Egidija Ciricaite

I have just come to the end of my second year on the Embroidery degree at MMU so will have more time over the next few months to talk about my own work and the wonderful artists who have been ( and will be) influencing me.  I have a passion for book arts and recently found this wonderful artist working in ceramics but with a love of books  (website)!  


Egidija describes this work 

* Damnatio memoriae is the Latin phrase literally meaning "condemnation of memory" in the sense of a judgment that a person must not be remembered. It was a form of dishonor that could be passed by the Roman Senate upon those, who brought discredit to the Roman State. The result is to erase someone from history.

What I want as I move into March ...

My new Anthropologie catalogue dropped through my letterbox this week and re-ignited a need to go shopping!  I am so busy at University these days I seem to have forgotten how to daydream .........

happ and stahns solid perfume

Astrid garden chair

Serpentine bottle vase

painted tulip wallpaper

charles clary

David Wiseman

I was reading about David Wiseman's installation of ghost trees via the Flipboard app on my phone ... and was so intrigued i did a little digging.  His work is beautiful and is obviously an artist who is rooted in his love of materials.  A real artist and craftsman.  The trees (which are made of porcelain) are an art installation in the Los Angeles library and he describes them as  “ghosts of the ancient species reclaiming the library as their branches emerge from the walls and reach 60 feet up to the skylight.”  


(Photos from NYT blog)

On his website it states :  David Wiseman captures and preserves the fleeting beauty of natural forms such as a blossoming tree, a spiderweb, or a glacier in his limited edition objects and unique commissions. He imparts this permanence through his expertise with materials and processes.

Wiseman's work is extraordinarily hands-on and labor intensive and he is constantly experimenting with and exploring new ways of working with materials such as porcelain, bronze, and glass. Wiseman's deep appreciation for the subtle textures and details present in nature make his design projects an intimate opportunity to experience these natural wonders the way he sees them.

a crazy chandelier

Tyree Callahan

Tyree Callahan has created a wonderful Chromatic Typewriter.

Callahan entered The Chromatic Typewriter into the 2012 West Collects competition, which people can currently vote on through the downloading of a iphone app.

I saw this amazing piece of work on the London Print Works Trust blog and am downloading the iPhone app asap.  What an amazing invention!!

Kirsteen Aubrey

Kirsteen Aubrey is a glass artist based in Manchester who has an exhibition in the MMU Special Collections Library at the moment.  This is open to the public ... so not limited to university students and staff.

Drawing

Suet Yi

I saw Suet Yi's work recently at the Northern Contemporary Craft Fair. She is a recent graduate from the Decorative Arts course at Nottingham Trent University.   I thought her work was infused with a sense of silence, delicacy and whimsy.  She has spent a lot of time travelling through Japan  and this influence is evident in her work.  Her little landscapes of birds and trees were delightful.

Terracota Plates with drawings of children

Raindrops

Her latest work is the 'raindrops' series.  As mentioned on her website she

'wanted to capture a single moment in time in the rain .... something simple but timeless".  

Nic Webb

I love the simplicity and beauty in these spoons.

Nic is an artist based in Camberwell, South London and he comments:

‘I am passionate about working with wood. It is a natural material that is both ethical and sustainable to use. I work with a combination of traditional tools and modern methods to achieve hand crafted objects of contemporary art and design.’

cartolina app

Just bought the update to the cartolina app.  I have blogged about this before because it is one of my favourite apps (and i have a lot!) and this little add-on is well worth 59p.  Now who should be the first lucky recipient .....?

Choccywoccydoodah

I am only a few days into my Lent resolution to give up chocolate and I am having serious withdrawal symptoms!!  To cheer myself up (or is it torture?) I have been drooling over the Choccywoccydoodah website ... which is absolutely wonderful!  They are a Brighton based artisan chocolate company creating the most wonderful chocolate concoctions i have seen.  You can't believe that all the work is made out of chocolate ... it truly is amazing.  They are shortly having their own TV show on the GoodFood Channel (which I unfortunately don't get) but watch the advert below!

Something i love ... Bompas and Parr

As it is valentine's day tomorrow i feel the need to post about something that I love.  I don't really want to go the hearts and flowers route .. although I do expect to get that from home ... but turned my mind to food.  I love everything about food .. reading about it, cooking, tasting, smell, memories, memories to be made, textures and ... equally important .. whether it attracts me visually.  I am sensitive to dairy products so tend not to eat desserts very often (just can't help myself sometimes!).  However, one pudding I have always loved and still eat regularly is JELLY!  I adore the rich jewel type colours you can achieve with jelly and the wonderful kitsch moulds you can get...
The new masters of jelly over the past few years have got to be Bompas and Parr who are the mad Willy Wonka geniuses of jellyworld!  Sam Bompas and Harry Parr create unique and bespoke jelly events .. as well as creating events such as a pop up chewing gum factory, a brandy punch bowl you can sail across and smell and sniff food scratch cards. They are like Heston Blumenthal's little brothers! They have really embraced the fun element of food coupled with a keen intelligence and great artistic creativity. I highly recommend you visit their website to look at the events they put on .. I only wish I could get to one.... now that would be a great valentine's gift!!