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 Ethereal Moth
January 10, 2017
Inspirational Art
I don’t know what it is, but moths seem to be popping up all over the place in the polymer-sphere. They are pretty amazing too. This one was hard to miss. The translucent wings and choice of colors that are smoothly graduated in beautifully executed detail make this moth feel quite ethereal. Even the fluff and strands on the head are finely wrought clay with careful attention paid to the progression of grays. It’s a wonderful piece but unfortunately, I don’t have the artist to credit. It showed up on Pinterest with a link to a polymer group page on www.vk.com but with over 11,000 members, I have no idea whose it could be.
I can’t tell you how many pieces I pass up for features in the blog because there is no artist listed and initial searching leaves me no clues. Which means we are all without further knowledge of these artists. You can help change this.
If you like something so well that you save it, be sure there is a link to the source of the image’s information, not just the website’s homepage. You can ensure you are doing this by grabbing the web address of the post, article, or particular page you found the image on in the notes of the image on the social media site you save it to. If the address is just the website home page, you can usually click through on the post’s title or the “more …” link at the bottom of it to find the particular page with the artist’s information in whatever form the posting person has it.
Let’s give credit where credit it due. Not to mention giving us a chance to find out whose work we are admiring. As usual, if anyone knows who created this, chime in. I know I would like to see what other wonderful things they are creating!
UPDATE: We got our answer as to who the artist was–Darya Telegina of Balambeshka on www.vk.com. Thank you to Sherrie Brittig, Conny Brockstedt, and Natalya Aleksandrova for figuring it out and sending the links!
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Illusionary Color
January 7, 2017
Inspirational Art
Since this week seems to be about juxtaposed color that causes visual shifting, I thought I’d check in on Sandra Trachsel of Koniz, Switzerland who creates some of the most splendid three-dimensional looking cane layouts. Her pieces are visual illusions of space and movement, all created with changes in shades and values of color and how they line up.
Here is one of her pieces from about a year ago. She calls this Necklace Artichoke which, as it is with a lot of her pieces, was inspired by a quilt pattern, this one from quilter Sylvia Schäfer. Although the cane work looks very much like the sample quilt, this arrangement and repetition takes it a step beyond. The variation in the side and background colors of the beads adds to the energy and dimensional feeling. If you try to look at the necklace as a whole, the beads then look to glow from their centers. It’s a beautiful adaptation of the original pattern.
Even though a lot of Sylvia’s canes come quite directly from quilt patterns, her precision and choices as she reinterprets them in polymer is quite inspiring. Take a look at her collection of pattern dominant work on her Flickr photostream.
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A Fitting Start
January 5, 2017
Inspirational Art
At first I couldn’t figure out what Carol Blackburn had done here and could only stare at this in wonderment. But then, I was looking at the image on my phone as Randee Ketzel had forwarded it to me and I have to immediately check out anything Randee sends my way. On closer examination (and on a full size computer screen), I realized that these are sheets of Skinner blended clay fitted together using interlocking tabs. Carol refers to them as Dodecahedra and mentions in the thread of comments on her Facebook page that she plans to make earrings out of them so I guess they aren’t too big. I sure would love to see them in person. It’s her color combinations that really make these work with all cool or all warm colors on each one, making the variety of color relate.
Carol does like to play with sheets of clay, much like paper and in ways related to paper art but the durability and embedded color add an aspect you just can’t get in paper. You can see what I mean by jumping over to her website. If you are on Facebook, jump over to Carol’s page and check out the comments and conversation.
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Changing Things Up
January 3, 2017
Uncategorized
Well, here we are … first post of 2017 and I find myself, again, focused on how to make this a year full of useful information and inspiration for everyone who so kindly drops in on my mental meanderings. To that end, I have decided to make a couple tweaks.
I’m going to have just one Inspirational Challenge a week, at the end of the week, so those who were feeling bad that they couldn’t do all three each week (not that I expected that myself!), will feel some of the pressure come off and we’ll have the weekend to work on them.
