The Party is in Full Swing. Come join us!
May 31, 2023
Polymer community news, The Polymer Arts magazine news
What party is this? The latest project from little ol’ me, Sage. The Sage Arts podcast is more than up and running… I have 25 episodes up as of this posting, ready on your favorite podcast player (New to Podcasts? Click here to find out how easy it is to enjoy them!) and a new one coming out every week.
What’s This Podcast All About?
This podcast is all about feeding and exciting your muse. By enlightening or reminding you about important and maybe unconsidered aspects of creating and living as an artist, I hope to help you find more joy and satisfaction in what you do, sharing ways to create with authenticity and fearlessness, while supporting your uniquely defined version of success.
Now what the heck does that all mean? Well, let’s look at what this is and what this is not…
It IS…
… a way to consistently feed your muse
… all about you. Myself, my guests, and my guest co-hosts speak to the issues, curiousity, and hurdles that you as a creative deal with on a regular basis.
… focused on creating a more fulfilling, joyful, and meaningful artistic journey.
… a conversation that goes both ways with lots of opportunities for you to be heard.
It is NOT…
… all about polymer clay or any one medium, as it’s important stuff for all artistic folks.
… focused on “how-to” or the latest tools and materials.
… just interviewing successful artists and talking at you. Rather it is like a coffee house chat or other friendly gather and I include you, the listener, in every way I can.
I created this podcast to supercharge your creativity, motivation, and artistic style through novelty, story, conversation, and community. Everyone has how-tos and ways to increase your sales – valiant and necessary stuff, of course! But what does your muse need? What does your work and your love of your art need to thrive? That’s where I want to help.
I aim to give artists ways to further hone their unique voice, increase their joy and productivity, and create a version of artistic success that is meaningful, satisfying, and anything but ordinary.
Come Join the Conversation
If you have something to share, would like to be a guest (for a chatty interview), or be a guest co-host (you and I banter on a particular subject) drop me an email me via my contact page on the show website: https://thesagearts.com/contact/ or send a voice mail (use the red button on that same site, bottom right corner of any page.)
And join me on social media!
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thesageartspodcast/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheSageArtsPodcast
And don’t forget to click “FOLLOW” or that little arrow on your favorite Podcast player so you get notices of new episodes. New Episodes come out weekly on Friday evenings, barring natural disasters or other bits of interference, of course. I hope you’ll join me there, on The Sage Arts podcast!
There are new artists and creatives joining every day with tons of great things to say…
“Just what I needed!”
“I just binged-listened … and I can’t wait for more!”
“There is so much validity in your presentation…”
“Looking forward to all the thinking and creating that they prompt.”
Taste test on my RSS website: https://rss.com/podcasts/thesagearts/
Or on the podcast home website: https://thesagearts.com/
Or start with this episode:
The Electroformed Form
November 5, 2013
Inspirational Art
I can’t tell you how excited I am to have an article on electroforming with polymer in the next issue. Electroforming is the process of using electrical current to adhere metal (copper in this case) to designated areas on a form. I have been dying to try this technique for years now, but the expense and seeming complexity has had me delay diving in. However, this article has convinced me that the process doesn’t have to be terribly expensive, and it’s pretty simple, too. What was even more exciting about this article was that it was written by a Russian artist, Elena Aleshina, with next to no English fluency, and me with no Russian language knowledge at all! It kept hitting me how cool and crazy the world is that I can ‘talk’ with this artist from Russia without help of a third person. We did hire a translator to translate her Russian-written article, but it’s really neat to get emails in Cyrillic. Such pretty script it is. I don’t know, maybe my nerd side is showing too much, but new technology is just so cool sometimes!
I’m saving Elena’s electroforming work for the article, but I also wanted to show you the American artist that first got me fascinated with the prospect some years back, Cassy Muronaka. She actually wrote up a ten part blog on the subject back in early 2011. Here are some of the pieces she posted in the process:
Now tell me you’re not the least bit interested in knowing how the process works and you would never want to try it. Cassy’s process is slightly different than Elena’s so if you do have a keen interest, I would suggest reading Cassy’s blog posts as well as Elena’s article when the issue comes out later this month. Between the two of them, you just might find the right options to get yourself started on this amazing technique. Then tell me when you’re set up so I can come play too, because chances are you’ll have a set-up ready to go long before I find the spare time to do so.
