Update #2


Jan 15 2016
Almost Brigid's Day












One of my rewards is a traditional Brigid's cross, handmade by me from reeds I gather near my little studio in South Kingstown Rhode Island, packed as a unique gift. I've been making these for many years, and sharing them on my Etsy shop.

Brigid's Day is February 1, and make no mistake about it, I chose that as my last day of this Kickstarter for a reason. Brigid's Day, also known as Candlemas or Imbolc, marks a division in the winter season, the quickening of life as sap starts to rise in the trees and lambs are born. The holiday is utterly Celtic, and still celebrated in Ireland by the gathering of reeds and the making of these small crosses. Brigid herself is second only to Patrick among the saints of Ireland and is the patroness of fire, smithing, tools, animal husbandry, hospitality and poetry.

Since she's in charge of the iron tools I use, the season we are about to enter, and remains the most Celtic of saints, I thought it appropriate to share something of Brigid in this project! As the first tiny stirrings before Spring come our way I'll be in the studio, forming inspiration - slowly,gradually -into stonework.

I include a card that explains the traditions and customs surrounding the Brigid's cross with every package. I've shipped these all over the world, even to Ireland. They make a lovely housewarming gift or a special favor for a hostess. Put one near your hearth to protect your home from fire.

Many, many thanks to all who have pledged so far. I'm busily packing for my trip and finishing up work in the studio. I am looking forward to hearing from a few more of you soon, before I get on that plane on Tuesday! Any questions at all, please contact me!

-Laura

Want to take a class? Decide before February 1: it will support my Kickstarter!

Update #1 

Jan 12 2016

Stone Carving Classes as Your Reward

0 Comments

 

 

Hey everyone! I thought I'd take a few minutes to tell you about my stone carving class and workshop coming right up, to give everyone a more complete picture of what that reward looks like! If you choose to support my project at the $125 level,  you will be able to choose ANY class I offer in 2016 or 2017 as your reward, or you may give the reward as a gift to a friend or family member and let them choose the right experience for themselves. 

These examples are scheduled- and are certainly available to supporters! But, if these dates don't suit, no worries, I'm planning to set up supporters with special dates, not available to the general public. You'll get your choice of a spot in a regularly scheduled class (and I will have several possibilities) or a "supporters only" group. Any questions at all, just contact me! 

carving a water smoothed beach stone

Weekend Workshop: Relief Carving Intensive in Limestone at Laura Travis Carving: Spend a weekend learning to carve stone! All levels are welcome in this two day workshop, February 20-21, 9:30 am -4 pm at Laura Travis Carving, 219A. Ages 14 and up. Beginners are a specialty! Bring an idea for a design or find one when you get here. $125 includes use of all tools and one stone.

what are all these tools for? find out!

NEW! Tuesdays Rock! Weekly Stone carving class at Laura Travis Carving March 1 to 22 6 to 8:30 pm. A highly personalized, in-studio class in carving stone for a limit of 5 people. If you ever wanted to “dig in” in a small group, with every tool at your fingertips, and work towards completing a special project, this is the class for you. It’s great for relief carvers looking to get some experience in carving in the round. Beginners are always welcome and will find this a very supportive setting. Soapstone carving in the round and limestone carving in the round or in relief are all options. $125 for four weeks of class at studio 219A, stone and some materials additional. 

I've had a number of folks purchase one of my classes as a special gift. Another favorite way to enjoy a class has been fathers and sons or sisters or several members of a school arts faculty take the class together! And you'll be pleased to know that most people do some pretty impressive work even during the first class. Have a look:

student work in a carving class

 and then there was this group of hotshots:

student work

 If you are inspired to take one of my classes as your reward, I'd be thrilled! Since this Kickstarter only lasts until February 1, if you make a pledge now, you've assured your place in a special session for supporters, or the class of your choice, going forward. Same goes if you decide to make this a gift. Please send me any and all questions! 

And thank you! 

-Laura

Here it is!

this is the man I'm meeting in London.

Am I really retired?

I am in my new studio, lying on the couch, a day or two after year has turned. It's now 2016, I'm on the couch in my new studio. I've been retired since June from my hectic, all- absorbing high school art teaching job. Right now,  I am contemplating a long list of things I need to do in the month of January. I don't feel very retired!

But they say, artists don't retire. They never retire. And the last thing I want to do is retire from being an artist. I am about to launch my very first for kick starter campaign, and I'm hopeful, but truly wondering if I will get support for it. The kick starter is to support the longest journey I'll probably ever make just to look at Art. It's for me to go to London to visit the British Museum, which is hosting the largest collection of Celtic art ever assembled. And it's closing the end of January, so I better move fast.

