my new sewn pieces

i made these pieces last summer at the society for contemporary craft while i was teaching a workshop called alternative embellishment. the students taking this workshop were particularly enthusiastic, so the facility gave us an extra hour or so each day to work in the studio after class. during this down time, i sewed these pieces using materials on my table and around the studio as well as started and finished them during that extra hour. it was fun and freeing to work with limited materials and to make something within a limited amount of time. those limitations curbed my inclination to think too much and just enabled me to do and make. these may not be masterpieces by any stretch, but they've informed my encaustic work immensely as well as sparked a renewed interest for me to begin making quilt or quilt-like pieces again. i'm also proud to announce that the second piece shown here was accepted into the juried show 'collective thread' to be held at the university of central missouri gallery of art & design in may and june. the acceptance into this show has encouraged me to move on with this work, so i've created three more of these pieces within the past week. stay tuned for some images coming soon....

gregory euclide

Because abundance emerged beneath the messy promise, 2010, acrylic, found foam, pencil, paper, moss, Photo transfer, pine cone, sedum, sponge, wood, 35 x 29 x 5, Spread on moment’s falling over the warm grid, 2010, Acrylic, Pencil, Sponge, Moss, Lead, Wood, Cigarette butts, Sedum, grass, wax, 18 x 24 x 9.5, Produced within the layers of viewing’s making, 2009, Acrylic, Buckthorn root, Cedar, found foam, insulation foam, Moss, palm, paper, pencil, photo transfer, satin ribbon, Sedum, sponge, 23 x 29 x 4, Looming, 2009, Acrylic, Cedar, found foam, leaves, Moss, pencil, photo transfer, pine needles, polyurethane foam, Sedum, sponge, 23 x 29 x 7

When I am in nature I experience the world through all of my senses in a dynamic way, but at the same time I am framing what I see through the cultural expectations I have absorbed through representational systems such as landscape painting, wildlife documentary, and travel guides. It is very difficult, then, to have a true, non-mediated experience of nature even though I may long for it. My work explores the contradictions between the projection of idealized, picturesque views of landscape and my desire to have an authentic experience in nature.

My recent compositions contain a mixture of landscape images painted on paper, which have been shaped into three-dimensional sculptures that protrude from the wall. The battered and wrinkled sheets of paper that are the foundation of these works carry a blend of imagery containing picturesque landscapes drawn from memory, photo transfers based on nature photography, abstract areas of raw paint, and actual artifacts from the land such as pine needles and bark. By employing multiple representational modes, I create tension between the cultural codes traditionally used to represent landscape. For example, pools of thick, raw, liquid paint at once expose the illusion of representational systems and mimic the properties of the rivers and streams they are used to signify. Similarly, the exaggerated folds of the thick watercolor paper transform the flat, framed image of the traditional landscape into a dimensional topography that cannot be completely owned from one vantage point. The three-dimensional forms of these new terrains -- painted on both sides and containing hidden vignettes -- encourage the kind of
exploration one might find in nature rather than a traditional picture.

i'm so loving these....see tons more here.

elin lennox

i saw this work at the pittsburgh center for the arts last week when i attended the opening for fiberart international (see my other blog for the posts on this show). anyway, i was attracted to this work for it's vibrant color and organic movement, but i was very intrigued when i realized that they weren't paintings, but pigment prints-the color is just brilliant-i think i'll have to get me one of these printers! and the work is interesting, too. i found myself staring at these pieces to figure out what these forms actually were and the images on her site are nice and large so you can stare at them, too! see more here.

kathy weaver

Generated Topology, satin, airbrushed, hand quilted, 42 1/2 x 48 1/2, Correlated Pathways, canvas, airbrushed, hand-quilted, 50 x 50, Initial Condition, satin, airbrushed, hand quilted, 38 1/2 x 37 1/2

