Bob’s Garden Autumn 2016

By: ornamento.blog
ArtLeave a Comment on Bob’s Garden Autumn 2016

Bob’s garden is going to seed.  After one of the hotter summers on record, the cacti are doing well and  the palm trees are thriving.  No bananas this year, but the giant banana leaves offer plenty of shade. Some new varieties of flowers have popped up this year.  Bob does not know what everything he plants is, so there are always some surprises in the garden.   The mums are welcoming the colder autumn days that seem to have appeared out of nowhere.  It’s about time; summer is over.  Here are some pictures.

 

 

To see Bob’s garden in earlier times, press here.

 

 

 

Diane Marimow

By: ornamento.blog
Art, exhibits, Philadelphia, pottery, , , , , Leave a Comment on Diane Marimow

 

The  Parkway has long been the  home of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Rodin Museum.  The relocation of the Barnes from Merion to the Parkway  sparked a flurry of development and the designation of the neighborhood as the Philadelphia Museum District. The Park Towne Place apartment complex, which has rebranded itself as Museum District Residences,  hired a curator and acquired art to  fill the common areas of the complex and  an  art gallery that contains a permanent collection of about 100  works, many of them by Philadelphia artists.

The gallery has space for rotational exhibits.  Park Towne Place plans to have several public art openings each year.  “Constructing Organics” is the first show and is open until December 2016.

Diane Marimow  is  one of the Philadelphia artists whose work is showcased in the “Constructing Organics”  show.   I loved her massive  hand-built pieces that evoked memories of the seashore and marine life.

 

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Diane Marimow  teaches  at The Clay Studio  and has exhibited widely.  See more of her work here and here.

 

Into the Forest in Philadelphia

By: ornamento.blog
Art, Polymer Clay, Polymer Clay conferences, Polymer Clay gatherings, Polymer Clay Guilds, , , , , , , , 4 Comments on Into the Forest in Philadelphia

Last year, polymer artists Emily Squires Levine and Laura Tabakman  spent some late summer days in the  Colorado mountains and were so inspired by their walks through groves of aspen trees  that they decided to collaborate on an installation.

The result  is “Into The Forest” which opened for public viewing in Philadelphia on September 12.  Located  in the South Tower Art Gallery of the Park Towne Apartments in Philadelphia, the installation  is part of the “Constructing Organics” show which features work by three other Philadelphia artists.  InLiquid and AIMCO  co-sponsored the show.

I attended the opening and was excited to see polymer art recognized as fine art. Laura, who lives in Pittsburgh, was not able to attend the opening but Emily did an excellent job of  explaining how she and Laura were influenced by their hikes through the aspen forests and how they translated that experience into an intriguing installation.

Here are some pictures

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Painting by Jeffrey Keith

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Emily talks about “Into The Forest”

 

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Installation at twilight

 

The Philadelphia venue is only the beginning for “Into the Forest.”

I first learned at  the EuroSynergy conference this summer that  Emily and Laura, who have been joined by award winning polymer artist Julie Eakes plan to expand “Into The Forest”  into an  international collaborative project.  Laura  announced the project at the end of her Synergy presentation on “Getting Your Work Ready to Show.” She’d  already wowed the audience with her stories  about how she scouted exhibition  opportunities for her incredible polymer and mixed media installations.  After she revealed the plans for the international collaboration she invited everyone to volunteer via a Facebook group set up for the purpose.   I volunteered right there on my iPad and many people in the audience did the same.

You can volunteer too. Just go to the Facebook group page, here.   You can follow the project on Instagram (@intotheforest17).   Read more about the project on the Polymer Arts Blog.

Several  polymer events to support the program are in the works.  Emily will lead one at the September meeting of the Philadelphia Area Polymer Clay Guild.  For information on this meeting, go to the PAPCG blog.

 

 

 

A Box of Hammers

By: ornamento.blog
Art, hammers, jewelry making tools, , , , 1 Comment on A Box of Hammers

I love going to flea markets to shop for old tools to use for jewelry making. I love unusual hammers most of all. I picked up an old cobbler’s hammer at a sale a little while ago (just because it looked interesting) along with a nifty tack hammer that will be just perfect​ for texturing and maybe riveting.

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I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “dumber than a box of hammmers.” I suppose a box of hammers would not have the collective intelligence of a box of beetles for instance or a box of bicycle messengers. On the other hand, a bag full of hammers is not likely to be more intelligent because said hammers are not in a box.

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A Box of Hammers!

That being said, I initiated the conversation that led to the sale with the question, “Have you ever heard the expression ‘dumber than a box full of hammers?'” The person selling the hammers told me he was familiar with the expression and then gave me a very smart price on my selections from his box of hammers.

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