A Rainbow of Repetition
February 26, 2015
Inspirational Art
This was such a gorgeous find. Actually, everything this artist has done is just amazing. The thing is, it doesn’t seem to be polymer, but it took quite a bit of research to convince me otherwise. The work is by Raluca Bazura, a Romanian artist working in contemporary jewelry. From what I could tell from the translations on the various little snippets I found about her online, she seems to work primarily in porcelain ceramics. This must be why all the pieces are stitched together. Of course, that may allow for movement and flexibility, but it might not be necessary if it was polymer. Really, this should be polymer. OK … yes, perhaps I am a tad biased sometimes.
But, whether this is made in ceramics or polymer, it is another wonderful example of the dynamic complexity that repetition can bring to a piece. And yes, we’re looking at a gradient of color, but this time only in terms of the collective set of overlapping scales not blended. It still has a similar effect in helping aid the feel of movement as the arrangement fans out. Raluca uses this kind of color effect in a lot of his work, but she’s also done a whole series in just black with the occasional gold or silver additions.
If you find this at all intriguing, you must go take a look at more of her work on her website. You’ll see many other pieces that you’ll swear are polymer, or should be. Go see and tell me what you think.
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.
Repeating Wave
February 25, 2015
Inspirational Art
Gradient color, as well as repetition, seems to be the theme this week. Carol Blackburn has created lovely examples of both in her interlocked strips designs. You have likely seen at least her earrings in this style which are one dangling bead of these repeated strips wrapping around and overlapping at the ends. She calls them shell earrings. But, they become something different when repeated over and over.
Take that repetition of overlapping strips in the bead element and repeat the bead. Repetition within repetition, aided by gradient color, makes for a wave of movement smoothly running from one end to the other in these pieces. She calls these her Moebius necklaces; no longer a single static object but actually off into the often unfathomable realm of mathematics. The mobius strip (also moebius strip) is said to have one side and one edge, but because it has been twisted in the middle, so that when the ends are attached, what we would have called ‘the back side’ of the strip now meets the front side. Yeah, I know. Its a little mind-boggling even when you see an image of it. How Carol brings all her strips together to wave so smoothly like this is also a mystery. This is what is so wonderful about art. When the ideas behind it start to hurt your brain, you can always just admire the beauty. The beauty here is something we can all understand.
Much more and less mind boggling art by Carol can be found on her website. And, if it isn’t already, be sure that her classic book Making Polymer Clay Beads (printed in several editions including French, German and Italian) is on your book shelf for regular references. The wealth of techniques and ideas is amazing with beads for beginner to advanced. I think it’s one of the best polymer books out there.
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.
Another Take on Repeated Folds
February 24, 2015
Inspirational Art
Today, we have the pleasure of looking at a similar form and similar elements as yesterday, but with a different approach and result. Yesterday’s repeated pattern was folded circles of clay arranged in a sunburst type of pattern. Well, today we have beads also created with a folded circle, the formation repeated in bead after bead, but all the beads are slightly different.
In this necklace, polymer artist Judy Dunn uses the repetition of the bead form to connect the otherwise varying elements in this design. The circles used to create the beads have different visual textures on them, as well as being different shades from pearl to deep blue. If the beads had all been slightly different, a more chaotic feeling would have emerged, but between the steady beats of the repeated pattern and the calm colors, we have a shimmery, elegant piece.
You can see other variation of these repeated forms along with a ton of other projects and materials (a Jill of all crafts she seems to be!) on Judy’s Flickr page.
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.
The Attraction of Many
August 11, 2014
Inspirational Art
There has been an aesthetic concept I have been thinking about ever since I posted Dorothy Siemen’s wall piece, Colony two weeks ago. Why is it that we find beauty, comfort or some kind of attraction to items that have repeated and crowded patterns? They make wonderful, energy-filled compositions, and they are filled with texture and richness by the way they thoroughly fill the space. Let’s contemplate this thoroughness as we enjoy some gorgeous art this week.
This piece, by Greece’s Helen P. of Eleins Kingdom on Etsy, is pretty typical of the look I am talking about. Such an approach can carry a piece with little or no color. It does not need any particular order or structure, and there is no pattern or set of lines to follow. Just the same kind of shapes repeated over and over. Why do we like this?
My initial theory is that it harkens back to very common natural formations like lichen, fungus, barnacles, etc. We recognize something organic and inherently beautiful in the abundance and growth of such formations. Or do we?
Let’s start this week by you telling me what you think. Do you find you have an especially strong attraction to this kind of artwork and/or this kind of thing in the natural world and maybe that is why we are attracted to it? Or do you have another theory? Put your thoughts in the comments at the end of the blog post (if you are getting this by email, click on the header of this post to get to the post page), and I’ll aim to use those thoughts to steer the discussion this week.
