Author Archive


Posted on May 11, 2012 - by

Allie Rex

My job is an odd one as I spend 99% of my time talking about technology and various Internet and mobile companies and another 80% of my time (everyone works more than 100% of their “allotted” time I believe) writing here, working on the yurt and volunteering with parks groups.

So I guess one of my most fun things is when those worlds overlap and this week they did. I met, via work work, a girl who I think would be my friend friend even sans work, which is the best kind. While we met talking startups it turns out we have far more in common from an artistic standpoint and low and behold she introduced me to the work of Allie Rex.

Allie is a Brooklyn-based artist who seems to currently work mostly in mylar painted with acrylic, pinned in patterns to create wall installations. Some of them are sparse as the above while others are quite dense and intense in their representations (like the above x2).

I love that they’re not monochromatic and yet not crazy as I so often find things with many colors. These are soothing even with their angles. Maybe it’s because mylar isn’t too hard a material but at the same time it can be tricky to cut through at times.

I believe these are painted on the backside to create the sense of the glowing rainbow, with I love. These are little hearts if you can’t tell – so wonderful.

Maybe it’s because it’s nearly summer but my favorite piece is this pink beauty! I also love stroke marks – so very cool :)


Posted on May 9, 2012 - by

Ruth Borgenicht

I think I should have realized this soon – crochet looks like chain mail and knitting too in some instances but definitely crochet. I know the stitch is called chaining and I guess the thought has crossed my mind before but the work of Ruth Borgenicht really drove this idea home. She creates chain mail out stoneware materials and subsequently uses that to create vessels, wall art, etc.

They’re really unbelievable. I shutter to think how stressful the firings must be as they must be pre-assembled before that, right? I don’t really get how they remain so acute, not floppy or smushed as some things can get before your firing takes effect.

It’s nutty to me that she is able to achieve this beauty and regularity out of clay! I love this in her artist statement, “Using clay to make a protective mesh is contradictory; for how can it defend anything, much less itself? Visually stone-like, the pieces appear strong and impenetrable, belying their inherent fragility.”

To me this has an almost plasticine look to it. So regular in tone, and consistent. This reminds me of what the beginning of my yurt will look like once it gets started.

You may have guessed this but Ruth spent a great deal of her life in college studying math – this makes sense to me looking at the regularity and multiples visible in her pieces.

And then there’s chaos! Her wall art pieces might be my favorite though her tree (2 above) is very visually appealing.

It almost looks soft, like knitwear – but no. Ruth currently works out of NJ and was raised both there and in Israel. The other thing that I like a lot about Ruth and her site is that she lists prices for objects. As a young-ish person (my 28th birthday is next week) and therefore a new collector of art, it’s great fun to know if artists I admire might be within my grasp to own a piece of their creativity! It’s very rare to see that openness though.


Posted on May 7, 2012 - by

Suzanne Husky

I have been MIA! Going off on my own and working for myself was a quick way to re-engage my mind out of a bit of dormancy, however, it has also meant less time than I expected on my own things – like the blog. Good thing there are incredible people over on Facebook sharing all sorts of stuff I’m into – including the works of Suzanne Husky.

This is a pod big enough to fit several humans and she’s made it to look like a porcupine (perhaps not on purpose but that’s what it looks like to me!). I can’t imagine this would be too difficult to build but time consuming!

Suzanne appears to be best known for her recycling efforts and environmental commentary through her work though her site has the funniest artist’s statement I’ve come across, “You may contact me, if you want something like: blablabla blablabla blablabla blablabla reflect on blablabla cognitariat blablabla my work blablabla blablabla blablabla globalisation blablabla interested in blablabla blablabla precariat blablabla blablabla environmental issues blablabla blablabla.” Priceless.

Her pieces inspire me to light a fire under my own yurt project (thought it’s on hold until all of the wool is clean). This looks so fun to work in and build!

Little structural pods, I love them all.


