Pop Goes the Artist!

One of my (many, many) favorite ways to waste time on the Internet is Etsy.com, which describes itself as a “place to buy and sell all things handmade.” And when they say “all things” they really mean it. People sell candles, fine art prints, clothing, furniture, paintings, notebooks, jewelry, sculpture, everything. And it’s almost uniformly beautiful, cool, unique stuff, with something to appeal to every taste. Generally pretty affordable, too, although I haven’t bought anything yet. (Which is not to say I haven’t been tempted–I have, more times than I can count.) At some point, I intend to set up my own Etsy shop to sell my work. I don’t think it’s a good idea while I’m still in school, since I don’t have the time to consistently add to my portfolio, plus, eight months of the year I don’t even live in the same state as most of my artwork.

Through Etsy, I’ve discovered a lot of really cool artists, many of whom have websites of their own. budanART (blog here) paints incredible abstracted landscape that are full of gorgeous colors and shapes. She offers prints of her paintings as well.

Winged Lion (website here) is a linoleum block printer (and watercolorist and jewelry artist) whose talent awes me. I’ve experimented with block printing just enough to know that it’s very hard work–and the more colors you add, the harder it is. Nevertheless, all of her prints are crisp and perfectly registered. (My favorites are the Earth & Sea series.) Inspiring and humbling at the same time.

Armato Design (blog here) is a husband & wife team who does lovely letterpress stationary on a 100-year-old press. I have no idea how the process works, but their results are wonderful. If I were a richer and more social woman, I would commission them to do a whole set of old-fashioned stationary and I would conduct all my correspondence by snail mail. Someday…

In the meantime, go explore Etsy for yourself and find your own favorites!

I stumbled across this interesting story on Gizmodo a few months ago and have been meaning to share it ever since. A few intrepid people have managed to turn M.C. Escher’s “Waterfall” woodcut–with its gravity-defying fountain–into a sculpture and even a Lego model. Now, if they could find a way to make the fountain work–that would be genius.

So-called “modern art” gets such a bad rap all the time, as if every abstract artist has personally dedicated his or her life to purging the world of order and beauty.  While in some circles, professing a passion for all things avant-garde is practically a requirement for admission, in other circles, it’s just expected that you will hate modern art and all it stands for.  (As if modern artists painted the same things for the same reasons, anyway.)

This wholesale dismissal of all things abstract (or conversely, all things representative) has always irked me, because it’s such a limiting perspective.  So here’s my small piece of advice for all the haters out there: Next time you’re about to blow through the East Building of the National Gallery, which houses most of its modern collection, slow down just a little and really look.  Don’t try to figure out “what it’s supposed to be,” or worse, “what it means.”  Just look at what’s there.  Lines, shapes, and especially colors can all be beautiful in their own right, without necessarily contributing to a representative whole.

Put aside your preconceptions and just see what’s there.  You don’t have to like all of it.  (I certainly don’t.)  Some of it’s beautiful, some is ugly, some is baffling, and some of it pushes the boundaries of what is actually art.  But the diversity is what makes it fun.

Just stop and look.