Jessie and Nikki are on the ball, so they're ready to start up a brand new battle already! After hitting up Toronto's One of a Kind Show on Wednesday, it was decided that the best theme would be, "Production!"
Well that may seem like a silly theme, the need (or want) for production pieces is a reality for a lot of aspiring artists. It can be hard though for some people to sit down and design a successful piece, then actually fabricate it, then fabricate it over and over again so they can troubleshoot all their problems, then you have to figure out advertising, and you have to do that successfully to if you want to sell it and oh.. it's just such a big headache!
Inspired by all the things that they thought were right - and wrong - at the craft show, they want to try their hand at producing a relatively original (or at least sort-of-unique) design.
The soft-deadline for this battle will be April 18th, because that's the last day of Nicole's glass program at Sheridan (like, forever - how terrifying).
So think about production from a couple different points of view, and we'll be trying to inspire you with posts about the craft show!
Tips:
- Don't copy someone else's design, that's just too easy (and you could get in trouble)
- Consider how many steps it will take you to fabricate this design, it shouldn't be too time consuming per piece
- Take design from things that interest you, if you love cityscapes, forcing yourself to make imagery of tree lines would drive you mad
- Remember that if you love cityscapes someone else will love them too, maybe even more people than you expect
Thursday, March 28
Monday, March 25
Kris Carr: Another Reason To Do What You Love!
A very neat little article was brought to my attention today by one Kris Carr. It doesn't have any astounding medical science to back the ideas up, but I really don't think you need an excuse to believe in this concept;
The 40 hours a week you spend working is a very important part of your life, your time and your health.
Haven't you ever felt the negative affects from working a job you shouldn't be in? The stress, the physical pain, the drained energy - it's just awful. I know most people need to work a job they don't like so they can afford to live, but that doesn't mean they can't soul search and form a plan so that one day they can break free from that dreadful job and start living a healthier, happier, more balanced life.
Clearly, since this is a craft blog, my dream job right now would be paying the bills through glass. Actually, my dream situation would be living hidden away on crown land so I don't have to worry about paying any darn bills, but I'm sure that will be another post later.
I'd rather put 80 hours into glass than 40 - or even 20 - into a job that wasn't for me. I want to live a happy, balanced life, and to do that I need to seriously figure out how to pull off being a glass artist.
Article by Kris Carr: 40 Hours That Are Critical To Your Health and Well-Being
Have you thought out the details of your dream job at all, or are you keeping it at arms-length so you don't get disappointed?
The 40 hours a week you spend working is a very important part of your life, your time and your health.
Haven't you ever felt the negative affects from working a job you shouldn't be in? The stress, the physical pain, the drained energy - it's just awful. I know most people need to work a job they don't like so they can afford to live, but that doesn't mean they can't soul search and form a plan so that one day they can break free from that dreadful job and start living a healthier, happier, more balanced life.
Clearly, since this is a craft blog, my dream job right now would be paying the bills through glass. Actually, my dream situation would be living hidden away on crown land so I don't have to worry about paying any darn bills, but I'm sure that will be another post later.
I'd rather put 80 hours into glass than 40 - or even 20 - into a job that wasn't for me. I want to live a happy, balanced life, and to do that I need to seriously figure out how to pull off being a glass artist.
Article by Kris Carr: 40 Hours That Are Critical To Your Health and Well-Being
Have you thought out the details of your dream job at all, or are you keeping it at arms-length so you don't get disappointed?
Saturday, March 23
Figure Battle: Winner!
The results are in and the sculpture that won the figure battle was Chris' strange hot sculpted glass man! To be honest I'm surprised that anyone voted for my bear sculpture at all, and even more surprised that 10 days only garnered 6 votes - ouch!
Figure Battle
Bears 1 (16%)
Torso 2 (33%)
Man 3 (50%)
Apologies for posting late are in order! This week I was at school from as early as 8am every day, and I stayed there until 12 am, so I literally did not have the time to write this post!
 |
| Chris' Man |
Figure Battle
Bears 1 (16%)
Torso 2 (33%)
Man 3 (50%)
Apologies for posting late are in order! This week I was at school from as early as 8am every day, and I stayed there until 12 am, so I literally did not have the time to write this post!
Monday, March 18
Can Creative Activities Keep Us Young?
