Hi Color Explorer,

Welcome to the premier of Smashing Color News. I can't promise it will come out on a regular schedule but I can guarantee that future issues willl be filled with random news from my studio, from Portland, and from the great big wonderful world of color.

What's the latest news in the fascinating, super complex, multi-disciplinary world of color? I want to know. 

From science and art, from industry and business, from psychology and neuroscience, from design and craft, from tid-bit to colossal, I will share what I find with you.

The big news last week? The Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to the three scientists who invented the blue LED. They made white LED lights possible. Video.

I leave tomorrow for the second Polymer Symposium hosted by the Racine Art Museum. It's always fun to get together with my cohorts in the polymer community and even more fun when we get to stay at the fabulous Wingspread Conference Center. Dinner at the Johnson House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is a highlight!

The last symposium sparked my current body of work. I'm curious to see what comes out of this one.

Another highlight of the symposium this weekend will be a visit to Carthage College.

CC is the first college to offer a full semester polymer class. Many thanks to professor Diane Levesque for using Lindly Haunani's and my book "Color Inspirations" as one of the texts. You can see how much fun the students had at A Polymer Clay Course.

Diane is the also the director of the H.F. Johnson Gallery at Carthage and curated the current show of polymer work. A Revisioning - New Works in Polymer highlights recent works by master artists and innovators who inspire others to re-vision the possibilities in this medium. 

I just got my box of catalogs from the show - stunning photos and a stellar essay by Rachel Carren. Can't wait to see all the work in person! Four of my pieces are in the show - it's an honor to be included in such good company.

Portland is a destination city for everything creative - fashion, food, art, craft and design of all kinds. 

I spent so much time traveling over the last few years that I missed a lot of what is happening right here in my own backyard. 

No more!  Except for a few workshops in amazing locations, I plan on staying home in 2015 to teach at VIA Artistica and immerse myself in Portland's vibrant arts and design community.

My color explorations inform my art - and the process of creating inspires my color investigations. It's a very interconnected cycle and every now and then some finished work emerges.

Here are some behind the scene thoughts to accompany my Blog post about the upcoming weekend in Wisconsin.

Lena Vigna, curator at the Racine Art Museum, told me recently that this photo helped inspire the theme of the (in)Organic show. Now it's showing up all over the place in the publicity for the show - which is thrilling and humbling at the same time.

It's not about the piece itself. It is about the story told by the photo.

I want to shine the spotlight on my daughter Monica Maggio and my photographer Courtney Frisse. It is absolutely due to their collaboration that this photo exists. I have no doubt it's the combination of Monica's beautiful pose and Courtney's ability to capture the perfect split second shot that led to the powerful impact of this image. We have so much fun working together. Huge thanks to them both!

For every piece that makes it to the photo shoot there are three or four that don't. Most of my current explorations involve shaping a single long snake. When it doesn't work on the body it ends up in the reject pile. This is the pile from the RAM show. Scary!

Just in time for Halloween:

"Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes."

 

Thank you for subscribing and joining me in my color journeys.