Aysmmetrical Balancing Act
March 4, 2014
Inspirational Art
So, yesterday I very briefly started talking about how balance is at the center of well produced asymmetry. Here is a piece that works more toward a feeling of tension rather than being well-balanced.
In this piece, Margaret Polcawich has mixed wood and polymer clay. The strength of both materials is highlighted in the design as well as the asymmetry. The metal arm leans out to one side while the stacked shapes struggle to lean inward and in the opposite direction. There is a kind of balance in the juxtaposition of the components’ visual movement, even though that movement seems more of a struggle than an harmonious existence. But the piece is named “Temporary” and so the feeling that the balance achieved is only momentary fulfills that idea.
This Maryland artist is not only a sculptor but also a furniture designer. She calls furniture our most accessible sculpture. She explains, “While studying sculpture in college, I began utilizing the chair as a metaphor for the human figure, and have been drawn to functional art ever since.” You can see her furniture, mixed media jewelry and polymer clay accessories, along with some great Mokume
Gane tutorials, on her website.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Asymmetry and the Dangers of Internet Image Posting
March 3, 2014
Inspirational Art
So, if you didn’t read yesterday’s post since earlier this morning, you might want to jump over there and read it. I used a quote to highlight the reasons for not copying and for crediting others. Then ironically the quote image turned out to be a misappropriated quote, reworded and posted without credit. Which brings up the one thing I didn’t summarize in yesterday’s post from the “rules” we suggest in the upcoming article “Stealing Talent” (see the Spring 2014 issue of The Polymer Arts being released on Friday.) That suggested rule is … never post anything derived from another artist’s work, not even from a class or tutorial, unless you’ve really made it your own.
Publicly posting anything that is not uniquely yours, even if you give credit to the original artist that inspired or taught you, is a dangerous and potentially harmful practice, for both you and the original artist. Your credits in the comments section of Flickr, Facebook or even a caption on a website will not necessarily follow that image as it is reposted unless the person pinning/posting consciously chooses to include your words. With the credits missing, people may think you are ripping the original artist off. Besides making you look bad, the original artist is no longer getting credit for his/her hard work.
So I have a proposal … let’s commit to NOT posting images publicly that are not our own original pieces. Let’s only post art which truly represents our unique creativity and ideas. And if we post something that was created as a result of a class or tutorial have it marked with the original artist’s name/credits IN the image itself. You can add text to your images using your photo editing software or watermark them using free online software like www.picmarkr.com or www.umarkonline.com. This way, credit will not be lost when images are reposted.
You may also put your name on images of your own work so they also will always have proper credit no matter where they wander off to, but please, do so as unobtrusively as possible. Watermarking takes away from the presentation of the art and if it weren’t helpful online, I would say never watermark your images at all. But if you do, remember to save an unmarked version as well so it can be used for other things like, oh, getting published in a high quality magazine.
Since I was going to post samples of asymmetry this week (a counter to last week’s symmetry theme) but would also like to give you an example of a watermarked image, here is a bead I created using Dan Cormier’s die-forming technique. And no, in this case, the credit to Dan isn’t necessary–this would never be mistaken for one of his pieces–but it was part of an exercise for an article reviewing his book, Relief Beyond Belief.
Asymmetry (getting back on track here) would seem to be about composition set off balance. But actually, it is completely the opposite. Asymmetry is all about balance. A well composed asymmetrical piece will have the various sides and position of elements balanced against each other–unless you are trying to create a sense of unbalance or tension. We’ll talk more about that tomorrow. I have chatted enough for the last day or two.
I do want to thank all of you who sent me emails about yesterday’s post. I would highly encourage you to actually use the comment section of the blog here to share your thoughts with everyone. It is pretty telling that dozens of people emailed me but no one left a comment. It is a heated subject. But if you email me instead (and I really don’t mind at all!) please do let me know if we can repost your comments and we’ll do so anonymously. This is an important subject and we’d like to hear your thoughts as well!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
What Your Customers Are Buying
March 2, 2014
Ponderings
Edit to Post:
It’s almost funny how the posted quote image here not only highlights the issue of copying but is, as it turns out, a derivation of someone’s words (unattributed in the image as you might note.) I was able to find someone who gave Rebekah Joy Plett the credit for the quote so I could give credit but then Tracy Holmes sent me a Facebook post she found from the artist on this and the original words. I am posting Rebekah’s original words here but am not taking the prior quote image down because it is the link to this post for the email notifications (which will allow people to come here and see the correction) and so that you can help notify others of the misappropriation. If you see the second image below, please let the post person know about the original quote posted by Rebekah here: http://goo.gl/kRCxD7.
