A Giveaway and Introduction to Movement This Week
June 17, 2013
Polymer community news, The Polymer Arts magazine news
This week I want to focus on the idea of movement in your artwork. Movement can be either a kinetic design (having parts that move as an integral part of the design), or a visual sense of movement. But before we move onto that, I’ve got a new little feature for you all.
Nearly every day I get an email, a card in the mail, pingbacks/notices or a comment on the blog with tips, ideas, thank yous for the blog and the magazine, as well as people who are just out promoting The Polymer Arts projects of their own accord. It’s hard to convey just how heart-warming and encouraging these notes and notices are to me, knowing that readers are taking time out of their busy lives to direct me to new information, help promote what we do here or just to let me know that TPA is making a difference. So I have this idea. Although I won’t be able to acknowledge everyone, I’d like to take time on at least one blog a week to bring these helpful and enthusiastic readers to your attention. It would be my way of saying thanks as well as helping show all you readers just how supportive this community can be. I hope seeing this will encourage you all to to reach out and add to that support or take advantage of it when you need help and encouragement.
This week, I want to give away four back issues (winner chooses any four in print, or digital if preferred) to one of our enthusiastic readers. I’ll draw a name from the folks who help spread the word about our latest issue, Summer 2013’s Mixing it Up, and the flipbook sampler that is now up on the website. This little flipbook has sample pages from the latest issue for those who haven’t decided to get their own copy yet. If you have a guild member site, a Facebook page, Twitter account, Pinterest board, or blog that you know polymer people watch, I’d be ever so grateful if you’d share this fun little teaser. There are several other flipbook sampler issues available on the same page on The Polymer Arts website. Just post this share-able link, www.thepolymerarts.com/SampleIssues.html, and/or right click and “save image” using the image below.
To get in on the drawing for the four back issues, email me or post a comment to this blog post with a link to where you posted the information. You’ll be helping encourage other aspiring polymer artists, as well as giving yourself a chance to gain any issues you might be missing in your collection. On Sunday, I’ll share some of these links and reveal the winning reader for the giveaway!
Be sure to check in tomorrow; we will investigate movement in polymer art for the rest of the week. We have some really beautiful and unusual pieces to share and hopefully inspire you with!
A Recognizable Voice
May 2, 2013
Inspirational Art
Today I would like to ask for your input. I want to talk about creating an unique artistic voice and I think the best way to define it is to have you, the readers, break it down together. Are you up for it?
The primary question is, what does it mean to have an artistic voice? I think the answer is in understanding what sets the well defined and easily recognized style of one artist apart from all others? Sometimes it’s the choice of form or imagery, maybe even a standard set of colors. But what if that artist does a wide range of things. Is their particular voice going to stand out if they jump from one thing to another. I think, if they are following their true selves, that voice inside that directs the inquiry and steers the fascination that motivates the artist to create can be apparent in a wide variety of work from the same person.
Take a look at the piece below. Even if you have never seen this type of work from this artist, you may be able to guess who this is. I did pick a fairly easy person to recognize.
Did you guess? You can click on the image to take you to the artist’s website if you like. But we’re going to chat a bit more about this before answering. So … this piece is not one of the more popular, widely seen pieces from this artist and is not one of her more well-known styles (perhaps … it’s hard to say that any of the phases or styles of this artist aren’t fairly well-known) but how quickly did you come to recognize the artist? I’m guessing for most of you it took almost no time. And why is that? Why, when this artist is known primarily for her translucent techniques, her imagery, her purses, do we still recognize a vegetable sculpture by her so readily?
Some of the reasons are pretty simple but they do matter … like the fact that she’s widely shown. But what else? What is is about her work, no matter what form, technique or imagery she uses, that allows us to recognize her? Are there other artists that come to mind that you know you’ll recognize right away? Why?
I would love to have as many of you chime in as possible. If you are getting this via the email delivery, you can click on the title of the post in the email to go to the blog and comment at the bottom of the post. If you need, you can reply with an email and I can post it for you. But do get in on the conversation if you have anything to add. I can have my say about why I think Kathleen Dustin here is so readily recognizable but its just my view. We are a large community with many, many different views. Let’s hear what you think.
