I have a new website: CKNhandmade.com
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Showing posts with label handmade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label handmade. Show all posts
3/16/2015
4/10/2013
Travis Jefferys of Pot Black Ceramics
Through his company Pot Black Ceramics, an Australian-based ceramicist, Travis Jefferys supplies handmade crockery including plates, bowls and cups to some of the Melbourne's swankiest restaurants. He likes “playing with mud” as he calls it, and has studied pottery for 20 years. After working as a Landscape Architect and Interior Designer, he got back into spinning the wheel after realizing he was “taking things out of the world, and wanted to put something back”.
Working from his studio, Jeffreys exclusively uses Australian clays. Each piece of clay eventually becomes a bowl, plate or cup that is slightly different, imperfect and unique. The potter used to try and make every piece as uniform as possible, but now realises the small differences are what gives his work it character.
He believes people are drawn to hand-made products because they capture a part of the maker. “There’s an energy or an essence that you’re sharing. It’s subtle, even subconscious, but I think we yearn for that. Through hand made products we can tap into that connection.”
http://potblackceramics.com.au
http://vimeo.com/38678698
8/28/2012
Leah Evans textiles
Artist Leah Evans grew up in the oil refinery town of Augusta, Kansas and was struck by the harsh effect that strip mining for zinc and lead had on the landscape of her home state; "It has left behind troughs that fill up with water and become hazardous wastelands. Despite the danger, some people fish there." What make her quilts interesting is the mix of beauty and the disturbing message underlying them.
Her artist's statement: My quilted wall hangings consist of layers of the following techniques: appliqué, piecing, natural and synthetic dyeing, needle-felting, hand printing, and a variety of embroidery stitches. There is an overall balance between hand and machine work. Tools I most often employ include a household-use Kenmore sewing machine, chalk, needles, rulers, compass, staple gun, and scissors. I do not use a computer or any imaging software in my work and I try to use hand tools and processes as opposed to electric.
My current work combines aerial photography, maps, and satellite imagery. I also find myself drawn to the more minute systems of the microbial world. I enjoy the play in scale between magnified microbial life forms and remote sensing images of huge tracts of land. Both scales deal with the translation of scientific information into a visual form. At times, these separate bodies of work merge. The overlap is seen in vessel-like arteries of water, tundra pools that look cellular, and microbes that swim through topographic lines.It is the use of maps in organizing our ideas of land that interests me most of all. Often, people ask me for specifics about the places and symbols in my work. Most of my pieces are not based consciously on specific places. For me they are intimate explorations of map language and imagined landscapes. Through my research and experience, I have decided that maps create more questions than they answer.
See more of her work here:
8/23/2012
Prison Quilts
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"Sewing has given me a purpose and the ability to see the future in a positive manner.
It has given me the time to think and work through situations which beforehand I may not have come through."
Fine Cell Work, a UK charity, trains prison inmates in the art of needle point. The prisoners do the work when they are locked in their cells, and the earnings give them hope, skills and independence. The work which takes 20 to 40 hours per week, is a powerful antidote to the lives of turmoil and roughness that many prisoners have continually faced.
"Here I am, an ex-boxer, karate teacher, car racer, body-builder and weight lifter, doing sewing! Who’d have thought. Since I first started with FCW I’ve experienced a tremendous amount of stress, heartache and other problems. Being able to stitch was a great way to take my mind off what was going on inside my head. In times of great stress I would pick up my tapestry and immerse myself into it, which helped every single time. At times I wouldn’t put it down until the early hours of the morning. I can confidently state that FCW has helped me get through many problematic times in my life and has stopped me from going over the edge."
"I am what is called a lifer. I was sent to prison in early 2008. I am in a wheelchair. And no I am not after sympathy. I did wrong so I deserved what I got. Anyway, I have suffered from bad depression all my adult life, and I have tried to end it all a few times, and for the first two years of prison life I tried and did self harm a lot. Then I was moved to a new prison and an inmate made himself known to me and to start with he just talked to me. One day he asked me if I could sew.was given a pin cushion and a needle, and with this inmate’s help I began to stitch it. Because I was not thinking bad thoughts, the time that I was banged up behind the door flew by, and I did not self harm at all. To date, I have only self harmed two times, and that’s when I had no work, and that is not bad at all. This is totally because FCW were happy with the work that I was handing in, and believed in me enough to give and keep giving me commissions that keep my hands and mind busy, which is why everything I get I do to the best of my ability. I will continue to do it as long as you feel my work is good enough."
www.finecellwork.co.uk
It has given me the time to think and work through situations which beforehand I may not have come through."
Fine Cell Work, a UK charity, trains prison inmates in the art of needle point. The prisoners do the work when they are locked in their cells, and the earnings give them hope, skills and independence. The work which takes 20 to 40 hours per week, is a powerful antidote to the lives of turmoil and roughness that many prisoners have continually faced.
"Here I am, an ex-boxer, karate teacher, car racer, body-builder and weight lifter, doing sewing! Who’d have thought. Since I first started with FCW I’ve experienced a tremendous amount of stress, heartache and other problems. Being able to stitch was a great way to take my mind off what was going on inside my head. In times of great stress I would pick up my tapestry and immerse myself into it, which helped every single time. At times I wouldn’t put it down until the early hours of the morning. I can confidently state that FCW has helped me get through many problematic times in my life and has stopped me from going over the edge."
"I am what is called a lifer. I was sent to prison in early 2008. I am in a wheelchair. And no I am not after sympathy. I did wrong so I deserved what I got. Anyway, I have suffered from bad depression all my adult life, and I have tried to end it all a few times, and for the first two years of prison life I tried and did self harm a lot. Then I was moved to a new prison and an inmate made himself known to me and to start with he just talked to me. One day he asked me if I could sew.was given a pin cushion and a needle, and with this inmate’s help I began to stitch it. Because I was not thinking bad thoughts, the time that I was banged up behind the door flew by, and I did not self harm at all. To date, I have only self harmed two times, and that’s when I had no work, and that is not bad at all. This is totally because FCW were happy with the work that I was handing in, and believed in me enough to give and keep giving me commissions that keep my hands and mind busy, which is why everything I get I do to the best of my ability. I will continue to do it as long as you feel my work is good enough."
7/13/2011
snooks and winnie up and running
My new website snooks + winnie is live and ready for viewers!
I started a new business to create what I call: handcrafted modern heirlooms. By combining a background in design as well as my fine art experience,
I create unique one-of-a-kind pieces. I'll be posting my progress here on my blog.
http://www.snooksandwinnie.com
5/04/2011
giant doily rug
Jean Lee's obsession with vintage doilies grew to epic proportions when she created these full size area rugs using cotton rope. After she found a bunch of doily pattern books from the 1930s, she started thinking about the doily as a visual object.
"As much as I like the visual texture of a traditional doily, I couldn't see myself using it in my home," she admits. "So instead of just replicating the same thing as the book, I played with scale and the 'function' of a doily and decided to just go BIG ... literally."
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