All Entries in the "Plastic" Category
anna lindsay macdonald navigates city streets
Anna Lindsay MacDonald studies the relationship between our “inherent tendency toward mathematical balance” in both our urban streets and our history of ornament. MacDonald transforms informative map systems into wearable art by hand cutting the intricate lines and spaces in metal and vinyl.
“My work with maps began as soon as I moved to Toronto. As I navigated the city I was struck by the grid-like quality of the Toronto streets, the intersections and interwoven connections. The imposing urban sprawl I reduced in size to a more legible scale, neighborhoods became bracelets and rings, adornment objects as well as informative objects. I wanted the wearer to engage with their neighborhoods, with transparent acrylic pieces wrapped around their hands and fingers like tattoos, their walking history etched into their skin. The gold and silver dotted paths or the walk to work became the adornment object.”
I’m still uploading pictures and answering emails – if I haven’t gotten to you yet don’t worry, you will hear from me soon – I came back to a full inbox! Over the next couple of weeks I will share some of my images with you, hoping that you will be able to feel the same calm and serenity that I did while I was there. Have a great day!
debra adelson: evening bags with removable brooches
Debra Adelson’s hand fabricated nickel silver handbags (with sterling silver lids) hold more than just your party-going lipstick. Each functional evening bag boasts one of Adelson’s acrylic and silver brooches that can be removed to adorn you when it isn’t acting as a conversation piece on the bag itself.
Red Butterfly Evening Bag, nickel silver, sterling silver, acrylic
Retro Evening Bag, nickel silver, sterling silver, acrylic
Tokyo Evening Bag, nickel silver, sterling silver, acrylic
Adelson hand carves the acrylic brooches and handbag handles. The artist, who has a degree in jewelry design and metalsmithing from Tyler School of Art, also has a full line of acrylic jewelry and is a new exhibitor in this weekend’s Paradise City Arts Show in Philadelphia. Worth a look-see if you are in the area.
Interested in learning how to work with plastic? She’s got a book too. Check it out below.
The Art of Jewelry: Plastic & Resin: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration
rui kikuchi + audio slideshow
Later this week: My visit to SOFA NY
Today I’m taking you along on my learning curve as I prepare for new offerings on DAM. I hope you will indulge me from time to time as I play with some of the software tools I’m testing in my effort to move things along on the site – thank you in advance for your patience!
Here’s a brief audio slide show of Rui Kikuchi’s work (5 images, 35 seconds). If you have difficulty with the audio please let me know – I’m still working on the sound quality. Feedback is always welcome.
Rue Kikuchi, Physis Pendant, steel nails, sterling silver
transforming plastic: tammaro, donald and golden
Here’s a triple treat to jump start your week! Anthony Tammaro, Mary Donald and Suzanne Golden are three of twenty seven artists with work featured later this month in Facere Gallery’s upcoming exhibit, Transmutations: Material Reborn.
Bauble-licious, angle stitching, embellishing, seed beads, acrylic beads
The exhibition, curated by Susan Kasson Sloan, celebrates the transformation of plastics into wearable art. The work is bold, innovative and thought provoking. With extensive portfolios brimming with plastics that have been beaded (Golden), altered (Donald) and computer generated with 3D software (Tammaro), these three artists top my list of favorites to watch from the exhibit.
Rio, acrylic beads
Suzanne Golden is playful and passionate and those traits show up repeatedly in her work (seen above). A visit to her website will fill you up with primary colors and repeating patterns. Read an interview with the artist here.
Anthony Tammaro (seen below) creates couture art and production jewelry using computer aided design and manufacturing processes, describing the work as “technology meets expression.”
For more from Tammaro, visit his Flickr Photostream and Crafthaus portfolio.