A Week of Impact
November 4, 2013
Inspirational Art
We’re polishing up the next issue of The Polymer Arts, so my brain is hyper-focused on impactful art. With the limitations we have in periodicals, I never feel like we get to say everything I would like to get out to you readers, and I certainly don’t get to share all the great art I have seen that fits the theme. So, this week we’ll get in a few of those pieces that might have been great examples if we had the room, time or opportunity to contact the artist in order to include them. Now, let’s talk impact!
Impact in your art is about the degree to which you visually, conceptually or even tactilely affect the viewer or buyer of your piece. I know when I think of the term, my mind immediately goes to high contrast and graphic work, which can be quite impactful, but that’s not the only way to strongly affect people when they see your work. If you saw Donna Greenberg’s piece on the cover image we sent out Friday, my guess is it turned your head, not because it has a lot of contrast or is graphically strong, but because the piece is so unusual and maybe also because the composition of the cover is a bit different. The impact here is about the unexpected. Impact is really just all about making people notice.
Although as I go on this week, I will feature techniques and artists that will be in the coming issue, today I just want to show you an example of a piece by Anita Lerner that I thought visually defined impact, mostly because it reminds me of a crash event or something similar. But there’s more to it than that.
There is one simple cane focal point and then a splash of aqua across a crackled gold and black background with beads matching the blue and the gold. If you look at the few elements that make up this piece, its not that complex, but it feels like it is. This is primarily due to a variety of contrasting elements that all have commonalities as well. That blue-green is in the slice, the splash, and the beads. The gold is in the slice, the crackling, and the strung beads. The colors are just blues and golds–but those two colors contrast; the smooth gradation of the cane slice contrasts with the heavy texture of the crackle; the evenly placed squares on the border of the cane contrast with the erratic radiating aqua in the splash of color; and the neatness and regularity of the strung beads contrasts with the off-kilter angles and hanging position of the pendant’s square shape. All this contrast make for a very interesting and visually active piece. That’s why it feels so complex.
Our feature article outlines the various types of contrast and how to use added contrast to increase interest and energy in a piece. We’ll hit on that at least once more this week because contrast is so incredibly important to consider in your work–not just highly varied contrast, but the choice to have only a small amount contrast as well. Your choice in contrast will alter the feel, message, or theme of a piece as much as your choice of imagery or form does.
So stay with us this week for more on these exciting subjects. Get your subscription or pre-order of the Winter issue in so you don’t miss out on getting it first. And if you enjoy Anita’s pendant, take a look at more of her work in her Etsy shop and on her website.
Appreciating the Shadow Side
November 3, 2013
Ponderings
Not everyone wants to create, buy, or own work that is dark, creepy or sinister, or reminds them of all that is not sunshine and light in this world. I understand that. However, I do think we should all cultivate an appreciation for the many sides of this life, and the artwork that explores these other sides is just as important as the work that makes us smile and feel cheery. There are shadowy sides and bright sides to most things and they all have their place.
On many blogs, people share pictures of their pets–they are a big part of our lives for many of us–but I never thought I would post my pets, since I wanted this blog to be about you and all the wonderful artists out there. But I needed an image to go with this quote and, well, I couldn’t find one that I liked. However, I had this great photo of my cat and office companion, Cleo. So now you’ve met my cat who, should someone call asking for our marketing department, is the staff member I hand the phone to. She does a great job of getting sales people off the phone!
Cute and Creepy
November 2, 2013
Inspirational Art
It’s really no surprise that my quest for something that could embody cute and creepy ended up with me looking at dolls. Dolls, figurines, and sculptures of the human form seemed the most likely candidates because although there are cute creatures and certainly creepy creatures, it’s more likely that conflicted emotions will occur when it comes to creatures within our own species.
So what do you think of this gaggle of dolls? Cute and creepy, or just one of the two?
These little creatures are the creation of Anne Marie Gibbons who hand sculpts each and every big-eyed munchkin in polymer clay and then paints their faces with heat-set oil paints. All her dolls have tiny dolls of their own as well. It’s the tiny doll’s dolls that really seem to embody the creepy side of things, but they’re still kind of cute.
