Tag: sculpture

Ikebana Basket

Ikebana Basket (Gourd Shaped), Late Meiji Period, Split Bamboo with Tied Bamboo Rope, Japan

The Meiji Period of Japan extended from Ocotber 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. This period corresponded to the reign of Emperor Meiji after 1868 to his death. It was the first half of the Empire of Japan during which Japanese society moved from being an isolated feudal society to its modern form, affecting social structure, politics, economy and foreign relations.

Ikeban is a the Japanese art of floral arrangement. Sculptural art baskets have been used since the inception of ikebana over 500 years ago to be one of the primary ikebana containers for the craft’s practitioners.  They range from randomly woven nested baskets to more formal, tailored pieces.

Amanda Parer

Amanda Parer, “Rabbits” from Her “Intrude” Series

Amanda Parer examines the relationship between humans and the natural world in her massive inflatable artworks. The Tasmania-based artist works with a team including New York based co-producer Chris Wangro. Together, Parer Studio realizes her larger-than-life versions of translucent rabbits, a series of works called” Intrude”.

The white fabric appears opaque during the day as it reflects sunlight. After dark, the creatures take on a different dimension: they are illuminated from within and reduce surrounding humans into diminutive silhouettes. Parer grew up in Australia, where rabbits are a non-native species and are considered a serious pest as opposed to a domestic pet.  Since being introduced by settlers in the late 18th century, their overpopulation has caused substantial ecological destruction.

“They represent the fairytale animals from our childhood – a furry innocence, frolicking through idyllic fields. Intrude deliberately evokes this cutesy image, and a strong visual humour, to lure you into the artwork only to reveal the more serious environmental messages in the work. They are huge, the size referencing ‘the elephant in the room’, the problem, like our environmental impact, big but easily ignored.”- Amanda Parer

Human-Headed Winged Lion

Human-Headed Winged Lion (Lamassu), 883-859 BC, Gypsum Alabaster, Nimrud (Ancient Kalhu), Mesopotamia, Metropolitan Museum of Art

From the ninth to the seventh century B.C., the kings of Assyria ruled over a vast empire centered in northern Iraq. The great Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II ruling from 883 to 859 BC undertook a vast building program at Nimrud.

The new capital occupied an area of about nine hundred acres, around which Ashurnasirpal constructed a mudbrick wall that was 120 feet thick, 42 feet high, and five miles long. In the southwest corner of this enclosure was the acropolis, where the temples, palaces, and administrative offices of the empire were located. In 879 B.C. Ashurnasirpal held a festival for 69,574 people to celebrate the construction of the new capital.

Set at its gates were beasts of the mountains and seas, fashioned out of white limestone and alabaster. Among such stone beasts is the human-headed, winged lion pictured here. The horned cap attests to its divinity, and the belt signifies its power. The sculptor gave these guardian figures five legs so that they appear to be standing firmly when viewed from the front but striding forward when seen from the side. Lamassu protected and supported important doorways in Assyrian palaces.

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, Date Unknown, Location Unknown

“Two things are to be practiced on the level of relative bodhichitta: meditation on the equality of self and other, and meditation on the exchange of self and other. Without training in the former, the latter is impossible. This is why Shāntideva says that we should first meditate strenuously on equality of self and other; for without it, a perfectly pure altruistic attitude cannot arise. All beings, ourselves included, are in exactly the same predicament of wanting to be happy and not wanting to suffer. For this reason we must vigorously train in ways to develop the intention to protect others as much as ourselves, creating happiness and dispelling suffering. We may think that this is impossible, but it isn’t.”
― Śāntideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva 

Brian Dettmer

Brian Dettmer: Book Sculpture

For years, Atlanta-based Brian Dettmer has made fascinatingly original sculptures in which he contorts, bends, glues and manipulates old books, creating strange new forms from these familiar objects. Using the sharp cutting implements of a surgeon — Dettmer cuts into the depths of these vintage tomes, revealing themes and variations like some graduate student teasing a dissertation out of English literature. In doing so, the artist chooses to isolate key images and words amidst a fracas of information.

Tlingit Eagle Mask

Tlingit Eagle Mask, Rietberg Museum, Zurich, Switzerland

The Tlingit kinship system, like most Northwest Coast societies, is based on a matrilineal structure, and describes a family roughly according to Morgan’s Crow system of kinship. The society is wholly divided into two distinct functional kinship groups, termed Raven (Yéil) and Eagle/Wolf (Ch’aak’/Ghooch). The former identifies with the raven as its primary crest, but the latter is variously identified with the wolf, the eagle, or some other dominant animal crest depending on location of the families.

Woody Blackwell

Woody Blackwell, Fish Sculptures and the Art of Flint Knapping

Woody Blackwell is an artist with degrees in Art and Biology.

