What's black + white + read all over?

*Update 10.11.08 - After viewing the actual paper I found the article was on the front page. Woo hoo!*

The Daily NonPareil wrote a very nice article about the Corning Center for the Fine Arts, including some quotes from yours truly...

CORNING - Many starving artists move to the big city only to find themselves working full time in order to cover rent while the art that they came to pursue slowly fades into the shadows.

"Most people say if you want to be an artist, you have to go to New York," said Rachel Sims, resident artist at the Corning Center for Fine Arts. "Most artists can't afford to live in New York, and you do everything but art."

Sims began her residency in Corning in July 2007 after living in Switzerland for 2½ years.

"I was coming back to Iowa to start up my business full time and was looking for a place to do that," Sims said. "When I was Googling studio space in Iowa, this residency in Corning came up and it sounded perfect. I'd never had a chance to live in a small town, and the housing was an added bonus; a place to live and work."

For the full article go here.

Introducing....

Apologies good readers. I meant to post this a long while back. Some of the material (regarding fair, for example) is dated. At long last I give you the post that should have been....

As promised, here are some images of the new line a-go-go (for the moment this blog is the go-to place to see my work. My website is not up and operational yet. Webdesigners interested in working a trade please let me know!). Each piece features hammer textured silver discs with a vibrant glass disc adorning it. For this series I am working with a palette of 9 colors of transparent lampworked glass.

Quick history : At the tender age of 16 I learned how to make glass beads by trial and error. In front of audiences. 12 hrs a day. All 11 days of the Iowa State Fair. For 10 years I continued to demonstrate at the fair alongside my mentor (another story for another time) until I decided that taking my 2 weeks of vacation to return to the US (I was living in Switzerland by that point) to work 12 hour days was getting to be a little much. My brother took over my job and I have had to find other ways to become a part of 'fair' again (watch for future posts!) *ed. - obviously referring to the RiNGS workshops

Sandwiching these summers of beadmaking I also took every metalsmithing class available at my high school and some beyond that. I worked for local jewelers doing a variety of oddjobs. I attended and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design after having focused on jewelry and metalsmithing. In all of this time I have searched for a good way to bring my two passions together. This new line is the culmination of that search. It's a starting point that I will be springboarding off of to discover new ideas. I look forward to sharing my journey with you.