January 12, 2010 at 1:16 am (found objects, Interesting Thingies, jewelry, mechanical art, mixed media art)
rex mortuus est, vivat rex
the king is dead long live the king
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here is a sparrow
of royal lineage
dressed in royal robes
behind a rippled window of olde glass warped with time
in a weathered reliquary
securely locked for protection and safe passage
ornate details painstakingly made in a time long ago
but will open with the right knowledge
and a little patience and faith
and as your heart is true all will be revealed
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gothic arch reliquary ~ of restoration glass, paper, ribbon, metal, beads, wire, antique key, casket hardware
sparrow king ~ of taxidermy sparrow head, resin clay, hand sewn robes of vintage velvet, beads, tatted lace, and the crowning glory a crown from Alicia (thank you dear friend!)
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~ someday ~ you’ll see him again when the pendant portion is finished and he will be in our etsy shop. until then how should he be finished? a pendant of chain, more velvet, beads, wire, or all of the above? perhaps with some found objects thrown in for good measure? please help me decide!
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November 9, 2009 at 7:26 pm (Interesting Thingies, kinetic art, mechanical art, Workshops)
Tags: angel ornament, Christmas ornament, digital collage, free tutorials, tutorial. alicia caudle
This is such a great deal I just had to share with you. First of all check how cool this looks . . .
As soon as I saw this I just LOVED it! How about you?!?!?
The oh so talented Alicia Caudle of Altered Bits created this effect and is willing to share her secrets for only $17. This tutorial is very well done and is well worth the price. And to really sweeten the pot she is throwing in two digital collage sheets which you can use to make the projects!!! You can get her tutorial here. And she even has a really cool tutorial up that is free.
Speaking of such things I will be doing a mini workshop on Flying Angel Christmas Ornaments (their wings move up and down- so fun!). You can make these from photos I provide or use images from your own family. I sent these out last Christmas tucked inside Christmas cards and everyone raved about them. More on this soon. ; )
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September 20, 2009 at 7:37 pm (automata, mechanical art, mixed media art, Workshops)
Tags: Art & Soul, art & soul las vegas, art & soul portland, automata, automata blog, automata workshops online, Dug North, mechanical art, online workshops
As you may have noticed we LOVE artful toys and most especially mechanical art. My very favorite site along these lines is done by automata artist, Dug North. We were so jazzed when he featured our mechanical Raven around Halloween last year and HOORAY we are on there again.
Dug’s Automata Blog really is the BEST as far as seeing all kinds of automata both new and old as well as cool tools, fun toys and much more!
Ravenwing
He has kindly mentioned one of our two workshops (the one that still has some spaces left) at the upcoming Art & Soul retreat in Portland, Oregon. We also have the one that sold out Portland still available in Las Vegas here!
If you will be in the area and would like a beginning workshop on how to make these very fun pieces, this might be the ticket! But if you find you can’t travel but would like to learn this please do let us know and we’ll notify you when our online automata workshop(s) are up. Just write to remnants.art (at) gmail.com and we’ll let you know!
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April 21, 2009 at 10:19 pm (automata, cool art supplies, found objects, Interesting Thingies, kinetic art, mechanical art, mixed media art, Workshops)
Tags: automata workshop, found object, found object art, mechanical bird workshop, mixed media, mystery found object, online workshops
Just a heads up that if you were looking for a found object for the Mechanical Bird workshop at Art & Soul, Charley and I have rounded up enough of the top pieces and will be bringing those to class just in case you didn’t find anything you wanted to use. They look a little different than this one but they have a lovely aged look to them. We were thrilled to find them and wanted to offer them as an option for our students.
And by the way do you know what the top piece is made from?!??! I’m talking about the piece that looks like a copper dome. The answer can be found below. Let me know if you guessed it correctly!
Did you guess that’s one half of a toilet bowl float?!??!
Charley went into the hardware store recently to get the rest of the floats that we needed the class. The man that helped him find where they were watched as Charley loaded up the shopping cart. He just stood there quietly and when they were all piled up in the cart he said “I just have to ask what are you doing with all those toilet floats?”. Charley (kindly) explained that it was for a class. If it were me I would have most likely made up some wild tale. Ha! When Charley went to pay for them the man at the register said “I just have to ask . . . “ Kinda funny that they said the exact same thing.
