Stainless Steel Custom Soundwave Ring
" And even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow I still have a dream...."
This sound wave was taken from Dubtribe Sound System track, Wednesday Night. Listen to the full song here:
Last weekend while taking a stroll in the Queen West neighbourhood I popped into one of Artscape's newest ventures : Artscape Youngplace.
Artscape is an organization here in Toronto which organizes and manages creative spaces to promote artists and create cultural development. Their most popular ventures include the Artscape Distillery Studio located in the Case Goods Warehouse of the Distillery District and Wychwood Barns artist live/work studios.
Artscape Youngplace is located at 180 Shaw Street very close to Trinity Bellwoods park . The building which was a former school has been transformed into a community hub of creativity including artist studios, a coffee shop, workshop space and hallway galleries.
While wondering the corridors of the newly restored building I poked my head with curiosity into a room featuring a beautiful piano. The lovely Lara welcomed me in and told me all about Music Together. Music Together is a program for children from birth - 5 years of age. After writing about the value of music education in my previous post ( https://soundwavejewellery.com/th-benefits-of-music-education/ ) I was obviously intrigued by the idea.
It turns out Music Together has been around since 1987. The program works on the premise that everyone is born with musical talent. Together children and their caregivers are invited to join in on one big jam session. The idea is that children learn best from their primary caregivers who are involved in the class with them. Teaching children the pleasure of creating music rather then just listening to it encourages expression of self and invites spontaneous outbursts of musical creativity in everyday life.
As I left the room an adorable one year old entered on the shoulders of her Dad. Mesmerized by the piano I was left wondering the art filled hallways listening to the sounds of her playing away on the keys.
Check out Music Together programs here:
http://www.funwithmusictogether.ca/
If you are curious about the musical abilities of their teaches give a listen to Lara's EP " For Giving":
https://myspace.com/laramartinsongs/music/songs
For more about Artscape Youngspace and their other ventures visit their websites:
This came up on my FB feed and I thought it was awesome enough to share. Then I took a look at this young man's website and was even more impressed. Bordalo II is a mixed media artist who interprets urban landscapes. His collage works is made up of garbage. In my quest for quality over quantity his artist statement really struck a cord with me:
"It is not only a way to recycle, but also a critique of the world we live in, where we often have nice things, which are based on junk without realizing it."
Check out more of his work here: http://www.bordalosegundo.com/
Wedding Ring workshops are one of my favourite classes to teach. I get to spend the day with two people in love and excited to be planning their big day. During the process of making we learn a lot about each other and I often gain new friends.
Such was the case on the sunny afternoon when I had the pleasure of welcoming Andreas and his future wife Chrys into the studio to help them create their own wedding rings.
First we decided on the width and size of their rings. Then we cut out pieces of flat silver sheet to create ring blanks. We carefully filed both the ends to make sure they were perfectly straight and parallel to prepare them for soldering.
We annealed the pieces of silver using heat to make them soft enough to bend. After we cleaned the metal we began bending them around the ring mandrel and made sure our two ends meet perfectly together to prepare them for soldering.
We soldered them together, rounded them out by hammering them on the ring mandrel, filed, sanded and polished them to perfection.
During our day together I learned that Chyrs is a jazz musician and Andreas has his own company using reclaimed wood to create decorative items for your home. They are also both new to Toronto so if you see this fun loving couple around be sure to give them a warm Toronto welcome! Check out their talented efforts:
Listen to sounds of SOA here :
Heart warming to say the least! This 21 second video shows Montreal's Auguste Majkowski reaction when he hear music for the first time. Auguste who was born deaf underwent a surgical procedure on his brain to receive an Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI) allowing him to hear the music.
Grace Van Berkum, founder of Gracious Living Lifestyle believes in living life to the fullest by taking an active role in your own personal health. A self proclaimed travelling raw vegan jungle yogic gypsy Grace travels the world educating peeps on how to heal themselves through whole real foods and yoga practices.
She is a holistic nutritionist, certified yoga teacher , raw food activist, speaker, author and inspiration to all she meets. Most importantly a dear friend of ours here at Soundwave Jewellery. It was a pleasure to have her in the studio to pick a special cuff bracelet to travel around the world with her.
Grace is very generous with her knowledge and shares a ton of raw food recipes, tips for healthy living and funny little stories on her facebook page. Like it! You won't be disappointed. www.facebook.com/pages/Gracious-Living/
Visit her website to find out where she is currently inspiring the souls, minds and bodies of all who are luckily enough to cross her path! www.gracevanberkum.com
Join her on one of her super fun, sunshine smoothly raw food goodness filled healing retreats: www.gracevanberkum.com/gracious-living-events/
and while you're at it try out one of her delicious smoothy recipes featured in Sweat Equity Magazine where Grace is a regular contributor. http://www.sweatequitymagazine.com/nutrition17.html
Did I mention this girl is amazing!
Citrus Smoothie
By Grace Van Berkum RHN
