Seeing beauty in the design and aged patinas of ancient objects, Modern Artifacts looks to juxtapose unique textures with a modern aesthetic. I draw inspiration from my experience working on an archaeology dig in Houston’s Historic Freedmen’s Town, as well as my time as a Curatorial Assistant for the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the Stone Fort Museum of Nacogdoches.
I received my BFA from Stephen F. Austin State University where I studied a variety of cultural and historical metalworking techniques as well as advanced chemical patination processes, now specializing in creating my own patinas that I paint on with a torch. I work with sold 14K gold and gold filled materials, sterling silver, nu-gold, bronze, copper, and shibuichi and transform the materials into anthropologically inspired contemporary jewelry.
Conflict free raw blue and black diamonds, fossils, geodes, lapis lazuli, buffalo turquoise, and other stones are sprinkled into my work to enhance the minimal yet bold look of the collection.
Using crisp lines and simple geometry as a vehicle to celebrate the beauty of the raw materials in different states, the pieces appear both polished and new, as well as worn and aged. Whether using patina, a sandblaster, or 23K gold leaf, contrasting finishes define my work and give it the graphic quality which lends it its identity.
My work is inspired by the things that inspire me personally, which are many and varied. As a geoscientist, rocks and stones are almost always my main source of inspiration, especially incredibly well-cut stones from independent lapidary artists.
However, design itself is another influence on my pieces. Bringing shapes, textures, and color together in unexpected ways and the desire to bring jewelry away from the body is, currently, a major influence. In addition to the many things and ideas that inspire me, I want my jewelry to evoke quiet refinement and sophistication while being interesting and wearable. To achieve this, I use minimal styling incorporating clean lines, subtle texturing, and careful attention to finish. My work is set apart by the use of tactile design and 3D elements, like texturing flat silver then manipulating it into domes and folds. It’s comfortable and wearable, but still different enough to incite questions like “Where did you get that?”
I create images of the wilderness embedded in our urban metroplex, letting light and shadow define my subjects. My photos document my walking journey, where I have slowed my pace to really look at my neighborhood in inner loop Houston and to capture moments of beauty that stir the soul.www.pennyraerobinson.com
My new book!
The Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary is a 17.5-acre wildlife preserve in west Houston, Texas. The sanctuary photographs, taken over a seven-month span, feature native birds and wildlife, and display colorful southern seasons. The pictures are accompanied by some of Edith’s writings selected from her small diary. Edith’s words describe her life in the woods, the land that she loved, and her log cabin home.
A look inside:
Title PageInside PageBack Cover
Bio:
I
grew up in a neighborhood that had been eked out of prairie grasslands
in North Dakota. Dramatic seasonal changes impacted all my senses, from brilliant sun-sparkles on crisply drifted snow,
to the soft sound of undulating prairie grasses in the evening breezes;
from the bitter taste of red rhubarb plucked from our garden to the
breathtakingly sharp smell of twenty below zero. I have touched the wind
and felt the immensity of the sky unrestricted by all except puffy
white clouds in azure summer skies and grey-blue bleary smudges of
winter’s early evenings. There is my heart home.
I have been away from home for over three
decades now. The gentler Houston winters provide grounds for lush
gardens; the soft springs invite long walks and camping trips; the
intensely humid summers force air conditioned hibernation from the
oppressive heat, and the autumns may revive us again with the brilliant
foliage of native trees if we are blessed with a cold kiss from the
north. These southern charms have lodged also in my heart.
It is in the four seasons where I begin to see the eternal creative thought of God. Days and weeks pass by, each one revealing new aspects of God’s wisdom, glory and love. No matter where I find my lodging, I will keep seeking the trails of His beauty to capture expressions of His likeness.
My art is often a way for me to make sense of the world, and my place in it. Even the physical act of drawing allows me to feel calmer and more at peace with my surroundings. I suppose my pieces are a way of creating a bridge that connects my world to reality. The subject matter fluctuates, ranging between my desire to purge some inner demon, to merely giving life to an idea I found amusing and wished to create. I often use symbolism to represent my concepts in a broad way, hoping to convey to the viewer a general idea of what I wish to express, without giving them a step-by-step guide of how to relate to my work. I have always found interest in “traditional” methods, such as drawing and painting, and often use both in my pieces. www.AnneByrdArt.com
Macro Splash: We create these singular shapes through the collision of water, cream, paint, or ink droplets. Their various shapes and colors depend on the temperature, viscosity, gravity, density, and volume of the liquids we use. We work with black acrylic or pan filled with liquid in order to reflect the splash. Due to the laws of physics, the end result is often the opposite of what you’d expect.