By the way if you’re not signed up for the class yet it’s not too late! If it were just me teaching by myself the class would have been full a long time ago but since we’re both teaching we are able to accommodate more students. The link to the Art & Soul retreat in Hampton is here. And here are the links to our Mechanical Bird and Vintage Gentleman workshops.
There are very few instructors anywhere that teach automata (mechanical art). Most of the instructors are in the UK. We haven’t seen much of anything available at all in the US. So if you would like to learn how to make automata pieces and other mixed media workshops but aren’t able to make it to the live retreats, just leave a comment or email us to get a heads up as we add new ones. We have a new mixed media Ning site we’ll be *officially* launching when we get back from Hampton with online workshops and a lot of really cool stuff that I wish I had time to tell ya now but trust me you’ll love it!
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March 23, 2009 at 3:24 pm (automata, Interesting Thingies, mechanical art, mixed media art)
Tags: altered bits, automata, clay, mermaid, mixed media, risque, sculpted, sea grass hair, seahorse, sexy, silk, zine
A while back I posted this about a new zine by Alicia Caudle at Altered Bits that I had a piece in.
A good friend of mine lives on a wonderful 80 acre farm which is quite perfect in nearly every way . . . except that she has a painfully slow internet connection. The poor girl is understandably reluctant to go to very many sites. I would not want to endure the pain of waiting forever for pages to load. So anyway, she hasn’t been able to see my risque mermaid.
But if you are fortunate enough not to be connected to the internet over a piece of barbed wire spliced into a Cat 5 cable with duck tape and you’d like to see the entire zine which is cool and free it is right here.
So, Judy, here she is just for you! I’m sure it will still take quite a bit of time for this to load so maybe now is a good time to go feed the chickens. ; )
You can’t see by the photos but she is actually a mechanical dancing mermaid that through the magic of Photoshop (and with Alicia’s help) all the connections to make her move have vanished from site! When she moves into her new theater I think her seahorse friends will by then have swam off into the audience to watch the show.
Her hair is made of wild seagrass that was washed upon the shore and her tail is made of reclaimed silk. Her tail will likely look quite different when she is finished.
I love it that there can be two very different pieces from this. Thanks to the digital thing she is captured in this pose with her seahorse friends. And when the automata piece is done I’ll make a video of her dancing.
8 Comments
March 3, 2009 at 3:58 am (altered art, art show, automata, Interesting Thingies, mechanical art, mixed media art, New Art)
Tags: altered art, Anatomically Altered, call for entries, free zine, odd numbers, risque mermaid, topless dancer, zine
Just up today! The very talented artist and web designer extraordinaire, Alicia Caudle, at Altered Bits has put together her first zine issue, Anatomically Altered, and it is online free for your viewing pleasure.
She is going to be doing regular issues each with its own theme that for now will all be online. And just between you and me she shared some very interesting ideas for the future so you will want to keep on eye on this!
Oh and don’t say I didn’t warn ya, I made it in to this first edition with a rather risque mermaid so if your Victorian sensibilities are easily affronted I suggest you not venture inside its pages.
By the way that very mermaid is a work in progress and will be evolving into a full fledged mechanical performer. She will dance inside her own ornate wood theater made from an antique sewing machine drawer with lavish decor and attire that will stay on or not at the whim of the viewer(s). More on her later. ; )
Back to Alicia’s zine ~ I’m really excited that she’s doing this because she has very interesting concepts. The March issue will be “Odd Numbers” and there is a Call For Entries posted. She generously has opened this opportunity up to any artist (not just customers of her shop which has lotsa cool art thingies for sale) Here’s the scoop:
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“The theme for issue two is “odd numbers” and should feature your art with some sort of odd number incorporated into it, whether it is the number 5 placed into the piece, 43 birds on a journal page, or a hinged 3-panel piece — use your imagination. Your piece can be created in any medium and creativity is encouraged.”
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Doesn’t that sound cool? All the info to submit your work is there so I hope you will go for it. I’ve never been in a zine and it’s quite fun!!!
Anyway, I’m thinking you want to take a peek at that naughty mermaid and all the other cool art inside so I’ll make it easy on ya and put the link right here.
Congrats Alicia for a great first edition and I can’t wait to see the next one!