Okay here is the actual original quote:
And here is my original post:
I was going to make this a short and sweet post today, just a good quote to give you a little something to consider. But there has been quite the conversation online about a subject that this quote poignantly highlights. So first, read this nice little letter to the potential customer. The sentiment is fantastic.
Words by artist Rebekah Joy Plett … “You are buying a piece of heart, a part of a soul …” Great words, not just for the buyer to hear but for the creator to consider as well. Are you actually selling part of your heart or soul? Or are you selling someone else’s?
Yes, we are touching on the subject of copying here as well as giving credit. Over at the “Ask Harriete” blog, there is quite the conversation going on the subject and I have had several people ask me where I stand or what I think about it. Since I too have been having a lot of conversations concerning this subject in the last couple months, I actually have quite a bit to say but not in the same vein as what Harriete is discussing.
My conversations have primarily revolved around how to clarify what is stealing due to the upcoming release of an article in the Spring 2014 issue of The Polymer Arts. The article is titled “Stealing Talent”. Linda Stiles Smith bravely agreed to interview a number of artists for me , artists who teach and/or publish and regularly have their ideas appropriated–sometimes copied, sometimes worked by others into their own original pieces. In an effort to try and clarify what it means to copy and how to properly use what we learn from each other, we created a summary of what the artists interviewed said. Here’s a bit of a sneak peek that will also give you a chance to chime in on the subject since there isn’t a response option in a magazine:
Rules for Giving Credit
1. Do not teach a class or tutorial that someone else has developed presenting it as your own.
2. Do not directly copy someone’s design and call it your own – for any reason.
3. Do not copy and sell printed images or materials, tutorials, books, techniques of another artist.
I also chimed in with a few thoughts of my own. Here is the abbreviated version:
As for when to give credit, consider whether what you are using is design or technique.
Design is the art. It belongs to the creator.
This includes the choices one makes about form, color combinations, line, pattern, etc., as well as the combination of these choices. So, you do not copy someone’s designs—that is their art and their voice as an artist.Techniques are like tools in your tool box.
This is the how-to aspect of working in the material. You don’t need to list where your ‘tools’ originated when you sell something, but if you are teaching or posting your work you have an obligation to say where you your ‘technique tools’ came from. It would be unfair to keep aspiring clayers from being able to access the original source and it repays that artist for giving you the tool to work with.
I know this last paragraph has the potential to create some controversy because I do not say you do not have the right to teach or use a technique that another person has created. In the legal sense, you can. There is no copyright on technique (See rules 1 & 3 above as well). The gray areas comes not with someone using a technique but in HOW they use.
If an artist develops a technique and always applies it to a flat round pendant, someone making a square pendant would still be copying. However, if you see an artist apply the technique only to round beads and someone else uses the technique but creates square beads, most of us would recognize that it’s not quite stealing the design. Why? Because we recognize that creating a round bead requires a different technique than creating a square one and would likely require a variation on the application of the original artist’s technique, requiring different design and aesthetic choices. This doesn’t work for the pendant application because there is no difference in how the technique would be applied if all you are doing is choosing another shaped cutter.
Now, I in no way advocate taking someone’s work and just changing one aspect so you can call it your own. It doesn’t work that way–its still not your own. Read the quote above again if this concept of when it is not copying is unclear. If you are not making something that is of you–if all you are doing is borrowing from others–you aren’t making art, you are just reproducing and what you create is not that much different than any commercial product. If you are not making your own work, you are not giving your buyers the one thing that makes your work so much more valuable than a mass produced product … that little bit of yourself that imbues an object with meaning and personal connection. That is what buyers are paying for when buying art and handmade work. Don’t cheat your buyers. And just as important, don’t cheat yourself.
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Innate Symmetry
March 1, 2014
Inspirational Art
We couldn’t have a proper week on symmetry without two things … earrings and kaleidoscope canes. So who better to demonstrate both than Sandra McCaw. If you look at this pair of earrings as a cohesive whole, instead of two individual pieces in a set, they are a perfect example of mirror image symmetry. Her creative style encompasses precision and exactness, as witnessed in these masterful canes using color and intricacy of pattern to form her McCaw Cane. She adds richness and texture to her pieces with the application of 23K gold leaf.