Tammaro with his Quad Spiral neckpiece, sls nylon
Coil Cuffs
Although mostly plastic, Mary Donald’s discarded found object jewelry has a decidedly organic feel. Her artist statement is worth reading too, beginning with this paragraph: “With the eye of a jeweler, I practice the art of hunting and gathering. Like an urban aborigine, I collect a variety of materials and even detritus plus remnants and miscellany from natural and other resources, carrying it back to the studio where it’s examined and then used to create body adornment, objects and sculpture. It’s hard to say sometimes, exactly, what this work is all about. It’s about so many things and nothing at all; I’ve come to think of it as a meditation on aesthetics, with a particular regard for the natural world.”
Visit her website to see more from her Rubber portfolio and Wood/Plastics porfolio.
Minus 143, rubber, nylon, silver
Assorted rings and objects, rubber, nylon, argentium silver
The exhibit at Facere runs from April 28-May 17, 2010
make your own plastic sheet
Tory Hughes sent in a link to this cool video – make your own bioplastic with household ingredients: vinegar, glycerin, starch and water. You can even laser cut shapes from the plastic sheet.
New art material? If you try it let me know how it turns out!
Test sheets of bioplastic hanging to dry
via Shapeways
margaux lange re-members barbie
As a child Margaux Lange was obsessed with Barbie, using the doll as a tool for “acting out and exploring the human relationships in my own life, as well as the fantasy lives I imagined.” Now 30 years old, Lange is still obsessed with Barbie and it has served her well. The Brooklyn artist, who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art, uses Barbie doll parts in her widely collected jewelry line, “Plastic Body Series.”
SMACK! Brooch, doll parts, pigmented resin, sterling silver
The Kiss, doll parts, sterling silver
“Whether revered or despised, there are few who feel neutral about the plastic princess. I am fascinated with who she is as a cultural icon and the vast impact she has had on our society.” Margaux Lange
Goosebumps Hand Brooch, doll parts, sterling silver
Lange takes Barbie’s best bits and combines them with resin and sterling silver, creating whimsical, nostalgic, humorous configurations that offer collectors a unique way to remember their childhoods.
Quote Bubble Brooches, doll parts, pigmented resin, sterling silver
She began using Barbie in her art in high school, but it wasn’t until 2001 that she started to deconstruct (or re-member as she likes to call it) the iconic doll and use the parts in her jewelry.
If The Shoe Fits Bracelet, doll shoes
Senses Bracelet, doll parts, pigmented resin, sterling silver
Fun. Fashionable. And a trip down memory lane. Do go and take a look at her whole portfolio and be sure to visit her blog where you can get a good sense of the work that goes into this jewelry.
Winged Neckpiece, doll arms, sterling silver
Margaux Lange and friends
I also enjoy the funny juxtaposition of wearing the body, on the body. Barbie has become the accessory instead of being accessorized. I take pleasure in the contrast and contradiction of mass-produced materials transformed and revealed as handmade, wearable works of Art.” Margaux Lange
When I was researching Lange I was surprised to see that many people find the jewelry creepy and ‘out of a horror movie’. Really? Lange has a great eye, appealing sense of humor and all of her skills blend beautifully. What’s creepy is how long women have held on to the idea that Barbie had the perfect body. THAT’S creepy. Lange’s jewelry? Smashing and fashionable!
Lange’s Etsy shop here.
Lange’s blog Midge’s Mind where you can see many of her pieces in progress – the resin, the metalsmith details, the bins and bins of Barbie bits and pieces. Wow…
Read an interview with the artist here. Another interview here.
Couldn’t resist including Lange’s Barbie coat hanger ornament. Click on the thumbnail below to see more ornaments.
courtney starrett: rubberMADE
Courtney Starrett hopes her work will make you think about the social standards that drive many of our behaviors and how those standards came to be. While I am always curious about an artist’s intention regarding their work, I am also aware that as viewer and wearer, our interpretation is often markedly different than what the artist intended.
The Sociable Choice, bracelet, silicone rubber and grommets
Starrett’s RubberMADE collection of silicone rubber and sterling silver jewelry doesn’t make me think about social standards. It simply makes me want to take a big, juicy bite out of life. I see sexy shapes, delicious colors and art that begs to be touched. Just a little. Maybe a lot.
