Currently viewing the tag: "Nature"

The Fragility of Time – Ignacio Canales Aracil

By Patternbank On May 16, 2013 · In Inspiration

Patternbank love these delicate sculptures from Spanish artist Ignacio Canales Aracil. The project titled, “The Fragility of Time”, involved collecting plants from gardens and nurseries then pressing them into these fragile sculptures. In return for using the flowers the Charity Foundation of each garden receives a percentage of the sales and each nursery and garden is credited when the sculptures are displayed. The process involves a certain amount of physical effort to press the flowers together without the use of any glue, a tradition although fragile that is made to last, some ancient collections of dried pressed flowers date from 500 years ago. For Aracil tradition is important in his work and the idea of preserving the flowers beauty through death. We think their beauty is certainly captured in a new form for years to come!

Wild About Flowers Nursery, Devon, UK

Wonder Science – Klari Reis

By Patternbank On May 14, 2013 · In Inspiration

San Francisco-based artist Klari Reis is creating a new Petri dish painting every day in 2013 for her Daily Dish project. Klari uses the creative process of both painting and science in this mesmerising project. Patternbank love the unnatural but beautiful textures, shapes and random pattern Reis is creating in this optical exploration. See more of her Petri dish art here.

Becky Blair – Layers, Line and Texture

By Patternbank On May 14, 2013 · In Inspiration

Becky Blair’s beautiful artwork was featured in Patternbank’s recent post covering ‘Bristol Affordable Art Fair 2013.’ Surprisingly none of her paintings are planned out, her layers of under-painting provide the groundwork for her landscapes and creatures or figures to appear. Her imagery evolves from a complex layering of glazes, texture, drawing and printing. She allows this to create the spaces for her painting to take shape. Patternbank loves the balance of space and detail in her work and her skillful use of colour combinations. Take a peek at her full archive on her website.

Amy Sia – {Designer Spotlight}

By Patternbank On May 10, 2013 · In Print + Pattern

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Amy Sia is a Fashion/ Textile Designer now living and working in London. Amy’s work is a vibrant and lively collection of prints which have found their way onto scarves, home furnishings and i-phone cases. Her work has recently caught the attention of the Patternbank team and here we ask Amy a few questions about how she got started and about her success to date, with an insight into what inspires her beautiful work.

How did you get into designing textiles, did one thing start your career?

I studied fashion design in Melbourne Australia at RMIT University and from there worked in the fashion industry in Melbourne for a few years. I always loved working on print designs and seeing the print collections from studios. When I moved to London about two and a half years ago I decided to pursue a career in textile print design as there are so many opportunities for this field here. I started by interning at a London print studio and then moved onto freelancing for textile print studios. During a quiet period of freelancing I started doing some work for Society6 a website which allows designers to sell their artwork on products such as mobile phone cases. I also started using pinterest. A writer for refinery29 saw my pinterest and also my work there and I was featured in a story as a top “pinterest power player”. This led to a lot of exposure for my work including being featured on the Martha Stewart blog and ongoing collaborations with Anthropologie and Casemate and that is basically what got the ball rolling!

Where do you get inspiration for your work? What is inspiring you right now?

I love looking at the beauty of God’s creation, nature is amazing there are so many gorgeous colours and shapes it is endless! Fashion is another huge source of inspiration. I love to look at what is on the catwalk, in store and also street fashion through blogs. I do also love to look at prints and patterns from the past and from other cultures.

At the moment I’m loving everything marbled!

Stefanie Jasper – Ethereal Worlds

By Patternbank On May 9, 2013 · In Inspiration

Stefanie Jasper uses Tumblr as a diary for her recent artistic evolution, her objective is to find images that move people. She is a professional photographer and this truly shows in her work, these are beautiful, abstract and ethereal with a sumptuous depth of colour. Check out her amazing Tumblr here.

Pick Me Up 2013 – Illustration and Contemporary Graphic Art Trends

By Patternbank On May 3, 2013 · In Graphics, Inspiration

Patternbank were at Pick Me Up, UK’s first annual contemporary graphic art fair at Somerset House, London. In it’s Fourth year now the show has grown to be a great place to spot new and upcoming talent with original works and prints available to purchase. Not only that there are various events and workshops to get involved in so altogether a great inspiring day out.

Patternbank highlights the strongest Illustrators, graphic artists and studios seen at the fair this year.

This year was another mass of creative workshops and inspirational content. Pick Me Up packs together the most exciting international talent from the wonderfully diverse field of graphic arts for an 11-day extravaganza of creative workshops, late-night art and music mash-ups, quirky family-fun events and interactive shopping spaces with original, affordable artwork and limited- edition prints.

Fatherless were on hand creating one-of-a-kind hand-printed images especially for Pick Me Up crowd, as well as creating prints, t-shirts, broadsides and handbills each day. Formed in 2010 and hailing from Rockford, Illinois, Fatherless is a collaborative print posse of artists, designers, graffiti writers and educators. All of their work consists of hand-screened, limited edition prints, and can best be described as, “a visual mixtape of creative shenagination.”

Katie draws inspiration from traditional scientific illustrations. Katie’s original work was made especially for this years Pick Me Up. Patternbank loved her whimsical studies of biological studies and scientific drawings.

Bristol Affordable Art Fair 2013 – Artist Highlights

By Patternbank On April 30, 2013 · In Inspiration

The Patternbank team visited Bristol’s Affordable Art Fair at Brunel’s Old Station last weekend. The Affordable Art Fair’s formula is simple, yet unique: a relaxed, inspiring environment and lots of good quality contemporary art. In this post we give a quick snapshot of our favorite finds whilst walking the show. Check the website for more information on exhibiting artists and galleries and dates for other cites the fair is visiting.

Antlers Gallery

Charles Emerson – Rose Sanderson @ Antlers Gallery

Harlequin Gallery and The Marle Gallery

Clare Schimdt Norris @ Harlequin Gallery, Emma Forrester @ The Marle Gallery

Fourwalls Contemporary Art

Myung Nam An – Becky Blair @ Fourwalls Contemporary Art

Gregory Euclide – Fragile Environments

By Patternbank On April 29, 2013 · In Inspiration

Gregory Euclide produces these miniature landscapes with complex detail using graphite, acrylic and ink in traditional landscape painting fused with found plastic bags, foam, pinecones, sage, moss and paper. The elements are encased environments illustrating their vulnerability where words like wilderness, natural and sustainability come to mind. Euclide’s work is on show at the Martha Otero Gallery, Los Angeles, CA until 11th May 2013, definitely worth a visit if your in town. The black and white paintings also featured here were produced by Euclide while he taught at Minnesota River Valley School. Using Japanese Sumi ink, whiteboard erasers, paper towels, spray bottles, brushes and any other objects he could find lying around in the classroom, he would create directly onto whiteboards only to casually erase them away at the end of the day. The students were so affected when he erased the beautiful creations that Euclide decided to release a series of prints of the temporary ink designs. “In our culture, there is a strong emphasis on reproduction and the original seems less important,” says Euclide. Euclide relates this concept to societyʼs impact on the natural world by stating, “When people get to know nature and spend time in it, they start to realize how their actions affect it.”