Enticing and Entertaining
August 23, 2017
Inspirational Art, Polymer community news
The art jewelry at these events is also a big draw. There is nothing quite like seeing masterful polymer work in person.
Here is a gorgeous piece by Bonnie Bishoff. She wore it to the final gala event and I just could not stop looking at the delicate forms and sunset-like colors. The picture (and the poor lighting in these places) doesn’t quite do it justice.
Another bonus to coming to these events is the local color. In this case, Sherman Oberson, a board member of the IPCA and a local Pennsylvania resident, treated a small handful of us to a tour of his insanely packed and ever-entertaining collection of flea market and thrift store finds. We did this, in part, to honor Nan Roche whose birthday it was. A huge collector of the curious and visually enticing herself, it was a perfect birthday outing for her and an immensely entertaining evening for those of us who got to tag along.
Poke around on Instagram and Facebook for more on Sherman’s place and other Synergy events.
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A Choir of Angels
June 22, 2017
Inspirational Art
Exploring technique and design doesn’t ever end, or at least I don’t think it should. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been working with a material, there is always more to learn. Barbara McGuire is a true and long standing polymer pioneer who may often return to signature techniques but she keeps expanding on what she has done, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes in big leaps.
This collection of beads is one of her subtler explorations. Barbara has been making face canes for ages but she keeps changing up what she does with them. The angelic looking collection here gets its ethereal feel from the use of translucent wings and background cane slices. Past variations were commonly surrounded by opaque slices and balanced or radial backgrounds. The more freeform application here adds to the otherworldly feel of these little angels.
Barbara posts most of her recent work on her Facebook page while her products and news can usually be found on her website.
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Body of Work
June 20, 2017
Inspirational Art
Looking over a collection of work can tell you quite a bit about an artist and what intrigues them. The posts this week will give us a chance to consider, in a more complete and varied way, what an artist might be doing or be after in particular types of work.
Carole Monahan-Kampfe recently posted some rather intriguing pieces in what she refers to as her Steampunk collection but instead of jewelry, it looks like we are seeing a lot of ornaments. We are looking at Swellegant treatments (click the ad link below for more on this fascinating stuff) which make for some very yummy textures but the various shapes and variation on an ornament is what is most captivating about this work.
Although she is calling it steampunk and the influence of that aesthetic is there, many of the common motifs are, gratefully, missing and we can enjoy the exploration of the surface treatment and the manipulation of the ornament forms. I love the negative space in the ones with the floating centers and then those forms that are folding in on themselves which she calls Infinity Orbs. No standard ornament forms here either. Carole actually looks to be taking not the motifs and objects from the Steampunk arena but rather the inventive nature it is supposed to be representative of. Regardless, the choice of shapes and decorative touches are beautiful and more so in a collection like this where the various take on the elements and forms can be compared and contrasted.
The orbs at least, she lists as being made with Makin’s clay which is an air dry clay, rather than polymer but this could all be done with polymer as well of course. Carole just likes to try all kinds of things out as you can see on her Flickr photostream–another method of looking at an artist’s collection of work and over time at that. In this collection though, she seems to have really hit her stride and I hope she keeps playing with these ideas.
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Working on the Inside
June 17, 2017
Inspirational Art
Another way to push the disk element in strung jewelry design is to create designs on those inside surfaces. This might push you to design the disks in such a way as to open up space between them so that the work on the inside could be seen. That might present a bit of a challenge but it will likely present some interesting options for added accents and forms.
Margit Bohmer did just that. Her solution to show off the intricate and highly colorful faces of her disks was to slightly dome them and have them stacked in pairs with the concave sides in, allowing an angled view to all the beautiful color and textures she worked into them. It looks like quite a bit of work too. I just love seeing this kind of dedication and commitment to a piece. Each bead face is different and could stand on its own but all together, they create an engrossing piece that will probably take the owner years to become familiar with all its varied surfaces.
