Hello readers, welcome to Friday. It's a long weekend in the West, hoping that it will be filled with fine weather and a fair yet entertaining AFL Grand Final. What do you have planned? This week it is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you a talented maker and Australian Artist - meet sweet Clare from Pastel Valley Studio!
Let me share some of the gorgeous creatures Clare creates by hand with you all. Firstly meet this cutie, what a heirloom for a special child (or grown up) to have as a top shelf toy. Meet the 50's inspired Party Hat Bear Art Toy. Isn't he the greatest?
It would add a touch of artistic elegance to any room.
Pastel Valley Studio is my haven for dreamy, expressive and often odd little characters. I have been creating toys for the past few years and just love seeing each personality evolve. I have always enjoyed art that leaves a space for the imagination, so I try to leave some open ends when creating.
I studied Textile Design at RMIT and graduated in
2008. I was lucky to land a creative job for the following four years. This role
felt like a roller coaster ride and provided a good insight to commercial
design. Whilst this was happening I felt a strong calling to start my own
creative business and combine my two passions, art and textiles. So I started
Pastel Valley Studio, a small space filled with inspiring fabrics, colour,
photography, adopted toys and dolls.
Each toy that I make has a hand painted face; I use
acrylic paint, soft brushes and work on a canvas-type fabric. I paint the faces
first, and then form the bodies to enhance the personality of the character.
Then comes my favourite part, fabric selection. I just love going through
fabrics, buttons and ribbons and putting together a collection that speaks to
me. I don’t use commercial toy patterns, I like to sculpt and shape the toys as
I go. They need to have nice curves and be able to sit up by themselves. The
process is slow and it takes many hours to make each one, but I enjoy every
second of the process and it is pure joy for me.
Currently I have work in a few group shows, one is
Schmancy in Seattle (10th anniversary show!), the other is in Fawn
Gallery in Melbourne. I was also proud to be part of ‘Toy to the World’ a
fundraising show to help fund AIDS research earlier this year.
My ideas are endless, custom pieces are welcome and
I just wish that I had more time in the day to bring them all to life! Thank you
for reading about my little adventure so far and including me in your lovely
group.
You can find some of my work in my online store:
You can find some of my work in my online store:
No comments:
Post a Comment