shameless self promotion

Featured Indie Artist Interview with Camille of Camille Handcrafted

Posted by admin in artfire, indie, interview, tags: artfire, artists, handmade, indie, interview, jewelry

I’m going to be out of town the rest of the week (without internet access…gasp), but didn’t want to miss my favorite part of the week….meeting our featured artist.

Let’s meet today’s featured indie artist, Camille of Camille Handcrafted.

Click on any image to be taken to the product listing.

SI: Please tell us a little about yourself.
Camille: My studio is in Tucson, Arizona, in a magnificent patch of desert. The light here is incredible, and the quiet is priceless. I first came here to be with my husband, Thomas. Thomas has since left the world but not before planting in me a deep respect for and absolute love for his precious desert. The only thing more beautiful than the Sonoran sunrise is the Sonoran sunset! This is where I first started making jewelry, having taken a few classes at a local bead shop. I didn’t really stick with that, though, and I was away from it for a long time. When I started up again I tried wrapping with wire and found that I truly enjoyed the freedoms that those techniques opened up.

SI: What is the name of your business? and what do you create?
Camille: My business is called Camille Handcrafted. This was suggested by my son in law who felt that “Camille” was a perfect name that could not be improved upon. Do you think perhaps he was sucking up to his mother in law? Very possible, in my estimation, but it was done with so much earnestness that I acceded. I’ve been experimenting with my art, crafting everything from sparkling strings of beads to hang from potted plants and wind chimes with beautiful musical bells to sterling wrapped gemstone necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.

SI: What inspires you? Camille: Tough question, that. My first instinct is to answer: “everything.” I’ve been spending more time walking in the desert here in Tucson and paying close attention to that natural landscape. I have several pieces now in process that are definitely directly influenced by those observations. I recently donated a piece for auction to the Seattle Midwifery School, a bracelet called “A Little Bit of Tucson” and it was exactly that. SI: What is the best thing about what you do? and the worst? Camille: Ah, it’s all the best. I particularly enjoy at times starting out with one idea, then that idea seems to wander off in it’s own direction and take me someplace completely different – and much better than where I had at first chosen to go! Of course, sometimes the route chosen by the piece isn’t something that I can completely accomplish, and that is the worst.

SI: When not creating, what do you like to do? Camille: I don’t know that there is a time when I am not creating. The process doesn’t have a discernible beginning or ending, so it’s all part of my life. I’m a musician as well as a jewelry artist. There are times that I feel that the jewelry I design is nothing more than an extension of my music; a song in three dimensions. SI: Any future plans you care to share with us? Camille: I believe I will be tending more toward “free sculpting” in the future. Wire is such a simple and complex medium. It seems the possibilities are endless. I would also like to learn more about making my own beads, and metallurgy. I’d definitely love to try casting some pieces. So many ideas, so little time!

Many thanks to Camille for sharing so graciously of herself and her art. Please take a few minutes to visit Camille Handcrafted.

saving human lives = littering?

Tucson Region

Conviction has crossers' water supplier defiant

By Brian J. Pedersen

Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.04.2009

A Tucson man convicted of littering on federal land said he will continue to leave out water for illegal immigrants walking through the desert, even if that means risking further citations.

"We're committed to our humanitarian efforts," said Walt Staton, 27, who was found guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court of knowingly littering on a national wildlife refuge.

"We're not asking permission from the United States to save people's lives. We never have, because we know they'd say no," Staton said.

Staton, a Web designer and volunteer with the humanitarian group No More Deaths, faces up to one year in prison and a $10,000 fine when he is sentenced Aug. 11 by U.S. District Magistrate Judge Jennifer Guerin.

He was cited Dec. 4 for littering when U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted him placing unopened gallon containers of water in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge southwest of Tucson.

It was one of dozens of times in his five years of volunteering with the group that he had left out water, Staton said. This time, though, Staton said a Border Patrol agent stopped his pursuit of a group of illegal immigrants to seize the water.

"I was just trying to save lives," Staton said. "I was trying to end the death and suffering in the desert. The best we can understand, the United States wants to enforce the border by making the desert itself a deterrent."

Staton's attorney, William Walker, argued during the two-day trial that leaving full, unopened water jugs out didn't constitute littering just because someone else later disposed of the empty container elsewhere.

He told the jury of four men and eight women that, based on the prosecutor's theory, if they were given a meal in the jury room and then tossed an empty wrapper on the floor, it would mean the court was guilty of littering.

"Just because something can turn into litter from someone else doesn't make it litter," Walker said. "His intent and purpose was for them to drink the water, not to litter."

Prosecutors argued it shouldn't matter what Staton's intentions were, or a person's motives for committing a crime would matter in other cases.

"Every bank robber would come in here and say they did it to save their dying grandmother," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Lee said.

The verdict shocked Walker, who said about one-third of the jury pool was disqualified because they'd acknowledged sympathy for Staton. He said he didn't think it would be possible for those chosen to find Staton guilty.

"What really surprised me, though, was . . . this trial must have cost the government more than $50,000," Walker said. "They say there aren't enough agents on the border, that they can't stop terrorists from coming into the country . . . and then they spend all of this time and money prosecuting a humanitarian who is putting out water to save lives."

Staton is the second No More Deaths volunteer to go to trial on a federal littering charge. Daniel Millis was found guilty at a bench trial in September, though Walker — who also handled that case — said he has appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Walker said he also plans to appeal Staton's conviction, taking it to the U.S. Supreme Court if needed.