Cordova-negra

©2009-2010 Cristina Córdova

I began this post a year ago and never published it because I continue to feel that there is still some yet unexpressed aspect of Córdova’s work that I had not adequately described. Her ceramic images evoke in me the Phaedrus, in which Plato described the fall of the soul. They also evoke the River Styx, which for the Greeks formed the barrier between Earth and the Underworld. Her forms arise from that same psycho-emotional space from which our mythologies emanate. A space where only metaphors have meaning and geometric forms arouse our proto-memories to something distant and yet familiar.

©2009-2010 Cristina Córdova

Others have described her work as “Primitive Latin American” and perhaps it is.  However, it is my opinion that her work is not specifically Latin; in my estimation its true power, much like all of the Great Myths, is in it’s universality. Her figures appear (more…)

Vicissitudes, underwater sculpture

The ocean is mysterious in the truest sense. We only know its edges, not its center. We know its shallow bits fairly well, but its depths are still fairly unexplored. We have been to the moon more than we have been to the deepest parts of the ocean. I think we relate to the ocean because in some ways, we humans are similarly mysterious. I find the art of Jason deCaires Taylor to be capturing a hint of that mystery.

Taylor has gained international recognition for creating the world’s first underwater sculpture park in Grenada, West Indies. His work is not only beautiful and unique; it also champions a message of (more…)

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Matt Woodward’s artwork is reminiscent of a daydream or of recapturing only a part of a memory; you know it is there, and yet it is never quite within your grasp. You sense it, yet can not see it. I was touched by it from the first impression.  Woodward is a Chicago based artist whose work is inspired by the “memories of grandeur” implicit in the decay he experiences in the architecture and environment around him.

I had a chance to ask him about his work, the following are excerpts from that conversation:

“It is tough to get into all that (when asked what inspires his creativity)… (more…)

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© Sara Schneckloth

The work of Sara Schneckloth strives to embody moments of remembering. The emotions and memories from our past experiences leave their mark on more than our minds, they affect the function of our organs, our bodies, today.  This thought informs Schneckloth’s work as she seeks to channel her painful memories into emotive lines of charcoal on paper.

© Sara Schneckloth 2005

The following are excerpts from an interview with Leslie Hinton:

I like to have a sense of a loose structure in which I can invent and explore the themes that are most relevant, but it is rarely a pre-determined event. Drawing lends itself to this kind of immediacy, in terms of both materials and how they are handled, and there is always the sense for me that I’m witnessing a thought evolve as I work. The initial phases of the process are much more visceral/intuitive than pre-conceived and intellectualized, but there is (more…)

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Graphic designers Pierre & Damien of PleaseLetMeDesign.com recruited belgian racer Stef van Campenhoudt to create a font by tracking the movements of a car with custom software designed by interactive artist Zachary Lieberman of OpenFrameworks.cc and the results are quite entertaining to watch!

Try this yourself! Your neighbors will love it:

Download IQ Font (From Toyota)

L'Enfant Plan for Washington DCWhat follows is a tale woven from strange threads; ancient symbols, secret Masonic texts, enlightenment ideals, and the African American Hero, Benjamin Banneker…

It begins with a curious fact that most citizens have never noticed: the White House was constructed to sit at the base of a mile wide pentagram, bounded by a pentagon positioned at the center of a 100 sq mile diamond. Three points of the pentagram are traffic circles surrounding small parks, one point is the Historical Society and the Southernmost point is the White House itself. (more…)

This chalk board stop animation music video, directed by Lucinda Schreiber and Yanni Kronenberg, was designed from the stills of a chalk drawing. It’s absolutely beautiful and inspiring. The music is by Firekites. (Discovered via Mashable)

Firekites – AUTUMN STORY – chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

More:
Collection of Inspired Vimeo Videos on Mashable.com
Firekites on Myspace

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rising over Texas:
(Things get exciting about 25 seconds into it. Turn out your lights and go full screen with “HD On” for best effect.)

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

If you liked this, check out Milky Way Galaxy Over Death Valley.

harris

Joshua Allen Harris is a NY street artist who is just doing as any native folk artist does; using the materials of his environment to create something special. The native environment of NYC consists of discarded trash and underground air vents. The result: Lifelike trash monsters who come to life as the vents release air, and then fall again, melting like a wicked witch. What a lift that must be to the unsuspecting passerby!



If you liked this, you might like: Dirty Car Artist – Scott Wade

Noted mathematician, Marston Morse once said “Mathematics are the result of mysterious powers which no one understands, and which the unconscious recognition of beauty must play an important part. Out of an infinity of designs a mathematician chooses one pattern for beauty’s sake and pulls it down to earth.” Ahh, enter Bathsheba Grossman…

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Part scientist, part mathematician, part programmer, part sculptor; Bathsheba Grossman creates once impossible works of geometric beauty.

To hear Bathsheba describe her work, one might suspect that she spent her personal hours in the math or comp-sci labs while attending art school. She is a delightful techno-geek whose discourse and description are technically precise and scientific in nature.  Her creations are inspired by mathematics and brought forth into the world in their complete forms.  No, not from the brow of Zeus, but rather through the combination of two modern technologies, namely three dimensional computer modeling and three dimensional metal printing.

Though she is now a dedicated full time artist, her past employment has included work as a programmer, college professor, tech writer, typist, and web designer.

Her design concepts often come from her work with clay models, though she sometimes begins with known mathematical shapes.  Still other times, she conceives of an idea in her head and reproduces her vision directly via coded computer scripts which she imports into her 3D modeling software.

Bathsheba compared her use of 3D metal printing to the use of 3D plastic printing which has been in common industrial use for several years: “using some of the same processes [as 3D plastic printing] but with a little metal sintering added on at the end it is possible to do similar operations with metal powder.  Thereby resulting in fully dense metal objects which have the strength, durability and archival nature of steel. But, can also take forms which are impossible to cast, fabricate or really make by any other means at all. So, here I am, working with objects that are impossible to make. If you show these to people who work in metal, they simply fall on the floor, because there is no way to make these things, it’s impossible! …that’s what I consider to be the most interesting new technology in metal, practically since casting was invented.”

Incidentally, I had the opportunity to test this statement. I showed this series of photographs to a local metal machinist. Bathsheba was right, his jaw dropped as he exclaimed the impossibility of creating these shapes in one continuous piece.

“They’re visions of order in the universe; my peaceful places.  I feel calm and hopeful in making them.” says Grossman.

And I have the same experience in viewing them.

Bathsheba Grossman at work 3D Modeling Software Showing Schwarz' D SurfaceBathsheba Grossman Office

Bathsheba also works with glass utilizing sub-surface laser damage to produce 3-dimensional images in glass.

If you find this story interesting, you might also like: Theo Jansen, Kinetic Sculptor

More:
Bathsheba Grossman’s website
MakeMagazine
Ex One 3D Printing

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