Pushing the Switchplate

I have never been very fond of hand-decorated switch plates, not because I have anything against switch plates but because, unfortunately,  they aren’t usually created with any real consideration. The switch plate is a blank canvas that so much could be done with yet most covered switch plates have no composition, focal points, lines of movement, balance of elements, or anything else that would make them art rather than just simple decor. I think the covered switch plate has to date been a lost opportunity.

Here however we have a clayer that has played with the open canvas much more than is usualy seen. Florida’s Tammy Baker works with multiple elements rather than cover the plate with a continuous pattern and even breaks out of the switch plate’s boundaries.

This is the direction I would love to see decorative polymer arts head. Mind you, there is room for improvement here, in the composition primarily. Where does your eye continuously go when looking at this? The bottom right? There are two ‘pointing’  elements on this piece–the wrist of the hand and the upper left corner element–that direct you down and right but unfortunately, the heavy grouping in the bottom right doesn’t have any significance or order and doesn’t have any additional directional elements to move the viewer further around the piece. This makes the pieces seem a bit chaotic. However, the colors and mix of textures are rich and pleasing, and the hand breaking the upper border, and thus the orderly confines of the canvas, helps to balance the chaos of the interior elements some.

Tammy’s other switch plates (you can see them on her Etsy site) also play with the broader possibilities of having this wide open canvas. Some work, some could use further consideration but regardless, she’s exploring the possibilities and that, more than anything, is what differentiates an artist from a crafter.