Nora Fok Body adornment that we adore
Wow has it really been over three years since I first created a post about micro-fibre artist Nora Fok ?
You can see the original post here, I noticed recently that it has been one of the most visited posts since 2011, so I thought an update may be a good idea.
Apart from her collection of wee beasties made from twigs, petals and seeds … (something I’m pretty sure Mister Finch would like)…
Nora predominantly concentrates her time creating unique body adornments out of woven, knotted and knitted fibres using nature as her inspiration.
Floral beginnings hold an almost planetary air about them as necklaces, ruffs, hoods and hats.
Whilst seeds and flowers become earrings, rings and broaches.
Great to see that Nora’s work is still developing. Long may it continue !
Christine Pym Foxes on bikes and more
Christine Pym is an illustrator, mainly of picture books. ‘Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense’ – Usborne Publishing earlier this year, and ‘The Tail of the Whale’ – Meadowside Books in 2008
Also ‘Chicken Licken’ – Oxford University Press in 2011.
She studied Illustration for Children’s Publishing at the North East Wales School of Art and Design and has been working professionally since she left in 2006.
Christine loves books, folk art, old things, wildlife watching and walks in the countryside. These are all inspirations for her work, especially birdlife.
This garden bird series are fab, I like their staring eyes and spindly little stick legs.
Christine lives at the Post Office and General Store which she helps run with her partner in a lovely, little village in Staffordshire. Working at the tiniest old writing desk, I’ve seen in a long time… somehow very Bagpuss !
I’m loving this peddling pooch and enthusiastic elephant.
Clients include Usborne Publishing, Oxford University Press, Meadowside Books, Djeco, Wilson and Frenchy, A-Productions, American Greetings and Roger la Borde. Did I mention that she also loves Bears and Foxes too ?
Even dancing bears will do !
More foxes Yay : )
I think this smiley fox in his bowler and scarf looks very dapper !
I tracked Christine down and asked her a few questions for the Fishink Blog readers.
Which other artists’ work makes you smile, gasp or indeed despair ?
Little Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Sunday 7th December
It’s definitely that time of year when all the Craft Fairs appear with a Christmas twist! Well, here’s another one, which is the last one I’m taking part in this year and will be in Hale, Manchester next sunday. This is me, feeling a bit robotic at the moment, preparing everything for it : )
I’ve made some new framed collage illustrations.
Some new mini-framed products.
Heck, even the dog gets a visual mention ! lol More original illustrations available on my Fishink Site.
I’ve also a few packs of handmade Christmas cards left, available at just a pound a card, (£10 for 10 plus £3 p&p in the UK and Europe). More info here.
If you haven’t been so kind as to vote for the FISHINK BLOG, you still have time as personal voting finishes on December 3rd. I’d really appreciate your vote, and it only takes a second, you can do that right here.
In the meantime hope to see some of you at the LNCCF fair, do pop over and say hello, and tell your friends about Fishink too. Many thanks.
Sunday 7th December 2014:
Altrincham Grammar School for Boys
Marlborough Rd,
Hale
WA14 2RS
10am-5pm.
To all of my fab readers in the USA, HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!
Henrique Oliveira Branching into new art
Photo by Franko Khoury
Living in Sao Paulo, sculptural artist Henrique Oliveira uses old plywood, pvc and fencing that is recycled from landfill sites to create his naturalistic forms.
Born in Ourinhos, Brazil in 1973, he received a BFA in painting in 2004 and a masters in visual poetics in 2007 from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Oliveira uses salvaged wood collected from the streets of São Paulo to create massive scale, site-specific installations with dense layers that twist, curve, bend, and split. Oliveira uses tapumes — which in Portugese can mean fencing, boarding, or enclosure — as a title for many of his large-scale installations. The term makes reference to the temporary wooden construction fences seen throughout the city of São Paulo where Oliveira lives.
His work also includes painting which you can see referencing his sculptural installations.
Occasionally his paintings even turn sculptural !
Henrique’s breakthrough occurred when he was a student at the University of São Paulo, where for two years the view from his studio window was a wooden construction fence. Over time Oliveira began to see the deterioration of the wood and its separation into multiple layers and colours. One week before the final student show opened, the construction was finished and the worn out plywood fence was discarded. Oliveira collected the wood and used it in his first installation.
His work has evolved into landscape environments.
Henrique recently completed work on his largest installation to date titled Transarquitetônica at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade in São Paulo. As with much of his earlier sculptural and installation work the enormous piece is built from tapumes, a kind of temporary siding made from inexpensive wood that is commonly used to obscure construction sites.
Oliveira uses the repurposed wood pieces as a skin nailed to an organic framework that looks intentionally like a large root system. Because the space provided by the museum was so immense, the artist expanded the installation into a fully immersive environment where viewers are welcome to enter the artwork and explore the cavernous interior.
Thanks to the site This is Colossal for showing me his work initially. All other images are copyright of Henrique Oliveira’s site.
Abigail Brown Fabric Birds and Papier Mache Animals
Photograph from The London Magazine
Abigail Brown is a London based artist, after completing a BA in Surface Decoration and Printed Textiles, she has since developed her own techniques and individual style for textile and paper sculpture. Her present stockists include Paul Smith and Liberty.
She is most widely known for her fabric bird sculptures, which have been sold and exhibited across the globe and featured in magazines such as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Elle Decoration and the beautiful textile magazine Selvedge. Look at these colourful beauties.
