Have you met Claudia Vivero? She's an Argentine currently living in Israel, and she plays with color, shapes, and texture. The following paintings are available for sale; click on them to see larger images and shop information. The different pieces of these two paper collages are held together with grommets! I am in love with her carefully-considered color palettes and organic, abstract shapes. More recently, she's been experimenting with overlapping fabric shapes and collaging them with a sewing machine. Her work could easily serve as a launching point for a children's creative project. Create painted papers, cut them into large, abstract shapes, and collage them together. Or, do the same, but use fabric scraps, and glue them to a stiff backing (mat board or foam core, or corrugated cardboard, if you don't mind the ribbed texture). Fun!
Check out Vivero's home site to read more about Claudia and see much more of her work. Happy creating! xo Cat Rabbit is an Australian textile artist who (among other artistic endeavors) sells fantastic, one-of-a-kind stuffed creatures that are full of personality. For example, here's Mathlete. (Click on each image to go to that item's shop page.) Is that elephant in a track suit inspired by The Royal Tenenbaums? Yes, yes it is. Cat Rabbit also sells brooches, prints, and other tertiary products that fit into her creative world. I am especially fond of this feathered brooch and this kitten egg patch. Cat Rabbit has made many creatures over the years, and most aren't available on her shop. But you can still see them on her menagerie page. Here's a taste: There's even more to see on Cat Rabbit's blog, where you can read about her latest pursuits and her collaboration with Isobel Knowles, Soft Stories. I guess this became a "have you met?" as well as an "i love stuff." "Have you met this person whose stuff I love?" might be too long to be its own category, so I'll just double-up for this one.
xo! Have you met Brock Davis? He's an artist and photographer that makes you look at everyday things a little differently, like a chopped cucumber, noodles on a plate, or a broccoli stalk. Long-time readers know I love this kind of thing, and I think it's especially mind-expanding for kids to see art made with unexpected materials. Brock does this especially well, and he does it at a regular, human scale, making it even more accessible. Not all of his work involves food. Check out Pearl: And here's Shark: Chopstick Pants makes me laugh: And I can see lots of kids giving themselves Ninja Knees: There's lots more on Brock's website, so click on any of the images to go to his gallery. Click! Go!
xo! Have you met Maria Filipe Castro? She's a fiber artist in Portugal. She makes these extravagant sewn felt bangles (click on an image to go to her site and see more photos of each): And they are amazing. But what initially caught my eye is her absolutely perfectly made, needle-felted characters. These are all available for sale on her Etsy site; click on the image to go to that item's page. Note: The green character below is named "Katy Pear" after Katy Perry! Here are a few of her "beverage" series, showing tomato juice, almond milk, and strawberry milk. I can't get over how much personality is in each of these, and how perfectly smooth the felting! Anthropomorphizing inanimate things can lead to a lot of creativity and hilarity. With the now-well-known kawaii style of putting a cute face on everything and anything, it can be a fun exercise to go a step further and give each thing its own personality and backstory. Which reminds me, I still haven't come up with a good name for my car...
xo! Have you met Lisa Ericson? She's an illustrator and an artist who does a variety of work, including a children's book with her sister. For this short post, however, I wanted to share her mouserfly paintings. Like many kids, I loved drawing hybrid animals (such as giraffe-fish and rhino-cats); Lisa takes the concept to a fine-arts level.
xo!
FamilyFun Magazine's art department commissioned some wonderful work from illustrator Helen Dardik when I was there. It turns out she has prints and original art that regular people can buy, too! And I do mean "regular," not super wealthy; her prints are only $20 or $25. Here are four of my many favorites of her prints. Click on each image to go to Helen's Etsy shop's page. Helen also sells original watercolors that are just delicious. They're also affordable, with most in the $90 to $120 range. I am also enjoying exploring Helen's Etsy finds, which are mainly mid-century-modern-ish, Scandinavian design pieces that I totally adore. And she has a blog, Orange you Lucky.
Go get some Helen into your life! xo Have you met Tara Donovan? She's an accomplished sculptor who has a piece in the Wonder show at the Renwick Gallery, which I mentioned last week. She uses everyday objects to create works of abstract art, many of them installation-sized. The NYT has a good article from 2008 about her method. This piece, made of buttons and glue, is one of a series called Bluffs. A detail is shown at right. She's been doing a bunch of work lately using Slinky toys. Some pieces are three-dimensional, others are flattened reliefs on a wall, and still others are huge prints. Here, she uses pencil segments to create a geological map or a miniature metropolis. And here's a billowing cloudscape of plastic cups. Like most of her work, each installation has to be remade from scratch, each time it's exhibited. Here's what's inspiring about Tara: She focuses on a single material and experiments with it over a long period of time, until she finds out exactly what it can do, and how she can make it into something that interests her.
Challenge your child, or yourself, to make a work of art with just one or two materials — a box of toothpicks, say, or a bag of craft sticks, or a few dozen plastic sandwich bags. I can tell you from experience, the activity will either lead to imaginative, mind-expanding discoveries, or it will turn out to be merely a Zen-like lesson in patience. Either way, it will have value. xo Have you met Rosa de Jong? Besides being a freelance art director and creating analog (as in, not on the computer) commercial illustrations, she makes tiny structures and habitats that seem to float inside of test tubes. If you click on any of the images, you'll be taken to her Behance page, which has tantalizing glimpses of her building process and of her studio. Here's a better look at her workspace. I like that these sculptures are really small, but not, "come on, no mortal being created that" small (like those sculptures made from pencil leads — totally bananas). Perhaps that's selfish, but I appreciate being able to dream that I could someday make such a thing.
xo! Have you met Bartek Elsner? He's a Berlin-based freelance art director/designer who does mostly commercial work. He also makes truly impressive sculptures out of cardboard. I like this steampunk-ish take on "the internet" (turns out, it's a series of cardboard tubes). If you click on the image of the creepy car thing below, you'll find a video that shows glimpses of Bartek's working process. Unsurprising spoiler: It involves sharp utility knives and duct tape. Today's take-home lesson: Don't be afraid to Go Big, especially with materials you can scrounge up for free and can dispose of ethically (cardboard is recyclable!).
xo See her Have you met Hine Mizushima? She's a Japanese artist who has settled in Vancouver with her family. She makes amazingly detailed sculptures out of fiber: needle-felted wool, fabric, thread. If you or your kids are fans of They Might Be Giants' Here Comes Science, you may have already seen her work: she created the video for "Why Does the Sun Shine?" Not only is her work absolutely gorgeous and adorable, it has a slightly creepy side to it that I find appealing. See her sleepy giant microbe brooches, or her wintery print, "A Holiday Visit from Ectoplasm," available (along with many other prints of her work) on her Etsy site. She builds dioramas, like tiny set pieces, for her creatures. I love this one of Space Cadet Izumi, "Lending a Friendly Ear." I have to end this post with what may be my favorite holiday decoration I've ever seen, the Octowreath. Want/need to see more? Visit Hine Mizushima's portfolio site, Hima's etsy shop, and her Society6 shop.
xo! |
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March 2017
AuthorI'm Debbie Way, an artist and writer who enjoys making things. |
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