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      Colorful Glazes Coat Exquisite Vessels Sculpted with Smooth Sloping Porcelain

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      Art
      Craft

      #ceramics
      #porcelain
      #vessels

      May 24, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Sophie Cook, shared with permission. Photo by Josephine Cottrell for Maud and Mabel
      Sophie Cook sculpts delicate porcelain into teardrops, bottles, and pods with swollen bases and long bowed necks. Often evoking the colors of the Suffolk landscape surrounding her studio, the elegant vessels have smooth exteriors coated in matte and glossy glazes that range from coral to graphite and sage. The pieces vary in height and width and are designed to be displayed in groups as “a three-dimensional still life,” she says in a statement.
      Cook’s practice is meticulous and regimented—watch the short video below to see her at the wheel—and frequently results in loss, which she describes:
      Every piece is a challenge to make as porcelain is such a fluid medium on the wheel. I throw four pieces a day, which are left to dry for two days and are then carved to refine the shape. Once sprayed they dry for a week. It is an incredibly delicate process. Rarely, if ever, do all four pieces survive the carving and firing processes.
      Browse available vessels in Cook’s shop, and follow her work on Instagram.

      Photo by Layton Thompson for Ceramic Review
      Photo by Josephine Cottrell for Maud and Mabel
      Photo by Josephine Cottrell for Maud and Mabel

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      #ceramics
      #porcelain
      #vessels

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      New Articulate Cardboard Sculptures by Greg Olijnyk Populate Miniature Worlds of Fantasy and Science Fiction

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      Art
      Craft

      #cardboard
      #insects
      #light
      #robots
      #science fiction
      #sculpture

      May 20, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “DvG 2.0.” All images by Griffin Simm, © Greg Olijnyk, shared with permission
      An eerie pair of buildings, a jet-powered dragonfly, and a sci-fi-inspired retelling of David and Goliath complete with an oversized robot and samurai comprise the latest cardboard sculptures by Greg Olijnyk (previously). Fully articulate and outfitted with LED lights and glass where necessary, the extraordinarily detailed works are futuristic, slightly dystopic, and part of larger world-building narratives. The architectural constructions, for example, are “the start of a series of pieces exploring the fear, fascination, and curiosity aroused by the stranger in our midst. The weird presence out of place. The building of unknown purpose with no windows and with lights flickering at night,” he says. “What’s going on in there?”
      Olijnyk is based in Melbourne and shares works-in-progress and more photos of the machine-like sculptures shown here on his Instagram.

      “DvG 2.0”
      Detail of “DvG 2.0”
      “Dragonfly Bot”
      “The New Neighbours,” 80 x 75 x 30 centimeters
      “The New Neighbours,” 80 x 75 x 30 centimeters
      Detail of “The New Neighbours,” 80 x 75 x 30 centimeters
      Detail of “Dragonfly Bot”
      “Dragonfly Bot”

      #cardboard
      #insects
      #light
      #robots
      #science fiction
      #sculpture

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    • 163 Shares189 Views

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      Hundreds of Minuscule Paper Cranes Perch in Bonsai Trees in Naoki Onogawa’s Sculptures

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      Art
      Craft

      #miniature
      #origami
      #paper
      #sculpture
      #trees

      April 5, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Naoki Onogawa, shared with permission
      Using just his hands, Tokyo-based artist Naoki Onogawa folds scores of origami cranes with wingspans that never top a single centimeter. He then fastens the minuscule birds to asymmetric tree forms, creating bonsai-like sculptures engulfed by hundreds of the monochromatic paper creatures.
      Onogawa tells Colossal that he began crafting the tiny birds following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake that devastated parts of southern Hokkaido and Tohoku, which the artist visited the next year. As he walked around the city of Rikuzen Takata, he spotted 1,000 paper cranes at the site of a school demolished by the tsunami. “I found myself in terror of how powerless we humans are in the face of nature’s wonder; yet at the same time, I felt empowered by the power of life, vitality, that shined so brightly in the aftermath of its wrath,” Onogawa says. He explains further:
      It was like witnessing the result of a desolate ritual where people channeled their unsettled feelings into these cranes. And here they exist, spirited with prayers that they would go back and forward to and from a world beyond here. I struggle to find the words to describe it, but I think that maybe the cranes that I fold now come from that place of solemn prayer.
      Onogawa’s cranes are on view at the Setouchi City Museum of Art alongside Motoi Yamamoto’s sprawling salt installation through May 5. Browse available artworks on Picaresque, and explore a larger collection of his pieces on Instagram. (via designboom)

      #miniature
      #origami
      #paper
      #sculpture
      #trees

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      A New Book Highlights an Eclectic Collection of Paper Works by 24 Artists Defining the Medium

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      Art
      Craft

      #books
      #paper

      March 31, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      JUDiTH+ROLFE. All images courtesy of Gingko Press, shared with permission
      A celebration of contemporary paper art, a new book gathers a wide-ranging collection of collages, quilled portraits, and intricately cut landscapes from 24 artists and studios around the globe. Published by Gingko Press, Paperists: Infinite Possibilities in Paper Art spans 256 pages that explore the unexpected ways the medium is used today and features work from a slew of artists featured on Colossal, including Estudio Guardabosques (previously), Makerie Studio (previously), Yulia Brodskaya (previously), and Zim & Zou (previously), to name a few. Grab a copy of the forthcoming volume on Bookshop.

