Melissa J Tyson

Neverland

2011-12-09T17:09:00.001-05:00

"One piece of very important knowledge did come out of all his trickery, however, and it was the truth that empowered him, namely that ultimate power rests on the boundary between two worlds – the world of reality and the world of illusion. If you can make people believe something of your dream, it will cleave to their perception of reality and they will cede control to you. Every magician, every religious leader, every politician knows this to be true."

Piers Dugeon
Neverland

December

2011-11-28T12:23:00.000-05:00

It's a big work month - making jewelry during the week and selling on the weekends. I love the crazy momentum. My work excels, but my lifestyle usually takes a turn for the worse.

Earrings

2011-11-27T17:54:00.000-05:00

In New England? Go visit Alloy Gallery's holiday gift show, "earcandy." I have a few new earrings there, including this sterling silver and ruby pair.

A Field Guide to Getting Lost

2011-11-25T00:18:00.002-05:00

"Worry is a way to pretend that you have knowledge or control over what you don't – and it surprises me, even in myself, how much we prefer ugly scenarios to the pure unknown."

Rebecca Solnit
A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Yves Klein

2011-11-23T01:08:00.001-05:00

Fire Paintings. You can see much more at the Yves Klein Archives.

Yves Klein

2011-11-22T13:07:00.000-05:00

"The composition, even the texture of my paintings, is the texture of the pictorial matter; it must be highly effaced, intensely worked, strong, and serious, in order to permit the display in all its splendor – color."

Yves Klein
Overcoming the Problematics of Art

Process

2011-11-22T01:06:00.000-05:00

Some of the steps involved in making my Terrain brooches.
1 - pure silver and copper for the alloy
2 - thoroughly melting the metal
3 - rolling out the ingots
4 - shaping and the final piece

Working

2011-11-16T08:10:00.001-05:00

A Case of Identity

2011-11-14T10:24:00.001-05:00

"Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would dare not to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable."

Arthur Conan Doyle

"A Case of Identity"

Gems & Lockets

2011-11-13T23:50:00.001-05:00

The Mountain Goats

2011-11-08T11:03:00.001-05:00

I wish he would come tell me stories while I work.

Concerning the Spiritual in Art

2011-11-07T08:18:00.001-05:00

"It is the conviction that nothing mysterious can ever happen in our everyday life that has destroyed the joy of abstract thought."

Wassily Kandinsky
Concerning the Spiritual in Art

Pale Blue Dot

2011-11-05T05:41:00.001-04:00

"In some respects, science has far surpassed religion in delivering awe. How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The universe is much bigger than our prophets said – grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed'? Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.' A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by conventional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge."

Carl Sagan
Pale Blue Dot

Images of Mercury from The New York Times.
You might also want to read this interesting article about the wonders of the brain.

South Pole

2011-11-04T09:08:00.001-04:00

Photos of the South Pole by Captain Robert Falcon Scott from 1910-13.
From The New York Times.

The Rum Diary

2011-10-23T14:45:00.000-04:00

"I had a flash of something I hadn't felt since my first months in Europe–a mixture of ignorance and a loose, 'what the hell' kind of confidence that comes on a man when the wind picks up and he begins to move in a hard straight line toward an unknown horizon."

Hunter S. Thompson
The Rum Diary

Chicago

2011-10-23T08:02:00.005-04:00

Yves Klein

2011-10-22T05:51:00.001-04:00

If I only succeeded ... for just one day!
To love
each of the moments
of my life
with enthusiasm.
I truly wish to believe
that at the end of the day
I would be no more
than a small pile
of ashes.

Yves Klein

New Rings

2011-10-21T10:30:00.001-04:00

Gowanus

2011-10-20T18:41:00.000-04:00

Sometimes the view here is beautiful.

The Doctor Will See You Now

2011-10-20T13:51:00.001-04:00

"But don't worry, Ralph. I have the answer. My own life has been exceedingly strange, of late. I went through one of those giddy periods where I believed what people told me, and naturally it ended in grief."

Hunter S. Thompson
Generation of Swine

Graph

2011-08-12T10:45:00.000-04:00

Paris-Delhi-Bombay...

