Ring A Day Book by Lark Books!

I just got back from doing two back to back art shows, and was so thrilled to open a package with my "Ring a Day" book inside! "Ring a Day" is a beautiful book full of images from cover to cover. With its field guide type of feel, this book is brilliantly edited by Marthe Le Van and demonstrates the project's breadth and endless variety of rings. Some rings are novel, some are funny, some beautiful, some challenge practical notions of what is a ring.

For the reader--it is a book of inspiration, imagination, and a visual snap shot of the creative process. For me, it is eye candy. I have several rings in the books as well--so I'm slightly inclined to be in love with this book!!! Enjoy and be inspired!

Inspiration comes in packages....

RAD 148 Inspiration packages
Originally uploaded by sarawestermark

Today I received a very special surprise from Experimetal (aka Victoria Takahashi). Inside the box were these little packages. Just as I was getting ready to rip them all open, I spied a note with the "rules".

"If you open a package you have to use it, OR use it for inspiration and make a piece within 24 hours.

NO PEEKING! (Fondling counts as peeking)"

So, I decided that I could handle one little challenge before my trip to Seattle tomorrow, so I selected one in the middle of the bag and opened it up. I found this gorgeous rock with the natural hole already in it. I loved the shape and wanted to play with it as a ring.

I've decided to call them my "inspiration packages".



It was an idea that Kathryn Riechert began when she sent a package to Victoria. Its very fun and playful. I feel like a kid again--caught up in my play.

RAD Exhibit at SNAG!!!

EtsyMetal Ring a Day SNAG Exhibit Announcement

Colleen Baran's 1/365 Ring a Day

EtsyMetal is pleased to announce that the Ring a Day Project has been accepted as an exhibit for the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) upcoming Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington. The EtsyMetal team has partnered with the PUNCH Gallery for this exhibit. “RAD, a Ring a Day for 365 days” curated by Colleen Baran, Shannon Conrad and Sara Westermark will run from Thursday, May 5 to Sunday, May 29, 2011.

Represented work will range from ephemeral and conceptual art rings to functional jewelry. The exhibit will feature 365 rings, representing a ring a day and encompassing the full span of the year. The layout will also include photographic documentation of select temporary and conceptual art rings. Rings will be chosen by the EtsyMetal curators and will illustrate the highlights and accomplishments of many hundreds of international members, selected from over 10,000 rings.

Victoria Takahashi's 100/365 Ring a Day

The Ring a Day project (or RAD) is an open challenge to metalsmiths and other artists across the globe to make one ring a day, out of any material, for the entire year of 2010. The genesis of the Ring a Day project is based on an exercise taught by Ellen Wieske at Haystack. The Flickr project, which was initially proposed by Nina Dinoff, was intended as an EtsyMetal team challenge to set a daily routine of exploration and an experiment to see what could develop over the course of a year.

On a daily basis, the rings are created, photographed, and posted to the Ring a Day Flickr photo group by each participant. The majority of the artists represented here have discovered this project through social media networks such as Flickr, EtsyMetal, Etsy, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and of course word of mouth. This project reflects a population of metalsmiths and jewelry makers who are facile with current online technology.

Shannon's Conrad's 200/365 Ring a Day

Visit the public RAD group and join the project-

http://www.flickr.com/groups/rad2010/

For more info-

http://ringaday2010.blogspot.com/

Experimetal's RAD no. 22: My favorite Ring a Day

rad 22 (left)
Originally uploaded by experimetal

Since the beginning of the year a group of international artists have been participating in a project to create one ring a day for 365 days of 2010. We have abbreviated our "Ring a Day" title to simply "RAD." We post our work on flicker in a "Ring a Day" group.

So after 31 days of straight ring making and 228 members, I had to pick one, only one favorite ring to blog on for the blog carnival. There were so many rings that I wanted to pick as my favorite ring of the day, but this one by Victoria Takahashi of Experimetal, really left an impact on me. This ring is so perfect to me in many ways. To begin with it is visually appealing in its industrial setting. I can't help but to see a bit of the 1980's version of "Superman" here. Perhaps the fond nostalgia I have at seeing "Superman" with Christopher Reeves on the screen for the first time as a young girl impacts this decision. Nonetheless, It is brilliant how Experimetal anchored the beads in this setting and then echoed the crystal towers look in the setting with the strips of sterling on the sides. Sometimes my head spins when I see another one of her pieces. She has a vision and endless creativity that I admire. To me, and she would hate that I would say this, is one of the most talented metalsmiths I know. Her work is cohesive, skillful, playful, and is distinctly hers. I hated to pick just one ring from all the other smiths out there, but there is something in this piece and in her body of work as a whole that really resonates with me. To see the rest of her work on flicker click this link.

To see more blogs featuring our favorite Ring a Days please see these arttists:
Alisa Miller
Colleen Baran
Danielle Miller
stacey hansen
Chris Parry
kerin rose
Victoria Takahashi
Su Trindle
Nina Dinoff
Maureen "Cosmo's Moon" BZ
Thomasin Durgin
Beth Cyr
Caitlyn Davey/discomedusa
Catherine Chandler

Ring a Day nos. 1-9

Ring a Day nos. 1-9
Originally uploaded by sarawestermark

I've really loved participating in this challenge. They say that a habit is not truly formed until you have been doing it 21 days. These self-imposed limitations help me to work. Everyday I'm inspired to see what my friends make. I'm the kind of person who won't go workout unless I have to meet my friend there too! This challenge makes it fun and I feel that all my friends are there plucking bits out of the collective consciousness. I really wanted something that would allow me to be creative a little bit every day. So far I'm not selling my collection yet, but I can remake most of these for anyone who just has to have one!!! If you want to see more rings from a lot of different artists, then check this link to the RING a DAY.