While Mr. Forager & I are on the road, making our way to California, we’re rerunning Artsy Forager’s most popular posts. This post originally published on February 7, 2012 and got a huge bump thanks to being featured on the Freshly Pressed WordPress feature. Enjoy!
I love it when painters explore their 3-dimensional side. I’m not talking about donning special sunglasses to see the latest technology driven flick. I mean, when artists who normally work in 2-dimensions explore the world of sculpture. The result is often magical, their paintings come to life! Seattle artist Liz Tran ( an Artsy Forager fave ) brings her color saturated paintings to life in ceramic form.
Perhaps what draws me to Liz’s work time and time again is her obvious love for the outdoors and the way she expresses that affection in joyful color and whimsical lines. The sculpture above, My Rainer, holds a special draw for me, as Mount Rainier is my favorite mountain. Rainier has been the site of some wonderful memories for my husband and I, and Liz has captured its magic in such a unique way.
Of course, who could forget her twisting, multi-hued trees? She mimics their shapes and winding branches in these ceramic creations. In this form, they almost take on an alien-like quality, which I am totally digging.
Then there are her Backbone pieces, which I must confess, are my fave! They are one part tree trunk + one part stacked tea cup + one part graphic color = total wonderfulness! How amazing would a grouping of these be in a children’s hospital? Or tucked away in a garden?
To see more of Liz Tran’s sculptures and paintings, please visit her website. You can also check out my feature on Liz’s paintings here.
All images are via the artist’s website.
Comments
86 responses to “Making Mountains: Liz Tran”
Very dream like!
Lauren Turton
I love it all! somehow reminds me of a few Beatles’ songs:)
Love that, Keatslover! Huge Beatle fan here. 🙂
Cheers!
Lesley
VERY fun sculptures — great colors! 🙂
nice!!
http://www.amiarting.wordpress.com
These are nice 🙂
Very colorful and creative. Great job!
val
http://valentinedefrancis.wordpress.com
What can I say? Incredible!
Like the acrobatic one particularly – great feeling of movement both in colour and shape. Thanks for sharing these – v interesting 😉
Very interesting sculptors and fun to see mountains depicted in such vibrant colors. Clearly a place she loves!
I meant sculptures…. should have proofread 😉
Wow! I am so glad I found your blog! I love art, am an artist myself, and I Love what I have seen so far! I am going to keep looking.
Interesting! It is wonderful!
beautiful!
Very cool post and pics 🙂
I agree, the Backbone pieces are my favorite as well!
Thanks for stopping by, everyone! I’m glad to see you enjoy Liz’s work as much as I do. Make sure you click through the link in the article to Liz’s websites and take a look at her paintings, you won’t be sorry!
Lots of other fun artists to explore on Artsy Forager, as well. Welcome!
Cheers,
Lesley
Cool, creative!
How extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
Unexpected and refreshing! May be all step outside the box in as many creative ways!!!
Colorful ! Like rainbow. I also have a posting about the rainbow. Here is the link http://priajelita.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/shes-a-rainbow/ Please check it if you have time. Thank you
great sculpture and good color!
http://batteriesworld.wordpress.com
Beautiful colors.
I must admit the lst piece, I had mistakened it for a draped scarf! It’s a compliment to the artist since it looked diaphonous to me.
Freshly pressed – congratulations. I continue to enjoy your blog! Love learning about other artists.
http://delightfilledart.wordpress.com
very creative and cool! im inspired to try something of my own.. congrats on being freshly pressed!
Love the colors on the sculptures!
Reblogged this on My Favorite Spaces.
Thanks for reblogging, Talitha!
The epitome of creativity I have seen in a long time.
Great work!
Totally agree that such artsy installments would be perfect for a Children’s hospital…And the one backbone scultpure idea would be cool as a pretzel….a baking pretzel idea for toddlers:-)
Nice sculptures…this is realy original
good colors!!
very creative work. The colors perfect.
TechSmartLife
I recently been looking into papier mache and I totally agree as far as exploring the three dimensional side of art, I am currently working on a piece that is a direct result of being inspired by the works of artists such as Erika Takacs and Sergio Bastamantes and others whose work takes on a three dimensional turn. Ceramics calls out to me and I love these pieces you have here.
The backbone piece is nice but i really love the untitled one. Great work.
I have to admit never having seen any of this type of art, which makes for a unique experience. The colors have a child-like exuberance that one doesn’t find in most art, even that of abstract rendering. I do like Mt. Rainier and the acrobatic one. The Backbone one isn’t one I’d choose, but I can understand its draw for others.
This is awesome.
Love it when artists go beyond the canvas and Liz Tran has won me over just as Lynn Hunter has with her work (her link is below). Two rather different styles, but each speak to me. Thanks for introducing me to Liz’s work!
http://hollowmoonz.com/section/30877.html
Reblogged this on dikazworld.