The Sociable Choice, bracelet, silicone rubber and grommets
You Don’t Have To Be, ring, silicone, sterling silver
Instant Corsage, neckpiece silicone rubber, sterling silver and magnets
Domestic Goddess, neckpiece, silicone rubber and grommets
Starrett, who earned an MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, is an assistant professor of metals/jewelry at Winthrop University in South Carolina. Read more about her and the inspiration behind RubberMADE here.
joseph barbaccia’s sequins: what you see is what you get
Glittering sequins imported from India and billowy, hand carved polystyrene armatures come together in Joseph Barbaccia’s sculpture series Sequins, underscoring the truth that craftsmanship trumps materials.
Acedia, 2009, polystyrene, sequins, stainless steel pins, 37″x10″x9″
Acedia, detail
Interested in the textures created by the sequins when pinned to the polystyrene forms, Barbaccia became attracted to the simplicity of the sequin as an art material. While bold colors distinguish many of the pieces, others draw you in with undulating, slug-like forms that look as though they might slither away if unwatched for a moment.
Infinity, 2007, polystyrene, sequins, stainless steel pins, 9″x15″x9″
Barbaccia, who studied at the Tyler School of Fine Art in Philadelphia, concentrated largely on representational drawing and painting for many years, eventually adding encaustic works on plaster. In 2003 his work shifted again and in an effort to emphasize craftsmanship and meaning, he began creating sculptures that utilize the most basic materials. Equally compelling is the D.C. area artist’s Integration Series – a group of mixed media sculptures that amuse, shock and provoke. You can view them, and his encaustic work on the website.
Euphoria, 2008, polystyrene, sequins, stainless steel pins, 17″x21″x21″
Euphoria, detail
“My work is the product of vision. What you see is essentially what you get. There are no hidden agendas or secret meanings. The process of creating extends past the initial vision and manifests like waves spreading out from a stone dropped in water consisting of everything and everyone else; including the artist’s involvement.”
Barbaccia’s work can be seen at Neptune Gallery
Read an article about the artist here
jin young yu: the invisible people
Korean artist Jin Young Yu addresses feelings of being invisible, of not fitting in the world. The faces on her full-scale figures are haunting and sorrowful, yet the colors and patterns are bright and vibrant.
Yu’s life-size figures are clear PVC plastic (the type of plastic used to make soda bottles) and clay. Working from sketches, she sculpts the human form in clay, makes a plaster cast and then lays sheets of PVC on the mold, heating the plastic so it can take form around the plaster mold.
Her work resonates with me. I understand. I have been that invisible girl/child/woman at different times in my life – and you? Have you ever felt invisible in this fast-paced world?
My works are about people who, instead of getting along with others, choose to keep a distance from them, and be invisible or be left alone unconcerned. Instead of trying to fit into the world, they climb into a space of their own and reject other people’s intrusions. Jin Young Yu
Read an interview with the artist on Arrested Motion
Work in progress pictures here
More images at Union Gallery
jocelyn kolb: computer aided design jewelry
Computer Aided Design (CAD) and 3d Printing allow Jocelyn Kolb to create jewelry that is both organic and precise. Kolb, who has an MFA in metals/jewelry/CAD from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, describes the process below. These images are from her 2008 MFA Thesis Exhibition – you can also see a few of Kolb’s pieces on the Wexler Gallery website.
Maelstrom Brooch, resins, 3.5″ x 3.5″ x 3.5″
Digitalis Brooch, resins, 3″ x 2″ x 6″
Digitalis Brooch, resins, 3″ x 2″ x 6″
“Once I model my work on a computer it is produced by using a machine that 3D prints or builds the pieces layer by layer, an additive process that has always reminded me of the growth of tree rings.”
Spadix Neckpiece, gypsum resin, 14″ x 14″ x 3″
Turitella Brooch, resins, 3′ x 2′ x 6′
Turitella Brooch, resins, 3′ x 2′ x 6′
