Hine Mizushima

April 26, 2021 12:03 AM \

Hiné Mizushima, who was born and raised in Japan, majored in Japanese traditional painting before working as a designer and Illustrator in Tokyo.  She moved to a few prominent cities before settling in Vancouver, Canada where she lives with her family.  She expresses art through slow crafting, needle felting, weaving, making miniature collages, illustrations and puppet stop-motion animations.  We have previously featured her work but it is worthwhile to see her newest creations.  On the Floating Magazine she says this about how she chose to work with varied mediums:

“Since graduation, I always have been an illustrator. Then about ten years ago, I was looking for information about some simple GIFs on the internet, but instead of finding that, I stumbled upon ‘How to make a stop-motion video with your digital camera and iMovie.’ It looked interesting and easy, so I made a parody music video with tiny handmade puppets for a song by ‘They Might Be Giants’ (Brooklyn based rock band, of which I have been a big fan for a long time), just for fun. Then I tried to post it on their MySpace page, but I didn’t understand how it worked. But I found a ‘send message’ button instead, so I simply sent them the link to my video. Then a few days later, they contacted me, asking me to work on a video project with them!“

“Then, when I started to work on the second stop-motion music video for They Might Be Giants, I had to make some needle-felted characters and props for the first time. It was actually a lot of fun, and was easy to create 3D stuff by felting wool. Since then I have been making felt sculptures and stop-motion music videos. If I hadn’t stumbled upon the how-to website and then worked with They Might Be Giants, I probably wouldn’t have even been a crafter. Life is very interesting and unpredictable! At the same time, I started my Etsy shop to sell my handmade felt stuff and prints.“

You can follow the artist on her website, Behance and Instagram.  Some of her merchandise can be purchased on Etsy and Society 6.

Images:  Courtesy of Hine Mizushima.

Posted in: craft, Felting, Handcrafted, Japan, Knitting, Weaving \ Tagged: , , , , ,

Atelier Three

April 23, 2021 5:03 AM \

What attracted us to this Japanese stationery brand are the simple graphics and color palette.  They are the work of illustrator and graphic designer Masako Takeshima.  The artist graduated from a design vocational school.  She worked for a textile design office for two years and then worked as a designer and illustrator for a stationery company.  In 2019 she introduced her brand, Atelier Three, creating paper products such as postcards, greeting cards and calendars.

More of her work can be viewed on Instagram.  She has a shop at Minne and Creema.

Images:  Courtesy of Atelier Three.

Posted in: Graphic Design, Japan, Stationery \ Tagged: , ,

Arne Kavli (1878 – 1970)

April 22, 2021 12:03 AM \

Arne Kavli was born in Bergen, Norway.  He studied at art academies is Antwerp, Paris and Bruges and also trained in Copenhagen.  In 1896 he debuted at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo first painting in a Neo-romantic style but was gradually influenced by French painting.  He is most associated with portraits and landscapes of southern Norway.  

Arne Kavli was the recipient of the silver medal at the International Graphic Exhibition at Leipzig in 1914, was awarded at Gothenburg Exhibition in 1923 and was the recipient of the King’s Medal of Merit in 1968.

Images:  Courtesy of various sources.

Posted in: Fine Art, Painting \ Tagged: ,
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