These New Shoots from Kentucky’s Leslie Blackford may make you smile. She combines found shell casings and polymer into a hopeful, bittersweet visual pun. The tag line on her recently updated web site says, “For those seeking out the odd and unusual.” Her work champions outcasts and unloved characters and somehow she makes their oddness […] Read more
Leslie Blackford doesn’t think much about photographing her extraordinary small sculptures but I can’t resist snapping pictures of them. The segmented fish and smiling alligator wiggle and writhe on the cords that run through them. I snagged these recently as Leslie was preparing samples for the Las Vegas Clay Carnival where she’ll be teaching with […] Read more
Wendy Malinow’s grinning polymer shaker is filled with steel shot which makes it fit for a serious percussionist. But her musician husband is frightened by the menacing 12 1/2″ tall multi-eyed root. The real teeth embedded in pink polymer gums add to the scariness of this piece that both attracts and repulses. Her root has […] Read more
Kindred spirits Wendy Wallin Malinow and Leslie Blackford will team up to teach a polymer class at this year’s Clay Carnival Las Vegas in October (not sure if there are any spaces left). Wendy’s polymer antlers, bones, eggs and acorns will meet up with Leslie’s birds, snakes, sticks and stones. This “Garden of Earthly Delights” […] Read more
Staci Smith is a Pennsylvania mixed media artist who sometimes throws polymer into the mix. Her tray of hearts ready for the oven looked so full of possibility that it pulled me right into the studio to make a few valentines of my own. Her rough and random wires add playful touches. Staci’s new to […] Read more
Leslie Blackford’s polymer woodland birds perch just the way they should but there’s something definitely wacky and endearing about them. Pictures of the flock she created at a Philadelphia Guild workshop demonstrate the point. One wears a crown, another a cowboy hat. One smokes a cigar, several have outlandish plummage and cheeky grins. It’s easy […] Read more
Elena Samsonova takes Leslie Blackford’s lightbulb people and gives the idea a bit of a twist. Elena’s salty creatures are built over small square glass shakers. Unscrewing their heads and exchanging their bodies could become a game at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. There’s still time to make a personalized version for each of your guests! Elena […] Read more
Thanks for following along with this April fool all week. Collaboration at the Outer Banks has been exhilarating and exhausting and I highly recommend the process. Find a group that boosts your confidence and stretches your mind. Leslie Blackford made these necklaces for our group. It was a generous gesture that we will treasure. She […] Read more
This polymer-covered sugar spoon with its cautionary warning caught my eye at breakfast. Judy Belcher explained that when Leslie Blackford was a house guest, she stirred her morning coffee with the sugar spoon and returned it to the sugar bowl…in violation of house rules. Judy’s husband brought the breach of etiquette to Leslie’s attention. To […] Read more
Three little piggies went to market! And they did well at the annual ACREs wholesale show. Kathryn Reid, Leslie Blackford and Doreen Gay- Kassel launched into the wholesale market, thanks to IPCA which sponsors a booth. IPCA juries three polymer artists into the event each year. They share booth space, enter the wholesale marketplace and […] Read more
