Alberta Einstein

Was Ohio’s Anita Behnen thinking of me when she designed her new line of mixed-media sculptures? White hair, dots?

Turns out she calls her new imp Alberta Einstein and the story is that learning new math has turned her hair white. (Anita’s creatures all have stories.) It’s not about me at all.

PCD shows you the latest…you won’t find this on Anita’s FB because I’m at my first in-person event since, well you know when. I forgot how energizing and exciting and exhausting these events are. That hasn’t changed.

And hats off to the new people who jumped into this group (organized by Ron Lehocky and his group). It’s brave to jump into a group of buddies who have known each other for years. Hats off to Carla Bull, Priscilla Andrews, Paula Kennedy, and Lynn Abernathy who took the first-time plunge into the Kentucky event. Being creative takes courage, jump into a group in your area.

StudioMojo will be chock full of pictures of cool, crazy, new polymer ideas from Texas to Nebraska from brave artists who ventured vaccinated into the heart of Kentucky to get their groove back. Sign up now to get tomorrow’s edition.

How do you like your mokume gane?

Julie Picarello reveals her mokume gane tricks online on PolymerClayDaily.com

California’s Julie Picarello is famous for her mokume gane in soothing mellow palettes. She haunts hardware stores for obscure metal tools and gizmos repurposed to make surprisingly pleasant abstract paintings in clay.

How do you like your mokume gane? Scratched, half-toned, custom cut, reversed, quilted, landscaped?

The organizers of the August 7-8 weekend online event decided to take a deep dive into a single technique. From its Japanese roots in metal to today’s homegrown varieties.

Shaving slivers off a Mokume Gane block reveals layers of unpredictable and fascinating beauty and a world of endless possibility. How do they do that?

This is the last week to sign up for a look at Mokume Gane approaches from seven polymer experts.

Woodland wonders from 22 countries

Vigil flowers for Into The Forest on PolymerClayDaily.com

For your weekend enjoyment, take some time wander online to see the splendor that’s been submitted to the international Into the Forest exhibit. Now try to imagine how the curators will assemble it all for the November month-long exhibit in Pittsburgh!

These glorious flowers from San Diego SandyCamper Marni Vigil look like the day lilies blooming in my yard. There are hints of Marni online on Facebook but she keeps a low profile…like many of the other quiet contributors to the exhibit.

Look at all the pods, blooms, berries, bones and more on the exhibit’s Facebook page and Instagram. It’s a stunning array of polymer from hundreds of artists in 32 states and 22 countries.

Put the event on your calendar, contribute to help cover their costs, and be proud of what you and the community are accomplishing!

And join us over at StudioMojo for juicy weekend updates.

Bead and Button winners

McGuire bead and button winner on PolymerClayDaily.com

Thanks to Julie Picarello who sent us these photos of the 2017 Bead Dreams winners in the polymer category.

First place went to Barbara McGuire’s Seeing Through Now necklace. The feather-textured teal and pearl collar ends with an etherial portrait. Barbara is a well known longtime polymer artist, author, teacher and supplier.

Kunnanchath's 2017 Bead and Button winner on PolymerClayDaily

The second place winner is California’s Arathy Kunnanchath with her opulent imitative turquoise, coral and amber multi-strand necklace from her Alchemist Collection.

Turquoise and silver pieces center the necklace yet the design is appealingly asymmetric.

Julie was particularly pleased to take these photos since Arathy is a member of her Clayville guild. Says Julie, “Arathy has just started working with polymer and is amazing. Two little kids at home, gets up at 4:30a.m. to get in clay time before they get up. Yowzer!”

Ipolymer winners

Georg Dinkel’s I-reliquaries and shrines captured the hearts of the EuroSynergy audience in Malta. A long time photographer, Georg’s first shrine housed his daughter’s ipod.

The shrines grew bigger and more complex. His latest elaborate creations won best of show honors in the IPCA Awards challenge.

Georg grew up surrounded by both religion and architecture in Germany. Using polymer, salvaged materials and wood he began building ancient-looking constructions that pay homage to today’s important icons – namely Apple products.

Georg’s presentation at Malta was stunning, amusing and inspirational. He makes his own tools from what must be an amazing basement full of odds and sods. His extruder was fashioned from an outdoor spigot handle, a length of pipe, a long screw, and a metal washer. His iphone shrine was built over the skeleton of a lamp salvaged from the trash.

He plans to edit his Malta presentation into an online video that he’ll upload to his site in the next few weeks. In the meantime, you can see his winning entry here. In this silly photo Donna Greenberg crowns the ever-irreverant Dinkel with her polymer tiara.

