Experiment with Nature » art

Arterrae

Joe — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 19:22:45 +0000

At the crossroads of technology, nature, and aesthetics, Arterrae is a project that finds the awe-inspiring textures and colors hidden in Google Maps satellite images. It appropriates and subverts the go-to navigation tool for aesthetic ends, where the glitches, watermarks, and pixelation intermix with beautiful terrain to create something altogether new. Created by former Shwood Brand Manager, Joshua Fulfs, he scours the (digital) globe to curate the best images Google Maps has to offer.

To see more of Joshua’s work check out the links below!

Arterrae / Portfolio / Instagram

The Bucket Board

Steve Ebert — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 17:17:15 +0000

Brooklyn based artist, director, and all-around stuff-maker, Mac Premo, was tasked by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness for this past years’ Earth Hour (which occurred March 28th, 2015 at 8:30PM). The project asked him to take something already existing in the world (namely, trash) and re-purpose it into something useable and beneficial to daily life.

As a highly accomplished assemblage artist, Mac was already a pro at digging through dumpsters, and after reaching out to Encinitas, California-based skateboard company Sanford Shapes, they settled on creating skateboards out of discarded paint buckets. Using a process similar to the one we used in crafting our hand-made cruiser decks (LINK HERE), they pulled discarded buckets & wood, planed them down for pressing and routing, then finished the process with fine-sanding and drilling holes for mounting hardware. The results were pretty phenomenal – watch the well-made and entertaining video above, check out photos of the process and finished decks along with some of Mac’s other work below, and visit his portfolio HERE.

Georges Rousse – Single Perspective Installations

Steve Ebert — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 21:54:25 +0000

Sometimes it’s all about your point of view. Georges Rousse creates mesmerizing windows into another world by meticulously crafting his single perspective installations, creating 3-dimensional paintings that come together when you stand in the perfect spot.

Check out the video on his process, see the examples of his work below, and visit his website HERE.

McNabb & Co. Studio

Steve Ebert — Thu, 14 May 2015 19:03:19 +0000

Philadelphia based McNabb & Co. Studio offers a refreshing and unique take on fine woodworking in their project, “The City Series”. Founder James McNabb meticulously uses a bandsaw to individually shape small pieces of various wood species, eventually combining them into stunning collages of sorts. The abstracted architectural forms come together in an interesting perspective on urban sprawl, and when combined with the application into the mediums of furniture and wall art. The final products are stunning pieces certainly fitting for any urban loft. In his own words, “Each piece depicts the outsider’s perspective of the urban landscape. Made entirely of scrap wood, this work is an interpretation of making something out of nothing.”

Check out some photos of the below, and visit the portfolio site HERE.

Underwater Ink Photography

Steve Ebert — Mon, 04 May 2015 21:27:31 +0000

Here at Shwood we are avid fans of photography- both digital and film- and love to see new and interesting ways of capturing subjects. Photography offers a unique way to show a perspective, freeze a moment in time, or to tell a deeply moving story. Alberto Seveso instantly captured our attention with his series, “Heavy Metals”, in which he uses high-speed photography to capture injections of ink and heavy metals into liquid. The final images are mesmerizing, with interweaving, voluminous forms of color reminiscent of abstract anatomical paintings. Check out some examples from the series below, and see more of his work HERE.

The Diatomist

Steve Ebert — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 18:07:37 +0000

Nature is seldom matched in its beauty & simplicity. A prime example of this simple form & function are diatoms. Located in nearly every place that there is standing water, diatoms are single celled algae that encase themselves in beautiful glass shells. There are hundreds of thousands of varieties of diatoms all that build their own unique forms. They range in size from 5 microns to 200 microns – for a sense of scale, one micron is one thousandth of a millimeter. Diatom arrangement first began in the early 1800’s after the advent of the microscope, and was initially practiced by microscopists and works were sold to amateur naturalists for display at small gatherings. Nearly invisible to the naked eye, each arrangement could fit within a period of an average font size.

