Ryan and I (Rae) have been creating together since 2001. We sculpt our own designs in clay, then make a mold, cast in gypsum cement, clean of any imperfections and finally handpaint. Life is very interesting to us and we pull our ideas from all over. It may be a day in the mountians or a conversation with a customer. We never know what will inspire us next. We do tend to lean towards certain themes like celtic, egyptian, gargoyles and nature oriented designs but often the creative leads elsewhere and we follow. ***********************************************************A
lot of our pieces fall into what we call 'form and function'. When we first began most everything had to have a purpose (candleholder, incense burner, chess set). We still design most of our sculptures with this in mind but we also do wall reliefs and free standing sculpture/character figures as well. Having our shop has been really condusive to designing because we no longer have to worry about where we would put a creature like '_____' to sell, we can just make it and put it on our own shelves. **********************************************************Ou
tside of what Ryan and I produce together we also follow our own artistic interests.Mine vary depending on the season but fiber arts are always present in some form. I love to crochet and knit wearable one of a kind pieces. I started selling my hats and other various pieces in 2002 and haven't stopped yet! I believe that everyone is unique and should surround themselves with things that make them feel that way. Hats, scarves, purses, and ponchos are mainly what I like to create. Basically anything wearable or practical (that whole form and function thing again).January of 2006 I finally got myself a spinning wheel and a whole lot of wool!!!!!!! I first thought my friend Amy was crazy when she introduced me to spinning. I thought there are soo many yarns out there, Why spin? Well my persistance of having one of a kind pieces led me to right to what she has known for years, spinning!!! I love it! Taking raw wool, dying it, spinning it and them creating a one of a kind creation. Taking the time to do it from scratch gives me appreciation for so much that we often take for granted. Once upon a time this is what we had to do to make our clothes or any other cloth item that we needed (not to mention all of the other hardships that were indured). Now in a day and age when we have cell phones and wireless computers, jet planes and modern medicine I feel spoiled and very gratefull.I also love to work with mosaics. After a busy, busy fall/winter season of fiber arts I like to give my hands a break and create with broken glass (well, actually I cut them quite frequently but you know what I mean). You will often see my mosiac workstation in the store covered with 'works in progress' all spring and summer. My favorite medium is stain glass. It comes in soo many colors, textures, and finishes. It just makes things sparkle.
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en Ryan isn't working with me on sculptures he spends his free time painting. Over the years he has really covered a range of styles and subjects but his spiritual artwork has remained constant. I think that if you were so try to sum it up he likes to take iconic images to teach, share or remind us through artwork. His paintings are meditations to him. Each brush stroke is mindful of what he is trying to show us. He might spend a few weeks finishing a painting and during that time he lives the ideas that he is trying to communicate (or a painting is a reflection of what he is living). When a painting is finished it is a reminder to us of that time period. The painting 'Balance' is a good example or 'Truth for Life'.
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While many of Ryan's paintings try to communicate ideas or concepts to the veiwer he also does a series of painting that allow the mind to wander and only convey emotion (no images). This is his swirl series. We stumbled upon this while painting our store's first sign together. We created the '3rd I swirl' to go on the outside of our first store on winery square. When we were finished we like the painting so much that we couldn't paint words on it we were afraid to mess it up! So up it went anyways and you know we met some of the nicest/coolest people because of this painting. They would stop in and say how they saw it and had to stop. They were the most encouraging of folks, really inspiring. So we kept painting swirls!!! Sometimes outside on the first warm day of spring and sometimes peak fall trying to catch the feeling or emotion of the day. Ryan has done a whole series of swirls now and also a dozen or so customs for folks as well.
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Outside of what we create we hand pick artists to help us fill our shop. It gives us a constantly changing variety to offer our customers and we get to help support other artists like ourselves."; I edited my profile at Freeweblayouts.net , check out these Myspace Layouts!
