Known by our marks

Genevieve Williamson leaves her distinctive mark on PolymerClayDaily.com

In this newest pendant from Pennsylvania’s Genevieve Williamson, she fuses all her carving, scratches, colors and shapes into one beautifully balanced pendant.

Funny, how we become known by our marks. Hers are spare, stony, weathered and worn. And sold!

I counted three polymer artists (Block Party Press, Sun Ah Blair Jewelry, and Genevieve) in last weekend’s Pile of Craft show in Baltimore. Nice to see polymer popping up in the trendy shows!

You can see more of Genevieve’s marks on Instagram.

Spring finery in polymer

New polymer purses for spring from Kathleen Dustin appeared just in time for the Smithsonian Craft Show April 26-30. See the other new additions on her Instagram and Facebook. (David Forlano and Steven Ford will also be at the Smithsonian show.)

These designs continue a couple of Kathleen’s series. At the left is her Tribal Circus Purse that continues a combination of carved areas with bands of textile-like patterns.

Below is her Scratch Purse that has a more painterly feel with areas of sgrafitto and panels of patterns.

If you want a closer look at how Kathleen explores and experiments, sign up for her class at Metalwerx (Boston) in May or CreativeArtsFest (Laurel, MD) in June.

Sleek spare looks

One more look at the sleek, scratched, sgraffito pieces that take an engineered, minimalist turn. They give us our last bit of winter’s gray and they’re both from France.

Sonya Girodon’s flat resin Wildfang bangle is embedded with horsehair and accented with two slotted polymer beads that slide on adding more shapes and a touch of bright yellow.

The horsehair looks like scratches floating in the clear resin. If you look at her Flickr page you’ll see how productive the winter has been for Sonya.

Céline Charuau’s (grisbleu) faceted and scratched gray dangles are complemented by white beads wired securely to the larger surfaces. Look more closely on Flickr.

These designs have power in their sparseness and prepare us for spring’s exuberance.

Scratching the surface

I’d be remiss not to mention a few more polymer “scribers” but this list is by no means comprehensive. Lately Rebecca Watkins with her Circus beads and Bettina Welker with her Sgraffito earrings have been at the forefront.

Looking back, names like Maggie Maggio, Luann Udell and Tory Hughes come to mind. And we haven’t even touched on the Zentangle folks yet!

I’ll be scribbling this weekend…taking notes in a class in Philadelphia.

With any luck we’ll get some pictures from the opening of the exciting Woman Creative – Art and Jewelry gallery in the Atlanta suburb of Buford, Georgia. Gallery manager Ellen Prophater has gathered an extensive exhibit of polymer work from artists across the country. The Polymer, From the Beginning exhibit opens this weekend. See video and teasers here.