Sunday, November 30, 2014

My Heart Lives In The Forest

Every once in a while, when I'm explaining to someone how being able to spend time in the woods is so important to me, they will look deep into my eyes and say something like, "Oh-- I know," and I can tell I've found a member of my tribe.

Since I was a little kid the forest has drawn me in.  There were many forests-- we moved a lot, but as soon as we settled into a new home i'd immediately begin scouting for a distant tree line and head out, usually on my trusty purple banana-seat bike, for parts unknown, yet familiar.



That is the the wonderful mystery of forests; they are all different, yet all sort of similar, as if the world is perhaps one giant forest that has been rudely interrupted by civilization.  In every one there are little hidden alcoves, mossy wonders, ancient stones, and a sense that you are inhabiting a living breathing thing.  All around you things are transforming at various rates, all in tandem and oblivious of humans.


When I discovered mountain biking in my mid-forties, I discovered not only a new way to enjoy time in the woods, but a whole population of people who feel the specialness of it, that childhood flutter, the same as I do.  Riding through the woods on two wheels feels as close to flying as I may ever get.  It's incredibly freeing.



When I began creating this design I wanted to express that thrill I felt as a kid, discovering another forest in another home, as if the woods was tracking me, casting out a safety net to help balance me out no matter where I wound-up.  It's the same thrill mixed with comfort I feel to this day, either spending time in my favorite hometown woods or discovering a new (to me) mysterious jewel box.







I used several graphics of my sculptures to create the design; my beloved "Wing"- the first sculpture I even made and will never sell, the little "tree line" sculptures I made for years, sometimes called "Groves", and a complicated root system I cut out of steel by hand for a wall piece.  



 It's almost as fun rearranging and playing with these images as it was to create the sculptures.  The creative residue lingers.  Thanks for visiting.  Please subscribe to the blog, and like/share/pin/tweet.  It will help support what I do by allowing me to get the word out, since I don't have gobs of advertising money laying about  Thanks! 

To see about having these designs hand-printed on a tee or bag from Artitude Tees-- click here.  :)

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Origin story

Hello Everyone.  Thanks for visiting Artitude Tees.
My name is Sue Seeger and I'm a metal sculptor living and working in Minnesota (USA).
 
I'm pretty sure I have the world's cutest welding shop (on the outside-- inside it is pretty standard-- lots of grime and metal dust.)

I LOVE making steel sculptures, and love sharing my work with others.  Here is a pic of a piece I did as an underground installation (guerrilla art) for my local mountain bike trail (another passion).  She is made of an old stock car found in the very woods she now perches in.  She's named "Tina" after a name found painted on a rear fender, one of the *pit crew*.

She represents a lot of things to me, creative freedom, the spirit of adventure, my respect for her forest home, the trail, and the local mtb culture.  I guess she became my spirit animal in a way, so was a natural choice for the Artitude logo.

I started Artitude because I found my sculptures, my thoughts about them, have a life beyond the physical piece I create.  The images live in my head for quite a while before they make it into form, and even after the fact they are still tumbling around up there.
Playing with them as graphic images is another creative outlet for me, and it allows me to share my process and my work with more people.
The items you see are not printed at some huge screen printing company.  I do everything myself in the 1/2 of the garage my husband allowed me to commandeer (and this is a guy with no basement!)  So everything you see here is very much a hand-made creation, and every purchase you make helps support me and my work. 
Thanks for checking it out.
~Sue Seeger