Magdalene Odundo

    




     Okay, there is no doubt that Magdalene Odundo inspires me.  This chick knows what she's doing.  Don't these look thrown?  Nope, you would be wrong, they're hand built with coils!!!  Then she burnishes them. covers them in slip, burnishes them again, fires them in an oxidation environment and then fires them again in a reduction kiln.  So impressive!

     For my work purposes I am looking at her form.  The smoothly sloping curvilinear lines and shapes catch my eye.  I am intrigued with the forms and would like to incorporate them into my pieces.

     -DJK

Elizabeth Murray

      I'm sure most of you recognize Elizabeth Murray's work from the cover of the 2D design book, but I cannot help but be inspired by her.  Her bright colors, organic shapes and crowded compositions intrigue the heck out of me.  Upon further research I discovered her shapes weren't simply nonobjective, they were abstracted forms.  Ever since 1995 when she was diagnosed with lung cancer she has been incorporating lung related shapes into her paintings.  Makes a lot more sense now, right?  Very cool.

     I would definitely say it is her use of color that attracts me the most.  She uses the full spectrum in every oil painting and yet they still hold together as a solid composition, blame it on her obvious use of proximity I suppose.  The in your face, cartoonish, modernist abstractions she paints are undoubtably stunning.  I find myself staring at her work, following every line and contour with my eyes and wondering what she was thinking.  I hope to achieve that sense of wonder and intrigue with my work.

     -DJK