Abigail says ‘ I was drawn to fabric from a very young age. As a small child I watched my seamstress Grandma with fascination and her love of thread and fabric has now become my own. Now fabrics of every colour, shade, texture and weight create a rainbow wall in my studio. I hunt out new pieces wherever I travel, bought new, discovered at secondhand shops, or passed on from other makers. I find equal beauty in the bold, strong colours of newly dyed fabrics and the fading colour and wear of old cloth; the sign of a past life long forgotten. ‘ Her line of animals extend from the mild…
… to the more exotic (below) and I love her alternative christmas decorations (above) too !
A few, more familiar faces from the bird world.
I was really taken by her animal trophy heads, which are so much nicer than the real thing.
There’s a great interview by Deborah Blakeley over at Zone One Arts where you can discover more about Abigail and her work or visit her blog or shop if you’d like a little bird or creature for yourself.
If you liked this you may also like my bird cards available either as single cards or as a set. Here are a selection of the designs available. Happy Day.
Vintage revival on Etsy
People love the mid century for illustration, design, colour and style. I’m certainly one of the masses who like it too. There’s so much around that it’s sometime hard to tell the authentic vintage from what I call the contemporary retro. I recently came across the images selling on the Crumb By Crumb site on Etsy. These are old images that have been ‘cleaned up’ to create posters for kid’s bedroom walls, but in truth it will be the adults that will be drawn to these first : )
Educational and fun to look at too, what a great combination.
Ideal for a children’s playroom or bedroom.
But sometimes you can’t get better than the genuine article. Etsy has plenty of Vintage and even a search button to take you right to it. One of the fabulous sellers I’ve come across recently is Cindy, an American, midwestern mother of four, who sells tea towels / handkerchiefs and ephemera from the 50’s and 60’s. Her shop is called Neato Keen and it has a great winter banner right now. I love the feel of the doves towel here.
More chirpy birds and a spot of old fashioned housework.
Off to Market.
This rather oddly themed, tea-towel series concentrating on the antics of a rather reckless young lad !
A spot of 1960’s London featuring Bakers, Beefeaters and Beatniks !
A little more floral, with some fab owls and cats.
A few older carriage designs, one by Tammis Keefe. Some lovely creative work here. Thanks to Cindy for letting me share these images with you, and don’t forget they’re all for sale on her Etsy shop, but pop over quickly before the fab ones get away !!
Hey everyone, If you haven’t already (and whilst the link is working) Please vote for my blog http://www.blogawardsuk.co.uk/candidates/fishink-blog/ … it would mean a great deal if you could also share this with your friends Many thanks : )
Modern Publicity 1959 – 60. Illustrated Mid century Art, Advertising and Graphics Part 3
A little colour to start off part 3 of the collection of graphics from Modern Publicity’s annual for 1959 -60. I’m loving this tartan dog, made up of just that !
Perhaps I shouldn’t ask if anyone remembers the packaging for Jelly Babies looking like this ? (Don’t worry you’re age is safe with us)
Who ever thought Rust Oil could look so appealing !
A few strong black and white company symbols, some classical record covers and travel posters to bring this post to a retro close.
You can find more posts and illustrations in this series by typing the words Modern Publicity into the search function on the right of this post. Don’t forget to share this, tell your friends about Fishink Blog and to vote for it here on the Blog Awards UK (when the site isn’t down !). I need every vote you can help me with : ) Many thanks.
Blog Awards UK
Today I need to ask a big favour from all of my readers. I’ve been entered for the Blog Awards UK along with hundreds or other blogs and as the chance of winning is based on being voted for, then I need to ask you to please vote for me and the Fishink Blog.
Not that I’m longing for some international acclaim or anything, but when you work on something for a large percentage of each week, then it would be great to achieve some recognition. But we’ll see, we’re not off to a great start as the email I was supposed to get a week ago with my entry details for voting didn’t arrive … so I’m already a week behind with the votes : (
Ahh well, what will be will be…
Please share this with all your friends and take one minute to vote here today.
Big, big thank yous : ) Craig
P.S. The site has periods of being ‘statistically overwhelmed’ due to the number of visitors and is sometimes unobtainable. Do please persevere and retry in order to get your vote to count. Most appreciated.
Modern Publicity 1959 – 60. Illustrated Mid century Art, Advertising and Graphics Part 2
Happy Monday everyone. Here is part two of the vintage graphics from Modern Publicity annual for 1959 -60. Some wonderful movement in this selection of illustrations and I love this trendy lady out shopping with her wire wheeled basket.
A few light hearted cartoon characters to bring part two to a close.
I like the skipping toast girl and the farmer waiting for an egg for his breakfast (pity the ad’s for smoking though)
You can find more posts and illustrations in this series by typing the words Modern Publicity into the search function on the right of this post. Don’t forget to share it and tell your friends about Fishink Blog and if you’re looking for some lovely handmade Christmas cards like these for next month, at the affordable cost of just £1 per card ! then just click here for details. Many thanks.
Jae Hyo Lee Korean Natural Sculptures
Born in Hapchen, Korea in 1965 Jae Hyo Lee completed a B.F.A in Plastic Arts, Hong-ik University in 1992.
Leaving plastics behind Jae Hyo went on to discover his love for more natural materials, such as wood ….
Look at these beautiful chairs.
Scale appears to be no problem for this talented designer.
Beaten nails into wood.
Stone.
And finally metal. Beautiful shapes, organic and curvaceous, they really make you look twice.
Also beautiful when more weathered and rusty.
Lee creates some weird metallic animals too. The tortoise-helmet made me smile.
Is this his take on ‘ The Scream ‘ I wonder ?
Captivating, Inspired and creative work by a talented maker. More pieces on Lee’s website here.
If you liked this post , you may also like the work of Michael Grab and Andy Goldsworthy.
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