Update – Studio work for my Aug. 1 show:
My theme is souvenirs of places I have visited, in real life or in my imagination. Today:
Papeete, capital of Tahiti: Floral fecundity.
In a grand and intriguing gift from the Universe (thanks!) I went to Tahiti several years ago with a small group of wonderful people.
Someday I’ll tell you the story, it’s pretty remarkable, and goes to show that all of our life experiences are part of the Big YinYang. All are personal perceptions of good and bad, embraced by change. Never a dull moment, as my friend Katrina says.
Back to art: For this necklace, I want to convey the lush, opulent abundance of the flowers at the Papeete municipal marketplace. I want to make a souvenir for myself, and translate my impressions into a material object.”Flora” is its title until I know if it will be as I intend.
In Tahiti outrageous plantlife abounds everywhere. Hibiscus blossoms the size of dinner plates, bright blue water lilies crowding the canals, thick green fern fronds unfurling six feet tall in dense bamboo groves, enormous ginger and protea, be still my heart.
One of a kind pieces are often like this. We have a good idea and a bunch of faith, and then we plunge in.
Art is a practice, and a damn funny one for all its intensity.
So first things first. Five simple directions:
Intention, check: as above.
Start with what works: I want to use Mokume Gane, for opulent magical patterning with variations and layered color combinations. I’ll try opaque colors with a hint of pearl for this project. Check.
Schedule: heck, I need to get 15 necklaces made in six weeks. You do the math. Let’s go.
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| 1. With a rough idea for the feeling of the piece in mind, I sketched and cut out a selection of possible shapes for mokume gane elements. I make different shapes when I draw then when I work in polymer, enabling a different design approach. This inspires - and reminds me – that there are many many more ways to do something than what has always worked in the past
2.Gathering them onto my work surface, I brought together polymer clay bodies that felt right: rich light colors, varying translucencies, pearlescents and opaques. |
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| 8. Detail of the shallow cup shapes. Rather than have flat cutout shapes like the paper sketches, I wanted more dimensionality and life, since these are referencing blossoms.
9. Mokume gane usually results in supplemental usable fragments. Way cool, a bonus to play around and make new pieces. Here’s a few partially finished elements – fragments laid on curved supports- that will be mokume gane broochesat the gallery shop in the very near future. That’s it for Flora right now. I’ve got other projects to do and explore while this is percolating along. |
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| 10. Next post:
In this post, kinda like a movie trailer, I showed you the Flora progression as a fast and constant flow. However there were detours here and there, when the process was ebbing instead of flowing. Where have you been that you’d like to translate into a wearable form? Why? My best wishes for all your creative endeavours! Tory |
really amazing and beautiful!
the Whirlwind matches so well with the heart of flowers, and your design is so unique for the blooms! Japan and writing, energy as always…sharpy without hurting…
See you next time, golden beads are true beauties.
[...] may also enjoy the step-by-step look that Tory Hughes offers on her most recent “Tahitian Flora“ project. It’s educational to watch as she sketches her project before she [...]
Love this stepped-out tutorial that combines clear visuals and clear words. It has multiple effects for me. I learn what you did, I’m inspired to try something like it, I have a whole new concept to pursue (places), and I see many other possibilities for how I might use drawing and cut-outs to plan and refine polymer elements of my own.
That’s what I call bang for the buck, Tory!
Thank you!
You are so welcome, Sidney!
Your response is exactly what prompted me to post.
There will be a number more of these tutorials in this series – there’s a long way to go between now and August …!
Polymer is the ideal mixing media material: and we can forget that the creative process is not just in the physical making but the conceptual, aesthetic design as well. So ‘mixing media’ – using other materials to work our ideas out, to serve as armatures, to connect and engineer – makes a lot of sense. And most of us still do more hand-writing than cutting with a tissue blade, so there are ingrained neurological patterns in drawing that are not there in the cutting-with-a-blade.
Stay tuned!
As always, extremely inspiring, my dear. Reading your writing is always an adventure and sets ones mind off into possibilities. Thanks for that!
Beautiful work! And so interesting to see all your steps in thinking through a project. I especially liked the sketch-and-cut-out part.
I was in Papeete in March–I enjoyed seeing photos of the market. My overwhelming memories of the market: beautiful shiny fresh fish, mysterious vegetables and fruits, flowers everywhere. My memories of clothing: bright, bright, bright, lots of primary colors. The shock of seeing giant-sized “houseplants” growing outside. Chickens everywhere. And speedy little yellow geckos on Moorea.
Good luck with the 15 necklaces. yikes!
Oh yes, the feral chickens! Just mentioned those to someone…. You had the same response to ‘gian houseplants’ as I had the first time I went snorkling: fish I’d only seen tiny in aquariums were a couple feet long in the ocean. Eeek!
Thanks for the best wishes, Susan!
That is a great step by step visual tutorial. I do like how you worked in advance preparing paper shapes and how you express the nature of creating the project (necklace) as a process that moves in different directions being enriched with new elements … Thanks’, I do enjoy your posts a lot:))
Thanks Andrea. Often we forget that we drew before we wrote, and we drew before we worked in polymer. Drawing connects our hands to our minds very directly. Enjoy your own talents!
Tory, I am amazed! Thank you so much for sharing your creative process step by step–your new work and themes are inspiring!
I am anxious to use this technique to make tangible memories of my last trip to Australia and New Zealand. Michele
Well then be sure to send pictures! Have a great time and experiment wildly. I’m still playing with the ideas for this necklace because these pieces aren’t quite right, even though I’ll finish the necklace. So I’ve developed some related projects that are equally interesting in my efforts to get this done as I want. Stay in touch!
Thank you so much for the tut. I love seeing how others are creating their pieces and gives me ideas.