Elements of Design
I came across this book in a charity shop a while ago by Donald M Anderson.
He was born 1915 in Bridgewater, South Dakota, and became an influential artist and designer, publishing such textbooks as this one (‘ The Elements of Design ‘) in 1961 and ‘ The Art of Written Forms ‘ in 1969, whil’st he taught art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He also contributed some of his illustrations (above) to the book. He lived to be 80, and passed away in 1995.
There’s quite a fascinating mix of imagery from around the world, it’s interesting to dip into. I’ve pulled out the best to show you today.
Wind Patterns, designs from nature, repeat elements, etc are all discussed and featured.
Of course with it being a book from the early sixties, there are also some fab cartoon and advertising illustrations.
Olivetti appears a couple of times.
Some intricate designs and details.
More sixties, textural images.
Lovely shapes and scratchy, painterly work here.
Santa is looking very type-festive !
A very enjoyable mark-making ride I’d say : )
What do you think ? Does anyone have any similar books on their shelves they wold like to share with everyone ?
Heatons Arts Trail
Hi Everyone, this weekend (1st and 2nd July) is the most welcome return of the HEATONS ARTS TRAIL.
35 Artists display their work over 8 different venues, for details please visit http://www.heatonsartstrail.com. As Fishink Ceramics, I will be showing work at Venue 4 which is St Paul’s Church Hall, St Paul’s Rd, SK44RY, Manchester.
All venues are open 11am until 5pm both days, free entry. Please drop in for a browse or tell your friends who live locally. See you soon , cheers Craig
Gere Kavanaugh
This is a post from 2018, today Gere is a fabulous 94 yrs young, enjoy her work and words.
Gere Kavanaugh’s varied output has dubbed her a designer of textiles, furniture, interiors, exhibitions, products, and graphics, as well as an artist and a colour consultant. She’s also channeled a love of letter forms into type design, creating custom typefaces for the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum and Arklow Pottery in Ireland. “I love too many things. I’ll design anything I can get my hands on—just ask me,” says Gere, an active designer at 87 years old, who’s itching for a commission to design a destination tea room or redo the interiors of an airline. “They’re just so boring!” she remarks with her usual affable candor.
Gere’s prodigious and polymathic approach to design began in school. After studying fine arts at the Memphis College of Art, she went to Michigan to pursue a master’s degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art. There, she thrived in the tightly knit studio system, living and creating with fellow students working in ceramics, painting, textiles, graphics, and architecture. At the time, both the classroom and the workplace were male-dominated, but Gere was not to be impeded by this fact. She was one of the first women to go through Cranbrook’s design program, along with mid-20th-century legends Ray Eames, Florence Knoll, and Ruth Adler Schnee. Cranbrook’s staff included strong male and female teachers, and Gere was encouraged by designers such as Finnish ceramicist Maija Grotell, architect/industrial designer Ted Luderowski, and textile designer Marianne Strengell.
After Cranbrook, she was immediately hired at General Motors. Buoyed by a wave of postwar optimism, Gere remembers this time as heady and exciting for designers, especially those working in Detroit. In addition to GM, design-forward companies such as Ford, Chrysler, Herman Miller, Eero Saarinen, and Minoru Yamasaki were all located in Detroit, then the center of design in America. “There was a milieu—an atmosphere—[where you felt] that by creating better products, you were creating a better world,” she recalls.
Gere worked at GM’s styling studio, equivalent to a company’s in-house design department today. She designed displays, created model kitchens, and would even, at times, work on the interior design of private homes of GM’s top executives. But as part of the design architecture group, Gere’s main focus was designing exhibitions to showcase GM’s automobiles. For one memorable springtime show, she rented 90 canaries and housed them in a trio of 30-foot, floor-to-ceiling columns made of Swiss cotton netting, which hung like transparent birdcages beneath the dome of the Eero Saarinen-designed GM Technical Center. “There were also lights underneath and when you turned them on, the birds would sing.” Gere likes to incorporate animals in many of her concepts, drawing from memories of living across from the Memphis Zoo as a child.
Gere was part of GM’s “Damsels of Design,” the first group of women to work as professional designers in a U.S. corporation, a move championed by GM’s legendary design director Harley Earl. The “damsel” moniker concocted by the company’s public relations department didn’t always sit well with her, and she wasn’t interested in fueling the raging narrative about sexism and feminism. Her mindset is that of a humanist.