See more of this crowded, repeated type of work in Helen’s Etsy shop. This type of approach is her primary thing, so you’ll have a chance to ponder it in quite a few more iterations.
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.
This was such a gorgeous find. Actually, everything this artist has done is just amazing. The thing is, it doesn’t seem to be polymer, but it took quite a bit of research to convince me otherwise. The work is by Raluca Bazura, a Romanian artist working in contemporary jewelry. From what I could tell from the translations on the various little snippets I found about her online, she seems to work primarily in porcelain ceramics. This must be why all the pieces are stitched together. Of course, that may allow for movement and flexibility, but it might not be necessary if it was polymer. Really, this should be polymer. OK … yes, perhaps I am a tad biased sometimes.
But, whether this is made in ceramics or polymer, it is another wonderful example of the dynamic complexity that repetition can bring to a piece. And yes, we’re looking at a gradient of color, but this time only in terms of the collective set of overlapping scales not blended. It still has a similar effect in helping aid the feel of movement as the arrangement fans out. Raluca uses this kind of color effect in a lot of his work, but she’s also done a whole series in just black with the occasional gold or silver additions.
If you find this at all intriguing, you must go take a look at more of her work on her website. You’ll see many other pieces that you’ll swear are polymer, or should be. Go see and tell me what you think.
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.
Gradient color, as well as repetition, seems to be the theme this week. Carol Blackburn has created lovely examples of both in her interlocked strips designs. You have likely seen at least her earrings in this style which are one dangling bead of these repeated strips wrapping around and overlapping at the ends. She calls them shell earrings. But, they become something different when repeated over and over.
Take that repetition of overlapping strips in the bead element and repeat the bead. Repetition within repetition, aided by gradient color, makes for a wave of movement smoothly running from one end to the other in these pieces. She calls these her Moebius necklaces; no longer a single static object but actually off into the often unfathomable realm of mathematics. The mobius strip (also moebius strip) is said to have one side and one edge, but because it has been twisted in the middle, so that when the ends are attached, what we would have called ‘the back side’ of the strip now meets the front side. Yeah, I know. Its a little mind-boggling even when you see an image of it. How Carol brings all her strips together to wave so smoothly like this is also a mystery. This is what is so wonderful about art. When the ideas behind it start to hurt your brain, you can always just admire the beauty. The beauty here is something we can all understand.
Much more and less mind boggling art by Carol can be found on her website. And, if it isn’t already, be sure that her classic book Making Polymer Clay Beads (printed in several editions including French, German and Italian) is on your book shelf for regular references. The wealth of techniques and ideas is amazing with beads for beginner to advanced. I think it’s one of the best polymer books out there.
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.
Today, we have the pleasure of looking at a similar form and similar elements as yesterday, but with a different approach and result. Yesterday’s repeated pattern was folded circles of clay arranged in a sunburst type of pattern. Well, today we have beads also created with a folded circle, the formation repeated in bead after bead, but all the beads are slightly different.
In this necklace, polymer artist Judy Dunn uses the repetition of the bead form to connect the otherwise varying elements in this design. The circles used to create the beads have different visual textures on them, as well as being different shades from pearl to deep blue. If the beads had all been slightly different, a more chaotic feeling would have emerged, but between the steady beats of the repeated pattern and the calm colors, we have a shimmery, elegant piece.
You can see other variation of these repeated forms along with a ton of other projects and materials (a Jill of all crafts she seems to be!) on Judy’s Flickr page.
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.
There has been an aesthetic concept I have been thinking about ever since I posted Dorothy Siemen’s wall piece, Colony two weeks ago. Why is it that we find beauty, comfort or some kind of attraction to items that have repeated and crowded patterns? They make wonderful, energy-filled compositions, and they are filled with texture and richness by the way they thoroughly fill the space. Let’s contemplate this thoroughness as we enjoy some gorgeous art this week.
This piece, by Greece’s Helen P. of Eleins Kingdom on Etsy, is pretty typical of the look I am talking about. Such an approach can carry a piece with little or no color. It does not need any particular order or structure, and there is no pattern or set of lines to follow. Just the same kind of shapes repeated over and over. Why do we like this?
My initial theory is that it harkens back to very common natural formations like lichen, fungus, barnacles, etc. We recognize something organic and inherently beautiful in the abundance and growth of such formations. Or do we?
Let’s start this week by you telling me what you think. Do you find you have an especially strong attraction to this kind of artwork and/or this kind of thing in the natural world and maybe that is why we are attracted to it? Or do you have another theory? Put your thoughts in the comments at the end of the blog post (if you are getting this by email, click on the header of this post to get to the post page), and I’ll aim to use those thoughts to steer the discussion this week.
See more of this crowded, repeated type of work in Helen’s Etsy shop. This type of approach is her primary thing, so you’ll have a chance to ponder it in quite a few more iterations.
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.
