IPCA Logo
In This Issue
P&P: Keeping It Fair
Letter to the Editor
Bottles of Hope Challenge
Classes & Events
Progress & Possibilities Jurors
RAM Polymer Art Collection
Aussie Polyclayers
Health & Safety
Bead for Life
Polymer in Print
Calls for Entry
On-Line Resources
Progress & Possibilities: "Keeping It Fair"

big prize clipart

by Kerrie Venner,
Vice Presi
dent, Education & Outreach

This year we've introduced three levels of entry for P&P to encourage all you shy and talented clayers out there within our membership.  Our past winners and finalists demonstrate a professional pool of talent, and we have no doubt that 2010 will be no exception.

We know there are many members still hiding their creativity, and it is these shy members we would like to encourage.  Yes, you know who you are!  Come on, what are you waiting for?  That piece of jewelry your friends comment on every time you wear it?  That quirky sculptural piece that has the wonderful cane work or cunningly designed form?  The colors no-one else seems to use?

So, which category should you choose for your entries?  You could 'play safe', and simply enter in the Beginners' category. If you are entering P&P for the first time, select the work you are most proud of.  Does it measure up well to work you've seen on the IPCA site or in publications?  Try to be objective, be critical of your workmanship.

There may be some more-experienced clayers  who are tempted to enter as Beginners even though strictly speaking they belong in the Intermediate category.   Is that fair and in the spirit of this competition?  I think the key word here is 'Progress' --to set your best pieces against the current body of work in our clay community, and to raise your game.  Your piece may be judged against better known artists' work in your category, but imagine the sense of achievement if you are placed!  You will have a measure of your own progress.

If you are unsure which category to enter, please feel free to contact Suzanne Ivester or Kerrie Venner and we will help you to decide. So if you are still hesitating, don't!  Take the plunge, and enter.  Remember that the Members' Choice vote may spring some surprises.  We hope so!

A Letter from the Polymer Collection Project Steering Committee*

March 8, 2010

Dear Synergy Friends,

It is just over a week since the close of Synergy2, and we have very exciting news.  Due to your generosity and personal involvement, we are happy to announce that the RAM collection project raised over $17,000 and added 111 new names to the donors list.

announcement

Thanks to all of you for your gifts of time, enthusiasm, and money.   As you heard at the conference, dollars matter, but the number of donor names on the list also is an important indicator of the range of public support when seeking grant money.  Everyone's efforts count towards the bigger goal.  

Our work, however, is not done.  Please watch for an announcement of a challenge initiative that will encourage guilds to participate in a fundraising competition as part of the continuing effort to support the RAM polymer exhibition catalog.

Elise Winters, who no longer teaches, has graciously offered to make a presentation as well as do a demo for the winning guild.  It is our hope that those who were in attendance at Synergy will transmit the energy and exhilaration experienced during Elise's and Bruce Pepich's RAM presentation to their local guilds.  

For a complete list of donors to date, visit the Polymer Art Archive.

Again with our most sincere thanks,

Rachel Carren, Nancy Travers
Elise Winters
----------------
Editor's Note:
See the right-hand column of this IPCA Newsletter for more information about the Polymer Collection Project and the Racine Art Museum.


Bottles of Hope Challenge


The North Texas Polymer Clay Guild is proud to announce its second annual Bottles of Hope Challenge.  All polymer clay artists are welcome to join in the fun and compete for their chance to win cash prizes!


Contest entries will be voted upon anonymously by the North Texas Polymer Clay Guild.  Submitted bottles will be donated to Gilda's Club of Dallas to be distributed during remembrance and survivor celebrations throughout the coming year.


Entries will be accepted in the categories: (1) By the Sea, (2) Wings, and (3) Mother Earth/Nature. Each bottle submitted may be no taller than four inches and must be covered in polymer clay (any brand); each must include a polymer clay topper.


