Search Results for 'push through'
david bennett’s glass sculptures: liquid motion
Trapeze artists appear to be flying through the air, horses galloping across open fields, and gymnasts look as if they are performing impossible twists and turns. David Bennett’s glass and bronze figures capture both the shimmering, liquid qualities of the glass and the motion of his subjects.
Tumbler in Amethyst
Welding bronze rods to create cages for his figures, Bennett blows hot glass into the metal molds, later embedding LED lights into the sculptures to enhance the luminosity of the glass. Read more about the artist’s process here.
Dancing Stallions, blown glass and bronze, 39″ x 37″ x 16″
Red and Turquoise
Bennett gives new meaning to the idea of reinventing yourself, and hope to anyone who thinks it is ‘too late’ to begin again. Almost twenty years ago the former Army-Captain-turned-lawyer was on vacation celebrating his 50th birthday when he met a glassblower who spoke to the litigator about his life – that conversation made Bennett question his own path and he set out to chart another course. Read this beautifully written excerpt from the 2007 American Style magazine article about the artist.
Brown Galloper, blown glass and bronze, 22″ x 36″ x 14″
Hoops Lady
David Bennett with one of his sculptures
“Artisans have been blowing glass into metal forms for two thousand years. We are pushing the technique. We can make complex forms in glass and bronze that we could not do in either medium alone. As we’ve stretched the technical processes of blowing glass into metal, I’ve had more and more artistic freedom. Our figures can be lighter and wilder in their motions, and we’ve become able to manipulate the glass around its armatures in increasingly playful ways.” David Bennett
See an out-of-this-world Bennett chandelier here (click on the images to view them larger).
jennifer moss explores possibilities
I like to see an artist push a material as they explore possibilities and Jennifer Moss does just that with felt, pearls, fabric, silk threads, styrofoam, silver, plaster and a variety of other materials.
Clustered, neckpiece. felt, silver
Replication, neckpiece. felt, pearls, steel
detail, Replication
Felt II, felt, fabric
Plastered, brooch, sterling silver, plaster, pearl
Moss, who received her BFA with a concentration in Metals/Jewelry from Western Michigan University in 2007, has a website gallery full of images that include jewelry, installation pieces (look for the textiles made from fine silver and steel) and small vessels (like the tea strainer locket). If you want to see what she does to break out of her monochromatic theme, look here.
The fact that felt, Styrofoam, plaster and fabric are not traditionally used in the creation of jewelry is not meant to be a challenge to the viewer or to the wearer. The materials were chosen simply because each has a natural beauty of its own. They were made into jewelry to highlight this beauty. By limiting myself to a monochromatic color scheme I was able combine and layer the textures and weights of different materials without overwhelming a piece with too much visual information. The materials presented here are in their pure states, un-dyed and unpainted so that the inherent aspects of each material are able to shine through. Jennifer Moss
tim tate blurs the line between fine art and fine craft with glass and new media
In Victorian times bell jars, cylindrical glass vessels with a rounded top and an open base, were used to protect and display fragile objects. Today, glass artist Tim Tate uses blown glass jars to capture universal emotions and experiences with haunting video reliquaries that push the boundaries between fine art and fine craft.
Tate, co-founder of The Washington Glass School, creates miniature self-contained video installations that are “temporal, sounds and moving images formally enshrined, encapsulating experiences like cultural specimens.” The videos play on tiny screens inside glass vessels adorned with the artist’s cast-glass sculptures.
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
16×6x6, blown and cast class, electronic components, original video, 2009
Tate’s sculptures ask you to surrender your guarded self and feel the range of emotions that they provoke. His newest works – larger and more complex - speak to universal issues, a shift from earlier work that was profoundly personal.
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, one of several sculptures set to make their debut at Wheaton Village next month, is a reminder to appreciate what we have and embrace the wonders that surround us while we are here because time is always slipping away. This is a current theme in my life and the message resonated deeply as I studied the glass ‘bird in hand’ that sits atop the sculpture, the cast glass timepieces that surround the base and the video of sand running through the fingers of an adult hand, at the heart of the piece.
