“I would never wear this in public” (2022), hand-knit with wool the artist hand-dyed for Factory Obscura in Oklahoma City. All images © Kendall Ross, shared with permission

Creating pieces that are part artwork and part fashion, Oklahoma City-based artist Kendall Ross of I’d Knit That imbues her knitwear with plenty of personality. “My I’d Knit That project got started because I thought the name was funny, and I was convinced I needed to claim the Instagram handle before someone else did back in 2019,” she tells Colossal. “Originally, it was a very casual way for me to share photos of what I was making and to organize knitting meet-ups with my friends from college. Still, I started taking it very seriously, and it ended up being a very important way for me to share my art and connect with other artists.”

Ross emphasizes bright hues in her pieces, using stitching methods like intarsia or Fair Isle colorwork—also known as stranded colorwork—to illustrate playful graphics and incorporate original texts. In a statement on her site, she writes that she is “drawn to telling unapologetically intimate, complicated stories of feminine, overlooked moments…putting private emotions on display for people to wear on their chest in their public lives.”

All of Ross’ vests and cardigans are hand-knit from either acrylic or wool yarn, the latter of which the artist hand-dyes herself whenever she is able. “I have done a lot of hand-dyeing in the past, and I really love the process of it,” she says, sharing that space is limited in her home studio, so she isn’t able to add color to all of her materials. This winter, she’s looking forward to a residency at Penland School of Craft in January, where she’ll focus on the hand-dyeing process.

Ross is currently working toward shows in 2024 in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and the Pacific Northwest, and she also teaches at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, where this winter, she is offering a class on how to knit sweaters for dogs. “I think they only agreed to let me do it because I talk about my basset hound Frankie so much, but I’m very excited about it!”

Find more in the artist’s shop, and follow updates on Instagram. (via Kottke)

“Girl Talk” (2021), hand-knit acrylic

Left: “Stress Knit” (2022), hand-knit wool. Right: “Bad Driver” (2022), hand-knit with wool the artist hand-dyed

“Product Placement” (2023), hand-knit wool

“Fake Vest” (2023), hand-knit wool

Left: “Storyteller 2” (2023), hand-knit with wool for La Colombe Coffee. Right: “Company” (2022), hand-knit with wool the artist hand-dyed

“Everyone will forget about this” (2023), hand-knit with wool the artist hand-dyed

“Boring” (2023), hand-knit wool

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Kendall Ross Gets Personal with Her Colorful Sweaters Embedded with Stories appeared first on Colossal.

All photos by Joe Michael, courtesy of the Mystic Seaport Museum, shared with permission

From the mid-1800s to the 1930s, father-and-son artist duo Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka crafted thousands of glass models of flora and fauna (previously) in exquisite, scientific detail. Sea creatures were an area of particular fascination, as delicate spines, tentacles, and frills rendered in lifelike color extend from the bodies of squid and sea anemones. And at the Mystic Seaport Museum, a major exhibition of more than 40 of the remarkable specimens come to life in Spineless: A Glass Menagerie of Blaschka Marine Invertebrates.

Spineless dives into the history of the Blaschkas’ extraordinary contributions to scientific education, starting with the elder artist’s fascination with ocean life. Leopold was inspired to recreate specimens he saw in the wild and successfully completed a commission for a nearby natural history museum in the 1850s. He realized there was a demand for lifelike versions of creatures that scientists found challenging to preserve and document, and the glass variety required no special jars or chemical treatments to keep them looking as good as new.

Leopold found his audience in universities and museums around the world, establishing a mail-order business to ship the fragile pieces to institutions where they were used for teaching or put on display. Eventually joined by his son, the two “relied on their relationships with scientists, along with observations of live specimens held in aquariums, wet specimens, books, and scientific journals,” the Mystic Seaport Museum says in a statement.

The Blaschkas are also known for their fifty-year endeavor to make 4,300 models that represent 780 plant species, comprising the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, which you can visit at Harvard Museum. Spineless continues in Mystic, Connecticut, through September 2024. Plan your visit and discover more on the museum’s website.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Remarkably Realistic Marine Invertebrates Made of Glass Surface at the Mystic Seaport Museum appeared first on Colossal.

In the 250 years since its fabrication in the studio of jeweler and entrepreneur James Cox, the “Silver Swan” automaton has beguiled viewers. The mechanical sculpture continues to live up to its original purpose, designed as a crowd-puller to the artist’s workshop in 18th-century London, which also served as a small museum. Today, it is an iconic resident of the The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle in County Durham, U.K.

