What is art? While I was living in France, someone (not an artist) told me that ART is making order out of chaos. I like that definition. It is open yet clear. Like a broken circle. Art is searching to complete itself.
Many artists work in only one medium. Mine is metal, i.e. gold and silver.
I am a gold and silversmith. Technically, smithing is working with a hammer. In broad strokes I can melt metal down, roll it out, and form gold and silver into any form I like. However, I am not limited to these metals; I can form, cut, pierce, forge, solder, metal down and re-form any non- ferrous metal. I have worked in other media, but gold and silver are my thing. I have fantasies of wood carving, but they rest in the land of dreams.
(workshop of Erika Rubel-Had Matter)
Years ago, while studying at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, I met artists who have proficiencies in various media. At Penland, one is encouraged to explore other studios; it is a great place for artistic cross-pollination. I remember once, while studying silversmithing in Ireland, I was in a workshop with a women who made clocks. Her clocks were incredible; she had the ability to work in many media with artistic eloquence.
At Eastern Market, we have mixed-media artist Erika Rubel (Had Matter ) .
She works in wood, paper, textiles, found objects and metal. When one spots her work on the plaza at Eastern Market on Saturdays and Sundays, secretly one poses the questions to oneself " What is that?" Her pieces are mixed media constructions. They are sculptural and whimsical object d'art. If you ask her she will explain that they are also very functional. What are they....shelves for stuff, keys and letter holders.
When asked how did she start making these objects . . . or how did she start working in so many different media. . . or how did she think to make key holders or...
(Erika Rubel's books on making things)
She responds that while growing up in New York City, she was raised near Grant's Tomb and Columbia University, and she loved toys, particularly stuffed animals that moved or spun or articulated in some manner. So, as a teenager she started making them out of old sweaters and pieces that she found in second hand stores. Later, after college, she not only made the animals, but she also learned how to make the patterns to make the toys. She is good in math.
(Erika's stuffed animal collection)
Ms. Rubel went to the University of Chicago, where she received a BA with a focus on book making. While in college, she also studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. There she studied book binding and paper making. Erika was in the book world. As a part time job in school, she worked for a book store and repaired old books.
It was books that brought Ms. Rubel to Washington, D.C. In 1994 she came to DC to work for Daedalus Books as the wholesale customer service representative. During this time of "9-5" life, she again began making stuffed animals. She also bought and renovated a house, which gave her a creative outlet and also introduced her to woodworking and laying tile, among many other skills necessary to repair an old house. She says that running a bookstore taught her how to run her own business, set up for shows, and work with the general public.
Hence, by 2002 Erika said, "I am going to do my own thing." She found Eastern Market through a former bookstore colleague. She thought it was great place to go shopping for presents. She began selling mosaic tile tables and mirrors at Eastern Market in 2004. Erika came up with the name of her business, Had Matter, while bartending. She says she wanted to trade under a name not her own, and she says " I was trying out the name of "mad matter at the bar I worked at and one of mu regulars said "had matter". And I thought that that name sounded even better since had means used and matter means stuff". But the tables were not a hit and the mirrors, she said, were really heavy to transport. She came up with the idea of making something smaller, functional and practical. The "key holder" idea was born.
(early work Erika Rubel-mirrors)
(early work- tiled table- by Erika Rubel)
(found objects workshop Erika Rubel)
(found objects)
(Erika Rubel in process in her workshop)
(Wood cutting workshop with pieces in process)
Her concurrent work is a technological symphony mixing old and new ways of combining materials. She collages images together with the aid of Adobe PhotoShop. She then binds the images to her handmade constructions. Hence her pieces are a combination of image binding and sculptural form with the practical bent of being key holders.
(found objects, license plates)
(wood vise holding work in progress)
Ms. Rubel's constructions are an assemblage of found objects that she cuts, paints, shapes and cold-connects with rivets, hinges, screws, glue and pressure. She is a master of the found object in art.
(Had Matter at Eastern Market letter holder/key holders)
(Had Matter at Eastern Market)
( at Erika's stand at Eastern Market "Jazzy key holder with shelf")
(in situ Erika's personal key holder with clock chez elle)
(house bug: Erika Rubel{dinning room})
Like many of the past and present artists at Eastern Market and artists in general, Ms. Rubel is curious. She loves to make, to explore, and to learn. Her newest pieces, "BUGS," are purely sculptural. She states, "sculpure is for me to develop more as an artist." To this end, she has started 
taking metal sculpture classes at the Corcoran College of Art and Design.
taking metal sculpture classes at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. ("Bugs" Erika Rubel-Had Matter )
(Bugs on the work table, workshop Erika Rubel) 
(metal scultpure)
Erika Rubel has been showing her work at Eastern Market for six years.
(metal scutlpure)
Witnessing,
Sonda T. Allen
Turtle's Webb
Posts
