What’s Happening at Allegory Gallery? - Monday, July 28th, 2025
Hello friends!
It’s been quite awhile since I’ve written one of these posts (a little over two weeks, actually), and it’s been quite a busy two weeks! So, I apologize for the delay between posts, but things here have been a little unusual!
First, Andrew has been away…a lot! He spent the last two weeks up in Maine at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts studying intaglio carving with Erica Bello. It took quite a bit of effort to get him ready to go, as we had to work to save up for his trip (I believe it’s his longest drive yet with lots of gas needed). Then, it took about 16 hours for him to fully make it up there! Because he was doing the drive in one day, he was sure to include some rest stops, but mostly pushed through. He made it on time, and got started right away meeting everyone and really had a wonderful time.
In addition to learning all about intaglio carving and setting some of the creations he made, he got to see some amazing artists talks, use their wonderful library and resources to do some research for a project that he’s working on, and got to explore Deer Isle and really tried to embrace a sense of place while he was there by doing drawings and water colors of seaweed and tidal patterns. Below is a selfie he took while in the library at Haystack, but you can see more about his trip on his @andrewthorntonartist instagram page.
While he was away, I’ve been running everything here back home. It’s been a little daunting as I’m not usually alone for this amount of time, but Andrew did make a few things so that I would have some new items to show while he was away. One of those was his newest decal enamel pendants. They were created using decals of his original artwork that we chose together and fired using the kiln at Star Cottage Studio. They were super popular, with all but one being sold, and he left me with a few blanks to work on while he was away. Unfortunately, with everything that I’ve been working on here to just keep things going, I’ve not had a lot of extra time to put toward them. But, I still have them, and I hope to get them finished while he’s away…again!
While he was at Haystack, to help fund his drive back home, Andrew put out a call for anyone who wanted some of the bronze or sterling fruit or veggie pins that he had started to create while he was there. These are adorable little pins that are hand-created by Andrew. You can request the fruit or vegetable that you’d like, and Andrew will create it for you. If you missed that opportunity, but would like to get one, please email us at info@allegorygallery.com with the design you’d like, and we’ll let you know if Andrew can make it for you. These will not be completed, most likely, until Andrew is back next week. Bronze pins are only $25 and sterling are $45.
After Haystack, he drove back home. It took 18 hours this time because he got caught up in the traffic of SIX different accidents. Thankfully, he was ok, and was able to rest and recharge for one day at home. It also gave us time to get his laundry done and get him repacked for his trip to NC to Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft! He left on Sunday morning and it took him about 8 hours to get down to Pocosin. He’s now there and he immediately started into his work-study program. I have yet to hear much about how things are going as today is his real first day of classes, so I’m excited to hear how things go!
In the meantime, I’ve been working on some of my pottery (though, I missed one of my classes because of scheduling conflicts while he’s been away). I got back some of my pieces that I was really dubious of how they’d turn out. I was fully expecting to see them completely different from what I had pictured, but they weren’t! They looked exactly like I wanted them to, and I was so happy about that. If you’d like to see how they came out, be sure to follow my William Tries Things page on Facebook, as I’ll be posting about them soon!
In addition to the enamel pendants that Andrew made before he left, he also developed a series of Protective Heart pendants/ornaments. These are all hand-sculpted by Andrew using polymer clay and wonderful glass eyes. Each one is also then decorated using various paints and patinas, so that no two are exactly the same. Created with the intention that hearts are a symbol of love and self, and the protective eye also reflects the knowledge that “to see is to know” these hearts are ready to help keep the peace both from outside influences and from within. We debuted these in our online store on Saturday, so if you missed that news, be sure to check them all out in our online store.
This week is already lining up to be a busy one for us both. Andrew will be busy with learning and work-study down at Pocosin, and I’ll be up here running things at Allegory Gallery and then also helping to install a show at Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, PA! Andrew can’t be here, so I’m going to be his fill-in to help install the “Born in Fire” exhibition curated by David Harper Clemons for the Sparc Retreat on September 5-7. This is a wonderful retreat especially for BIPOC metal artists that will feature the Born in Fire exhibition, keynote speaker Tanya Crane, and demos on liquid enamel, repoussé, and more! If you’d like more information or would like to register, you can visit their website here: https://www.inclusiveblacksmiths.com/sparc.
Thank you for taking a look, again, at all we do here at Allegory Gallery. I hope you enjoy this series of posts and I also hope it’s giving you a bit more insight into all that we do here at Allegory Gallery. While we love our beads and that’s what most people know us for, it’s always been about so much more than that. We are about inspiring others in not only jewelry, but in other creative pursuits, as well. We also fully believe in the power of community and how much we can do if we stand together and help one another along the way. By exploring our creative sides and sharing them with you, and by investing ourselves into our communities and creative our own, we feel that we’re able to give back and, hopefully, make the world richer, nicer, and more compassionate.
Your friend,
William