Suzi Zimmerer art seeds from Conda Puckett
SUZI ZIMMERER
"Oh Those Spirited Victorians"
statement: how to bring the elements together is my first consideration. thought i might use black cut paper forms of my own to bring an image together. ( black is so useful for that!) but--- that's almost cheating, i thought.
the green looked like the way to go. and i happened to have a figure already made(cone body and head) from an earlier LAFTA grab bag attempt.
so, a doll figure emerged.
an 'emissary from a happy planet', as i think of it.
as it turned out, i used 6 of the elements, but NOT the white cloth, which seemed at first the item i would use most.
thanks, conda!!
SUZI ZIMMERER, Detail
Conda Puckett art seeds from Suzi Zimmerer
CONDA PUCKETT
I have created 32 inch wide 14 inch high, mixed media board representing mid to uppercrust Victorians...their clothing, jewelery, china, literature references: (a classic poem)& (a classic book that was actually societal commentary on British life...we think of it as a children's story), and entertainment: paper dolls, Ouija boards. "the seeing eye" and in my research I found Common Victorian slang called "Passing English"
*First I hope for my mixed media work to tickle the viewer's senses and/or emotions.
*And if I can also impart something interesting...or give some new knowledge... or make the viewer think...
*And Best of all would be... if I can make the viewer smile or laugh and remember it. Then, I have succeeded with my attempts.
Sue Sobel art seeds from Portia Brown
SUE SOBEL “Ambiguous Loss”
A rhinoceros on wheels in an English garden. Ambiguous, puzzling?
This shadow box was influenced by the psychological term ambiguous loss, coined by Dr. Pauline Boss in the 1970’s. It is a loss without closure or a clear understanding which complicates the grieving process. The Pandemic has left many people grieving for the loss of loved ones as we are denied the rituals of visitation and memorials. Covid 19 has caused a personal loss for my family as my husband’s 95 year old mother is isolated and depressed in her senior living facility due to CDC regulations and we are unable to be with her physically and support her emotionally.
Using the Art Seeds sent to me by my partner, Portia Brown, I cut out the rhinoceros from the 2012 WWF calendar and mounted it on Bristol board. The background was gelli printed using some of the floral fabric. Buttons were attached to the feet of the preposterous rhino as wheels. Where the fabric pieces were cut up and expanded, the gaps were filled in with colored pencils. Two kinds of seed beads added visual interest to the flower. A gold translucent gauze fabric, which I had, was layered to give dimension and an other world feeling. Needing more texture in the garden, fabric scraps from the gelli printing were added and enhanced with gelly roll pens. Foam adhesive circles glued on to the backs of the paper and fabric elements supported the different levels of depth in the shadow box.
The lion lurking behind the foliage in the bottom right hand corner, observes, helpless to do anything for the rhinoceros. Coincidentally, the lion pin represents my husband, a Leo. As a way of dealing with the feelings of ambiguous loss, Dr. Boss suggests having a strong religious and spiritual life to cope with the unknown. The jeweled brooch that is suspended above the garden represents my mother in law’s spirituality and our family’s faith.
Portia Brown art seeds from Sue Sobel
PORTIA BROWN
My art seeds made me smile right away- the little plastic frog, the Eveready Battery pin, and the bookmark proclaiming “The Earth Laughs with Flowers;” I immediately decided this was going to be fun and hopefully bring a smile to viewers. My first foray into stitching and fabric collage was in the LAFTA Professional Development Workshop started last year and cut short by Covid. The segment we didn’t get to was 3-D, so, I decided to try a “third dimension” in this piece. Not wanting to buy new materials or venture to stores, it was a challenge to find material in colors that worked with the seed materials; but, once I found the 50’s pop art material, I was on a roll. Tossing aside worries about lack of experience and depth of technique, I jumped blithely into seeing how many ways I could make cheery flower images: stuffed poppies, rough little rosettes from silk scraps, imitating composite flowers using old buttons & layers various fabric including wrapping paper ribbon and scraps of old silk, applique cut-out flowers, and few little embroidered daisies. At a time when there is so much that is discouraging, working with lightheartedness came as a welcome relief. I hope you are smiling!