In 1960, after four years at GM, Gere accepted a design position at Victor Gruen’s—known as the father of the shopping mall—architecture firm, first in Detroit, then in Los Angeles. She flourished in Southern California’s creative climate and enjoyed great freedom in her new role, working on interiors of retail stores and shopping centers across the country. Following Gruen’s vision of recreating the atmosphere of European town centers in suburban America, also designing the first town clocks at shopping malls as public meeting places.
She also forged a lifelong friendship with her colleague Frank Gehry, a relationship that led her to venture out on her own. Gehry and his design partner, Greg Walsh, invited her to split the $76 per month rent for a bungalow in Santa Monica that was so small they used the bathtub as storage for their drawings. After moving to a bigger space years later, the Frank-Gere-Greg trifecta was joined by Deborah Sussman and Don Chadwick, best known as the co-creator of the iconic Herman Miller Aeron chair.
With the support of her colleagues and champions, the “unique, multi-dimensional design firm” Gere’s designs excelled. Her client roster has grown to include Pepsi, Hallmark, Neutrogena, Max Factor, and Isabel Scott Fabrics, who hired her to help set up an ikat silk weaving factory in South Korea.
Working with the patio furniture company Terra in the 1970s, she invented the now ubiquitous market umbrella, at times referred to as the “California umbrella,” a design she was unable to patent because it had “no unique patentable parts,” she explains. Frustrating dalliances with patents and copyrights throughout her career have informed her efforts to help Cranbrook establish an alumni product archive, a place for alums to donate a design or artwork that companies can reproduce and pay royalties directly to the school.
Reflecting on how design students have changed since she was in school, she observes, “We’re living in the most exciting age that we can ever live in and have more disciplines to draw upon to produce our work. But you have to be smart enough to figure out the best tool to produce what you’re thinking. And this the students are not doing today.” She’s talking about using one’s hands for more than clicking around a computer’s track pad.
For Gere, her hands are still the best creative tools she owns—as they’ve been since she started doodling as a child. “Working with your hands teaches you about your inside person,” she says, and at 87 she must know a little more than most of us.
Many thanks to Anne Quito for her biography on Gere, and the information used in today’s post.
Tim Roberts Contemporary Retro
Tim Roberts studied fine art at the Sir John Cass School of Art and then at Chelsea School of Art back in the late seventies before taking a thirty-year career break, returning to full-time painting about six years ago. Describing himself as a continuing Modernist, his work for me conjures up motifs and an artistic ambiance of creatives like Paul Nash, Eric Ravilious, Barbara Hepworth, Enid Marx etc, but with his own personalised twist.
A new way to look at what’s gone before. I contacted Tim to discover more about the meaning behind his work.
When did you first get interested in art ?
Difficult to say when I first got interested – the stock response is to say I’ve always been interested. I do remember always making things; models, lead soldiers, wood and paper gliders, powered model aircraft etc – so maybe that making thing just got focused into painting. I remember doing art at (Catholic, boys only, grammar) school off my own bat – in addition to the general curriculum – as it wasn’t considered a ‘serious’ subject. Going to uni and meeting a lot of people who were interested in art and had a lot to say about it opened my eyes a bit. I probably spent more time drawing and painting at uni than studying my chosen degree subject (Eng. Lit and philosophy.)
How would you describe your style of paintings ?
I suppose I would tend to describe myself as a Modernist even though for most of my formal art education (John Cass and Chelsea) this was an invisible and almost unknown strand of British art. At the time we were far more concerned with current (seventies) US and European practices – Minimalism, structuralism, post structuralism, post pop – a lot of post-stuff. Say what you like about the YBAs, they did wrest the control and direction of art praxis in the UK back to a more domestic agenda, For good or ill.
How did your interest with fifties and sixties motifs develop ?
