Mary Capan

Mary Capan creates metallic oil paintings, landscapes, wall sculptures and jewel art paintings of abstract shapes and forms.  She uses repetitious patterns, contrasting designs, and all sorts of color schemes to create dynamic, and interesting pieces of work.


Mary's pattern and texture catch my eye immediately.  I would like to incorporate these two elements into my own work.


-DJK

Carol Taylor

If you didn't see the close up views above you would swear these were paintings!  Surprisingly, they are quilts.  Tediously pieced together tiny block by tiny block, these quilts are created by the loving hands of Carol Taylor.  Her artistry is extremely impressive, so much so that she is appearing on my art blog :)  These quilts use geometric shapes and extremely bright colors to created interesting and beautiful compositions.  The attention to detail and the special care given to each quilt makes them truly works of art.

I hope that I can utilize color in the way that Carol Taylor does.  Her bright and vibrant spectrum catch the eye immediately and give her quilts a fun and playful look, while maintaining their artistry.

-DJK

Julaine DeJong

Julaine DeJong uses acrylic paints...my favorites...to produce these brightly colored lunar paintings.  Her use of geometric shapes and interesting colors give her pieces a quality that seems to exceed the medium at hand.  Her compositions also create great flow and energy within the paintings.

Composition is the key to a great piece and I think Julaine DeJong has got it down.  To take a bunch of seemingly random elements and throw them all into a composition so that they are cohesive is not easy.  I would like to create compositions as dynamic and interesting as DeJong's.

-DJK

Meagan Chaney

I LOVE these.  My ceramics professor actually taught Meagan and told me about her so, naturally, I had to check her out.  I'm glad I did.  Meagan has managed to make artistic ceramic pieces a commercial product...quite a feat.  Her incorporation of cast glass and steel into her ceramic pieces adds a great depth of color and texture as well.

I would love to achieve the rich, earthy colors that Meagan uses.  They manage to be bold and subtle at the same time and are really eye catching.  The rusty earth tones paired with the blues and greens really make for a magical combination.

-DJK

Karin Kuhlmann

http://www.karinkuhlmann.de/

(link to Kuhlmann's website)

Now these are some beautiful images!  Karin Kuhlmann creates her images digitally, but that doesn't make them any less breathtaking.  She achieves an almost painterly quality with her fractals and digital images that is not commonly seen.  She also uses bright colors and high contrast to add drama.

I would like to use Kuhlmann's blending techniques and color use in my murals.  It is an interesting use of transparency and smudging effects that create her smooth, layered images and I would like to attempt to get this look in places on my own pieces.

-DJK

Mino Delle Site

Yet again I have managed to find another artist that is copyrighted like crazy so here is the link to his gallery.

http://www.minodellesite.com/ds-gallery2.html

Mino Delle Site creates cubist/geometric/abstract paintings.  His coloring and technique, in my opinion fits most with the cubists but I'm no authority so don't quote me.  His paintings depict almost recognizable shapes and forms that are just abstracted enough to obscure the true shape.

I would like to integrate the colors/shading that Mino Delle Site uses in his paintings into my murals.  The pieces are vibrant, high in contrast and energy and yield a lot of emotion.  I hope to accomplish a similar effect.

-DJK

Tsehai Johnson

Tsehai Johnson creates wall hanging ceramic and mixed-media pieces.  All the ones pictured above are solely ceramic materials.  These brightly colored, strangely shaped pieces manage to both clash with and complement the spaces they are affixed to.  They consist of non descriptive shapes that keep the viewer questioning, why?

Tsehai Johnson's use of space would be beneficial to my work.  The works fill the space they are in and unify the entire room with their outward growing shapes.  I hope to accomplish a presence of this type with my own work.

-DJK

Susan Elena Esquivel

http://susanelena.com/mixed-media/

Her saggar fired mixed-media pieces are GORGEOUS!  This is a lot like what I'm going for in my own work.  Abstract, maybe even non-objective forms that focus on form, shape, color and line.

I would love to figure out a way to achieve Susan Elena's color schemes in my own work.  I love the antiqued, aged look that each one has, while still managing to be completely modern.

-DJK

Rina Peleg

Apparently I am just obsessed with this idea of weaving clay, I just can't help it.  It's so cool!  I love how she varied the pattern on the "carpet" to make a patchwork, it is so clean and interesting.  Her attention to detail is impressive.

Like the previous basket-weaving ceramicists, I hope to glean the attention to detail and pattern from Rina Peleg.  I would really like to create some sort of regimented pattern such as this somewhere in my work

-DJK

Cyrus (Wai-Kuen) Tang

I am having difficulty finding other pieces by this artist, but I couldn't help but showcase this one.  This is AMAZING!  That is, in fact, paper clay.  I had to just stare for a good long while to even take this one in.  Simply brilliant!

I would love to be able to get detail like this into a couple of my pieces.  It really makes it apparent that a lot of work went into the piece and boosts the works credibility.

-DJK

Ruth Borgenicht

I cannot stop GAWKING at these!!!  Are you kidding?!  The time and patience that must go into each one blows my mind.  Those are stoneware rings all woven together!  It seems impossible/unreal to get that kind of consistency out of this medium, but clearly i stand corrected.  The pieces speak for themselves.

I hope to incorporate the wonderful use of pattern Ruth Borgenicht achieves in her pieces.  The repetition adds wonderful unity and coherence to her pieces and makes them visually mystifying.

-DJK

Maciej Kasperski

Kasperski creates very simple shapes with detailed linear patterns on their surfaces.  The result is a surprisingly stunning standalone sculpture.  With neutral colors and a lack of much of any detailing, sans the linear patterning, it is a wonder these pieces are so successful...but they are!

Kasperski's use of line is inspiring to me.  I love the flow toward and around the voids on his triplex system pieces and how the lines interact with the contours of each piece.  I hope to use this technique to enhance the shape and focus of my pieces.

-DJK

Holly Fischer

Holly Fischer uses porcelain to create these goregeous, figural forms.  She focuses on a body part of the female anatomy and then encirlces it with abstract swirls of what looks to be fabric or water.  The forms seem to just melt away into the air at the edges.  Her pieces are beautifully finished with flawlessly smooth texture and solid ivory coloring.

I would like to incorporate Holly Fischer's use of abstracted figure into my murals where it applies.  More importantly, however, I would love to use her texture and curvilinear shaping as inspiration in the creation of my own pieces.

-DJK

Jeff Kaller

I find Jeff Kaller's work to be deeply emotional.  Surprisingly, reading his artist's statement, it is more based around a study of science.  He focuses on the funnel, and how it relates to both natural and man-made information.  He likes to use grids/geometry to create the pieces.

I would like to withdraw Kaller's wonderful texture from his work for my own purposes.  The porous, craggy surfaces of his geometric pieces really add great detail, emotion and interest to the final product and seem to give them a much deeper meaning.

-DJK

Peggy Angus

Peggy Angus had many specialties and jobs, however her work that most interested me was her ceramic tile designs...go figure.  They are simple, but that's exactly what I like.  They hold your attention with the simple fact that they are graphically strong.  The tiles themselves are flat and add no real depth or value to the work.

I hope to incorporate this type of impact into my surface treatments in order to create more visually strong final pieces.

-DJK

Op Art Wrap-Up

The artists below represented my favorite op art artists.  Their influence is described in my post immediately preceding all of the op art artists I posted.

-DJK

Victor Vasarely