Wendy Dunleavy art seeds from Janet Linde
WENDY DUNLEAVY
"Janet's Garden," made from materials I received from Janet Linde, is an 11" x 14" assemblage incorporating handmade paper, woven fabric, buttons, ribbon, and a section of an embroidered handkerchief. You can see everything Janet gave me near the top: the four fabrics in the yo-yos, the selection of buttons, the ribbon, and the handkerchief. The small pieces of cloth were color-related; the challenge in trying to coordinate them was that they were all different types of fabric: silk, cotton, chiffon, and a synthetic. The handkerchief was the most difficult to integrate with the rest of the image because it was on a white ground and seemed to sit on a different plane. Putting it behind the ribbon "trellis" helped de-emphasize the embroidery and created a sense of depth. Overall, I think the visual image would be stronger if the yo-yos were a darker value, but I was determined to get that chiffon in there somehow!
Janet Linde art seeds from Wendy Dunleavy
JANET LINDE
Detail
JANET LINDE
My beautiful seeds came from Wendy Dunleavy and my mind went in many directions. Idea one was to stay with a monochromatic color scheme but that passed on to idea number two (an idea of dealing with dimming memories) which eventually made way for idea number three, (see below) I decided to call this “The Plight of the Bumblebee”. Like everyone else, my days are filled with stress and worries about the state of our world. I am concerned about what we have done to our environment. We have a large vegetable garden and are very aware of the importance of bees and the damage done by chemicals and climate. My project is meant to represent the chaos, the damage, the unraveling of our world as well as glimmers of hope.
I settled on earthy colors for my project. I even found an old student project by someone named Terry that I incorporated as a means of recycling.
Fran Englander art seeds from Alyce McDonald
FRAN ENGLANDER
My "art seeds" were presented to me as a beautifully wrapped package. I carefully untied and unwrapped them, anticipating using at least some of the packaging as part of my end project (and indeed, I did.). I spread everything out on my kitchen floor and lived with it all there, literally, for weeks. The only thing I knew for certain, upon first view, was that they would yield a book. I did not know for a good while what that book would entail, but once the theme presented itself, it all came together in about 3 days. The title is, "Yearning."
FRAN ENGLANDER
FRAN ENGLANDER
FRAN ENGLANDER
FRAN ENGLANDER
FRAN ENGLANDER
FRAN ENGLANDER
On the last page of the book (opposite the inside back cover) is a pocket (made from a portion of the envelope that held some of the "seeds" I was given) that reads, "Options." The artist trading cards fit in there. The cards have an ongoing set of themes, and two cards include an "art seed" each. There is an option to pick a card of the day to clip on the front of the book (the clip also came with my "seeds.")
Alyce McDonald art seeds from Fran Englander
ALYCE MCDONALD
Her name is "Lilly", body made from the empty yarn cone painted pink, she has a little slip on for modesty, all the ruffles are made from Sari silks, she has a gold sprayed shabby chic tiara in her hair made from the t-lite tin. The pink twist ties were sprayed gold and are her ankle bracelets.
The flower collar adorns her neck and she carries a folded prayer flag that she is delivering.
The green hair bow was not used.
Sandy Gudorf art seeds from Pat Sturtzel
SANDY GUDORF “In the Garden”
12 X 16
The process of art making is often more satisfying to me than achieving a finished product. I was intrigued by the idea of working with a number of supplied items and did enjoy the challenge. Since a canvas was provided by my exchange partner, I used the other materials and acrylic paint to create a graphic of imaginary garden plants in bloom.
Pat Sturtzel art seeds from Sandy Gudorf
PAT STURTZEL
June 22
Art Seeds: A Flower Meditation
Pat Sturtzel
June 22: At the time that I received my packet of items, I was in a mode of printing on fabric with textile paint. The image of the bouquet of flowers inspired me to choose some flowers from my garden to print with. I also used the doilies as a stencil and the heavy trim as a texture plate. My plan was to incorporate parts of these printed fabrics into a collage along with some of the other items.
August 31: I had been thinking about this project over the weekend and knew that I had all of today to work on it. I found my focus wavering, having a lot on my mind about the state of the world, sickness of a few friends and the recent death ( car accident) of the son of a woman I know from our family’s involvement with boy scouts. He was 27 and was a terrific kid. His older sister had died unexpectedly in January. I could not get my mind off of his mom and a comment that she made on Facebook about needing to choose flowers for her son’s funeral. As I looked at the items in my packet and the fabric that I had printed with flowers from my garden, I knew that I needed to do some hand stitching on those printed flowers and include them in this piece. I stitched for about 4 hours, and spent a lot of that time also thinking about those that have died and those that are sick. The repetition of the hand stitching was meditative and calming.
