Chrs84

Welcome to Spirits and Elements, the enchanted art and craft shop.  This is a great place to find unique art or some kind of item that hits the spot and could flourish in a new home.  Perhaps you are adding to your collection or looking for a gift?  The artwork and crafted items you’ll find here are produced by Elizabeth and me, Christopher. 

We chose the words “Spirits and Elements” to represent us because we believe they are the driving force behind our art, before any market or industry, monetary value, time and effort, definitions, roles, scenes, etc.  We produce as a way to search and question and balance with life, and all along, we respect and celebrate it. 

We work with what we have, you and I, all of us; we try for a decent life; we’re fair; we’re understanding.  I believe all of us are artists; I always have, in the sense of expression, ideas, feelings.  All of this is involved in a relationship with us, and everything we do represents it, so we don’t always have to call it art; we don’t have to call it anything, but it is what’s happening.  Life is happening, right?  So art, creativity, expressions, items, information, I get it; I get the point, a piece of the Berlin wall, a souvenir from a vacation, a family heirloom, a stranger’s scribble on a napkin.  We get some kind of energy from it.  It reveals something or makes peace with something, brings us together, gives us one more thing to talk about, maybe it’s a simple reminder or maybe it’s something you never want to forget.  There’s no shame, my friend.  There’s always a room that would work perfect with a certain picture, a certain color; it can’t be too specific, full of energy but it won’t suck you in.  It sticks with the room, bands together, makes you look at the rest of the room as well.  Then we’ve seen other rooms that almost exist for the wonderful items residing there.  You’ve created energy, arranged an identity; you’re providing an environment, maybe challenging, maybe relaxing, maybe extra personal.  This is a true nature of art; it’s fundamental; it’s energy, a medium, or maybe it’s also something else; who knows, maybe I just had to have it.  Let’s call it a representation of life, and let’s say art imitates life first, after that, life imitates art the same; we go back and forth; we mix; it’s magical, enchanting. 

So here we are, and what an honor it is for our paths to have crossed.  While I am creating, I am listening to the work, listening to the process.  I always keep my eye out for that language, that something that is the equivalent of everything.  When the piece is finished, we have further conversations.  Most of us can get a hold of the classics, a copy, a version, something mainstream, a well established artist, and I certainly have my favorites, but equally valuable to me is the person down the block, the father around the corner who finished painting the porch and splashed a little paint on some sheetrock in the garage, on purpose, imagining he was an artist, or just imagining he was expressively painting; I want those splashes and blotches.  How about mom, she scribbles and doodles on paper every time she talks to a friend on the phone for a long period of time; I’d love those prints.  Still, you know there’s that kid, that girl, they paint, the put together crazy objects, bottles and metals, whatever, but they’re not always the “go-getters”, and they’re not always the “trying to make it” people; they do art; they express themselves, maybe more than usual so that you know they do art, but nobody ever calls them official artists; they don’t go to school for it; they don’t really think about selling their stuff, maybe they just never get around to it; they work their butts off, make the rent; they do their thing, but their art is great; it’s hot; it’s real, even if a majority of people don’t like it, even if they don’t like their own art.  It’s what’s going on around you; it’s what’s going on around the world.  How do we get a hold of that?  How do we get some of their journals published?  Most of the time, we can’t.  Most of the time amazing ideas and perspectives blend into everything else, usually it comes out of us in other ways.  Of course the internet and technology has definitely helped bridge that gap of expression and communication.  I came across many amazing people with unique abilities, people whose sarcasm is as sharp as a razor, or graphic art and programming that makes fantasy worlds a reality, some great writers who have no intention of ever being published.  You know how it goes my friend; we’re side by side but sometimes still a million miles away.  I also have a personal little collection of art from other artists, some of my extra favorites are the totally obscure attempts.  At a yard-sale I found a little painting on a plaque, it was a rough/sloppy-ish, very “trippy” looking portrait of Alice from “Alice in Wonderland”, but there was a certain quietness and neatness to it as well, basically it’s just totally obscure, but the real magic about it was that it was painted by a teenager years ago and they had long since gone off to college, graduated and started their life.  It was for sale by that teenager’s mom, who might soon be a grandmother, anyway, she said that they knew and it was ok to get rid of that stuff, etc.  Maybe later the creator of that painting might have wanted it, but supposedly they weren’t any good at painting, and they didn’t care.  So here I have this kind of “one-time deal” painting in such a style that is virtually impossible to ever come across in any other circumstance; it has a great home now.  I know none of us are strangers to finding amazing items this way. 

So what determines the prices for our pieces?  For me, whenever I have to put a value to my work I look at the cost of materials first, and I place a less than usual emphasis on the time and effort it took to produce.  I do this because the truth is I create no matter what, regardless of trying to share my work; I always seem to create more than anything else.  So I am not going to sit here and try to tell you that I set out to make such and such a masterpiece for the world and I spent every moment I had between making a living and doing everything we have to do to survive, know what I mean?  I know how I feel when I acquire a great item at a fair price, therefore I want the same for you.  After all these years, I love when someone loves a piece I created; I totally understand, and that’s our goal here.  I truly feel like we’re finding good homes for a little magic, coming across like-minded people and a rich diversity of respect.  My version of new clothes, video games, state of the art technology, is art supplies, that’s where most of my money goes, and I’m ok with that, and I think it’s equally beautiful to be into new clothes or hobbies or careers or personal ambitions, etc, because we express ourselves through everything, and with a healthy balance we find a way to do alright, and if we get a bit lost or overwhelmed, then we’ll learn from our mistakes.

Bottom line, we’re trying to share what we do and spread the love, through the good and bad times, the tough pieces and works in progress as well as the inspirations that basically created themselves. 

For anyone who likes details and elaborate info on an artist and what goes into the work, the processes and techniques, and the philosophies and intentions, then you can find a bunch of other essays and writings from Elizabeth and me, as well as general stuff that will help you get to know us.  We are continually working on our website as a general gallery of what we create, past and present.  So have fun exploring.

 Sincerely:

Elizabeth and Christopher,

Spirits and Elements.