Laurie Spugnardi

Archive for the ‘just for fun’ Category

Bubbly Bathroom Mirror Free-Form Mosaic

Monday, July 12th, 2010

BATHROOM MIRROR FREE-FORM MOSAIC

I recently finished up a project in my bathroom. I had a vision of sparkling, sea green bubbles and lots of movement as a decorative accent to an otherwise very white room. I could have done something in the standard square tile format but I’ve always wanted to create a free-form mosaic and thought this would be the perfect opportunity. What’s more flowing than water and bubbles!? I purchased and inserted a few round mirror tiles that mimic the “floating” vanity mirror. They also add movement and pick up colors from other areas of the bathroom. I’ve included a few process photos below.

PRODUCTION: ROLLING, CUTTING AND DRYING CLAY TILES

TILES: BISQUED TO CONE 04

TILES: GLAZED WITH MY SECRET SEA-FOAM RECIPE AND FIRED TO CONE 05

TILES ARRANGED AND ADHESIVED TO WALL

FREE-FORM MOSAIC: DETAIL

Tags: bathroom mosaic, ceramic tile, free form mosaic, mirror mosaic
Posted in goings on in the studio, just for fun, product design | 2 Comments »

Boston Museum of Science: Mathematica

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

One of the delightful parts of parenting is that you get to go on adventures you may not otherwise have the opportunity to experience. We go to the Museum of Science every couple of years with our kids and it is a different experience each time. Not just because some of the exhibits change, but because the kids change. They absorb the same information in an entirely different way at each stage of their cognitive development. Me too.

My favorite exhibit is Mathematica. It was designed by Charles and Ray Eames (of chair fame) and manages to make math, kind of, well… fun. Have you ever tried to wrap your head around how a Mobius Band works? Trippy.

The exhibit is loaded with interactive fun, while showing how math is the basis for art, architecture, music and design. We humans respond to order in our art. As it turns out, beauty has a mathematical formula.
It reads like this:
images
and it looks like this:
Spiral

Snapshots from the museum…
sm_graphicsmath Mathematical relationships and their graphic counterparts: Organized doodles!

sm_pyth
The Pythagorean Theorem, the Fibonacci Series and the Golden Ratio: Perfection in Proportion.

sm_networks sm_graphic
(left) Network mathematics: Think… the internet or the lymphatic system.
(right) A family of curves satisfying a differential equation. I don’t even know what that means, but it’s much more interesting than my last family portrait.

Posted in inspiration, just for fun, observations, on design | No Comments »

Fritillaria meleagris and Fashion

Friday, May 14th, 2010

One of my favorite spring plants…
If I were a fairy, I would wear the petals as a skirt.

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whitefrit_blog

Posted in inspiration, just for fun, observations | No Comments »

The Diptych Project, part one

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

I’ve been invited to participate in this years Diptych Project. The Diptyich Project was started a few years ago by New England Wax. This talented group of encaustic artists has been organizing this project for a few years now. Here’s how it works: Artists are paired up and begin making a painting. The paintings are given to their partner who will create a response painting. Each artist will create two paintings. There is only one rule: the size must be 18 x 12. This year, New England Wax has invited mosaic artists to join in the fun. My partner is Kimberly Curry. She lives just over the bridge in Portland, but we’ve never met before. She and I will be switching pieces this week and will begin our response pieces. There are 36 artists (18 encaustic and 18 mosaic) involved in the project which will tour new england galleries later this summer.

This is the piece I will give to Kim. I found inspiration while on a trip to Damarascotta to watch the alewives run. May is spawning time for alewives here in Maine. The fish, which spend most of its life in the ocean, crowd into a narrow fish ladder to make the long journey (for a fish) from the bay up to Damarascotta Lake to spawn. I was mesmerized by the moving pattern of crowded fish. It also happens to be when the poppies bloom. I loved the warm and bright poppies floating in a spring breeze in contrast to the dark layers of wriggling fish in the cold and bubbly water. Good stuff.

Poppy and Alewife, 2010

poppy_inkiln_blog poppy_glaze_blog

I look forward to seeing what Kim has made and to start my response piece…

Tags: alewife, alewives, ceramic mosaic, damarascotta, maine, poppies
Posted in goings on in the studio, inspiration, just for fun, shows & exhibitions | No Comments »

Florida as Muse. A Photo Essay

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

The critters in Florida are downright prehistoric::
flamingo
flamingo_plumage
manatee
gator
Gulf Coast beach day::
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shells
Florida shines in its quietest places. Splurge on an airboat ride::
cow_heron_lake
lake_sky_reed_lily
moss_sky
reeds_sky
Spanish Moss casts shadows on a fish pool::
fish_spanishmoss
On the way home. DC at sunset. A bird’s eye view::
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