Mega Splash: Our mega splashes, often called “jelly fish”, because they look like a form of marine creatures, are carried out by propelling water mixed with inks or/and paint of different colors, using a compressor. These water sculptures flow in the air to 6 or 8 feet high. The different shapes are obtained by modifying pressure and the pipe of water supply, which allows breaking the original shape of the “jelly fish” into fairy tale flowers for example. Under pressure, the water extracts the dies which will color the water column. The crystal appearance and the magical transparency looks like the work of a glassblower.
Fluid Painting: In the pouring acrylic painting technique, the paint is not applied with a brush or palette knife, but rather use gravity to move the paint across a surface by tilting it. The results are unlike anything you can get with a brush. The fluid flows without any brush marks or texture. We take macro photography of this psychedelic paint while it still wet and alive by choosing the best swirls. Things always look so different once dry. Our technique: Our splash photographs reveal unique liquid sculptures, created by the collision of water, cream, paint, or ink droplets or by using gravity to move the paint across a surface by tilting it. These liquids in motion are frozen in time by a high-speed flash of light. Our art prints are created with a dye sublimation process on aluminum so the colors become a magical luminescence.
I create remarkable jewelry from antique and vintage architectural elements, including hinges, keyholes, chandelier parts and doorbells. I also repurpose musical instruments, clock-parts, vintage tools and postage stamps. I search high and low for castoff pieces of the past, then reinvent them. I frame them in classical jewelry settings, to highlight their hidden and often unintended beauty. The result is a striking and adventurous synthesis of industrial strength, history and glamour.
Valerie Gudell, 3D mixed media artist, was born in NYC. She currently works in Houston, TX, where she creates assemblage art as well as vinyl and clay creatures with unique and sometimes complex personalities. Her main artistic influences include the Steampunk genre, Asian culture, and street art.
During the past few years, Valerie has shown her work at the Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA), Irving Arts Center (Irving, TX), ShockBoxx Gallery (Hermosa Beach, CA), CraftBoston, d’Art Center (Norfolk, VA), and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts (San Angelo, TX). She has shown her work locally at the First Saturday Arts Market, Ardest Gallery, Texas Art Asylum, Winter Street Studios, and Art Museum TX. Her work has been featured in the Houston Press, Culturemap, The Leader, the LA Beat, and the OC Register, among others. Valerie is currently an artist at Hardy and Nance Studios (Houston, TX).
Zen Morris-VMGWater Rabbit-VMGRudo-VMGRabbitmonsters-VMGJellybean Monsters-VMGJellybean Monsters-VMGGarbage Party or HOA Meeting
I am a landscape and nature photographer living in Houston, Texas. My goal is to seek out inspiring rural locations and subjects, either natural or man-made, and capture them with the medium of photography to create fine art of the highest quality. http://www.herschbachphotography.com 713-454-9468
I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma and spent my childhood playing outdoors in the woods, fields, streams, and lakes. I have never much cared for the hustle and bustle of city life. My inspiration comes from my time spent walking, running, biking, riding, and driving the back roads where relatively few travel. Open pasture instead of parking lots. Silos instead of skyscrapers. Barns instead of strip malls. Hills and mountains instead of overpasses and super domes. The rural areas speak to me.
I became interested in art at a young age. My Aunt bought me Mark Kistler’s Draw Squad for my birthday when I was twelve and it taught me the fundamentals of creating a three dimensional world on a two dimensional piece of paper. In Junior High, I took a year of private instruction from a local acrylic painter who worked with wildlife and landscapes. During this time I also was taking piano lessons and even taught myself to play the harmonica and the guitar. I grew to enjoy and become skilled in various arts.
Throughout this time I had experimented in photography, from my first 110 film camera given to me by my first grade teacher, to the Minolta SLR I chose as a high school graduation present. However, it wasn’t until December of 2009 that I began to take photography more seriously when I decided that I would like to create some artwork to hang on the walls in our home. In order to do this, I knew that I had to develop a strong foundation for the technical aspect of photography and to continue developing my artistic eye and mind, which I had already begun years before.
I began scouring the internet and reading every book I could get my hands on and watching countless hours of videos on image processing. I submitted select photos for critique by professional photographers. I took on voluntary photography projects at work and at my church to learn how to use light effectively and picked up some small family portrait jobs here and there for family and friends. With every photograph I created, I grew closer to being able to use photography as not just a way to capture a beautiful scene or subject, but as a viable method of communicating emotion, a fundamental principle of fine art. While I understand that mastery of any genre of art is subjective and, at best, difficult to attain, I wish to share with you the artwork that I create along the way as I work toward this goal.
