Inspired by spring flora and fungus, 21-year-old Emillie Ferris embroiders one-of-a-kind hoops that feature detailed rabbits, foxes, and mushrooms. The works are handstitched and kept on their original frame, drawing the viewer’s attention to the amount of handiwork that went into each animal’s coat or spotted mushroom cap. You can see more of the UK-based artist’s work, including her recent series of custom pet portraits, on her Instagram and Tumblr. (via So Super Awesome)
Capture the energy and excitement of travel in spontaneous sketches! Whether you have just a few minutes to jot lines, or a half hour to make a small watercolor, start depicting your surroundings in stunning sketches. Learn how with professional artist Marc Taro Holmes in his online Craftsy class, Travel Sketching in Mixed Media. You’ll get 50% off Marc’s video lessons — a special, one-week offer for Colossal readers — and learn fun, fast and flexible techniques for sketching on location.
With these lessons, which you can watch anytime and as many times as you like, Marc will guide you through everything from elegant observational sketches in line, to bold silhouette drawings with a brush pen, watercolor sketching, layering techniques, and more. Along the way, you’ll also pick up skills for visual storytelling and perspective drawing.
Visit Craftsy now to get 50% off the online class, Travel Sketching in Mixed Media, and enjoy your video lessons risk-free with Craftsy’s full money-back guarantee. Offer expires March 14, 2016 at 11:59pm MT.
Instead of competing with giant graffiti tags or wall murals, Spanish artist Javier De Riba (previously) takes an entirely different approach with his spray painted street art. Utilizing carefully overlapped stencil sets, Riba creates pristine sections of tile floor patterns in the midst of cracked sidewalks or on the floors of abandoned buildings. His measured use of color, original geometric arrangements, and precise execution makes every artwork stand out, no matter how mundane the location.
Riba has also begun working with wood varnish to create similar geometric shapes and produced limited edition spray prints of his most recognizable patterns. You can follow his work on Facebook and on Behance.
Designer Jason Freeny (previously) is known for his humorous realizations of popular toys turned into anatomical models. Lego figures, Barbie dolls, gingerbread men, and even gummy bears have all gotten the cross-section treatment, and next up: the classic rubber bath ducky and the balloon dog. Each toy comes as a kit you can assemble yourself. Available through Mighty Jaxx. (via The Awesomer)
Inspired by animalistic forms both living and extinct, artist Mylinh Nguyen welds alien creatures from brass, bronze, and silver. Using a variety of machining techniques each creature takes form over several weeks, originating first as haphazard sketches in a notebook before evolving into permanent metal forms. Nguyen is a master of articulating even the most minute skeletal details of imaginary beings with metal, such as her seed-pod-meets-jellyfish series Meduses or her 2012 series of aquatic life, Sous-Marins. Nguyen currently has several pieces on view at the Les 3 CHA centre d’art in Châteaugiron, France. (via Lustik)
“Transition II” (2008), wax, silk and wire, 20x5x6″, courtesy of the artist and Littlejohn Contemporary, New York
Valerie Hammond imbues a delicate understanding of each material she works with, whether it’s sculpting flowers and hands from wax or laser cutting large outlines of women onto watercolor paper. Focused on the poetics of each work she produces, details are found not only on the pieces she creates, but the way they cast shadows onto the wall or rest atop a gallery plinth. Her piece “Girl” projects a poem by Emily Dickinson when pinned against the wall, doubling the work’s message in its own shadow.
Hammond received her MFA from the University of California at Berkley, and currently lives and works in New York City. Her work is included in public and private collections such as the Walker Art Center, The Library of Congress, the New York Public Library’s Print and Drawing Collection, the Getty Museum, the Grand Palais Museum, and many more. Hammond is represented by Littlejohn Contemporary in New York City.
“Rose (Murmur)” (2011), wax, silk and wire, 10x8x5″, courtesy of the artist and Littlejohn Contemporary, New York
“Girl” (2013), archival print on watercolor paper digitally laser cut, 31 ¼” x 13″, courtesy of the artist and Littlejohn Contemporary, New York
“Girl” (2013), archival print on watercolor paper digitally laser cut, 31 ¼” x 13″, courtesy of the artist and Littlejohn Contemporary, New York
“Forest Girl (What I see not, I better see)” (2008), edition variable of 5, laser-cut digital print, 31″ x 13 1/4″, courtesy of the artist and Littlejohn Contemporary, New York
Image via Art is a Way
Image via Art is a Way
Image via Art is a Way
All images courtesy of Aaron Tilley and Kyle Bean
Kinfolk Magazine is known for their minimal editorial spreads, images that are so polished and organized that they evoke a sense of calm when one stares at each carefully articulated pictorial arrangement. The magazine’s newest photo story for their “Adrenaline” issue however is anything but calming. Kinfolk reached out to art director Kyle Bean (previously) and photographer Aaron Tilley to produce a series of images that would bring their audience apprehension, inspiring the artists to produce the series “In Anxious Anticipation” featured here.
The images capture moments of dread, metaphorical imagery that relates to feelings right before a big move, when we anticipate the worst rather than the best outcome. Jordan Kushins‘s text on anticipation and adrenaline accompanies Tilley and Bean’s clean photographs of the moments before misfortune.
“Whether we’re readying ourselves for the start of an event or just imagining ourselves partaking in it, the buzz of nervous anticipation is sometimes as satisfying as the reward at the end,” says Kushins. “Often just the thought of what if? can be as potent as the act itself, and the thrill of the chase may occasionally be more powerful than the real deal.”
You can see more stories from Kinfolk’s Adrenaline issue on their website. More work from Tilley can be found on his Tumblr, and Bean on his Instagram. (via Designboom)
