Interview with Carole Meckes

Hey there, the interview with Carole Meckes is posted! Hope you enjoy reading and learning about what others are doing to increase awareness on bamboo!

Click here for interview

Interview with Stephanie Weber

Hey all, the interview with Stephanie Weber is up! Check it out and leave some comments!

Interview

Hey all,
Just received an interview from Stephanie Weber for the aluminum issue. Should be posted either tomorrow or the day after! Thank you all for your support!

Interview with Janet Goldner

image copyright Janet Goldner 2002

Sorry for the delay, but Pieces was able to interview Janet Goldner and get a more in-depth look at her artwork via an interview.

Janet had originally started as a weaver and used wire mesh for the base of the image. She created several 3-D images, however she moved to steel due to the fluidity of the material as well as its forgiving nature.

Janet was involved in various social movements such as the civil rights movement in the 50s and the 60s anti-war movement. However, it wasn't until she arrived at Antioch College that she found her true home in Mali. She has been going back ever since and in 1994 received a Fulbright Scholarship for her art. Much of her artwork focuses on the culture of Mali and showing Africa from a different perspective. One of hope, beauty and humanity in Africa. Her inspiration include: David Hare, Eva Hesse, David Smith, Lee Bontecou, Louise Bourgeois.

If you would like to see a permanent exhibit, it is located at The Islip Museum on Long Island in East Islip. The featured work was originally public artwork located in the Sara D. Roosevelt Park in Manhattan. Currently, Janet has a studio located in Brooklyn, NY where she creates her art.

David Kappel's reaction to Twitter Magnetic Poetry

You may remember that we interviewed David Kapell for our magnetic issue. Well after our last post, we wanted to know how he feels about the Twitter magnetic poetry. He states:

"I sometimes feel like a dimwitted parent who gave birth to a kid who spontaneously started speaking French and doing calculus at age three. I love my kid and I'm proud of her, but really can't take a lot of credit for how cool she turned out. She was just born that way."

David Kappel has also been kind enough to send a magnetic poetry kit for our upcoming photo contest.

Interview with Joy Abella

We were very fortunate to get an interview with Joy Abella, owner of Joy Magnetism. She has also has been kind enough to offer some of her magnets for the upcoming magnet photography contest to be held this month. The winner will receive Joy's magnets, a set of magnetic poetry and a Pieces T-shirt.*

Now onto the interview!

What interested you in magnets in general?
Not really sure. I just started buying them wherever I traveled - they're inexpensive and pack well. Friends started to bring back magnets for me. Then one day, I looked up and realized that after living in my apartment for 3 years, my refrigerator was the only thing actually decorated.

What's your favorite magnet piece you have? And how many do you have?
That's like asking a parent to choose between their children. I can't do it. Though, I'll be honest, when I get a shiny new and supertotally cute magnet, that's my favorite...until the next shiny new and supertotally cute magnet comes along.

As for how many I have, that's part of why I started joy magnetism in the first place. I was trying to avoid something dorky like a wicked cool spreadsheet, tagged and sortable by type, color and origin. So, I figured jm was the easiest way to catalogue them. A few years ago I counted, but stopped counting in the 400s or so. So, I thought I'd get about a year and a half to two years out of the blog. But what I didn't count on was that even more people started giving/sending. Or, that'd I'd start giving people money to pick up magnets on their travels. Oh! And there's a possible M&A deal in the works - if my sister's new fridge won't hold her magnets. :-) So, who knows how many I'll have at the end. (I remember seeing some clip about a woman who owned like 35,000 magnets, so I know I'm nowhere near that and I don't really want to be. But one thing I don't do is trade them - which is apparently big in some places.)

What do you look for when you choose a magnet to be featured on your site?
And finally, the question for what I'm looking for in a magnet is two-fold. What I pick for my collection, and what I pick for a specific day all depends on my mood.

When I'm in a gift shop, I look for magnets with my name on it. Barring that, I go for either the heights of cheesiness, or just a really well designed/produced piece. Sometimes, I splurge and get both. But I always leave with something. Or fifteen.

When I'm picking a day's magnet, if I don't have an occasion, or fun story, or a rant ready to go, I see what a "this day in history" search yields, and away I go. If I have nothing in particular to say, I have a steady backup of standard fridge magnets from all sorts of local eateries and businesses to get me through the day.

*Prizes are subject to change