2011-08-11T07:24:00.001-04:00

I went to see this show at the Centre Pompidou multiple times when I was in Paris in July. It was one of the best overall shows I have ever seen. My favorite, by far, was Kader Attia's three screen video, Collages.
Read an overview of the show here.

Shit City

2011-08-10T09:04:00.000-04:00

Shit City is a webcomic by Colignon Porc-Épic aka Colin Kane Healey. You should probably start following it right now, but first, I recommend catching up from the beginning. If you still haven't had enough, you can see Colin's other work here.
Enjoy.

New Things

2011-08-09T08:26:00.001-04:00

Brooke Marks-Swanson

2011-06-25T11:00:00.000-04:00

Painted copper brooches at Gallery Loupe.

Northside Market

2011-06-23T20:39:00.001-04:00

This weekend, come visit the new Northside Market on the corner of North 6th & Kent in Williamsburg, where several friends and I will she showing and selling work all summer.
I will be participating on Saturday, June 25 and Kerrie Yeung will be there with her jewelry on Sunday.
We both have some new pieces to share - see you there!

West Virginia

2011-06-14T18:06:00.000-04:00

Francis Alÿs

2011-06-10T11:16:00.004-04:00

Go see this.

Abelardo Morell

2011-06-09T09:01:00.000-04:00

Photographs taken by Abelardo Morell of live scenes projected onto the nearby ground using his "tent camera".

Studio

2011-06-08T06:22:00.006-04:00

West Virginia

2011-06-07T18:06:00.000-04:00

Kerrie Yeung

2011-05-15T13:18:00.000-04:00

Some of Kerrie's newer bracelets.

Pittsburgh

2011-05-13T13:39:00.000-04:00

I went back to Pittsburgh for a little visit. It put on its best weather for me.
On the way I finished reading T.C. Boyle's World's End. So good - read it.

Patternity

2011-04-21T12:05:00.001-04:00

From Patternity.

Connections

2011-04-20T19:01:00.001-04:00

Some of Kerrie's beads crawled into my pile of coral. Happy to share a studio.

God's Eyes

2011-04-04T16:53:00.001-04:00

My newest necklaces.

Brene Brown

2011-04-03T18:28:00.002-04:00

Iggy Pop

2011-03-22T12:26:00.000-04:00

Kate Nielsen

2011-03-21T12:09:00.001-04:00

Kate Nielsen has joined Jamsnation. Take a look at her Survival Tips or go to her website, browse her other work, and maybe have her paint your portrait.

Reading List

2011-03-11T21:23:00.000-05:00

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea - Charles Seife
For the Time Being - Annie Dillard
A Natural History of the Senses - Diane Ackerman
World's End - T.C. Boyle
Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature - Marcus Du Sautoy

Green Thumb

2011-03-05T05:18:00.000-05:00

The fantastic apartment garden of Kate Nielsen.

Girl Talk

2011-03-04T04:36:00.000-05:00

Charts

2011-03-03T13:18:00.000-05:00

I'm up to something new.

Mail

2011-02-22T22:42:00.000-05:00

A birthday package from the wonderful Megan Page Bullock mysteriously appeared after a few weeks lost in the mail.
It was the best surprise.

Work

2011-02-12T12:14:00.002-05:00

True to Life

2011-02-11T12:13:00.001-05:00

"About sixty years ago," he concluded, "most educated people could draw in quite a skillful way. Which meant they could tell other people about certain experiences in a certain way. Their visual delights could be expressed...Today people don't draw very much. They use the camera. My point is, they're not truly, perhaps, expressing what it was they were looking at – what it was about it that delighted them – and how that delight forced them to make something of it, to share the experience, to make it vivid to somebody else. If the few skills that are needed in drawing are not treated seriously by everybody, eventually it will die. And then all that will be left is the photographic ideal which we believe too highly of."

Lawrence Weschler
True to Life: Twenty-Five Years of Conversation with David Hockney

Rocky Horror

2011-02-08T18:07:00.000-05:00

Grids

2011-01-31T10:33:00.000-05:00

Antarctica

2011-01-28T10:43:00.000-05:00

Stills from Encounters at the End of the World.

