Last week’s post about polymer clay artists at the ACRE show netted us a new name. Colorado’s Tish Collins stepped forward as she launches her new web site and makes her first venture into the wholesale world.
Her mosaic works are embellished with evocative objects and findings. Tish’s color palette samples are lovely to look at. She describes her work as combining the old and discarded with the bold and original.
Mississippi’s Dee Wilder has been spring cleaning her polymer clay canes. Dee sliced up her neglected canes, varying their shapes and stacking them into great looking bracelets. The lack of uniformity gives them extra personality.
Other slices she’s tucked into wire and metal wrappings. From trilobites to transfers, Dee’s been cleaning out and experimenting to fine effect. See the results of her happy spring chores on her Flickr site.
Let’s start your week with a polymer clay “comedian artist.” That’s how Seattle’s Meredith Arnold describes herself and her classes are raucous fun. She’ll be teaching in Philadelphia, Miami and Orlando this month.
What surprised me is how shy she is about her web site…she’s not usually shy. Her gallery is filled with works that cover a wide range of media and processes which she discusses on her blog.
Her polymer/PMC combinations, like the beads shown here, are elegant (see her handbook on etching). A hit of Meredith’s color and vitality is a good way to begin your week.
Israel’s Sagit Levi has mastered the polymer clay pillow bead shape. Her beads juxtapose their soft shapes with a riot of strong colors that look very much like lampworked glass beads.
Sagit uses translucent canes in bolder colors and more dramatic combinations than we’re used to seeing. She’s got Etsy and Flickr sites and more.
Have a bright, bold weekend.
Leslie Carnes (Pancake Meow) makes polymer clay baked goods so real that you’ll drool over them.
She does a thriving business in faux sugary waffles, cookies, flan, glazed donuts, crepes, ice cream and cupcakes…served on charm-sized ceramic plates and bowls.
Her just-baked delights are wearable as necklaces and earrings and they’re scented to complete the effect.
These teeny lemon pie slices look like the perfect tonic for spring fever.
Note: Ponsawan Sila has set up a blog to celebrate her daughter, Ada, who is still in a coma.
Masako Inabe’s translucent goldfish truly floats on one of her polymer clay beads. And her butterfly flutters on another.
Donna Kato sent in these pictures taken at Carnival ’07. “I think that goldfish bead is the most beautiful polymer bead I’ve ever seen. It’s so Japanese,” says Donna. (There are more pictures of it in Donna’s travel album.) Carnival ’08 will take place this October-November.
Portland’s Meredith Dittmar has added Etsy to her list of venues and she’s posted pictures of new works in progress on her Flickr site. She’s scheduled a July show in New York and updated her site. There’s even a 2-minute animation. You’ll want to poke around.
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Sometimes polymer clay pieces can feel primitive and iconic. Callie Velmachos has a crude but captivating way of embedding beach pebbles and found objects in polymer clay. And she’s got a tiny tutorial on her site that shows you how she does it.
Callie admits that it was cRis Dupouy’s book
Ohio’s Deborah Banyas and TP Speer have been collaborating on their mixed media wall pieces since the 1980s.
The couple began studying and collecting folk art and soon their collection began rubbing off on their own artwork. Polymer clay added color and variety to their sewn and stuffed wall pieces.
This bird woman looks like she’s enjoying spring. Their gallery is just the thing to get your week started off on the right foot.
Here’s Sandra McCaw’s piece from the ACRE show postcard. Judy Belcher’s new work for the show includes pieces that spin and turn (at right). Barb Fajardo says she’ll be there as a visiting artist.
Whining about photo size yesterday paid off with these photo contributions.
On Karen Park’s Art and Tea site look at the pictures from Laurie Mika’s workshop. They’ll put you in the mood to learn something new this spring.
Don’t you love the way Laurie has mounted her pieces on the wall? Karen’s pagoda mosaic reflects her tastes perfectly. Have a perfect weekend.
Judy Dunn’s been preparing for the ACRE (American Craft Retailers Expo, the trade show for Wholesalecrafts.com) show in Las Vegas in April. Doesn’t her necklace go well with PCDaily’s site colors?
Thumbing through the list of ACRE artists, I came across a number of other polymer clay artists who will be in the show. Some of them like Tish Collins and Joyce Fritz (see the bug) have almost none of their work on the web.
Judy Belcher has a bit and you can also visit Gwen Pina’s site. Meisha Barbee, Lindly Haunani and Sandra McCaw will be sharing an NPCG-sponsored booth there as well.
It’s fun to browse through the ACRE site even though the pictures are frustratingly small. Let me know if you find any artists I missed.