I became interested in British Modernism later on after discovering the astonishing 1920s generation of Slade school artists – Nash, Wyndham Lewis, Spencer, Wadsworth, Bomberg, Piper, Nevinson et al. This rather undermined the accepted art establishment view that in general and with few exceptions – Turner, Blake, Gainsborough – the Brits rather punched under their weight. Certainly there was a prevailing feeling that in terms of what was going on, British Art was, at best, a sideshow. For me, the cut-off point was the Pop generation of the sixties who started to look towards the US for their subject matter and to Europe (Situationism, Fluxus, COBRA) for their modus operandi. I wanted to – not return to- but pick up from where the Modernist movement left off. I was particularly concerned with an aspect of British art that had almost completely disappeared: the ability and facility of artists to segue from one discipline to another and not be trapped in their own pigeon-hole.. It seemed the norm for painters of the pre-war period to try their hand at illustration, book, theatre typographical, fabric, theatre design as well as a host of other related disciplines. I think that this holistic approach to artistic enterprise produced a body of work that has yet to be generally recognised as one of the crowning achievements of any national art movement.
Not quite the answer to your question, but I was trying to distill the motifs and the ethos of that period and use them to produce work that stands on its own – without the crutch of a borrowed and pre-validated aesthetic. It’s for you and others to decide if that works.
When you are creating a new piece of artwork, do you work from drawings, photographs, a feel of a place or are the paintings more abstract. I feel some are almost dreamlike !
I can see developments in your work when I look at them all together..( i.e. more use of identifiable objects in your later work than around 2009.) Was this a conscious way of working, or is it more a development of your style and perhaps emulating work that you’ve created that has pleased you in the past ?
I think all painters plagiarise their own work to a greater or lesser extent. I am fortunate in not having commercial or social pressure to produce a large volume of work although some days it would be great to go into the studio and just get on with making. Having the time to worry about every piece of work you make, means that you do. I would love to be able to roll out the same painting over and over again (with minor tweaks, of course) but I find I am not temperamentally suited to that. I suppose I believed naively, that it would get easier as the years progressed, but it doesn’t.
You have a number of handwriting styles, loose paintings, tight and controlled printwork and a keen eye for detail. Would you say that the different areas of work you create allow you to use a variety of skills and interests ? Which in turn helps to keep your work fresh ?
I think of painting as an area of experimentation, of play and improvisation. I quickly get bored with a canvas if I am reproducing something or working by rote. There has to be an element of risk – of skin in the game – a feeling that the next mark could bring the whole thing crashing down. It often does, so it is equally important that the painting provides a commentary on its own history – a palimpsest where marks are made and destroyed or incorporated but leave their own shadow. Unlike other media – film, theatre, music, literature etc – painting is not time-based, you get the whole thing in one go. It is my hope that the layers of marks and paintwork reintroduce a time-based element to the work. If painting is an area of play, printmaking is almost its polar opposite requiring every component of the piece to be conceived and constructed at the outset. The very different techniques and approaches required by these disciplines do complement each other.
Which artist would you say influence your work today.. if any ? Who’s work do you most admire ?
Who do I admire? If you mean in general I would say it’s the generation listed above with Paul Nash being the key stand-out figure for me. Not particularly for his painting – the recent disappointing retrospective showed him to be rather limited if you ignore his outstanding wartime work. Again that show didn’t do justice to his graphic work, book designs, illustrations, end papers, fabrics etc nor did it bring out his fantastic work in mentoring a generation of artisan/artists that are only really now finding an appreciative audience: Ravilious, Bawden, Freedman, Marx Angus et al. Of contemporary artists, I was encouraged by the aforementioned Rose Wylie as much for her attitude as her actual work.
What part of the painting process do you most enjoy ?
The most enjoyable part of the process is pulling a painting out of the rack six months down the line and thinking that actually some bits aren’t as bad as I thought. I don’t tend to finish paintings as much as give up on them. Usually by that stage they have diverged so much from my original intention that I can find no way back, Time to start a new one. It usually takes a while to forget what I thought my original intention was, by which time the work has established a life its own independent of me. Some of course are irredeemable stinkers and stay in the pile!
Home, Home on the Range !
If you’ve ever had that feeling that you would like to live somewhere a little more isolated, or perhaps wish to escape the consumer culture and plan a life on your own.
Here’s a few interesting options to consider.