Green Ice Brooch

2011-01-25T14:23:00.000-05:00

Now up on JAMSNATION.

Blizzard

2011-01-23T01:00:00.000-05:00

Time Lapse NYC Snow Blizzard by K Taro Hashimura.

Any Goldsworthy

2011-01-22T00:23:00.001-05:00

Andy Goldsworthy's walls at Storm King Art Center.

Edison's Laboratory

2011-01-21T09:18:00.000-05:00

Encounters at the End of The World

2011-01-20T12:12:00.000-05:00

If I were you, I'd track down this movie and watch it.

Studio

2011-01-18T00:27:00.000-05:00

Back to work.

Edison's Laboratory

2011-01-16T11:56:00.000-05:00

Edison is an hero of mine. His laboratory complex is full of amazing workshops and storerooms.
Go see it for yourself in West Orange, NJ.

Holiday Recipe

2010-11-24T09:30:00.001-05:00

Gingerbread

1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoon ground ginger

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ cup molasses

½ cup boiling water

½ cup vegetable oil

Lemon Glaze (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.

2. Sift Dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl. Add egg, sugar and molasses. Mix well.

3. Pour boiling water and the oil over the mixture. Stir thoroughly until smooth.

4. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until top springs back when touched and the edges have pulled away slightly from the sides of the pan.

5. While the gingerbread is still hot, pour glaze over top and cool in the pan, set on a rack.

Lemon Glaze

2/3 Cup confectioners’ sugar

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Sift sugar into a bowl; add lemon juice and mix well.

This is my very favorite thing to bake. It is from The Silver Palate Cook Book, which has many other great deserts. It takes a little timing–it is best to have the water boiling and the glaze made first–but it is so worth the effort.

All Day

2010-11-22T23:57:00.000-05:00

If you don't have this new Girl Talk album, go download it. It's free and so crazy good. Look at this guy – how could you not want to share in his energy?

Jonathan Harris

2010-11-18T09:39:00.000-05:00

You should go explore his website. He has a lot of interesting things going on. I love that he has a link to this video:

It's a favorite of mine.

Ursula von Rydingsvard

2010-11-14T23:01:00.000-05:00

Luba, by Ursula von Rydingsvard at the Storm King Art Center. It smells like cedar. It is amazing.

Pale Blue Eyes

2010-11-13T00:17:00.003-05:00

Thanks for this song.

Sarah Marguerite

2010-11-10T09:32:00.000-05:00

Sarah is a printmaker whose blog and E tsy shop are new and very cute.
She was kind enough to post something about the Art is Everywhere collaboration between MESH and JAMSNATION in downtown Charleston, WV after she discovered it all on her own.

Kate Nielsen

2010-11-04T18:36:00.001-04:00

The studio of super-illustrator Kate Nielsen.

Space

2010-10-29T18:36:00.000-04:00

Images from NASA.

Commission

2010-10-24T01:30:00.001-04:00

A commission I completed recently. It was a wedding gift and I'm really happy with it.

Poly Nikolopoulou

2010-10-23T01:37:00.002-04:00

Really interesting metalwork from Greek artist Poly Nikolopoulou. Found through Klimt02.

Website

2010-10-22T01:12:00.000-04:00

I've updated my website. About time.

Studio 11

2010-10-21T13:26:00.000-04:00

We're having a jewelry party on Saturday!

Seth Clark

2010-10-18T18:46:00.000-04:00

Seth Clark has a new limited edition book up on JAMSNATION. Go take a look and pick one up!

Crafts in Chelsea

2010-10-15T20:24:00.000-04:00

Come out and visit Kerrie Yeung and me at Crafts in Chelsea tomorrow, Saturday October 16 from 10am-5pm. The event is on 21st street between 8th and 9th avenue. Rain or shine. See you there!

I've been gone...

2010-10-14T01:02:00.000-04:00

but, now I'm back.

Kerrie Yeung

2010-09-21T10:25:00.000-04:00

Kerrie Yeung has joined Jamsnation! Take a look at her beautiful jewelry and a peek at her blog too.

