Free Valentines!

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?  I know a lot of people don't for a variety of reasons.  But I like Valentine's Day, even though it's not in any way a Jewish holiday (you can't even pretend it's not the feast of St. Valentine).  I just like love notes and hearts.  What can I say.

Amy Rice, an artist I found through poppytalk, is providing cute free valentines to download, print, and distribute!  They are so cute and sweet.  And also, Amy Rice is a really interesting artist, so make sure to take a look at the rest of her work.

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(Of course, for Valentine's day there's always the classic "I Choo Choo Choose You" and "Let's BEE Friends" valentines from the Simpsons.  Can't go wrong with those.)

Face Jugs

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Face Jugs have a long history in the Southern US but nobody seems to know exactly their origins.  The most common stories are that they were invented as a way to warn children of the poisonous contents of the jars (be it arsenic or moonshine) or that they were meant to keep away evil spirits from the graves of family members.  Most believe the tradition began with slaves who worked pottery wheels for manufacturing goods and created face jugs for their own use.  One source even mentions that the face jugs may be an artistic coping technique, to deal with the harsh and oppressive conditions in which these people lived and worked.  The tradition of face jugs has continued to this day in many areas of the Southeast, especially in North Carolina and Georgia.
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Featured Blogs: The Lady Cartoonist and the "A Scarf a Day" project

I found out about this awesome project from CRAFTzine.  Meredith Scheff (The Lady Cartoonist) is making a scarf every day for the month of January!  I know this is near the end of the project, but it's great to go back and look at all of the amazing scarves she's made.  It's pretty incredible.  I know I have a hard time with NaBloPoMo and that's just writing a blog post every day.  Imagine creating a new scarf every day!

My favorites are the organs scarf and the giant tuba scarf (both pictured above).  She also has a shower utility scarf, a scarf with bones felted into it, a scarf that is in the process of sprouting (literally, she planted seeds in it and put it in a bucket of water to sprout), and more and more and more!  What a fun and interesting project - to watch, I mean ... I can't imagine trying to do this myself!

I Heart Funamals

In this video, Amy (the artist behind Funamals) describes Funamals, how she came up with it, her past as a dancer, and is generally hilarious and awesome.  If I lived in Michigan I would try to make Amy my friend.

When I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a wedding I bought up a ton of her stuff at Minty Keen.  This is a store you must visit next time you find yourself in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I bought mostly presents for other people but I also bought a kitty magnet and a set of "um, hi" crab note cards for myself.  I also frequently haunt her etsy shop.  LOVE! IT!  In addition to her paintings and stationary, she sells hand-made textiles and puppets, and has a few stop-motion animation videos on her website using her paintings.  She's prolific and whimsical and really has a sense of humor that comes through her work.

Watch the video, then buy her stuff.  There is nothing else you can do.

Oh yeah, there is something else you can do, you can visit her website: www.thefunamals.com or her blog thefunamals.blogspot.com.

New ceramic goals

I have discovered the dark brown clay at the studio and now it's all I want to use.  I just love it.  My favorite part of using it is that I don't feel like I need much glaze at all because I love the color of the clay so much.

top bowl

This technique I figured out by accident when I tried to wipe one of my other bowls because it had too much glaze on it.  I realized I really liked the crackled, faded look of the glaze, and so I set about to achieve it on purpose with the dark clay.

The top bowl just has one, thick coating of white glaze on it that I gently dabbed off with a sponge.  I left the inside untouched so it would stay sealed (for sanitary reasons).  The bottom bowl I made a while ago and I wasn't sure how it would turn out, so I couldn't resist dropping some green glaze on it.  I'm not sure how I feel about the green glaze, though, to me it kind of looks like someone sneezed on it.

bottom bowl

I went into the studio this week and made eight things.  I'm getting better at envisioning a shape and then creating it.  Sure, I have been able to make bowls, but their shape is largely by accident.  I've gotten to the point where I can make a decent shape and then trim it so it doesn't weigh five thousand pounds when it's finished, but now I want to be able to make what I want to make when I want to make it.  That was my task for myself when I went into the studio this week.

Not all of these pieces may make it to the finishing stage, but I am proud of them.  I don't have a picture yet but when they're trimmed and ready to fire I will take pictures!  I made four bowls, one tea cup, two mugs, and one hand washing cup (something like these, but I'm not sure of the finished shape or design yet).  I tried to make a plate but it was a disaster.  Plates are somehow so much harder than the other shapes!

My main goal right now is to make a ceramic cup.