Cox modeled the life-size creature on a female swan, incorporating 2,000 moving parts, including 139 crystal rods and 113 neck rings. A slew of delicate pieces are encased in chased, repoussé silver, operated by three clockwork mechanisms that control a music box, a pool of glass with swimming silver fish, and the complex movements of the swan’s head and neck. At the 1867 Paris International Exhibition, its large scale and hefty price tag of 50,000 francs—today, that would be well over $200,000—created a sensation. Five years later, the museum’s namesake, John Bowes, bought it in Paris for a tenth of that price and brought it home to the U.K.

In a video produced in 2021, a specialist team of conservators and curators painstakingly dismantled the sculpture to examine the condition of its mechanisms and create a plan for its preservation. This year, the swan is undergoing meticulous repairs and cleaning, and the museum anticipates that the work will be completed by the end of the year.

Cox also designed the well-known “Peacock Clock” for Catherine the Great, a treasure of the State Hermitage Museum in Russia. Learn more about the “Silver Swan” on The Bowes Museum’s website. (via The Kid Should See This)

All images © The Bowes Museum

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article The Iconic ‘Silver Swan’ Automaton Gets a Well-Deserved Fluff of the Feathers appeared first on Colossal.

“Northern Lines.” All images © Yulia Brodskaya, shared with permission

For millennia, cultures across the globe have venerated mother goddesses who embody maternal roles and symbolize fertility and cosmological creation. For the Inuit, Nerrivik is known as the sea mother and provider, and another deity associated with the sky, Pinga, watches over the hunt. In the Odinani tradition of the Igbo people in southeast Nigeria, Ala presides over the underworld and observes morality, fertility, and creativity. And in Greek mythology, Gaia is poetically portrayed as the personification of the Earth and the ancestor of all living beings.

For artist Yulia Brodskaya, the unequivocal power of Mother Earth encompasses a vibrant series of quilled paper portraits (previously) that celebrate cultural diversity and women around the world. She says:

I create from the place of honoring history and the past—drawing lots of inspiration from various cultures existing on the planet, but at the same time, making a conscious choice to bring forward a new vision of the future: a future when we, as a collective, have healed our past, released the pain, and integrated all the lessons that brought us all here to this moment in time: unified humanity—people of Gaia.

In her new pieces, Brodskaya continues to explore resilience and hope through dreamlike portraiture. She meticulously cuts, creases, and curls thin pieces of paper to build up a relief one strip at a time, adding mystical elements like swirls and geometric shapes. In “Envisage,” a human profile merges with that of a horse, while in “Mother Energy,” leaping dolphins reflect the strength, connection, and joy of motherhood.

Brodskaya portrays a future she desires, one of brightness, openness, and compassion. She says that “this is a personal exploration of how this new reality would feel like. How would it feel to interact with a human being from this version of the future?”

Find more on the artist’s website, and follow on Instagram and TikTok, where she often shares insights into her process.Yulia

“Mother Energy,” inspired by the work of Julia Watkins and Franck Layover

Detail of “Mother Energy”

“Envisage”

Detail of “Envisage”

“Light as a Feather”

Detail of “Light as a Feather”

Detail of “Light as a Feather”

“Starseed”

Detail of “Starseed”

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article In Meticulous Paper Portraits, Yulia Brodskaya Coaxes Visions of a Compassionate Future appeared first on Colossal.

“Northern Lines.” All images © Yulia Brodskaya, shared with permission

For millennia, cultures across the globe have venerated mother goddesses who embody maternal roles and symbolize fertility and cosmological creation. For the Inuit, Nerrivik is known as the sea mother and provider, and another deity associated with the sky, Pinga, watches over the hunt. In the Odinani tradition of the Igbo people in southeast Nigeria, Ala presides over the underworld and observes morality, fertility, and creativity. And in Greek mythology, Gaia is poetically portrayed as the personification of the Earth and the ancestor of all living beings.

For artist Yulia Brodskaya, the unequivocal power of Mother Earth encompasses a vibrant series of quilled paper portraits (previously) that celebrate cultural diversity and women around the world. She says:

I create from the place of honoring history and the past—drawing lots of inspiration from various cultures existing on the planet, but at the same time, making a conscious choice to bring forward a new vision of the future: a future when we, as a collective, have healed our past, released the pain, and integrated all the lessons that brought us all here to this moment in time: unified humanity—people of Gaia.

In her new pieces, Brodskaya continues to explore resilience and hope through dreamlike portraiture. She meticulously cuts, creases, and curls thin pieces of paper to build up a relief one strip at a time, adding mystical elements like swirls and geometric shapes. In “Envisage,” a human profile merges with that of a horse, while in “Mother Energy,” leaping dolphins reflect the strength, connection, and joy of motherhood.

Brodskaya portrays a future she desires, one of brightness, openness, and compassion. She says that “this is a personal exploration of how this new reality would feel like. How would it feel to interact with a human being from this version of the future?”