Winners will be contacted via e-mail and announced on our website on or around May 24, 2010. The winner for each category will be awarded $50 in cash, and the Best of Show Prize will be $100 cash. Winners have the option of donating their prize money to the cancer charity of their choice.


All entries must be received by April 18, 2010


Please send completed entry forms and bottles to: 

Laura Griffin, NTPCG Bottles of Hope Chair

6359 Oriole Dr.

Dallas, TX 75209


To download an entry form and view photo galleries of prior entries/winners, visit the North Texas Polymer Clay Guild website.




Classes & Events
For a curren
t list of classes and workshops, visit the IPCA website often. And be sure to enter information about your events on our calendar. We rely on you to keep us up-to-date!


Volume 3, Issue 4
April 2010
Progress & Possibilities 2010: Enter Now!


Submissiannouncementons are now being accepted for Progress & Possibilities 2010, our very own juried on-line exhibition of polymer clay art. Members may apply on Cafe: Call for Entry  through April 16. So don't delay--you have less than two weeks to submit your entry!

This is the first Progress & Possibilities since our Association proclaimed its international status, and we look forward to seeing the work of member artists all over the world! This is also the first time we've asked entrants to classify themselves by experience level. The purpose of this feature is to encourage members who might not feel confident enough to compete against well-known artists. Kerrie Venner's article in the left-hand column offers advice on how to evaluate your own experience level.

The other new feature in Progress & Possibilities 2010 is that all IPCA members will be able to view all entries and will vote for a "Members' Choice" award at each level of each category. It is our hope that viewing and evaluating all the entries will enhance the inspirational and educational aspects of the competition. And isn't that one of the reasons we join a guild: to be inspired and challenged by the work of our peers, in order to grow as artists ourselves?

If you don't have time to complete something new, submit something fabulous you've made in the last two years (since P&P 2008)!

Introducing Our Distinguished Judges

The IPCA is proud to announce that Progress & Possibilities 2010 will be judged by four outstanding artists and arts professionals: Dayle Doroshow, Sue Heaser, Mary Sullivan Holdgrafer, and David Willard.

Dayle Doroshow is a mixed media/ polymer clay artist and owner of design studio Zingaro in California. She trained in traditional ceramics at Riverside Bell Tower Pottery program and the Columbia University Extension program in New York City and sold her pottery in Greenwich Village shops. Her jewelry, home decor, ethnic figures, and handcrafted books can be seen at art shows and galleries on the West Coast and elsewhere. Dayle enjoys teaching and sharing her techniques in workshops across the United States and in France.

Sue Heaser is an artist whose skills range from polymer clay and Art Clay, glass engraving and puppet-making to textile crafts and pottery. As an archaeological illustrator, Sue became fascinated by the shapes, designs, and techniques of ancient jewelry.She has written many books and is now acknowledged as a worldwide authority on polymer clay and metal clays. Sue was a founding member of the British Polymer Clay Guild and has taught all over the world, including Taiwan, Japan, the U.S., Italy, and France.

Mary Sullivan Holdgrafer is an accomplished textile artist, teacher/mentor, and group facilitator. She is interested in how the creative process can be used to enhance personal growth and healing. Exploring Creativity, the website she co-owns with her husband, Gary, provides insights into exploring and enhancing one's own creative processes. Mary curated the memorable fine-craft exhibition "Speculations" for the Alberta (Canada) Craft Council in 2001. Her work is held in public and private collections and has been exhibited in Canada and the United States. 

David Willard is the Executive Director of the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a nationally renowned center of contemporary arts and crafts education, whose mission is "enriching lives through art." As a glass artist, David Willard has exhibited his work nationally and internationally, and is represented in the collections of the Corning Museum of Glass in New York, National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC, the Yamaha Company in Tokyo, the Lobmyer Collection in Vienna, and the Dudley Metropolitan Museum in West Midlands, England.

