If you’re searching for powerful polymer, look no further than Lisa Mathews.
Her sculptures stand firmly, proud and unafraid. They square their shoulders and lean into the moment as in this 13″ caricature of singer Macy Gray.
Lisa renders each stance and every toe and fingernail, every wrinkle in dramatic detail.
She’s an Ohio girl influenced by Marie Segal and Maureen Carlson. At 45, she threw caution to the wind and plunged into polymer. Lucky us!
Georgia’s Anita Kennerly creates tattered heart earrings for the season. The frayed dark polymer edges frame her earthy cutouts and make a bold outline. The cutouts hang from a baked-in wire loop.
Anita’s hearts have a childlike charm that overrides the tatters and makes us see love and beauty.
Alabama’s Stacie Binford (StayandMarie) loved her grandmother’s big, colorful earrings. Stacie found polymer in 2011. She’s marketing her new line energetically and the collection and story were picked up by three TV stations in her area.
Her Memphis collection is a throwback to the 80’s with high voltage colors mixed with big black and white elements. Her earrings are bold and inspire confidence in those who wear them – completing an outfit or inspiring one. Here she is on Etsy, Instagram, YouTube. She’s busy!
February will be a mash-up of Valentines and Black History Month. These HeartBoxes from Massachusetts’ Kathleen Anderson hit all the right notes.
Kathleen designs her boxes to be filled with heartfelt messages on business-card-sized notes for all kinds of celebrations – weddings, birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, retirements, and memorials.
Her lidded containers have been widely exhibited and collected. West African patterns influence her polymer designs. She will be teaching at Snow Farm this spring.
PCD will be trolling for loving hearts and remarkable works from Black artists all month long.
“Not too big, not too small,” says Colorado’s Phyllis Cahill of her newest collection of layered circle earrings.
Script from a French poem, a leaf pattern, vintage flowers, copper discs, echoes of William Morris patterns – all combined into restful, layered combinations with subtle references to other times.
This is no Lady Gaga dove splashed across her chest. This is about comfort and calm and a throwback to nature and history. Ahhh.
And “just right” is what we’ll be looking for on StudioMojo this weekend. Heidi Helyard joins us for a video conversation about the Australian scene. Heidi is a force there and we’ll hear how she built her business, balanced her life, and how she follows US politics. Join us.
I smile as I look at these polymer Party Peeps from Texas’ Lisa Renner. The colors, balloons, and hats scream PARTY as they smile and close their eyes. Maybe they’re making a wish.
If you’re wishing to snag some on Lisa’s Etsy site, too late. That party is over. Maybe she’s making more.
Lisa’s fanciful creatures often have a melancholy air about them. Maybe 2021 is pushing her in a new direction. Keep an eye out for Lisa’s online classes.
For these organic canes, New Jersey’s Rosalyn Hopkins (RozzHopp) set aside her pasta machine, rollers, and tools. She used only a Bic pen to make indentations. It was a personal challenge.
“I struggled for so many years to show my work in public. I’ve come to understand it doesn’t have to be perfection. It needs to be freeing. Something that pushes me,” said Rozz in a recent post.
Imperfection used to send Rozz off twitching in discomfort. Lately, she’s taught herself to accept flaws and even make them on purpose. “It makes life so much more interesting,” she says. Freedom and playfulness come through loud and clear in these canes. Agree?
One more last minute, seat-of-my-pants, meme-themed post. Maine glass artist Terrill Waldman (TandemGlass) found the immediacy of polymer irrestistba for making a quick pair of mitten earrings.
I don’t know the whole story but I sense that Terrill has picked up a trick or two from fellow Maine artist, Bonnie Bishoff. Her quick tutorial was too cute to pass up.
Bright new versions of hearts, the sign of February’s celebration, from Minnesota’s Chris Baird. Her brooches are small, bursting with dots and stripes in a fireworks show of color and a dazzling quilt-like application of tiny bits.
Who knew Bernie’s mittens would spread like wildfire? This cheeky, cheery polymer version from Indiana’s Amy Hucks (SuperSculptor). “The man, the meme, the mittens,” says Amy.
Netherland’s Andrha Simonis (Andrhacula) has her hands full, but she squeezed the making of this family portrait into her schedule.
“Took forever with everything having to be done in between homeschooling and all that,” she says. “You see me in my characteristic pose of annoying my husband with a witch’s accessory.”
This hilarious, loving look at her family constellation a la Tim Burton charms us. Andrha’s FB page begins with this alert, “I’m not a morning person or a night person. There are a few minutes in the afternoon where I’m decent. That’s about it.” Candid polymer! Revenge polymer! What fun! We can relate.
Now what? We need to take a breath or two and get our bearings. This week StudioMojo will take a clear-eyed look at what’s happening in our community. Wow, there’s some good stuff out there! Your mojo’s been waiting for you! Join us.
