Archive for June, 2010
Deck yourself out with a Carmen Miranda
crochet beaded necklace with colorful beads and vermeil clasp by Rickie Leiter
Artist Statement: Childhood experiences started me on a path of looking at nature with appreciation and awe. Collecting stones and shells from trips around the world always kept those pleasant memories alive in a special way. As each token became a necklace, I learned new ways to create art jewelry and thus a new path in my life’s journey began… and I am still “stepping out of the box.”
Each piece of jewelry I create is unique and distinctive — the design begins to reveal itself as I start to work with its elements. Beads of all kinds plus other materials one might not consider using for jewelry are part of my artist’s palette.
Pulling inspiration from their fine art backgrounds, Seattle area artists Jon and Tracy Haaland of Chemical Wedding strive to bring utility and wearablity to their art.
In 2003 Jon and Tracy teamed up to create a line of unique handcrafted leather handbags. They used new and scrap leathers together with hand-formed copper rings, intricate silk screen designs and their own brand of rustic hand crafted wood handles creating pieces of wearable art that are out of the ordinary. In a short amount of time their handbags have been seen in galleries and boutiques around the world from San Francisco to Hong Kong. Jon and Tracy handcraft each bag to order. The artistic process is what they love.
Handblown glass Megaplanet 3.5" diameter with a small flattened bottom
Josh Simpson contemporary glass sculptures are in galleries and museum throughout the U.S. and worldwide.
Gallery Five has a small collection of small hand blown glass planets and other spherical glass art sculptures, paperweights, and perfume bottles. Pictured here is an an imaginary planet with filigrana cane and precious metals, an original Josh Simpson design.
Artist Statement
Evolution is an apt word to describe the trajectory of my work — it is an organic process that happens over time and is full of trial and error. Thirty years into my career as a glass artist, I can look back and see the branching in the evolutionary family trees of my work. In the moment, when I am in my studio, I don’t think about where I’ve come from, I merely ask the next question of myself and the glass and move toward its answer.
Thirty years ago, I started out focusing on making goblets because to me they represented the ultimate challenge for a glass artist. I spent seventeen years seeking the perfect goblet. But that wasn’t all I did during that time. With the goblets and then planets, vases, and iridescent glass, as with all my work, I have always learned by experimenting and doing. I usually work at something until I’m satisfied I’ve got it right. I always seem to have more ideas than I’ll ever have time to make.
Inspiration
The last thing I do before I go to bed is walk out to my studio to check the furnaces. Seeing an aurora borealis, or watching a thunderstorm develop down the valley, or just looking up at the sky on a perfect summer night inspires me to translate some of the wonder of the universe into my glass. That wonder comes out in my work, not in any purposeful way but slowly. My work evolves in such incremental steps that I often don’t recognize the natural influences until someone points them out to me.
Along with the natural world, my motivation comes directly from the material itself. Glass is an alchemic blend of sand and metallic oxides combined with extraordinary, blinding heat. The result is a material that flows and drips like honey. When it’s hot, glass is alive. It moves gracefully and inexorably in response to gravity and centrifugal force. It possesses an inner light and transcendent radiant heat that makes it simultaneously one of the most frustrating - and one of the most rewarding – materials to work with. I attempt to coax it; all it wants to do is drip on the floor. Most of my work reflects a compromise between me and the glass; the finished piece is the moment in time when we agree.
Josh Simpson contemporary glass
copper face double circle wall clock
Girardini Design metal art collection at Gallery Five includes clocks, lamps, vases, fruit baskets, and more.
Julie and Ken Girardini are a husband and wife design team who have been working with metal for the past eighteen years. They have participated in some of the finest juried craft shows over those years.
They are self taught in all aspects of metal work, and explore daily with different finishing techniques, e.g., grinding, polishing, and patination of metals to achieve a light reflective and alluring surface. Ken welds using a TIG welder in addition to a plasma cutter to cut the steel. They have fabricated a number of cutting jigs to efficiently use this machine, and also utilize a variety of saws, sanders and grinders.
flying dragon wall clock
The Girardinis strongly feel that objects which people interact with daily need to be well designed and functional in addition to being beautiful.
Gallery Five is where you can find limited edition, handcrafted in the USA, unique gifts: ceramics, glass, fiber, metal and wood – and wearable art: clothes, accessories and jewelry.
Month of June – Dads and Grads SALE 15% OFF selected featured items at GalleryFive.com.