The Katshi pillar is a natural monolith located near the village of Katskhi in western Georgia. The pillar its approximately 40 metres high and overlooks a small river. The rock has a small medieval hermitage on its top which has been dated between the 9th and 12th century and was used by Stylites, Christians who lived on top of pillars to avoid worldly temptation until the 15th century when the practice wsa stopped following the Ottoman Invasion of Georgia. While the pillar had remained unclimbed until 1944 religious activities started again in the nineties and now a monk lives there full time and takes 20 minutes of vertical stairs just to get down from the pillar.
The 59-year-old monk Maxime Qavtaradze is the only inhabitant of the pillar. His only visitors are priests and a group of troubled young men who are seeking solace in the monastry at the foot of the pillar. A photographer called Amos Chapple paid a visit to the Stylite monk Maxime but was not at first allowed up onto the pillar. Instead he had to spend four days taking part in seven hours of daily prayers including a four hour stint from 2am until sunrise. When he finally was granted permission to scale the ‘dicey’ ladder to the top, he was worried that it might be too dark to get back down. After making it to the top, Maxime told Amos that he became a monk after a stretch in prison and decided he wanted to make a change. The monk slept in a fridge when he first moved to the top of the pillar, but now has a bed inside a cottage.
Ellidaey is an island in the Vestmann Islands, south of Iceland, on this Island there is one lonely house. The story of this secluded house is fascinating.
“Three hundred years ago, Elliðaey was inhabited by five families. They lived there in huts and survived by fishing and raising cattle on the island’s grassy pasture — and by hunting puffins. Over the next two centuries, sustaining a community on Ellidaey became increasingly impractical and unappealing (to say nothing of inbred). People started to leave; sometime in the 1930s, the last permanent residents of Elliðaey moved away.
The island’s former residents found that Iceland had many places more economical than Ellidaey from which to fish and raise cattle. But, as it turned out, there weren’t too many better places for hunting puffins. So, in the early 1953, the Ellidaey Hunting Association built a lodge on the island for its members to use during their commando puffin missions.
Hidden between the mountains in northern Portugal near the city of Fafe and a large wind field is the “Casa do Penedo”. (Top Image) The house was built starting from four giant rocks that were already on site and it was inspired by the American cartoon “the Flinstones”.
The house was built in 1974 by a local family and was supposed to be their vacation house. However, over the past years the house started to attract attention from tourists, architecture enthusiasts and others fascinated by its complete integration with the surrounding nature.
The Irony of this story is that as the interest for the house grow the owner Vitor Rodriguez, had to move elsewhere to find the peace he was looking for.
Because of its popularity the house has been increasingly targeted by thieves and robber who believe it must contain something valuable. So, the house now has bullet proof windows and a full metal door. Nonetheless, the interior remains comfortable and rural with stone and wood furniture.
The Crystal Mill (Old Mill) or historically known as the Sheep Mountain Mill, is one of the most beautiful, picturesque and reputed to be the most photographed area in Colorado state. It’s located above the Crystal River in Crystal, Colorado, between the towns of Glenwood Springs and Aspen on Highway 82, seven miles southeast of Marble.
The Crystal Mill is reachable only in the summer and fall months; it is accessed by a road that requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle, a sturdy pair of boots, a mountain bike or a horse. Operation shut down in 1917, but the site has been preserved with the help of the Gunnison and Aspen historical societies. The Crystal Mill is a wooden powerhouse built in 1892, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Astonishing is that Crystal never had nor does it have now, electricity.
Taktsang Palphug Monastery is more well known as Paro Taktsang and is a Buddhist temple complex which clings to a cliff, 3120 metres above the sea level on the side of the upper Paro valley, Bhutan. Mountainous Paro valley is the heart of Bhutan; here the only international airport of the country is located.The Taktsang Palphug Monastery is one of the most famous touristic destinations of the country and the cultural icon of Bhutan. Visiting the Paro Taktsang Monastery is an unforgettable experience thanks to its unique location and the views of surrounding majestic mountains and emerald green valleys.
The remote location of the monastery makes it amazingly beautiful and unique, but also creates technical difficulties. When on April 19, 1998 a fire started in the Monastery it was burned down completely: the temple was hard to access and the emergency assistance was impossible.
