Artist Profile: Galit Barak Jewelry Designer

Tell me a bit about yourself name, location, affiliations, personal stuff.

My name is Galit Barak, a bit about my name: "Gal" in Hebrew means wave, "Galit" is the feminine form for this word and only used as name. It's also the shorting of my grandmother's name "Margalit" which means, "pearl". "Barak" in Hebrew means lightning. I'm 22 years old from Israel. I live in a small town next to the Mediterranean Sea.

Apart from creating what do you do?


I work as a part-time Au Pair for three adorable kids; try to swim and to cook something tasty everyday!

What first made you want to become an artist?


I always loved to create, since I was a kid I have drawn, painted and crafted practically anything I get my hands on, and I studied fine arts in high school. I learned to knit and crochet and decided to explore the technique a bit more. I started by using simple metal wires and after I gained confidence, I graduated to sterling silver and gold-filled wire.

Please describe your creative process how, when, materials, etc.

I don't really have a formal process. I see the stones, the pearls and the wire and I start to play. I experience and make something new every time. If I like the result, I try to sell it and then I make more pieces.

What artists have influenced you and inspire you to create?


I really love painters! I admire the work of Klimt, Van Gogh and Kandinsky, but I'm not yet familiar with any great jewelry designers.

Where else can people find your work and connect with you online?

My Etsy shop, Galit Barak Jewelry Designer, my blog, and on Twitter. If you are an Israeli or come to tour Israel you are welcome to visit my studio and try on my jewelry in person!

Images copyright Galit Barak - copyright 2009.

Artist Profile: Justine Turel - Crown of Storms

Tell me a bit about yourself name, location, affiliations, personal stuff.
Well, my name is Justine. I live in Scarborough, Maine, with my fiance, Nate, and our two kitties! We both work at the same hardware store, which is surprisingly fun (both working together & working at a hardware store). We're both huge dorks who love Star Trek: The Next Generation and Battlestar Galactica, as well as being obsessed with David Lynch and everything the man does. We're getting married in September and I am absolutely overwhelmed (in the best way) with the planning process - it is so ME to be creating little checklists and coming up with crazy ideas I'll never be able to bring to fruition.


let down and hanging around

Apart from creating art, what do you do?
Well, it being winter in Maine right now I spend most of my free time inside, unfortunately. I spend alot of time with my brother, he's 17 and the absolute coolest person I know. We like to watch cooking and travel shows (Anthony Bourdain!), come up with tattoo ideas (we're getting matching ones on his birthday) and generally vandalizing the corporate world. I also read alot - a little bit of everything. I watch a ton of movies, cruise the Internet more than I'd be willing to admit, and bake. Mostly muffins and cookies right now but I'd love to eventually branch out into more adventurous cooking projects.


i'm instantly your biggest fan

What first made you want to become an artist?
This is a funny question, because I doubt most people have a point where they 'want' to become an artist. And to be perfectly honest, I don't consider myself an artist even now. I see things I like and I take photos of them, and I mostly do it to document moments in time. I am very much into documenting everything -- keeping journals, writing lists, trying in any way I can to capture moods and feelings and senses of well-being. Or senses of despair.


and everything i touch turns to stone

Please describe your creative process how, when, materials, etc.
Honestly, I think the best thing one can do is carry your camera with you wherever you go. My camera is with me at least 90% of the time, just in case. I keep it in the car with me and I bring it to any kind of family gathering or friend get-together, no matter how small or informal. I take photos of everything from lighthouses to a piece of trash on the street or in a lake. I use a Nikon D40X, which is not the easiest camera to tote around with me, but it's important to me. Like I said, I see something that appeals to me in some way -- the positioning of it, contrast, comparison, the way the light pours in the room -- and I capture it. Very little is done in post-editing, aside from an occasional cropping or some light contrast work.


magic school bus

What artists have influenced you and inspire you to create?
No one person inspired me to pick up a camera in the first place. I could say that my Dad, who passed away when I was 15, was my inspiration -- he was a photographer as well -- but I don't truly believe that. It was just something I wanted to try. Anyone who snaps away with their camera more than I do is an inspiration. Anyone who will bring their camera with them no matter how difficult is an inspiration. Anyone who is able to bring out the pure beauty in things so often overlooked is an inspiration.


you're living in a fantasy world

Where else can people find your work?
Primarily in my Etsy shop, of course, but also on my Flickr stream!

Images displayed in this post are by and copyright of Crown of Storms.

tina's whimsy revisited

I have always been an artist. Before I fell in love with photography, I tried a bit of many mediums. Drawing, watercolor, rubber stamp art, decoupage, assemblage, jewelry design, and my eventual favorite, collage.


t 2 b:
Dream a Little Dream, 2.5" x 3.5" - ACEO Collage, Open Edition
Love Many Things, 4" x 10" - Original Collage on Canvas Board

Techniques of collage, were first used at the time of the invention of paper in China around 200 BC. The use of collage, however, remained very limited until the 10th century in Japan, when calligraphers began to apply glued paper, using texts on surfaces, when writing their poems.



t 2 b:
The Wild Joys of Living, 8" x 10" - Original Collage on Canvas Board
Inspire, 2.5" x 3.5" - ACEO Collage, Open Edition

The technique of collage appeared in medieval Europe during the 13th century. Gold leaf panels started to be applied in Gothic cathedrals around the 15th and 16th centuries. Gemstones and other precious metals were applied to religious images, icons, and also, to coats of arms.


t 2 b:
Retro Green Girl - 11 x 14 collage on canvas board
Life Requires Beauty - 2.5 x 3.5 ACEO Collage, Open Edition

In the 19th century, collage methods also were used among hobbyists for memorabilia (i.e. applied to photo albums) and books (i.e. Hans Christian Andersen, Carl Spitzweg).

The term collage derives from the French "coller" meaning "glue". This term was coined by both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.[1]



t 2 b:
Ladies Bingo Night - 4 x 5 collage on canvas board
We Can Claim Ruffles all for Ourselves, 10" x 10" - Original Collage on canvas

I used to offer my collage work in an Etsy shop, known as tina's whimsy. I sold a handful of my items in the two years that the shop was alive online but then I discovered I was spending far more time trying to sell and less and less on the process of creation. And so I stopped altogether--the selling and the creating.

The pieces displayed in this post are a handful of my collage works from 2004-2007. I plan to begin some new work in 2009, and would love your comments on these. Let me know if you'd like to see more and I will include them in a future post...thanks!


[1] Wikipedia 2008.

collages displayed are all copyright tina's whimsy 2004-2007.