October 2011 | Daily Art Muse

Monthly Archives: October 2011

cast of characters

Written on October 31, 2011 by Susan Lomuto in Inspiration

Happy Halloween! I hope the cast of characters that appears at your door tonight are as much fun as this group I found at The Monster’s Ball. The vintage ventriloquist puppets quietly watched as ghouls and headless queens danced with Michael Jackson and scary bunnies.

Looks like I got to Washington, DC just in time to miss the wrath of Mother Nature as she wreaked havoc in the Northeast. My thoughts are with family, friends and everyone else digging out of the freaky snowstorm that dumped up to two feet of snow on areas that don’t usually see significant snowfall until December or January.

Folks from Maine to Maryland got the trick, but no treat this Halloween. Tomorrow is the beginning of a new month. I’m going to start it with a treat – no tricks. Promise. See you then.

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young-deok seo: the chains that bind us

Written on October 28, 2011 by Susan Lomuto in Featured, Metal

Young-Deok Seo makes a statement about the repetitive, monotonous, machine-like way we often walk through life. Using chains the Seoul based artist welds figurative sculptures that are purposefully unfinished as a way to express the “incomplete nature of modern day humans.”

Addict – Anguish 3, 16″ x 19″ x 43″

Addict – Anguish 3, detail

“I sensed the modern day people’s involuntary life in the repetitive movement of a chain and felt the standardization and anonymousness in the chain made of the same pattern. I wanted to add a new vitality and life by adding the second meaning to the original function of a chain while destroying its original functionality as a part of a machine.”

Addict – Meditation, 71″ x 75″ x 91“

Addict-Meditation, detail

Infection – Anguish 2, 20″ x 27.5″ x 30″

Young-Deok Seo’s website

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calvin nicholls’ paper sculptures

Written on October 26, 2011 by Susan Lomuto in Featured, Paper

Paper and scalpel are the tools in Calvin Nicholls’ spare but effective toolbox. As with yesterday’s post, Nicholls, who has been creating low relief paper sculptures since the 1980′s, shows us a beautiful example of what is possible when you match simple materials with skill, imagination and patience.

The Canadian artist’s final drawing of his subjects becomes the pattern for cutting pieces. If you want to know more, contact Nicholls about prices for private Skype sessions. Love this idea!

“Individual pieces are traced from the detail drawing and then transferred to the actual paper used in the sculpture. Cuts are made with scalpels and x-acto knives on a plastic cutting mat or cutting board. Small scissors can work if you go slow and cut in very smooth motions. Use a very small amount of glue on a toothpick – too much will ripple the paper. Attach the pieces starting at the tip of the tail and work up – just like shingles on a roof!”

Calvin Nicholls’ website

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debbie smyth takes thread out of its comfort zone

Written on October 25, 2011 by Susan Lomuto in Featured, Fiber

More fiber art today, but this time it’s not knitting coming off the wall – it’s three dimensional images created with pins and thread.

Debbie Smyth is a young artist from Ireland whose work is buzzing all around the Internet. Smyth photographs and sketches her subjects, plots and hammers pins on the wall, then wraps threads around the pins to ‘develop’ the image. Her work literally “lifts the drawn line off the page.”

“On first glance, it can look like a mass of threads but as you get closer sharp lines come into focus, creating a spectacular image. The images are first plotted out before being filled out with the thread, the sharp angles contrasting with the floating ends of the thread. And despite the complexity of the lengthy process I try to capture a great feeling of energy and spontaneity, and, in some cases, humor.” Debbie Smyth

Watch Smyth in this video as she creates one of her large-scale installations. Want more? Here’s a video interview with the artist.

Debbie Smyth’s website. She’s on Pinterest too. How appropriate!

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rania hassan’s connections

Written on October 24, 2011 by Susan Lomuto in Featured, Fiber

I’m in Washington, DC for a few weeks to follow up with the artists I apprenticed to last winter. More about that later in the week, but first I want to introduce you to an artist I met yesterday.

Knit Circle, oil, fiber, canvas, metal

What do you do when knitting consumes you and painting is the driving force behind your work? If you are Rania Hassan, you combine the two and create paintings that move off the wall to become three dimensional mixed-media sculptures.

Knit Circle, detail

Hassan’s work represents the concept that we are all connected somehow. The painted fingers are her own, and as she explains, “In the needle, yarn and finger movements, I explain how the act of knitting connects us to our community and generations past.”

Anchored II, oil, fiber, canvas, metal

“This series started because of my fascination with knitting, love for painting, and intrigue in the community I’ve found online with knitters from around the world. I think about how it links me to my mother, her mother, and all the generations of women who came before them.”

Pensive I, oil, fiber, canvas, metal, wood

Ktog [Knit Together], 8′ x 4′, oil and knitting on canvas
Installation at Baltimore ACC show in 2009

Ktog 21, detail

Knit Dress

Hassan most recently completed a commission that is now part of the permanent collection at the National Institutes of Health.

Rania is thoughtful, with an easy smile and a refreshing sense of humor. I spent the afternoon with Rania, her husband (he deserves a post of his own so I’m leaving his name out of this one!) and the always fabulous Tim Tate.

Hassan’s work speaks to connections of all kinds and there are many to be found when artists come together in a city or town to work and live. Each visit to DC and the surrounding area makes this fact more clear to me. It’s great to be back.

Rania Hassan’s website

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