mkwATELIER

Black Sea Fan Glass Vase - Surge / Clay, Home Decor, Ocean, Coral, Waves, Surge, Bud Vase
"mkwATELIER, a lifestyle concept store, is the collaboration of the creative talents of Shelley Koscielniak and April Wind. Contemporary, vintage and eclectic designs ranging from body adornment to art for the home. Using mixed metals, chains, semi-precious stones, crystals, and clay along with various techniques from riveting to wirework, painting to sculpture, crochet to weaving to create unique designs for the remarkable individual."
bio written by mkwATELIER via the etsy profile

Mary Elizabeth Arts

Festive White Tree on Red Glass Vase
"Introducing my organically designed line of dinnerware. I invite you to celebrate your next meal as an art-filled experience, toasting to the slow delight of “a fine palate.”
Food, wine and art are central in my life. I love the texture of paints, the nuance of light that shimmers through the layers of paint as much as I love the pure flavors and textures of fresh, organic food.
Today, it seems that we are tempted to live without any of those things. We live fast and cheap. We eat mass produced foods from ugly, disposable plates. We rarely go to art museums or galleries to see the beauty of original works, but settle for cheap prints that reproduce the colors, but lose the soul.
It has become my passion and profession to restore the art of a simple meal by offering hand painted ceramic and glass dinnerware to compliment every meal. Served on a pure white plate, painted with a simple leaf or flower, a humble supper becomes an extraordinary experience of line, light, color, flavor, aroma and textures.
A little background information:
As a student in Fine Art, I originally specialized in oils and watercolors, painting hundreds of traditional canvas paintings. However, my mentor and professor, Dr. Robert Winter, the President of the World Archeology Foundation, introduced me to the simple delights of ancient art. During an archeological trip to Sicily to explore ancient cave paintings and frescos, I found painted pottery sherds brought from over from the Greeks, and realized that the precise detail they achieved was created by painting rather than glazing.
The experience left me eager to seek out new mediums for my work, and ceramics and glass became my new canvas. Like the Greeks, I believe that the humble act of eating and drinking should be made as beautiful and sensual as possible. I help you elevate your meal to the next level by allowing you to serve your consciously prepared food and wine on platters, goblets, and plates of functional art.
The most rewarding part of working with everyday items is that so many more people can appreciate them. I’m able to place my painted dinner and glass works in more homes than I ever could have dreamed for my oil paintings. Having created entire lines of dinnerware for homes in 12 different countries, I like to think of myself as being a guest at dinner parties around the world.
Cheers to artful living everyday!"
bio written by Mary Elizabeth via her etsy profile
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niswander ceramics

Rosie Rabbit Vase
"Hello, I'm Laurie J Niswander:)
I love three dimensional art and how it fits into everyday life; I love a beautiful, well crafted pot, or a sculpture in the garden.
I work with stoneware clay making handbuilt and wheel thrown pottery, as well as slab-built figurative sculptures. I roll out clay slabs and let them set until they are leather hard. I cut and assemble shapes, scoring and using clay slip to bind the slab walls together. I work textures into the surfaces of the figures using tools I have created from bisque fired clay, plaster casts, natural elements, and fabrics such as burlap, lace or netting. I use a red iron oxide finish on the sculptures before firing them in the kiln to 2262 degrees fahrenheit.
I am thankful for the many influences on my artwork. My father is a folklorist. He has traveled all over the world bringing home with him traditional art such as Hopi Native American masks, kachina dolls, Cambodian shadow puppets, and face jugs by southern American artists. Being exposed to many diverse influences has been an inspiration. Another great influence on my art work was my mother, who made sculpture from stone and clay. When I was a child, my mother always had a large trash can full of earthy wet clay, which provided material for my early exploration and creation.
Recently I became interested in Japanese Haniwa tomb sentries while doing research for a class. Haniwa tomb sentries are slab-built terra cotta sculptures with mask-like faces. They are dancers and noble warriors whose purpose is is to protect the dead. They can be humans, or animals; male or female. I have used them as a guide for my own sculpture.
In my work there is an element of spiritual offering, a feeling of tradition and ritual ceremony. Sometimes the female figures dance, or sometimes they bow down in worship. They always wear a quiver on their back, representing the tension of power inside them; though they exhibit courage and mercy, there is an underlying ferocity of spirit.
My sculptures have been part of juried competitions, and have recently won a guild award at the Creative Craft Council juried show at the Strathmore Mansion in Bethesda Maryland."
bio written by Laurie via her etsy profile
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infinite glassworks

Handblown Glass Vase - Summer Berry
"Established in 2005 by Kate and Matthew Civiero, Infinite Glassworks offers unique handblown and fused glass products for interior and exterior spaces. Emphasizing shape, form and colour, Infinite Glassworks produces fresh design in functional and sculptural vessels.
Using molten glass, Kate and Matthew Civiero work together to form each piece by hand. After gathering hot glass on a hollow pipe, colour is added and the vessel is inflated and manipulated with specially designed hand tools. Upon completion, each piece of glass is cooled slowly to room temperature, then ground flat, polished and signed"
bio written by infinateglassworks via the etsy profile
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