      Pippa Dyrlaga

      Left: Pippa Dyrlaga. Right: Ale Rambar
      Zim & Zou
      Left: Diana Beltran Herrera. Right: Sam Pierpoint
      Zim & Zou
      Hazel Glass

      #books
      #paper

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    • 113 Shares199 Views

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      Lush Tufted Tapestries Document Ecological Changes in Argentina’s Landscapes

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      Art
      Craft
      Design

      #Argentina
      #carpets
      #landscapes
      #rugs
      #tapestry
      #textiles

      March 25, 2021
      Anna Marks

      All images © Alexandra Kehayoglou, shared with permission
      Designer Alexandra Kehayoglou (previously) creates exquisite pieces of flowing textiles that reference the rugged landscapes of her homeland, Argentina. In the creation of each tapestry, Kehayoglou transforms surplus carpet fabric into natural elements that range from a spectrum of Earth-colored mosses to clusters of trees and serpentine rivers that cut through the heart of her weaves. Entwined within each piece are fragments of the artist’s own memories, including witnessing waterways slowly recede and the alterations to Argentina’s grasslands.
      Her latest works, a series called Prayer Rugs, depict animal footprints and small vegetative features of the Parana Wetlands located 50 kilometers from Buenos Aires. In recent years, the region’s biodiversity has been decimated by the wood and paper industries, which have facilitated the growth of non-native plant species that have since spread out of control. Additionally, human-made fires wreaked havoc during 2020, while livestock simultaneously trampled the once-luscious grassland.
      Kehayoglou’s pieces document the foliage that has survived after years of this widespread exploitation and how, over time, local fauna has started to reappear: thistles grow through cracks in the dry Earth, deer leave mud-splattered tracks, and chirping insects dance upon youthful leaves. The artworks narrate the wetland’s change and growth, reflecting the pain caused by capitalism while turning the need for change into tapestries that reference Argentinians’ hope. Kehayoglou says:
      Isolation made me think of my carpets as spaces where new forms of activism could be enacted. A type of activism that instead of focusing on paranoid conflict was silent, absorptive and, as I believe, more effective. My carpets, thus, became instruments for documenting ‘minor’ aspects of the land, which were otherwise overlooked as irrelevant. A focus on its micro-narratives that would open new doors for possible ecological futures.
      You can see more of the artist’s rich tapestries on her website and Instagram.

      #Argentina
      #carpets
      #landscapes
      #rugs
      #tapestry
      #textiles

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      A Massive Catalogue of Stitched CMYK Studies by Evelin Kasikov Merges Printing and Embroidery

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      Art
      Craft
      Design

      #books
      #color
      #cross-stitch
      #embroidery
      #thread

      March 25, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “XXXX Swatchbook” (2010-2016), 180 x 210 millimeters. All images © Evelin Kasikov, shared with permission
      In “XXXX Swatchbook,” Evelin Kasikov (previously) explores all of the variables of CMYK printing without a single drop of ink. She catalogs primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, two-dozen combinations showing how rotation affects the final pigment, and a full spectrum of rich gradients. In total, the printing-focused book is comprised of four base tones, 16 elements, and 400 swatches of color entirely hand-embroidered in 219,647 stitches.
      The original idea came from Kasikov’s desire for a reference tool, one similar to loose sheets of Pantone swatches, that she could share with potential book design clients interested in CMYK embroidery. During the next six years, though, the project evolved into the uniquely comprehensive artist book it is now.
      “XXXX Swatchbook” features three-dimensional color studies in the style of precisely arranged halftone dots employed in four-color printing. “I use cross-stitch technique to replicate this. It’s a very simple idea,” Kasikov says. “I prepare the image in InDesign or Illustrator, then pierce the design onto paper and stitch with CMYK colored threads. Of course, my ‘print resolution’ is very low, about 3-4 lines per inch compared to 300 in print.”
      Stitched with varying thickness, the swatches use conventional screen angles—cyan 105˚, magenta 75˚, yellow 90˚, and black 45˚—to produce a wide range of colors and gradients, all of which you can view on the artist’s blog. Each French-folded page features geometric patches of thread, alongside hand-written details about the CMYK values shown. The spine of the book also reveals a vibrant gradient spanning magenta to cyan.