Posted on April 22, 2012 - by

Rina Peleg

My parents are big into native american vessels. Growing up we had an entire room filled with pieces that were woven, clay, leather, you name it. When I saw Rina Peleg’s work I was immediately brought back to time in our TV room – the only room where things in our house were kept behind glass cases.

Those are woven. I can’t even fathom how she does this. When you think about how quickly clay dries and then how brittle it becomes? I just can’t imagine how she does these and keeps them looking so so even and perfectly spherical.

Beautiful – like woven snow. Rina was born in 1940 in Israel and grew up in a Kibbutz with her parents who she refers to as “intense” in her bio – I love that.

With this image you can see how she really makes the clay look like plant parts often used to weave baskets. I wonder if she makes these over armatures in order to work faster.

I love how she ties her work with clay back to the land and history. As she points out in her bio, clay is what is often used to date buildings and artifacts and tie them to the people that were around at the time. It’s a huge contextualizer for our shared history – it’s interesting to me that she chose a US flag to make. It’s at once permanently frozen in that shape while also being extremely fragile.

This color, this orange-y red is my new favorite color this season so I had to include more of it. This close up too begs the question if, when the pieces are fired if they shrink and what her loss rate is like. Maybe she just lets them air dry without firing…can you do that?

So so beautiful, perfect, and regular – my favorite, and monochrome, even better.


Posted on April 16, 2012 - by

Jonathan Delafield Cook

Rare is it that I’m not writing about sculpture here on the blog but when I saw Jonathan Delafield Cook’s charcoal drawings I was blown away. When I saw their scale I was even more impressed!

The above is from his Nest series and is 78×82 centimeters – that’s huge! And it’s all charcoal. Some people think charcoal and the first thought is “what a mess” but this is truly extraordinary. You can imagine a little bird just curling up inside it!

I mean, I just don’t event think I need to write anything. They’re that good.

You think you can touch them. I did when I first saw them.

I love the circular shape but I will note that he draws other things (other favorites are his animals – bulls, cows and feathers too).

For scale – in the background is one of his bulls I believe and in the foreground, his feathers. I love the unframed look, it’s what we have for several of our pieces in our home and it feels less intimidating.

And an anemone – he draws many floral pieces as well. Jonathan is a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London and from what I can tell he’s still working and living in the UK.


Posted on April 15, 2012 - by

Fenella Elms

Fenella Elms’ porcelain wall art pieces embody many elements that I love – they’re undulating, made up of many pieces, and take time and patience for their creation.

I’m not quite sure how these are made. I think they are little porcelain chips almost that are sewn onto linen and put onto a board. I love that they look topographical and also like the top of a wave almost.

I just love them. I also really like that they’re monochromatic – Elms doesn’t use much glaze it seems in her work, which it sounds like is mostly slipcast.

I mean…massive. If you can believe it, ceramic work is Elms’ second career. On her site she explains that her first career was in mental health and that it influences her current work in, “the subconscious approach, a sense of rhythm, attention to detail and difference.” I couldn’t agree more.

The above are her pod pieces, which might be my favorite. I love that the outside  looks almost salt/sugar encrusted and the inside has colored little chips in it.

Awesome. They’re all awesome. I for one am glad Elms discovered ceramics!


Posted on April 10, 2012 - by

Judit Varga

Today (at the end of the day) I need a little inspiration. As exhilarating as being off on my own again is, I need to remind myself to take advantage of this newfound flexibility and be sure to blog, look at pictures, and be inspired! That will continue to lead to better product for my professional me. So just when I was looking for something…along came Judit Varga.

The above is made of clay though it resembles rusted steel. This piece, and others below are from her pods series and they remind me of the back of my mini yurts!

In her artist statement, Judit explains that she is, obviously, inspired by nature and the reasons behind the forms that she recreates. She also notes, which I love, that her handbuilding is such a slow process that it forces her to take a step back from what she’s doing. That’s exactly the mindset I need to stay in as well. It’s the end goal that’s the goal at all, how you get there and how you redirect and build something up is the fun!