Dreaming of Ophelia
18×8x8 blown and cast glass, electronic components, original video, 2009
Back To The Hive
blown, cast glass, electronic parts, camera, audio wave, 14×6x6
I’m particularly intrigued by the interactive reliquaries that heighten the viewer’s personal experience. Back To The Hive and A Call To Redemption are two examples – as the viewer approaches the sculptures they see themselves in the LCD screen at the same time a motion detector inside the work senses the viewer’s approach, which triggers an audio wave – a drone bee returning to its hive in Back To The Hive, and a recording of an Imam calling us to prayer in A Call To Redemption. An admirer described A Call To Redemption as “an amazing intersection between art, theology and technology”.
A Call To Redemption
blown, cast glass, electronic parts, camera, audio wave, 18×5x5
My videos are never a narrative in and of themselves, merely gestures or movements. But when taken in with the piece in its entirety, the meaning begins to emerge.
The Washington D.C. sculptor, who makes the blown-glass vessels and cast-glass elements himself, also shoots the video and wires the electronics for each piece. He was recently announced as the first place winner of this year’s $35,000 Virginia A. Groot Foundation Award for Sculpture.
You can see more of this marriage between glass sculpture and modern technology at the Maurine Littleton Gallery and view one of the videos here.
jane siet’s quiet garden images
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about gardening. I miss it. The smell of freshly dug dirt; the daily routine of tending plants as they move through their life cycle; the joy of first bud, first bloom, first fruit; the satisfaction of a bountiful harvest; the sense of completion when you put the garden to bed at the end of the season and the life lessons the garden generously shares year in and year out. I miss it.
I have a Bachelors degree in Horticulture and Human Welfare and at one time I set up garden programs for disadvantaged youth. I taught children how to garden but what I really tried to instill in them was the sense of hope and wonder represented by each tiny seed and each vulnerable stem that pushed through the surface of the ground. I haven’t had a garden in a few years – no place for it in my current living situation – but I’ve been thinking about gardening a lot because today, after a year long search, we signed a contract to buy a house. Soon I will have a garden again.
Jane Siet’s botanical images capture single moments of beauty in the life of a flower – the curve of a petal, the crisp of a dying leaf, the smooth underbelly of a tender blossom. These are the very things that can keep me grounded in a garden space for hours. Siet’s images are evocative of another time, when simple things had value and life was more cyclical, less cynical. Allow me to enjoy how her garden grows before the real task ahead – moving to a new home in five weeks - sets in. I hope you spend a few moments looking at her portolio before the world pushes back at you too. It is a quiet, soft place to fall and her artistic point of view is lush and precious.
fluid sculpture
I don’t know anything about Charlie Bucket except that he used a small loom to knit a tube from plastic tubing and then he set it up with a system that allowed him to push colorful fluids through the tubing.
This sculpture is a prototype for one that he will demonstrate at Maker’s Faire San Mateo later this month. Cool beans.
Watch the video all the way through to get a glimpse of how he does it.
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Fluid Sculpture from Charlie Bucket on Vimeo.
via Bioephemera
katharina vones’ silicone sea creatures
I’m attending Robert Dancik’s online masterclass, Amulets & Talismans. Last night Dancik spoke about marrying the components of a piece of jewelry (or sculpture) with the appropriate connections and the possibility of using those connections to draw attention to the piece. Robert Dancik, please meet Kathy Vones.
Black Pearl Sea Urchin Necklace
Inspired by botanical and marine life, Kathy Vones uses precious metal, freshwater pearls and silicone to capture the textures and patterns of deep sea creatures. In the Sea Urchin collection pictured here, tiny metal prongs reach around to gently hold the silicone shapes in place and the effect is magical. The necklace above sports prongs that are bent at varying angles and the sea creatures appear to be dancing, swaying, moving…study the shadows. For a very different effect, the prongs in the necklace below are slightly curved but ‘at attention’ and the sea urchins appear to be pushing up, bursting through, reaching out.
