Posted by Anita Bondi on January 31, 2012 under Anita Bondi | 
lately i have been thinking about how much i miss creating performance art. most of my creative time has been spent making jewelry. while satisfying and money making (both very important to me as a self-employed artist), there is just something about being hunched over a dusty dirty bench that can never compare to a huge open studio space and bodies moving together.
this pic may have to be my inspirational jumping off place…
Posted by Marci Molina on January 21, 2012 under Marci Molina |
My birth color is Lion – Pantone 17-1330.
Unusual. Complex. Innovative.
What’s yours?
Click here to find out: www.colorstrology.com
Tags: art, astology, birthday, color, creativity, inspiration, Marci Molina, motivational, music, playful, postaday2011
Posted by Susan Bradford on January 19, 2012 under Susan Bradford |
I made this basket last May in a workshop taught by the wonderful basket maker Judy Zugish. She has great designs and amazing willow that she has grown and prepared herself. But what I loved the most was how she encouraged creativity in all the students. No two baskets were alike, and you’d never know they were even made in the same class.
Originally, I left all the spokes at the top uncut and they completely obscured the opening. I thought of it as mysterious and liked it as a design element without quite knowing why. Then I got a critique from another wonderful basket maker Marilyn Moore who juried a show I entered the basket in. She thought that the top didn’t fit the rest of the basket which was more refined and almost classical. I did see that clearly and resolved to trim all the spokes to a uniform length. But something kept stopping me.
Then last night it finally came to me. I started clipping random spokes at less than uniform length and only clipped the ones that seemed not to fit, or stuck out too much, or were too twisted, or just “asked” to be cut. Here is the result of that. It may not be finished yet. As I looked at the photo, I could see a few more things that I wanted to do. But it is getting close to where I want it to be. Still a bit wild and unruly. But with some light getting into the belly of the basket, the sense of mystery has really only increased. As you go around the perimeter, some spaces are more open, some are more dense. There is no regularity, and that is what I am liking about it.
What made me really happy about this process was that it was one of the first times I felt that I was able to make artistic decisions about a basket in much the same way I would about a painting. Whether it works or not, whether I like it as much in a week as I do today, whether anyone else likes it, none of that matters. I had fun with the process. Taking thirty minutes to clip fifteen spokes. Time well spent, I say!
Posted by Anita Bondi on December 21, 2011 under Anita Bondi |
…to BE AMAZED!
it is also the season of sparkle, glitter, and glitz ~ so go for it!
Posted by Susan Bradford on December 1, 2011 under Susan Bradford |
The holiday season has arrived. It’s official. The frenzy has begun. This year as always, I am caught up with everything that I have to do, complicated by my return trip to PA and all that typically entails.
So painting these little jewels has given me a way to quiet my mind and focus my energy on one single thing. At least while I was working on them. They are magnets by the way. And I had a lot of fun making them. Of course, I thought that I’d be able to whip them out in no time. But I should have known that would never work for me. Instead each one is a little world of its own and each one took me to a different place and taught me different things.
They will be available at the Hope (New Jersey) Craft Market this Saturday, December 3rd, and at the Wellspring Craft show the following weekend, December 10th and 11th.
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