The other thing is to prioritize studio time in my schedule for myself. This will greatly be assisted by the fact that as of next week, I will finally have the space for a dedicated and properly equipped studio in California, the state I will now be calling home as I move into our new house. I still have my space in Colorado but will be there only once a quarter or so. Not traveling nearly every month will certainly help with getting more time in the studio too.
To further assist in my New Year’s resolution to find more studio time in my day, I might change up the posts a bit, as long as I can still give you great content. Just want to see what I can do with very short formats. Then, after the move I’ll put together a survey and get your input on what you’d like to see in the blogs, newsletters, magazines and books. If you have specific ideas that you think I should put to a vote in this survey, write me directly at sbray(a)thepolymerarts.com before the 14th of January.
In the meantime, let’s look at some clever designs this week that take common or familiar ideas but give them an interesting tweak. These beads are, I believe, variations on using the same striped sheets of clay but arranged in different patterns. It is hard to believe these could all be from the same initial pattern but look at each piece closely and you’ll see a bargello like concept used to arrange each one. It’s rather fascinating to identify what Jana Honnerova did here. It’s rather like some kind of brain puzzle. But it brings to mind what we can get out of pushing our arrangements.
Jana’s hallmark seems to be taking one thing and seeing what else can be done with it, both with her own techniques and the techniques she has learned from others. See whose influences you can identify in her work and what she does to change up the approach of other artists on her Flickr photostream.
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Fragility and Strength
December 30, 2016
Inspirational Art
Although New Year’s Eve allows for all kinds of bling and shimmer to be pulled out and showed off, sometimes the most impressive statement is understatement. That’s what I think this strong but delicate piece from jewelry designer Kayo Saito is about.
I imagine this necklace it is quite large so it will show off size wise for certain, but I think the organic shapes in semi-translucent fabrics draw the eye for its juxtaposition in the fragile look of the forms within their strong directional orientation and dense composition. Both the fragility and strength are unwavering which makes it quite a sophisticated and intriguing piece.
I know … I just posted two items in a row this week that weren’t actually polymer. But in both cases, they could easily have been polymer with the same impact. It doesn’t matter what material a piece is made from, only that it is done well and that it inspires. Right? Art is inclusive, not exclusive. Just go take a look at Kayo’s website to see more inspiring, strong and sometimes frail looking work in fabrics and metal.
I also picked this piece because I think its characteristics represents how many of us feel as we head into 2017. There is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now. We don’t know what our leaders are going to do and we don’t know how the conflicts across the world will play out in the coming months or what it will mean for us. This has left many people feeling frail and exposed. But the issues that have arisen have also given many, many people a new sense of direction as well as a swelling sense of responsibility and need to speak out and be heard. We may feel vulnerable, we may even appear frail, but I think a lot of people today are actually strong and resilient. We have already been through some seriously trying times this past decade and we have, for the most part, bounced back. I think recent experiences show that whatever comes this new year, we can meet it with strength, ingenuity, and compassion. A bit more creativity and beauty in the world won’t hurt either.
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Soutache Sashay
December 28, 2016
Inspirational Art
If you aren’t into a lot of bling, you can add a little energy to your outfit with some moving adornment. These soutache and tassel earrings would be mesmerizing on the dance floor this new year’s eve, or at any upcoming special occasion.
Designs in soutache are easily translated into polymer. From the spirals and loops to the integration of beads, browsing through a collection of soutache jewelry offers a lot of ideas for some fancy polymer pieces. And adding tassels like Anna Lipowska Lianne has done with her sashaying soutache would be a lovely addition when you want graceful movement in your jewelry.
Anna is also expert in adding just a dash of color or even going a little geometric. Take a look at her collections on her website and her Facebook page.