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January 31, 2009 at 12:41 am (altered art, mechanical art, mixed media art, New Art)
Tags: art retreat, bird art, Jeanette Janson, Jeanne Rhea, jewelry, Kim Rae Nugent, mechanical bird, Melissa Valeriote, mixed media, Nina Bagley, Raevn's Nest, raven, sculpture, Tracy Webster
the bird spirit is so sweet and whenever I see these little creatures it melts my heart. so of course when other artists make birds it really catches my eye.
i think surely they must love birds as i do– and as you will see by their works here, each artist has paid tribute to that charming gentle essence in a wonderful and unique way.
Melissa Valeriote loves birds and even is giving a very adorable one away as you can see above. I had such a wonderful time looking at the many birds she’s made and other wonderful creations and I’m sure you will too.
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Jeanette Janson’s mixed media birds– Wow!
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Kim Rae Nugent makes “morphed” birds with human eyes that you can see on her web site. So cool.
Kim created an unique art retreat deeply infused with bird spirit. i’m honored to be teaching at Raevn’s Nest this fall doing what else but “Ravenwing – A Mechanical Bird” a noble and wise bird with a crown of crystal arrowheads.
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i’ve recently been making more jewelry with birds too. this is a piece I just recently finished is called A Resting Place.
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i was absolutely tickled pink when I saw Nina Bagley‘s new work the other day and realized that she also used tatted lace with a bird in her wonderful mixed media piece “Hope, the Thing with Feathers“. birds are a recurring theme in her work and surely every one she’s made has greatly inspired me. how beautiful is this one with the leather and lace!
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I adore Gaby Bee‘s Home Sweet Home ATC
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“Bird In Hand” by Jeanne Rhea is so beautifully subtle with just a hint of color in the nest.
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and this is the bird started it all– i knew when i saw this particular love story i wanted to write about it on our Remnants blog. Tracy Webster, another Oregon beach dweller, made this amazing bird cage.
the final love story to tell here is told by Tracy herself in a lovely slide presentation. for your viewing pleasure i now present to you “Fly Free . . . the journey of a mixed media box by Tracy Webster“
if you have favorite art of the bird persuasion and you’d like to comment, please add links so others may share the beauty and keep the bird love story going.
bird lovers of a feather flock together!
21 Comments
January 9, 2009 at 7:52 pm (automata, Interesting Thingies, mechanical art, mixed media art)
Tags: Arthur Ganson, DVD, found object art, mechanical art, mechanical genius
Oh what wonderful things this world has for us!
Since you’re reading this on our blog, perhaps it’s because you like mechanical art or maybe it’s found object art that’s close to your heart. But if you love both of them together as we do, you’ve come to the right post!
Photo by Chehalis Hegner
I have admired Arthur Ganson’s work for quite some time now and I have to say the more I look at his mechanisms, the more entranced I become. There is great beauty in his pieces and he was kind enough to give me permission to post these images here for your viewing enjoyment.
One of my absolute favorites is a machine that has an artichoke leaf walking along a large wheel as you can see below. Seriously! It just looks like it is out for a leisurely stroll as if that’s what artichoke leaves do as a general course. Click on the photo to see the video. But be forewarned . . . I highly suggest making a pit stop first or you may pee your pants when you see this. : )
And while he was at it why not make a wishbone walk while pulling a huge machine behind it!!! Of course that isn’t what’s actually happening– the machine is making the wishbone walk as it propels itself forward. But the illusion is stunning and oh so believable. See for yourself by clicking the picture below
Machine with Wishbone
Many more of Ganson’s works are conceptually masterful. One in particular that stands out uses a slowly turning gear that has a 50:1 speed reduction. He linked an entire set of these gears with that same ratio so that at the end the last gear isn’t moving at ALL. Well that’s not exactly accurate. It’s moving incredibly slowly. So slow, in fact, that he embedded it in concrete because it is doesn’t matter. I told ya he was a genius! Here it is . . .
Machine with Concrete
Charley’s favorite is “Cory’s Yellow Chair” and it will simply blow you away. The photo below is also a link to the video.
I know by now you are so loving Mr. Arthur Ganson and so here is some wonderful news for you!
He has a DVD entitled Machines with in-depth and detailed shots of a vast array of his ingenius creations in action. I just recently ordered it and I think I’ll have to order a second copy because it’s going to wear out I’ve been playing it so much. If you like what you’ve seen so far all I can is you ain’t seen nothing yet, Baby. I hereby give my personal guarantee (I *know* what you’re thinking but just follow along OK!) that all the delicious eye candy contained therein will spank your eyeballs but good so get this amazing compilation STAT.
