Jennifer Maestre

   Numerous times pencils doing the work of creating art but for Jennifer Maestre the art is the materials and tools used. Maestre is a Massachusetts-based artist that attended the Massachusetts College of Art, B.F.A., Glass with Distinction, Departmental Honors and what makes her sculptures so attractive is unique pencil sculptures are stimulated by sea urchin, sections of pencils present aspects of sharp and smooth for two very different textural and aesthetic experiences. Motivated by animals, plants, other art creates jewelry from pencils by gluing together blocks of pencils. Some of Maestre’s sculptures are comprised of 4,000 pencil stubs, sometimes even more. Her technique is cutting into the pencils 1-inch sections that she turns into beads by drilling holes through them. Then, she sharpens the pieces and sews them all together, usually using the peyote stitch, a sculptural beading technique.

     Maestre has received many awards for her work including: Artist of the Year, Sculpture, Member’s Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA. In 2006 and in 1999- Board of directors Sculpture Prize, The Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show, Federal Reserve Bank Gallery, Boston, MA.

 Project Title: Asterida   5x24x24 from her private collection 

 

       Using red crayon tips, the sculpture blooms to a 3-dimensional figure that could be seen in oceans and equilibrium. The use of particular color is important as other colors would not be that effective. There is realism the texture as the points to the crayons are facing upwards to give the impression of spike but the shape arches over on the sides gives a smooth movement and angle and even sense of base. The arches service also as a base to lead the eye into the center. The counter balance is also important as some of the arches are slanted down and some are arched over gives a movement feels.

Project Title: Aurora size is 7x17x17 in.

Here again is the use of color that gives a realistic feel to the work. Lighter colors, yellow and orange give the portion movement and space while the darker colors, blue and green, in the center for gives depth. The artist repeatedly uses the tops of the pencils to give the sculpture texture and sticks to the bases of arches along the side for support. Very close symbolically to the shape of a bowl, the base is cupped in the center.

Project title 3: Seethe -size 9x13x14 in

"I called it ‘Seethe’ because it reminds me of lava bubbling out of a volcano."

Nathan Sawaya

The next artist presented in this blog is Nathan Sawaya. A New York-based artist well-known for his three-dimensional models and large-scale objects from standard LEGO toy bricks. Most of art designs, 3-dimensional sculpture and over sized portraits are constructed from nearly one million pieces and are commissioned for charities or individuals, museums. One statuette was commissioned for the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation entitled “Liberty Jedi” Lady Liberty wielding a light saber. A 7-foot-long replica of the Brooklyn Bridge, a life-size tyrannosaurus Rex, a 6-foot-tall Han Solo frozen in carbonite and Alfred Hitchcock. When asked what’s the weirdest thing he ever been asked to build he answered “I’ve built monkeys for both the talk show host Craig Ferguson, and the magician David Copperfield. I’ve also built a functioning industrial air conditioner.”

   Sawaya’s work explores human emotion and the mind and the complicated interlocking relationship between the two. “My pieces grow out of my fears and accomplishments as an artist and as a man. The fundamental purpose to my art is to captivate people for as long as I can keep their attention.” Attention to detail and perfection enables him to elevate Legos into brilliant status of art. Sawaya had his first solo art exhibit in the Spring of 2007 at the Lancaster Museum of Art. He also appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and WB Morning Show in November 2004.

·         http://www.brickartist.com

·         http://luketechtips.com/a-neat-blog-about-tech/interesting-lego-artworks-by-nathan-sawaya.html

·         http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/nathan-sawaya-uses-lego-to-build-working-cello

·     Bumble Bee

26" x 47" x 36 

presented on May 2008

·     Heartfelt 

 35" x 13" x 28" February 2009

 ·         Lincoln Portrait 28" x 22" February 2010

Other samples of art:

This Next post i wanted to show something differnt in the way art is seen. Most people go to an art gallery to see art which is true but when i see people with interesting tattos I also consider that art (animated art). So here are some pictures I found of some interesting tattoos.

Artists of the week

Artists of the week

Yoko Ono

Artist, musician, activist, these are some of the titles given over to one of the world’s most beloved creative artist known today, Yoko Ono.  Yoko Ono has given back to the world’s best pieces of independent art ever seen. For example “Wish Tree” is one of the most popular three-dimensional conceptual art pieces. She has also written many films between 1964 and 1972 including “Wrapping Piece,”” Film No. 4,”and “Making of Fly.” Yoko also has a collection of music singles which has equivalent popularity.

The art that Ono has designed is one that doesn’t have a genre or category that most people would place an artist in. Sometimes the work is one and two dimensional, sometimes three dimensional. The meanings and presentation of her work is open and sometimes closed for interpretation which allows the viewers to imagination or interacts with the art. One of the pieces I found interesting is her “Play it by Trust” statuette.

