Daily Art Muse » Uncategorized

cicada ring

Susan Lomuto — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:57:48 +0000

jaimie macdonald: new book

Susan Lomuto — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:15:05 +0000

Back in 2006 we took a look at a Scottish designer who was using film canisters to make unusual jewelry. Jaimie MacDonald’s work has continued to evolve and in February she published her first book, Jewellery from Recycled Materials.

Has anyone seen this book? I haven’t seen it yet, however the description looked interesting – says that it includes step-by-step projects using a variety of materials, including plastic. The piece on the cover looks like it might be some kind of plastic riveted together…I want to know more.

Jamie MacDonald, On The Edge of Something, film canisters on white metal

The link to MacDonald’s book is in the sidebar, where you will find many more inspiring books to jump start your creativity, add to your information database or simply satisfy your sweet-tooth for eye-candy!

sidebar tour

Susan Lomuto — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:04:29 +0000

Here’s What’s Happening In The daMuse Sidebar This Week

Renowned floral artist Naoki Sasaki has a new book coming out that gives us a look at one of Japan’s master floral designers. Japanese Contemporary Floral Art is the first image under the “Blooming” section of the sidebar. While you are there, take a look at three other beautiful resources for botanical inspiration: Orchidelirium, The Metamorphosis of Flowers and Intimacy: The Sensual Essence of Flowers.

Naoki Sasaki Floral Art

And did you see the book about Flower Pounding? Have you heard of it? This is something new to me.

You pound flowers onto treated fabric, transferring the pigments and shape of the flower onto the fabric, and then embellish the image with markers and stitching. Image transfers of a different kind. It’s on my list of things to try this month. Number 54. The list keeps growing.

More Fun In The Sidebar

Another poll (I’m still gathering information about daMuse readers in an effort to make the blog better), two books that will be coming out soon (but you can pre-order them now), and several new advertisers (watch this space for more information soon about advertising on Daily Art Muse!).

search party!

Susan Lomuto — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:44:05 +0000

With more than 2,100 published posts, I often search my own archives to see if I’ve already shared a particular artist or art work. It usually means another half hour lost in the belly of this blog studying poetic, powerful, whimsical, complex, technique-driven, haunting, serious, silly, eye-popping, mind-bending, interesting, lyrical, touching, moving, process-oriented, conceptual, mixed-media, living, breathing contemporary fine art and craft. Again. I’m not complaining.

Click here to see what I found when I searched for “circle”.

Watch this space for Search Party posts - I’ll be sharing my daMuse Search Party Finds with you. Want to join my Search Party? Find something spectacular in the archives that you’d like to share? Post it in the comments or send me an email.

samantha bryan’s fairy aiding inventions

Susan Lomuto — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:48:06 +0000

I know when it is time to take a break from the realities of the adult world and lose myself in childlike fantasy. My body, saturated by mundane daily chores, bucks and stalls like a rebellious horse. Samantha Bryan’s three dimensional illustrations are the perfect antidote.

Bryan captures fairy characters as they go about their every day life – but oh, what a life it is! Created from bits and pieces of wire, leather, found objects and carefully collected materials, each narrative sculpture depicts a detail of life in fairyland, her charming fantasy world. Be prepared to have an out-of-body experience as she transports us back to a time when cultivating our imagination was our only work. Childhood. Watching this mixed-media world spin renews the spirit and sparks the imagination. A diversion every adult needs…maybe every day.

Brain’s pre-flight stretch fairy

Brain’s portable fairy-dust collector

The artist working on a sculpture (image via Arts Council England )

meet bummerbunny, my new hero

Susan Lomuto — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:11:40 +0000

Watch this well-done video that puts the viewer on the fast track into the head, heart and soul of urban visionary artist Laura Castellanos. Every artist who thinks they are ‘just not that good” should feel renewed energy to forge ahead after hearing Castellanos talk about not knowing what she was doing at first, being confused by the rewards she was receiving for not knowing what she was doing, and eventually surrendering to the idea of continuing to do what she loved, regardless of whether or not she knew what she was doing.

Click on the image to go to the video.

A little more than 2 minutes into the 5 minute video Castellanos talks about bummerbunny (pictured above) – don’t miss it. There is a lesson for all of us in the story of bummerbunny. Most artists go through periods of self-doubt. We all need a bummerbunny, don’t you think?

The video was created by Valerie Vozza for Seattle Channel’s Art Zone in the Studio, highlighting the best local talent in the Seattle area (the screen is a bit larger on their site – you can see it here).

bummerbunny has a blog, complete with a picture of Anthony Bourdain wearing a bummerbunny tee-shirt. My daughter might just faint (she’s a huge Bourdain fan and an awesome cook – watch for her blog, coming soon!).

The artist and Turtle Dreams

Castellanos also has a blog – where she takes pictures of herself with her paintings (fresh slant on blogging!) and a website for her paintings.

gail lannum’s copper metal clay test

Susan Lomuto — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:55:07 +0000

Bill Struve continues to push the metal clay envelope – first with last year’s BronzClay and now his newest addition to the metal clay family – Copper Metal Clay. When he tapped Gail Lannum to test the CMC she jumped at the chance. This pendant bead has a subtle patina that really shows it off. Loving it! Read more about Gail’s experiments here and here.

Copper Clay with Heat Patina

Copper Clay Fired

Copper Clay Dry

The clay will be available some time this spring. Hadar Jacobson, whose work we’ve seen here, sells a powdered version of the copper clay. She has a video on her website showing how to take it from powder to clay in four minutes!

