Silhouettes of the Past
November 30, 2018
Inspirational Art
I think everyone knows Jeffrey Lloyd Dever‘s work but he’s not as prevalent on the social media networks as a lot of other polymer artists. So sometimes, when his work does pop up, it feels so entirely refreshing and new. And sometimes it doesn’t even seem like his work but he has such a definite signature, especially in his forms and the way he arranges them.
I remember talking to Jeff in Racine, Wisconsin at the Racine Art Museum’s In-Organic exhibition in 2014. His installation piece, Whence from a Darkling Heart, a jacket with black shapes arranged on it and below it, was front and center when you walked into the exhibition space. Jeff asked if I knew it was his work when I walked in. I said of course I knew and told him I would be surprised if not everyone else did too. He was surprised. He thought it was so different that people might have wondered whose it was. I think it’s hard, when looking at our own work, to see what our signature style is.
But here’s another piece of Jeff’s, absent his familiar combination of sunset colors or a dominance of blues, and it seems very obvious that this is his work. Or maybe you would see it and wonder if somebody was emulating his work. But no, this is all Jeffrey Dever and I would say it’s the shapes, the immaculate finish and his careful consideration of balance that makes it so obvious.
The thing about going predominantly monochrome like this is that you are challenged to set color side and heavily consider all the other design elements. The forms, the size, the juxtaposition and contrast of elements, and the way the work is finished become paramount considerations. These other design elements must be attended to with care to make it work. Not that those design elements should not always be attended to with care but sometimes, with color, you may be tempted to let the color carry a piece because a bold or well-chosen color palette will still result in a piece that people admire. It’s just that the work can generally be taken up a notch or two if the other design elements are deemed just as important and are given just as much consideration as color.
And this is why this piece works so well. There is contrast in the form of black shapes but the base shape is the same in each one so there is a connection between them all. The red ball adds the drama with his heavy contrast in color as well as surface treatment and shape. Still, the ball’s roundness is an echo of the curves in the pod shapes. Just imagine if the red element was a square. It would lose so much. But it could have been a triangle, with the points of the pods and the points of the triangles echoing each other, although it would’ve felt very different.
Jeff has some other very different forms he’s been working on which you’ll see more of when we get the Polymer Journeys book out in February. In the meantime, you can take a look at his website to see what he’s been up to over the past couple years.
BumpyTerrain
October 10, 2018
Inspirational Art
Take an already enticing, beautiful organic texture like crackle and literally “bump” it up with a wonderfully organic bumpy texture and you’ve got a real powerhouse of a textural combination.
That’s basically what Shelley Atwood did with these otherwise simply designed earrings. You really wouldn’t want to do a lot more with this as you would risk making this overly busy. The simple round shape and the round negative space reflect the roundness in the bumps but then the crackle comes in with an edgy and erratic energy that contrasts nicely with the predominate soft forms and shapes. The choice of color also brings additional energy to this organic terrain, the reds and yellows playing nicely with this contrasting combination of textures.
Shelley has been playing with dots and bumps and other heavily textured surface applications and techniques for quite a while now. Her Flickr photostream looks like a massive sampler of textural surface design possibilities in polymer. Pop over there or peruse her portfolio on her website for all kinds of textural inspiration.
Outside Inspiration: A Felted Landscape
November 15, 2013
Inspirational Art
Another fantastic ‘canvas’ for landscape composition is an object that is “in the round”. That term simply means something can be viewed all the way around its form. What do you work in that can viewed that way? Big beads? Earrings? Vases?
Vases, bowls, boxes and containers of all kinds can be used as landscape composition pieces, with the advantage of being able to develop multiple scenes because they will be viewed from multiple sides. Here is an unusual application of felt in a very colorful, abstract landscape built around the form of a pot.
Sharon Costello will felt just about anything, it seems. Her website features figures, wall art, clothes, lampshades, masks, and covered objects like this vessel using both wet and needle felting methods. Have some fun on her site this afternoon seeing just how inventive one inspired artist can be with her felt. Then ask yourself as a polymer artist, what do you see that you can take back to your studio?
Revealing in the Round
June 26, 2013
Inspirational Art
Much of our layering and exposing of those layers in polymer happens on a flat surface which can then be applied to any number of forms. But take that usual work surface and put it in the round, and a you can get quite beautiful results that way too.
For you scrap clay technique connoisseurs, we have another one here for you! These beads were made by Belinda (Birnco on Flickr). There were created from extruded canes (which are a great way to use up scrap), coiled around a base core of raw clay with bits sliced off the coiled surface using a wavy blade.
I know these beads are a little dark but I do like the variety shown using this exposed coil approach. Belinda has a number of examples of these on her Flickr page, so you can jump over there and see the brighter varieties and other variations on this.
You can of course use tube, ovals, lentils or any other shape and then go at it with a straight or wavy blade to see what might be revealed. The thing is, the small round form allows for revealing layers in bits and pieces without the reshaping of the layers the way you do in mokume to get variation on what is exposed. I just thought some of you out there might like to explore a little revealing in the round. It has intriguing possibilities.
