Abstract Feelings
January 27, 2015
Inspirational Art
I realized after the fact that I posted yesterday’s blog about conceptual art without really going into the particulars of what that phrase means. So I thought I’d correct that, only I ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole as I went ahead, as I do, when I researched the term and how it is used today. So, just to be fair and to stave off counter-explanations about what the term is used for in contemporary art and various art movements (see Wikipedia’s explanations), I’m going to define our use for it based on how we often used it back in my art school days. We may not have been using it correctly by some people’s account, but we did use the term “concept” correctly and talk of “conceptual art” as being created to relay an abstract idea or complex group of ideas.
Here is an example of both a literal representation and a conceptual representation. Girl on a Blustery Day, by Melissa Terlizzi, is a depiction of, well, a windy, blustery day. That is the visual representation of a state of weather. On the other hand, it also depicts the distress and dishevelment of this poor girl, and particular experiences and emotion are abstract. Along with recognizing the concept, we all connect to the feeling of being caught in a bit of a gale and dealing with the surprises Mother Nature tosses our way. Plus, it’s just a fun piece! It’s too bad I didn’t find a “Blizzardy Day” piece so we could all visually commiserate with our Eastern US friends held captive by the crazy weather right now. You all hang in there!
Although I love this wall piece, it is not, in my opinion, the pinnacle of Melissa Terlizzi‘s work. She also creates the most wonderfully detailed sculptures and fabulous miniature food stuffs. Sophistication and adorableness reside side by side on her Flickr photostream, so wander on over for a delightful e-tour.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Exercises in Gray
October 11, 2014
Inspirational Art
After all this talk of gray, I thought it was about time to challenge you with some further ideas about color values so you can see for yourself what understanding value can do for your work.
First of all, take any photo of one of your pieces and put it into a photo manipulation software program, changing the color mode to “Grayscale”. You can usually do this with your camera as well by changing the mode to “Black & White” or “B&W” as you take the photo. Then look at what you have. If you were after a lot of contrast in your piece, you should definitely see a range of darks and lights that easily define the forms, lines, textures and color changes you have in the piece. If you were after a quieter contrast, you should see little variation in the darkness or lightness of the grays.
Here is a beautiful mokume gane pendant by Harriet Smith. The original shot on the left is vibrant and bright, but does have a calm feel too it. And you can see just why that is when you turn it gray. Even with the fiery colors and the many overlapping lines, the energy of the pendant is kept in check by the minimal variation in value. Of course, this piece is quite different without it’s brilliant colors, but the exercise shows why the energy is not quite so high.
You can examine any of your pieces in this manner and will likely find yourself surprised quite often at the actual value range your pieces have. Being aware of value will help you make better decisions about your color choices going forward. And if you want to learn more about value with some polymer centric exercises, take a look at this great little article written by Maggie Maggio, co-author of Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, which also has a lot of value-related information and exercises to keep your color knowledge growing.
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.
Gray in Six Degrees
October 9, 2014
Inspirational Art
I am traveling today, so I apologize for the brevity here. I was sent this lovely wallpiece by Fran Abrams after she saw what the theme was this week. The piece is called “Six Degrees of Separation”. It’s wall art that is 18″ x 18″ and created using only black clay and white clay mixed in varying proportions.
I simply like that Fran went for a pure study of value here. It created an unusual challenge for the artist and a canvas. The form and contrast are all there working to draw you in. Although it is simple, it keeps drawing the eye back to take one more look or compare a couple more grays between squares. Just imagine being the one creating it. Or maybe, create a study of grays for yourself.
Visit with Fran and her other ‘studies’ on her website.
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.
Outside Inspiration: Crochet & Pearls
August 15, 2014
Inspirational Art
Today’s outside inspiration, a bit of crochet jewelry by Russian crafter by Zaji Galochka, has a little of all the things we’ve talked about this week. There is repetition and the crowding of the duplicated elements. Then there is an example of both an orderliness with an organic movement and a lack of precision. Plus, it’s just a lovely piece! The shine of the hard, round pearls plays a lovely contrast to the soft, rippling texture and looseness of the crocheted leaf shapes. Additionally, there’s a great dichotomy in the color scheme between the two sides.
I just wish the center bead was something else, maybe a large, dark-colored pearl or a rough, textured bead with a soft color that would straddle the contrast between the pearl and crochet elements. I wonder if the artist chose this bead in order to create a more dynamic focal point. Anything at that center, bottom point of a piece where the shapes and colors meet will be a focal point, even if it’s an open and empty crocheted circle. I don’t usually discuss ways to improve pieces, but this is so lovely in every other regard, I just would love to have seen it take one more step towards the elemental unity. Of course, some of you may disagree, finding it perfectly done as is. That is the wonderful thing about art; it reads differently for different people.
I found this piece on Deviant Art, which has some of the most fantastic artists, but is sometimes a little difficult to dig through. All the information and items I could find for Zaji are on her page here. If you like this piece try searching Pinterest or Google images for more crocheted art jewelry. There is some amazing work out there, much of which I could see inspiring many a polymer artist with their handy extuder by their side.