A riot of color and texture is a signature of Margit’s and she never leaves us wanting for more of either. See her latest work on her Flickr photostream.
Weekly Inspiration Challenge: Choose a basic or commonly used design and push it. By sketching, planning, or just playing with your materials, change the form or the way this basic design is constructed as far as you can until you come up with something that intrigues and excites you then create your own original work from the ideas you came up with.
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The Disk Cubed
June 15, 2017
Inspirational Art
Let’s move on from the ‘ordinary’ disk necklace and really push what these could be. First of all, who says they need to be round? Or strung on their center sitting neatly one on top of the other? Well, no one, that’s who.
Silvia Ortiz de la Torre goes completely off the disk reservation by squaring off the standard disk necklace element and taking full control of their positioning. This necklace is getting so far from a disk that I bet some of you are thinking it’s not a disk necklace at all. And maybe not but the stacking and repetition of form is the same and this is a good example of where an idea might start with some common or basic design and really veer off in very exciting directions, ending in a place barely recognizable from where it started. I don’t know that Silvia started with the idea of disks but she could have. And so can you start from a well used (or over-used) form or basic design and end up somewhere quite different. The thing is, it would have been hard to get to that cool and very original design without that common or basic starting point.
This piece is several years old but Silvia still loves disks and stacking but she is taking things in a very different direction these days. See how she has journeyed from pieces like this to her big intricate disks display in her Flickr photostream and her Etsy shop.
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Disk Arrangements
June 13, 2017
Inspirational Art
Disc beads are fantastic for the complexity they can create just by sheer numbers. They also pull the design away from any one bead and put the focus on how they work together. Employing Skinner blends to create the series of well-arranged colors on this necklace, Spain’s Carmen Morente del Monte, develops a rather striking look with the common stacked disk necklace design as the basis for her composition.
It is not that we haven’t seen quite a few Skinner disc arrangements but this one is rather intriguing with its wide array of colors that still somehow conveys a sense of quiet coherence. I believe that is primarily due to the muted, natural tone of the colors. Their thick spacers subtly echo the surrounding color while their variations trail off to long stacks of warm grays. I think the choice of gray rather than black or white or simply more of the colorful blends for the back half of the bead string is actually what makes this piece work so well. The gray creates a kind of neutral background for the colors to contrast with but the contrast is a gentle one which is also echoed at points in the front beads where the blends go to gray.
I was just having a conversation this weekend about how people steer away from anything well used believing their work won’t be appreciated unless it’s wholly original but how far from the truth that is. Doing something really, really well, even when it has elements seen many times before, is a far bigger and more difficult accomplishment than striving for something purely original. I think this necklace is just such an example.
You can find more of Carmen’s well thought out pieces in her Etsy shop and her Pinterest boards.
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The Many Faces of Glass Beads
June 10, 2017
Inspirational Art
To round out this week’s quick focus on beads, I thought I’d share focal beads in another medium that is very well-known for them–glass.
Glass artists have some very particular and, literally, inflexible limitations and yet they create these extremely intricate and amazing beads. They do get to work with super clear transparency–a characteristic of their medium that they use to great advantage–which is something that is difficult to achieve in polymer, but their forms and patterns are something that, I think, could be a gold mine of inspiration and a jumping off point for ideas in polymer that go beyond the basic and common beads seen in polymer.
Here are just four examples of the intricacy and beauty in glass bead making today. Starting from top left is a bead created by Leah Nietz, top right is Lisa Fletcher, bottom left is Andrea Guarino, and bottom right is Ikuyo Yamanaka. You can click on each artist’s name to reach their shop or website to look further into what they create. You can also immerse yourself in glass focal beads by putting that very phrase into a Pinterest, Google Images, Etsy, Flickr, or even Instagram.
Weekly Inspiration Challenge: Choose your favorite image posting service, such as those just listed above, and enjoy the art and inspiration that comes up when you search for “focal beads”. Choose a couple of images and try to determine what you like best about the bead or beads and then figure out how to recreate those characteristics in polymer. Hopefully that leads you to some original and very fulfilling polymer bead explorations.
