Polymer Art Archive

The first time I encountered Leslie Blackford’s inventive creations was the summer of 2007. It was decidedly different from the figurative polymer work I had seen before. From the early days of polymer clay, many artists have found the material to be well suited to sculpting. Two notable artists who use polymer in a sculptural or figurative manner are Katherine Dewey and Maureen Carlson. Although stylistically very different, both Katherine’s and Maureen’s pieces are fanciful, and highly accomplished in terms of technique, finish, and completeness of an idea. To me, their figures always seem to allude to a story.

Leslie’s figures also suggest a story but generally one that has a bit of an edge. Her work often engages the viewer with intimations of irony, emotion and darkness despite their seemingly whimsical or humorous appearance. The immediacy of her approach is present in both her imagery and her style. Leslie’s art has a folksy quality to it, although to me, it also recalls the imagery of the 15th century Netherlanders painter, Hieronymus Bosch. The titles of Leslie’s pieces offer hints as to what she might have been thinking. Her method is direct, her techniques tend to be simple and although most of her figures are conceptually complete, her workmanship is not meticulous. One gets the idea that she needs to express her ideas quickly before both the time and the impetus evaporates. Continue Reading »

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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 Clay Exhibition and Sale (MIPCES): The Cutting Edge in Polymer Clay

The event consisted of a month-long exhibition featuring at least one major experimental piece from each of the invited artists. The kick-off weekend events included exhibiting artists’ lectures, workshops, demos, and slide shows; a sale of polymer clay wearables and collectibles by the exhibiting artists; and auction to benefit the National Polymer Clay Guild. OCCC sponsored one and two day workshops during the rest of the month-long exhibition period.

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Twice in my lifetime I’ve held golden treasure in my hands, two unrecognized artistic creations that were being offered up for sale — at the price of lead or tin. Buying both of those objects altered my life and led me to where I am today.

The second purchase, a pair of polymer clay earrings in 1995, resulted in an epiphany, one of those rare life-altering moments. Sales slip tucked safely into my wallet, I felt a mission coming on: somehow I was going to help elevate the status of polymer clay as a recognized art form. Some day, serious craft collectors were going to be bidding against each other for the kind of object I had just purchased for a mere $60. 

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By the mid 1990’s Michael and Ruth Anne Grove had become masters of what was then called the “step blend”.  They used the technique not just to add shading within their cane but to create intricate texture and pattern as seen in this brooch. 

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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 know each other.  However, the essence of the recollection really is about the different ways both Victoria and Pier approach the process of exploring and making art.  I was reminded of this post as I was looking at images of Victoria’s and Pier’s early works within the Dustin text as well as through Elise’s auxiliary posts.  After viewing the collective body of their images, their different approaches are readily apparent.  Victoria generally seems to examine new ways to challenge the material through faux effects and assemblage techniques, while Pier pursues an approach that tends to probe the full realm of possibilities within a structured format such as the bead.  

I also noticed how far two extraordinary artists had come as practitioners of polymer clay within the scope of about ten years.  From the early works of Pier and Victoria, to the more realized work of a decade hence, there is an obvious improvement in skills and understanding.  None the less, the seeds of their later, more established styles are all there in the early work just waiting to be nurtured.

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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 Sarah Shriver’s work into context over a decade.  Click on each image to examine each piece more closely.

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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 in Bead-making.”  (my usage of the word “polyform” reflected my misunderstanding of the generic name of polymer clay at that time.) The article briefly discussed the material and its properties, described the millefiore techniques and displayed images of my own work. A significant effect of my article was to enable other isolated polymer pioneers of the time to realize that they were not alone in exploring the medium for bead-making, and that others had been developing the crucial millefiore technique independently.

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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 Toop’s and City Zen Cane’s (aka Ford/Forlano) work into context over a decade.  Click on each image to examine the pieces more closely.
Cynthia Toops, 2 People beads and Rabbit bead, latter 1 1/4″ h

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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 was given a necklace of Pier Voulkos beads displaying the “painting” technique. (The necklace had been acquired from Julie: Artisan’s Gallery, in New York City.)  I had been introduced to polymer clay while studying in Lebanon in 1971, and immediately understood the concept of joining colored clays together in a bead and began making beads.  Familiar with the work of noted ceramic artist Jane Peiser, who layered colored porcelain into large “loaves” and sliced them thickly, I immediately conceived of my own millefiore technique in polymer clay. Continue Reading »

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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 Martha Breen’s, Jamey Allen’s and Grove & Gorve’s work into context over a decade.  Click on each image to examine their pieces more closely.

Martha Breen, Platform Mules, size 5, 1995

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