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Entertainment

Jewel of an art show

Out of the Blue will showcase art of all kinds, but some unique creations are meant for wearing, not put on a wall or shelf.

By DONNA SELF
Published May 13, 2005

CLEARWATER - This weekend's Out of the Blue art show will feature 60 artists from all over the country, among them painters, ceramicists and wood crafters.

But for two local jewelrymakers, the art festival, now in its second year, will also be a chance to display their personal obsessions.

Dan Trebesch, a 42-year-old Oldsmar resident, said his work fuses a 15-year career as an architect, a need to work without limits and a love of gemstones.

When he describes the styles of jewelry he creates - art nouveau, art deco, Arts and Crafts - he could just as well be describing a structure.

"It's almost like building a miniature building," Trebesch said. "It must be functional, beautiful and symmetrical. All the same things you look for in architecture you look for in jewelry."

Trebesch worked for a Tampa architectural firm, but he left a couple of years ago to make jewelry full time when the job became more about development than creation. He had often felt stifled in the field, he said.

"There was always a client wanting a certain style where I wanted to do it differently," he said. "Jewelry design gives me all the design freedom that I lacked in architecture."

Now, what Trebesch calls "a hobby grown into obsession" is his livelihood. He devotes 10 to 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week, to it, dividing his work time between his studio and his home.

"It's very difficult to put down if you're in the groove," he said.

Indian Rocks Beach resident Sharon Scalise made her first piece of jewelry, a bracelet, as a 16-year-old student in a jewelrymaking class at Largo High School. After graduating, she went to work creating pieces for a local jeweler who specialized in art jewelry. She kept the job for 17 years while working the art show circuit on the weekends. She struck out on her own five years ago.

Scalise, who is returning to Out of the Blue for the second time, looks to the skies for inspiration. She enjoys images from deep sky telescopes like the Hubble as well as views from her own two telescopes. She uses one for looking at the surface of the sun and one for nighttime viewing.

She is also a member of an astronomy group, which she says had a lot to do with naming and understanding the images that she was imagining.

"We were looking at a quasar, and I said, "That's the oldest thing I've ever seen.' The astronomer said, "What you're seeing is what it looked like billions of years ago.' "

That got her thinking about flux: how everything is constantly changing. The 41-year-old artist uses the word "flux" in the titles of her pieces to reflect not only the changes in life, dreams and the universe, but also as a sort of in-joke: It is the name of the clear glass enamel used in many of her pieces to give an impression of depth, space and movement.

Scalise said her pieces are like "little paintings in glass that are set," and can take anywhere from 30 to 150 hours to create. She works about 40 hours a week from her home and studio. She says that working as an artist is different, though. "You can be staring off into space and still be working."

In addition to work and preparations for Out of the Blue, Scalise has been preparing for the taping of today's episode of HGTV's Crafters Coast to Coast, which profiles artists in their studios and will feature Scalise making a pair of earrings, a process she found to be much simpler without a camera crew.

"It is the weirdest thing. Being the subject of someone else's craft or creation is much harder than making your own."

Like Scalise, Trebesch is a veteran of jewelry shows, but he's happy to be able to participate in Out of the Blue. "There's not a tremendous amount of juried shows in this area, and especially not a lot at indoor venues," he said. "It's really hard to appreciate a piece in outdoor lighting."

Trebesch thinks that, like the personal connections that influence the creation of his jewelry, the desire people have to own it comes from very personal places.

"I think when you go to an art show, you're drawn through your emotions," he said. "Jewelry is a personal adornment. It's tied into emotions and how you perceive yourself. People are drawn to jewelry as art because it provides a connection with a piece that a painting can't provide."

The Out of the Blue art show is a joint effort between the Professional Association of Visual Artists and the Clearwater Arts Foundation to bring more visual art to Clearwater.

The Out of the Blue Festival of the Arts will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Harborview Center, 300 Cleveland St., Clearwater. Admission is free. Works in photography, wood, ceramics, pastels, glass, jewelry, paper and mixed media will be for sale. Visit www.outoftheblueartshow.com

[Last modified May 13, 2005, 00:57:16]