lauren – Page 6 – Tales of Creative Compassion

Ray LaMontagne

So this is two super sentimental posts in a row. I promise I’ll come up with something gritty or angsty next week. Probably. For right now, you must listen to this gorgeous song by Ray LaMontagne. It is the kind of song that makes me want sketch out a gentle romantic story, write a long lovely poem, or kiss a certain someone.

You will find this and other beautiful songs on the album God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise. Which you should buy just because that is an freakin’ awesome title for an album. But also because the music is fantastic. I’ve liked this song since I first heard it on Cities 97, but I really fell in love with it when they were playing the whole album on the patio of Chateau St. Croix while that certain someone and I were there drinking wine to celebrate our 8th anniversary.

Xi Pan

In my now extensive travels through the artwork on Pinterest, I’ve started an entire board just for pictures, paintings, and sculptures of embrace. I honestly can go to that board, look at the pictures, and feel loved. It’s gorgeous. One of my favorite pieces from that board (although it is hard to choose a favorite) is this delicate painting by Xi Pan.

This is one of those images that make me feel I’m not alone. This image is so utterly true to my life, I can feel my daughter’s baby cheek on my shoulder when I look at it. I love that it illustrates how mothers and children are built to fit together just so, and how peaceful and comforting that one fact can be.

Xi Pan is a very impressive painter, well worth spending a few minutes exploring. She does these really lovely, slightly surreal female nudes; the painting I’ve chosen is actually not very representative of her work. So you should go check out the rest, because it’s awesome.

Valerie Boy

Metal light installations. Now, I will be the first to admit that the first time I heard the term “light installation” was on Sex and the City. Furthermore, ever since then I have periodically thought, “how can an artist possibly make a living on light installations? Who buys those? How would it even go in your house?” I’m happy to say that Valerie Boy answered all these questions to great satisfaction with her very first image, which for me, was this beauty.

This piece showed up on Apartment Therapy, where the writer described how this one piece took a rather dull apartment and made it notably beautiful. Almost all of Valerie Boy’s work that I’ve seen is both lovely with it’s intrinsic design and manipulation of white light, and practical on some level. She make lamps and pillows and other stuff you can use. I love when art can cross over into a certain pragmatism. Not that I practice that much myself; my books don’t work that well for doorstops or coasters. Trivets, maybe.

Art that Makes Art

I have two artists for you today, since it is a day for a theme instead of a single showcase. I’ve run across two artists recently who make art that makes art. It seemed destined for this particular blog. The first one is…

Amy Brier

This is a piece called a roliquery, which is (I believe) a limestone sculpture that makes these amazing artistic impressions when rolled in sand. Aside from the obvious beauty and stunning creativity of these pieces, I also love that there are so many possible imprints you can make with one roliquery, because of its extra dimension as a sphere, as opposed to a flat stamp.

Next up, Betsabee Romero

This is just one small example of what this phenomenal woman can do with a plain rubber tire. The website I’ve linked to is in Spanish, but that’s okay because you just have to look at the pictures. Look at as many of them as you can find, because just when you think she’s going to be out of ideas, WHAM! There’s something you completely new that you had no idea you could do with a tire.

Raphael Sagage

Today a lovely image by Raphael Sagage for your viewing pleasure. I love the elegance of this piece, and how Sagage is able to incorporate such a bold color palette and yet create such a peaceful affect.

I have a particular admiration for artists who can create work like this, that is half abstract and half figural. It’s the kind of talent I ascribe to impressionists, that ability to know how far from reality you can get and still maintain the natural image.

Frank Tjepkema (Tjep)

These mechanical heart pendants by Frank Tjepkema are one of the more intricate pieces of art I’ve ever seen. I caught this gorgeous picture on Pinterest, and assumed this was a large (and very impressive) sculpture.

It wasn’t until I visited Tjepkema’s actual website that I realized this entire piece could nestle perfectly between my collar bones.

There is a whole series of these mechanical hearts, here is another one of my favorites.

Although I said that these pieces are by Frank Tjepkema, this is one of those annoying (to me) incidents when a successful artist has founded a company under their name (Tjep) and so it is impossible to tell if the pieces were created by the original artist or by a brilliant but invisible employee. If these pieces were made by someone other than Frank Tjepkema, I sincerely apologize for incorrectly crediting the work.

Nancy Ross

I don’t care how weird I sound, this vase is sexy. That’s right, sexy. You look at it and tell me you don’t feel that in a place where you really shouldn’t feel anything while looking at a vase.

This amazing piece is from a series called “Growth” by the lovely potter, Nancy Ross. Although I immediately felt that this was a strangely sexual vase, I feel completely vindicated in my response after learning from this article by Laura Parsons that this whole series was inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe. If anyone can make flowers sexy, it’s Gerogia O’Keeffe. If only because of my initial response, I believe that Ross has beautifully captured the spirit of O’Keeffe’s paintings in a completely new medium.

Judith Braun

Today I present to you Judith Braun, who makes lots of different types of art, but caught my eye with her wall “fingerings.” They are too simple, dramatic, and beautiful to be real, certainly to be charcoal or graphite fingerprints on a white wall. Still, there they are in all their magnificent glory, because an artist touched that wall.

Judith Braun is one of those artists that I admire because she is willing to say, do, and be things that I am too afraid to say, do, or be. One of her museum pieces is entitled, “Without Pleasure All We’d Have is a Bunch of Stuff Vibrating.” I love that.

My apologies for how my side bar interrupts this beautiful artwork. I’d continue to try to fix it, but I’d like to write some fiction today. You can click on the image to see it in its purer form.

Sebahat Cetinkaya

I’m always looking for new ideas for my crochet hats, and I stumbled into some of Sebahat Cetinkaya’s work and could not stop looking at it. Here is the image that first caught my eye.

Although this is nothing like what I do with crochet, I was struck with this overwhelming feeling that I want to do that. I do not usually feel that way about art, usually I’m so stunned that anyone can do that. This piece is no less stunning than the other things I’ve seen, rather it is so beautiful in a way that feels native to me. I want to learn to do that.

Sebahat Cetinkaya doesn’t have her own website, but she and her children have an amazing etsy store that you could check out here.

This is a great article on Cetinkaya’s creative process and history (super interesting stuff)

Finally, this is a short video of her and her daughter which makes me feel all warm and gooey inside. Pretty sure that’s what it’s trying to do, but I like it anyway.

Koto Bolofo

I have finally submitted to Pinterest, and it is even more amazing than I’d heard. Usually when I hear someone reference Pinterest, it has to do with some super-perfect Martha Stewart-y creation that I wouldn’t have spent time or thought on. They are usually very cool super-perfect things, but still. No one told me that there are immeasurable stores of mind-blowing artwork on Pinterest (or if they did I didn’t believe them). It is phenomenal, and I may never do any actual work again. After spending almost my entire weekend on Pinterest, here is one of my favorite finds.

This is a photograph taken by Koto Bolofo, a self-trained photographer from South Africa. He has many stunning images, but this is my favorite. Every time I look at it I’m struck by something different about it, and I have spent outrageous spans of time just staring at it. Enjoy.