Belgium’s Nancy Blindeman (Art BeYou) has started making faces in polymer lately.
The illustrations of Patrick Nagel and the music of Duran Duran inspired Nancy to work in a new way and it suits her well. She builds up extruded strings of clay into a portrait.
She says of this character, “Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand.” When an artist can see and hear and her characters, we can sense that aliveness in the work.
Even more than the size of this face cane from Warsaw’s Sacra Argilla, the dramatic dark pose, and dense background draw us in.
Sacra adds layer upon layer of slim lengths of clay around the portrait. At the smallest size, the background still vibrates with color.
The project took over 135 hours and she documents her process on YouTube and Instagram. This cane will last forever!
This is Sacra’s second try at the project. Her first one in 2017 was a disaster. Imagine devoting that much time and energy to a single project! It must resonate deeply with her.
What project won’t leave you alone?
Florida’s Lynn (WhimsyAtWork) offers us Love and Peace with this outstanding mixed media wall piece.
Layers of handmade papers and fibers become the background for the central polymer face which looks like it’s sewn on.
Big lips, sultry mismatched eyes, tattooed nose. Love the loops on the left
She says of her work, “I breathe art. I didn’t always. I held my breath for a long time waiting for life to smack me. And when it did… WOW what JOY!! I hope you can see what I feel.” On Facebook here.
Australia’s Wendy Moore sat herself down and had a talk. She’d been neglecting her creative self as she traveled and dealt with various worthy projects (you’ll know her name from the Nepali Samunnat project).
When Wendy finally gave her creative side some quality time, this wonderful face cane materialized.
The face cane was inspired by Argentinian artist Graciela Fuenzalida who draws wild women portraits on leather purses and bags.
Dressed up with earrings and hairstyles, Wendy’s face turned into a whole sorority of happy creative selves.
This may also remind you of Pier Voulkos’ early faces. There’s a face cane video here if you need a quick start. Let your creative self pick up some clay and face the week together.
When I first saw the lovely paintings of Indian women by Rachana Saurabh, I thought, “This artist needs to try polymer, she’d be a natural.” It was easy to imagine her graphic style and her skill with color transitioned to clay.
Two years later, Rachana wrote from Baltimore where she now lives and indeed, she had found polymer.
Rachana quickly learned the craft and tried any number of techniques. She gravitated to appliquing bright bits of clay onto beads. Her designs take on a distinctly Indian textile flavor to which she adds bunches of dangling sparkles. These earrings are from her Festive collection.
On her latest bangle, Krishna and Peacock Feathers, Rachana introduced the ladies from her paintings to her jewelry. She says she tried face canes but couldn’t get the hang of reducing. These faces are sculpted and painted on the wide blue bangle. The Indian dieties’ favorite peacocks, cows, trees and lotus circle the piece.
Rachana’s story is full of exotic imagery and happy coincidences. Watch her on Facebook, Flickr and Etsy as well as her blog to see what she develops next.
Smile, it’s Friday! Serbia’s Milena Babic and Miloš Samardžic (Tramps and Glam) give us a Friday happy face with their wire and polymer cubist brooch, Face It, Number 1. No canes, no layers, just wire and small bits of polymer assembled into a freaky Friday face.
More of their off-beat images on Flickr and Facebook to make you smile all weekend.
Pam Sanders was inspired by the Borgias for some of her latest polymer creations. (Remember, the Borgias inspired Marie Segal as well.)
This precarious balancing act sculpture makes me smile as it reminds me of the sometimes silly demands of our busy lives.
Pam’s lighted humorous characters are a departure from her moody, mysterious face art in both polymer and in other media. She describes her urban artifacts as “modern with an ancient spirit.”
Pam started out as a knitter/embroiderer and has evolved to mixed media wearable art sculptures. She calls herself an eclectic artist and her most recent mixed bag of faces shows the range of her art. Have a well-balanced weekend.
Inveterate polymer experimenter Dee Wilder created these new story beads using Maureen Carlson’s new small face bead molds. Here’s the back of Dee’s creations. She made not only beads but a series of rings as well.
These somber looking faces can be embellished and manipulated to make their story serious or silly or something in between.
One of Maureen’s original beads totems stares at me from the kitchen window sill. Now I can make more to poke up out of the garden. I was thinking of whipping up these plant stakes in polymer too. (I’d much rather do that than spread mulch!) Enjoy your weekend in the garden or the studio.
Each year this 8″x8″ polymer clay wall piece by Christi Friesen pretty much sums up my Thanksgiving. Today you’d have to add more organic vegetables and a spray of Pacific Ocean surf to get the full effect. Our celebration combines a wild mixture of California friends and family for which I am very thankful.
Of course I’m also thankful for you readers from around the globe. Perhaps that’s who Christi had in mind when she created Just a Face in the Crowd! Happy turkey day.
I like the use of wire and liquid polymer clay shown in this piece by Italy’s Laura Bocchi (Verdevescica). We last looked at her bangles here and you can see her year at a glance in the pictures here.
If you’re wondering about the market for your work during this economic downturn, you may be encouraged by yesterday’s article in the NYTimes.
