This week Connecticut Creative had the opportunity to talk with ceramic artist Lyn Harper, who echoed these same sentiments and described how nature and technology influence her work.

Connecticut Creative: How long have you been working with ceramics?

Lyn Harper: Probably for 6 or 7 years. I was doing mosaics and then needed to fire my own tiles to get the colors and textures that I needed and that led me into doing 3D ceramics.

Connecticut Creative: The pieces featured on your web site are mainly orb-shaped forms. Is that a recurring theme in your work?

Lyn Harper: That’s been the last couple of years. I’ve been doing some 2D stuff. So I’ve taken the same textures and things that I’ve been working with on the pods and orbs and I’m doing wall pieces.

Connecticut Creative: When you start a piece, do you have an idea of where it’s going to go or do you let it unfold as you’re working?

Lyn Harper: I like to start with a form. So like those orbs and those pods, I know the form that I want. And then I look at a lot of organic things. I look at photographs of seeds or microscopic looks at different textures and I kind of take things from there.

Connecticut Creative: Is nature always a theme in your work?

Lyn Harper: No. I really love technology, and actually some of the work I’m doing now I’m using images of old patent drawings for clocks or these devices that they were dreaming up in the 1900s. I love old drawings that engineers have done to describe what they’re going to do so I kind of overlay that on top of these scratchy, weathered surfaces. I think it’s the science of looking at the things close up and really seeing what makes things work.

Connecticut Creative: Are your pieces more artistic or do you create functional pieces as well?

Lyn Harper: I don’t do functional pieces, so they’re more sculptural.

Connecticut Creative: Did you always know you wanted to attend art school?

Lyn Harper: I actually started out in engineering. I had this little science thing going and then got there and said, ‘no, I’ve got to go to art school.’ But I still had that geek side of me, which I why I work in TV with all this technology. I just love technology. I went to art school for two-dimensional work and then I went to Wesleyan for graduate school and continued on with the 2D work. But I was working in TV by then and have just concurrently done both things.

Connecticut Creative: How did you get involved with Open Studio Weekend?

Lyn Harper:I participate as a member of Artists in Real Time. Last year was my first year. I sold a few pieces and it was a good amount of traffic going through, but it was a tough year. But it was still exciting. It was exciting being in the space with that many people and that many artists and having a venue that people are going to look at art.

Connecticut Creative: Do you exhibit other places as well?

Lyn Harper: I am a member of Wesleyan Potters (www.wesleyanpotters.com). They have a big show every year . I do that and I’ve also done some small shows and juried shows around the state.

Connecticut Creative: Looking down the road, do you know what the next phase of your work will be?

Lyn Harper: I think I’m going to do more large-scale 2D works. I’m doing individual pieces that are maybe 6” by 6” but they’re going to composite so they’ll be a bigger wall piece that might be 4’ by 4’.

For more information, visit Lyn Harper’s web site at www.lynharper.com/.

This is the fourth piece in a series profiling artists exhibiting at Hartford’s Open Studio Weekend. The event begins with a gallery opening November 13th and runs 11 am to 5 pm November 14th and 15th. For more information, visit openstudiohartford.com.

Prior to attending the Hartford Art School, Gowen-Segovia attended Northwest Community college and her creations were primarily figure drawings and oil paintings. It was at the Hartford Art School,  where she received a BFA in Visual Communications Design, that she decided that graphic design would be the focus of her education, as well as her career. “I was always interested [in Graphic Design] but tried different outputs for my creativity.” She confesses “When I went back to school 2 years ago,  I realized I loved graphic design the most.”

So far, the most fulfilling experience for Gowen-Segovia as a designer has been her participation in an educational campaign with the creative think-tank Design for Global change, at the Hartford Art School during her senior year. The campaign entitled Water for India (designglobalchange.org), worked to “promote the values of respect, sanitation and sharing of resources while encouraging visual learning at a rural girls’ school” in a village located in the Northern Indian village of Abheypur. The experience had a big impact on the way Gowen-Segovia now approaches her designs, as well as the cultural and societal effects they can have.

Gowen-Segovia explains: “I liked being put out of my comfort zone and focusing on effective communication design, for real people in a different culture. It was a great challenge.” Gowen-Segovia continues to work with the organization which has expanded further throughout India, into Kenya and hopes to develop a project in the Hartford area.

In the years to come, Constanza Gown-Segovia would like to continue to work with organizations such as Design for Global Change, and to help strengthen and engage in the local creative community through her involvement with entities such as the Connecticut Art Directors Club and the local chapter of the American Institute for Graphic Arts. As part of her current position, she is helping to create Design is Love (designislove.com),  an online community for people to come together in support of their craft and non-profit organizations.

Constanza Gown-Segovia hopes to have a career in which she can affect a multitude of  people and mediums with her designs. For now, she is happy to focus exclusively on the work at hand, and take advantage of the variety and challenges that make her craft so exciting. “…I’d just rather work on whatever the best solution is to the ‘problem’ at hand. Sometimes it’s not a physical thing, which brings me to why I love design so much — options.”

Website: www.constanzasegovia.com

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: What kind of work do you exhibit Open Studio?

