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 Blue Between the Buildings
May 13, 2016
Inspirational Art
Silvia Ortiz de la Torre offered up her vision of a sky on this Fimo 50 World Project tile as one familiar to many people–the small patch of sky seen through a crowding of city skyscrapers. Maybe this is not the sky you most often think of when you envision sky, but for many this is a very common daily view. There is certainly something about seeing that small patch of blue hanging there beyond the reach of these immensely tall buildings that attracts the eye.
As amazing and beautiful as the man-made structures can be, I think most all of us gravitate towards the natural world more strongly. The directional lines of the buildings Silvia outlines make that focus on the sky automatic. And her choice to make that sun both glow in the blue sky and come through the form of a building in a singular burst of red color makes that both the resting point, a place our eye does not feel like it has to bounce around as it is pushed by the strong lines of the buildings, and a focal point. It’s a beautiful and expert composition.
Interested in seeing all the tiles in the Fimo 50 World Project? You can casually go through the submission that were posted on the project’s Facebook page or on Cynthia Tinapple’s Instagram page she set up for it.
Inspiration Challenge of the Day: Create or design something that contrasts man-made with natural. What elements of each are you drawn to? Or consider a favorite natural object or form and recreate it with very clean and structured lines. Or take a man-made form and make it organic looking.
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Following Our Stars
May 11, 2016
Inspirational Art
The wide open skies of the afternoon desert in the southwest have some serious competition. The stars are so very dense over the unpopulated areas of the United State’s southwest. The density makes for an almost unreal brilliance. All the constellations, the milky way, and the planets you see in photos in museums, in magazines, and on science shows are right there before you.
I think I know the feeling that inspired Venezuela’s MariaEva Ramos to create this series of rings. A night sky filled with stars can draw you in on so many levels. There is the beauty of it, of course, but then there is the realization that you are looking at other planets as large as, or maybe even larger than, our own and you suddenly feel so incredibly small and insignificant. Maybe that feeling is unsettling to some, but I think it is humbling. I think it reduces our stresses and the intensity of problems that seem so large and overwhelming because you realize that, among all of that space, those things are nothing but specs of dust.
MariaEva has a whole series of these star sky rings that can be found on her Flickr page, among other nature-inspired creations.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Take a peek outside tonight. What out there catches your eye? It might be the stars or maybe a hazy lamp light. It could be the neighbor silhouetted in a kitchen window or a cat, gently lit, standing street side. Ask yourself how you can translate this to your art work and sketch or create a new design based on this inspiration.
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Big Montana Skies
May 9, 2016
Inspirational Art
If someone asked us to imagine a sky, what would come to mind? Many of us would likely envision a wide expanse of blue, maybe a few fluffy clouds drifting through it because the sky alone, without context and without weather is, by default, a wide swath of blue. But how often is that the sky we experience?
This last week I was in Colorado during a couple amazing storms as well as crystal clear nights. The skies out in the center of the country can be so amazingly big and dramatic. It is no wonder at all that people who live in these regions often portray or translate the impact and feel of these huge skies in their artwork. These beads, needing not much more than some simple ear wires to make a great set of earrings, were created by Jo Anne St. James. She describes these on her Etsy listing with an apt statement: “The rising moon over the Rocky Mountains in Montana “Big Sky” country is a sight to behold. So if you can’t get to “Big Sky” country let it come to you …” Or both, I say. It’s great that there is no moon but you feel its presence in the glow on the rock formations. And all those stars! Yep, that’s how it is when you are in those wide open spaces on a moonlit night.
These have been sold but Jo Anne has a whole series of sky and landscape inspired beads to share. You can enjoy the view in her Etsy shop and on her Facebook page.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: What in the sky in your area really captures your eye? The colors, the forms of the clouds, the silhouette of trees against it …? Let that characteristic of your home sky inspire your next design, sketch or finished piece.
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A Different Kind of Fish
May 6, 2016
Inspirational Art
I love art dolls. And ornaments. And I’m getting into this whole fish thing so it’s no wonder some odd but beautiful item like this fish ornament by doll and toy maker Nadine Pau caught my eye. There is an ode to steampunk here but I like that its present only in its basic forms. What would be watch gears in someone else’s piece are ornate wheels here. Instead of obvious screw heads and rivets we have simple lines with bead like accents regularly terminating them in a mostly alternate rhythm.
Then there is the face, of course. The illustrative look of the face is content and serene and that look (like it doesn’t find anything wrong with being a fish with a human face but is rather enjoying its strange existence) along with the way the face is integrated with the body using a simple wavy trim for the transition makes for a cohesive and very enjoyable creature.
Then there is the question of what this is made of because it very obviously could be made from polymer. However, I believe this is papier mache as that is the only sculpting material she lists. It is possible that the face is fabric but this can all be done with fine papier mache and paint.