Sea Urchin, detail
In this body of work Vones explores a rich and varied color palette, the contrast of soft rubber and hard metal and the impact of different sizes, ranging from tiny clusters to large sculptures – the metal prongs make an important appearance in all but a few of these vibrant pieces.
Sea Urchin Cluster
Sea Urchin Cluster Drop Earrings
Detail of Floral Light
Read more about Katharina Vones here.
Keep your eye on the Craftcast blog for more online classes.
reader question: polymer and metal
A reader left this comment on a post today and I thought I would put the question out there for the polymer clay community:
I’ve been really inspired by your experiments pushing polymer clay through filigree. I was just wondering if it was safe to put most metals in the stove or if there was any danger of something melting or off-gassing–are there any alloys to watch out for, or is it pretty much guaranteed to be safe as long as it’s some kind of metal?
I’ve baked a lot of metal (it might be important to note that my oven is in my garage – away from my living space) and personally I haven’t had any problem with the brass forms that I use but I don’t know about other metals. I do know that many polymer clay artists bake on metal forms and armatures – I’m hoping a few of them will jump in here and give a more thorough answer.
a gift for you
I’m a low-key, no-frills, hassle-free holiday type of woman. I’m happiest creating so that’s what I’ve been doing this holiday season while everyone else hustles and bustles. But I do have a gift for all of you! A thank you for playing along in my giveaway last week (the comments gave me lots of ideas for my Etsy shop); a ‘happy holidays no matter what you celebrate…I’m celebrating YOU’ kind of gift.
Polymer clay image transfer pushed through a post office box door
Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letter to a Young Poet is one of my favorite books. There are many passages that move me to tears, to a place of comfort, to a state of mind that allows me to take a deep breath no matter what is going on in the world. I took one of my favorite passages and created a collage sheet just for you!
Rilke: Love The Questions {Collage Sheet in PDF* Format}
This little present includes the sheet of quotes/sentences you see above, the same sheet in reverse (for easy image transfers) and one page of the excerpt alone, framed for your viewing pleasure. I hope it brings you many hours of art-making joy!
*The PDF is a large file (so that you can print it with no problem).
text messages: new etsy supply shop
Yes, I was silly yesterday. Teasing you with images and clues and giveaways. All done in the spirit of fun. All leading up to this announcement:
I opened an Etsy shop!
textmessages.etsy.com offers text-related materials for artists and crafters. I love words, text, quotes and use them often in my art so this was a natural progression for me.
I’m pushing polymer again! This time through vintage brass. Click the image!
At textmessages.etsy.com you will find vintage typewriter keys, brass letter stencils, vintage vocabulary cards, text collage sheet downloads, letterpress wood type and a variety of other text-related supplies to help you add another layer of meaning to your art. It is still evolving and I have lots more to list so visit often! You can access the site through the links in the sidebar on the right or the links in this post.
Vintage French vocabulary cards. Click the image!
Come back this afternoon for my regular post featuring smashing good art and tomorrow morning I’ll be announcing a BIG BOOK giveaway to celebrate textmessages.etsy.com. Stay tuned!
cindy silas on the web
I met polymer clay/pmc artist Cindy Silas at Synergy – she was told that there was someone else ‘pushing polymer’ through metal and that we should meet. Of course my metal was a store-bought bracelet blank. Silas’ metal was fine silver. Fine silver that she fabricated. Different league. Maybe even a league of its own.
Promenade, Cindy Silas 2008, fine silver, polymer clay
Her work is elegant, refined, warm, welcoming. Back in February her website was just a page – a placeholder for the real thing. I’m delighted that the site is now live – you can have a front row seat and watch as her gallery grows. Congratulations on the new website Cindy!
Circles, Cindy Silas 2008, fine silver, polymer clay
Cindy Silas - website