The other top winners include Fran Abrams, Laurie Mika, Angela Garrod, Cornelia Brockstedt, Annie Pennington, Penne Mobley, Claire Fairweather, Joyce Cloutman and Emily Squires Levine. The winning works are posted here.

Treasure chests

These are the collars, chests and arms where your eyes might have roamed if you’d been at Atlanta’s Synergy3.

Today was a travel day and gave me an opportunity to begin to make sense of all the ideas, goodwill and plans that floated around. As I decompress, I’ll share what I saw with you. Consider this a first installment.

Photos here include: Pendant from Croatia’s Nikolina Otrzan, brooch from North Carolina’s Carol Parsons, Maryland’s Jeff Dever’s brooch was made with balloons. Second row: Germany’s Anke Humpert’s beads were much larger than I imagined, UK’s Carol Blackburn‘s striped bangle, hollow pendant from UK’s Cara Jane.

Show time polymer

The Vancouver and Van Isle guilds have mounted an impressive month-long juried polymer show at Seymour Art Gallery. Even better, they’ve created a site for the show so that you can enjoy a virtual visit. Though the show is entitled Chameleon, referring to the versatility of polymer, the sea has a huge influence on the works of the artists in this coastal Canadian city.

The fish above (the largest is 11″ long) are from Joan Tayler and the site features the work of Olga Osnach, Veronica Jeong, Gera Scott Chandler, Carolyn Good, Rachel Gourley, Tina Holden (those are her red Earrings Beyond the Ordinary), Wanda Shum, and Diane Bruce. (Shoot me a comment if I missed anyone.)

Kudos to the guilds for pulling this together and for sharing it with PCDaily readers this weekend.

RAM treasure chests

Polymer finery was on display all weekend. Some of these were new works, some old favorites. Top left is Kathleen Dustin, Julie Eakes’ framed extravagence on the right with Jeff Dever’s new work in the center (on Hollie Mion). The lavish seascape on the bottom is Laura Timmins’. Bottom right is elegance from Sandra McCaw.

You can enter to win the event t-shirt (printed with a shimmering version of Elise Winters’ art) until midnight (ET) Tuesday! Thanks for all the comments.

Wednesday night’s online class at Craftcast features Patrik Kusek combining metal clay and polymer using “warm” connections.

Apfelbaum’s cachet

Polly Apfelbaum creates hybrid works that exist in an ambivalent space between painting, sculpture, and installation. For her latest show in New York she fashions small, smooth, brightly patterned panels she calls Feelies from unbaked polymer.

Studiowork showcases an improvisational studio practice and engages an exchange about the dimensionality of clay and its potential for abstraction.

Considered one of the most original artists working today, Apfelbaum pushes painting past its traditional forms, off the wall, and into pop culture. Her work is in the collections of many major museurms. Often arranged on the floor, Apfelbaum’s forms are usually comprised of intricate, nearly psychedelic layers of dyed fabric.

A New York Times review says of this exhibit, “There is a cuteness factor here, but it is quickly overruled by the blazing colors, assorted stripes, dots, checks, swirls and grids and abstract intelligence evident in the 200-plus examples.”

Steven Ford, who sent us the link says he’s followed Apfelbaum for years and admits that, “The work in this current exhibit is crude by most polymer clay artists’ standards but it’s fun to see what she finds consistent with her other work.” The polymer community has worked toward being considered a serious art medium and Apfelbaum’s exhibit may be one more step toward the cachet we’ve been seeking. The show runs through August 13.

Synergy exhibitors’ gallery

Take a sneak peek and be the first to shop at the IPCA Synergy2 exclusive online gallery! Exhibit chairman Marcia Laska has been gathering polymer clay work for the February conference. The exhibit celebrates the joys of collaborating, mixing media, experimenting and astonishing. She predicts that nearly 60 pieces will be included when all the artwork is in.

Choosing one piece to feature out of the 38 here was too tough. Instead I constructed a page of thumbnails that will lead you to the whooooole batch of fabulous delights. Click on the images for the details on each. Check the gallery page often, I’ll add more as the art arrives.

Even if you can’t attend Synergy2 you have the opportunity to own a spectacular piece. Anyone is welcome to purchase these works. Marcia explains how on the IPCA site.

Can’t afford your favorite? Enjoy owning a fine print of each of them by buying the catalogue that will be available for $25 (no shipping) in Baltimore. The catalogue will also be available online (with shipping).

Enjoy this visual treat that I hope will tempt you to add Synergy2 to your 2010 calendar.