Laura Rogers art seeds from Betsy Whittemore
LAURA ROGERS
During this pandemic time I have been painting an oil paint and metal leaf on canvas tree series. When Betsy sent me my seeds she included a beautiful piece of bark and black velvet with small crystal beads that looked like tiny stars. While I was walking my dog found some more bark and branches with lichen. Using the other seeds , copper leaf, painted dried hydrangea flowers and a couple of items from my stash , I made this hanging. I call it “Trees ,Flowers and Stars
BETSY WHITTEMORE
Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of the package. I was given the gold Greek cross, a concentric circle brass ring, a coil of gold wire, a piece of watercolor, prayer flags, felted wool, and paper packing material.
My piece is a statement of order from the heavens (.L upper blue), and (R upper green) for 5 elements, and the shattering of all below. I used a cut up crayon and watercolor mandela , machine sewn on; as well as a lot of hand embroidery. Spontaneous symbols across border, and veils of tulle.
Susan Grant art seeds from Debbie Shannon
SUSAN GRANT
The orange paper with gold metallic squares on three paper pieces lent itself to a study of shapes. Gold discs, button and fabric pieces accent the design. Since the seeds have an Asian theme I thought kimono fabric for part of the background would be appropriate. Seed beads were added to the “seeds”.
Debbie Shannon art seeds from Susan Grant
DEBBIE SHANNON
The art seed items I received from Susan Grant were all very powerful visually. I felt that if I put all of them into the same plane it would have been overwhelming. Of course the obvious format for me was a book since that’s a form that I’ve been working in for a long time. An accordion book can be displayed open providing for multiple planes that could highlight some of the work while having an overall design. I made use of everything she gave me without really altering the materials. I added cardboard, white cover paper, inside accordion pages and two small buttons on the front cover. There are actual pieces of trim on the front and back covers. For the inside pages, I used copies of the trim.
DEBBIE SHANNON
DEBBIE SHANNON
Susan Zepeda art seeds from Becky Hunger.
Susan Zepeda Art Seeds from Becky Hunger
SUSAN ZEPEDA
There's always someone who doesn't follow the directions...and this time, it's me. I got so excited about the elements in my Art Seeds bag that as soon as it came in the mail, I started creating a collage on a base of canvas board I had around, Then I remembered I was supposed to take photos before I started...so I tried to fudge it, taking photos of parts that weren't already tacked down, etc.
The finished piece used some part of all seven items in the bag, plus a canvas board and black velour covered piece of cardboard that had a hole in just the right place. I was intrigued by the chain of silver-tone fishes...and called the piece "Dreams of the fishmonger's daughter."
SUSAN ZEPEDA
Detail
Becky Hunger art seeds from Susan Zepeda.
BECKY HUNGER
My art seed packet contained two beautiful pieces of fabric – hand -dyed. To say that I had a moment of panic would be an understatement as sewing isn’t my strong suit. However, I got on Youtube and looked up simple purse patterns. While the struggle was real, so was the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction I got from completing the project. I was able to make two nice clutch bags and a glasses case. I had material left over to use in collages at some later date. Thanks to Susan Zappeda for sharing her beautiful fabrics plus fun bits and pieces to play with.
BECKY HUNGER
BECKY HUNGER
Trish Korte arte seeds from JoAnne Rouse.
TRISH KORTE
Interpretive Beetle 5” h x 14” w X 17”d I have an affinity for bugs… Just the appearance, not as companions. The colors of my challenge materials and the cane webbing instantly whispered, “winged beetle” to my imagination. I instantly knew I had to make a bug. Also, there was a discarded book page with TWENTY TYPICAL INSECTS OF NORTH AMERICA printed on the paper.
JoAnne Rouse art seed from Trish Korte
JOANNE ROUSE: Facing the Chaos and Fear
It’s alarming to me to see how much fear and chaos is around us regarding the pandemic, politics and our differences. Instead of running from these crises, embrace it and work to understand them. What is OUR role and responsibilities in supporting and/or overcoming these alarming Times? Only then I believe we can find solutions for a better quality of life. A life of Compassion, support and respect. Yes We Can.
Added materials used: Sun dyed cotton cloth for background Cotton embroidery thread Old crocheted fabric scrap Flanel for backing.