Revisiting the Masters
April 2, 2013
Inspirational Art, Polymer issues, Ponderings
In a recent conversation with a couple rather big names in our community, I was asked why the community’s major blogs don’t feature the masters very often. It gave me pause. The thing is, I think we do … but part of it may be that there can be a difference in opinion as to what constitutes a master. But really what it comes down to is why we do these blogs. I know my reason is to bring inspiring ideas to you, things that will get you running into the studio or thinking about how to challenge yourself or tips that might help resolve a design issue. This requires a lot of new work and new ideas. The people we might call masters have perfected a set of techniques and/or approaches to design that most of us have become familiar with, so there is a question as to whether a reader will be very enthused by a post on something they’ve seen before. But what this question did make me consider is what we can get out of revisiting the masters.
We can become so familiar with some things that we just can’t see what there is to learn from it any more. The first time I saw Jeffrey Lloyd Dever’s work was years ago in Art Jewelry magazine. I was floored by his technique and finish (still am actually!) and tried out the tutorial in those pages. I wasn’t very successful but I did learn quite a few things along the way about back-filling and finishing. The thing is, if I worked through that same tutorial now, I would learn something different. What I was able to glean from my exploration of his work then, is not what I would glean from it now. Jeff was at Synergy and had a gallery table of his work so I was able to see his pieces close up. This time it was the color choices that I pondered. That didn’t even cross my mind years ago when I was so focused on technique.
You can see by the detail of his Racine Art Museum installation why his colors might be just a tad intriguing. But is that what intrigues you? Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on where you are in your art and even where your thoughts are on this day.
The point is, we should keep revisiting the masters, even the same pieces. The best work does not have just one thing to teach us or for us to take away. Really wonderful art will have many facets that will hit us differently at various points in our lives. So, I’ve been thinking … I should make a point here and there of revisiting even the most familiar work on this blog, give us a chance to get reacquainted with it and find what is new and exciting for us because of where we are as a community today. I’d love to hear that many of you are or will do the same. If you have any great discoveries in doing this, do let me know. We can share it here.
By the way, I pulled this image of Jeff’s work from the Polymer Art Archive which is also a treasure of a source for work from our past as well as our present. It is well worth reading and visiting on a regular basis.
Best Business Practice: Cooperation not Competition
March 24, 2013
Polymer community news, Ponderings
If you have the first issue of The Polymer Arts, you may have read the back page Muse’s Corner piece written by Marjon Donker and Saskia Veltenaar, the editors of From Polymer to Art. It told the story of how we e-meet and why we decided to work together, not compete, even though we were all producing polymer clay magazines.
The thing is, I would not have started The Polymer Arts magazine if Marjon and Saskia were producing the same type of magazine I wanted to produce. Nor would I have done so if our other industry magazine, Polymer Cafe was covering the material I wanted to cover. So, when it came down to it, we weren’t at all competing, rather we were complementing each other. The ways things are now, hobbyists and those who just want to play with polymer have Polymer Cafe to look to for basics and fun projects while the more experienced clayer who wants to branch out can look to From Polymer to Art for more advanced projects and articles on issues that interest the polymer fan. For those who look at what they do or aspire to as serious art or are looking to make their craft into an income producing business, they have The Polymer Arts to push and challenge them, make them think, and help them build a better art business. As one of the attendees said during the magazine editor’s panel, we’re now covering the full range for polymer clayers.
Polymer magazine editors after our Q&A panel at Synergy 3. Starting top left and going clockwise, Sage Bray (The Polymer Arts), Anne Huizenga (Polymer Cafe), Saskia & Marjon (From Polymer To Art)
Do we have different philosophies on publishing for this community? Yes, we certainly do but we all have the similar goal of spreading the wonder and improving the work of polymer artists, regardless of their level of work. We all four talked over the week in Atlanta for this reason. All the editors even came to my Writing for Polymer in Print workshop (get the guidelines from this workshop on The Polymer Arts website)which was fabulous as the attendees got to hear from us all once again. That’s exactly how it should be.
The thing is, my magazine really NEEDS these other magazines. Someone new to the material might be overwhelmed by The Polymer Arts (unless they are really gung-ho and determined, are coming from another art medium, or they got the polymer bug bad from the start!) So yes, if you’re new, you may want to start with one of the other magazines and if you find yourself getting serious and want to push yourself and your art, we’ll be here. Or just give in and get them all. I do! You just can’t have too much polymer information, can you?