If you enjoy a wonderfully wacky creature or two, do take some time to wander through her gallery which you can find on her delightful website here.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Take any direct imagery you usually use or that you admire and create highly stylized versions of it for a new piece or additions to a work in progress. If the direct imagery is simple, like a heart, you might want to make it more complex or if complex like gears, simplify it or its components so you come up with forms or imagery that is reminiscent of them but is quite different. How does using the stylized imagery change the feel of the work?
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Mid Week Underwater Color Burst
May 4, 2016
Inspirational Art
Here’s a quick and colorful look at some further fishy polymer today.
This bright pendant is by Estonia’s Katrina of the shop Filigrina on Etsy. We took a peek at another ocean inspired work of hers last year and although this is the same form of pendant, where the other piece was in a limited palette of blues and white, this has a ton of full strength color to show off all this hand tooled texture.
Katrina uses the same basic techniques employed for what is often called polymer embroidery but this time, there are no flowers, which the application is commonly used to create. Obviously the technique is perfect for undersea scenery as well!
I’m sorry this is so short but I must go catch a plane and leave all my little fishes behind. Enjoy this little mid-week color burst!
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Go crazy with color. Use color directly from the packet, choosing the brightest ones you have. Try using more of the colors you tend to steer away from. Create or design a piece with the color itself as inspiration. Let the things and memories that these colors remind you of be the source for imagery, form, texture and lines.
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Fishing About
May 2, 2016
Inspirational Art
Although I’ve been so buried over here under the enthusiasm of readers and the many orders for the Polymer Journeys book as well as getting ready for the Summer issue and picking up slack while my key staff is in the process of moving or settling into a new home, my better half has regularly been dragging me away from work to help with the new home project, a large fish tank. I thought setting this up would be more like a chore but I have to say, it’s actually quite a creative process, picking out fish with an appropriate mix of sizes, colors, textures and temperaments as well as plants and structures for the fish to play around and hide under. The tank is like a canvas with a whole composition to work out. With two artists on it, our conversations have sounded more like we are working on a collaborative painting than creating an underwater environment so it’s been quite the relaxing and creative escape.
I also seem to be spotting more and more fish in the streams of art going through Flickr, on Pinterest and in my Facebook searches. (It’s been a little creepy actually … like the computer knows what I’ve been up to when I’m away from it!) So I’ve pulled a few favorites to share this week.
I absolutely adore the work of Gera Scott Chandler and spotted her hand in this Halibut Bowl as soon as I saw it. Her intense colors and the surprised expressions of the silly fish make me smile every time I look at it. The circular texture of the bowl emulates a flow of water and, with the saturation of these colors, it collectively gives the bowl a very energetic and fun feel.
Gera has a beautiful new site here. There isn’t a gallery but if you want to get this bowl for yourself, it is up for sale! You can keep up with her latest creative endeavors (including lots of fish!) on her Facebook page as well.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Bring your outside life into your studio. What has been going on in your family or social world, or with you personally that you can pull visuals from or create visuals for. If you’ve been spring gardening, bring a texture you’ve seen in the plants or the landscape into a piece of your art. If you have a lot of abstract things going on, imagine what colors, shapes or textures could represent it and create work around the visuals you conjure up in your mind.
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Sophisticated Form
April 29, 2016
Inspirational Art
Last, but certainly not least, in this two week tour of our “best of” chosen artists for the Polymer Journeys 2016 book, we have Melanie Muir who is our sole representative of Scotland in the book. I think the draw Melanie’s work has is in its clean sophistication. She is so precise and has honed her particular set of techniques to absolute perfection.
Her mokume, although organic and flowing, has a feel of precision as well. The clean lines in her mokume come from a stamp or texture impression technique like the one you’ll find in the tutorial by Angela Barenholtz in our Winter 2015 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine.
Her large necklaces are lovely, of course, but I am partial to her pendants where the focus is on the mokume design, framed and centered so that the intricacies of the pattern grab your attention all by themselves. I love the color choices in this one, a bit autumnal using white to set up the saturation of the color. I found this little beauty while wandering around Melanie’s Facebook page.
Her precise shapes also generally come from a set of tools–her own shape templates. Because, like so many of our amazing polymer artists, Melanie applies her talents in more than one area, in this case, the creation of textures and templates. If you haven’t seen her offerings, you can find them on her site here and you can also purchase them on Etsy.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Focus on perfection. Create a small piece using a technique you’ve worked with before but maybe have not been doing for very long, and try to create the most perfect version of it. This may take a little forethought and patience to figure out how best to handle the material so it is not marred or defaced with finger prints to finish it well. You might want to take such additional steps as multiple curings or refrigerating to let the work rest between manipulations. See what you learn from examining and changing up the way you work. Can you develop more careful steps in your process or do you even want to?
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Patterned Perfection
April 27, 2016
Inspirational Art
I saw a piece of Jon Stuart Anderson’s, before I even knew what polymer clay was, in a gift shop in the Denver airport. It was a frog so beautifully patterned in a material I didn’t know and since it was nothing I could afford that was as far as my admiration was able to go. It wasn’t until several years later when I was starting the magazine that I found Jon’s work again. We were compiling our resource list of artists and my assistant found his work and couldn’t stop gushing over it. Then he saw Jon’s work in that same gift shop and called me quite excited about seeing it in person and it clicked into place that I had seen this work in person myself.
