Guatemala

Greetings loved ones,

I am currently in Guatemala, and amongst the wonderful culture and language shock and the ambient mountains and abundance of natural growing things and the obvious self sufficiency of this place, all I can think about is Art art art, what im going to create when I get back... how i cant wait to try this or that, and all the sketches and wiritings i have done while here.  I just hope the art materializes once in the states, my mood here is easy, there is no negative stress, I sleep a lot, and everything is new and different.  I have visited museums and taken pictures of modern as well as ancient art and have lots of ideas for projects dealing with figures and not dealing with figures.  Many of my ideas have little to do with the colors or ruins of this country, it simply allowed me the calirty to allow the ideas to come through.

See you soon.

Pedro Ramirez "Kitsch" Polymer Clay Artist

Pedro Ramirez, the self-proclaimed “King of Kitsch” has crafted a business out of his polymer clay hobby.  Creating figures with bright skirts and flowing manes, sealing them in plastic boxes, and selling them on the streets, the internet, the NYC subway system, and wherever else he can.  Ramirez embraces the title due to his recent educational experience in the Public University CUNY system.  While attending and even upon graduation, he claims that his advisors and professors would often try and convince him to alter his work to be more scholarly, to get out of craft, and into galleries where the big bucks were.  He claims those around him were trying to mold him into the next big thing in ceramics, but things didn’t turn out that way, Ramirez took his own path and he says he regrets nothing.  A closer inspection upon these exquisite little figurines reveals something more, kitsch?  I think not.  According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, Kitsch is something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often of poor quality.   I would argue that Ramirez’ work is 50/50 Kitsch if at all.  The figures are brilliant, his own personal style of intentional body manipulation with an attention to detail which can be appreciated; of low quality? Definitely not, of popular appeal… perhaps.  Dozens of onlookers can be seen at his table at all times of the day, making it hard to take bathroom breaks.  He muses over each and every one, and if someone tries to get a lower price?  Ramirez tells them that he is happy to keep each and every figure no matter what, he doesn’t sell his girls off cheap!  Stay tuned this original and inspiring Kitsch King is well on his way to getting the notoriety he deserves.

Black Mask

Although the figure looks "gothic" on the surface, the figure primarily represents concealment.  Literally and figuratively.  The figure was actually made a certain way, and then "covered up", not just with a mask, but with black clay all over her body.  The original figure had a green shirt on, green spaghetti-like hair, and a multi-colored skirt.  After creating her this way, I layered more clay on top of the figure to appear as tattered cloth, black for protection and ultimate concealment.  Vestiges of her undergarments can be seen even with the black clay on.  Finally a wig of spiral black clay covered her green locks, and lips of black over her pink and a oversized mask which even conceals her eyes since the slots are on her forehead. 

Secondly and more importantly, the figure represents LOVE, yes this "dark" figure is actually one full of hope, promise, and pouring out of love.  This is the focal-point of the entire masterpiece, it exists in her heart center.  Her heart overflows with love like a river of stars and that is something she can never hide. Pour out your heart, first to yourself and then to the world.

abundance

woah

Im a bit freaked out... on the 17th of last month I posted a blog about some pre-columbian artifacts I had made, well... I was feeling the energy of the ancient statues and stuff, and made some pieces that WERE NOT made after any image I had looked at... these were Parasaurolophus-esque brown sculpture heads.  Well, imagine my surprise today when I use the molds of parts of the mayan calendar I had taken, and some figure heads appear which (at least to me) favor the sculptures I made.  Does this mean I should go Pre-columbian during my trip out of the US during my birthday?

In the image above you can see my head from last month on the bottom, amidst the molds from the Mayan calendar. 

The Shop... its days are numbered!

Although slightly hard to view this blog and not be sad about my leaving, I dont feel sad when I look at photos like the one below.

With that said, I must announce that my days at Unique are numbered, I have decided to leave not because sales have dropped tremendously or anything, but the rent has gone up once already and will go up again after one month (then it caps out).  It is fun being there, but I cannot take 100% of my sales just to pay the rent, its bad business, and no profit.  There is no reason for me to stay longer though I did have a blast and will continue to create. 
Etsy, street fairs, craft shows and flea markets are all ahead of us, stay tuned.

Ive been a busy bee

Ive been busy populating the etsy.com store and today currently have thirteen listings.  I also created a new banner and changed the name from the butterfly people to mini figure.  I figure since its the username on etsy and the name of the shop, I need to sort of push it like a brand name, the new banner also says minifigure so that people can remember it and come back.  I like the new banner, its not as colorful but its also not two years old and full or work I no longer create.  The butterfly winged girls are difficult to ship so its better to just show the original works and some palm-sized ladies.