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.
I realized after the fact that I posted yesterday’s blog about conceptual art without really going into the particulars of what that phrase means. So I thought I’d correct that, only I ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole as I went ahead, as I do, when I researched the term and how it is used today. So, just to be fair and to stave off counter-explanations about what the term is used for in contemporary art and various art movements (see Wikipedia’s explanations), I’m going to define our use for it based on how we often used it back in my art school days. We may not have been using it correctly by some people’s account, but we did use the term “concept” correctly and talk of “conceptual art” as being created to relay an abstract idea or complex group of ideas.
Here is an example of both a literal representation and a conceptual representation. Girl on a Blustery Day, by Melissa Terlizzi, is a depiction of, well, a windy, blustery day. That is the visual representation of a state of weather. On the other hand, it also depicts the distress and dishevelment of this poor girl, and particular experiences and emotion are abstract. Along with recognizing the concept, we all connect to the feeling of being caught in a bit of a gale and dealing with the surprises Mother Nature tosses our way. Plus, it’s just a fun piece! It’s too bad I didn’t find a “Blizzardy Day” piece so we could all visually commiserate with our Eastern US friends held captive by the crazy weather right now. You all hang in there!
Although I love this wall piece, it is not, in my opinion, the pinnacle of Melissa Terlizzi‘s work. She also creates the most wonderfully detailed sculptures and fabulous miniature food stuffs. Sophistication and adorableness reside side by side on her Flickr photostream, so wander on over for a delightful e-tour.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
After all this talk of gray, I thought it was about time to challenge you with some further ideas about color values so you can see for yourself what understanding value can do for your work.
First of all, take any photo of one of your pieces and put it into a photo manipulation software program, changing the color mode to “Grayscale”. You can usually do this with your camera as well by changing the mode to “Black & White” or “B&W” as you take the photo. Then look at what you have. If you were after a lot of contrast in your piece, you should definitely see a range of darks and lights that easily define the forms, lines, textures and color changes you have in the piece. If you were after a quieter contrast, you should see little variation in the darkness or lightness of the grays.
Here is a beautiful mokume gane pendant by Harriet Smith. The original shot on the left is vibrant and bright, but does have a calm feel too it. And you can see just why that is when you turn it gray. Even with the fiery colors and the many overlapping lines, the energy of the pendant is kept in check by the minimal variation in value. Of course, this piece is quite different without it’s brilliant colors, but the exercise shows why the energy is not quite so high.
You can examine any of your pieces in this manner and will likely find yourself surprised quite often at the actual value range your pieces have. Being aware of value will help you make better decisions about your color choices going forward. And if you want to learn more about value with some polymer centric exercises, take a look at this great little article written by Maggie Maggio, co-author of Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, which also has a lot of value-related information and exercises to keep your color knowledge growing.
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.
I am traveling today, so I apologize for the brevity here. I was sent this lovely wallpiece by Fran Abrams after she saw what the theme was this week. The piece is called “Six Degrees of Separation”. It’s wall art that is 18″ x 18″ and created using only black clay and white clay mixed in varying proportions.
I simply like that Fran went for a pure study of value here. It created an unusual challenge for the artist and a canvas. The form and contrast are all there working to draw you in. Although it is simple, it keeps drawing the eye back to take one more look or compare a couple more grays between squares. Just imagine being the one creating it. Or maybe, create a study of grays for yourself.
Visit with Fran and her other ‘studies’ on her website.
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.
Today’s outside inspiration, a bit of crochet jewelry by Russian crafter by Zaji Galochka, has a little of all the things we’ve talked about this week. There is repetition and the crowding of the duplicated elements. Then there is an example of both an orderliness with an organic movement and a lack of precision. Plus, it’s just a lovely piece! The shine of the hard, round pearls plays a lovely contrast to the soft, rippling texture and looseness of the crocheted leaf shapes. Additionally, there’s a great dichotomy in the color scheme between the two sides.
I just wish the center bead was something else, maybe a large, dark-colored pearl or a rough, textured bead with a soft color that would straddle the contrast between the pearl and crochet elements. I wonder if the artist chose this bead in order to create a more dynamic focal point. Anything at that center, bottom point of a piece where the shapes and colors meet will be a focal point, even if it’s an open and empty crocheted circle. I don’t usually discuss ways to improve pieces, but this is so lovely in every other regard, I just would love to have seen it take one more step towards the elemental unity. Of course, some of you may disagree, finding it perfectly done as is. That is the wonderful thing about art; it reads differently for different people.
I found this piece on Deviant Art, which has some of the most fantastic artists, but is sometimes a little difficult to dig through. All the information and items I could find for Zaji are on her page here. If you like this piece try searching Pinterest or Google images for more crocheted art jewelry. There is some amazing work out there, much of which I could see inspiring many a polymer artist with their handy extuder by their side.
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.