No wonder, that when you are looking at the Taktsang Palphug monastery from Paro valley or from the bottom of the cliff, it seems almost impossible to reach the Monastery. In fact, there are three paths leading to the holy place. The first path is a trail passing through the pine forest and decorated with bright, prayer bannerettes symbolizing protection from evil forces, positive energy, vitality and good luck. he other two paths are passing through the plateau, called “a hundred thousand fairies’ plateau.”
The refined architectural appearance of the Monastery is shaped in the best traditions of Buddhist. The complex has white buildings with golden roofs. Paro Taktsang Monastery consists of the 4 main temples and several dwellings. All buildings are interconnected by staircases with steps carved into the rock. Almost every single buildings of the monastery complex has a balcony with a breathtaking view of the surrounding area. The main shrine of the monastery -the prayer wheel is located in the courtyard of the temple. Every morning at 4 a.m. it is being rotated by monks to mark the beginning of a new day.
The interior design of the temple impresses with its luxurious beauty: gold-plated dome and flickering lights that are illuminating golden idols. In the hall of Thousand Buddhas, which is carved into the rock, a large statue of a tiger is located. The tiger is respected as the symbol of Paro Taktsang because of the legend, according to which the location of the Monastery was chosen by a tigress. The tigress brought here on her back the founder of Bhutan’s Buddhism guru Padmasmabhava.
There are eight caves in the monastery; four of them are comparatively easy to access. The cave where Padmasmabhava is believed to have entered first, on the back of the tiger, is known as “Tholu Phuk” cave and the one where he meditates is known as the “Pel Phuk”. Monks of the monastery are supposed to live and meditate in these caves for 3 years. They rarely visit the adjacent Paro valley.
Located at the Canadian-US border on the St. Lawrence River east of Ontario, Just Room Enough Island was named by the Sizeland family who purchased it as a vacation lodge in the 1950s. What the Sizelands didn’t expect was that Just Room Enough Island would quickly become a popular tourist attraction because of its oddity.
Just Room Enough Island is part of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River. It is the smallest of the 1,864 islands in the famous archipelago shared by the cities of Ontario and New York. The Island counts as a legitimate part of the Thousand Islands because it satisfies these state-given criteria: 1) Above water level year round; 2) Have an area greater than 1 square foot (0.093 m2); and 3) Support at least one living tree.
And if that doesn’t float your boat (groan) or your home, then be careful what you wish for : )
Interior-wise If I had a choice, I’d choose to live in the buildings below. Stocked with sixties retro furniture… naturally!
So if you live in one of these type of homes, please feel free to ask me over to stay for a few days lol
Even for a short break, I’d find this environment inspirational and creative for drawing.
Alternatively you can borrow from Sculptor Offentlig Konst and take your home with you… on legs!
Finally here’s a couple of other tucked away home environments.
Which one is your favourite ?
FISHINK CERAMIC SALE
Hi Everyone , just a quick mention that I have a Sale starting tomorrow morning at 9 am UK time on my stories over at http://www.instagram.com/fishinkblog or @fishinkblog .
You can browse over 50 items of my new collection of ceramics and just message me should you see anything you might like.
These will be available tomorrow too
Please pop over to my Instagram space over the weekend it is open for business 9 til 5 both days. I look forward to seeing you there, thank you Craig
Ladislav Sutnar Graphic Input
Ladislav Sutnar was born in 1897 in Plezn, Czechoslovakia. A Renaissance man, like many in his era, his activities were multidisciplinary and he studied painting at the School of Applied Arts in Prague, architecture at Charles University, and mathematics at the Czech Technical University concurrently.
This silkscreen print was published as a promotional kit for the Build the Town building block set Sutnar designed between 1940 and 1943 while living in the U.S. This print is 1 of only 2 promotional materials Ladislav produced for the modern toy design market.
Starting in 1924, Ladislav designed toys consisting of simple geometric structures of animals and puppets.
He attempted to introduce modern aesthetics into children’s toys by developing a building kit that consisted of sawtooth roofs, cones, and pieces in the colors of red, blue, and white (this remained a prototype).
The 1960s proved to be a difficult time for the designer as he turned to publishing Strip Street (1963). It was an album of 12 erotic silk-screen prints. He organized two New York gallery exhibitions of his nudes, In Pursuit of Venus (1966) and Venus: Joy-Art (1969). These works outside of his norm still included his hierarchical design approach as a father of modern information design. The term “posters without words” refers to Ladislav’s distinct poster-like design that characterizes the individual prints of this series.
