When is it Polymer art?
There was a very interesting discussion on two related posts on Facebook back in February. It basically came down to whether a piece should be categorized as polymer art if the polymer has been painted or otherwise works as a ‘canvas’ rather than being the bulk and carrier of the design and artistic impact. This pendant by by Susan Waddington of Polydogz is polymer and paint( http://polydogz.com/Gallery1/Polymer-jewelry) There is no doubt she know how to work with polymer but the impact is from the color and design of the paint. So … is it polymer? There was quite a heated discussion about that and categorization of polymer in general on the Feb. 17 2012 Facebook post here.
That brought up a thought on my end … if you paint with polymer, is it a painting or a polymer piece? This owl is a painting, posted as a response to t
his discussion on Facebook on Feb 21, 2012 where the paint is 100% polymer. Obviously a painting and more two-dimensional than polymer usually is but … how would you categorize it?
When it comes down to it, it really doesn’t matter to the casual viewer but in juried shows, galleries and periodicals, this categorization can be the difference between a piece of work getting in or not. So … as we start off on this blog, I thought I’d bring up this discussion again. What are your thoughts? (You can see where the discussion went by clicking the Facebook post links embedded in this post.)
I am a mosaic artist, but when I use polymer clay exclusively in this medium, can’t it be both? When I decide to enter my art into shows, I would enter it in the class I think it will show the best in depending on the contest, show, and even judges. When I show my art at a gallery, I jury in under both, polymer clay artist, and mosaic artist. In my heart, I see in shapes (not lines like a painter) so I love both, but the amazing versitility and challenge of polymer always wins!
flickr, ART In a Small Town
Incredible work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think this issue stems from the way polymer is thought of as being a category of art when in reality it’s a material. Nobody says they’re an “oil paint artist”. Even a metalworking sculptor isn’t defined by material…he might work in steel or brass or copper. (Silversmith being an obvious exception.) So the semantics become stickier when other media are included. But I wonder why we don’t think of it as “jewelry artist working in polymer” or even the catch-all “mixed media”. When we start getting snippy about what “polymer art” is, we begin to limit ourselves rather than utilizing this wonderful material in the way it best meets our artistic needs.