Silva Fox Says

There are many flowery descriptions and thoughts on ART and what art is. Some say it's in the medium-- oil paint on canvas, bronze, marble; those are the choices of museums and galleries. Before I go to actual definitions and thoughts, I refer only to visual art here, not music or theater or "art of" things like language or cooking or wine or ___ fill in the blank. Briefly, in the Oxford dictionary, pocket version, ART is defined: 1 the expression of creative skill in a visual form such as painting or sculpture. 2 paintings, drawings and sculpture as a whole. Now that description seems simple and straight forward to me. I've been working with leather for many years, created, taught and published my own unique ways of manipulating the medium and introduced easier ways of working with color on leather. I've sculpted, designed, shaped, stitched, manipulated, assembled, cut, pounded, boiled, stretched, you get the idea...I know a lot about working with leather. Lea

silva fox artistry For the Leather Artisans: I've been an artist all my life and have found that just when I discover something new, a product, style or technique, someone else has found it too! So you don't feel as let down as I do when this kind of thing happens I'm giving a heads up on things I want to share. Most will have to do with my number one passion--ART, more specifically LEATHER ART , and even MORE specifically Wildlife, Tame life and Flora which I have been doing for quite a while. I don't do basket weave because I can't manage a straight line and I don't make; gloves, saddles (though I did make one for my grandson's rocking horse), boots, pants, utility belts, etc. My expertise lies in creating ART that is life-like in tooling leather so I will share those techniques. I hate wasting time on preparations for carving leather, there are efficient ways of doing things and a way of creating exciting patterns when you can't draw anyth

The first projects I and many other leather workers learned on were 3 discs of leather, 3.25" in diameter, found in the Beginning Kit with some tools from Tandy Leather Company. I've kept those first works of mine as a constant reminder of where I came from all those years ago. As artisans learn we often moved in different directions to fullfill desires for achievement, ribbons in competition or needs in a market that would provide a living. I worked a full time job in graphic arts and marketing and, like many leather artisans did leather work as a hobby. Over the years, decades actually because we are not discussing 5 year periods here, I learned how to make a great many different kinds of things with leather; wallets, belts, key cases, photo albums using kits but, as knowledge grew so did the styles and types of products made; holsters, knife sheaths, custom works of all kinds and patterns, designs and publishing. No matter how many awards were won and how many shows I j