“All this sheltering in place is giving me the blues,” says Boston’s Betsy Baker (Stonehouse Studio).
Are you surprised by the small gem tucked in the middle of Betsy’s folded layers of polymer? There are gems hidden in this hardship and heartache. Look closely.
South Korea’s Kim Heeang (9angko) moves us in a more thoughtful direction.
Her delicately assembled pieces take their central theme from mushrooms, fungi hat ware neither plants nor animals. They are everywhere and then disappear without a trace.
You may note that thin petals of polymer are being used more and more. The newer clays allow us to stack paper-thin layers in ways that mimic nature.
Join us over at StudioMojo if you’re interested in how polymer is being used in surprising and unusual ways. Stay on top of the latest trends with a Saturday morning review of the week.
What are we looking at here from Moscow’s Juliya Laukhina? The translation isn’t helping much so let’s go with what our eyes tell us.
Juliya has loved repetition and detail in her round beads for years. But these pods take her obsessions in new and organic directions. She adds a variety of curvy forms, spikey balls, and lacey layers. What prompted this great change?
Go to her Instagram to examine each of these pods up close.
These magnificent moths are winging their way to the Philadelphia Museum of Craft Art Show. They’re new from Maine’s Bonnie Bishoff.
Bonnie’s combinations of caned bits and scrap stripes on the wings completely tickle me. And the shapes are spot on. It makes you appreciate moths. Usually, they’re the ones making scraps of our sweaters and woolens.
Enjoy them up close on Instagram.
Oregon’s Angela Schwer swerved off her usual path and ventured into color for this loopy wall sculpture.
Don’t you wonder why after years of making wall art in white only, she was compelled to add pale pinks and yellows with a splash of black?
And she usually sticks to very natural and organic shapes, not mod loops. She says she doesn’t know what came over her.
We’ll have to follow along.
New Jersey’s Donna Greenberg prepares us for fall with her 18″ Carnival, an explosion of colors and shapes.
“After months of working in controlled somber tones, it’s just what the doctor ordered to lift my spirits going into Fall,” Donna says.
Polymer, paper, pencil, and paints.
Zoom in to experience the lush layers. What does Fall look like in your work?
New Jersey’s Donna Greenberg launches us into the weekend with one of the latest in her Biosphere series of small polymer vessels. Pinecone? Fungus? Her works are some combination of what appears in nature and come out of Donna’s experiences.
She says of her work, “Standing in the reeds and saw grass on the nearby Hudson River, watching a heron while viewing the Statue of Liberty is a perfect example of the kind of contrast that I look for to translate into my art.”
Donna’s polymer bio-systems flow across walls and make us more aware of our changing world.
On StudioMojo this weekend we’ll look at what appeals to us, what repulses us on the way to finding our voices. What do we have to get out of our systems? There are plenty of others on this path. You’re not alone. Come on over this Saturday.
Moscow’s Juliya Laukhina forces us to take another look at the weeds we’re battling in our yards.
Juliya reveals the beauty of simple plants in this bangle made of textured polymer tiles. Pressing fresh cuttings into clay or molding material, she creates texture plates that she bakes. Then she presses raw clay into the baked plates.
She gathers the resulting soft-edged rectangles around a bangle form and highlights the textures with a wash of dark paint.
Voila, those nuisances in the garden enjoy a new life on your arm.
New Mexico’s Gael Keyes makes fantastical bugs and beetles with fancy wire legs dressed in polymer and beaded antennae. They’re composed of scrap clay twisted into a Natasha bead pattern to create the bookend pattern on their backs and wings.
Polymer is a family affair with Gael. She’s here at Claython in New Jersey with her mother (Carole Centrella) and sister (Linda O’Brien). Retired from a school principal job, Gael’s online exposure had to be limited. She launched onto Instagram today! Follow her.
How do I know spring has sprung? There are delicious colors all over including this pod from Australia’s Tracy Feldwick (Mimosa Muse on IG and Twitter)
But wait, March isn’t Spring in Australia! Ah, this was posted several months ago. That explains.
She mixes patterns inside and out. Her stamen are gaining color as they grow. Spectacular.