JESSICA DICKENS: I create handmade jewelry featuring semi-precious stones, freshwater pearls, glass and ceramic beads and other types of components that I find.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: So how long have you been participating in Open Studio Weekend?

JESSICA DICKENS: I started making jewelry as a hobby back in 2000, and I’ve had my business since 2002. I think this will be either my fourth or fifth year doing Open Studio.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: For you, what is the best part of exhibiting?

JESSICA DICKENS: It’s really an artist-driven event, meaning when you go there you’re going to see real artists there. If you go to some craft fairs and other events where they have places for people to exhibit, not everyone is an artist. A lot of times people will have imported stuff or manufactured items that are not handmade. When you go to Open Studio, you’ll see artists who actually create what they do. You also have an opportunity to meet hundreds of people in a relaxed environment with other artists.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: How did you get started making jewelry?

JESSICA DICKENS: I had a necklace that I just loved in college that broke. And one day my mother was buying yarn and I just happened to tag along with her and I saw all these little beads. So I just got some fishing wire and took all the beads and remade my necklace. Then I started going to bead shops. I fell in love with the bead shops. I would spend all my money and all my time at the bead shops. And it just went from there.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: When you start a piece, do you start with an idea in mind or do you let it develop as you’re working on it?

JESSICA DICKENS: Sometimes I will get an idea and write it down. But most of the time I will sit down and look through my jewelry and pick out a center piece or maybe there’s a color that I want to work with and then I just build the necklace from there. It’s kind of like the beads speak to me while I’m making it.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: Would you say you have a specific style?

JESSICA DICKENS: It’s not that I don’t create delicate, fine pieces, but most of my pieces are on the bolder side. They’re chunkier, sometimes with shells or wood or coral and other stones so it’s a little bit more natural.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: What advice do you have for other artists?

JESSICA DICKENS: Don’t compare yourself to other people. Once you start doing that, you may start to feel insecure. If you just stick to your craft, do your best at it and try to get it out there then you will have an audience.

For more information, visit Jessica Dickens’ web site at www.jessicadesignsjewelry.com.

This is the third piece in a series profiling artists exhibiting at Hartford’s Open Studio Weekend. The event begins with a gallery opening November 13th and runs 11 am to 5 pm November 14th and 15th. For more information, visit openstudiohartford.com.

A former potter, Lis-el came to jewelry making after surgery left her unable to continue pottery, having then to find a new creative outlet. Seven years ago, her sensitivities led her to the craft of jewelry making. Before long, she couldn’t keep it to herself.

“I feel that people need more creativity in their lives,” says Lis-el, who regularly holds specialty workshops on elements of form, use of tools, glass cutting, hammering, soldering and other skill sets at Art and Soul for anyone interested.

With only the dexterity of their hands and the steady smolder of a flame, Lis-el and her students craft real works of art through the simple mediums of glass, metal and silver clay.

“It is through the firing in the kiln that they are brought from unexciting and dull states to pieces of lasting beauty,” She says.

Weather an opal adorned metal filigree, brightly colored cabochon ring, or a silver clay pendant with the shape of a dragon impressed upon its center, each piece is beautiful and unique, despite differing levels of experience. As Lis-el says, “A true beginner can make something stunningly beautiful”

Many of the pendants and brooches, necklaces and earrings on display for view and purchase at the studio feature intricately crafted folkloric and mythical images.

The Norse World Tree, the Celtic knot, the Eye of Horus, early Christian and even steam-punk inspired symbols are just a few of the designs embossed on finished pieces.

These references are no coincidence for Lis-el, who is also an interfaith minister, having studied several ancient philosophies and belief systems. Deriving much of her inspiration from their inherent imagery, she connects the creative process to spirituality.

“I believe through being creative we learn to express our own inner Divinity.” She says.

Artisan jewelry making is a tradition with roots stretching thousands of years deep, its various methods and styles outliving the myriad civilizations they grew from. Art and Soul places the tools in the hands of common creative people, making jewelry a personal work of art, and not just an expensive commodity.

For more information about Art and Soul Gallery, class and workshop times, viewing or purchasing pieces, visit www.artandsoulct.com

Did you ever drive down Route 91 and see a box truck driving beside you and wonder who designed that logo? Or sit down watching TV and a commercial pops on screen for some Connecticut business and notice the companies branding? Me being a graphic designer, I always had an interest of who these designers were behind these amazing logos that we subconsciously view on a daily basis. Ever wonder who designed the “I Love NY” logo? That would be Milton Glaser. I always wondered who designed the Pilgrim Furniture logo every time I see the commercial and very curious when I see the City Fish Market truck rolling down 91 South. The guy behind these recognizable logos would be Frank Motola.

Throughout his career he has created well over 500 brands for businesses. He started designing at very young age learning from his father who was an accomplished sign designer. This was the era of pre-computer, when signs were created using brushes. Frank attended Syracuse University for advertising design and after school he and his father teamed up to build a successful graphics company called Northeast Signs. For over 15 years they helped Connecticut businesses with their design and signage needs. After that his love for design led him to logo design, branding and collateral work only for several years.

In 2005, Frank decided to move to Orlando, FL to specialize in branding, marketing, and the web. You can view more of Franks Motola’s logos at
www.brandtastic.us