An Open Pod
October 19, 2013 Inspirational Art
Our last look at pods this week will be the end of a pod’s purpose and life cycle. It’s a bit of an incorrect statement in that a pod is really part of a plant’s life cycle, so could we consider the pod to have a life cycle of its own? Oh, sure, why not. We’re artists. We can play it a little loose with concepts, right?
In any case, the final act of a pod would be to open up and release its seeds. I think the opening of a pod is not dissimilar from the blooming of a flower in that it opens up and shows the world what it has to offer, self-serving though it may be–but then most beauty is, in essence, self-serving, and there’s nothing wrong with that. These pendants by Judy Dunn are simple but quietly beautiful examples of the revealing stage of a pod.
The polymer pod shapes peel back to reveal shimmering pearls, a very appropriate option to include as the inside of every pod is a treasure of sorts, even if just to the plant that bore it. I enjoy the way the pearls are both a focal point and partly hidden. The formality that pearls often engender is countered with the unevenness of the open pod, as well as the choice of freshwater pearls, which form unevenly. This gives the open pod an understated elegance and a show of appreciation for a very important natural form.
Outside Inspiration: Polymer Lends Color to Kauri Wood
October 18, 2013 Inspirational Art
Today’s featured artwork isn’t completely an outside inspiration since polymer is involved, but the primary material certainly is. I found these pods on the Daily Art Muse blog. They are a collaboration between Kauri woodturning artist Alby Hall and polymer pen artist Toni Ransfield.
The collaborative work itself is quite beautiful, but in researching for this post I became rather fascinated by the wood itself, its history and the long, arduous process of preparing it. This is no ordinary wood. Kauri trees are among the oldest and biggest tress in the world. The wood Alby uses is actually Ancient Kauri, a wood recovered from swamps in his native New Zealand where the trees had fallen some 45,000 years before. Ancient Kauri is the oldest workable wood in the world and is also considered one of the most difficult to work with, primarily due to the drying and finishing that is required. It is a very soft wood with a tight grain but no sap, since that was dissolved in the swamp waters ages ago. This makes for some very different working characteristics. If you are as fascinated as I am by unusual materials and the processes required to gain and work with them, you’d enjoy reading about this wood on the Ancient Kauri website.
Alby himself doesn’t seem to have a website, but do take a moment to look at his other pod forms on the DAM blog (a blog I very highly recommend you follow if you don’t already). And then stop on over to Toni’s website to see more of Toni’s beautifully caned and finished pieces.
Odd Pods
October 17, 2013 Inspirational Art
Okay … we’ll take one more look at the many form possibilities of pods. A pod doesn’t have to directly translate to something out in nature. It can be more about the idea of a pod, something carrying or transporting, and the shape may be more about the promise of what’s inside than about the form itself.
Wiwat Kamolpornwijit works quite a bit with modified pod forms and forms that reveal what might be within. This pod necklace is a sample of the pod as a concept rather than literal interpretation.
The inside of a pod could look like anything, especially when it’s an exotic pod of your own creation. This mystery allows you to create whatever your imagination might come up with, the way Wiwat has done here. His vision is of some beautiful visual textures with a few seeds peeking out from between the slices, arrayed to define the volume of the pod. These are not like any pods I’ve ever seen, but that is the very beauty of them.
The Many Shapes of Pods
October 14, 2013 Inspirational Art
I have been seeing a lot of pods over the last week or two. Maybe it’s because it’s the Fall season up here in the northern hemisphere, when many plants have matured or given up their flowers to put forth their essential, seed bearing components. When I think of pods, the first things that come to mind are round but elongated forms, maybe larger on one end with the other coming to a point. But that is an extremely narrow image of a pod. In truth, pods come in quite a large variety of shapes.
When speaking of the pods grown in nature, pods can be round or flat, long or squat, smooth or rough, and as small as a pea or so large it takes two hands to hold one. The only defining factor with pods is that they hold something, encasing a collection of possibilities in their many seeds or whatever else might be hidden away within.
That’s why I thought we’d start the week of with an interesting piece that might be described a study of pod varieties. Lori Phillips, who looks to work exclusively in ceramics now, took a detour into polymer a few years back to create this piece.
Most of these beads look like they could have been inspired by real versions in nature, although I’m guessing from looking at the free form work elsewhere on Lori’s Flickr page that these all came from her own imagination; but either way, they seem to show a fascination with natural forms.
Why do we see so many pod shapes in polymer? Well, the truth is, we like to to play with all kinds of shapes; it’s just that I get the feeling that we may have a particularly strong affinity for pods. Why do you think that might be? We’ll explore that question while we admire the many pretty variations of the pod form in polymer this week.
