New Mexico’s Gael Keyes finds wood scraps, adds polymer sculpted hands and faces, and dresses the emerging angels with bits of Southwest patterns that turn salvaged elements into art.
She tucks a test tube into each construction and gives it new life as a wall bud vase.
Gael has encountered fantastical bugs, birds, mushrooms, angels, and more along her polymer path. Each uses scrap in increasingly inventive ways. This one, ” Suficiente”, reminds us that we have enough.
These creations from Texas’ Lisa Renner made me chuckle at her clever solution to our shared problem.
They’re the latest additions to Lisa’s “All in Her Head” tool caddies formed from polymer sculpted over 4” tin cans. Finally, a perfect place to park your readers where they can’t be missed.
Whimsical noses can keep several pairs of glasses in place while adding a bit of humor to your office, studio, bathroom, or bedroom.
The tin additionally serves as a container for art tools, pens, pencils, markers, even make-up brushes. Or, as the title suggests, a receptacle for more of your spectacles! They’re nearly sold out on her Etsy shop.
“I saw many elegant, beautiful cameos but only one with the face of a black woman so I started making my own,” says Atlanta-based Dianne Quarles.
The name, Maruva comes from the initials of four generations of creative Black women in Dianne’s family. Her Maruvian Women series honors her great grandmother, a runaway slave who became a successful, independent “modes”.
Each face is customized to give it an original personality. “Black Panther,” was the inspiration for her warrior women. The symbols are from the Ashante tribe of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
The works are featured in the Roswell Roots Arts Festival, in Roswell, GA for the month of February.
Bazhie, of the Support Squad, is one of 15 mixed-media figures created by Minneapolis artist Heather Tinkham for a grouping that she calls the Sister Posse.
Take a look, and then a second, deeper look, at Bazhie’s expressive, mysterious face. Yes, it’s polymer, as are the accent pieces that adorn her head and serve as her feet. At 20 inches (50.8 cm) tall, she is an imposing figure.
Heather also creates jewelry, but her interest in art-making as a force for introspection and healing is especially evident in her figurative work.
Each of the Sister Posse members has a story that represents one of the amazing gifts we bring to each other, from the strength to stand firm to the need to grieve and heal from the storms of life. Bazhie’s story is about the Gnarly Snarls of Shoulds, which is a tricky job at the best of times. Heather says “Not to worry, Bazhie’s got this Gnarly Snarl for you. Go back to doing what you can. Things will be fine.”
Heather has wisely taken advantage of the photogenic quality of the Sister Posse and offers them as inspiration cards for journaling, reflection, greeting card enclosures, or as reminders of intention. Smart move, Heather! Posted by Maureen Carlson
Florida’s Alice Stroppel follows where extruded strings of polymer lead her in the latest series of drawings.
She starts by laying the strands down to outline the shapes and features of her portraits. Soon the lines take on a life of their own and the picture becomes more complex and less predictable as the lines curl and wander.
Alice plays with wire-like drawing in an unselfconscious way to see where it will take her. Her bold curiosity shows us all the value of playing without fear.
Happy International Women’s Day from the work table of Florida’s Alice Stroppel. Alice paints scraps onto a glass tile that she puts directly into the oven. She mounts the finished commissioned piece on wood.
Her father produced a cartoon for the local paper each week when Alice was growing up. She reminisces about how exciting it was to watch over his shoulder as he drew faces. Now we lean over her shoulder and marvel at the women she finds in her scraps.
Come on over to StudioMojo to see whose work we’re examining, what products have promise, and what we can learn from other art forms (or what they’re learning from us). We bump into the most interesting developments in the most unlikely places!
Before you know it, Halloween will be here. UK’s Pete Simpson (impsandthings) makes it abundantly clear that the holiday is near with a collection of pumpkin-heads prepared for the Faerie Fayre at Glastonbury.
“When you walk through the woods, graveyards, and paths near your home, keep an eye open for movement in the shadows. Listen for rustling in the leaves or the sound of tiny feet. Who knows what wonders you might see,” he cautions on his Facebook.
Pete’s heads look mighty convincing.
Lisa Renner’s sculpted busts have wistful, pensive looks with lovely touches of fashion and mystery. Lisa avoids the telltale ways of working that scream “plastic”. Her strong expressions and ceramic-like fabrics pull you right past the material and into the art.
It’s an enviable trick that Lisa teaches in her 2-day About Face class (the next one’s in September in Albuquerque). See if you can figure how how she performs this sleight of hand by flipping through the work on her website. Check out her class schedule and friend her on Facebook.
Julie Eakes has returned to her fairy tale canes, taking slices from her Beauty and the Beast and Red Riding Hood canes and making them into cylindrical pendants with polymer end caps.
Tiles with reminders about the stories hang from the bottom of each bead saying, “Beauty comes from within”,”Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth” and “Wolves lurk in every guise.”
“I managed to get a cane slice to wrap around completely, working the tree and the bushes together to hide the seam which really looks cool up close,” says Julie.
See these and more of her recent cane portraits and elaborate frames on her site.
From this angle you can hardly tell what Julie Eakes is up to with her extruded polymer mosaics. If you tip the bowl a delightful secret is revealed.
Read about how cane ends from one face project propelled Julie in a more sculptural direction. Of course she encountered problems she hadn’t planned on and found there was no turning back once she started.
This one-of-a-kind bowl is 9″ in diameter by 3.25″ deep. She plans to go bigger next time.
