{"id":15919,"date":"2019-02-03T01:30:02","date_gmt":"2019-02-03T09:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/?p=15919"},"modified":"2019-02-18T15:40:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T23:40:20","slug":"one-element-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/one-element-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"One Element at a Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I don\u2019t know if you have ever considered, or found important, the fact that most polymer art is a collection of elements constructed into a single piece. Yes, I know I am stating the obvious here but consider the fact that most polymer art is put together in such a way as to make the individual elements blend into a cohesiveness whole. Have you ever considered that maybe each element can be its own little piece of art, even if it\u2019s to be a part of something bigger?<\/p>\n

If you make the work about each individual elements and not the single composition they are part of, you should be able to give yourself more freedom in the creative process. The idea would be to just focus on the single component in front of you without regard for the other parts it may eventually be joined with. Since you don’t have to consider any other elements you should be able to just let your mind and hands go play. You could, in fact, just create tons of individual pieces and then pull together the ones that you find relate and from that create a finished piece. There would be no pressure to make things work together or fit. Does that sound intriguing?<\/p>\n

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Elemental Artists<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a lot of artists that do this almost exclusively. When Debbie Crothers<\/a> creates, a finished piece is usually the last thing on her mind. She is in love with seeing what the material will do and spends most of her time playing and exploring. Once her stock builds up, or just whenever the bug bites her, then she will create finished pieces of wearable art.<\/p>\n

Recently she has also been incorporating her love of found objects as you can see in the image above. This is just a part of a very long necklace of Debbie’s. (The whole of which I\u2019ve not seen her posted anywhere but will be featured in the upcoming Polymer Journeys 2019 book. Look for pre-sale announcements this coming week.) Each individual component definitely stands on its own here since each individual polymer and found object component is framed. But you can also see, if you look at her work on Facebook<\/a> or on her website<\/a>, that her pieces are almost always a variety show, one that features the results of her exploration and just having fun with the clay.<\/p>\n

Another cool thing about this type of artwork is that the viewer will probably want to look at each and every individual component. Just the variety heightens the interest in these kinds of pieces which means the people viewing it will spend more time looking at it and more time appreciating your work. That can really help in terms of sales too because the more time someone spends looking at a piece the more likely they will be to want to buy it.<\/p>\n

I think this kind of intrigue born of variety may be the primary draw when it comes to the jewelry of Olga Ledneva<\/a>. This piece you see here is a bit more dense and has more potential movement than her newer work but I thought it was also a good example of how all these pieces, together, create a textural canvas since they are all kind of dangling on top of each other, and yet, as cohesive as it feels, you still want to look carefully at each piece in the assembly. Olga’s Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Flickr photostream<\/a>\u00a0are good places to look around for other assembled element ideas.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I know those \u00a0two ladies make some pretty interesting and complex components but don\u2019t think you have to go to that extent. The individual elements you create in this process can be as simple as punched out squares such as you might see in one of Laurie Mika\u2019s mosaics<\/a>. I am such a fan of this kind of free-form collage work, one that allows you to simply show off the characteristics you love about working with clay. You can assemble bits of your alcohol ink treated sheets, mokume gane, complex canes, impressed clay components, or hand sculpted forms. A mosaic or even a necklace of just simple shapes can let those treatments and colors shine, each on their own.<\/p>\n

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Of course, this approach isn\u2019t just for polymer clay. This brilliant green assemblage necklace by an artist known only as Gebrufa<\/a> is all fabric and fiber, although some components could as easily have been polymer. My guess would be that she gave herself just the restriction of a limited color palette but otherwise made all the individual pieces as whimsy led her. Should you want to know that you can have a cohesive finished piece when you are done freely creating components, this kind of approach would give you a path to that while still creating with relative freedom.<\/p>\n

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So, have I got you thinking about the individual elements of your pieces in a different way now?<\/p>\n

Planning and meticulously designing pieces is essential in many circumstances but letting yourself just explore can also be an important part of your artistic growth as it helps to free up and expand your creativity. Letting yourself just play can be hard to do when you don\u2019t have a lot of time and you want the time you do have to result in finished pieces. Knowing you can focus on making great little individual components which you can later put together into a fabulous necklace or wall piece might just be the thing that gives you the license to let go and doodle away with your clay.<\/p>\n

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THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:<\/strong><\/p>\n