His racy Strip Street compilation has relatively been forgotten. He wrote an essay to accompany these works. “In these disturbed times of cool and alienated society,” he wrote, “if the paintings can inject the feeling, the mission is accomplished.” An influence of Pop is notable despite Sutnar’s dislike of Pop and Pop Art. His paintings are reproduced today in a 392-page monograph.
Ladislav Sutnar is most notably a pioneer in the field of information design. He worked with many media including print, painting, products and interior design.
He went to school to learn how to make utensils, pots and other ceramic works. In 1923, he became the professor of design at the State School of Graphic Arts in Prague, and was later made its director. At the same time he worked as a designer at other firms too. Ladislav also did much work in exhibition design for a number of World Fairs, including the one in 1939 located in New York where he was to design the Czech pavilion. The exhibition ended up being cancelled due to the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia. Still, his work brought him to America, where he began a new chapter in his life.
Ladislav transitioned from industrial designer to graphic designer during his time in the States. He responded to the chaotic nature that he saw in American graphic design, starting his influence in information design. His work brought simplicity to the complex. His personal philosophy on visual design was that it should not “sink down” to the level of public taste, but rather inspire the general public to improvement and progress. He believed designers are called to perform to their fullest capacity and should “think first, work later.”
He placed a heavy emphasis on precision and clarity in information display, and on simplifying the complex.
His style reflected this philosophy in many ways, using grids and a strict layout, as well as a limited color palette and choice of typeface. He often used geometric form to guide layout, and also asymmetrical compositions to draw visual interest. Ladislav was also greatly inspired by movements such as Modernism, Bauhaus, and De Stijl. He used vivid colors, especially with his penchant for orange. A distinguishing feature of his work is the use of punctuation symbols to organize information.
After settling in America, Ladislav became the art director at F.W. Dodge’s Sweet’s Catalog Service in 1941 until 1960. His contributions here are seen in use even today. To replace the messy design that originally characterized Sweet’s pages, he created business-friendly templates and layouts for clarity of vast amounts of information and easy consumption by the general viewer. He contributed graphic systems to several companies and manufactured items. Also among his innovations was the use of double page spreads as opposed to only single pages. He was also the one to put parentheses around the area code in the American telephone numbering system.
Ladislav’s contributions to the practice of information design are still applied to graphic design today. The components of web design and navigation today can be accredited to his methodical Modern-style graphics, which are widely borrowed and applied. His designs transformed the face of business data, organizing massive amounts of information into not only comprehendible but visually interesting displays.
Though far from a household name, Ladislav Sutnar is a giant in the history of design. A Czech American who had a prolific career in his native Czechoslovakia in the 1920s and ‘30s and subsequently in the United States. He was an innovator in graphics, product design, exhibition design, and information design—a forerunner of web design. He is particularly known for his work in typography, including the innovation of adding parentheses around area codes in phone numbers, a seemingly small change that makes long strings of digits easier to read and remember.
Studio Tabularasa Storytelling Ceramics
Reiko Miyagi‘s decision to be a potter came while she attended college in Tokyo.
She says:- “I studied, contemporary art and museum curation. It wasn’t pottery related so after I graduated, I went to a ceramic school called Bunka-Gakuin, where there were great teachers who had studied under National Treasure-level potters. I was able to study a variety of outstanding styles and skills there. I also learned functional pottery making skills for two years and then took an apprenticeship in the pottery town of Mashiko. Mashiko had a very open and diverse atmosphere compared to other traditional pottery towns in Japan, probably a result of the folk-art movement there in the 1920’s lead by Shoji Hamada. I enjoyed interacting with many excellent artists who lived independent life styles in Mashiko, including quite a few people from overseas who came to learn pottery making. ”
Reiko works using white stoneware with free hand-painted black slip and sgraffito decoration. Sgraffito is the technique where a layer or numerous layers of glaze are painted onto the hardened clay, before being scratched away in a design or pattern to reveal the surface of the clay beneath. It can create quite crisp imagery. You can see this technique in progress below. Reiko says:- ” I use all kinds of scratch tools, mostly made from metal, such as a needle tool, scratch board tools and an exacto knife. It really takes them all to make my work but since I’m also a metalsmith I like to modify my tools. For example, I like my loop tool because I was able to customise the shape for my needs by forging and filing.