This piece was created in1966 and has been used by other artists in small and large forms. The chess pieces are all white colored and there seems to be no checker boxes. Ono once quoted on this sculpture mimicking another artist Marcel Duchamp,” When I created Play It by Trust I wasn’t thinking about at all. Many artists have worked with chess, but they usually worked with the decorative aspect of the chess pieces. I wanted to create a new chess game, making a fundamental rather than decorative change. The white chess set is a sort of life situation. Life is not all black and white; you don't know what is yours and what is theirs. You have to convince people what is yours. In the chess situation it is simple if you are black then black is yours. But this is like a life situation, where you have to play it by convincing each other. “Love the philoy in this portion. It stripes down the fundamentals of playing a board game against someone. That fact that color is denied to all the chess pieces also strikes a bold concept of color sightlessness to other people and cultures, which is what Ono was all about.

  Another example of her work that takes on a different form to art is the “Wish tree”. Here again Ono is using the collection of human emotion to capture the beauty within it. Many inhibitions have been made by other artist to explore the concept of free form to a structure. Each piece of paper is typed to a branch of a tree whose limbs are bare. The paper has a wish written from someone and attached to the tree to make it whole. The paper hangs down to look like the leaves of the tree where the tree is now complete. When I see this design I am reminded by the poem written by John Donne in the 16^th century,” ... any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee...” representing the body of mankind as a whole collective then a singular piece.

 

Finally the other greatest artwork that be created by Yoko is “PROMISE “which was presented to the United Nations on World Autism Awareness Day. The design is made of 67 acrylic puzzle pieces to represent the 67 million citizens around the world that suffers from Autism. The background is a picture of a cloudy blue day in the sky. The mural is also is used to convey the complexity of Autism. Again the collective puzzle piece represents a collective idea which alone says little but together portrays a magnificent image.

 

For more information on Yoko Ono:

·         http://imaginepeace.com- personal website

·         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Ono

Tom Friedman

Known best for his conceptual sculptor made out of everyday items. From pencils, cardboard, yarn, nails, ect. Tom creates fascinated pieces of art which is formed into something else.  Looking through his art gallery, there are many pieces that I enjoyed and found to be both humors and disturbing. Tom’s work, in my option, drives to make a statement that is not clearly defined.  Some of his sculptures are not even given a title.  Some of pieces of material used in his art are regular items most people would not see any use for except for its own purposes.

Although there are many examples of his art available to see and examine, the three I want to personally look over is: 'Toothpick Starburst', 1995” “Open Black Box”, 2006, “Aluminum Foil Sculpture.”

 The pattern used here is with over 30,000 small Tooth picks to form a star bust shape. 3d dimensional all around, every detail is taken into consideration. The form is 26 x 30 x 23 inches.  This one is a very serious attempt to make pure illusion out of simple objects. Tom is quoted here saying” "I saw the toothpick sculpture as a response to consuming the pill containing Play-Doh as its medicine. “Both color and texture gives this piece an active approach to a loud presentation. There is also balance in the spike to place as the sculpture is not held on by string but the bottom spikes. There is so much detail in this design that the audience’s eye never tires to find something new in every angle.

The Second piece I want to explore is the Open Black Box. Commissioned in 2006, Open Black box was placed in the Gagosian Gallery. Seen at eye level, the audience gets the feeling like stepping into the tech. world this art sculpture has much to give due to the lack of materials over texture. The empty spaces between the corners of the box say as much to the finished object as the corners themselves do.  Connecting the dots with one’s own mind seems to be the movement the artist is trying to present here. The balance where the corners are tilted to show the four sides of the box also directs the viewers to see it in a 3d perspective.

The last piece created by Tom Friedman is Aluminum Foil Sculpture in June of 2007 at the Lever House Gallery. There is a collection of small tin foil pieces that suspended from the ceiling. The different objects that tom used were paper, styrofoam, paint, spaghetti, eraser shavings, and yarn. Here again the form is distorted and not every piece has a particular outline to follow. The cache of pieces seems to show shattered glass that is branching out into space. Tom explained his idea,” "I identified for myself four basic elements: the material I would choose, the process of altering of altering the material, the form it would take, and its presentation. I found that there would be an element of logic to connect them."
There are many other sculptures that Tom has fashioned which inspire the use of materials that is seen in just one form or use. Love the concept of transformation art that makes one look at the world in a different light.
Links for Tom Friedman:

·         http://www.designboom.com/portrait/friedman.html

·         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Friedman_%28artist%29

·         http://www.artnet.com/artists/tom-friedman/