My Art History

My Camera is a Time Machine

I was 19 when I bought my first real camera. I had lucked into a job at a camera store, knowing almost nothing about photography, although I'd always bore a certain fascination. I went through the natural progression of owning a simple point and shoot to outgrowing it and purchasing my first SLR, a Nikon D40. It was prefect timing for me, I had recently made some much-needed, big, life-altering changes. I was just getting to know myself and I carried that camera with me everywhere, unknowingly documenting the most heartbreaking, magical, and miraculous year of my life. I had an inspired idea to wake up that weekend at 3 o'clock in the morning and drive 2 hours to the beach, just to see the sun come up and then drive back home (I was broke, so staying over night was out of the question). It was my first time using my first camera and it was the first sunrise I'd ever seen. Although I'm fairly certain the sun has been rising and falling my entire life and that from time to time it must have happened in my view, this was the first one I'd ever truly seen it, with clear vision. Here's a few of the photos I took that morning..

I took a picture of my Birkenstocks in each new place I went that year. It has since become a tradition of mine to drive out to the beach at 3 AM for no other reason then to see the sun rise. There is no more humbling feeling to me than watching a Divine act of Nature take place.

At some point on my photographic journey I switched from digital to film, some would call this regression, but I loved the endless possibilities it offered. It was exactly the creative push I needed at that time. I did all kinds of fun things with my film, I'd put it through the dishwasher before shooting it, I'd cover it with bleach, Sometimes I'd purposefully open the back of my camera for just a millisecond, exposing all the film. The photos below appear red because the film was turned inside out and shot through the "wrong" side of the emulsion, these are from my first roll of 35 mm..

I put my cameras down for a while, but my venture with SoulMakes has brought me back to them. I got a new camera this past weekend, I'm back to digital(but I'll never give up on film).

It had me feeling nostalgic, so I pulled out those old sunrise photos. I'm a sentimentalist. My camera is a time machine, the moments I capture with my camera are unbound by space, they become endless, without limitation, infinite. I can revisit them at any point. It's incredible to look back and recall the feelings and emotions captured in each one, to see how far I've come on this wonderful journey. I'm totally blown away the path I'm on and how things seem to unfold so perfectly when I get out of the way. SoulMakes is taking my life in a direction I never imagined possible. I'm excited, scared, overwhelmed and completely amazed! It seems only fitting that I would find myself with a brand new camera in my hands, to document this beautiful new adventure.

Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Love,
MacK Mars

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My Art History

Liquid Freedom

Making jewelry has become my passion, but for as long as I can remember I've been expressing myself through every medium possible. Painting is my true love or perhaps it's the paint itself that I love so much. Most of my paintings are nothing more than a basic experimentation with color. I think I've always admired the freedom of liquid matter, it can move about any which way, spread in all directions and merge with other liquids perfectly, which only seems to add beauty to it's contents. I love mixing paint, the ease at which my brush can turn two colors into one and then another amazes me. The opportunity to make any color in the spectrum baffles me in the best way possible. I love the way each color dances on the canvas, leaking into each other, hiding from one another, becoming a new, more intense version of itself. The practice of this art is like meditating for me. I don't seek to achieve any sort of accurate depiction or perfection. I go with the flow, I have fun, I relax. It's a wonderful feeling, one which I can't quite describe.

"Even now, all possible feelings do not yet exist, there are still those that lie beyond our capacity and our imagination. From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written or a painting no one as ever painted, or something else impossible to predict, fathom or yet describe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feelings, the heart surges and absorbs the impact."

-Nicole Krauss (The History of Love)

Hope you are all having a beautiful week and don't forget to check out our Amethyst Collection for 20% off!

Love,
MacK Mars

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My Art History

 More like my fashion history...

If you've been reading this series then you know that my mom has had a great impact on my creative vision and how I see the world, but also, she's one of my fashion icons!

Long hair, Don't care. 

That's my mom, in nineteen sixty something, probably in the midst of some legendary road trip. The 60's and 70's are easily my favorite time in fashion, so naturally I love looking at pictures of my mom  from back in the day. I can't get enough of the bell bottoms, high wasted denim, flowy skirts, cowboy boots and long hair. My personal style is definitely influenced by these decades, some days I look a little bit like I just stepped out of a time warp. 

The coolest part about my mom's fashion is that she made or "reclaimed" a lot of her wardrobe. 

