Open Parentheses

Thank you to everyone who stopped by my booth at the rice creek art festival, it was a big success and I really enjoyed getting to meet and talk with so many new people.

If you’ve arrived at this site after picking up one of my business cards I’d first like to thank you for your interest in my work and welcome you to contact me if you have any questions about the things I do or what I have for sale.

Speaking of things for sale, in the coming week I expect to add listings to my etsy page for all the remaining pieces from this art festival so check back soon if you want any of the work but missed your chance to grab it in person.
Of course we’re also always open for commissions of original work, or if you’d like to get an existing piece in a different color palette all of my contact information is available to get in touch and we can make that happen for you.

I’ll also be adding the new work from the event to the gallery here, so look forward to some nice high resolution photos of those in the near future as well.

Thanks once again so much for making my first art fair a big success! Hopefully there will be more to come in the future!

-Ian Nystrom

Currently here at Open Parentheses Studio we are looking forward to our first ever art fair attendance! The Banfill-Locke Art Center holds their Art at Rice Creek festival every year at their location in Fridley, MN and this year I’ll be there with a booth selling some all new pieces, along with some old favorites.

The fair is Saturday, September 9th, from 10am to 4pm
at 6666 East River Road, Fridley, MN

I hope to see you there- in the meantime, here is a preview of some new pieces i’ll have available for sale.

It’s been a little while, so here is an update for what should be coming from me in the near future.
-The winter was productive for setting up layouts for new paper art. Soon I’ll be looking at posting a couple variations of at least three new pieces plus I’ll be restocking my Etsy store since I’ve been sold out of all the old pieces since the art sale last year.
-Working on a new coffee table design for a friend I’m very excited about. Still in the prototyping stage, but here is a sneak peek at what i’m building towards

Hopefully i’ll have some more to show you all in the near future.
Until then
-Ian Nystrom

Only one night into the 2016 MCAd art sale and already several of my pieces have found good homes. I’m so happy that people have taken an interest in my work and wanted to leave a thank you message to anyone directed to this site from my art-sale tags-
So thank you, thank you very much!

and if you missed the sale don’t worry, selected pieces will still be available on  my Etsy Store which I will be continuing to update as pieces are completed and ready for sale again.

Until next time,
Ian Nystrom

I’ve whipped up a new batch of shelves for the 2016 MCAD Art Sale, and here they are!
The Orbit Shelves- Series I & II. Each set of shelves of shelves has a large version (3′-4′ in length) and a small version (~24″ in length).
Series I is a design I first debuted in my senior show back in 2012, and like my original senior show pieces these geometric shelves feature a ballast made of stack laminated OSB turned on the lathe.

Orbit Series I, large shetka

Orbit Series I, small wood.

Then we come to the new models, the Orbit Series II, which have turned hardwood ballasts.

Orbit Shelf series 2, large black

Orbit Series II, small black

Orbit Series II, small black front view

the black version of the series II contrasts the lighter turned maple with black dyed beech wood, with the edge left at the natural color to show off it’s stylish geometry.
Then I’ve flipped the color scheme for the second half of the Series IIs, dyeing the hardwood ballasts and leaving the shelves their natural color.

Orbit Series II, Large Natural

Orbit Series II, Large Natural – side angle

Orbit Series II, Small Natural – side angle

Last we come to my favorite of the new edition, a little orbit shelf made from a particularly spectacular bit of yellow heart.

Orbit Series II, Yellowheart – top, front

Orbit Series II, Yellowheart – front view

Orbit Series II, Yellowheart – side view

I fell in love with this little bit of lumber the minute I laid eyes on it in the cut off bin at my local woodworking store. Whereas somebody else must have seen it’s discoloration as a flaw I found it was the perfect character for one of my Orbit shelves.

Orbit Series II, Yellowheart- top down view

With a black dyed maple ballast for a bit of contrast to the vibrant color I’m really quite proud of how this one turned out.

Aside from the 7 new shelves I’ve also put together an assortment of laser-cut paper pieces, including an all new design incorporating some some additional painting.

‘Mountain Fog’ is a piece inspired largely by my visits to the Minneapolis Museum of Art’s extensive collection of Chinese and Japanese painted scrolls and ukiyo-e prints.
I wanted to try something a little different from my older paper-cuttings so for this piece I decided to incorporate some paint into the piece before its final assembly. I used black and white spray paint to create a faux mezzotint kind of texture as a bit of a reference back to print making techniques, along with a bit of watercolor for some added vibrancy.
It was nice to add in some of these painting techniques as it makes each of this series of paper-cuttings one of a kind.

I’ve submitted a total of 25 pieces to the Art Sale, which is at MCAD (details for which can be seen here) anything not sold during the sale will be available on Etsy in the near future.

thanks to anyone taking an interest in my work- I hope you like what you see!
Until next time-
Ian Nystrom

Announcing some new work on the site:

Comet shelf

The Comet shelf is a redesign of my older Orbit shelves, with the same angular paper stone  shelf but featuring a ballast made of laser cut acrylic.

Comet Shelf, detail. 2015

The second piece to highlight is the latest version of my corrugated plastic Corset Lamp.

Corset light, advanced base

The updated version of the Corset Lamp features a more complex base, as seen in this detail photo-

In addition to these two new pieces is a whole array of laser cut paper abstracts, like these three-

Fire flies 2

Branches

Droplets, Purple

All these and more will be available for sale during the MCAD Art Sale november 19, 2o, 21- More information on the art sale here. Or through me anytime thereafter.

Thanks for reading and supporting my work, until next time.
-Ian Nystrom