"Roadkill Metal" - cw

This is a work inspired by the squashed metal pieces that I love...(see Material Matters 3 posted below). Tin has been bent, folded, hammered, stamped, trod upon etc to achieve this effect. It is then patinaed with silver black and polished so the black stays in the recesses. I am fiddling around with hanging these on silk which would be reminiscent of old armor (specifically Japanese). Today it hangs from a 16" grey cable neck wire - a little more contemporary. These ideas are also being pursued in bronze and copper which will have a wider variety of patina options.

Shape and color - kd

Some new pieces-- the result of cutting, collaging and generally breaking out of the round.

The likeness and unlikeness of things - kd

Mushrooms have sprung up after the rain, bringing to mind how things can be like and unlike one another (not to mention that some things beg to be photographed).

Candy Necklace - cw

This morning I found these clay strands that were originally the tail of a bird that I made in a clay class with my daughter. Fiddling as usual, I thought maybe it would make a fun necklace. It reminds me of the candy necklaces we used to get when we went rafting down at the pier as kids. This is a rough sketch-glazed low fire clay on steel wire-though I do like that quality. This piece just slides over the head and then the wires can be shaped to sit as one likes.

Tin Relatives - cw

Tin pieces usually used for lathing are transformed by hammering, stamping and painting. Some have a lunar quality that responds to the Moonshells created by Karyl. Others are simply about the beauty of crushed metal (as in Chamberlain autos) or the mystery of an old fence post that has been painted over and over by many different people. These also relate to the crushed aluminum piece I posted earlier. Frankly, as I type this this, I am realizing how much further I want to push this idea. I have barely scratched the surface...............................metaphor stumbled upon. To see these in jewelry form, please visit our website www.carolkaryl.com

Vintage kimono - kd

As I looked over these collages I made from unfinished Moonshells, I thought about one of my prized possessions-- a1950's vintage silk kimono. It's the one object I own (as opposed to books or music) that's greatly influenced almost every aspect of my artistic sensibility.

I bought it over 10 years ago in a boutique in Dallas and have worn it only a few times. For a couple of years it was displayed on the wall, and since then it's been in a garment bag in my closet. But even when it's packed away, the kimono groove stays with me, haunting my imagination.
There's a slightly skewed sense of color, pattern and geometry that feels just a little off-center, an unbalanced sense of balance which I really get and which definitely comes through in my work.

Once I got started thinking about this, I had to find other kimonos to look at and have posted some I really like on my other blog: http://www.kdokosart.com/

Synchronicity - kd

It always interests me to see the differences in Carol's work and my own. We often share similar sources of inspiration, but how they are expressed in our respective work couldn't be more different... that is until I saw the piece of crushed aluminum she posted (see below http://carolkaryl.blogspot.com/2009/08/material-matters-3-cw.html ). It really is quite like the this one particular Moonshell, which I had been meaning to photo before I finish it. It shows how I've been using more and more layers of varnish to build up the surface.

The beauty of Carol's aluminum piece comes from wear, something bent and broken down, whereas the Moonshell is the result of something which has been built up over time. Oddly enough, the two works manage to meet in the middle.