The latest issue of Ornament magazine has a wonderful article on the history of polymer clay as an artists’ medium. One of the most beautiful magazines on the stands, Ornament features articles on the art and craft of personal adornment. Most of the magazines I get are fodder for collages but I never cut into my Ornaments. Since I […]
Smashing Color
with Maggie Maggio
Page 9 of 15
For the last 14 years, ever since we moved back to Portland, my artist studio was in the basement. There is not much in the way of natural light down there and every now and then in our rainy season the water seeps up from below. As you can imagine, I found myself spending less […]
This weekend we visited the Japanese Gardens in Portland for the first time. What struck me the most was the moss. It was everywhere – on the trees, on the rocks, on the buildings, even blanketing large areas under the trees just like grass. Its a good thing there were signs saying not to walk […]
I didn’t discover Kaffe Fassett‘s gorgeous designs until about ten years ago. To say I was stunned when I came across his knitting books at a friend’s house is an understatement. I was mesmerized. Color combinations that shouldn’t work somehow looked brilliant. The wow factor was huge. Whether he is designing for knitters, quilters, tapestry […]
This very fun color wheel came out last week in time for the opening of the new Smurfs movie. How many characters can you name? The original version, at Slate.com, gives you the name of each character and the cartoon they inhabit. It reminded me of one of my favorite posts from a few years ago […]
While most of the country was scorching, Kelly Porter posted some cool down turquoise and green color schemes. Porter, an interior designer, color consultant and columnist for Sherwin Williams, is a regular contributor to Houzz.com. Porter’s blog, Color Sizzle, is a great source of ideas for color combinations but the real fun is at Houzz. The Washington […]
I recently decided to shift how I think about myself as an artist – from polymer artist who teaches color, to colorist and teacher of color who uses polymer clay as my medium for color explorations. Why? Because I want to focus on sharing my love of polymer clay and what I am learning about […]
Have you ever tested colors just to see which primaries can mix the widest range of colors? If so, then you have played the Gamut Game. Over the years I have played this game in countless media. I played it in acrylic paint – the winners were Phthalo Blue (GS), Quinacridone Magenta, and Hansa Yellow. […]
Yesterday it was the flags of the world, today its the food. My friend Marsha’s nephew, Jesse Friedman, has started a four year project – to cook a meal once a week from each of the 193 countries in the UN plus Palestine. His blog, United Noshes, will feature the stories and recipes from each […]
“The eyes of the world are on us. Everyone is watching us closely to see whether our first steps in nationhood are steady and confident. We must rise to the occasion and prove that we are capable of playing our honest part in the international community of nations.” From the official website of the government […]
Lisa Nankivil is a stripe painter. When you think of stripe paintings the first name that comes to mind is Bridget Riley. Nankivil takes this form of abstract paintings to a more organic, and poetic, level. Tomorrow, July 21st, Nankivil’s latest show, “Lines of Inference” will open at the Spanierman Modern gallery in NYC. See it if you can! […]
The polymer clays that are readily available in the big box craft stores have changed since our book was published in 2009. In the past year Polyform discontinued Studio by Sculpey and some key Premo colors while adding a few new Premo colors. This caused quite a controversy. Carol Simmons has done some detailed posts about this issue. I’ve started testing the new […]
I’m back to exploring the split rings in a variety of forms. The rings on this Rose Chain started with one extra wrap and ended up with four layers of very thin clay ruffled around the large center holes. The challenge of making them lay flatter resulted in using a form to give each link a […]
The tradition in southern Italy is to name the first son after the father´s father, the second son after the mother´s father, the first daughter after the father´s mother and the second daughter after the mother´s mother. As the third son, my husband was named after his father. Because of the tradition, many names show […]
We went to the cemetery in Sciacca looking for Maggios long gone. The first thing we noticed was the huge parking lot. In a town with very little elbow room there was an enormous amount of breathing space. Then we walked through the gate. I never thought about cemetaries as architectural places. In the states, […]
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