Stringing a Story in Color
February 10, 2014
Inspirational Art
During our search for random design last week, we came across a lot of very colorful pieces, many using the entire rainbow and getting away with it beautifully. It’s not that easy to make a piece with every hue in it. That wide variation in color calls for cohesion in other elements, be they characteristics of color itself, or in the form and other elements of design.
In Margit Bohmer’s necklace here, she comes very close to chaos with so much color, a large variety of shapes and many different motifs. So does it work? I’d say. Quite delightfully.
The answer is in the color of course. Margit uses fairly saturated colors but they are all shaded or tinted a bit which subdues their impact. Many are also semi-transparent which further tones down the potential brilliance. It’s this slight but consistent understatement that allows these hues to harmoniously co-exist in one piece.
Looking at Margit’s work on her Flickr pages and in her Etsy shop, you’ll find one bold artist unafraid of lots and lots of color!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Cohesion of Elements
February 8, 2014
Inspirational Art
Minnesota artist Jan Geisen’s necklace is a cohesion of elements achieved through composition. By connecting these seemingly different elements, a relationship is built between them that strengthens the design. This particular design is reminiscent of the Native American jewelry carved from wood bark with the outlines burned into the surface and painted with pigments derived from the earth. Even though it is polymer, it has the look and feel of materials that are much heavier.
Even though Jan likes to work in multi-media, she has been hooked on polymer since discovering it about 20 years ago. She fell in love with its versatility because it was perfect for an “improv” artist like herself. She explains, “I just work with it and it tells me what it wants to do!” Be inspired by Jan’s work on her Flickr page and let your clay tell you what to do.
Thank you for supporting The Polymer Arts projects and our advertising sponsors below! Your purchases support the magazine, this blog and our upcoming “Best of” and “Workshop” books. To get even more out of our projects, subscribe, get our newsletter (see form on the left side of our home page), and follow us on Facebook.
During our search for random design last week, we came across a lot of very colorful pieces, many using the entire rainbow and getting away with it beautifully. It’s not that easy to make a piece with every hue in it. That wide variation in color calls for cohesion in other elements, be they characteristics of color itself, or in the form and other elements of design.
In Margit Bohmer’s necklace here, she comes very close to chaos with so much color, a large variety of shapes and many different motifs. So does it work? I’d say. Quite delightfully.
The answer is in the color of course. Margit uses fairly saturated colors but they are all shaded or tinted a bit which subdues their impact. Many are also semi-transparent which further tones down the potential brilliance. It’s this slight but consistent understatement that allows these hues to harmoniously co-exist in one piece.
Looking at Margit’s work on her Flickr pages and in her Etsy shop, you’ll find one bold artist unafraid of lots and lots of color!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Minnesota artist Jan Geisen’s necklace is a cohesion of elements achieved through composition. By connecting these seemingly different elements, a relationship is built between them that strengthens the design. This particular design is reminiscent of the Native American jewelry carved from wood bark with the outlines burned into the surface and painted with pigments derived from the earth. Even though it is polymer, it has the look and feel of materials that are much heavier.
Even though Jan likes to work in multi-media, she has been hooked on polymer since discovering it about 20 years ago. She fell in love with its versatility because it was perfect for an “improv” artist like herself. She explains, “I just work with it and it tells me what it wants to do!” Be inspired by Jan’s work on her Flickr page and let your clay tell you what to do.
Thank you for supporting The Polymer Arts projects and our advertising sponsors below! Your purchases support the magazine, this blog and our upcoming “Best of” and “Workshop” books. To get even more out of our projects, subscribe, get our newsletter (see form on the left side of our home page), and follow us on Facebook.
