Saturday Finds

Kate MacDowell

I’m happy to have discovered these amazingly complex visionary porcelain works by Kate MacDowell. Her artist’s statement reads in part as follows: “In my work this romantic ideal of union with the natural world conflicts with our contemporary impact on the environment.  These pieces are in part responses to environmental stressors including climate change, toxic pollution, and gm crops.  They also borrow from myth, art history, figures of speech and other cultural touchstones.”

The blog Lobster and Canary in September, 2009 featured an interview with Kate that gives you more insight into her art process and inspirations for her work.

Mobile Gardens

These wonderfully creative mobile gardens feed both my gardening and artistic fantasies. I love the suggestion in the blog’s comments section that one of these should make the rounds to all the schools, just like a bookmobile. I couldn’t agree more.

Image Armada

I downloaded and installed Image Armada freeware several months ago, forgetting to tell my readers about it. With this software you can curate and display a virtual gallery exhibition of your own art, complete with choices of different architecture and decor. It’s great fun, but I’m still learning it. That’s because I forget to go back and play around with my exhibitions. (For instance, I haven’t yet figured out how to make everything exactly to scale.) You can use these to create a portfolio of  your work, or just for fun. Should you decide you really like it enough to make pages and pages, there is a paid version, naturally!

Happy Fourth of July everyone in the US! I will be enjoying family for a few days, but hope to be back blogging by midweek. Maybe sooner if I can sneak in a few early morning times.