Elise on May 30 2008 | Filed under: 1997, MIPCES Exhibition, Toops
ANEMONE HAT
polymer clay, brass, velvet, aluminum screen
7” diameter, 3 1/2”h
In the MIPCES catalog, Cynthia Toops wrote: “Dan and I create beads for elaborate jewelry pieces. For this project I wanted to make a full-size hat and imposed one restriction- no beads. We partially encased wire elements in polymer clay in a different way […]
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 […]
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 21 2008 | Filed under: 1980's, City Zen Cane, Toops
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 installments, I have been providing you with an expanded view of those artists’ early work.
In the gallery that follows you can put Cynthia […]
Kathleen on Mar 18 2008 | Filed under: Blends, Breen, City Zen Cane, Dustin, Ford, Forlano, Micromosaic, Millefiore, Shriver, Toops
This is Part Four 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 .
In the Washington, D.C., area also in 1986, where I was working as a ceramic artist, I […]
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 22 2008 | Filed under: 1995, Backfill, Micromosaic, Ravensdale 1996, Toops
Here’s another treat for your viewing pleasure to tide you over until I return from the ACC Baltimore Craft Show.
When I began to think seriously about building a substantial collection of polymer art, I wanted my first purchase to be literally the cornerstone: the most significant piece I could afford by the finest artist I […]
Elise on Feb 01 2008 | Filed under: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1995 Polymer Clay Calendar, Ford, Julie: Artisans Gallery, Nonpareils, Toops, Voulkos, Zinman
Coining new words is not my specialty, but the last three posts on this site seemed to demand a descriptive term for the tiny, hand formed polymer balls used by Lori, Amy, Cynthia, Pier and others. For the purpose of uniform terminology, let’s call them “nonpareils.”
When I asked Amy Zinman about the technical inspiration […]
Elise on Jan 25 2008 | Filed under: 1995, 1998, Feiss, Illuminating a Medium: Polymer Retrospective, Muse NPCG 2001 Conference, Nonpareils, Toops, Zinman
Having given birth to this website exactly a month ago, and having nursed it through its formative days, I’ve gained some unexpected rewards.
To get the site up and running, I’ve had to review thousands of slides that had been sitting in boxes as well as taking new photos of my own polymer art collection and […]
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. […]