Found Object Assemblage Art Dolls by Suzan Buckner

What do most artists and craftspeople have in common? They are obsessed with their craft. In a positive way, that is. And, Suzan Buckner is no exception. Visit her blog, and you'll see what I mean. "The only frustration that I have with my artwork is that I want to make more than is humanly possible. I want to paint a gazillion paintings a day, and do a couple of dozen assemblages a day, and I want to make art dolls on top of all of that. So, it's frustrating to have to write my ideas down on paper, and do them as I get to them. I need four of me, and 50 hours in a day, and I could make everything that I want to make." Her greatest "unexpected" joy from art is the inner peace that it gives her. "I am high-strung by nature, and art calms me. I also use it to work through various problems in my mind..things that bug me."

Suzan is married to Chuck, and between them, they have three grown children and four grandchildren. Her dog Petey is about three years old (they think). "He showed up in my yard one day, and we tried to run him off, but he kept coming back. Finally, I fed him, and then named him, then took him to the vet..now he's a spoiled rotten brat of a dog." She adores Petey! And, she feels the same about her craft. "I have always loved art, and took art in high school, and I have ALWAYS said that I am going to be an artist. No one believed me because I didn't actively DO art. But, I have said that since I was about 4 years old (I am 44 now.) So, I really think that it was predetermined that I would make art...it just took me 42 years to get around to doing it." And, this month is her two year anniversary from the day she "got around" to doing it.

Much of her assemblage pieces are made from recycled materials. "I begin by having my husband get the wood, and cutting it like I want it. Then, I sit in my studio, and just move things around until I like it. I have a gazillion things right at my fingertips, so it's just like putting a puzzle together. I get all of my materials for assemblage at junk stores, thrift stores, antique stores..anywhere. I hoard it. I could probably create a couple of thousand pieces without ever leaving my studio, but I keep buying more stuff." Suzan gets her inspiration from other artists, from pictures, from things that she sees. "Inspiration is everywhere. I jot things down when I find them, and use them for reference later." If you want inspiration, visit her blog to see her artwork HERE. And, her website HERE. And, be sure to take a look at her journal pages on her Flickr site HERE.

Images used with permission from Suzan Buckner.

Environmental Art by John Dahlsen

“Blue Rope” (Triptych) (Environmental Assemblage Art)

Environmental artist John Dahlsen has eyes the color of the bluest sea, and that's only fitting since it was the ocean that first inspired his craft. While searching for driftwood to make furniture at a remote beach in Australia, in the mid 1990's, he discovered "vast amounts of plastic ocean debris" Following his instincts, he started picking up the beach litter and hauled it home. What happened next is somewhat of a history in the making. John's history, that is. And, an inspirational one it is. His is the story of the creative, artistic mind. One we are all capable of tuning into,if we only try.

6 Driftwood Totems 2009 (Environmental Driftwood Art )

John took the beach litter and organized them into groups according to their material and their color. There were ropes and strings, all kinds of plastics (yellow and blue and red in color) and plastic coke bottles, and even thongs (flip flops.) These were the materials he would later use to create his abstract environmental art. He likens these found objects to a "giant painters pallete." "I later had the notion of making assemblages of each of these objects once sorted, this occurred to me as a natural extension of the process I was undergoing in the studio. This whole new palette of colour and shape revealing itself to me immediately affected me; I had never seen such hues and forms before which enabled me to make new environmental art."

Blue River (Recycled Plastic Bag Art)

"As I worked with these objects, I became even more fascinated by the way they had been modified and weathered by the ocean and nature's elements. My challenge as an artist was to take these found objects, which might on first meeting have no apparent dialogue, and to work with them until they spoke and told their story, which included those underlying environmental messages inherent in the use of this kind of medium. " Read more of the artist's statement of his works HERE. And, visit his website to see more incredible environmental art HERE. ~From the artist's website with consent.

Images posted with permission from John Dahlsen.