For those of you who are not familiar with Sandra, she developed a caning process that bears her name, the McCaw Cane. It involves mixing several gradations of two or three colors, rolling them into sheets and stacking them into blocks. Each block is then cut in the same way and the pieces swapped to create simple multi-colored patterns. These blocks are then reduced and divided to make increasingly complex patterns. If you would like to learn this technique step-by-step, grab a copy of her DVD, “Innovations: A Polymer Clay Series” or take a peek at the book, “The Art of Jewelry: Polymer Clay – Techniques, Projects, Inspiration.”
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
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Folded polymer seems to be a bit of trend lately. From the popularity of Helen Breil’s folded beads and tutorial to Sonya Girodon’s faux folded paper to the folded look pin sent out as a tease for Dan Cormier’s upcoming book, we’re seeing a lot of polymer getting folded these days so this week, we’ll look at what some other artists are doing with the folded approach.
These earrings are by Hanc of the Fler.cz marketplace. First of all, this is some fantastically done gradient color–the smooth and consistent transitions through so many hues take some patience to create. And that white line down the center is a rather genius addition, giving the ruffled folds added complexity and dimension. Overall, it’s a fairly simple centered design but it’s wonderful how the folded polymer gives the piece tactile texture and movement as well as adding to the vibrant feel of the color by the repetition of the folds.
This Czech artist, who goes by the name Hanc, loves gardening and flowers, creating magical worlds full of colorful folder polymer clay. There is a lot more like this to be found in this artist’s fler.cz shop so do pop over and take in more variations on this folded approach as well as other inspired and skillfully completed designs.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
For those of you who may not have heard through our newsletter and postings on Facebook by others involved, next month in Malta, myself, Marjon Donker and Saskia Veltenaar (From Polymer To Art) and Béa Picq (Polymère & Co) will be conducting a presentation and discussion on polymer art in print–what is available right now and what we as a community might want to see in the future. We would like to make this a chance for you to have your say about what you like, don’t like and want to see more of in books and magazines so we created a survey for that purpose. Not only is it short and fun and will get your voice heard, you can also win one of three magazine packages that will include a $10 gift certificate to anything from The Polymer Arts and a digital magazine issue of your choice from both From Polymer to Art and Polymère & Co.
And yes, if you took the survey through the newsletter, before I heard from the other ladies about wanting to add their magazines to the prize offerings, you will get the whole package if picked.
To help us with this presentation, get yourself heard, and to enter for a chance to win one of 3 magazine packages, click on this link!
If you are unfamiliar with either of the other magazines, they are both complimentary to what we do in The Polymer Arts, focusing more on project tutorials and some basic techniques and information, great for beginning to intermediate artists. From Polymer to Art is in English and Polymere & Co. is in French, but is available in a digital format so you can copy text from it into Google translate to read it.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
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Color, texture, and shape are hallmarks of Libby Mill‘s work, as so beautifully illustrated in this curious beaded pin. Polymer clay allows her to explore the textured and smooth, patterned and plain surfaces. This pin has a very organic feel to it and the elongated shape and beaded texture brings it to life in a fluid, animated way.
Libby likes to work in polymer clay and sterling silver. See more of her work on her Flickr pages, including lots of bangles, beads, necklaces, earrings, and mixed media pieces, and visit her blog to share in discussions about balancing your creative life with a busy family life.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Of course the 1000 Beads books has many beads that are not polymer but I would say all the beads, no matter what the material, are inspirational for the polymer artist.
I know I completely fell in love with the beads by glass artist Lisa Atchison whose lampwork reminded me of intricate polymer cane layering, only there are a few additions to the traditional all cane layered bead. Can you see the additional micro beads and crystals she’s added not to mention the filigree like lines laid atop the basic layers? This kind of accenting would be easy enough to add to any polymer bead. Its a great example of how the approach in another medium can be transferred to a polymer approach.
Do take a look at the many other beautiful pieces by Lisa on her blog. Just the ones in the header are amazing!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Here is another beautiful bead from one of Lark’s 1000 Beads book artists in polymer. Leigh Ross does a wonderful job layering canes and translucents. Notice the depth her approach gives this pendant. It looks like the space goes back farther than the bead is thick! It’s like there is a little miniature world inside this single bead.
