Things have been very different around here since May.   My best work yet.

It’s that time of year already.  It may still be fairly cool outside, but it’s already time to clean out the little pots, cull through the seed packets, and press those tiny little lumps of dried plant material into the soil in hopes that tiny little lump will reemerge as a healthy little plant. 

Have you heard of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?  Nicknamed the “Doomsday Vault”, seeds from all over the world are being systematically categorized and stored to ensure ”conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide.” There is a strange contradiction in the globalization we experience that is evidenced by the plant world.  In striving for diversity, we can inadvertently become more homogenized. 

I recently finished the class for our local Master Gardener program.  Many counties have this type of program.  This one involves several weeks of classes, followed by a required number of service hours.  A very important topic that was touched on several times is that of invasive species.  Many plants and insects that I am very familiar with in my own landscape were unintentionally or intentionally introduced relatively recently.  People introduce plants to control erosion, or bring in one insect to control another, and the consequences can be far reaching.   I realized how unfamiliar I am with the native species of this part of Maryland.   

In my own yard, we planted several Buddleia (Butterfly Bush).  We love the continual bloom in mid to late summer, and just as the name implies, they really do attract lots of butterflies.  But after a couple years we started to notice more and more of them.  Turns out Buddleia is on the watch list our area, and already classified as a noxious weed in Washington and Oregon.   We now have one more “weed” to control.  They are still beautiful though. 

Folding Screen is now on view at Strathmore as part of the 17th Annual Strathmore Membership Juried Exhibition.  This wide ranging exhibit will be open until April 5, 2008.

This piece was fun to make with stronger colors than I tend to use in larger pieces.  It is a three part screen with a large amount of polymer clay veneer, and sweeping painted overlays.  Folding screens are an interesting format.  They can be highly decorative, and loosely formated, yet very versatile.

A departure in theme for me, my new sculptural vessel piece, Birds n’ Bees Cairn, was finished just in time for the annual Art You  My Valentine? exhibit at the Mansion at Strathmore  (February 2 – 25, 2008). 

It was a fun piece to make… a little of everything.  The underside of the walnut base is carved, and finished with layered paint to emphasize depth.  Combined with the smooth, oil-rubbed top, the base has taken on a toadstool effect that I would like to further explore.  The bottom two “rocks” are both polymer clay vessels…even in my most sculptural work I feel a pull to make it do something.  I was a little concerned that I would have trouble with the upper components being top heavy, but the snug fitting lids hold well.  Two of the “rocks” are  patterned with the mokume gane technique.  The other two are layered with a variety of techniques, including a touch of caning for the translucent bee wings.

This piece is the first reflecting my recent interest in cairns.  The simplest definition is a pile of stones, but the meanings are vast.  Cairns may mark a place of meaning, or be intended to guide.  The history is deep for this simple manipulation of natural elements.

Layers are a recurring theme in my work.  My painted work can easily have twenty to thirty layers, building up the forms and the colors for greater depth and interest.  The polymer clay technique I use most frequently, mokume gane (shown), is also based on layers.  Mokume gane is a borrowed metalwork technique, where a series of layers are laminated, interrupted, and then sliced to reveal patterns. 

Recently I have been experimenting with a new type of layering.  I have been combining polymer clay with wood veneer.  The largest conceptual difference with my new technique is that all the layers are viewed directly, from the side, instead of viewing through the multiple layers.  The layers are the subject rather than the method.  Layers can mark a passage of time.  A river stone is history you can hold in your hand.  Layers can also be used more deliberately to build.  Intentionally placed next to each other for the sake of the relationship created by that proximity.  When the technical experimenting with adhesives and sequences and finishes is done, I hope the contrasting materials add a new kind of depth and rhythm to my latest work.  More to come on this new technique…

Some would say the last thing I need is yet another new project, but here it is.  Being an artist is a never ending work in progress, and a blog seems like a nice way to track progress, ideas and inspiration.  It’s an organized place for me to put those interesting photos of shapes and textures, remember just how long that new piece really took, and share my latest projects and experiments.  So here it is…

-Margaret