Polymer Clay Daily

Balombini’s inspirations

Laura Balombini’s sculptures mix melancholy expressions with color and pattern that sizzles. You’ll have to see the larger images to appreciate the vibrancy of her work.

Laura is often imitated so I gravitated to her work as I listened to Seth Savarick’s first virtual master class (From Imitation to Inspiration) on Alison Lee’s site. Even though we bumped up against the technology a time or two, the online class was fun and an overall success.

I download Craftcast interviews to my ipod for listening during a haircut or an oil change. It’s like carrying crayons to keep the kids busy.

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Appealing spring choices

Some days everything appeals to me. I couldn’t decide which of these polymer clay finds to feature today so I’m showing you all of them.

Barcelona’s Tatiana Franchi’s little figure has such a casual lifelike stance that I was totally charmed by it. Check out the Crocs on her tiny feet.

Perhaps it’s because I never learned to crochet that Portugal’s Sandra Rodrigues’ bright beads with crocheted covers draw me in.

And then there’s Scott Mizevitz’ magic bead (refer to basic how-to’s here and here). The colors glow and I wonder if you can make that magic happen consistently or if it’s just, well, magic.

It’s a spacey, spring Thursday. Everything looks lovely. Enjoy. (Comments may not be working right until this weekend. Send yours to cynthia@tinapple.com.)

Friesen updates, moves forward

Christi Friesen is throwing everything but the kitchen sink into her new book, Polymer Clay and Mixed Media: Together At Last. The spikes on this dragon’s head are fork tines with the full forks running down the back. The book is due out at the end of the year.

Christi’s added a few new things from her books and classes to her website.

For her NYC book signing and workshops this weekend, Christi has invited students and fans to wear their Christi-inspired works (each receives a free raffle ticket for one of her works).

Early in her career, this often-imitated artist and teacher made a conscious decision to treat imitation as flattery and to avoid feeling threatened or to let territorial feelings get in the way of her creativity. “It’s art and it thrives on community,” she says. “I definitely get a kick out of having my work so well appreciated.”

Banyas/Speer collaborations

Ohio’s Deborah Banyas and TP Speer have been collaborating on their mixed media wall pieces since the 1980s.

The couple began studying and collecting folk art and soon their collection began rubbing off on their own artwork. Polymer clay added color and variety to their sewn and stuffed wall pieces.

This bird woman looks like she’s enjoying spring. Their gallery is just the thing to get your week started off on the right foot.

Walnut and Pebbles Bowl

This walnut bowl inlaid with polymer clay pebbles is a prototype for me. It’s not quite there yet but I thought I’d let you have a sneak peek while I go help renovate my living room. One last coat of finish on the floor and life can return to normal. (The dumpster, the plaster and the snow are all gone.)

The pebbles were supposed to look like they went right through the bowl and while it doesn’t pass my scrutiny, it’ll delight the boys (well, men) at lathe club and make my husband a star. In that sense, it’s a success and that’s enough.

Simple pleasures from Terre d’Effa

When life is complex, I gravitate to simple polymer clay pleasures and designs. This bowl made of extruded strings of color looks playful and fun. It’s from France’s Terre d’Effa. I was cruising for pictures and didn’t translate the text. Let me know if you come across her name. (It’s Fabienne…thanks  Miss Tempo.)

Often I head to another culture when I’m bored with my own point of view. French artists have a way of handling the clay with less restraint and fewer rules. Take a little foreign adventure.

Speaking of foreign adventure, Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes have dipped a toe in Canadian blog water. It’s just an intro page but it’s a very necessary start. Write them to get on their list and encourage them to add much, much more.

Read Judy Belcher’s final Synergy thoughts and thank-you’s. If you attended, you can help NPCG plan its next event by filling out the evaluation survey.

Preston’s Modern Manuscripts

Nancy Preston of NY sent the polymer clay piece at the left to Synergy for the auction and I finally had a chance to see her work up close.

In her art the medieval manuscript meets contemporary media and a traditional aesthetic meets modern visual vocabulary.

Her most recent work (pictured at the right) has even richer colors and more layers of meaning. It’s visually dense and delicious.

Blackford pieces quirky, intense

Leslie Blackford’s polymer clay art is quirky and powerful in its personal intensity. Most artists work hard for the kind of unselfconsciousness that flows easily from Leslie.

Currently her day job keeps her out of the studio, a difficult circumstance for someone so dependent on art to communicate.

Her “Pain of Words” sculpture in the Synergy gallery (pictured at left) was particularly poignant. She also had a silly, delightful collection of jewelry like these jellyfish and an assortment of strange creatures made from pods and twigs found around her rural Kentucky home.

Take a look at works in her Deviant gallery. Or if you’re curious, check all the posts we’ve done on her over the past three years.

Tribal Trends – Kuskin and Dewey

I’m digesting the ideas and information from the Synergy conference and may be rolling out new materials for weeks.

These new polymer clay earrings by Judy Kuskin were jaw-dropping (to use Ponsawan’s terms). By the time I got back to the gallery to buy some, she had sold out.

Don’t they remind you of the primitive ones by Philadelphia Perishables we looked at a few months back? There must be a tribal trend in the air.

Seeing Katherine Dewey’s work up close was stunning too. The detail and the power of this “Family Tree” piece was amazing.

The slides from my speech are available here. You may be able to glean some Synergy excitement and ideas just from following along.

Payne’s Studio Slideshow

I don’t know much about Massachusetts’ polymer clay/mixed media sculptor Max Payne but I love this slide show about her. It makes me want to poke around in her studio and rummage through her shelves of work.

Her sculptures are based on archetypes of myths and legends of the world. They represent “humans’ place in the world,” and she said, “we are a part of it, not the only thing.” Some of the sculptures convey this theme because they have human bodies with various animal heads.

In the midst of today’s hustle and bustle, it’s comforting to come across this quiet, thoughtful art. Here’s a little more about her.