Gera Scott Chandler fearlessly fuses polymer clay with digital photography, canvas, silk, inks, acrylics and found objects to create textured three dimensional interpretations of the mood and spirit of her west coast Canadian landscapes. Gera often incorporates beachcombing ephemera into her compositions.
It was her Arbutus mixed media collage on canvas in the Synergy exhibit that helped fuel recent experiments by other artists in combining liquid polymer and fabrics. Her research and development is constant (the lantern at left is a recent example).
Gera has moved on to combining polymer and resins and offers the results of her experiments for comparison shoppers. She has a way of bringing remarkable colors to polymer and she’s working to enhance those colors further with resin.
Following Gera’s work is like being on an adventure that leads from the beach to the garden to the studio.
Inspired by the Synergy conference, Heather Campbell was prompted to test out some new ideas. Heather’s works are usually quite large and adhering polymer to slick surfaces is often a challenge.
“Polymer will stick to most anything, but I have found especially with larger surfaces that the clay if bumped or jarred will pop off or over time will shrink off the surface and then has to be glued back on. Here I am combining liquid clay with fabric or paper fibers to create a very durable background to then adhere the polymer components,” Heather explains.
The big photo on her site helps you see the fiber base onto which she’s added polymer embellishment.
The combination of the fibers and clay complement each other beautifully and present new textures and depth. She’s calling the method “Poly Fiber Masking” and she says she’ll get back to us later with more explanation of the technique.
London street artist CityZenKane’s has added a new video to his arsenal. His ray gun video shows the making of his 3D street sculptures. CZK sculpts the basic form in polymer, casts it and then paints it or covers it with cane slices. He also works with polymer UV and neon effects on his street art.
These additional articles and photos (here, here and here) may give you a better perspective on CZK’s work. The link is from Italy’s Leila Bidler.
I’ve been so wrapped up in vacationing and spring that I’ve neglected some of the edgier, more interesting developments in our community. Here are some of the recent polymer-related books you may find of interest as well.
After the Synergy conference Betsy Baker decided to spend more time outside her comfort zone and these great new brooches are the result.
“Brooches are new for me and I know they don’t sell well at my shows but what the heck. I now understand why so many art jewelers make them – they’re an awesome canvas,” she discovered. Take a look at the layers of lush colors and textures that Betsy created.
This roadtrip has put me a bit behind on emails and research. Thanks for your patience while I play. Arizona tomorrow.
Scotland’s Melanie Muir says, “I am constantly inspired by the colours and patterns that surround me in the Highland landscape and by the patterns in semi precious stones such as agate and jasper.”
Melanie’s studio overlooks the ever changing waters of the Moray Firth whose turbulence and colors are often reflected in the distinctive look of her polymer mokume gane.
An article on Melanie’s work appears in the current issue of the UK’s Craft & Design magazine. She even squeezed in a sidebar tip-of-the-hat to her fellow polymer clay and metal clay artists. I’m kicking myself for not having sat down with her at Synergy to get the full story.
Melanie has been entered for the magazine’s Selected Awards 2010 so be sure to scroll to the bottom of her page, fill out the required boxes and vote for her. The public votes until April 30.