I saw stepanka ceramics at the One of a Kind show this year and have fallen in love with her work.  I especially like the shape of her cups.  In a way, mugs are easy because they are short and wide.  Cups are hard because they are tall and narrow, very hard for me to throw right now.  Lots of people make cups this shape (usually called "tumblers") but when I saw her cups at the show I said to myself: I am going to make one of these!  Actually, I wish I had just bought one, because even when I get this shape mine will never have the same look as hers.

stepanka ceramics

Once I make a ceramic cup I hope I will decide on a new shape to conquer.  Maybe a platter.

I'm so excited that I've gotten to a level of throwing where I'm not struggling as much with the basic throwing technique anymore.  I can center my clay and generally make something out of it more often than not (on a good day).

Coming up I will show some pictures of an interesting coffee mug I designed based on an idea by my friend Jason.  It's still in the beginning stages so I might not show it until it's completely finished, but it's exciting!

I want my studio to look like this!

This is what I want my studio to look like.  I LOVE it.  It's so simple, pretty, inspiring and fun!

These photo (above and below) is from The Storque's post about the studio of Christine Tillman.  It makes me want to decorate my studio, which I re-organized two months ago.

Also, doesn't she seem like a neat person to know??

I love the hilarious stuffed cat about to maul her face, and those giant tree ring slices hanging out under her desk.

White is such an interesting color for a studio because you know you're going to make a mess all over it.  But at the same time, it looks like her studio space isn't much larger than mine (and has a sloped ceiling to boot), so the white opens it up.

Here is her etsy shop:

Check her out for some great paper products (from stationary to 3D work with paper).  LOVE IT.

My studio space hasn't much changed since when I redid it back on Halloween:

The room is a little over five feet wide (you can almost touch the walls if you stretch your arms out from side to side) so I had really minimal space to work with.  But making floor-to-ceiling shelves really helped open up the space in the back so I have room to move around.  I still have to cut large sheets of paper on the dining room table but I can do most of my work in here.  Even painting and block printing!  See my neat fold-up travel easel?

I love my studio space because I really have so many different kinds of art supplies I can do whatever project on a whim.  Painting (acrylic or watercolor), printmaking (block or screen), fabric dying, printing on fabric, found object or oven-bake-clay sculpture, sewing, drawing, photography, video editing, bookmaking, scrapbooking, jewelry, embroidery, whatever I want to work on, it's here.  It's kiiind of ridiculous and awesome at the same time.

Maybe I should make some fun paper chain decorations and hang them from the ceiling, too...

Landscape in a Coffee Cup

This piece, created by Yukihiro Kaneuchi , is a little landscape in a coffee cup that appears over time from the stain of the coffee inside the mug.

(Image credit and original article from designmilk.com : http://bit.ly/i7NoSb)

I love this idea!  It's cool to make art that changes over time, reflecting how often it's used (and making art that encourages being used).  It reminds me of Japanese tea ceremony cups described in the book Thousand Cranes, that sometimes were stained on the rim from the lipstick of generations of women.

My only concern is how the stain is able to stick to the mug... the only way I can think this would be possible would be for the bare clay to be exposed, which unfortunately isn't very sanitary.  I would be interested to know how it works!

Found Object Art Month Ends...

Well, it's certainly been fun.  

Found Object Art Month has been a challenge for me as a blogger, artist, and art therapist.  I'm going to use this post to serve as the blog-equivalent of a clip show, remembering the good times...

I've featured a few interesting blogs with recycling in mind.

I've given you a few ideas for found object art projects.

I've shown you a few artists who use recycled or found objects in their work (and some where you can purchase their work on etsy!)

And I've updated you on the progress of one of my own found object art projects that I'm doing with clients at work.

Oh, and so much more...

Tomorrow is a big gallery show and creative arts celebration at work, where all of the found object art projects will be on display.  Unfortunately, I can't show you any pictures from that event due to confidentiality, BUT I can promise you, it is really going to be awesome.

And now I leave you with one of my favorite found object artists (or, rather, two of them, they work together): Tim Noble and Sue Webster.  They use light and shadow on found objects to create AMAZING work. 

Image found in this blog post over at web designer depot, which also has examples of even more found object artists!!



Coming soon: a 'zine about running Found Object Art Month at your art therapy site!

Tinfoil (as found object?)

Stunning.

Or, check out the section of the artist's website about "Speed Creating".  For 30 days he tried to create completely new projects (often, they ended up being out of found objects!). This tinfoil project was Day 24.

(image credit to the artist, Dominic Wilcox.)