Leigh Ross is probably familiar to many of you. Not only is she the owner of the popular website Polymer Clay Central, she is also a writer, teacher, and silver worker. You can find more of her work and enjoy her projects, lessons, and tutorials on Polymer Clay Central.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Sometimes I feel like I post a bit much on the polymer embroidery technique but it’s hard not to fall in love with the intricate beauty of the work. Peeli Rohini has a lovely set of polymer embroidered beads right at the start of the gallery of beads in the Lark’s 1000 Beads book. There is such a precise and well thought out patterning in Peeli’s application of this technique. It really looks like intricate needlework.
Peeli’s work is inspired by the rich and ethnic cultures all over the world and their rich luxurious fabrics. She has a passion and love for polymer clay and a longing to create miniature wearable pieces of art! Check out some of her photos of her work on her Facebook page also.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Wiwat Kamolpornwijit’s work has fascinated me since I first laid eyes on one of his trapped rose necklaces, as I like to call them. A couple new variations on these are in the new 1000 Beads book. I, too, have a fascination with things that are wholly exposed, with caves and crevice, and what is hiding behind the screen, in the box and under the veil. Wiwat’s work presents a lot of these intriguing, partially exposed and trapped elements.
This piece is actually older. I am thinking from around 2007 but you can see that this partly hidden and trapped theme has been an ongoing vein of interest to him.
As he describes his work, “I hand-form every piece of polymer clay jewelry with no use of commercial molds. I use several techniques including caning, engraving, weaving, layering, and many others for which I don’t have names.”
Wiwat, who originally is from Thailand and currently lives in Virginia, is a Niche Awards winner for 2011 and 2013, and Saul Bell Design Award Finalist for 2011. You can be inspired by more of his work on his website.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Just got my copy of Lark Craft’s latest in their fantastic photo book series, 1000 Beads. I am always curious, and a bit apprehensive about books that should include plenty of polymer clay because too often there has not been a great representation of our medium among the older and more readily accepted fine craft mediums. But this book is a huge exception. Polymer is found throughout this collection with a rather wide range of talent as well as technique. I would have lost myself for most of the day Saturday when I got it, if I hadn’t been in the midst of office remodeling and in a rush to get things back in workable order. But this morning … wow! A few hours of doing nothing but pouring over this book and looking up the many talented artists was such a fantastic way to start a Monday!
So I thought this week, I’d focus on and congratulate some of the polymer artists that landed their work in this latest Lark book. We only have a week so it will be but a fraction of the artists represented. But let’s look at great beads, and ones not in the book so you have more to look forward to when you get your own copy! (The official publication date is April 1st but it looks like Amazon already has them in stock.)
I was particularly thrilled to see the work of some of my favorite polymer friends including the enthusiastic and dedicated Cara Jane Hayman. She is one of those artists still exploring a wide range of techniques but her focus on refined skill and creating work not directly derivative of the artists she is learning from is inspiring. These beads were created in a Sarah Shriver workshop but they aren’t readily recognized as Shriver-esque. And they are nicely finished with a wide range of visual textures to draw you in.
Cara Jane hails from Bristol in the UK. Her background as a research scientist led her to explore and test polymer and share her findings on her blog. Cara Jane has written for us at The Polymer Arts as well as From Polymer to Art. This year is looking to be a big year for her as well, starting with demonstrating polymer alongside Donna Kato at the Paperworld show in Germany, her appearance in 1000 Beads and her upcoming role as one of our curators for the first Polymer Arts book publication. (What book, you ask? Just stay tuned and we’ll start posting information about this soon!)
You can also see more of Cara Jane’s art on her website and her Flickr pages.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
I found this video on the TedEd website (TedTalks educational series of lessons rather than talks) fascinating. Because being able to deem certain work as art versus craft gives the creator a frame work through which to price and market their work as well as offering a certain status for those deemed artist, there have been many a long debate on this subject. What most people probably don’t realize is that the idea of being an artist rather than just a skilled craftsperson is a relatively new concept for mankind, and in some parts of the world is still not a widely used concept.
This short 5 minute video goes over the history of the concept of art and how we might define craft versus art. I was not surprised at the conclusion but it does very succinctly illustrate the problem with trying to create a black and white definition. (Click on the image to get to the video.)
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