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A Bead Cubed
June 8, 2017
Inspirational Art
How about just a little bead beauty from the consistently wonderful Sarah Shriver today while I amble down the road?
Six canes constructed into a cube that is both turned on its side and has had its corner’s tweaked makes for a beautiful simple bead design. Just those two changes to the upright and steady cube has created movement due to its relative instability, facing the world with but one point down, and direction since the slight sweep of the sides slides our eye out to the point of the cube corners and beyond. And let’s not forget the lovely lines of the canes themselves that add to both the movement and directing of the viewers eyes beyond the constrains of the cube.
Apparently, Sarah will be teaching this Celtic cane on the Alaska Polymer Clay Cruise, the “Clayditarod” coming up next month. I was not able to discern if spaces are left for what is certain to be an amazing polymer adventure but you can check out the details and query as needed on the cruise website here. And for more splendid Sarah Shriver work, jump over to her website here.
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Bead Break
June 6, 2017
Inspirational Art
This will be a simple, and hopefully simply delightful, week as I am traveling or in the midst of preparing to travel and will have to be brief. But I have had the idea of the ‘bead’ on my mind. That sounds pretty basic, I know, but for art jewelry, the bead–be it a simple, plain spacer or an extravagant focal piece–is the most common single element created and thus, has a pretty highly esteemed place in the world of adornment. So let’s take a closer look at some very well-considered and lovingly created beads.
These beauties are cane constructed by the ever clever Ivy Niles of iKandi Clay. Canes takes their place on center stage as well as energetically running around the circumference for an intricate and rather mesmerizing look.
If you are partial to either a well-done cane or intricate, take a break to look through Ivy’s her Etsy shop and her website.
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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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Read MoreYes, 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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The second artist in the Polymer Journey book’s recognition for the best polymer art of 2014-2015 is Jeffrey Lloyd Dever. Who doesn’t like his colors, soft lines and seemingly flawless finish? His organic forms feel alive, mostly due to the graduation of color and their reaching and opening forms.
I cruised around on his site before writing this up and found that he has a class coming up in Maryland in May. This piece here is one of the ones shown as examples of the type of techniques being taught. The class is called “Botanical Wonders—Miniature Polymer Hollowware for Jewelry” and is for intermediate to advanced students of polymer. It is a technique class not a project class so the focus will be on building skills not creating a particular project … my favorite! This kind of class leaves plenty of room for your own exploration and expression.
How amazing would a class with Jeff would be! I pondered going myself but this is already one crazy year on the travel schedule. If you are fortunate enough to find time in your schedule and can scrape up the pennies to get there, I would highly recommend it. Jump over to this page on his website to get the information and see if slots are still available for you. But just go look at his beautiful site on your next break. Or now. Now is always good.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Create a piece focused on graduated colors and/or reaching or opening forms. Do not emulate Jeff’s work but rather look at what you have been creating recently and find where graduated color or more active forms could add life and expression.
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As you may have seen on Friday’s post or through another avenue, we recognized 6 particularly talented artists in a featured section of the Polymer Journeys 2016 retrospective book. I thought we’d take a day to look at each of them this week and next, see what they are up to and maybe where they are going.
Georg Dinkel was the first of the group in the book. His work just continuously amazes and entertains. His work is beautiful and fun and, at the same time, it makes a serious statement about the questionable idolization of technology and manufacturing the brands. I happen to have a bit of an insider’s view on a new project he will be unveiling at Eurosynergy, although I cannot share details. But suffice it to say, it’s quite the undertaking in both detail, size, and complexity of movement.
The reason we are so in the know is because Georg is also the artist we are profiling for the next issue of The Polymer Arts. We have an in-depth interview on his process and how he came into polymer from an unlikely side door in his photography career. His story is as fascinating as his work, so you won’t want to miss the next issue if you’re a fan. You can go to the website to get a subscription or just keep your eyes on this blog and we’ll let you know when individual pre-sales are available.
