tony forte photography & design: miniview

i am back in the saddle this week and today’s miniview brings us more insight into the projects of tony forte, a graphic designer who creates works through digital techniques and photography with strong urban themes. tony’s photography is striking and his rich mixed media pieces with glints of vintage influence intrigue me, so i thought i’d ask a few questions…

q: where do you live and where do you create your work?
a: i’m living in north new jersey, and all the creative workload gets done in my office/studio which is also in jersey.

q: do you have a formal education in art or design?
a: i have a degree: applied science in visual communication and graphic design. i’ve been drawing since I was a kid, and have always appreciated photography.

q: can you tell us a little about the backyard project you have founded?
a: backyard project was founded in late 2005. it was a venture that i had been trying to get off the ground for a very long time. it was tough with working during the day, and bar tending at night. (NO sleep.) me and dan puleo, a friend and artist who shared similar taste when it came to throwing ideas around, launched the backyard site. we had put some cash together to get the website up and running. it was a great way to finally get some more exposure, and also develop a t-shirt/apparel line, with one-color design concepts. the apparel mainly concentrates on simple designs that represent our everyday creative outlook in our neighborhood, that we can share with the world.

q: do you have a favorite piece in your collection?
a: um, i think one of my favorite pieces is “Yesterday” (below) which can be also viewed with many other pieces of mine on my website. i really do NOT get tired of looking at that piece, i feel that i get something else that pops out of it every time i look at it. it’s hanging in my apartment.

thank you tony!

share this story

hollis brown thornton art

have you seen the impressive moleskine piece collection by south carolina artist hollis brown thornton? they are acrylic and pigment transfers.

absolutely gorgeous, thought-provoking ideas going on here.

go to his flickr stream or website for more info — right away — to see more beautiful work!

share this story

jennifer collier paper fashion art

look at this paper fashion collection from uk artist jennifer collier. she has mastered a multitude of techniques, including weaving, stitching and waxing, and has created a group of garments so fascinating to view. carefully crafted from bits of paper, plastic and assorted found objects and materials, these transient and disposable materials are skillfully transformed into items which have distinct and dynamic value.

see more works of art on jennifer’s website. she’s also exhibiting in well thread at the biscuit factory in newcastle from april 25th - june 1st 2008, just in case you’re in the area!

via craft

share this story

hudson beach glass (home decoration)

look at this beautiful, functional glass collection from hudson beach glass. the four artists who make up this collective — john p. gilvey, wendy gilvey, michael benzer and jennifer smith — use several techniques, including casting the glass by hand and etching it for even more texture and depth. nature and the sea are influences, as you can see from the organic detailing they’ve included on these pieces.

purchase select pieces here and there, and see more of this sculptural collection on the hudson beach glass website.

via the ecosalon

share this story

elizabeth perkins glass art & sculpture - let’s chat!

beloved readers, let’s all take a deep breath and dive into the amazing art, sculpture and installation work that virginia artist elizabeth wade perkins creates. it is simply mesmerizing and after a good long stare, i am swept away by the richness of even a single vessel, so fluid and steeped in her personal history it all is. elizabeth uses a variety of techniques, including casting, blowing and pâte de verre, which is the centuries-old type of casting she does to create her beautifully detailed lace pieces. to me, her noteworthy technical skills aren’t the only secret of her success here; there is also the skillful underworking (or should i say perfect-seeming working?) of an amalgamation of ideas — the concepts of time, place and memory. in these works you will find a consistent complexity that is whole and complete, and collections that are wry, nostalgic and absolutely current. let’s have a chat with elizabeth and find out more!

q: where do you live, and where do you create your art?
a: i live on a farm named red bud in bumpass, virginia. it has been in my family for seven generations and its older name was seclusion farm. it is located in bumpass by neighboring areas called three square, tip top, cuckoo, and holly grove. bumpass is between richmond and charlottesville in louisa county. i make my work in my grandfathers old fix it shop. it’s a wood frame building covered in metal. it’s heated by a wood stove that my grandfather fabricated out of a number of wheel rims (from an old pick-up). he mended and made things in there to keep the farm running; everything from tractors to electrical. he invented this really cool system to keep his pigs hydrated. my favorite thing he invented in the shop was a light that was over the fridge to indicate that the toilet was running. he had hearing aids, so he couldn’t hear it. however his chair in the den was situated so that he could not only see out the “picture window” or look at television, but he could see the light over the fridge which indicated the toilet was running. when the light would turn on, he would go in the bathroom and jiggle the handle. god only knows why he didn’t just fix the toilet, maybe because it only ran sometimes or maybe because he used what he had at the time to fix the problem.

