in this event and also I am happy to have the opportunity to experiment with bracelets designs with metal clay.

The first design I have in my head was of two angels holding a big heart in the center and the best metal clay for the feeling I wanted in the design was bronze clay.

As you can see the angels are not holding the heart in my final design. I decided to change a little the form in the moment I was working with the piece but I am happy with the new design. ;-}

This piece was a challenge for me because is formed by pieces that I assembled together little by little.

The heart was made first, then I made the faces and carved them, my next step was to hand sculpt the torsos, then the lower part of the dresses, the arms, one wing in each angel, the other wing and add the hearts in their arms and finally attached the angels to the heart.

I was afraid the piece will not fired in one piece but when I took the cuff out of the charcoal and saw her in one piece, I was VERY happy !!!!!!

Now I have to anneal the piece to be able to recover the form of the cuff.

This will be my last test to confirm if my cuff is perfectly sinter.

Muertitos Fest 2009

2009-11-09T09:40:00.008-06:00

We had a great time last week, November 6, at the Muertitos Fest at Say Si in San Antonio.

This wonderful organization has been making this fest for three years and they showed the incredible art work of their students during this fest. All the work and exhibitions are related to the day of the dead in Mexico.

My students had their pieces exhibited in the gallery and I was happy to see that almost all the pieces were sold ;-}. They did an amazing job !

If you live in the area you must have to come visit them and make your plans for next year fest!

My kids were very happy to see all the wonderful art and the altars. I enjoyed telling them about the meaning of every piece they saw !

More work by the talented students at Say Si.

Some of my students work and my necklace in the gallery.

I Love this skull !!!!!!!

I am the Site of the week at All Things Metal Clay.

2009-10-26T09:04:00.003-05:00

I was selected to be the Site of the week at All Things Metal Clay .
Elaine Luther has a wonderful blog were she talks about metal clay and
the jewelry business. She not only writes about metal clay but gives you a guide in a lot of topics that are very helpful for anyone in the art business.
She talks about techniques, selling online, about inspiration, information about contests and call for entries and much more.
Thank You Elaine for having me as your Site of the week!

Say Si Bronzclay class.

2009-10-24T19:09:00.009-05:00

Thank You to Morgan, Amber, Ruby, Camille, Lou Lou and Luke !

I had a great time working with you all !

All the pieces from the workshop.

Ruby's Sacred Heart.

Morgan's Flower and Sacred Heart.

Morgan's Sacred Heart and Sun.

Bronzclay Workshop at Say Si.

2009-10-23T09:23:00.018-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I got the wonderful opportunity to teach a workshop with metal clay at Say Si in San Antonio, Texas.

Say Si is an amazing organization that serves the youth with a year round non-profit multidisciplinary arts program that provides students ,from middle school and high school age, opportunities to develop artistic and social skills.

The workshop was focus on making pieces, sacred hearts, for their annual day of the dead festival exhibition. The third Annual Muertitos fest will take place in November 5, 6 and 7.

The students that were chosen to be part of the class were Camille, Morgan, Amber, Lou Lou, Ruby and Luke. They all are very talented and creative, each one of them designed their own pieces and did a great job.

All of my students were very curious to work with this new medium, they could not believe that the clay will convert into metal. For me the experience was very educational too. They were so natural and did not hesitate at all when creating their work. They took the medium without any fears and I think that is the best way to approach any challenge. The only tools I gave them were a pvc tube to roll the clay, a polymer clay heart to form the volume of their piece, a neddle tool, x-acto and a carving tool.

Altough we have some little problems , like breaking the pieces, I was there to help them recover the work and fixed the broken pieces. they were always in a good mood and ready to fix the problem.

At the end each of them make their two sacred hearts and because we have some clay left I told them they could make another piece. In our 11 hours class we manage to created almost 20 pieces in all.

Ruby's first Sacred Heart

Ruby's Virgen of Guadalupe

Amber's Sacred Heart

Lou Lou's Sacred doble crown heart

Lou Lou's Sun and Moon

Lou Lou's Sacred Heart

Camille's Sacred heart

Camille's Sacred Heart

Luke's Calavera

Luke's Sacred Heart

Luke's Calavera earrings.

PMC Guild Annual Exceptional Work in Metal Clay: 2009

2009-10-13T00:20:00.007-05:00

I have submitted pictures of my work for two years to the PMC Guild Annual and I have been lucky to be admitted in the two years.

This year was full of surprises for me because this time I had the honor to be on the back cover with amazing artist : Julia Rai and Maggie Bergman.

The front cover piece is by another amazing artist, Donna Penoyer, her work is incredible too.

The book includes the work of 63 artists from eight countries and 25 states in the USA.

"Tree of Life"

Bronzclay, gesso and acrylics.

3.5 inches high

Photo by George Post

"Oaxaca Pot"

Bronzclay

1.5 inch diameter

Photo by George Post

Dia de Muertos

2009-10-08T00:33:00.004-05:00

Mexico is a country with a lot of colors, with wonderful traditions and a culture that it is transmitted from generation to generation.
I have been out of my country for more than 10 years and my two kids were born in the USA.
I have always talked to them about my country and my traditions and we celebrate a lot of them here.
The Day of the dead, Dia de Muertos, is a celebration that brings me to my childhood in Chiapas, Mexico. I remember I was never scare of it because we learned to respect dead and celebrate the continuation of life every day.
We celebrate and remember the family members that pass away by honoring them with happiness about the wonderful life they had.

This wonderful tradition is very old in my country, when the Spanish came to my country they tried to convert the native indigenous to a new religion and new ways of living but they could not make them stop celebrating Dia de Muertos.