I love this photo with Georg next to his TV Shrine. It helps to see the scale of his work. This piece in particular has so much detail and to imagine he did all but the support structure and electronics in polymer is pretty mind-boggling. There is so much more to see when the doors of the piece are open, too. Go to this page on his website to see more detailed shots of this piece (see if you can make out the TV celebrities in the pictures that look like saints and holy men on the inside of the door). And, if you have the time, just wander through his site and watch his videos. There is so much to take in!
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Have you ever tried to make a statement with your work? What is on your mind these days? Design or create a new piece that addresses an issue close to you. You don’t need to be literal. It can be very, very subtle, represented by related colors in your work or by creating a related image or form. Let the idea marinate for the day if you can before getting down to designing it.
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I have a little something different for you this morning and I will get to this amazing piece you see here at the end. This announcement will go out on a few channels between yesterday and today so I hope not too many of you get hit over the head with this but … with the Polymer Journeys book coming out next week, we wanted to publicly announce our board’s picks for artists whose work and contribution to polymer art during the years 2014-2015 were particularly significant and inspirational and so were highlighted in the featured sections of the book.
We are certainly not saying our opinions are the end-all and be-all on this subject, but our consideration came from our own vast experience and education as well as gauging the impact and response we have seen in the polymer and craft communities. Although the creation of this book was in no way a contest, we did feel that making specific note of these artists and their work will further help us understand the direction and history of the medium in years to come. Here are our two featured categories:
Best Polymer Art of 2014-2015–these are artists and art that pushed the boundaries of what can be created with polymer. All these artists have been recognized for their masterful skills as well as the messages and vision found in their work.
Recognizing Generosity–We also wanted to recognize the generosity of the artists and the resulting programs that have become such a big part of the community. To that end, we included these amazing people as well as stories on how they have helped others.
So what is this unusual piece I have to show you here? It is a special and rather personal project created by the amazing Wendy Moore, who you see was recognized in the book under the section highlighting our charitable artists. Wendy is a primary force in the success of the Samunnat Nepal project. Bringing polymer clay to the women there gave them a joyful and colorful way to create financial independence when they so desperately needed it. She continues to return to teach and helped the project grow.
Wendy feels like Nepal is as much home to her as her native Australia. This robe of Wendy’s was actually part of processing a farewell to a part of Australia that she had to move away from. I won’t say much more on that, though, so those of you who are waiting on the book can read her short but poignant story.
If you have not pre-ordered your book but would like to, we have extended the 20% off sale until the 20th due to the delay with our printing that put the release of the book off until April 21st. Jump over to the Polymer Journeys website to take advantage of the early discount.
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Lines are largely directional elements. We see a line and our eyes run along its path to see where it will go or where it has been. Combining lines that go in various directions will have us glancing over and back, jumping from one to the other as we try to follow them all. Our busy eyes are what make us feel that the lines are energetic. Energy can be good if that is what you are after, but unless you want to leave the viewer feeling ungrounded, you might want to have a place the eye can rest.
In this set of earrings by Lela Todua, you get that moment of rest in the strip of textured clay down the center. You also get this kind of mirror image of the criss-cross lines on one side being mimicked by the lines of changing color in the mokume gane surface on the other. Although not really the same kind of lines, the type of patterning and direction of lines are close enough that our minds see a likeness. It helps ground the two otherwise contrasting halves in a subtle relationship alongside their physical kinship being the same mirrored shapes connected to the same long central bar. The result is that our eye jumps from side to side, with a quiet moment we can take in between on that dividing bar. The dividing bar is actually a line as well, but she adds these simple dots at the end that keep our eye from sliding off and so our glance returns to trying to take in the broader surfaces. It gives us a sense of a full and complex composition in a small amount of space.