Hadar Jacobson, Sticks Bracelet, silver, bronz and copper clay

[Psst...last chance to tell me how you really feel about product reviews on daMuse. The poll in the sidebar. It ends on Wednesday. Your answers will help shape the future of Daily Art Muse - thanks for your participation!]

felice frankel on the surface of things

Susan Lomuto — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:20:44 +0000

I posted a few more books to inspire your muse, including Felice Frankel’s On the Surface of Things: Images of the Extraordinary in Science – originally published in 1997 and updated in 2008. Looks like a fascinating collection of images to make you think as you search for new ideas.

More book links in the sidebar and a new poll too. Keep those answers coming – the first poll had 193 responses – nice! There will be a new poll each week for the next several weeks and then less frequently after that. This is a good opportunity for you to get involved in the process while I am working behind the scenes to build a better Daily Art Muse experience for you. Many thanks to all!

Apple thinks Frankel is pretty special too. Read her profile here.

weekend to-do list

Susan Lomuto — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:43:47 +0000

This is at the top of my weekend to-do list. Yours too?

If you haven’t done it yet, please take a moment to answer the daMuse poll (in the sidebar) – and thanks to everyone who already took the time to answer. Have a great weekend!

Jung Eun Park, hand typography

via Modish

kinetic digital sculpture

Susan Lomuto — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:01:09 +0000

Is it kinetic sculpture? Or is it digital art? How about kinetic digital sculpture? Digital Media artist John Baugh uses the mechanics of 3D modeling and animation to create what he calls kinetic digital sculpture. Very interesting…

To get the full effect you must see these in action on Baugh’s website: The Dark Space, or you can view them on Axis Web.

The repeating animations are constructed using 3D animation software and consist of a series of digital forms that explore the relationship between movement and structure. The digital structures use movement to create arrangements that deconstruct and re-assemble over time. The movements mirror the evolution and growth of material elements captured through time lapse photography. The aesthetic intricacy of each sculpture could also be said to possess a duplicity changing between symmetrical beauty and an uneasiness that is ascribed to the continually changing combination of forms that appears synthetic and uncontrollable.

book love! seeds: time capsules of life

Susan Lomuto — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:39:59 +0000

Did you see my new Amazon book listings in the sidebar? I’m so excited about the first one I’m going to order it today. I’m swooning already…

Seeds: Time Capsules of Life. I even love the name. The book appeals to both my horticulture-loving-oh, yeah-that’s-what-my-degree-is-in-side AND to my artist-who-finds-inspiration-in-the-shapes-of-nature-side. How come I haven’t seen this book before? Where have I been? Images below are from the book. Link in the sidebar.

From the Carol Haggas review:

Through the marvel of scanning electron photomicroscopy, and in collaboration with two renowned experts, visual artist Kesseler unveils the delicate artistry and vibrant wizardry of these horticultural workhorses in an incandescent blend of exacting science and extraordinary art. Seeds’ distinctive shapes and sizes enable them to withstand journeys of thousands of miles and hundreds of years before they complete their task of plant germination. Stuppy energetically relates the story of some 300 million years of evolutionary adaptations that have enabled plants to populate the earth’s surface from the Antarctic to the Amazon, while simultaneously drawing attention to the alarming extinction rate of the world’s remaining plant species.

daniel sroka: abstract botanicals

Susan Lomuto — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:00:14 +0000

Daniel Sroka’s macro photographs of flowers, leaves, twigs and seeds are a soft place for my eyes to fall. Sroka says of his abstract organic images, “My art is about re-igniting our awareness of the natural world that we live in every day.” I say thank goodness he decided to leave a successful corporate-type career (including a gig as the first creative director at Yahoo!) to pursue his art full time – it means my eyes get to rest on these serene, ethereal images.

Dancer, macro of a dried leaf

Ascent, macro of a dried leaf

The closest relationship most of us have with nature is through our yards and parks, so we experience nature as a safe and controlled environment. But what appears to be a domesticated landscape is actually an uneasy truce with a thriving and chaotic ecosystem. My photographs capture the wildness that thrives in our backyards.

Exovo, macro of a dried leaf

Heart, macro of a leaf that has begun to dry and decay

We can learn a lot from Sroka – about pursuing passion; about how important our early influences prove to be as we mature; about how to think out of the box (he offers customers a chance to purchase his photographs as a “work in progress” at a reduced rate, and they have the option to upgrade once the image is complete).

Read about his creative process here, then go visit the links below and relax.

Daniel Sroka’s Website
Daniel Sroka’s Blog
Article on Area of Design
On 1000 Markets
Sroka’s studio sale on Artful Home

soho sign

Susan Lomuto — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:58:43 +0000

Love this antique store sign spotted on a recent walk through SoHo.

Antique indeed! (click on image for larger version)

can you guess what this material is?

Susan Lomuto — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:00:40 +0000

Yael Friedman is an accomplished artist who studied both in her native Israel and in the United States. The award winning artist’s contemporary jewelry is exhibited internationally and throughout the United States. Can you guess what material she used for these rings?

Friedman set semi-precious stones into carved crayons.

Are you smiling? I am.

art with heart

Susan Lomuto — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:02:58 +0000

There is a non-profit organization on my radar this week and I thought daMuse readers might also find it inspiring and worthwhile. Art With Heart started as the community outreach branch of the Seattle Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, though it became its own non-profit in 2002.

Believing that “creativity is often overlooked as a positive behavioral intervention tool that promotes healing and trauma resolution,” the non-profit “encourages resiliency using the concepts of art therapy to lead toward greater self-confidence and emotional clarity.”

Since 1996, this charitable organization has helped more than 41,000 children heal through creativity. The children’s stories are compelling, the art heartwarming, the books and programs powerful.