These Greek trees by Arieta Stavrodou are quirky polymer drawings (wall art) that make you wonder what what the vegetation really looks like.
The effect is psychedelic and starts Monday on an energetic note. Do you detect a Hundertwasser influence?
And would you guess that those colors are from pastels or inks? Arieta offers a smattering of work on Pinterest with the rest on Facebook.
Her fish, birds, butterflies and shells hint at an outdoorsy girl who lives close to the water. Let me know if you find more clues about this promising, young artist.
This city scene shows the Philadelphia skyline compressed into a colorful and small (7 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ deep) 3D polymer wall piece.
It’s the first time Veruschka Stevens has attempted wall art (though she’s created lots of diorama necklaces) and she challenged herself further by limiting her tools to a knife, a blade and a roller.
She’s looking for your input about framing her creation. Here are four possibilities that you can comment on. Which do you prefer?
Veruschka likes big, bold statement jewelry that she photographs in sunny, fashionable settings. You may consider jazzing up your wardrobe after seeing how her models vamp with attitude in her colors. She has a board on Pinterest dedicated to her models.
Poke around the vibrant website of this fearless artist (yep, she sent PCD her link so you wouldn’t miss it…hint, hint). There’s more to see on Facebook and Pinterest.
Melissa Terlizzi also interprets nature in polymer with her bee colony. She was inspired by the Victor Hugo quote, “Life is a flower for which love is the honey…” and says the piece is almost like sunshine in a box for her.
On her Facebook page and on Flickr she shares photos of her work in progress and tells how she created her swarm.
Is Mother Nature speaking to you in the language of polymer this spring?
Philadelphia’s Emily Squires Levine has moved from bowls to wall art and her Celestial Spring hides six constellations (the red dots) among a grid of openwork polymer panels.
The 16″ x 21″ composition of squares and rectangles is set on pins that project out at varying distances. The shifting sense of the piece is easier to understand from the angle below.
Even better, Emily’s friend and admitted art stalker, Veruschka Stevens, gives us an absolutely fascinating look at Emily in a lovely post on her blog. You get a devoted fan’s view of Emily’s work, her studio, her process.
Be careful, you’ll easily be sucked into Veruschka’s world of color and fashion as well. She set up a serious handmade, custom-designed fashion jewelry business several years ago. Her site quickly grabs you and you’re drawn in by her vivacity.
The two artists share a love of color and a methodical approach to design and construction. Emily earned an MBA and spent 30 years in finance. Bolivian-born Veruschka worked as a software engineer and brings determination and an energetic style to all that she does.
Starting 2015 with a limited palette may appeal to those artists who want to approach the new year with calm and care.
California’s Angela Schwer rarely ventures beyond the white polymer she uses for her organic wall art.
Made to resemble the rare Corton Olympic dahlia, this 7″ bloom was arranged petal by petal on a base and created to hang on the wall. She also makes a 12″ version.
Angela explains her process and her choice of subject matter in this interview.
A stay-at-home mom, she sells on Etsy. In the past couple of years she’s moved into larger commissioned installations. You can see more in-process shots and new monogrammed letters on her Facebook page.
Using 413 small millefiori canes and lots of patience, Canada’s Dorothy Siemens created this 5″ diameter ball.
She describes her system as, “…one step at a time – and eventually it’s done! Truth be told, it happens over a period of weeks as each stage seems to need baking, drying or thinking!” She calls this latest one her Ball of Pointless Pointillism.
Dorothy has been pondering her obsessiveness in both polymer and beading. “Much of my work, especially in polymer, seems to involve the creation of many small components of similar appearance, arranged in grids or around spheres,” she says. Her shelf of creations tells the story.
She prefers to think of these repetitive works as meditative which means they’re not really pointless at all.
You can read more about her inspiration and her meditations on her blog. See more in-process shots on her Facebook page and Pinterest.
Victoria’s Gera Chandler lets her poppies climb off the top edge of this 16″ x 8″ canvas. She’s become expert at layering high intensity polymer scenes onto canvases, combining painting and sculpture.
You may have to look closely at Susan O’Neill’s canvas below to see where she’s headed. A pair of earrings hang from holes in the middle of the canvas. This dual purpose work allows the owner to wear the artwork or simply appreciate it on the wall.
Israel’s Hila Bushari has helped a flock of birds take wing from her studio. You can watch as she cuts out the flat chicks that she makes into wall decor.
What brings them to life are the details and the faux ceramic glazes and finishes that she adds.
Mottled colors and textured surfaces give these otherwise simple creatures mystery and depth. Hila and Iris Mishly have developed a Cosmic Ceramictutorial series about their glazing techniques. See more of Hila’s glazing samples on her Flickr site.
Fishing takes patience and Rebecca Watkins shows us how patience pays off in this July holiday experiment.
She says of her 5″x7″ polymer plaque, “It started off as scrap clay, mostly pink and white on a muddy gray. I decided it looked like a bunch of wiggly fish but I didn’t like the gray so I cut the pink and white shapes out. I scratched some lines into the base for waves and added a few strings of seaweed.The fish were laid on top and burnished down lightly. I used a pointy tool to make the lines and then I covered the entire thing with black and metallic blue Perfect Pearls powder.”
After curing and sanding off the powder Rebecca didn’t like the faded color and started again. “I got out my colored pencils and went to town.” After more coloring, baking and buffing, she caught her fish.
If you’d like to read more about Rebecca, you can pre-order the Global Perspectives book where she walks you through one of her projects step-by-step.
Allow the color to wash over you as you watch Jeff Dever’sEdensong Revisited – Buzz, Skitter and Crawl YouTube video. This 3-minute video chronicles the growth of Jeff’s piece through installations at the Fuller Craft Museum and later at the Racine Art Museum.
The closeups show sinuous shapes and gradations of color on lovely alien creepy crawlies. Jeff promises the debut of his website later this year.
Note that the Racine (RAM) polymer exhibit closes on February 5. The museum is offering a Kathleen Dustin mug and Terra Nova: Polymer at the Crossroads book package deal. Thanks to Maggie Maggio for the link!
