Progress & Possibilities: "Keeping It Fair"
|
|
by Kerrie Venner, Vice President,
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.
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
- Loretta Lam Workshop, NYC, April 17-18
- Sandra McCaw Workshop, Houston, TX, April 10-11
- Lindly Haunani Workshop, Atlanta, GA, May 1-2
- Clay Corbi�res Cr�atives I
March 18-21 - Tory Hughes Workshop, Columbus, OH, April 17-18 and 24-25
- Julie Picarello Workshop, Vicksburg, MS, April 24-25
- Dayle Doroshow, Messengers and Storytellers,
Pittsburgh, PA, May 1-2 - Carol Blackburn Workshop, West Dean College, UK, April 30-May 3
- Euroclay Carnival, Madrid, Spain, October 9-12
For a current 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!
|
Submissi ons 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.
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, 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 workshops, 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 on 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
|
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
- IPCA. Progress & Possibilities A three-year retrospective catalog containing 115 color photographs, 2009.
- Friesen, Christi. Steampunkery: Polymer Clay and Mixed Media Projects, Jan. 16, 2010.
- Haab, Sherri. Jewelry Inspirations: Techniques and Designs from the Artist's Studio, March
9, 2010
- Pavelka, Lisa. The Complete Book of Polymer Clay, Feb. 2, 2010
- Rodgers, Carole. Beyond Beading Basics, Nov. 29, 2009.
- Books Coming Soon
- Haab, Sherri. The Art of Metal Clay, Revised and Expanded (with DVD), July 27, 2010.
- Kawaguchi, Noriko. Amazing Clay Flowers: Creating Realistic
Flowers and Floral Arrangements in Polymer Clay, Oct. 1, 2010.
- Kimle, Patricia. Perfectly Paired: Designing Jewelry with Polymer and Metal Clays, April 6, 2010.
- Otterbein, Kim, and Angela Mabray. Polymer Clay 101, Jan. 1, 2011.
Magazines
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
|
|
Forget Something? Check Our Archives
|
If 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.
|
|
|