I feel like for this blog I have all sorts of people sending me wonderful artists that they think I might like — sometimes it’s a hit and sometimes it’s a miss but it’s turned out to be a great way to keep in touch with people. Neil, a friend of mine through my brother, is a great source of ideas — just last week he send me Andy Holden’s oversized knitting over an armature.

Andy doesn’t just work with knitting though — the above piece is made of timber and plywood. But as you can see there are still sheep!

The above is even larger than the yurt will be and it’s all knit — it’s got a steel and foam internal structure too, which is interesting from the knitted structure perspective.

I’m not even sure what the above is — but I like it. It’s like a sandcastle. I find Andy inspirational because he’s just about my age (two years older) and he’s working outside of “normal” proportions unapologetically.

Another epic discovery over at Lost at E Minor today was their recently featured emerging artist that goes by one name, Jim. While the name is nondescript his work certainly is not. He creates skull-based works that incorporate fibers, found object like tea bags, what looks like plastic cording, paint, etc. I can’t even really tell in some pictures what he’s working with!

I also am not sure if he uses actual skulls — I imagine not, but rather he has a mold for an armature that he prefers…but as this is sort of a cryptic artisan altogether I’m not going to say anything for sure.

The above has the skull covered in sort of glossy rock — like a morbid mosaic of sorts. I don’t know — I really like them if you just don’t think too hard and just think of the skull as a great shape.

I love the black and white one above — it’s interesting how Jim presses the extra materials to the skull — I wonder what sort of epoxy he’s working with. Honestly, a big part of why I’m into this is because of the cow skull my brother and I made my mom for Christmas. More on that at a later date but suffice it to say we took that skull up a notch and matched it to her office.

I highly recommend checking out Jim’s site and looking at all of the wonderful images he has up there — he’s quite prolific. These colored ones appear to be based in a sort of hemp-like rope or cording. He did a whole color series, ROY G BIV-style.

I can’t even imagine how heavy that would be — I also am not sure of the scale of these but I do know I like them! I made some assumptions based on the skulls being life-sized but again…not sure on that. All I know is that Jim has lived in many places in the world including Australia and New Zealand and Paris — as he says in his short and irregular bio, “contemporary art, African, Oceanian, Amerindian, popular, religious…multiple passions and a melting pot of influences.”

Now that I’m back in Boston I’m focusing on the museums, artists, and groups around me as I’m sure you can tell a little. One museum that has several Pokate-bound artists in its sculpture park is the DeCordova Museum, outside of the city in Lincoln. One amazing sculptor on display out there is Tom Chapin, who works from small to large scale and mostly in metals but also wood and granite too I believe.

Can you say amoebic mini-yurt? Well, that might be a little weird to say aloud for some! But this piece in particular had resonance for me when I spent so much time thinking about the shape of a yurt.

The above work, Cloud, I like because it is so top heavy. I can’t image that was easy to find a base for but it’s great to try to convey metal as weightless — the smooth edges I really like.

Above is called, The System and the Hive, which I have to say also appeals to the repetitive artist in me. This is rosewood and stone and, while it reminds me of the Jonathan Adler vase covered in breasts, it moreso has biological, amorphous, insect-like qualities.

Selfishly I love this one because it looks like a piece I needfelted before Christmas — while this could easily be related to the hive concept that Tom’s exploring in a lot of his work I’m choosing to see it as the inside slice of a fruit. To be honest though each “panel” does look suspiciously like an insects wing or a honeycomb — my other favorite things.

Why I love this should be evident at this point. For context, Tom was born in Buffalo, NY in 1954 and worked for a while as a carpenter in New England. He became a sculptor at 33 — pretty inspiring if you ask me.

Stop — too amazing for words. He calls it Apartment Complex. Think about that, and then shake off the invisible bugs that you think are on you — thank goodness I don’t live in New York anymore or I would certainly think there was a cockroach somewhere nearby!

As I’ve mentioned before, my friend Philae is basically my source for all things good and right in the contemporary art world. She just took an amazing new job at 20×200 and thus far she has already been exposing me to such great artists/reminding me to continually check in on the site as they get new works regularly.

Austin Kleon is one artist up on the site now and his works are part of his “Newspaper Blackout” series where he takes a permanent market and a newspaper and writes/makes poetry by eliminating the words he doesn’t need.

He’s turned the concept into a book as well — and is selling a few select prints. Ironically, he lives in Austin, TX too — a town I love for all of its creativity, music, and food. More to come from the coffers of 20×200 I’m sure as time goes on — there are inside out, re-imagined teddy bears up there now too that I may have to post as well!

As we decorate our new place we have tons of artwork propped up against the walls that we’re trying to decide what should go where. Charlotte showed me one big piece she has a plan for the other night and it got me thinking — I have no room in my room for new things but if I did…what might I like — and Miriam Shenitzer’s funny works came to mind.

As most readers here know I’m partial to animal images — Miriam’s work fits that need so well. Part of why I know about Miriam is because she works right next to my new house! The Boston Center for the Arts is nearby and they have many many artists in residency there.

As Miriam says though — she wants to make art that makes people laugh. Her pieces that juxtapose words and accompanying images are great — the above made me laugh a little (on the inside) but also — I love the blue tone in it too.

PIG! Love it, enough said. Great fleshy pinks…looks very clean as pigs go!

Very funny. It appears that Miriam has had an extensive and eclectic education — from York in Toronto to Hebrew University in Jerusalem to Bezalel also in Jerusalen to focus on printmaking and now onto a degree from the graduate school of education here in Boston at Harvard. Something tells me she’d be an entertaining dinner guest.

I have been so busy over at The Yurt Alert I’ve been derelict here, however, I also have had a lull in stumbling up on such inspirational and amorphous works as I typically post. One I have been meaning to post I learned about at Make the other day, that of Henrik Menne.

His works are largely about process and the more erratic forms of creation, something that I’m learning is increasingly more important everyday.

His works are in essence, works in progress, evolving through the machinery that created them in the time that the work is on display.

He seems to stick to materials like glue, dyed glue, and wax for his works — they are liquid when heated but solidify over time when dry allowing for these beuatiful built shapes to emerge.

As I work on the yurt more and more I learn more about my own project in relation to works like Henrik’s — process is as important as the result as the result could be different each time and that many pieces of the outcome aren’t up to the artist at work.

And also — there are no accidents only more knowledge to draw from.