“My sculptures are made from recycled and reclaimed materials as much as possible.  Materials include galvanized sheet steel, antique advertising tins, bottle caps, paint, and wood.  And nails — lots of nails.  Each piece balances anatomical accuracy against stylized interpretation.  Many pieces are meant to look aged, as though they were made 100 years ago by an observant fisherman with an artistic eye who worked with whatever items he had at hand.

My goal is to use non-traditional materials to replicate the beauty of fish and whales (and occasionally birds and animals).  The use of a wide range of mixed media frees me to explore materials, textures, patterns, color, and juxtapositions, as well as the aesthetic of wabi sabi and the process of entropy.”- Woody Blackwell

Sonam Gyaitsen

Sonam Gyaitsen, “Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara”, Gilt Bronze, ca 1430, Jamchen Monastery, Tibet

The Lotus Sutra is generally accepted to be the earliest literature teaching about the doctrines of Avalokiteśvara. These are found in chapter 25. This chapter is devoted to Avalokiteśvara, describing him as a compassionate bodhisattva who hears the cries of sentient beings, and who works tirelessly to help those who call upon his name. A total of 33 different manifestations of Avalokiteśvara are described, including female manifestations, all to suit the minds of various beings.

One prominent Buddhist story tells of Avalokiteśvara vowing never to rest until he had freed all sentient beings from samsara, the wheel of birth and death. Despite strenuous effort, he realizes that still many unhappy beings were yet to be saved. After struggling to comprehend the needs of so many, his head splits into eleven pieces. Amitābha, the Celestial Buddha, seeing his plight, gives him eleven heads with which to hear the cries of the suffering. Upon hearing these cries and comprehending them, Avalokiteśvara attempts to reach out to all those who needed aid, but found that his two arms shattered into pieces. Once more, Amitābha comes to his aid and invests him with a thousand arms with which to aid the suffering multitudes.

Robert Glen

Robert Glen, “Mustangs”, Williams Square, Las Colinas, Irving, Texas

The sculpture  commemorates the wild mustangs that were historically important inhabitants of much of Texas. It portrays a group at 1.5 times life size, running through a watercourse, with fountains giving the effect of water splashed by the animals’ hooves. The horses are intended to represent the drive, initiative and unfettered lifestyle that were fundamental to the state in its pioneer days.

The work was commissioned in 1976 and installed in 1984. SWA Group’s design created a shallow watercourse extending 400 feet (130 m) from northeast to southwest across Williams Square, a gently sloping granite-paved open space about 300 feet (110 m) square. The plaza setting for the sculpture won a National Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Hiroshi Fuji

 

Hiroshi Fuji’s, “Toysaurus”

Japanese artist Jiroshi Fuji’s art revolves around “ways of transforming existences that are not valued by society into special existences.” One of the ways he does this is by using recycled materials in his art and inviting others—kids, artists, the public in general—to participate in its creation. He started a toy exchange system called “Kaekko” 13 years ago with over 5000 events having taken place in over 1000 locations across Japan and other countries as well.

Fuji brought together over 50,000 toys collected over the years in the “Kaekko” project and created an installation that included works such as this “Toysaurus” made from the recycled toys.

Thomas Spake

Glasswork by Thomas Spake

Thomas Spake strives to create hand blown glass that is unique and contemporary. Texture, color, pattern, light, and motion are all key design elements that run freely through all of the artwork produced. These ideas are at the core of creative process. The earth, air, and sea are the inspiration behind the artwork, from the sandy ocean floor, to the arid deserts of the American southwest, from the peaks of the Rockies to the distant horizon.

Thomas Spake is an artist currently living and working in Jaspar, Tennessee.

Images reblogged with thanks to the artist’s site: https://thomasspakestudios.com

Evan Chambers

Evan Chambers, Octopus/Squid Series of Lamps, Copper, Bronze, Glass

Evan Chambers began working with copper and blowing glass at the age of eighteen at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in their metalsmithing program. He worked with glassblower Fred Cresswell who taught him the craft of art nouveau glasswork. In 2009 he moved to Los Angeles and built his current studio, working with hot lustre glass, copper, bronze and silver.

Images reblogged with thanks to the artist’s site: http://www.evanchambersobjects.com

Edgeworks Design, Texas

Touch Activated Lighting by Edgeworks Design in Texas

“Drawing inspiration from the very heart of industry, Edgeworks Design strives to embody the strength and power of humanity’s thirst for progress. Using salvaged materials from heavy machinery, I craft uniquely striking products, incorporating the very tools that propelled our country through the industrial age. At Edgeworks Design I believe in up-scaling the old and abandoned, retaking the throne of American ingenuity, and breathing new life into the fragments of a throw-away culture otherwise forgotten.” – Philip

This company from Texas does handcrafted lighting and wood/metal furniture for the home. Their site is: http://www.edgeworksdesign.com