Thanks for reblogging!
Cheers!
Lesley
hey i love your blog i love art to
http://angeleryka.wordpress.com/ check out my blog 🙂
wow, perspective is something . . . when i first looked at the first photograph, i thought i was seeing silk/gauze hankies piled up to make mountains . . .it took a shift to see that there’s no cloth involved and it’s sculpural! pretty neat :0)
Those are really cool! Thanks for sharing! I will definitely add more texture and dimension next time I make something!
Pretty top notch! I was just lookin at other blogs for inspiration, but I thought that I wouls slow down and take a peek. Good work sista. I just started a new blog about 5 days ago, and I’m still figuring it out. Its a are sight dedicated to corvettes! It is clean if you wanna check it out. I’m at ‘ettevroc’ on wordpress. Thanks for takin the time! L8ter.
I really love the layered look of the colors, almost like layers of tissue paper! Thanks for sharing your photos, and exposing me to an artist I was unaware of! As a Washington resident, it was great to see Mount Rainier reinterpreted as a bright and color splashed form! Wouldn’t that blow our minds if we woke up one morning and Mt. Rainier actually looked like that?
Rainier is full of color in the summertime! We were hiking there last August, loved all the wild flowers, glaciers and such!
wow! lovely!
Wow, I love the colors she uses…she makes viewing the natural world through her eyes a very whimsical experience!
Love that perspective, K! Thanks for visiting!
Cheers!
Lesley
Love this post and Liz’s artwork – especially the Backbone series, which I plan to check out on her website. Looking forward to more of your foraging 🙂
Thanks for digging around, discovering and sharing!!
aj
healingpilgrim.wordpress.com
Please do check out more of Liz’s work on her website, AJ! She really has something very special. I could look at her work all day every day and never tire of it!
love the colours, im doing sculpture at the moment and really enjoying it
This is amazing work! I have myself recently transitioned from 2-D painter to 3-D yarn artist and have really been having a good time experimenting ‘painting with yarn’! I combine color and texture in my yarn creations the same way I did through my paintings, its aroused in me new creative perspective. This is a great blog you’ve got and I look forward to following along with it!
Karen
PS. Congrats on being freshly pressed 🙂
Thanks, Karen! Glad you found Artsy Forager through Freshly Pressed and good luck with your new venture into 3-D!
Cheers!
Lesley
fantastic…
Great post, really nice images
Reblogged this on Talk Art2me and commented:
Here’s a great article about Seattle artist Liz Tran who works ceramic in wonderful, ways. Good read.
Thanks so much for reblogging! Going to check out Talk Art2me! ( Great blog name, by the way! )
Cheers,
Lesley
Reblogged this on star girl and commented:
Love love love this.
Thanks for reblogging, Star Girl!
Cheers!
Lesley
That is very very cool, the entire process must be so satisfying, so many textures and dimensions to think of!
My Rainier is beautiful! Love it.
One of the great things about this type of branching out by an artist is that you sometimes reveal a talent that has previously gone unrealized. I am a huge fan of 3D art in general, and love to see a painter take it to the next level. I was introduced to some 3D concepts originally at Union Square here in NYC, where some street chalk artists had created some magnificent works of art in the style. Then, I saw some 2D artists make the transition to sculpture, adding colors that I had not previously seen before. Now, I’m in love.
This Mt. Rainier sculpture is beautiful – ever done any exhibiting in NYC?
Birthday, you can check Liz’s website to see if she’s exhibited in NYC.. http://www.liztran.com. Thanks for stopping by!
Cheers!
Lesley
incredible!
beautiful! love the bright colors and form.
I love how whimsical the mountain is.
It reminds me of the children’s story ‘The mountain that loved a bird’ illustrated by Eric Carle
Good writing, on a mix of beautiful colors
Great Picture and nice blog
wow..!! very nice color 🙂
Wow! These are amazing!
I also would like to see how sculptors (or those who works in 3D) paint/draw. Should also be interesting 🙂
Great idea, Background Story! I’m sure that will come up as a feature soon.. 😉
Cheers!
Lesley
I never think of 3-dimensional art, I always think of the typical canvas work but it is awesome and every piece is unique. Got to have a good spot for it in the house though 🙂
She can help God to create mountains!
Haha! Love that.
Cheers!
Lesley
Love this artwork! It would be perfect in my front room.
Amazing! Love the shapes and creativity! Thanks for sharing
wow this look so amazing!!
http://redroomboulevard.com/
These are gorgeous!
I know right have you ever done anything like this before
wow superb… i really like it….Awesome collection………..
Truly amazing works
Glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by!
You are welcome 🙂
Reblogged this on sunnychance0207.