I got to interview Jon, the first person he ever agreed to do that for, a year later. In a phone call from Bali, I got to know Jon a bit and was even more impressed by his kindness and joyful nature not to mention his complete immersion and dedication to his craft. He is certainly one of brightest gems and it’s no surprise that the board found him to have some of the best work of the last couple years.
Although Jon creates a lot more than animals, those are his best known pieces. I was going to pull out one of his sculptures or laminated guitars for you but these fish heads were too beautiful and fun and I don’t think they’ve really gotten around the web like his other creatures. The canes on top along with the varied texture of their underbellies show his wide range of fine caning skills and his brilliant use of color.
Images are really not enough to convey the vibrant colors and the flawless finish of Jon’s work. His work is in galleries and gift shops all over the world so keep your eye out for his work or see if you can nab some gorgeous piece from his retailer directly. In the meantime, you can discover more of his pieces on his website and for your tea or coffee break, I suggest sitting down to watch his videos on how he makes his canes. It’s a treat to watch a master at work!
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Make the theme of your next piece ‘pattern’. Create small patterns, textural or visual, that are repeated over and over lining up to emphasize form or create the feel of movement. You could create with canes but you can also use handmade stamps, hand-tooled marks, or tiny tiles or shapes punched out of textured sheets of clay.
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Large Expression
April 25, 2016
Inspirational Art
We are going to spend this week on a few more of the artists who made it to the most notable position in the new Polymer Journeys book. Mind you, there is a lot of very, very notable art in the book but these six made a showing that really impresses people. Heather Campbell‘s work is notable for the way she makes a personal connection with the viewer, creating imagery that speak to ubiquitous experiences that, nonetheless, quite often feel very personal and unique. Her large wall pieces emerge from her experiences and dreams with the many details reflecting the complexity of life and emotion, something I think we can all relate to.
As she writes on her blog, “I consider my work an extension of life experience, designed with complexity while remaining beautifully simple …While creating myself or teaching others I emphasize imagination and self-expression.”
The piece here, a huge wall hanging at 36″x54″, is titled Off The Deep End. It speaks to a very essential question that many of us have struggled with. In reference to this piece, Heather says, “Being true to oneself is one of life’s greatest accomplishments, with rewards that parallel the most beautiful colors, the greatest adventures and the deepest questions. That world awaits us, with its danger, its uncertainty, its beauty and endless opportunity. The query is, do we take the leap, do we step into the unknown, do we trust ourselves?”
You really need to go to Heather’s website to see the wide variety in her work as well as read her thoughts about each. She certainly has something to say.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Let’s have a day of pure expression. Choose a small number of colors that “feel” how you feel today. Keep your favorite hand tools nearby, roll out your clay on a mid-range thickness or condition as you normally would to start a project and then just play. Don’t think about it and don’t worry about whether anyone else will see it. Just let you imagination go and create whatever the clay leads you to create.
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Structurally Wild (… and Polymer Journeys is here!)
April 22, 2016
Inspirational Art
Yes, the book made it out! I can’t tell you how surreal it is to actually have the book in hand and out in the world. It has taken 3 years to make this project a reality. Many, many thanks to the wonderful board who rode through this with me, digging up artists and contact information and shifting through the 600+ artist list we ended up with and the 1400 images we had to judge and discuss. This crew was with me for the whole thing … Anke Humpert, Cara Jane Hayman, Iris Mishly, Deb Crothers, and Christi Friesen. What fabulously generous and patient souls they have been!
If you are owed a digital copy of Polymer Journeys but haven’t seen it, check the junk mail folder of your email. If it’s not there, you can write us here or find the contact form on the website at www.polymerjourneys.com Print copies are in the mail. I am not sure how long those will take as this if the first time I’ve mailed by book rate but they are well padded and en route! If you still need to order your copy, go to the website where I’ve left the 15-20% off sale prices up through the end of the month.
Maggie Maggio is another of our artists to be found in the best art work recognition section. Her work stands out for her bold exploration into structural polymer not to mention her subtle but brilliant use of color. This piece did not make it into the book although it was my personal favorite. As you may know, I really admire well done simplicity and this piece is such an elegant example of it. Just the slight variation in the greens, accented by red tips and another blush of red peeking out from along the underside shows an understated energy that, as subtle as it is, catches your eye.
The simple circular form is actually functional in that the single wrap of polymer can be unwound to be put on and off but securely holds the piece on the wearer with no findings whatsoever. This “no findings” exploration has been on Maggie’s table for going on six years now and just keeps pushing it as you’ll see in the wild pieces chosen for the book.
Catch more of these structurally sound but wildly creative designs on Maggie’s website to augment your present reading of the book or to hold you over as you wait for it to get to your mailbox.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Create a functional piece of jewelry or decor made with absolutely nothing but polymer clay. If you already do this, challenge yourself to move the design out into a broader space than usual.
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