I need to stop and thank Irene Corman, who wrote the wonderful “Teaching Polymer Workshops” article in the present Fall 2013 Organic themed issue of The Polymer Arts, for her help this week and last in finding art and artists for the blog. Things are revving up here for the expansion of The Polymer Arts publication into books, and any help in taking a bit more off my plate is so very welcome. Please send a little thank you Irene out into the universe for her help. You’ll be seeing more of her finds as she continues to use her polymer art web-surfing addiction for the good of us all!
Impact for this Winter!
November 1, 2013
The Polymer Arts magazine news
We interrupt this Friday’s usual fare to present the cover of the next issue of The Polymer Arts magazine and share our excitement about what we have coming in it.
This cover piece is by Donna Greenberg. It’s actually a bridal necklace that she was commissioned to make earlier this year. Donna has written a wonderfully in-depth and insightful article about taking on commissioned art, including how wonderful it is to be able to impact someone’s life or life event with your art but she also talks about how to handle the difficulties that come with working on a commissioned piece. She generously shares her own experiences, tricks, and even an agreement template you can use to establish the commission contract.
In addition to Donna’s article we have a ton of interesting pieces that will get you creating and have you thinking as well as providing a lot of great eye candy:
- Visual Impact: Mastering Contrast
- Ancient Impact: Influenced by the Past
- Handmade Impact: Pointed Tool Impressions
- Brilliant Impact: Electroforming Polymer
- Legal Impact: A Well Set-up Shop
- Instructive Impact: Maximizing Your Workshop Experience
- Taking Control of Your Camera Settings
- Create Polymer Toggle Clasps
- Understanding Why You Play with Clay
- …and much more!
Now, inserting the inevitable sales pitch here (because you do need to get this issue, right?!):
Don’t Miss an Issue … Subscribe or Renew!
If you haven’t already, snap up your subscription! Or for you dedicated go-getters, renew subscriptions at www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscription_ordering.html
Pre-orders of the Winter issue are also available online here: http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Single_issues.html
Then come check in here tomorrow because I think I found it! Creepy and cute … wait until you see these!
In the Halloween Spirit
October 31, 2013
Inspirational Art
Alright … I have failed at finding creepy cute thus far, but I do have a good candidate for this weekend. Must research further!
In the meantime, here is something tastefully cute and in the Halloween spirit for today. I think from a distance you might not see much more than pleasant color combinations and enticing texture, with a hint that something else must be going on and you should get a closer look. Because of that and because they’re so darn cute, I’m not sure I’d want to save these to wear for just this holiday.
These earrings were created by the clever hands of Deirdre Dreams (I’m thinking that’s not her actual last name, but that is all she has on the half dozen sites her work is presented on) from the south end of the Netherlands. She works with tiny polymer details, exploring romantic, hippy, fantasy, and a wide variety of imaginative imagery. If you like the earrings here, check out more of her work on her website or her Etsy shop.
Halloween Bookmarks
October 30, 2013
Technique tutorials
Today and tomorrow, we’ll be sharing the cute and creepy-ish in honor of the more lighthearted side of Halloween. Today we’re skipping the design lessons and such for just a bit of fun.
Here we have some easy to make items you can whip together if you have need of a few little gifts for the crew at the office or party favors for your masquerade bash. This black cat bookmark tutorial is by Finland’s Nelli Kivinen. Cute, functional, and in the spirit of the season.
You could do basically the same thing (keeping a space at the bottom to slip a card into) with ghost shapes, skulls, witch hats, or anything else you would like to fit the season. You gotta love little gifts that can be given to anyone of almost any age, are gender neutral, and fun to make to boot.
I might make a few suggestions to make things easier and quicker for creating these. One, don’t remove the cardboard from the cat legs when you bake them. In fact, use the exact same card material you will use for the bookmark itself so it fits well and the two sides of the cat legs don’t by chance droop and cure together in the oven. Second, smooth the clay as much as you can before baking so that you won’t have to sand or finish the finished pieces. If you use an acrylic block or other flat, smooth item to roll the cat’s body and head before bending the body shape and pinching out the ears, you should have few if any fingerprints to deal with. Just a few thoughts from a clayer who is all about making it easy!