People use kick starter to get lots of things done, including amass giant wads of money to get certain objects manufactured and also print out CDs, which is how most of the people I know have had use for crowdfunding. My manufacturing process is simple: get me a chisel and hammer and a chunk of limestone and wait a couple weeks, or a month, and then you can have some art. Almost nothing can speed this up. I think this is a good thing.

But this is like a band going on tour, or going to 100 workshops made just to suit me. I have to get there. I will get there, it's just that when I get back, I'm going to want to bury myself in limestone and hammers and chisels and not come out until spring or maybe even June. And if I don't get some help, instead I might have to go and get some kind of part time employment. To pay the bills from the trip. And the work won't get as done as fast. And the thing is, the work- the sculpture, the ideas, the making-  that's why am doing the kick starter, really. The trip is inspiration for the work. And the real plan is to have a show with in a year and a half of the work I produced as a result of seeing this absolutely landmark show. It's a once-in-a-lifetime exhibit for me to see. Doing a kick starter will not only force me to make work to give to the supporters of this kick starter, it will force me to have a show of the work that I made. 

And, it will force me to get this blog started again! So welcome back! 

Happy HopArts! 

HopArts Studio Trail is my favorite Fall weekend...not only because its so much fun to see old friends and fellow artists from around South County RI- seeing a little less of them since I moved my most of the time home to Providence last Fall- but because its' just a blast to be part of why people love New England in the Autumn.

Picture this: Peak foliage weekend, a drive in small town rural RI, air dry and crisp, pumpkins and apples everywhere, and 36 artists' studios to ramble through...artists demonstrating outdoors, inside, the warm smells of mulled cider...perhaps the hint of an old dance tune on the breeze...

and then you see it: the perfect holiday gift thing for your Aunt Madge. Next stop sews up the presents for nieces and nephews..and so on, down the road from Richmond to Hopkinton...

Blue Fragments, stone rubbing on fabric

I have been busy the last few days with some smaller pieces based on the "tryout pieces" I do to get ready to do a stone rubbing on a larger fabric length. I'm pricing these well, and will have at least five of them at HopArts this weekend.

Gold Fragments stone rubbing

Fiddling with Little Red

I am delighted to be returning to show at Susan Shaw's wonderful pottery studio. There's FIVE artists at our stop on the studio trail...Susan and her pottery, paintings and more in the beautiful shop, her husband John Buscaglia demonstrating turning wood outdoors and selling his wares, the chatty and talented Jon Campbell holding court at the end of the kitchen with sculptures and unique handcrafted jewelry, Jude Larzelere, quilter extraordinaire and recent Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship awardee, and me in the pottery studio, demonstrating stone carving and making rubbings. I will also have lots of Brigid Crosses on hand to hand out around the holidays as hostess gifts to make you a favorite guest!

Piper of Clonmacnoise in a different framing

See all the details at hoparts.org, including map and directions. Find me at Stop Number 11 at Shaw Pottery, and be sure to say hello!

NetWorks RI

My official NetWorks portrait by Scott Lapham, 

probably one of the three or four photos of me I ever really liked. 

Here is the video that Richard Goulis made last spring 

to document my work as part of the NetWorks RI project. 

 February Vacation

Midwinter break from school was marked by warm weather and a chance to get into the studio. For awhile now I have had the idea of setting two slabs (or maybe more) together to make a piece that would stand firmly on its own, and be connected, but dis-connect-able. I made a smallish one to try out the idea and I think it is working pretty well, and now I am carving one of the pieces with a take off on a very old design from one of my cherished ancient Celtic scabbard pieces.  I have a whole book of this sort of design, primarily from metal work, that inspires some interesting carving for stone. It's called Celtic Designs from the British Museum. 

These designs were created to embellish sword sheaths, many of them were found with the rotted bits of iron of the sword inside.

The round metal mallet is very handy for work on a harder piece
of stone or for removing material in a firm but controlled way.
I balanced the edge of the piece with sandbags and some extra stone

I had been fiddling with these two pieces of stone for months now, separately. One of them is featured in my NetWorks video; I am chopping away on it and the hammer is drowning out what I am talking about. The other used to be part of some sort of bench or step, and features a sweep of the edge of the old architectural carving that I wanted to preserve, and use to best effect.


With a bit more heaving the pieces off and on the table, I decided that there was a good way to work it out to have them fit together as per my plan. They were fairly heavy, being thick, so I thought I would try something different. The 'elbow' cut I made allowed for the large piece to weigh down the smaller one that supports it, and I was pleased at how stable the set up was.

Now to decide whether or what to carve on it!