Richard Salley, and intention in found object art making

I found this image of a beautiful found-object jewelry piece by Richard Salley on vintaj.com, a jewelry website/magazine/blog.  The wrote that Richard said,

"...the thing about found object art is that the pieces themselves don’t have much value. The value comes from the creative process of putting those things together in some artful way" 

Yes!   He says he doesn't consider himself a jeweler, more like someone who can make wearable art, since he doesn't use any materials that have intrinsic value.  I love that.  That's really why I love found object art.  These materials are lowly pieces of trash (more often than not), but they can be raised to a higher level by the creative process of assemblage and intention.  It sometimes feels like a parallel process to art therapy work - that someone's challenges, set-backs, sadness, could be something they would want to throw away, but it can be transformed into something beautiful.

(Read Richard Salley's blog!)

Marcel Duchamp: first famous found object artist?

Fountain, by Marcel Duchamp.
(image credit to the wikipedia article)

Well, maybe he wasn't the first famous found object artist, but certainly his fountain is a classic example of found object art (although, is it maybe more conceptual art than found object art?.

Michelle Renee Bernard

Michelle Renee Bernard's (image credit to her) website "Yesterday's Trash" has many fantastic examples of found object art projects! Iwent to her site recently to find some inspiration for some of my art groups that I'm running at work.  Her pieces have an amazing sense of humor, made from toys and seemingly random objects.  There's something a little carnival about it.  Check out her etsy site to purchase her work!

Cork Baby

This "cork baby" is made by Marita Dingus, written about in the Olympia Dumpster Diver's blog. Marita regularly uses found objects in her artwork, so please check out her website! Also the Olympia Dumpster Diver's blog is full of great images of their finds, as well as the work made from some of fruits of their dives :)

Little Worlds in Toilet Paper Tubes

These little worlds were made by Anastassia Elias. Wow. It's amazing what you can do when you re-imagine materials! Who would have thought to cut these little scenes out of the inside of toilet paper tubes? I love the way they become like silhouette scenes when the light shines just right.

I also happen to kind of love silhouette art, which I guess is trendy right now, but one of my favorite artists is Kara Walker (and a google image search). I actually went to a talk she gave a couple of years ago in Chicago. Very cool and inspiring! It's amazing how evocative a simple black and white silhouette can be.

(Found Anastassia Elias from the Renegade Handmade blog)

Happy birthday to me!!

Today is my birthday :) Hooray!

I am very excited to show you the progress on the "Defining Home" directive. I started this in one of my groups last week and now I love how it's going. The beans will be painted blue so they match the nest.

Maybe this is a boring post to you, but I am writing it the night before my birthday, and I have no idea what my birthday will bring (probably working in the ceramics studio and then going out to dinner). I also just got back from the American Art Therapy Association Conference in Sacramento, which I will tell you about a full month late in December - after Found Object Art Month is over.

So, enjoy the progress... I know I am!

Cigarette Butt Rug

This rug was made entirely out of found cigarette butts! That's pretty disgusting but it looks amazing! This is one of those "do not try this at home" type of things...

Read more about it here: designboom.com/...

(Image credit to the linked article)

Car Parts + James Corbett

Image credit: telegraph.co.uk

James Corbett was one of the first artists to pop up when I began my search for junk art artists. Specifically, I was looking for artists who made stuff out of old car parts, and these are just beautiful.



Image credit: pyd.com.au

Check out his website for more! Although, honestly, I'm finding a ton of stuff just searching in google images for "James Corbett car part art".

Art with leaves

Her blog is in French, but for more of these beautiful leaf assemblages visit atelierpourenfants' blog :)

I wish I could do some work like this! Maybe I'll have to get some leaves when I leave the city... not sure I trust the germy NYC sidewalks (haha).

Gnome-Be-Gone

I love the work of Fred Conlon! I'm pretty sure I saw him at the Bayou City Arts Festival in Houston a few years ago. I LOVE his wacky sculptures, especially his hilarious Gnome-Be-Gones:



One thing I love about junk art is that it often has a sense of humor. I guess you have to have a sense of humor when you make art out of random things you dig up!



Like the artwork? Click the images to purchase them! Or visit sugarpost.com.

Featured Blogs: Recycleart

The first featured blog of Found Object Art Month is a blog about recycle art called RecycleArt!


Many of the images and inspirations for this month come from this blog, so please browse through it! Of course, many of the work posted on this blog is out of reach for the average junk/trash/recycling artist, but they definitely are inspiring.

For instance, the cardboard paintings of Gavin Worth:


I'll be highlighting more art found on this blog in the coming month!