boxed in

"Because pottery itself abstractly expresses—through clay, glaze and shape—nature’s landscape, it can be as spirited as a spring day or as barren as a raw and sullen winter afternoon, barely touched with color. I am aiming for distillations from nature, historically alive and poetically inspired. Clay processes are intertwined with extensive drawing, painting and collaging on paper." Catherine White

potter catherine white has other not-so-hidden talents. white's cup box series offers a glimpse of her softly sketched illustrations. her website offers a more extensive catalog of both 3d and 2d art. i was drawn to white's work for obvious reasons - both the cup and the box are art vessels. love it.

into the forest

born and raised in japan and now living in new york, yuken teruya is trying to raise the consciousness of people all over the world with his unusual vessel sculptures. his vessel of choice? the lowly shopping bag. meant to draw attention to the growing problems of excessive consumerism and separation between the haves and the have-nots, teruya carefully carves miniature treescapes on the interior of the discarded paper bags. his bid to make the world a little bit better makes a big impression.

you can see more of yuken teruya's work online at the saatchi gallery and the josee bienvenu gallery

paper taper

"My lamps are decorative, mood-enhancing and are perfect as an accent in a dark hallway or neglected part of a room. I prefer lower wattages for a soft ambient light that showcases the details of the distinctive papers." Mark Porter

mark porter is an art-director-turned-artist. his uplifting, hip, wood and hand-made paper lamps make me smile. scandinavian meets asian meets craftsman, if you know what i mean. porter's business cards read: "cool paper lamps". truth in advertising? i think so.

singing in the rain

"Through methods of weaving, waxing, trapping, embedding and stitching I create unusual materials, which are then developed into garments and accessories. I often utilise plastics, papers and fabrics into my pieces. The work is non-functional and aims to encourage people to speculate on the nature of value. I enjoy the idea of working with disposable organic materials that are transient in nature, imbuing them with worth and creating something intriguing and of great beauty." Jennifer Collier

i suppose i couldn't actually sing in the rain wearing a pair of these galoshes, but they are awfully adorable. jennifer collier's paper shoes are creative and thought provoking. the boots above are made from tea bags. tea bags. she makes shoes from sheet music, maps, book pages and vintage dress making patterns. oh, and speaking of dresses, be sure to look at the one made from used postage stamps. you go girl!

6000 poppy seeds

"How can anyone possibly imagine what 6000 of anything looks like, let alone people. What would 6000 names struck from the pages of a phonebook look like? What would it look like in terms of their handprints, their footprints, in terms of the number of people that miss them? It's like nothing we can imagine. This was my attempt to imagine." Bird Ross

i like the way bird ross thinks. and the way she interprets ordinary materials. in 2001, as we grappled with the impact of 911, she set out on a path to try to understand this enormous tragedy and her profound 6000 project is the result. on the opposite end of the spectrum, her grapefruit skin vessel series will make you smile and the paper vessels that she makes from maps will make you wish you were back in school (well, almost...). yes, i like the way bird ross thinks.

container of light

"The classical forms of vessels used for feasts and perfected over centuries by craftspeople of India are the inspiration for these containers now holding light" Linda Benglis

scientist dr. anand sarabhai heads one of the many design companies today that focus on ecologically sustainable products. using scrap material like coconuts, newspapers, fabric and tin, eatit world manufactures delightful, functional products. based in india, sarabhai collaborated with american artist linda benglis to create the lovely vessel lamp pictured above. this line of lamps is made from recycled paper and bamboo. i like their description: containers of light or spiritual nourishment.

take a chance

“As a relative new comer to basket making I would like to think that my motivations are simple. Chief among them is a strong craft background. Process, scale, material, and function, whether it is real or implied have been major issues. My choice of materials hopefully addresses the issue of the status and validity of an art making material.” Stephen Johnson

just what constitutes a 'proper' art medium? are staples office supplies or art supplies? what about paper? and i thought shoe polish was, well, for shoes. then i saw stephen johnson's modern baskets and i understood. he staples hundreds of raffle tickets together and forms elaborate, sophisticated baskets - and everybody is paying attention to his art. for a kid who always got in trouble for playing with the stapler (ok - so i wasn't perfect, but that's a story for another day) it feels like vindication. you rock stephen!

if the shoe fits

“For the last 25 years, papier mache has my main artistic mode of expression. I started from the very basics and gradually mastered the technique in my own peculiar way, exploring its endless possibilities." Nives Cicin-Sain

nives cicin-sain is a croatian artist making one-of-a-kind sculptures out of recycled paper using the papier-mache technique. masks, theatre props and a gallery of shoes that manolo blahnik should envy. his might be the height of style, but hers? they are magical. the lucky woman strapped inside looks ready to be transported to another world. oh my. i want to go too. i do.

shape of a woman's life

"Some "Women Forms" stand alone, either in strength or in sorrow. Others rejoice in the company of other women - daughters, sisters, mothers, friends. They gather strength from their community. Each one is a visual collection of passions and griefs, joys and pains. Her form contains and is shaped by her layers of experience." Jackie Abrams

i was moved by this collection of baskets. quite striking. both the idea and the articulation. even more so when you realize that jackie abrams crafts her "women forms" from paper and wire. paper. and wire. while she incorporates fabric and beads from her travels, these magnificent baskets are primarily paper. and wire. abrams poetically explains that each basket contains the shape of a woman's life - a lovely play on words.

plicated

"I began to experiment widely with technical and philosophical alternatives to folding paper as a model making activity. I wanted to make people ask 'why?' rather than 'how?', and to make objects that were aesthetically pleasing, not just clever." Paul Jackson

origami artist paul jackson's pleated bowl is folded paper sculpture at it's finest. before folding, he hand colors each sheet of paper with charcoal or dry pastels and seals the paper to create a surface with a matte lustre. i can still remember miss heimer's fourth grade lesson on how to fold a paper cup. it sparked a life long appreciation for origami and more than a decade of practice. i still make a mean jumping frog, but i don't think jackson has anything to worry about.

curious about plicated?