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January 6, 2009 at 11:06 am (automata, mechanical art, mixed media art, Workshops)
Tags: Art & Soul, art classes, art retreat, ArtFest, automata workshop, mechanical art workshop, new workshops, Raevn's Nest
Here are the links to our 2009 workshops.
Vintage Gentleman at Art & Soul in Hampton, Virginia
Mechanical Bird at Art & Soul in Hampton, Virginia
Ravenwing at Raevn’s Nest in Cedarsburg, Wisconsin
Vintage Gentleman at Raevn’s Nest in Cedarsburg, Wisconsin
COMING SOON . . . Links for three workshops at Art & Soul in Portland, Oregon
The very first art retreat I went to was ArtFest oh so many years ago and it literally changed my life. It was so amazing, exciting, fun and wonderful to be around all those kindred spirits. I knew I wanted to experience that as much as possible and on some level I knew I wanted to participate both as a student and as a teacher.
We are so happy to have been accepted to teach at some art retreats this year. There are so many established artists that are incredibly gifted teaching at these retreats not to mention who knows how many “newbies” like us that want to be a part of a significant event. That we were received so well is yet another affirmation that we did the right thing by leaving the “security” of our jobs (in the middle of a recession no less) to listen to that inner voice however irrational it may seem.
Since that first ArtFest, I spent so much time *not* doing what I really felt I should be doing for many reasons including being afraid. So perhaps you’ve noticed I often talk about this in the hopes that others won’t waste as much time as I did. If you feel that you aren’t living your life the way you want to and wonder if you could follow your dreams, perhaps you’ll want to read the story of how we ended up moving to another state and completely changing our lives around. All I can add to what I wrote back then is every moment is precious so it’s OK to be unsure or a little scared. If you don’ have everything figured out it’s OK to fly by the seat of your pants. Give yourself the permission to get out there and experience IT whatever it is for you.
I will be honest and say that it has been a challenge at times. And perhaps I should have absolute faith that everything will work out but the truth is I don’t. But maybe that’s good I waiver a bit– it might help someone else to decide it’s OK to be a bit unsure but to go ahead anyway. Most of the time I do feel very positive and full of gratitude because I’m happy, healthy and loved AND I am a full time artist! It feels so good to say that. But as great as things are going, I just didn’t want to paint a picture that every thing has been perfect since we moved here. And these days with the economy and all I guess most of us are feeling a bit uneasy. But it is at those times when it’s even more important to stay positive– not just for ourselves but for each other. I really don’t think that’s a Pollyanna thing either. It’s just that being negative doesn’t gain anything except putting even more bad energy out there in the world and there’s way too much of that already.
Anyway, I’m thrilled to be teaching *two* mechanical birds. It is so magical to be able to make an “art machine” and I definitely plan to do other mechanical-based workshops in the future. I can’t wait to see what our students come up with once they learn how to make these birds fly! The first one, “Learning to Fly”, looks like a songbird and is sweet and colorful. “Ravenwing” is of course more dark and mystical especially with the crown made of quartz crystal arrowheads and the heavy black lace.
You can see more of Learning to Fly here including video and more of Ravenwing here.
Another workshop is called “Vintage Gentleman”. That is going to be a really fun class– I knew right away when I came up with these techniques that I wanted to share them because they look so cool and so much can be done with them.
We also are doing yet another mechanical workshop which is modeled after a ceramic piece I made recently called 3 Bird House (the original one is made of fired ceramic clay so not very practical for a 6 hour workshop!). So the version we’re teaching is much faster to make and once learned it can easily be made of found objects, sculpted of clay and fired (like I did on the original one) or any number of ways!
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December 22, 2008 at 1:54 pm (kinetic art, mechanical art, mixed media art, New Art)
Tags: flying angels, kinetic art, mechanical art, mixed media art
OK I’m feeling the holiday spirit now! Must be the sweet aroma of flying angels baking in the oven.
Here they are ready and piping hot! As soon as they cool, I’ll pop them into some last minute cards (yeah, I’m not sure they’ll get there in time either) and send off to family and friends. I think my family will really like to have one because the angel image is taken from an old photo of my mom as a flower girl. She was five years old and I think she looks like an angel.
They are fun to play with too. When you pull the ribbon on the bottom the wings move up and down.
Please do *not* contact the Society for Mistreatment of Angels as I didn’t actually bake these in the oven.
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