Chihuly Garden and Glass

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, I visited the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum in Seattle.  Dale Chihuly is a world renowned glass artist from Seattle and has lead glass blowing into a fine art.  The exhibition is full of brilliant color, unhindered forms and is a celebration of a single material.  The garden is especially delightful as each area is punctuated by organic glass shapes that mimics nature in a dramatic way.  One aspect of the exhibition that was a pleasant surprise was the painting and drawings of Dale Chihuly.  I like them because they are as powerful as his three dimensional glass sculptures but in two dimension.  The paintings are large and colorful, many times using metallic paint.  They made my friend, Suzanne and me want to go home and paint!  If you ever have a chance to see the museum you should.  You can't miss it because it's right under the iconic Space Needle.

Pillow Talk

My Rodin collection pillow arrived from Society6!  It's rewarding to see my designs on products and to see how they work in three dimension.  The colors are pretty much what I saw on my computer screen so I am relieved!  To order this pillow and and more go to http://society6.com/MiJungLee.

My Studio

The last two weeks have been productive as I have spent a lot of time in my studio.  Module 3 of The Art and Business of Surface Design is packed with useful information on how to get the business side of things going.  The exercises are varied from learning new concepts in design, technical lessons in Photoshop and Illustrator as well as keeping grounded in sketching and painting - basically getting off the computer.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with so much to do but I think as long as I am getting better and more accomplished each day I should be ok.

Rodin Collection

 

I am excited to have finished this collection using a motif that is from a Henry Moore sculpture at the Rodin Museum in Paris.  I have had the motif for a while now thinking that I would like to use it some day.

 

I have had interesting comments from family member that they look like socks, limbs or unsewn garments pieces. 

 

 

Nevertheless, they were interesting to me. How can one not be intrigued in a lovely setting as the Rodin Museum garden in Paris!

 

Marbled Chains

 

Bronzed Waves

Jeweled Rodin

Kiss Me

Thinking Mills

Walk to the Gate

 

All patterns are available for licensing.



Encounter of Waters

 

 

 

There is a beautiful installment at the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park.   The building at the start of the outdoor park usually has some sort of three dimensional art installment  but I had never seen anything on the wall before.  The piece is called Encounters of Water by Brazilian artist Sandra Cinto. The scale is large which creates drama but at the same time the amount of detail is fascinating.  Simplicity is an understatment as Cinto uses only blue paint and silver marker, employing only lines and curves and one theme of waves.  But there is nothing simple of the time and effort it must of taken her and her volunteers to create waves of awe and emotion to the viewer.  It's a great prelude to the Puget Sound water while walking through the park!

Module 2 ABSD

First collection

Geometric exercise designing with women's bathing suits in mind.

Design exercise for stationary set

 

I've been busy with the second module of the online class The Art and Business of Surface Design  http://dowhatyouloveforlife.com/pattern.  It's now about putting together collections  and thinking of designs on products.  I can't think of anything else I would rather be doing than this so it's been challenging getting anything else done on the home front.  I need to keep working to find my signature style! 

Anthropologie

 

 

Whenever I go to the Bellevue Anthropologie, which has been quite often lately, I am wowed by the  magical store displays.  This one grabs your attention as you walk to the store focusing on an outfit for the day.  Looking closely there are about four layers of strings and leaves that gives the display depth.  Each leaf was hot glued to the taut strings that are stretched between wood.  Natasha Lawyer http://littlepaperknots.blogspot.com/ is the artist in residence at Anthropologie and she is incredibly talented and super nice. I look forward to going again soon to see her next display which is going to be a huge polar bear.  And of course to do some shopping.