Polymer Art Archive

Tonight is the debut of the permanent polymer collection at the Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI.  We’re in Racine celebrating the opening of the exhibition, Terra Nova: Polymer Art at the Crossroads, which continues through February 2012.  If you’re left at home, you can catch up on some reading.  At the top of our reading list is the book published by RAM to commemorate this historic event.

This 140-page hardcover is unlike any previously published book on the medium.  The first 36 pages are devoted to scholarly, historical and curatorial essays.  Each of eight boundary breaking artists is then featured in 8-10 page profiles with gorgeous photographs by Penina Meisels. A portfolio of other selections from the museum’s permanent polymer collection concludes the book.  Thanks to Dever Designs, this is unquestionably the most beautiful book ever publish about polymer art. You can preview the book on RAM’s website.  The printing is limited so don’t miss your chance to own a copy by ordering now.

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Sarah Shriver, Aqua, Gold and Purple Bracelet, 2009

Some of the earliest polymer work done in the United States was related to the technique of caning, or constructing a pattern that continued intact throughout the length of a cylinder.   In honor of the opening of the “Terra Nova: Polymer Art at the Crossroads” show at the Racine Art Museum, it seems fitting to focus on masterful cane work. Continue Reading »

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Nan Roche, Animal Auguries, c.1998
polymer & elastic, 6.5″h x 3″h x 2″d and 7.2″h x 2″h x 2″d
Racine Art Museum        Photo: Penina Meisels

An irrepressible experimenter with a scientific background, Nan Roche has explored and initiated many polymer techniques.  Using some of these same techniques, Roche has created distinctive pieces that integrate her art making with her long time interests in ancient civilizations and other cultures. Continue Reading »

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Dan Cormier, Looking Back To A Less Complicated Tomorrow, 2002, Astronaut 4.5″ x 1.5″ x 1.5″, Flying Saucer overall 18″H x 15″W

What moves you?  For the Brookfield Craft Center show in 2002, “Moves in Polymer Clay,” (Brookfield, Connecticut) curator Elise Winters invited artists to create something in response to the word, “move.”  Dan Cormier’s translation of the request resulted in a work entitled, Looking Back to a Less Complicated Tomorrow, that moves on several levels: literally, emotionally and through time, which is quite an accomplishment for a creation that appears to be a toy. Continue Reading »

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Rachel Carren, Bonnard Cupola Brooch, 2010
2.4″ x 2.4″ x .4″, polymer, acrylic, mica powder

A certain perceived divide has long existed between artists and art historians, likewise between writers and literary critics. Ernest Hemingway had a memorable barb: “Critics are geldings, standing in the field trying to evaluate the work of stallions.” Continue Reading »

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Rachel Gourley, Rocks on Beach, 2010-2011
10″ x 5″ and 3″ x 2″

Rachel Gourley takes the concept of art and nature literally.   The source of much creative, large scale, sculptural work in polymer, Gourley has an affinity for translating natural form into something abstracted and a bit unexpected.  Continue Reading »

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Memorable headlines, especially those that record milestone events, tend to stay in my mind for years or decades. Perhaps it’s the same for you. Continue Reading »

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photo: Maxwell Malinow

The range of Wendy Malinow’s imagination careens between the macabre and the fanciful.  In her “Woodland Crown”, now on exhibit in the Mobilia show, “Objects of Status, Power and Adornment”, she has created a piece that explores all three of these concepts as well as suggesting other historic traditions. Continue Reading »

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A beautiful new 210-page book “Artful Adornments: Jewelry from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston”, written by Yvonne Markowitz, the MFA’s Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry, has just been published. Continue Reading »

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Tory Hughes, Berber Chic Necklace, 2005-2010

Today, the option to sand and polish cured polymer is taken for granted, but how did this actually happen?

In a mid-1990’s class hand out, Nan Roche directly attributes sanding and buffing to Tory Hughes.   According to Tory, it was the development of her imitative techniques that necessitated her interest.  She writes: Continue Reading »

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