Wonderful fall weather ... 60 degrees, blue skies ... and lots and lots of people.
Thanks to all of you who visited my displays at Laura's home in Great Falls.
Don't forget, you can see more of my new work at the Great Falls Studio's Christmas Show at the Historic Colvin Run Dance Hall in Great Falls (Directions here.) It's Dec. 13th and 14th.
Click on the photos to see larger images.
Come to the 5th annual Great Falls Studios Tour.
Saturday and Sunday, October 18-19, 10-5pm
New pieces featuring Technique Metalworx
I will be exhibiting and demonstrating at 438 River Bend Road. (Google Maps link here.) It is the home of Pig Pen Pottery and Laura Nichols, President of Great Falls Studios. There is lots of parking. The setting is absolutely bucolic: a winding country lane, a one-lane bridge, hills and dales, the way Great Falls used to be!
You will be able to see the work of a wonderful water colorist, Linda Jones, as well as the functional and decorative pottery of Laura. Weather permitting, Laura will be firing Raku in her outdoor kiln.
A color Studio Tour brochure with map to all the venues and with a description and picture of each artist's work is available at Great Falls Hardware, at the Library and many other downtown locations. Many artists have "doubled up" as I have so that you will be able to see a variety of art, skills and talents at each location. I'd be happy to mail you one if you email me.
WOW! Almost spit out my morning coffee when we heard about this ... in the Washington Post this morning.
A beautiful promotional article about this weekend's Great Falls Studio Tour as well as ... ta da!!!! ... a picture of my "Carnival" necklace.
After three and a half glorious months in Maine this summer, we are now back home in Virginia and in the full swing of the season.
Our Great Falls Studios Artists Tour will be the weekend of October 19, 20, 21 (10-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday).
And this weekend 10 of our group will be demonstrating on the Village Green at The Taste of Great Falls (noon-4).
This past Friday and Monday, October 5 and 8, I had two great classes at Star's Beads in Vienna, Virginia. The first, my Froth and Glitz Necklace and the second was Wireworked Bangle.
Everyone finished their projects and were extremely happy. One person made me so happy when she said it was the best class she had ever had and the first piece of jewelry she made in a class that she would wear!
Our hardy group of about 65 artists in Great Falls, Va. showed the creative process live and in color Saturday at a day-long exhibition at the Great Falls Library.
Painters set up their easels, beginning the day with an empty canvas, and ending with new works. Laura Nichols, the president of 
Great Falls Studios and an accomplished potter (as well as the brood mother to 70 egg-laying chickens on her farm) showed how to make clay masks.
I set up a table and made jewelry. Lots of kids watched, holding and feeling many of my 'raw materials.' They saw how I weigh the various beads, findings, metals and wire to make a necklace or bracelet or pin.
A few people who gathered round also asked to be on my mailing list so I can alert them to things like the Open Studio event at my studio in Great Falls next Saturday, May 19. E-mail me if you'd like directions.
(For larger versions of the photos here, click on the picture.)
Donna Barnako creates artful jewelry, specializing in intricate beading and handmade beads and sterling silver wire working.
She coils, wraps and shapes unusual clasps and connectors and combines them with unique beads and semiprecious stones found in her worldwide travels.