If you are interested in writing for a polymer publication, please do consider sending us ideas. Any of the editors here would love to see your ideas. Just help us out and send it to us one at a time. If what you have doesn’t fit my magazine, for example, I’ll pass it on to one of the other gals. The more we share as a community, the better it will be for clayers everywhere.
This week I want to focus on the idea of movement in your artwork. Movement can be either a kinetic design (having parts that move as an integral part of the design), or a visual sense of movement. But before we move onto that, I’ve got a new little feature for you all.
Nearly every day I get an email, a card in the mail, pingbacks/notices or a comment on the blog with tips, ideas, thank yous for the blog and the magazine, as well as people who are just out promoting The Polymer Arts projects of their own accord. It’s hard to convey just how heart-warming and encouraging these notes and notices are to me, knowing that readers are taking time out of their busy lives to direct me to new information, help promote what we do here or just to let me know that TPA is making a difference. So I have this idea. Although I won’t be able to acknowledge everyone, I’d like to take time on at least one blog a week to bring these helpful and enthusiastic readers to your attention. It would be my way of saying thanks as well as helping show all you readers just how supportive this community can be. I hope seeing this will encourage you all to to reach out and add to that support or take advantage of it when you need help and encouragement.
This week, I want to give away four back issues (winner chooses any four in print, or digital if preferred) to one of our enthusiastic readers. I’ll draw a name from the folks who help spread the word about our latest issue, Summer 2013’s Mixing it Up, and the flipbook sampler that is now up on the website. This little flipbook has sample pages from the latest issue for those who haven’t decided to get their own copy yet. If you have a guild member site, a Facebook page, Twitter account, Pinterest board, or blog that you know polymer people watch, I’d be ever so grateful if you’d share this fun little teaser. There are several other flipbook sampler issues available on the same page on The Polymer Arts website. Just post this share-able link, www.thepolymerarts.com/SampleIssues.html, and/or right click and “save image” using the image below.
To get in on the drawing for the four back issues, email me or post a comment to this blog post with a link to where you posted the information. You’ll be helping encourage other aspiring polymer artists, as well as giving yourself a chance to gain any issues you might be missing in your collection. On Sunday, I’ll share some of these links and reveal the winning reader for the giveaway!
Be sure to check in tomorrow; we will investigate movement in polymer art for the rest of the week. We have some really beautiful and unusual pieces to share and hopefully inspire you with!
Read MoreToday I would like to ask for your input. I want to talk about creating an unique artistic voice and I think the best way to define it is to have you, the readers, break it down together. Are you up for it?
The primary question is, what does it mean to have an artistic voice? I think the answer is in understanding what sets the well defined and easily recognized style of one artist apart from all others? Sometimes it’s the choice of form or imagery, maybe even a standard set of colors. But what if that artist does a wide range of things. Is their particular voice going to stand out if they jump from one thing to another. I think, if they are following their true selves, that voice inside that directs the inquiry and steers the fascination that motivates the artist to create can be apparent in a wide variety of work from the same person.
Take a look at the piece below. Even if you have never seen this type of work from this artist, you may be able to guess who this is. I did pick a fairly easy person to recognize.
Did you guess? You can click on the image to take you to the artist’s website if you like. But we’re going to chat a bit more about this before answering. So … this piece is not one of the more popular, widely seen pieces from this artist and is not one of her more well-known styles (perhaps … it’s hard to say that any of the phases or styles of this artist aren’t fairly well-known) but how quickly did you come to recognize the artist? I’m guessing for most of you it took almost no time. And why is that? Why, when this artist is known primarily for her translucent techniques, her imagery, her purses, do we still recognize a vegetable sculpture by her so readily?
Some of the reasons are pretty simple but they do matter … like the fact that she’s widely shown. But what else? What is is about her work, no matter what form, technique or imagery she uses, that allows us to recognize her? Are there other artists that come to mind that you know you’ll recognize right away? Why?
I would love to have as many of you chime in as possible. If you are getting this via the email delivery, you can click on the title of the post in the email to go to the blog and comment at the bottom of the post. If you need, you can reply with an email and I can post it for you. But do get in on the conversation if you have anything to add. I can have my say about why I think Kathleen Dustin here is so readily recognizable but its just my view. We are a large community with many, many different views. Let’s hear what you think.