Beautiful Nightmare
October 29, 2013
Inspirational Art
Artist Valeria Myrusso specializes in unsettling imagery. I can’t quite put my finger on why this piece below gives off a sense of eeriness, but there is definitely something vaguely creepy about the creature melded with the violin here. It makes me think of being trapped, that this might be something I’d see in a nightmare–and yet it’s just really beautiful.
A large part of its beauty is in the abundance of detail. All the tiny details, the faces and filigree and even the little floating orbs around the character’s neck come together to give this piece an otherworldly quality. This photo alone doesn’t show half of it, either. Take a look at her page with detailed shots of the piece here. If you like her work, she has more, both in polymer and in other materials, on her website.
Classy Creepy Week
October 28, 2013
Inspirational Art
With Halloween on the way and myself with a healthy admiration and appreciation for the darker side of things, I thought a week of creepy but classy art might be in order. Can something be classy and creepy? I definitely think so. I might even have some cutesy creepy to toss in for levity. Which also brings up the question–can anything really be cute and creepy at the same time? I guess we’ll see what I can come up with!
I am traveling today, making my way home to Colorado from the Kentucky retreat, where I stayed a little ways outside Nashville with a fellow retreat attendee. My mind has been trying to take in and sort all that I saw, learned, and experienced the last four days, but visually I keep thinking of one artist’s work in particular. Since her art also fits the theme this week, I thought I’d share a little Leslie Blackford with you today.
Leslie’s work is pure expression and very original. One of the talks I gave during the retreat was on developing a personal artistic voice, and Leslie came up as a prime example of what it is for an artist to have that particular voice that is a direct reflection of oneself. Funny thing is, although her work is a bit dark and even disturbing at times, Leslie is this adorable, generous, very kind and lively person. However, her work reflects something not on the surface but underneath. As one attendee said, there has to be a story behind each thing she makes and you just want to sit down and hear it.
There is a simultaneous reaction to these–they feel somehow both cute and disturbing. On her DeviantArt page this photo is titled “Off with Your Head,” not to refer to it in the macabre sense but rather because the heads are interchangeable. But between the title and the slightly off and mostly unfathomable expression of the various heads, one gets the feeling that all is not well in Wonderland, or wherever such creatures might reside. I know her work is not for everyone, but there is something about it that draws you in, especially if you get to see it in person. There is just so much personality, emotion, and raw expression in her work. Her artistic voice is one of the strongest I have had the pleasure of seeing in person, particularly in polymer.
For more expressive classy and beautifully dark work, take a look at Leslie’s CraftArtEdu classes, her Deviant art pages or her website, Moodywoods.
A Weekend of Collaboration
October 27, 2013
Inspirational Art
I thought today I would just talk a little bit about what I was doing this weekend (besides running about trying to find an internet connection). And besides, my group built a piece off of what was basically a glass box, so it fits the theme!
The polymer retreat at the Mammoth Cave National Park was really different in that the whole weekend was collaborative. The attendees were split into six groups, each creating a collaborative piece based on an organic theme. Most of the people here have not done anything like this–collaborating with 4 or 5 other people and creating something that represented them all in a matter of 3 days. There was a lot of fretting at the beginning, but all the projects turned out great.
There is really something special about collaborating. You are forced to relinquish control over the end result, which can be scary, frustrating, or freeing depending on the kind of person you are, but in the end, it’s quite exhilarating because what is created could never have been conceived and produced by you alone.
You also find yourself trying things you wouldn’t usually do. I know Ron Lehocky, known for his perfectly finished cane covered heart pins, had to let go and allow the work to be rough and less controlled to create moss and the bark of a tree. He even ended up making the impression of flowers on the side of our cave sculpture rather than actual flowers.
Created by Ron Lehocky, Iris Weiss, Anita Kennerley, Ellen Prophater, Amy Nemon, and Sage Bray.
If you have never collaborated with another artist, I highly recommend trying it. You can discover so much about yourself and will probably have your ideas pushed in directions you never imagined. This is especially good for times when you are feeling stuck or feel like you’re getting into a rut. And if not that, at least get out and join a group of artists at a guild meeting or class so you have the chance to exchange ideas and get input on your work. It’s so amazing and invigorating.