She refers to, “the transient steadiness of the forever changing” – how wonderful is that and challenging it is to work with the balance of that idea and the end goal of a finished product. So many paths are similar in roots of success and process!

The above is from her knots series and again, I love the weathered look. Judit is Hungarian and attended teaching college there as well as a school for art and design. From the looks of her recent shows though she may be based in the US now, near D.C., I’m not sure.


Posted on April 8, 2012 - by

Gabrielle Baëcile

A lot of the ceramics I look at are porcelain, delicate and, in many cases, many small parts make up a whole. In the case of Gabrielle Baëcile though, none of this is the case. Her work is sculptural, has a density to it, and reminds me of coral.

From what I can glean from the internet, which is minimal, Gabrielle lives in France and makes these extraordinary works.

I love the colors and the textures of her pieces. I could easily see a fish or eel swimming through these.

Ridiculous. They look not only like coral but also like conehead brains to me.

I wish I could find more out about her. I’ve had these images saved on my desktop for a few weeks now hoping I could do more investigating, however, this past week was my first week of self-employment so things have been a little crazy to say the least and now we’re in Chicago for Passover/Easter weekend.

Oh well…sometimes you just get to enjoy the works with little context! This one to me looks like a removed organ with it’s half-cut tubes.


Posted on April 1, 2012 - by

Subodh Gupta

Subodh Gupta’s work involves a lot of welding/soldering, which I’m into right now. I can’t find too much out about this New Delhi-based artist but I love the scale and the techniques he uses for his works.

Te above, UFO, is made up of many of the same item (in this case a metal saucer/bowl) being welded together to create a huge piece. I like the recycling element to his pieces.

Same piece, close up. It seems as though he uses a lot of everyday items but by collecting them en masse and arranging them in his own way, he turns them into new structures.

This looks like it’s made out of creamers (metal). I do question whether these pieces are built over armatures or if they’re solid. I somehow can’t imagine that they are.

A mushroom cloud of disposable, everyday items. I really like these pieces! Interestingly, Gupta was trained as a painter at art school. On his Wikipedia page I learned that the items he works with are everywhere in Indian kitchens and lives.


Posted on March 14, 2012 - by

Mary Button Durell

This week has not been my week. From being sick to there being a huge fire in Boston that has knocked out our power to other weird things going on – I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone! But the blog is always here for me – and the artists are always wonderful and refreshing. Today it’s Mary Button Durell who is bringing me back to reality through her cloud-like works.

These are much bigger than you think. They’re made of only tracing paper and wheat paste (I’m not sure what wheat paste is…I assume, just as it sounds). They look like honeycombs to me!

So Mary creates each individual part over molds and then attaches them together and solidifying their structure with more of the same materials. This makes sense to me!

They remind me of the lamps of Ayala Serfaty, but I think those are resin over an armature of some kind. these are made exclusively of the paper and paste, which is commonly a children’s art technique. I love seeing it used in a very adult way.

As her artist statement says her work has, “often been described  as biomorphic abstractions or shapes resembling cellular membranes, ethereal bodies and the skeletal structures of underwater organisms.” As you know, my favorite art inspiration falls within the cellular membrane / underwater organism spectrum.

How cool is that! This looks to me like spun cotton candy. I like how the tracing paper is so translucent and as it gets more and more layers it grows in density and opacity. This also looks like a mini tornado, out of context.

Coral? Sea anemone? The other cool thing about the tracing paper / wheat paste combo is the color that comes out – it’s like a nude or a cream. I wonder if that’s the wheat paste that changes the white tracing paper or if it’s unbleached tracing paper to begin with.

Love it.

I love these little sculptures that she colors with acrylics. These are her more recent works (2011) where as the ones above are older.

To me these look just like paper sharpening shavings.

I think each and every one of these pieces is exquisite – I’d love a whole room of them or a whole area in front of a window.


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