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Diamond Rivers
December 26, 2016
Inspirational Art
Now that we have gotten through the heaviest of the holiday season and family members will be packing up and heading back home, its time to think of the coming year. And about New Year’s Eve! This is the time for celebrating with friends and wrapping up the year in style. It’s also the one time of year where everyone can find an event to go all blinged out to.
Even polymer, plastic based as it is, can be crafted with some serious sparkle and sophisticated bling. These rivers of crystals through frosty river rock like beads come in a full shimmer set of necklace earring and a ring. The soft round shapes keeps it from being an overly serious set of adornment but the generous sparkle will bring even a jeans and sweater outfit up several notches.
The set was created by Blanka Procházková, an artisan whose work has the marks of influence from a range of polymer artists, this set included, many of whom she has taken classes with. Her approach and designs have a slightly different angle on what others have done, showing her exploration although not her particular voice, not yet. There are definite hints though and she’d be one to keep an eye on. You can do so by jumping over to her Flickr photostream or her website.
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Dressing up the Christmas Tree
December 23, 2016
Inspirational Art
Although I really want to go with a winter white holiday theme, it was hard not to go into a purely Christmas piece with amazing work like this floating across my monitor as I look for eye candy for you. But whether you do Christmas or not, it is hard not to appreciate the decorative impact of something as unique as this Christmas tree dress.
I’m not sure if this is more a tree or a gown. Maybe it could be worn although it would be quite difficult to get around in. I do know this was made for a client’s home by Legare Simpson at A Ribbon Runs Through It. Legare got into making these when, not finding anything she liked, she tried making wreath’s for herself. What she made impressed others who asked her to make them wreaths and the passion just grew from there.
She makes all kinds of wreaths but it’s her dresses and suits–created for other seasons as well–that really grab the spotlight. I wish I had time to make something so amazing for the house but maybe next year. In the meantime, enjoy her gorgeous array of tree dresses, flower suits and unique wreaths on her website.
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Wintery Bling
December 21, 2016
Inspirational Art
Here’s the look of winter without the below zero temperatures so many weathered this past weekend in the mid and northern United States. Just the right amount of icy color without the icy temperatures!
The mint and pale gray greens on white in these shimmering earrings by Florida’s Irene B are about as wintry feeling as one can get without stepping out into the real thing. The greens really do it as they contrast just a bit with the pearl whites to really make these stand out not to mention that those colors are exactly what you get in freshly frozen ice and under deep, wet snow piles.
These were sold on Etsy back in 2012 and there isn’t much more on them or the artist as her shop seems to be shuttered up right now. The shop notes don’t say whether it’s closed for the season or has been for a while. The set was too beautiful to pass up even without further information but if anyone knows the scoop on this artist, write me and I’ll add it here.
In the meantime, stay warm and cozy. I am heading off into for a chilly drive across Utah today and into the gorgeous Colorado mountains. There is sure to be snow but let’s hope it is only the stuff that has already fallen and will sparkle at us from under a blue, blue sky.
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Adorable Holidays
December 19, 2016
Inspirational Art
Like many of you, I will be traveling this week so I am going to keep things light and brief but stay with the feel of the upcoming season by featuring a few simple but surprising pieces.
This adorable jackalope (as we call these rabbits with antlers in the Southwest) was created in ‘velvet clay’ by Evgeny Hontor with such an endearing look. Decorating the likeness of animals with symbols and marks appears in many cultures throughout the ages with no reason to stop the tradition in modern days. We do still like to celebrate the animal spirits that capture our attention and inspire us.
Although not a reindeer, this little guy felt very wintry and celebratory so I thought it was a great way to start out a Monday. Back to wrapping things up for our little holiday trip but if you want to immerse yourself in more cuteness jump over to Evgeny’s Etsy store for more adorable and beautiful creatures.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: We’re going to take a break from challenges this week as for many of us there will be little time. But let the post inspire you as you see fit if you get yourself some studio time.
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