Elise on May 16 2008 | Filed under: 1997, Hughes, MIPCES Exhibition
OLA NYINGMA
peace-pole, prayer-wheel
Approx. 14′ h
In 1996, when Tory Hughes first heard rumors about Michael Grove’s Wall of Polymer, she immediately sensed a creative challenge. I remember the sly smile on her lips, the emphatic quality of her voice when she swore not to be outdone by “the men.” If anybody was going to construct […]
Martha on Apr 11 2008 | Filed under: 1997, Allen, Amt, Breen, Dever, Dewey, Dustin, Feiss, Ford, Forlano, Gibson, Grove, Haunani, Hughes, Kato, Liska, MIPCES Exhibition, NPCG, Regan, Roche, Toops, Voulkos, Winters, Zinman
Elise asked me to lead a small team of volunteers to research and write about gatherings that influenced the development of polymer as an art medium. This is the first of these posts and we hope to follow up with more. Special thanks to Nancy Travers who organized all the materials about MIPCES.
Masters’ Invitational Polymer […]
Rachel on Apr 01 2008 | Filed under: 1980's, Critical Commentary, Hughes, Voulkos
Reading Kathleen Dustin’s essay on the early development of polymer clay, which has been so much of the PAA the past few weeks, brings to mind something Victoria Hughes wrote for the archive. Her piece, “On the Road” opens by mentioning a ride with Pier Voulkos and how the two of them were getting to […]
Kathleen on Mar 25 2008 | Filed under: Allen, Carlson, Dewey, Flower Valley Press, Ford, Forlano, Haunani, Hughes, Millefiore, NPCG, Ornament, Roche, Segal, Shriver, The New Clay, Toops, Torpedo Factory, Voulkos
In 1987, at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in the Washington, D.C. area, I taught my first workshop on polymer bead-making based on the simple techniques I had developed. On the advice of an artist colleague, I submitted a short article to Ornament magazine. Published in 1988, my article was entitled “The Use of Polyform […]
Elise on Mar 07 2008 | Filed under: 1970's, 1980's, Hughes, The New Clay, Voulkos
Are you hooked on Kathleen Dustin’s presentation about the work done by the early polymer bead makers? Then, you’ll want to see even more images by those pioneers. After each of Kathleen’s next few installments, I will provide you with an expanded view of those artists’ early work.
In the gallery that follows you can put […]
Kathleen on Mar 04 2008 | Filed under: 1970's, Caning, Hughes, Imitative, Julie: Artisans Gallery, Millefiore, Synergy NPCG 2008 Conference, Voulkos
This is Part Two of the speech delivered at Synergy: the 2008 National Polymer Clay Guild Conference held in Baltimore, Maryland in February 2008. The entire speech will be publish in serial form in five parts on Polymer Art Archive .
The Earliest Polymer Bead-makers
Many of these American artists first became aware of the polymer brand Fimo in […]
Kathleen on Feb 29 2008 | Filed under: 1930-70, 1970's, 1980's, Allen, City Zen Cane, Dustin, Ford, Forlano, Grove, Hughes, Product Development, Synergy NPCG 2008 Conference, Toops, Voulkos
This is Part One of the speech delivered at Synergy: the 2008 National Polymer Clay Guild Conference held in Baltimore, Maryland last week. The entire speech will be publish on Polymer Art Archive in serial form.
Polymer clay developed initially for making dolls and puppets but it wasn’t until it was embraced as a bead and […]
Elise on Feb 26 2008 | Filed under: Design, Hughes, Imitative
What do you do when you have an assortment of special beads that you finally have decided to use? Stringing up a necklace of disparate beads to achieve an attractive result is no easy feat. Yet, Victoria Hughes makes it look simple in this short, recently assembled sampler necklace that combines polymer with bits and […]
Victoria on Jan 15 2008 | Filed under: Hughes, Voulkos
One afternoon several years ago, Pier and I were driving slowly around Oakland and Alameda, looping along Interstate-980 in the ubiquitous dense traffic that proves you are in The Bay Area. She had picked me up at Jeremy Gordon’s house in Berkeley to take me over, see her studio, hang out a bit.
We had already […]
Elise on Dec 28 2007 | Filed under: 1995, Amt, Chatoyance, Dustin, Ford, Forlano, Gibson, Haunani, Hughes, International Bead Conference, Roche, Toops, Voulkos
This image, stunning for its deceptive simplicity, provides unusual insight into the development of polymer artistry. Shown are the 12 beads Pier Voulkos brought to exhibit and sell at the 1995 International Bead conference in Washington D.C. Those who know Pier’s work well will recognize that these beads both mapped her past work and forecast her future. […]