Lines and contrast seem to be the staple of Lela’s work as you can see by what she has to offer in her well stocked Etsy shop.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Find various styles of lines in everyday or natural items and find two that you see any kind of relationship between. Use these as inspiration for creating contrasting textures for a new piece. Alternately, create multiple textures with lines in a preferred set of materials and techniques, ones that develop random patterns (mokume, marbling, scratches, splashes of paint or ink, etc.), then find patches of texture that work together because of a suggested relationship your eye finds. Create a piece from them.
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I have had this in my collection to share for a few weeks, but I hadn’t been able to figure out who the artist was until today. The image came from a Facebook post … that’s all I knew. Now, I am excited to introduce a new artist! Well, an artist that is new to me, I suppose. I haven’t learned a whole lot about her or her artistic story and history just yet.
I was intrigued by the mix of surface textures and the energy of the various lines used. The surface is both impressed with a controlled and deliberate pattern, probably hand tooled, then a central bit of random cracking, then a predictable pattern of swirling copper. They are all highly energetic lines, each doing their own thing independent of the others but nested the way they are and all in a muted orange of some sort, they work together.
The use of line and its energy as well as warm muted colors are even carried into the stringing and connectors of this piece. It makes for a lot of interest and movement but with a very cohesive feel.
After searching and searching, using Google image searches and looking through Facebook for artists with the initials MB, I finally got a hit and the mystery was solved. This necklace was created by Martina Burianova. You can find her on Facebook or check out her work on her website.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Create a surface texture with at least three different types of lines in it. Create cohesiveness by choosing another element or two (color, material, texture, etc) they all have in common. You can make three separate elements, each with different line qualities, then work on arranging them so they have a visual relationship that creates a balanced design, or just dive in working on one surface with line qualities intermixed.
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I have one more day of running about before I can get back to business as usual. I love road trips primarily for the wide variety of things you see along the way. This trip was particularly colorful as spring starts to show itself and the wispy clouds in the sky turn sunrises and sunsets all shades of pink, peach, and violet. Then there was rain yesterday, drenching the red rocks around the new green foliage in the central California mountains. These are the kinds of things that really get you excited about playing with color.
But since I can’t go play, let’s enjoy the color play of Claudia Stern, a bit of a jet-setting person herself. Claudia is a native of Peru who studied jewelry design in Italy and now lives in Sweden. She works in textiles but commonly uses polymer to create floral additions or centerpieces for her work. She creates gorgeous and intricate purses as well as jewelry. While I finish the last leg of my traveling today, enjoy this colorful neck piece and go take a look at her colorful work on her Facebook page and her quieter metal work on her website.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Take particular note of the color you see throughout the day. What colors are you drawn to? Choose 2-3 colors or a combination you see and use it as the basis and inspiration for a new piece.
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I’m going to be a bit brief the next few days as I will be on the road with not a lot of opportunity to research online, but I’ve found some new pretties to share and ponder while I zip about the western states.
This popped up on Kathleen Dustin‘s Facebook page the other day. Although her signature translucent layers and that integrated wire work she’s done a bit of the last few years is present, this feels very different. The conglomeration of elements looks like it could be pure stream-of-consciousness, something a bit more difficult to do with polymer than with, say, writing, but it has that spontaneous feel. It’s very different for Kathleen. I love discovering the first of a new series for an artist. Really makes you wonder where they are going to go with it.
And speaking of going … back to the last of the packing with me. I’m actually looking forward to the long hours on the road where I can’t do much of anything but think. The only problem with that is these are the times I usually come up with the best design ideas. And I can’t even sketch! Still, quiet time is really good for the creative brain. Hope you get some down time, as well!
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: See if you can get yourself some down time today. It could be while commuting to or from work, while in a doctor’s waiting room, in a long bank line, or just sitting quietly at home. Try to let your mind go and let forms and colors float through your mind. What shapes or color palettes have intrigued you lately? Don’t think too hard about them and see what comes to mind. Go to your studio or get out a sketch book and work up a design based solely on what you saw in your mind.
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