There ia an ancient Japanese belief that all beings and objects have a spirit and divinity within. Being born and raised in Japan, Reiko’s aesthetic sensibility was largely influenced by the traditional art and crafted items that reflected this philosophy. Using black slip on white stoneware, Reiko creates her own sense of inner spirit and with the moments of bliss she receives whlst working with the clay, she expresses her belief in idea that all beings are connected and the appreciation for our surroundings, make us what we are.
I love the folk art element to her work.
Her studio name “Tabula Rasa” comes from the latin expression meaning to start with a clean slate. ” I was first exposed to this expression when I bought the music CD, “Tabula Rasa” by Arvo Pärt thirty years ago. I chose it for my new studio name when I moved to the US because I was making a completely new start. I have interpreted the words in my own way which is, “every moment is unique and a chance for a fresh start,” just like in Zen philosophy. We are easily distracted by thoughts of the past or future rather than being fully present in the moment but when I make my art and am having a good flow, I truly enjoy the feeling of this moment of “bliss.”
“I draw a lot of animals, trees and flowers. My culture has an animistic philosophy that all beings and objects have a spirit or godess within them. Animals and flowers have complete beauty and it’s like having a universe within so I never get tired of drawing these “millions of gods.” I also draw a lot of musicians, too”
“The pieces below are some of my “Tree of Life” plates. It’s an image in use for a long, long time in many places. I’m very interested in the patterns and imagery that you can see in different areas of the world and throughout a variety of time periods. Some images have literally travelled through time, whilst some are very similar but it cannot be explained why they have this similarity without any communication between them. Perhaps it comes from something humans are born with. Either way, I love looking at images and patterns that appear in historic and tribal work that play with my imagination and make me question what the artists went through to express these images”
Birds are a common theme and stem from mythology, stories and folk imagery.
Beautiful shapes and couplings.
I love these little Owls, they definitely feel like pottery discovered from Greek mythology.
Cups and vases with great little feet.
Her whimsical character-driven ceramics, almost suggest stories and create strong emotive responces to their narratives.
Nowdays Reiko is living in North Carolina with her partner and you can follow her work on her Instagram account over @studiotabularasa.
Happy Holidays.
Green Walk 2023
This weekend, one of the friendliest and well managed events of the year is on. The Green Walk Open House Arts & Crafts 2023 or on ig @greenwalkopenhouse.
Now in it’s 14th year and always a joy to be a part of and visit. Set in beautiful surroundings in a small cul-de-sac off Upper Chorlton Road. Manchester.. be sure to add this to your list or literally miss out !
Music, food, tea and cakes and plenty of beautiful creatives with their work.
12 til 6pm Sat and Sun. See you there, please share. Green Walk, Manchester, UK, M16 9RF
Andy Lovell Etching our Landscapes
I first spoke about the work of Andy Lovell back in 2010. His work pops up in my searches every now and again and I remember what fab illustrations he creates.
He is an artist, illustrator and printmaker who has become known for his abstract etchings, mono-prints and Cyanotype art.
Having originally studied at the Liverpool School of Art and Design, his work is well recognised and his individuality produces striking artwork.
Andy takes inspiration from life which is then revisited through the medium of print.
He is a master of line, colour and mark making.
Taking original sketches and paintings, Andy is able to capture a real sense of mood and place from the places he visits to sketch.
He knows how to add drama and interest to a landscape.
His landscapes speak of earth and furrowed fields. Forest and wildplants throw splashes of colour and shape, adding to the richness of each illustration.
I love these wild moor and lofty hill prints. The clever dragged lines of ink and paint not only help to suggest the landscape but also give a visual direction to each scene.
You can almost feel like you’re standing looking down these valleys.
The hills eventually lead us to the sea.
White cliffs and wild waters.
Tepid tones, swirling skies and seas.
These textured black and whites are wonderful, with a slight sixties retro edge to them.
Breathtaking textures.
You can discover more of his prints for sale here on his website.
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