Another wonderful BBC video has popped up regarding art! Funnily enough, this relates to the last video we shared that was questioning whether there's any health merits to art at all.
The oldest artist in this short video is 93, and her work looked like it was referencing popular culture and plastic surgery. I hope I'm that in the loop when I'm 93.. and I hope I'm alive.. and still doing art.
The oldest artist in this short video is 93, and her work looked like it was referencing popular culture and plastic surgery. I hope I'm that in the loop when I'm 93.. and I hope I'm alive.. and still doing art.
Gosh, I can only imagine how lovely it would be to spend your time doing art journalism, wouldn't that just be grand?
Monday, March 11
Advertising with Postcards and E-vites
This is part shameless advertising, part good
advice.
At Sheridan our annual glass show in the gallery is coming up, and the third years always have to design an image to go on the postcard/e-vite. I think this year we did spectacularly well compared to past years, but to be honest I have only seen a couple of old postcards.
Rather than an image of somebody's work (or slices of everybody's work so there's no fighting) we all agreed to do an edited picture of our digitry.
Personally I think this is more eye-catching than a picture of art because it's out of the ordinary, especially in a wing that's filled with nothing but art!
Do you have any interesting ideas for business cards or postcards for yourself? Do you think it's okay to represent a diverse show (40 students and faculty), with one piece of art?
At Sheridan our annual glass show in the gallery is coming up, and the third years always have to design an image to go on the postcard/e-vite. I think this year we did spectacularly well compared to past years, but to be honest I have only seen a couple of old postcards.
Rather than an image of somebody's work (or slices of everybody's work so there's no fighting) we all agreed to do an edited picture of our digitry.
Personally I think this is more eye-catching than a picture of art because it's out of the ordinary, especially in a wing that's filled with nothing but art!
Do you have any interesting ideas for business cards or postcards for yourself? Do you think it's okay to represent a diverse show (40 students and faculty), with one piece of art?
Thursday, March 7
Battle End - Figures!
Whew, we've finally finished another Craft Battle, how exciting! Here are our three submitted pieces, on the left side of the page you can vote for your favorite!
Chris: Figure # 34
(Nikki speaking for Chris) This piece was sculpted while the studio was brainstorming work that could be donated to an art auction to support the homeless. Despite the easy-going sculpting techniques an intense feeling is being expressed through the chosen pose.
Nikki: Winter Family
The family in question is a mamma and baby polar bear with matching scarves. This is pretty hard to photograph, which I didn't expect. Somewhere in my room there is supposedly a bottle of white ink, and once I find it (or buy a new one) I'll be excited to see what my piece looks like when all the many creases are stained white.
The original piece was salvaged from a bargain store for 84 cents, because what a shame to let a perfectly good (albeit cheap) sculpture go to waste? I cast a silicone mold and made myself a positive wax from it. The idea that glass can give worth to an object that nobody wanted is pretty intriguing to me.
Jessie - Self Portrait from Memory
Made with sculpey original over a tin foil and masking tape armature. I wanted to use sculpey original because its more free flowing and I felt I could capture some "gesture" from it, that is also why I chose to sculpt from memory. That way I did not have to worry about all the small details.
Chris: Figure # 34
(Nikki speaking for Chris) This piece was sculpted while the studio was brainstorming work that could be donated to an art auction to support the homeless. Despite the easy-going sculpting techniques an intense feeling is being expressed through the chosen pose.
Nikki: Winter Family
The family in question is a mamma and baby polar bear with matching scarves. This is pretty hard to photograph, which I didn't expect. Somewhere in my room there is supposedly a bottle of white ink, and once I find it (or buy a new one) I'll be excited to see what my piece looks like when all the many creases are stained white.
The original piece was salvaged from a bargain store for 84 cents, because what a shame to let a perfectly good (albeit cheap) sculpture go to waste? I cast a silicone mold and made myself a positive wax from it. The idea that glass can give worth to an object that nobody wanted is pretty intriguing to me.
Jessie - Self Portrait from Memory
Made with sculpey original over a tin foil and masking tape armature. I wanted to use sculpey original because its more free flowing and I felt I could capture some "gesture" from it, that is also why I chose to sculpt from memory. That way I did not have to worry about all the small details.
Tuesday, March 5
Figure Battle
Hey folks, we are stiiiillll waiting for some final entries to creep on in. Take this opportunity to enter one of your sculptures into the Figure Craft Battle now!