Racine Art Museum Establishes a Permanent Polymer Clay Collection
 

The Racine Art Museum (RAM) is home to one of the most significant contemporary craft collections of any art museum in the United States. Last year RAM's Board of Directors confirmed the museum's commitment to  assembling a world-class collection of exhibition-quality polymer clay jewelry, beads, and sculptural objects and to preserving study pieces for future research.

announcement

A recent gift to the museum of more than 180 polymer artworks from a consortium of collectors, artists, and teachers working in the medium inaugurates the opportunity for serious, museum-based documentation of polymer clay art. This new permanent collection will augment the RAM's existing collections of artist-made jewelry, ceramics, and furniture.  Influential works by noted polymer artists Pier Volkos, Victoria Hughes, Cynthia Toops, Elise Winters, and many others will illustrate the development of polymer art over the past twenty years.

With its expansive approach to collecting and documentation, RAM offers polymer clay a platform to reach a broader public, while advancing the medium to new levels of professional accomplishment and acceptance.  The polymer clay collection greatly enhances RAM's ability to thoroughly chronicle the contemporary crafts movement and allows the museum to expand its programs of public education both for followers of the field and for the general public.

Realizing such a groundbreaking endeavor, though, requires considerable financial support. The generosity of donors will enable RAM to chronicle polymer as an important medium in the contemporary crafts movement, conduct education programs, and produce a world-class publication to document its importance in the field.

You Can Help
The International Polymer Clay Association was delighted to host a presentation by Elise Winters and RAM Executive Director Bruce Pepich at Synergy2, in which they previewed the collection and explained its significance. IPCA was also pleased to make a $1,000 donation to assist in curating, preserving, cataloging, and displaying this historic collection.

We encourage you, our member artists, to contribute as well, at whatever level is comfortable for you. You may make your donation on-line through the Polymer Art Archive site.

-------------------------
Above: On the wish list of the Racine Art Museum,  Sarah Shriver, Forest Collar, necklace, 2008, in the private collection of Elise Winters
International Spotlight:
Aussie Polyclayers Guild and On-line Forum

by Kylee Milner, Aussie logo

International Liaison



Debbie Crothers has recently taken over the management of the Aussie Polyclayers forum. Debbie describes the group: "Our group is called Aussie Polyclayers, and we were started by Heather Richmond from 'Over the Rainbow' in 2003. We're an online forum  with 383 currently registered users,"  including "a dedicated band of followers who go online and participate in discussion, show and tell, challenges etc."

 

Aussie Polyclayers is mainly an online group; some members have met up in the past for woannouncementrkshops, etc., but the group doesn't have regularly scheduled official meetings.  Debbie reports, "It's fairly casual at this point in time.  I feel our aim is to provide clayers with a place to go to get some support, help, advice and, of course, encouragement in their own time."

 

Aussie Polyclayers is running monthly challenges this year. Some of the planned challenges will include:

textured beads, goddesses, scrap-clay creations, "pillow-bead frenzy," and foils and leaf.

 

Debbie is currently in the process of organising her first international bead swap with a French group. Watch this space for photos and reports of the swap!


Fancy having your guild or association featured? Contact Kylee Miner(IPCA International Liaison) for more information.


--------------------

Photo: Nepalese Dolls, by Wendy Moore
Health and Safety:
Cadmium in Polymer Clay?
  A recent query oannouncementn a polymer clay website asked,
"Due to the recent controversy in the US related to high levels of cadmium in jewelry, I was wondering if you have any knowledge of cadmium content in polymer clay. I notice that Premo has two colors specifically labeled as Cadmium Yellow Hue and Cadmium Red Hue.  . . . Any info would be appreciated.