i think the whole thing is just awesome and ingenious. i’d like to think i got my creative mind and hands from him.

q: what is your background, and did you study art formally?
a: i grew up in southern rural america. my undergraduate degree is in sculpture from the atlanta college of art, and my graduate degree is in craft material studies from virginia commonwealth university. my favorite place to learn is at the penland school of crafts. though i am formally trained as an artist, i have learned a lot from my personal experiments and am more frequently informed by my subjects rather than my “education”. i seemed to get in trouble from time to time in school; like the time i showed up with a huge bale of hay as a component of one of my works. let’s just say… when you see those things on the side of the road out in the field they seem kind of small, but they are not. they are massive and beautiful. sometimes it takes bringing the outside inside and the inside outside for us to really have an understanding of what we are looking at. if you see the forms in resuscitation (photos below) they are taken from that bale of hay. everyone on my graduate committee at the time told me that piece was technically impossible to build in porcelain and impossible to slump over in glass. i like making the “impossible” possible. they don’t teach you how to do that in school. i think those kinds of quests are personal and are brought about by our experiences, desires and willingness to fail.

q: (without giving away any secrets of course!) can you tell us a little about the techniques you use?
a: there aren’t really any secrets to it. mostly it’s paying attention to what you’re doing, learning from what you do, seeing the potential and identifying the control in your artistic experimentation and investigations, working hard and being patient. i use many processes. i blow glass free hand, i also blow glass into both cold and hot blow molds. whatever is appropriate for the form and will make its potency more… stinky and real, honest perhaps.

i also kiln cast and use the pâte de verre method of casting. i use techniques that are appropriate to my forms and the ideas i want them to convey e.g., fragility, texture etc. most works contain glass.

q: how do you think your work has transformed since you started making art?
a: in one of my artist statements i say, i am still the naive child searching around the house for hidden treasures in the old furniture and cupboards. i have the same nosiness and fearlessness as i did as a child. (inquisitiveness, perhaps.) as i’ve grown i have discovered the complexities of these nooks and crannies and have built a larger visual vocabulary by being inquisitive. i have practiced a lot. i have been seduced by my material and its traditions but i walk and practice outside those traditions and former histories. i think there are so many new forms to be made in glass.

q: what is the price range of your collection?
a: $50.00-$20,000.00

q: what is your inspiration for these works? do you have a message you want to send through these pieces?
a: i am interested in values and traditions; how they evolve and linger through the ways we experience life, art, and craft. i am interested in what remains inside and outside of these notions; works that give the viewer something to hold onto and in some cases to let go of. in other words, what we give birth to, what we pass on, and what we take with us when we pass away. i feel my most successful pieces deal with these complexities simultaneously.

q: where can we go to see your collection in person? is there anything else meaningful you would like to include?
a: i will have a trio of medium glass lace pieces in the urbanglass gala and auction in new york on april 4th, 2008. i am currently seeking gallery representation. i have a website with many of my works. my email is included on the site, and if you are interested in buying my work you may contact me through my website.

thank you elizabeth! and special thanks to burt for putting us together (and taking these last two photos)!

share this story

cool carpet round up

i wish for a new and exciting carpet for my family room and have secretly been visiting a bunch of them online and therefore i wish for you to enjoy this round up of artsy rugs seen below:

brushwood carpet by dima loginoff

itu rug by tuttu sillanpää for verso design

die-cut wool runner by bev hisey

moon carpet from atypyk

manuscrit rug by joaquim ruiz millet for nanimarquina

funniest rugs ever from dan golden

hudson carpet by sophia wood for modus

formosa rug by wenlan chia of twinkle living

interlocking puzzle rug from katrin sonnleitner

wow carpet from bentley prince

pebble rug from 2form design

reception carpet from studio voortman and girod

recycled bicycle tire rug by ariadna miguel for nanimarquina

someday if i don’t have any animals living in my home (oh you know i complain but i love them so) i will buy a fabulous carpet and enjoy how clean it remains from day to day. until then though it looks like it’ll be that two tone polypropylene number from the blue and yellow store.