She made this amazing skirt out of a pair of (super) high wasted bell botoms. She cut the legs open, sewed in some black velvet and hand embroidered a few lovely flowers onto it. Ever since I was a little girl, I coveted this skirt. She took such delicate care of this piece, I would beg her to take it out of its reserved space in the closet and let me play dress-up! She finally passed it down to me a few years ago, one of the best gifts I've ever received :)

A few other hand-me-downs

The shell bracelet is one of my most beloved jewelry pieces and my mom made that belt from scratch. It is my favorite belt ever, so perfectly worn in. Her leather work is part of what inspired me to start using leather in my own designs, like our latest breast plate from the Spring Collection. Aside from awarding me with a love for all things artistic, she also passed down a deep adoration for classics like Fleetwood Mac (perhaps I'll tell the story behind my signed record someday), Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. All of whom are not only great musicians, but also some of my favorite fashion icons. I wish I could've been around to see them all in action.

What is your favorite decade in fashion?

Hope you are all having a beautiful week!

<3,

MacK Mars

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My Art History

Follow The Flowers

Last week I showed you the house I grew up in. Not only was it a work of art inside, but outside our backyard was a beautiful mess of flowers; Hydrangeas, Peonies, Forsythias, Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Tulips, Daffodils, Dogwood trees, there was even a pond full of Coi and Goldfish. Here's some pics I took over the years..

My favorite flower is the Bearded Iris. We had a ton of them in our yard when I was a kid, both yellow and purple, although I favor purple. I'm not quite sure what draws me to them so much. Perhaps the way they bloom so tall and then seem to literally swell and overflow with such a vibrant delicacy.

My whole life I've been drawing or painting or creating something with my hands. When I was a teenager I really liked drawing/painting iris's. Here's a few pieces of art from when I was 14 or so..

My mom always told us to "Follow The Flowers". That's what she did when she graduated college, followed the flowers around the country in a VW bus(or something like that). This is her at my age, a real life hippie. Isn't she gorgeous?

I think her little saying came to mean more than just going on a road trip, to me it meant follow my heart and be true to myself always. So my first tattoo was for her..

Originally hand drawn by me, I had the artist add the word "Follow" along the stem. My mom was pretty excited when I showed it to her. She and I had a rough couple of years, so it's kind of amazing that we're so close today. Even though things weren't always easy growing up, I can still take so many wonderful lessons away from my childhood. I can chose to dwell in bad memories of the past or I can chose to live in the marvelous teachings that my hippie mother passed down during the good times. I think today I'll just Follow the Flowers.

Love,

MacK Mars

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My Art History

During our Spring Clean over the weekend I ran across some old photos, so I thought I'd show you guys where it all started. This is My Art History..

This is the gazebo in the backyard of the house I grew up in. Once upon a time my mom turned it into her studio. I used to spend the summers out here with her fusing glass. This little place was filled with all kinds of beautiful beads, and silk strings and giant sheets of glass in all colors and textures. We'd cut the glass to make little pendants and then fire them in the kiln. 

This is us; my mom and brother and I'm the baby ( Dad is taking the picture :)

My mother, she was really something else. Bright red hair, big brown eyes, 17 earrings in each ear and a big, big spirit. She always reminds me of pure sunshine, such light she carries with her. When I was a kid she painted our entire house by hand. Here's some pics of my childhood home in various phases of art:

This was before the walls were painted(when we first moved into this house). My mom loved decorating, she threw colorful tapestries and throw rugs everywhere..

Then she sponged all the walls with bright colors..

and littered them with wall hangings

The whole place was covered with flowers and knick knacks

She painted these blue mountains on the walls in her room

(Yep, that's me)

The kitchen was my favorite. 

This is "The Sun" It was actually originally painted at the first house we lived in, on the hallway wall. When we moved we had to white wash the walls. I don't think I'll ever forget the day we said goodbye to our first sun. I'm pretty sure we all cried as we watched the house painters roll that ivory coat over this work of art. When we moved into our second house, my mom taped a little photograph of the sun onto the kitchen wall for reference and got to work. The walls were always in progress. 

My mom was always finding some little place to add color. I learned everything I know from her. She had me drawing and painting the second I could pick up a pencil. She was always showing us new ways to be creative. Everything was a canvas. I think that's the best thing she ever taught me. My vision has been dramatically impacted by her artistic soul. I got to paint my bedroom when I was a kid, drawing on the walls was encouraged and as an adult I get to see the world through these inspired eyes. I'm so grateful for my mom, my sunshine. I hope one day I can give my future kids the same art experience.

I'd love to hear any of your fun art experiences or warm fuzzy memories :)

Hope you all have a beautiful day!

Love,

MacK Mars

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