Medecine dolls - more inspiration

Here is more visual inspiration for dolls and automatas.

George Harrison by Felt Mistress

Creation by Felt Mistress

Felt Mistress makes fabulous characters. I like the zany look, and the fact that she doesn't care about being anatomically correct.

You can see her work on her website and blog. And there is a nice article about her on Creative Review. 

For automatas, another interesting website is The British Toymakers Guild which links to a few automatas artists. 

Watching the Girls by Robert Race

I love them all, but I must say I have a soft sport for the works of Robert  Race. I love the way he is using drift wood and neutral colours to make his automatas, which reminds me of the sculptures and fetishes I saw many years ago in the Musée d'Afrique et d'Océanie of Paris (now closed). He is mixing in his work inspiration from toys and tribal art, and it gives them a magic feel. I can just imagine how the character on the left wriggles his moustaches :o)

              

Moon Priest by Robert Race

Here a few other website if you enjoy automatas :

http://www.cabaret.co.uk/blog/

This is a great blog. They also publish a book about mechanism that is realy nice and esay to read.

http://www.robives.com/

Rob Ives designs many paper automatas and you can download them, some are free, and if you pay a subcsciption to the website you can download all the projects and a book about automatas.

http://paperpino.net/

Another paper automatas website. A nice peace dove to download.

http://manivelles.unblog.fr/

http://lezardmecanique.blogspot.fr/

Art exhibitions

Hilma af Klint, Tree of life n°5 (c) The Hilma af Klint Foundation

This week I have had the chance to discover two wonderful exhibitions.

One was centered around Hilma af Klint. Considered to be one of the first abstract painters, she painted classical landscapes and portraits for a living, but secretly painted abstracts, under the inspiration of Spirits. Her abstract paintings were revealed to the public 40 years after her death in 1986. She uses a lot of colours and geometrical figures, circles, spirals, triangles... More here.

Peter Doig, Milky Way, (c) courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro Gallery

The other was about Peter Doig. A contemporary artist, he paints a lot of strange landscapes. Watching his work, I had the impression of seing spiritual messages everywhere, as if the landscapes and figures were distorted because seen through the eyes of the soul rather than the physical eyes. I fell in love with "Milky Way" (above) and "Grand Riviere" in which there is a white horse and... ravens ?

More on the artist here (Tate Britain).

Traces du Sacré

Yesterday we went to see the exhibition "Traces du Sacré", an exploration of the relations between art and spirituality in the 20th Century.

Many beautiful paintings were to be seen. I was moved in particular by paintings from the US psychedelic art movement. There were two major painting by Isaac Abrams : All Things are OneThing and Flying Leap.

(c) Isaac Abrams - All Things are One Thing

(c) Isaac Abrams - Flying Leap

And also by the famous Franz Marc painting :

(c) Franz Marc - Horse in a Landscape (1910)

Art thou an artist ?

Painting by Banksy

Have you ever wondered if you were doing art or craft or just having fun ? Have you ever stared incredulously in a museum at something that you thought would be better placed in a charity shop ? Have you ever stopped in your track with your heart beating maddly in front of an object that nobody seems to care about ?

If so, you MUST go and read the wonderful, insigthful and hilarious "Brief History of Western art" by Sandra Wyman here.

Enjoy !

Rock Art /Art rocks

When I got interested in Shamanism again, I first began to read about American Shamans. Then I found out that the word "Shaman" itself was first used in Siberia, and in a negative way. I began wondering what had become of the European Shamans. I had always though the modern Druids of Brittany were a bit of a joke. I suppose it's always easier to get interested in faraway places and folks than in our next door neighbours... :o)

Anyways, "from thread to needle" as we say in French, I got interested in the Barbarian tribes from the steppe and then on to the various invasions that plagued Europe for centuries and that produced amazing art. The Huns, the Vikings, the Celts, the Saxons... you name them...

True, our parents took us to see various archeological sites throughout Europe and it had deeply impressed me, for years I even told everyone I would become an archeologist when I grew up and play the lyra. And I have been strongly drawn to rocks recently (including graffitis). But yesterday, thanks to Marija Gimbutas, I found out about the site of Bohuslän in Sweden, which is protected by UNESCO and I'm really excited about this ! These carvings/paintings are 4 000 years old !

Both photos (c) A. Lecus Objectif Suède

While on the subject of rock art, I have read that C G Jung had a rock art phase while he was discovering a new way of healing people. I seem to recall that in his memoirs he claims that this saved him from collapsing.

Back from Holidays

Adam Elsheimer, "Flight inEgypt", 1609 - Alte Pinakothek, Munich

So I'm back from holidays. I'm stunned and exhausted. We've seen incredible castles, awesome landscapes, and stunning works of art. People were really nice and food was cheap so... can't say what I preferred. I have found many subjects of interest to follow but have to put some order in my ideas before I can talk about them ;o)


I managed not to buy a cuckoo clock, but bought some cute Bavarian handmade pewter figurines.


