Kathy Ruttenberg

Kathy Ruttenberg's sculptures look like illustrations in a children’s book, enchanted tales of dogs, birds, goats, rabbits and deer. Yet they are far from light hearted and the fairytale-like sculptures create worlds of dark themes: fertility and barrenness, desire and fantasy, power and submission.

"My work has been a fascinating journey through paint, animation, watercolor, and sculpture. It seems no matter the medium, clearly I have a narrative that needs to be told and have always used the figure as a vehicle to tell the story. 

Presently with the sculptures the narrative of my inner landscape reveals itself tattooed over the man’s chest or the woman's dress. In the language of this inner world of mine there are many metaphors... and characters such as half man half dog, woman with rabbit, bird person, etc… have developed organically over a period of time like a fable. 

Each piece is its own journey through the technical aspects as well as the emotional phenomena. The subject matter intertwined with my own emotions seems to bring me to some complex solutions that were unpredictable. 

Often things happen while making a piece that was not premeditated, as if the clay is guiding me, taking me places. The metamorphosis of the work as it is exposed to the elements is truly magical and makes me feel as if I am an alchemist! I find a wealth of inspiration in everyday life as stories develop in my mind depending on my interactions with people, animals and the environment. 

My animals play an important part in my daily inspiration. I have visions of pieces when I have a moment in the day to collect my thoughts. These visions often become watercolors and if the feeling is strong enough, a piece of sculpture. My intention is to show the beauty of imperfection, the pain and beauty of that which is human, that which is animal, things we cannot control."

http://www.kathyruttenberg.com, http://pinterest.com/source/kathyruttenberg.com/

Kate MccGwire

London-based artist Kate MccGwire uses feathers and wishbones in huge numbers to create amazing pieces of art. She originally started to collect the feathers from a shed taken over by pigeons situated next to her studio. The process is slow and methodical but the outcome is fantastic. She creates intricate patterns that give her pieces flow and movement.

"There are so many reasons I began working with the feathers. I think one of the most important is their sense of otherness. When you find one on the ground they always look so utterly separate from the bird they've been discarded by. It's difficult to imagine when you look at a quill that this flesh-less stem was once attached to a bird. It's part of the mechanism that helps it fly and keeps it warm but seen in splendid isolation a feather becomes detached from these physiological concerns and becomes
something 'alien', an object, and a carrier for meaning in its own right."

"I am not morbid but death is never very far from us. My studio is on the river Thames – everyday I am very aware of the elements and the wildlife around me. It’s a constant battle. A swan laid its eggs right next to the barge. When they started hatching, crows surrounded the nest and stole away the cygnets to eat. Crows also fly low over rabbit burrows, as soon as a young rabbit (Leveret) pokes its head out of the burrow crows come down and swipe them, fly them up high into the sky and drop them to kill them prior to eating. It’s a brutal world."

http://www.katemccgwire.com/index.php?pid=1

Under the Baobab Tree

Under The Baobab Tree is now at The Southbank Centre in London and is part of the Festival of the World exhibition. Students from Chelsea College of Art and Design have created the sculpture from stacked rings of fabric from around the globe.  The rings, some 14 feet wide, were used to build the tree before it was covered in 80 different types of fabric. The work was created in a barn and was inspired by Africa's baobab tree, which is a symbol of community. This huge tree sculpture is supposed to reflect the way we live in cities: culture stacked on culture.

Creative director Beatrix Eden: “During the summer of 2012, as thousands of people gather in London, visitors from across the globe will be stepping closer to one another. Inspired by the idea of the space between strangers becoming smaller we created the Baobab Tree as a unique meeting place for chance encounters sparking new conversations. Every culture uses fabrics and patterns, whether in traditional dress, uniform or decoration. Fabrics have always travelled, designs crossing borders, being altered and traded back. Within the fabric of our tree we hope that visitors will recognise threads from their own cultures woven into this meeting place at the heart of a global gathering.”


Building the sculpture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hGsFf0XDKs&feature=relmfu
About the fabric designers: http://baobab.staticloud.com

artist Augusto Esquivel

Augusto Esquivel now showing at Art Miami art fair.
His Upright Piano (above) was made from 60 lbs of black and 30,000 white sewing buttons, monofilament and acrylic.

From the artist’s statement:
I am often obsessed with comparisons of reality and potential and the balance between them, in art: the idea of chaos in perfect order: an object seemingly solid to the eye can also be fragile and inconsistent to the touch; a common object used to create a piece of art becomes transformed into something complicated and intriguing.

I realize how insignificant and small a simple sewing button can be as it lays in my grandmother’s sewing box, but at the same time how unique and precious it can become as part of a work of art. Like an atom in a molecule, each button serves and shapes the whole. I hold the button to my ear and it whispers to me, “I want to be…..”

 http://www.augustoesquivel.com

fat monkey sculpture

The piece titled "Fat Monkey" was created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofmanin Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The sculpture is made up of thousands of flip flops and was created with the help of local art students.
The base is covered in 10,000 flip flops and is over 45-feet-long!

Youtube video of the making of the monkey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyjoZcpYPtY&feature=related
Artists' website: http://www.florentijnhofman.nl/dev/project.php?id=171