Read MoreIn a recent conversation with a couple rather big names in our community, I was asked why the community’s major blogs don’t feature the masters very often. It gave me pause. The thing is, I think we do … but part of it may be that there can be a difference in opinion as to what constitutes a master. But really what it comes down to is why we do these blogs. I know my reason is to bring inspiring ideas to you, things that will get you running into the studio or thinking about how to challenge yourself or tips that might help resolve a design issue. This requires a lot of new work and new ideas. The people we might call masters have perfected a set of techniques and/or approaches to design that most of us have become familiar with, so there is a question as to whether a reader will be very enthused by a post on something they’ve seen before. But what this question did make me consider is what we can get out of revisiting the masters.
We can become so familiar with some things that we just can’t see what there is to learn from it any more. The first time I saw Jeffrey Lloyd Dever’s work was years ago in Art Jewelry magazine. I was floored by his technique and finish (still am actually!) and tried out the tutorial in those pages. I wasn’t very successful but I did learn quite a few things along the way about back-filling and finishing. The thing is, if I worked through that same tutorial now, I would learn something different. What I was able to glean from my exploration of his work then, is not what I would glean from it now. Jeff was at Synergy and had a gallery table of his work so I was able to see his pieces close up. This time it was the color choices that I pondered. That didn’t even cross my mind years ago when I was so focused on technique.
You can see by the detail of his Racine Art Museum installation why his colors might be just a tad intriguing. But is that what intrigues you? Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on where you are in your art and even where your thoughts are on this day.
The point is, we should keep revisiting the masters, even the same pieces. The best work does not have just one thing to teach us or for us to take away. Really wonderful art will have many facets that will hit us differently at various points in our lives. So, I’ve been thinking … I should make a point here and there of revisiting even the most familiar work on this blog, give us a chance to get reacquainted with it and find what is new and exciting for us because of where we are as a community today. I’d love to hear that many of you are or will do the same. If you have any great discoveries in doing this, do let me know. We can share it here.
By the way, I pulled this image of Jeff’s work from the Polymer Art Archive which is also a treasure of a source for work from our past as well as our present. It is well worth reading and visiting on a regular basis.
Read MoreIf you have the first issue of The Polymer Arts, you may have read the back page Muse’s Corner piece written by Marjon Donker and Saskia Veltenaar, the editors of From Polymer to Art. It told the story of how we e-meet and why we decided to work together, not compete, even though we were all producing polymer clay magazines.
The thing is, I would not have started The Polymer Arts magazine if Marjon and Saskia were producing the same type of magazine I wanted to produce. Nor would I have done so if our other industry magazine, Polymer Cafe was covering the material I wanted to cover. So, when it came down to it, we weren’t at all competing, rather we were complementing each other. The ways things are now, hobbyists and those who just want to play with polymer have Polymer Cafe to look to for basics and fun projects while the more experienced clayer who wants to branch out can look to From Polymer to Art for more advanced projects and articles on issues that interest the polymer fan. For those who look at what they do or aspire to as serious art or are looking to make their craft into an income producing business, they have The Polymer Arts to push and challenge them, make them think, and help them build a better art business. As one of the attendees said during the magazine editor’s panel, we’re now covering the full range for polymer clayers.
Polymer magazine editors after our Q&A panel at Synergy 3. Starting top left and going clockwise, Sage Bray (The Polymer Arts), Anne Huizenga (Polymer Cafe), Saskia & Marjon (From Polymer To Art)
Do we have different philosophies on publishing for this community? Yes, we certainly do but we all have the similar goal of spreading the wonder and improving the work of polymer artists, regardless of their level of work. We all four talked over the week in Atlanta for this reason. All the editors even came to my Writing for Polymer in Print workshop (get the guidelines from this workshop on The Polymer Arts website)which was fabulous as the attendees got to hear from us all once again. That’s exactly how it should be.
The thing is, my magazine really NEEDS these other magazines. Someone new to the material might be overwhelmed by The Polymer Arts (unless they are really gung-ho and determined, are coming from another art medium, or they got the polymer bug bad from the start!) So yes, if you’re new, you may want to start with one of the other magazines and if you find yourself getting serious and want to push yourself and your art, we’ll be here. Or just give in and get them all. I do! You just can’t have too much polymer information, can you?
If you are interested in writing for a polymer publication, please do consider sending us ideas. Any of the editors here would love to see your ideas. Just help us out and send it to us one at a time. If what you have doesn’t fit my magazine, for example, I’ll pass it on to one of the other gals. The more we share as a community, the better it will be for clayers everywhere.
Read More