Originally Dia de Muertos was celebrated for a whole month in the end of July and beginning of August, when the Catholic priests saw they could not stop them from celebrating this day they decided to moved it to only two days to coincide with their own "All saints and all souls day" in November 1st and 2nd.

All this incredible memories have inspired me to make "Calaveras" in my work. I really enjoy designing them and then making them came alive in silver, bronze or copper.

I love to show my kids my Calaveras and they like them a lot.

They are my biggest fans ;-} and this creates an opportunity to talk to them about the day of the dead.

Keeping my tradition alive from generation to generation ! ;-}

2010 Metal Clay Calendar

2009-10-08T00:12:00.003-05:00

I have been very fortunate this whole year with my work, my big passion in life is my family but the other big passion is making and creating my jewelry.

I got the wonderful news that I was going to be in another calendar with some of my Etsy Metal Clay team artists.

2010 Metal Clay Calendar by Marjorie Windman Oxman is a wonderful showcase of beautiful pieces of art and I am sure you will love them all.

The Art and Design of Metal Clay Jewelry.

2009-10-04T16:47:00.009-05:00

I am very happy to have my pendant, Arbol de Vida, be part of the 2010 The Art and Design of Metal Clay calendar by Holly Gage.

The calendar is available for pre-order and features the work of some of the most innovative metal clay jewelry designers.

In the calendar you will also find information about jewelry conferences and competition deadlines.

There is a limited printing in this calendar so order yours now ! ;-}

Metal Clay Guru is Online !

2009-09-30T20:23:00.012-05:00

I was fortunate to be approach to be part of a new site called Metal Clay Guru.

This new site is focus on metal clay and has a lot of information and tips. Everyone that is working with metal clay or is thinking in doing it will find this site very helpful.

Metal Clay Gury will be full of information and has a wonderful artists and gallery section where anyone can see some of the best work in metal clay. You will be inspire by the work of these amazing artists.

I am very fortunate to be part of these group of artists that I have admire for a long time.

Their work inspire me to make more pieces and be more in love with this new medium.

You will see work from artists like Gordon K Uyehara, Lora Hart, Sherri Haab, Lesley Messam,

Liz Hall, Margaret Schindel and Tim McCreight, just to mention some of them.

Come and take a look to this great new site, you will like it !

40

2009-08-28T10:50:00.005-05:00

I am celebrating my 4oth birthday Today and I can say that I am happy with my 40 years lived.

I have a great husband that since the first day has giving me so much and that everyday tells me he loves me and is very proud of me.
I LOVE YOU JORGE !

I have two amazing kids that make my life very interesting and never boring.

I LOVE YOU CHRISTIAN AND VERONICA.

You all complete me !!

Life is beautiful and I am thankful for that !

Memories of the most difficult experience in our lives.

2009-08-08T15:17:00.010-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I was doing an intensive cleaning and reorganization of my home studio when I came upon a box with some items of my daughter Veronica's journey in the NICU when she was born.

Looking at this items brought me so many memories about the hard times we had when Veronica was born three months early with only 1 lb 11 oz of weight.
This hard times teach us so many things about life and since that day we see life in a different way.
My daughter teach us big lessons during her journey in the hospital.

I was hospitalized when I was 25 weeks pregnant because they notice I was 3 centimeters dilated and they told me I had to be in total bed rest, after a very difficult week in bed rest I had a terrible hemorrhage that put my life and my daughter's at risk so I had to have an emergency c-section.

I will never forget the face of my husband when I saw him sitting in a little corner of the room while more than 8 doctors were running and screaming.

Veronica was born in March 30, 2002 in Trenton , New Jersey.
I was not able to see her until three days later because I was recovering from my c-section.

This was Veronica's first diaper, they were so big on her!!

Veronica needed to have this tube in her nose for a long time, even though this tube was the smallest for preemies, it was still too big for Veronica.

The nurses at the NICU were always so nice and supportive to all the parents. They always make little decorations to celebrate all the progress of the babies. As you can see in this pictures, Veronica had her first tiny bottle of milk in June and she finally weighted 4 POUNDS in May.

When Veronica was a month old I was able to hold her in my arms for the first time.

I will never forget this moment, they let me have her for only 2o seconds.

The most emotional 20 seconds of my life!!

Veronica fought a lot of battles during her three months in the NICU, she got very sick but she always came back stronger. She never let it go, she was and still is a fighter.

My husband, Jorge, was my biggest support and I will always be thankful of having him in my life. We both had our moments of weakness but we knew how to lift our spirits up and keep on going.

Veronica was our best example of keep on going during bad times.

This was my picture with Veronica on Mother's Day.

She was getting better and better.

My beautiful son, Christian, was able to see his sister for the first time when she was almost two months old.

I think Veronica knew she was coming home soon, she started to smile and was very active during the day.

Finally Veronica came home in June 29, a day short of her being three months old.

All the nurses were so happy and finally they let go and cried with us but this time it was of happiness.

My parents were very important during all this time because they came to help me with my son since I was three months pregnant. They took care of him and they were a big support for my husband and me. Having them with me let me be with Veronica everyday of the three months she spend in the hospital.

I love my parents !!!

Veronica celebrated her 7th birthday this past March 30.

She is a very happy, energetic and very PERSISTENT ;-} little girl that enjoys life to the fullest.

I made a Video !

2009-07-18T10:21:00.004-05:00

I have been thinking in making a video with a collage of pictures of my jewelry so this morning I decided to make one in my Picasa photo album and downloaded to YouTube under this name Lorena Angulo.