The trip began by a visit to textile museums in Alsace and Lorraine (French regions near the German border). France began printing cotton fabrics in the 18th Century, because of the ever increasing demand of the public for paisley printed fabrics from India. At first they used wood-block printing, and eventually it was with fabric printing that France began its industrialisation.

You can read more about this on the Mulhouse Textile Printing museum website.

We also visited the Wesserling textile museum. They have a stunning textile art exposition at the moment and until September, which is called "Jardins Réduits" (Miniature Gardens), in which Carol Lenthall participated. Each artist was asked to do a little piece including fabric relating to gardens. Unfortunately they didn't have a catalogue, but I'll try to find one to show you pictures.

Now I should go back to beading a little - I bought Alice's spirit doll and my seed bead case on the trip but didn't touch them at all :o)

Week-end in Normandy

A few weeks ago we went to Dieppe. Normandy was enchanting, as all the fruit trees were in bloom. We came across the beautiful Gardens of Moutiers in Varengeville, which is also a shrine for the only Arts & Crafts house in France, designed by Edwin Landseer Lutyens.

Click here to find out more about this architect, considered by many as the greatest english architect of the 20th Century, and who worked on the plans of New Delhi, where he built the Viceroy's house :

http://www.answers.com/topic/edwin-lutyens


Also, in the village, is a church for which famous painter Georges Braque designed stained panels. Unfortunately the panels were being repaired, which gave the bizarre impression that a spring cleaning was going on...

More on this lovely Varengeville Church.

The Braque stained pannel The Jesse Tree.

René Lalique

From top to bottom : Brooch, Four peacocks on a branch (Hakone, Japan) - Hat pin, Wasp and Scabiosa stellata (Copenhaguen) - Tiara, Prunus branch (Lisbon)

Quess what I've done today ? I went to visit the exposition on René Lalique, the master jeweler. There were lots of flowers, insects and mythical beasts turned into exquisite jewellery to be seen. A pure delight !

The show lasts until 29th July 2007 in Paris and you can learn more about Lalique on the following websites :

http://www.museeduluxembourg.fr/Oeuvres.asp
http://www.cristallalique.fr/v1/index.htm
http://www.museu.gulbenkian.pt/nucleos.asp?nuc=a11&lang=en
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Lalique
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/artn/hod_1991.164.htm
http://www.connaissancedesarts.fr/photos/lalique/05_vase_cygnes.html

A day in the life (Election day)

Woke up from a nightmare.
My youngest daughter brought us breakfast in bed ; milk and biscuits.
We knew odds were against our champion so we didn't hurry to get up and decided to make the most of this day. Went to vote. I agreed to help with the countings of the vote at the end of the day whereupon I was asked to leave my ID Card with a stranger until the end of the vote (!).

Then we went to a restaurant near the Beaubourg museum.Next to the fountain decorated by Nicky de Saint-Phalle, saw a guy playing the didgeridoo, for the puzzlement and delight of tourists hanging by.


Then two police cars pulled in this pedestrian area and asked the musician what he was doing. I'm playing music said the guy. When the police left he told the crowd that it was the second time the police was stopping by today...

We then went to visit the new exposition at the Beaubourg Museum of Modern Art, stopping to hug a few young people with "free hugs" signs. Met a friend by chance. Saw a really nice piece by El Anatsui, a Ghanean artist ; a coat made of metal findings.


When we went out, in the hall an artist was drawing hearts with texts on a very long paper. Soon 7 dark suits came to enquire whether the artist had an authorization from the Museum Direction to do that ; he didn't and had to pack his stuff...

Tonight, the former Minister of Police Forces, the man who sends the police to arrest illegal immigrants at their children's school, the man who said 1968 only brought us disaster, the man who has decided not to have a ministry of art & culture, has been elected as the new French President. Welcome in the France of Tomorrow...

Quilt of belonging

I came across a message on a blog recommending to check out the "Quilt of Belonging".

"The Quilt of Belonging is a stunning textile art project that shows there is a place for all in the fabric of society. Quilt of belonging is a 120 foot long by 10.5 foot high (36 metres by 3.5 metres) tapestry. The rich, cultural legacies portrayed in the 263 blocks include all the First Peoples in Canada and every nation of the world."

The official website is here and you can even have a close view by block. This is a wonderful project !

Controversial art

Have you ever wondered what graphic artists do when they're bored ?

The answer is here :

http://www.glumbert.com/media/graphicartists

Here is a link on Sarah Lucas. We saw her work at the Tate London a few years ago and I like her very much. She is funny and agressive, she's a modern feminist :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A6641318

And here is another link on Banksy :

http://www.banksy.co.uk/indoors/index2.html