Our last look at pods this week will be the end of a pod’s purpose and life cycle. It’s a bit of an incorrect statement in that a pod is really part of a plant’s life cycle, so could we consider the pod to have a life cycle of its own? Oh, sure, why not. We’re artists. We can play it a little loose with concepts, right?
In any case, the final act of a pod would be to open up and release its seeds. I think the opening of a pod is not dissimilar from the blooming of a flower in that it opens up and shows the world what it has to offer, self-serving though it may be–but then most beauty is, in essence, self-serving, and there’s nothing wrong with that. These pendants by Judy Dunn are simple but quietly beautiful examples of the revealing stage of a pod.
The polymer pod shapes peel back to reveal shimmering pearls, a very appropriate option to include as the inside of every pod is a treasure of sorts, even if just to the plant that bore it. I enjoy the way the pearls are both a focal point and partly hidden. The formality that pearls often engender is countered with the unevenness of the open pod, as well as the choice of freshwater pearls, which form unevenly. This gives the open pod an understated elegance and a show of appreciation for a very important natural form.
Read More
Today’s featured artwork isn’t completely an outside inspiration since polymer is involved, but the primary material certainly is. I found these pods on the Daily Art Muse blog. They are a collaboration between Kauri woodturning artist Alby Hall and polymer pen artist Toni Ransfield.
The collaborative work itself is quite beautiful, but in researching for this post I became rather fascinated by the wood itself, its history and the long, arduous process of preparing it. This is no ordinary wood. Kauri trees are among the oldest and biggest tress in the world. The wood Alby uses is actually Ancient Kauri, a wood recovered from swamps in his native New Zealand where the trees had fallen some 45,000 years before. Ancient Kauri is the oldest workable wood in the world and is also considered one of the most difficult to work with, primarily due to the drying and finishing that is required. It is a very soft wood with a tight grain but no sap, since that was dissolved in the swamp waters ages ago. This makes for some very different working characteristics. If you are as fascinated as I am by unusual materials and the processes required to gain and work with them, you’d enjoy reading about this wood on the Ancient Kauri website.
Alby himself doesn’t seem to have a website, but do take a moment to look at his other pod forms on the DAM blog (a blog I very highly recommend you follow if you don’t already). And then stop on over to Toni’s website to see more of Toni’s beautifully caned and finished pieces.
Read MoreOkay … we’ll take one more look at the many form possibilities of pods. A pod doesn’t have to directly translate to something out in nature. It can be more about the idea of a pod, something carrying or transporting, and the shape may be more about the promise of what’s inside than about the form itself.
Wiwat Kamolpornwijit works quite a bit with modified pod forms and forms that reveal what might be within. This pod necklace is a sample of the pod as a concept rather than literal interpretation.
The inside of a pod could look like anything, especially when it’s an exotic pod of your own creation. This mystery allows you to create whatever your imagination might come up with, the way Wiwat has done here. His vision is of some beautiful visual textures with a few seeds peeking out from between the slices, arrayed to define the volume of the pod. These are not like any pods I’ve ever seen, but that is the very beauty of them.
Read MoreI have been seeing a lot of pods over the last week or two. Maybe it’s because it’s the Fall season up here in the northern hemisphere, when many plants have matured or given up their flowers to put forth their essential, seed bearing components. When I think of pods, the first things that come to mind are round but elongated forms, maybe larger on one end with the other coming to a point. But that is an extremely narrow image of a pod. In truth, pods come in quite a large variety of shapes.
When speaking of the pods grown in nature, pods can be round or flat, long or squat, smooth or rough, and as small as a pea or so large it takes two hands to hold one. The only defining factor with pods is that they hold something, encasing a collection of possibilities in their many seeds or whatever else might be hidden away within.
That’s why I thought we’d start the week of with an interesting piece that might be described a study of pod varieties. Lori Phillips, who looks to work exclusively in ceramics now, took a detour into polymer a few years back to create this piece.
Most of these beads look like they could have been inspired by real versions in nature, although I’m guessing from looking at the free form work elsewhere on Lori’s Flickr page that these all came from her own imagination; but either way, they seem to show a fascination with natural forms.
Why do we see so many pod shapes in polymer? Well, the truth is, we like to to play with all kinds of shapes; it’s just that I get the feeling that we may have a particularly strong affinity for pods. Why do you think that might be? We’ll explore that question while we admire the many pretty variations of the pod form in polymer this week.
Read More