Find more on the artist’s website, and follow on Instagram and TikTok, where she often shares insights into her process.Yulia

“Mother Energy,” inspired by the work of Julia Watkins and Franck Layover

Detail of “Mother Energy”

“Envisage”

Detail of “Envisage”

“Light as a Feather”

Detail of “Light as a Feather”

Detail of “Light as a Feather”

“Starseed”

Detail of “Starseed”

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article In Meticulous Paper Portraits, Yulia Brodskaya Coaxes Visions of a Compassionate Future appeared first on Colossal.

All images © Olga Prinku, shared with permission

Using a vibrant array of real flowers and foliage, North Yorkshire-based artist Olga Prinku (previously) designs intricate embroideries that explode with natural colors and textures. The artist embraces experimentation at a large scale, challenging the traditionally more intimate surfaces of embroidery.

In addition to blooms and leaves, Prinku has recently focused on branches in a new series called Graft. Using primarily silver birch, she describes the works as “a reference to the horticultural process of transferring twigs from one setting to another but also a nod to the slang meaning of ‘hard work’—it takes a lot of time and patience!”

Prinku’s embroideries are currently on view in a group exhibition at Contemporary Applied Arts in London through November 18, and a piece selected for the SCAF Emerging Artist Award is on view until January at Lawrence Batley Theatre Gallery. She is currently working toward a major exhibition for Hidcote in the Cotswolds next year. Find more on her website, and follow her on Instagram for updates.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Olga Prinku Grafts Blooms and Branches Into Expansive Embroideries appeared first on Colossal.

All images © Olga Prinku, shared with permission

Using a vibrant array of real flowers and foliage, North Yorkshire-based artist Olga Prinku (previously) designs intricate embroideries that explode with natural colors and textures. The artist embraces experimentation at a large scale, challenging the traditionally more intimate surfaces of embroidery.

In addition to blooms and leaves, Prinku has recently focused on branches in a new series called Graft. Using primarily silver birch, she describes the works as “a reference to the horticultural process of transferring twigs from one setting to another but also a nod to the slang meaning of ‘hard work’—it takes a lot of time and patience!”

Prinku’s embroideries are currently on view in a group exhibition at Contemporary Applied Arts in London through November 18, and a piece selected for the SCAF Emerging Artist Award is on view until January at Lawrence Batley Theatre Gallery. She is currently working toward a major exhibition for Hidcote in the Cotswolds next year. Find more on her website, and follow her on Instagram for updates.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Olga Prinku Grafts Blooms and Branches Into Expansive Embroideries appeared first on Colossal.

All images © Victoria Rose Richards, shared with permission

Aerial fields of vision emerge from Victoria Rose Richards’ embroidered landscapes. Setting scenes from above, the artist (previously) uses thread to achieve a variety of patterns and textures, implementing satin stitches and French knots to form curiously shaped fields, patches of trees, and bodies of water. The majority of her pieces take at least 10 to 25 hours each, with every meticulous detail shining through at the end.

Richards is inherently connected to her natural surroundings. Raised and based in South West Devon, nostalgic vistas of farmlands, woodlands, and the countryside make up the subjects of her pieces, emanating feelings of homeliness and familiarity. The artist shares with Colossal that she loves depicting fields because of “the different formations and patterns they make, some being orderly and others higgledy-piggledy, some looking naturally formed and others forced.”

Richards’ embroideries will be included in the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition starting November 17. This winter, the artist is also creating calendars with images of her work, so keep up with her Instagram and website for the latest updates.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Victoria Rose Richards Surveys Land From Above in Atmospheric Embroidered Landscapes appeared first on Colossal.

All images © Victoria Rose Richards, shared with permission

Aerial fields of vision emerge from Victoria Rose Richards’ embroidered landscapes. Setting scenes from above, the artist (previously) uses thread to achieve a variety of patterns and textures, implementing satin stitches and French knots to form curiously shaped fields, patches of trees, and bodies of water. The majority of her pieces take at least 10 to 25 hours each, with every meticulous detail shining through at the end.

Richards is inherently connected to her natural surroundings. Raised and based in South West Devon, nostalgic vistas of farmlands, woodlands, and the countryside make up the subjects of her pieces, emanating feelings of homeliness and familiarity. The artist shares with Colossal that she loves depicting fields because of “the different formations and patterns they make, some being orderly and others higgledy-piggledy, some looking naturally formed and others forced.”

Richards’ embroideries will be included in the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition starting November 17. This winter, the artist is also creating calendars with images of her work, so keep up with her Instagram and website for the latest updates.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Victoria Rose Richards Surveys Land From Above in Atmospheric Embroidered Landscapes appeared first on Colossal.