Polyform, the manufacturer of Premo, Sculpey, and Studio clays, posted the following response: "The Premo clays in Cadmium Red Hue and Cadmium Yellow Hue colors do not contain the heavy metal cadmium. The Premo clay is designed for artists using the traditional color palette and was designed for mixing the clay colors. The traditional color palette was based on the rich colors that the old-time heavy metal pigments provide. We mimic these colors with our clay colors, but we do not use any heavy metals in our pigments. This is why our clays are named with the traditional color name and then "hue"on the end. It lets the artist know that when color mixing, this is similar to the color in the color palette for mixing.

"All of Polyform Products brand oven-bake clays and the pigments we use are AP seal certified by the Art & Creative Materials Institute and have been reviewed by the Toxicologists at Duke University, to ensure that the products are non-toxic and do not contain any heavy metals."
Bead for Life Assists Ugandan Women
announcement 

Bead for Life (BFL) is a global organization dedicated to assisting Ugandan women to lift their families out of poverty by making high-quality beaded jewelry out of recycled paper. These women live in extreme poverty, many on less than one dollar a day. The organization's website describes the women as "hardworking, intelligent, and strong in their desire to improve their lives." The beads, BFL explains, "help prevent environmental degradation.  What was trash becomes beauty, money, food, and hope." The organization and the jewelry have been featured on NBC Nightly News, in O Magazine, Vanity Fair, Family Circle, and other publications. 

The beaders' work is sold on-line and at home parties, businesses, and community-sponsored events around the world. All net profits from BFL sales are invested in projects that fight extreme poverty in the key areas of health, affordable housing, and vocational training. Entrepreneurial development is fostered through micro-credit for small businesses.

If you're interested in purchasing beads or learning how to help in other ways, visit Bead for Life's "Helping" page

 

Polymer in Print: What's New?
New Books
Magazinesannouncement
  • Polymer Cafe,  June 2010: "Pinch, Pull Flowers and Leaves." Heather Campbell; "CaBezel Cane Pendant." Wendy Orlowski; "Kaleidoscope Caning for Everyone!," Karen Lewis (aka Klew); "Flower Garden Clock," Michelle Herren; "The Red, White, and Blue Challenge Winners"; "Resin Pendants," Jeannie K. Dukic; "Bugs For Your Mushroom Home, Part II ," Laura Schiller.
  • Art Jewelry, July 2010: "Stamped Polymer Clay Bracelets," Helen Breil
  • Bead & Button, April 2010: "Bearded Iris Pendant," Patricia Kimle; "Foiled Again," Nancy Clark
  • Bead Unique, Spring 2010,"Braided Bouquet," Cassy Muronaka; "ClayTime with CF," Christi Friesen


Calls for Entry
Exhibitions
Bemis Art Community, 2010 Spring Show, Seattle, WA, deadline April 5
WJA Diva Design Competition 2010, Women's Jewelry Association, deadline April 15
Progress & Possibilities, Fourth juried exhibition of the IPCA, deadline April 16
All-Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition, Boca Raton, deadline April 16

92nd Annual Toledo Area Artists Exhibition, Toledo, OH, deadline April 16
Art Jewelry Forum, Emerging Artists Award 2010, deadline June 13
Kansas City Artists Coalition: River Market Regional Exhibition 2010, KC, MO, deadline May 19
Art Melt a Fusion of Art, Music, and Forum, Baton Rouge, LA, deadline, June 2
Santo Foundation: Individual Artists Grants 2010, on-line, deadline June 10
Art Jewelry Forum Emerging Artists Award 2010, on-line, deadline June 13

Juried Guilds & Associations

Piedmont Craftsmen 2010, open to artists who live or work in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia or the District of Columbia, deadline April 16

Magazine and Book Challenges
Polymer Cafe, Leaves, Leaves Everywhere, deadline April 10

On-Line Resources



Forget Something? Check Our Archives
announcementIf you can't remember something interesting you saw in a previous issue of The International Polymer Clay Association News, don't despair! Just go to our website, log in, and click on the IPCA Newsletter Archive button in the left-hand column. All issues of the News since April 2009 are available for your convenience.