...The robot’s setting is that of a tilted stage or shadow box and in this environment the robot is a translator of events, an alter ego, a doppelganger. The robot can be an observer, a soothsayer, a malcontent or a destructor. The viewer is invited into the picture plane to see the modality of the robot’s disposition as it reflects human nature....
...During the past year, I have focussed on inventing the robot’s world, using plant and cellular forms that are stranger than life and pregnant with meaning. These works consist of intricate collaged embroideries, egg tempera paintings on wood panels, and gouache paintings on paper. The robot’s environment of oversized botany is steeped in a visceral, atavistic aura. The natural and pseudo mechanized images represent the dichotomy between issues of fatalism and hopefulness.

see more here.

miyoshi barosh

Our Lady of The Wellington, 2008, Recycled Afghans, sweaters, vintage table, yarn, gold leaf, 36 x 55 x 44, I Can't Go On, 2008, Recycled Afghans, sweaters, canvas, and yarn, 84 x 42 x 26, I Keep Going On, 2008, Recycled Afghans, sweaters, canvas, and yarn, 84 x 48 x 11, Love, 2007, Recycled knitted Afghans, acrylic yarn, black-and-white pom-poms, canvas, grommets, 96 x 114 x 10

i'm so loving these colorful, fun pieces...most of all the clever use of recycled textiles...see more here.

sunday church drawing

this series is called 'egg' and followed the stain series in 2005-2006. using inks, gouache and colored pencils, i was experimenting with chaos and control, the idea of controlling the happy accident.

jen bradford

Contortionist, 2010, oil on canvas over panel, Happy Hour, 2010, oil on canvas over panel, 60 x 60, Buoy, 2010, oil on canvas, 60 x 72

one of my facebook friends, rebecca crowell, posted these paintings and i thought that the delicate lines and patterns were just lovely...see more here.

michael sherrill

sorry, no info on these except i know that they're made from clay, glass and metal.

just look at these spectacular beauties!...see more here.

albert oehlen

Ice, 2008, Oil and paper on canvas, 106 1/4 x 122, Fish, 2008, Oil and paper on canvas, 106 1/4 x 122, Jigga, 2008, Oil and paper on canvas, 106 1/4 x 122

i'm probably this artist's biggest fan (although that does sound rather creepy), but he has such an interesting range of work, sometimes i'll just sit and stare in order to analyze his use of color, paint and form...it blows me away how he is able to precariously, yet skillfully, walk the line between chaos and control and keep us hanging there. i'm very into his older paintings, but these newer more simpler signage paintings are growing on me...see more here.

carolyn marks blackwood

I shoot photographs, the way I write, with the intention of moving people. It makes me feel less alone. It is my great escape from the cruelty of the world. There is enough ugliness and pain in life- I do not have to turn over rocks. I seek beauty and pathos and humor. It is "Beauty" that drives me and comforts me, even if it is a "Strange Beauty".

photographs that resemble crystal clear abstract paintings of cut glass...these images are from the ice series, my other favorites are the clouds and ice series, the bird series and water series...see all work here.

david datuna

new yorker-face of the planet, 2009, obama ?, 2009, box of life, 2009, box of life (detail)

what an awesome way to recycle old eyeglass lenses...see more here.

sunday church drawing

this series is called 'egg' and followed the stain series in 2005-2006. using inks, gouache and colored pencils, i was experimenting with chaos and control, the idea of controlling the happy accident.

rm fischer

rmf 2782, 2009, vinyl, fabric, thread, polyester fiberfil, aluminum, steel, stainless steel wire, brass, 13x16x10, rmf 4327, 2009, vinyl, fabric, thread, polyester fiberfil, aluminum, steel, stainless steel wire, brass, 21x14x14, rmf 2515, 2009, vinyl, fabric, thread, polyester fiberfil, aluminum, steel, stainless steel wire, brass, wood, 64x60x36, rmf 4870, 2008-2009, vinyl, felt, fabric, thread, polyester fiberfil, brass, stainless steel wire, wood, 54x57x34

super fun, unique, soft, special and did i say fun?...see more here.

claire ellen corey

isle of fog, 2009, archival inkjet on canvas, 50x60, 2b5a, 2001, pigment on canvas, 50x60, 1g20a, 2004-2005, archival inkjet on canvas, 41.5x52, 1f1b3, 2001, pigment on canvas, 63x96

luscious color with a mix of techno, natural and manufactured form...see more here.