Fulton Stall Market

2010-09-18T15:53:00.001-04:00

I will be at the Fulton Stall Market Sunday September 19, from 12-6. Come visit. If you can't come this week, Kerrie Yeung is there every Sunday and I think you should check out her things!

Goodbye Summer

2010-09-17T01:20:00.000-04:00

You were great. It's fall here now.

Bayhead

2010-09-16T13:49:00.000-04:00

I loved spending more time at the shore this year. So nice and simple and sunny.

Beach

2010-09-14T12:21:00.001-04:00

Sarah Cuno brought me to this beach in Brooklyn. It was a beautiful sunny end-of-the-summer day.

Happy Hour

2010-09-13T14:06:00.001-04:00

Gallery HL has another beautiful show up: Happy Hour by Jimin Park.
They have a new facebook page too.

Dalton Ghetti

2010-09-04T00:51:00.000-04:00

I don't usually repost things, but these carved pencils by Dalton Ghetti that are on Design*Sponge are so amazing. There crazy detail that goes into them is obviously amazing, but there are other microsculptures out there. What makes these so especially wonderful is that the final forms are beautiful things too. I love that row of dirty little pencil stubs.

Salvation on Sand Mountain

2010-09-03T00:02:00.001-04:00

"There are moments when you stand on the brink of a new experience and understand that you have no choice about it. Either you walk into the experience or you turn away from it, but you know that no matter what you choose, you will have altered your life in a permanent way. Either way, there will be consequences.
I walked on in."

Dennis Covington
Salvation on Sand Mountain

Shore

2010-09-02T00:32:00.000-04:00

New London

2010-09-01T00:21:00.000-04:00

Studio

2010-08-31T02:14:00.001-04:00

Where Dreams Belong

2010-08-30T14:12:00.000-04:00

Lisa Bjorke at Gallery HL.

Experimenting

2010-08-26T01:43:00.000-04:00

New Jersey

2010-08-25T10:42:00.001-04:00

Loving late summer and this song.

Karla Lopez-Rivera

2010-08-24T00:35:00.001-04:00

I'm in awe of furniture and footwear designer Karla Lopez-Rivera's amazing shoes.

Studio

2010-08-08T02:35:00.003-04:00

MESH Blog

2010-08-07T00:02:00.001-04:00

Follow the new MESH Blog!

Studio

2010-08-06T00:08:00.002-04:00

Commute

2010-08-05T00:10:00.000-04:00

San Quentin

2010-08-03T09:55:00.000-04:00

The Demon-Haunted World

2010-07-31T12:01:00.001-04:00

"Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication, and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us–and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, a world of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who saunters along."

Carl Sagan
The Demon-Haunted World

Vaughn

2010-07-29T20:58:00.000-04:00

♥

The Shining

2010-07-27T03:28:00.000-04:00

We just watched The Shining, one of my favorite movies. I usually watch it during snowstorms, but this was a rare heat wave screening.

Before/After

2010-07-26T02:05:00.003-04:00

I'm still slowly getting set up after the move. The studio is coming along and I'm very happy with it!

Paint

2010-07-25T16:02:00.000-04:00

Sabrina K

2010-07-22T01:38:00.000-04:00

Sabrina K has some great new jewelry up in her shop. As always, you can also find some more of her beautiful work at JAMSNATION.

A Field Guide to Getting Lost

2010-07-21T09:29:00.001-04:00

"Imagine yourself streaming through time shedding gloves, umbrellas, wrenches, books, friends, homes, names. This is what the view looks like if you take a rear-facing seat on the train. Looking forward you constantly acquire moments of arrival, moments of realization, moments of discovery. The wind blows your hair back and you are greeted by what you have never seen before."

Rebecca Solnit
A Field Guide to Getting Lost

RK Tyson

2010-07-19T07:29:00.001-04:00

I went to see my talented sister's drawings hanging at Columbia last week. She's going to be a great assistant the rest of this summer.

Ornament

2010-07-18T00:11:00.002-04:00

Egyptian.