Tomas Saraceno

Tomas Saraceno is an artist from Argentina who explores inflatable art. He creates art in the air & works with gravity. He bases some of his work on photos he has taken of scenery in Bolivia, where the water behind him blends with the sky to look like he is standing in mid air. His creations are amazing & get my attention..although he is making art I cant help to admire his architectural abilities. By looking at his work I get a sense of the amount of research he has done, many of his pieces explore a different aspect of life, species, territory, community or system.

Galaxies Forming along Filaments, Like Droplets along the Strands of a Spider's Web

32SW stay green/Flying Garden/Air-Port-City


The building this was set up in had electrical cables connected to solar panels facing existing light sources. The electricity generated through this web of cables, receivers, and generators were able to grow the grass inside 32SW stay green/Flying Garden/Air-Port-City. The piece is a self-sustainable greenhouse equipped with an irrigation system that waters a cluster of inflatable spheres.

http://www.core.form-ula.com/2009/03/22/profile-tomas-saraceno/
here is more photos of his work

Yuko Takada Keller

Yuko Takada Keller is a Japanese paper artist who takes tracing paper and creates wonderful  pieces.

She majored in weaving and later started using paper. Yuko appreciated that tracing paper can have both a state of transparency and lack of transparency and clearly used it to her advantage. Her work is light and airy as it stands suspended in mid air, yet as a whole her pieces give the viewer a sense of solidity...something to look at.

Prismatic

It is composed of 7,500 pyramids. The theme of "Prismatic" comes from a shower of light that she felt when surrounded by nature.

Water Plants

"The deep sea 

Billowing comfortably 

Water Plants dancing in line"

Most of her more recent work show a transition in either color or size and are generally within the color scheme of blue, yellow and white. Her inspiration mainly comes from nature-either water, or light. 

Expectation

"The light is shining on us 

Rising up to our dream"

She becomes concious of the skin membrane in the air and she says she can feel invisible things...Taking a look at life & what can not be seen. She feels that if you look, you will find an invisible world.

Nancy Cohen

I have come across Nancy Cohen both in the Joetta Maue's blog and the Spring 2011 edition of Fiberarts magazine; and I guarantee I will see her work elsewhere, as it is stunning!


Her installations are mainly composed of glass, metal and/or paper. They have a light, airy feel to them which is why I feel that I am drawn to them. Some of her pieces are a scale that invites intimacy and close-up viewing, yet also large works she has work that is for public viewing.




The installation that catches my eye the most is Estuary: Moods and Modes. It was created in 2007 and it is 53x11x18 feet, handmade paper and wire.

The bright colors caught my eye as I scrolled down Joetta's blog page...how could they not?

I am most attracted to this because I can see similar characteristics to the piece I am currently trying to tackle.  The piece is not literal, it shows a change in color and size, and dances up the wall as if it were growing. She also used paper that she made herself...similar to what I am trying to do with my yarn (taking the material and 'owning' it to make my own surface). 

I am also intrigued by her drawings. They are on her handmade paper, and are paper pulp with embedded wire.That is it. Here's Her Website if you want to see more

Tilleke Schwarz

Tilleke Schwarz...I adore her embroidery work. It is bright, unorganized and 

childish. The pieces she embroiders are inspired from folk art and things in her daily 

life. Her work includes contemporary elements, text, traditional images from samplers,

 graffiti, and icons. All of her works are hand embroidered and end up looking 

like a page from a sketchbook. She does not plan out her embroideries nor does she use 

an embroidery hoop or sewing machine. Her work is so simple, yet complex...as Jenn 

would call it Eye Candy. She uses simple lines that I wish to carry over in

my work.

For my first Artist Wednesday I chose Janet Cooper. Her work that gets my attention the most is her embellished dresses. The dresses speak to the viewer and tell a story of the feminine lifestyle. She cherishes the "shared female history" so incorporates the methods of women's work (stitching, appliqué, quilting, knitting & crocheting) to bind the meaning of women to the dresses.

Janet Cooper, Assemblage Party Dress from my travels to Rome, France and Japan

All of the dresses have the same vintage form and feel to them. She sews them with found objects representing nothing more than a woman. The embellishments she choses are limitless, including doll parts, sewing patterns, ribbon, toys, literature, photos, buttons, spools of thread, needles, doll clothes, utensils, lace, beads...(you get the idea). The dresses are a collaboration of items that all pertain to each other in some way, creating a history of women. I love these pieces, because they show the unseen work women have been expected to do such as sewing and cooking, and make it all visible and beautiful.


It is an interest I have to create a piece inspired by this theme, taking the preconceived role of women and  either changing it to modern day or playing around with gender role reversal. I am also interested in the use of mixed media. I personally think that using different materials can help get your idea across if assembled properly.