      “XXXX Swatchbook” is founded on Kasikov’s earlier “CMYK Embroidery,” a project that grew out of her MA studies at Central Saint Martins and was influenced by her background in advertising. Merging the two into the broader project of graphic stitching grew organically and offered an outlet to create a piece that was the artist says was “valuable, timeless, and trend-less,” in comparison to the more transitory projects of commercial work. “When you add tactile qualities to graphic design, it changes perspective. The structure of color can be touched. The printed image becomes three-dimensional. A flat page comes to life so to speak,” she writes.
      Kasikov splits her time between Tallinn and London, where she’s working on a project called Small Hours. Centered around a theme of silence, the collection features still-life photographs with freehand dots stitched on top in a pointillist style. Follow the ongoing project and find a larger archive of Kasikov’s book designs and embroidered works on her site and Instagram. You also might enjoy Tauba Auerbach’s RGB colorspace atlas. (via Present & Correct)

      #books
      #color
      #cross-stitch
      #embroidery
      #thread

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    • 138 Shares129 Views

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      Intricate Paper Animals Spring from Textured Sculptures by Artist Calvin Nicholls

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      Art
      Craft

      #animals
      #birds
      #paper
      #sculpture

      March 1, 2021
      Anna Marks

      All images © Calvin Nicholls, shared with permission
      In Calvin Nicholls’s sculptural forms, feathered and furry creatures are meticulously crafted from small pieces of white paper. When viewed up-close, their texture resembles the fullness of a wintery landscape, but in full form, the Canadian artist’s animals are so vivid that they appear as though they could leap, fly, and spring out of the canvas. Nicholls (previously) seamlessly examines and sculpts every detail of an animal’s body, from the difference in plume texture in doves to the strained muscles of a giraffe to the intoxicating stare of a tiger stalking its prey.  
      Every work is crafted from archival cotton paper that prevents yellowing and fading. Nicholls uses minuscule amounts of glue to secure the individual pieces, employing knives and texturing tools to precisely sculpt each delicate part. For the artist, crafting fur and feathers are equally challenging, and how long a piece will take is difficult to predict. He shares:
      The largest sculptures I’ve done require several hundreds of hours while the more modest pieces keep me busy for two or more weeks. Familiarity with the subject is a big factor as well. My love of birds often propels me through pieces much faster than when sculpting subjects with (an) emphasis on musculature and structure.
      Nicholls’s fascination with paper as a medium stems from graphic design classes in college, in addition to later collaborations with a colleague. These experiences further forged his interest in experimenting with various materials and papers that he had become familiar with through the graphics trade.
      Follow additions to Nicholls’s monochromatic menagerie on Behance and Instagram, and see the originals and prints he has available in his shop.

      #animals
      #birds
      #paper
      #sculpture

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      A Trio of Monumental Macramé Installations Stretch 37 Feet Across a Seaside Structure in Bali

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      Art
      Craft

      #fiber art
      #installation
      #macramé
      #rope

      February 16, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Mountain,” 1150 x 766 centimeters. All images © Agnes Hansella, shared with permission
      In just 12 days, Jakarta-based fiber artist Agnes Hansella fashioned a staggering trio of macramé installations that hang from a ceiling in Bali. Each of the knotted works spans more than 37 feet wide, cloaking the open-air structure in fringed fibers that evoke the coastal surroundings of Jimbaran.  Titled “Mountain,” “Ocean,” and “Sunset,” the wall hangings reflect the natural environment through asymmetric patches reminiscent of coral, waves, and birds.
      Alongside a team of artists she hadn’t worked with previously, Hansella cut manila ropes with a hacksaw and balanced on scaffolding to assemble the massive works. All three began with rough sketches and evolved on-site. “I was never good with drawing pictures, so the finished design is mostly something I came up with on location. I change them a lot based on my instinct and situation. With macramé techniques, the ropes have their own will and character so as the artist I follow them and see what can and can not work,” she tells Colossal. The trio was commissioned by Flowerbloom Studio.
      Currently, Hansella is working on a smaller work for a villa in Bahrain and plans to explore tufting and fiber sculpture in the coming months. She sells macramé supplies, wall hangings, and functional objects in her shop, and you can follow her latest projects on Instagram.

      “Sunset,” 1150 x 500 centimeters
      “Mountain,” 1150 x 766 centimeters

      “Sunset,”  1150 x 500 centimeters
      “Ocean,” 1150 x 650 centimeters

      #fiber art
      #installation
      #macramé
      #rope

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