Diem Chau

The last few days have been truly "under the weather" kind of days. Not only have I been under the weather sick with a 4 week old baby (wait a sec- a 4 week old baby?!?!?- how did that happen so fast?), so midnight feedings have also consisted of midnight sniffling and sneezing, but the weather itself here in Portland has been kind of, well, under the weather, as it were. Raining one minute, hailing the next, my garden doesn't know how to react and the weathermen tell us that we could have the single coldest day in May in the history of the city this month. Plus my mom left yesterday, which alone is enough to make me feel sad and sick, and just to top it all off, ironically, Mom was also feeling under the weather when she left (isn't flying sick the absolute worst?). She was either experiencing the 24-hour flu or the premature effects of having to leave the most adorable grandbaby ever. So all in all I think we can safely say that the last few days have been distinctly under-the-weather. It helps though to think about colorful art which I love and makes me happy. Which brings me to Diem Chau. I don't remember how or when I stumbled across Diem Chau's work, but I love it. She is particularly known for her crayon carvings, which are whimsical and fun and I want one so much. Check them out:

And I happen to know for a fact (maybe because I looked into having one made as a gift for my sister, who I know would appreciate it) that you can commission a crayon sculpture of your own. You send in a picture and Diem Chau carves the sculpture for you, based off of the picture you sent. And get this- you even get to pick the color crayon you want used for your sculpture.

The other work of Diem's that I am amazed by is her ceramic work. She attaches embroidery to ceramic pieces, and I think they are so unique and interesting. One of the hallmark's of her pieces is a fantastic use of the color red, like in these "ruby slippers":

The pieces seem very dynamic to me since she often has elements leave the ceramic piece itself, which adds dimension:

Aren't those pieces so interesting? And another special way to preserve an heirloom- if you have a special piece of ceramic, maybe a bowl or plate or teacup that was passed down to you, you can send it to Diem and commission her to turn it into an art piece. So much more special than having it collect dust in the cubboard, yes?