Fast-forward to today, diatom arrangement is virtually a lost art form, with the only living practitioner being Klaus Kemp. Watch the video above for a profile of the artist and how he researched and mastered this once lost art form, and see more examples of his work below. The dexterity and dedication required in finding and arranging these tiny forms is truly an Experiment with Nature. To find out more about Klaus and his work, visit his website here.

Jay Nelson Art

Steve Ebert — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 23:03:12 +0000

Here at Shwood we are constantly searching for inspiring ways to think about and use natural materials. Recently, we were blown away by the creativity, craftsmanship, and playfulness of these live-able sculptures that bridge the gap between art and life.

Bay Area fine artist, Jay Nelson, is not concerned with all of his cuts and angles being perfect. In fact, he would prefer it if they weren’t. He believes these imperfections and the workarounds required to solve problems make the end result more fun. In his own words, “art should be fun.” Through his process of experimentation and problem-solving in his projects, he has learned to embrace the imperfections and the unique results that they generate.

See some videos and photos below to find out more about some of Jay’s projects and hear him give his unique and inspiring perspective. You should also definitely visit his website to see more of his work.

Glitch Textiles

Steve Ebert — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 18:29:42 +0000

We’ve all been there, you’re working on a project, writing a paper, trying to capture that perfect moment with your digital camera, standing up as that buzzer-beating shot goes up, and all of a sudden – your machine glitches, flashes a random jumble of colors, and crashes. For most of us, this occurrence is usually rage-inducing, hopefully never to be replicated again. Phillip Stearns however, shows restraint much to be desired in his project Glitch Textiles. He has found peace & calm in these randomly generated glitches, and their seemingly woven texture sparked a correlation – and eventually a successful Kickstarter campaign.

In his own words: “So much of our daily lives is governed by algorithms. These algorithms act on data generated by our presence in environments saturated with networked digital technologies. By making data in its many forms both visible and tangible, Glitch Textiles seeks to create products that generate an awareness of and dialog about the ways in which our critical engagement with science and technology is crucial for determining how we live today and will live in the future.”

Check out some photos below, watch the video describing the project above and visit Phillip’s website HERE to see how the project has evolved.

Book Sculptures – Guy Laramee

Steve Ebert — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 21:16:47 +0000

Artist Guy Laramee offers an interesting take in his work on the oft-used phrase “print is dead”.

In his own words from his artist statement: “My work, in 3D as well as in painting, originates from the very idea that ultimate knowledge could very well be an erosion instead of an accumulation. The title of one of my pieces is “All Ideas Look Alike”. Contemporary art seems to have forgotten that there is an exterior to the intellect. I want to examine thinking, not only “what” we think, but “that” we think.
So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are.
After 30 years of practice, the only thing I still wish my art to do is this: to project us into this thick “cloud of unknowing.”‘

Check out some examples of Guy’s sculpture below, and see more of his work at his portfolio site HERE.

Windows of New York

Steve Ebert — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 17:14:34 +0000

Here at Shwood, we are fortunate to live in Portland, a city surrounded by amazing wilderness and nature just a short drive in almost any direction. We love to get in the woods and often encourage others to do the same. Beautiful and interesting things can be found in urban areas too however, and even a short walk around your local neighborhood can be extremely interesting if you take the time to walk slowly and examine your surroundings. This is perfectly illustrated (pun intended) by Jose Guizar’s series, Windows of New York.

Here is Jose’s description of the project: “The Windows of New York project is a weekly illustrated fix for an obsession that has increasingly grown in me since chance put me in this town. A product of countless steps of journey through the city streets, this is a collection of windows that somehow have caught my restless eye out from the never-ending buzz of the city. This project is part an ode to architecture and part a self-challenge to never stop looking up.”

See the full series at http://www.windowsofnewyork.com/