superbowl 2011

I 've always wondered what the big deal was with Superbowl Sunday. What, you watch a bunch of gigantic men run into each other and throw a ball around? oh, and there's beer?
sorry, but YUCK. just not appealing at all.

I just don't have the football gene- unless, of course we're talking about European football, Soccer (or Calcio as they say in my hubby's homeland). It's the European championships? I'm glued to the tv. It's part amazement at their skill, part animal lust- hey, those guys are hot. just sayin.

SO....why am I posting about something I'm not interested in? Superbowl? no, Super Bowl, yes!
a few years ago I was on Crafthaus and saw a post from a friend Wendy Edsall Kerwin- she was inviting craftspeople to join her in "the Superbowl challenge"- which is, she explained, not about watching football (which you can do anyways) but actually Making a SUPER BOWL on Superbowl Sunday!

WELL- that sounded just right to me! I'd been wanting to stretch a little, make some non-jewelry metal pieces- and this was the perfect opportunity. Last year was my first try- I decided to just be experimental with the whole bit- especially since I don't own any forming stakes- SO..I raised like a cave woman. Stump, Rock, Metal. *grunt* here's a link to the little video of the making of..super bowl 2010..

Super bowl 2010. Pewter and car paint. Stump formed

This year I decided not to do any raising-  I'm having some issues with carpal tunnel (typing this with braces on) and I just didn't want to be ouchy. SO...I decided to free-form patch a bunch of scrap together and play with that.I used scrap brass and copper and collaged them together in small groups- like this-

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then I stitched the groups together with brass wire and formed a crude bowl form. From there, I filled all of the (intentional) holes with a "secret sauce" mix of grit and adhesives. At that point I hung up my apron for the night. I have a video of this part of the process posted on my youtube channel here.

The next day was a bit of refining the form, and filling any extra holes that didn't 'take" the first go around. Yesterday I completed the piece by filing, sanding and burnishing some areas to enhance the layered metals, and I also painted on the gritty areas and interior of the bowl . (I have a fondness for light colored interiors of bowls- I like the way it can optically "flip" the concavity into a convex form) so- here it is--------------------> the finished piece

Maureen Brusa Zappellini's Super Bowl 2011 from the side..

the bottom (makes a cool bunny stand)

If you are interested in seeing the other fabulous handmade bowls from other artists participating in the Super Bowl challenge, you can find a collection of images at the Flickr group "Superbowl 2011" here

and to see Wendy Edsall Kerwin's blog "hammermarks"here.

Congratulations to all the artists who participated- the images of new pieces are being added daily, and they are all wonderfully unique and creative. I know I'll be looking forward to next year's Super Bowl, and I'll be rooting for team Artisan! (go team!)

:-) ciao- M