Interesting Artists

andrea bird-an encaustic mixed-media collage artist 

“I am a mixed media encaustic artist, living with my family in Ontario, a few hours outside of Toronto.  The beauty of this landscape inspires my work.

I am often asked “what is encaustic?”  In recent decades, this wonderully luscious medium is experiencing a resurgence, as more and more artists discover its versatility.  It is an ancient technique, which literally means “to burn or heat”.  Appropriate, as each stage of encaustic painting involves heat.  The wax is melted, mixed with pigment, and then each layer is fused with heat.  The fusing can be done with a blow torch, heat gun, iron, or light bulb, depending on the effect desired.  Being a collage artist for many years, it was a natural fit for me to include found objects and collage of all sorts in the wax.”

On my search through the internet for interesting artists that caught my eye, I stumbled upon this site and I thought her work was very interesting and falls into my love for nature. It also shows how differently collages can be done. I never thought collages could be created with wax, but alas they can! Well I tried to get some of her work but I cannot copy from her site because it is copyrighted to andrea bird and all rights are reserved. I guess that’s a good thing. Here is the link instead

http://www.andreabird.com/catalog/index.php

Mary Mesman is another collage artist that I found that interest me. She too does nature pieces, mostly of flowers. I find her art very inspirational because she is legally blind but it hasn’t stopped her. She has won numerous awards and has had her art displayed in several art galleries in the united states. I think it’s great that the textures and touch that goes into collage has allowed her to create beautiful art. With her in art school, teachers have also benefited by learning new ways to teach art. The following are some quotes from her off of her website.

“While studying design fundamentals, I discovered my passion–collage art.”

“I decided to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming an artist. Being the first legally blind student in the Art Department at Madison Area Technical College in 1999 presented challenges for both my instructors and myself.”

Although I started painting 15 years ago, the decline in my eye sight has made collage art my main media for creating artwork now. In placing the collage elements, I rely on touch as much as vision. Once the glue dries, I can feel where the open spaces are.

Being legally blind poses challenges for me. By using creative thinking, I have always achieved my artistic objectives whether it’s collage artwork, cards or websites.

I couldn’t p aste any of her pictures on here either but here is her link to go check them out if your interested.

http://www.mmsunlightcreations.com/index.html

Here are some pictures of nature collages that I found and really liked.

I really enjoyed learning about Andy Goldsworthy because his art is natural and it celebrates the natural beauty that surrounds us everyday and that most people take for granted. The following is a quote from him, describing his art:

“Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. I want my art to be sensitive and alert to changes in material, season and weather. Each work grows, stays, decays. Process and decay are implicit. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature.”

The following is a great website that showcases Goldsworthy’s art beautifully and provides information about and from Goldsworthy himself. It also has links to some children’s art projects that were created in response to their Earth art activities. Following are some of Andy Goldsworthy’s works of art. They are amazing!

http://www.morningearth.org/ARTISTNATURALISTS/AN_Goldsworthy.html

 

I looked up some local art galleries and found some amazing art work. There are several Aboriginal art work, signifying our west coast histry and First Nations culture. I really like all the sculptures from these art galleries, especially because my aunt likes to carve sculptors out of natural stones, like soap stone. Unfortunately she does not have anything on the web anymore, but she has had some of her work in some Vancouver art galleries. She likes to make soapstone jewellery and has sold a lot of it. Here is a couple of links to some Art galleries in Vancouver that I think would be worth checking out. I have been to a few of them thanks to my aunt.

http://www.spiritwrestler.com/catalog/index.php

http://www.douglasudellgallery.com/

http://www.bau-xi.com/default.asp

http://www.canadahouse.com/ I really liked this site and would love to see the gallery because it seems to have all nature artists/painters which I love.

This is a painting you can find at Canada house. This artist is Glenn Payan and he paints mountainscapes and landscapes of Canada, such as a Banff sidestreet.

This is a painting by Canadian artist Andre Pleau and he can be found at Canada house gallery as well.