Monthly Archives: June 2011

elisa strozyk’s wooden textiles

Sign up here to receive the DAM newsletter.

Hand-cut and laser-cut geometric wood shapes are bonded to fabric backing in this collection of hand-crafted wooden textiles from Elisa Strozyk.

 

The German-based textile designer experimented with a variety of techniques as she searched for a way to make wood flexible.

 

She deconstructs reclaimed wood veneer leftover from workshops, shaping the veneers into small pieces and attaching the shapes to the fabric backing by hand.

Different textile backings (silk, Lycra) interact in unique ways with the wood, some allowing more flexibility than others.

“Wooden Textiles” is a material that is half wood-half textile, between hard and soft, challenging what can be expected from a material or category. It looks and smells familiar but feels strange, as it is able to move and form in unexpected ways.”

Strozyk also discovered that the shape of the pieces plays an important part in the flexibility of the final product, the triangle giving the most opportunity for flexibility.

“We are used to experience wood as a hard material; we know the feeling of walking across wooden floors, to touch a wooden tabletop or to feel the bark of a tree. But we usually don’t experience a wooden surface which can be manipulated by touch.”

 

 

get your art online

sarah dunstan’s ceramic vessels

Sign up here to receive the DAM newsletter.

Is it my love of the container as art or an attraction to old, rusty things that draws me to Sarah Dunstan’s ceramic bottles and jugs? Perhaps both.

Bottles

The UK artist successfully creates the illusion that the ceramic containers are rusted tin. Dunstan begins decorating the clay when it is a flat slab, almost always surprised by the results when the slab is transformed into a three dimensional piece.

Large Jug

Inspired by collections of objects, typography and decoration, she seeks to translate pieces of her memories into new objects to be collected, continuing the cycle . . .

Sardine Tin

 

Jug

“I collect images, such as the shape of the railing in a hidden doorway in St.Ives or writing on an antique glass bottle. I use my sketchbook to draw and paint these impressions but also as a scrapbook. Feathers, fabric and packaging are glued in next to photos. These photos are fragmented memories of places I’ve visited, a close up detail of a Greek sign perhaps, or advertising on a French café wall.” Sarah Dunstan

Bottle

get your art online

polymer mosaic ring

Sign up here to receive the DAM newsletter.

get your art online

ruta kiskyte reminds us to k.i.s.s. {keep it simple stupid}

Sign up here to receive the DAM newsletter.

It’s Friday. Time to lighten up, think minimal and forget about sweating the small stuff. Ruta Kiskyte’s jewelry ranges from downright whimsical to fashion-forward fun. I stumbled upon her work in the early hours of the morning after a long day full of technical challenges that left me feeling foggy and tense.

Drown in a Blossom, polymer clay, plastic flower, metal hair pin

The piece that first made me laugh was Drown in a Blossom, with a pair of skinny, polka dotted polymer legs dangling from a bright red artificial flower. My louder-than-usual chuckle broke the tension, reminding me of what I really want to do today. This young artist’s ability to convey lighthearted ideas in a simple, uncomplicated way is part of what makes the work appealing. Check out what happened when a friend used the jewelry in a photo shoot. Ahhhh, the power of a good photograph!

 

Black Pencil Drawing Double Brooch, artificial hair, polymer clay

Digging deeper I found Kiskyte’s collection of ‘pencil drawings’ made with polymer clay pencils and artificial hair or fabric curved to depict pencil lines.

Black Pencil Drawing Necklace, artificial hair, polymer clay, silver

Pencil Drawing Necklace, polyester chiffon, polymer clay

Other favorites include  Sunflower Seed Earrings and Brush Stroke Necklace.

What did I learn from my early-morning find? Sometimes simple is fine, better, best (Note to self as I move forward with DAM: {k.i.s.s.}. See post title for explanation).

Time to dive head first into the fully blown wild roses -  their scent is an intoxicating perfume that follows me on my morning walks. I could easily drown in a blossom today.

get your art online

arms wide open

Sign up here to receive the DAM newsletter.

With arms wide open I embrace this new life I am building and like the bird who looks out over the endless sea, I welcome the opportunities that come today, the first day of the rest of my life.

Photo: Susan Lomuto

I’m very busy behind the scenes working to make your DAM experience even more rich, lush, satisfying. See you tomorrow . . .

get your art online