Laurie Spugnardi

Archive for May, 2010

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:
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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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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

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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 »

intricate tile in the william morris style

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

I love William Morris’ wallpaper designs, though I admit, an entire room would make me feel like grabbing the hedge clippers. His wallpaper patterns have a certain quality of texture, line and downright coziness to them that intrigues. Here is my attempt at enhancing those qualities: wax line method to create real 3D texture; the use of matt and gloss glazes to add depth; enlarged and cropped sections to draw attention to motifs and line-work. At this point, I think one tile, simply framed would be lovely to hang on a wall or for use as a trivet. It’s my first go-round with this series and I’m happy enough with the results to keep experimenting. What do you think?

wm_linedraw sections of black and white wallpaper, enlarged, transferred onto 6″ bisque tile then overdrawn with black wax (see technique on my hand painted tile page)

wm_crow1_blog crow and flowers, glazed and fired. I captured this photo at an angle to show the use of matt and gloss glazes.

wm_crow2_blog crow and flowers.

wm_grapes1_blog grapes and foliage, glazed and fired.

wm_grapes2_blog grapes and foliage.

Besides wallpaper, William Morris (and protégé William De Morgan) also designed tile for the home. Here are a few samples of their work.
11347-large Tiles images

Tags: art tile, crow, tile design, william morris, william morris tile
Posted in goings on in the studio, inspiration, surface design | No Comments »

asian inspired ceramic tile mural: update

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Just thought I would load the final installment of the mural I worked on this winter for the Tea Room at Hara Massage and Wellness Center in Falmouth Maine. Visit my recent post of the project in progress. Here are the images of the final in its custom frame by Phil at Shininglass Studio and the mural installed in the tea room.
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