I think everyone knows Jeffrey Lloyd Dever‘s work but he’s not as prevalent on the social media networks as a lot of other polymer artists. So sometimes, when his work does pop up, it feels so entirely refreshing and new. And sometimes it doesn’t even seem like his work but he has such a definite signature, especially in his forms and the way he arranges them.
I remember talking to Jeff in Racine, Wisconsin at the Racine Art Museum’s In-Organic exhibition in 2014. His installation piece, Whence from a Darkling Heart, a jacket with black shapes arranged on it and below it, was front and center when you walked into the exhibition space. Jeff asked if I knew it was his work when I walked in. I said of course I knew and told him I would be surprised if not everyone else did too. He was surprised. He thought it was so different that people might have wondered whose it was. I think it’s hard, when looking at our own work, to see what our signature style is.
But here’s another piece of Jeff’s, absent his familiar combination of sunset colors or a dominance of blues, and it seems very obvious that this is his work. Or maybe you would see it and wonder if somebody was emulating his work. But no, this is all Jeffrey Dever and I would say it’s the shapes, the immaculate finish and his careful consideration of balance that makes it so obvious.
The thing about going predominantly monochrome like this is that you are challenged to set color side and heavily consider all the other design elements. The forms, the size, the juxtaposition and contrast of elements, and the way the work is finished become paramount considerations. These other design elements must be attended to with care to make it work. Not that those design elements should not always be attended to with care but sometimes, with color, you may be tempted to let the color carry a piece because a bold or well-chosen color palette will still result in a piece that people admire. It’s just that the work can generally be taken up a notch or two if the other design elements are deemed just as important and are given just as much consideration as color.
And this is why this piece works so well. There is contrast in the form of black shapes but the base shape is the same in each one so there is a connection between them all. The red ball adds the drama with his heavy contrast in color as well as surface treatment and shape. Still, the ball’s roundness is an echo of the curves in the pod shapes. Just imagine if the red element was a square. It would lose so much. But it could have been a triangle, with the points of the pods and the points of the triangles echoing each other, although it would’ve felt very different.
Jeff has some other very different forms he’s been working on which you’ll see more of when we get the Polymer Journeys book out in February. In the meantime, you can take a look at his website to see what he’s been up to over the past couple years.
Read MoreTake an already enticing, beautiful organic texture like crackle and literally “bump” it up with a wonderfully organic bumpy texture and you’ve got a real powerhouse of a textural combination.
That’s basically what Shelley Atwood did with these otherwise simply designed earrings. You really wouldn’t want to do a lot more with this as you would risk making this overly busy. The simple round shape and the round negative space reflect the roundness in the bumps but then the crackle comes in with an edgy and erratic energy that contrasts nicely with the predominate soft forms and shapes. The choice of color also brings additional energy to this organic terrain, the reds and yellows playing nicely with this contrasting combination of textures.
Shelley has been playing with dots and bumps and other heavily textured surface applications and techniques for quite a while now. Her Flickr photostream looks like a massive sampler of textural surface design possibilities in polymer. Pop over there or peruse her portfolio on her website for all kinds of textural inspiration.
Read MoreAnother fantastic ‘canvas’ for landscape composition is an object that is “in the round”. That term simply means something can be viewed all the way around its form. What do you work in that can viewed that way? Big beads? Earrings? Vases?
Vases, bowls, boxes and containers of all kinds can be used as landscape composition pieces, with the advantage of being able to develop multiple scenes because they will be viewed from multiple sides. Here is an unusual application of felt in a very colorful, abstract landscape built around the form of a pot.
Sharon Costello will felt just about anything, it seems. Her website features figures, wall art, clothes, lampshades, masks, and covered objects like this vessel using both wet and needle felting methods. Have some fun on her site this afternoon seeing just how inventive one inspired artist can be with her felt. Then ask yourself as a polymer artist, what do you see that you can take back to your studio?
Read More
Much of our layering and exposing of those layers in polymer happens on a flat surface which can then be applied to any number of forms. But take that usual work surface and put it in the round, and a you can get quite beautiful results that way too.
For you scrap clay technique connoisseurs, we have another one here for you! These beads were made by Belinda (Birnco on Flickr). There were created from extruded canes (which are a great way to use up scrap), coiled around a base core of raw clay with bits sliced off the coiled surface using a wavy blade.
I know these beads are a little dark but I do like the variety shown using this exposed coil approach. Belinda has a number of examples of these on her Flickr page, so you can jump over there and see the brighter varieties and other variations on this.
You can of course use tube, ovals, lentils or any other shape and then go at it with a straight or wavy blade to see what might be revealed. The thing is, the small round form allows for revealing layers in bits and pieces without the reshaping of the layers the way you do in mokume to get variation on what is exposed. I just thought some of you out there might like to explore a little revealing in the round. It has intriguing possibilities.
