Archive for the 'Winters' Category

How do I love thee?

Debra DeWolff, Bracelet, 2007
“How do I love thee?     Let me count the ways.” *
Expressions of love are numerous and vary from culture to culture.  In many cultures, not only is holding hands a tangible connection between two people, it generally is an outward sign of affection.  Wearing a bracelet that encircles the wrist in [...]

Courting the Muse

Courting the Muse: Enhancing Creativity and Artistry in Polymer Clay
In 2001, the National Polymer Clay Guild sponsored it’s second conference in Bryn Mawr, PA.  Courting The Muse was a week long conference filled with classes taught by polymer clay masters, thought-provoking and inspiring evening lectures, creativity seminars, and a retrospective exhibit entitled Illuminating a Medium, [...]

On Hiatus, for the Best Reasons

Elise Winters, Ruffle Brooches, 2008, 3″ x 2.5″ x 1.5″
After the success of MIPCES almost twelve years ago, many of the artists understood the importance of becoming more recognizable to collectors, galleries and museums. Ever since, it has continued to be important for polymer artists to appear in [...]

MIPCES Exhibition: Elise Winters

If you are a new visitor to Polymer Art Archive, you can find background about this event in the 2 posts, Past, Present Future and All About MIPCES.

This fan brooch was one of a series I made for the exhibition. Each was inspired by or made as a tribute to one of my colleagues [...]

How Thin Can You Go?

An important focus of this archive has been to make connections, to illuminate significant threads of development in polymer art. We’ve heard first-hand on this subject from many authoritative voices in the medium’s history – Victoria Hughes, Stephen Ford, Kathleen Dustin and the rest of our “founders.” In archiving these artistic lines, I’ve attempted [...]

One for the Home Team

We interrupt our regular programming for this commercial announcement…
I just received news that my polymer work is featured top and center on the cover of a new book about contemporary art jewelry. Of course I’m pleased for personal reasons, but more importantly, polymer garners added status within the field of contemporary art jewelry. [...]

All About: MIPCES

Elise asked me to lead a small team of volunteers to research and write about gatherings that influenced the development of polymer as an art medium. This is the first of these posts and we hope to follow up with more. Special thanks to Nancy Travers who organized all the materials about MIPCES.

Masters’ Invitational Polymer [...]

Past, Present, Future

Twice in my lifetime I’ve held golden treasure in my hands, two unrecognized artistic creations that were being offered up for sale — at the price of lead or tin. Buying both of those objects altered my life and led me to where I am today.
The second purchase, a pair of polymer clay earrings in [...]

Inch Worms on the Deck

This event remains crystallized in my mind like a fly in amber, and may have not been what happened at all… Elise and I had just finished constructing the first all  metal tube bead cutter on her deck, when we spotted a small green inch worm making its way across the deck railing. We took [...]

“Telephone” Rings Up Innovation

It seems to me that innovation in the medium of polymer often resembles our own adult version of “telephone.” One artist comes up with a great concept, something she just has to tell a colleague about. In a rush of excitement, that second person passes along the original idea, inevitably adding a personal twist or [...]