share this story

elizabeth burritt ceramics

“what is the matter with this woman she is only posting about clay today” you may be thinking to yourself but hey! the wind blows where it blows. and by now you know how i love the clay! tomorrow will be very different i assure you but just for today, let us finish the show with a selection of gorgeous vessels from vancouver artist elizabeth burritt.

elizabeth’s website is currently under construction but you can contact her through it.

purchase and view select pieces of her collection at circle craft and the gallery of bc ceramics, both on granville island.

via poppytalk (who has some other good photos of the collection!)

share this story

sandra soss mixed media art

grace at design sponge did a sneak peek on my dear friend sandra’s apartment here in chicago yesterday and i am so glad she did, because i think the whole world should know about her. today, i would like to focus on her creative collection of home accessories. sandra is an artistic soul who is best described as a renaissance woman - she can paint, draw, sew, write, cook and do so many other kinds of other creative designing and artwork! right now she is creating a very cool series of functional collage works and one-off shadowbox work that is full of colorful layers and very pretty imagery.

everything we see in this collection has a wee touch of humor and a hat tip to nostalgia. the vibrant pieces, while covered and coated in paper and glue, are cleanly patterned and very easy on the eyes. and each piece exudes a certain warmth, which is the absolute direct hand of the artist coming through.

click here to see the whole article, check out sandra’s blog and purchase her work at her etsy shop.

(congrats san - you deserve lots of recognition for your talents! xo)

share this story

mira alibek art

look at the interesting details in this mixed media artwork by russian born, new york based artist mira alibek. abstract patterns, images and symbols, created with markers and silkscreens, all converge into richly layered artworks, built around the ideas of deterioration and reconstruction, convergence and separation.

graphically compelling.

see more images on mira’s website and find select works available at her etsy shop.

share this story

dna letterpress

look at these lovely letterpress cards from local graphic designers andrea burke and dana bowers. you can see from the examples below that each of them have a unique approach to their letterpress art. their printing and design methodologies, however, are shared, as is a workspace in chicago’s lincoln square neighborhood. they’re one step closer to their dream of participating in the new york national stationery show now that they have been selected as exhibitors.

clearly there are two disparate styles here, which translates into a wider net cast for new buyers at the show. i like andrea’s sense of humor and dana’s clean illustration style. and i like the color palettes in both lines.

to offset the high costs of getting there, andrea and dana are holding an old fashioned bake sale! it will be held this saturday the 15th, at the photography studio of kipling swehla, from 12 pm - 3 pm. all proceeds from the sale will help them to achieve their goals of getting their dna letterpress off to a good start - a very worthy cause indeed.

find contact info on andrea’s site and see more designs on dana’s website too!

good luck girls!

share this story

paula mccullough art

have you ever read an artist or crafter’s blog out here on the interweb that really moved and affected you, because the writings were so authentic, and then looked at their work and found a mystical holistic connection to the blog content and style? if you do, i want to know about it, but for now i will show you one i found: self taught artist from paula mccullough. the blog is all about paula and her personal, passionate journey of making art. in 2003 she packed all her belongings up and left arizona to pursue her true vocation. after some brief stops and travel through the united states, she came to settle in vermont. now, four years later, through curious trials and experimentation, she has created a broad collection of work that ranges from photography to mixed media, which is almost exclusively made with found objects. sculpture is crafted from puzzle pieces; clocks are created out of discarded industrial scrap. through her writings, we have a ringside seat to read about the creation of these works and the reasons behind them, but through her collection we receive a very intimate glimpse into the mind and heart of an artist.

paula can find the soul of the object, whatever it is and despite its original purpose, and reveal its beauty to us. or is it her own soul and beauty? i know that if i were to place one of her pieces in my hands and hold it, that focused energy and urge to create and pure expression is what would resonate. and that, that precious human emotion, is the true mark of the artist.

see paula’s work in person at the west branch gallery in stowe, peruse and purchase a large selection of her pieces on her website, and read her compelling thoughts on being an artist on her wonderfully written blog.

share this story

andrea branzi vases

i am still trying to figure out how these supercool ceramic vases from the portali collection by italian designer andrea branzi work. at first i thought they were glass and clay, but upon further inspection it is clear that the pieces are simple square white frames. you can also sort of see in the picture of the double decker one that there’s a hole cut out on the top edges, so that the stems that are placed inside the vase remain in their original places.

i love sculptural, functional pieces like these. they make a statement regardless of whether or not the vase is filled.

see the entire portali and superego collection and purchase (they ship worldwide!) at design design.

via laurasweet at notcot

share this story