After many years of working with bits of glass, Giulio Menossi is still playing with heart and spirit. “His ouevre is characterized by elegant, sweeping structural arcs always emblazoned with color, color, color. There is a joie de vivre and playfulness here derived from slashes of color that look like they could have been made by crayons and his completely uncensored use of materials. Lego pieces snuggle up to pearls; smalti and marble provide the background for a bunch of twigs. What life! What fun!”
In this article from Mosaic Art Now, he describes his journey and what inspires him.
Emmanuel Kasongo is a Congolese jewelry artist who works with tiny glass seed beads to create jewelry with a ‘riot of color’.“Emmanuel Kasongo creates art jewelry, that is fabulous, vibrant, colorful and yet are totally wearable, statement pieces. Tubular beaded necklaces made from tiny glass beads in a myriad of unexpected colorations, filling fine Italian mesh tubes. His necklaces, bracelets and earings are a riot of color and color combinations, not simply filling a mesh tube in a single skein, but threaded, braided and knotted together in a riot of shapes with fanned and pointed ends. His African heritage clearly expressing itself through his art, honed and directed by his Parisian childhood, moving from his native Congo to Paris, where he began his career in fashion. Kasongo lived in both Paris and Milan, and worked for the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier, Marithe Francois Girbaud and Romeo Gigli, sourcing, planning and organizing fashion shows and events.”
Watching the photos on Alison Sigethy’s home page brings a tranquility to the moment…and this is one of the goals of her creative process. The other goal is repurposing discarded materials and giving them a new life form. “My choice in glass is largely environmental – structural glass, which makes up the majority of all manufactured glass, is not recycled but buried in land fills – so using building glass is part of my mission. But I also enjoy the challenge of taking a cold, hard sterile material and giving it new life as an organic form. People often comment that my work looks like it’s living, growing or in motion, and nothing could please me more.”
I can certainly use a moment of tranquility after returning from a wonderful vacation in coastal South Carolina. I worked up to cycling 6 miles each morning, crossing vistas of marsh and jungle like terrain…all so very un-Ohio. Now I am back to city life and all of the accoutremon of work, house for sale and a weeds that are calling my name. OH WELL…
For those of you who are hooked on Project Runway…count me in the clan…this Nina Garcia ‘approved’ necklace from Lanvin will be doubly impressive. (There isn’t much that Nina approves of when it comes to fashion.) Follow this link to more ‘impressive’ jewelry from Lanvin.
Brooke Battles started her career as a college professor and corporate marketer. “In 1994, the corporate world became too much – too driven, too male, too impersonal, too competitive. Once I quit and sat still for a while, there it was. Beautiful jewelry. One-of-a-kind pieces. Art in wearable form. I wanted it, and I wanted to make it.”
Look no further than the glass patterns of David Patchen for cane design inspiration. “David’s work is known for its intense colors, intricate detail and meticulous craftsmanship.”
The wish book of summer classes for thePenland School of Crafts arrived yesterday…it is kid in a candy store time. Charity Hallis teaching a class entitled Enamel it, Set it! “I am a metalsmith and enamelist with a background in biology. My artwork is based on the tiny intricate details and fascinating biological stories that first captivated me when I studied botany as an undergraduate.”
Erica Rosenfeld’swork tells stories about the fabric of pe0ple’s lives and the rituals created to bring comfort to our lives. “I use glass, found materials, beads and food to create sculpture and jewelry, which remain my primary mode of expression. I began beading at the age of five, from which I realized a consistent impulse to create cohesive, sometimes incongruous, mosaics from smaller components. In my twenties, I began working with glass, both blowing and kiln working. My instinct was, and remains, to sculpt and carve glass, creating form from seemingly shapeless substance.”
The Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Showis always a great resource for post material.Lisa Crowder’senamel pieces are “kiln-fired vitreous enamel on copper stitched with thread — set in oxidized sterling silver. Pieces are completely hand fabricated — hand stitched. The copper is drilled prior to enameling. Multiple layers of enamel are then fired on both sides — then etched to create a matte finish. Once this is completed the piece is stitched — set in sterling.”
Nirit Dekel was always ‘into art’, but she didn’t discover her passion for it until 2000. “As I graduate university I was swept into the high-tech wave and had a career in one of the largest high-tech firms in Israel. With time I felt that I’m missing my main love – art & craft. As I saw Chihuly’s exhibition at David’s tower in Jerusalem’s wall as part of the festivities of year 2000 it was like an alarm clock waking me back to life. I was drawn as magnet to the glass material and immediately fell in love with it. I’m fascinated by glass because I find it a manifold material. It’s a daily life casual material yet has the ability of becoming delicate, refined and elegant and can be played with in an infinite possibilities.”
After many years of working with bits of glass, Giulio Menossi is still playing with heart and spirit. “His ouevre is characterized by elegant, sweeping structural arcs always emblazoned with color, color, color. There is a joie de vivre and playfulness here derived from slashes of color that look like they could have been made by crayons and his completely uncensored use of materials. Lego pieces snuggle up to pearls; smalti and marble provide the background for a bunch of twigs. What life! What fun!”
Ornamental Elements 