Kat Macleod - Inspiring Artist

The Cocktail by Jane Rocca, Drawings by Kat Macleod

I came across Australian based illustrator Kat Macleod's work when I went to Philly (Philadelphia, PA) this summer for a day trip. My hub and I took the two hour drive out to Philly to attend a craft fair that was happening in the Philadelphia convention center. However, it wasn't at the craft fair, where I did see so many varied (glass, jewelry, wood, fiber) and wonderful artists/crafters that I saw her work. In fact, it was in the most unlikely of places that I saw my first Kat Macleod piece! I was in Reading terminal (One of my fave Philly spots) taking a break and getting some lunch when I walked by a cookbook shop and I saw this book sitting by the register.

Upon closer inspection I was mesmerized instantly at the this illustrator who was fusing the world of fine art and craft majestically in her delicate watercolor illustrations. by Kat Macleod

Her fluid fine line is perfectly accented with a vibrant sense of color and design. Part fashion illustration, part fabric and paper collage, Ms. Macleod's work is fresh, inspiring and a lesson to us all to be open minded about materials. You can even ind some hand-stitching in there.

by Kat Macleod

Since this illustrator is from Melbourne, Australia, she is having a solo show in a gallery there called Lamington Drive. The name of her show is entitled The Tiniest Spark and boy do I wish I had a trip to Australia planned for this month, because the exhibit is up until November 29th (what a great Thanksgiving trip that would be!). So if you're luckier than me and headed to Melbourne Australia this month, you know one art stop you most definitely have to make!

Upon some more research I also discovered that Kat Macleod also does the illustration for a site called Michigirl which is an Australian based online style magazine site. It looks as though we can get another book illustrated by Kat Macleod too - Its written by Michigirl and is entitled Like I Give Frock Fashion Forecasts and Meaningless Misguidance.

For The Love of Blogging...

Well, I thought blogging would be just one of those things I could truly stick to in a disciplined fashion. As it turns out, there isn't much beside my four-legged children that I can stick with on a long-term basis- in fact my husband keeps shocking me with the number of years that we've been married (a whopping six and half years!) I'm just one of those people...easily distracted or perpetually overwhelmed by self-imposed deadlines. Hence my blogging has been sparse. In the end I have decided that it doesn't matter how many comments I get, or how frequent I post - but what matters is that I have something to say or an image to share that is of some worth to me.

Today is election day and the US world I live in is somehow going to miraculously change (or not) tomorrow. More young people have been active in ensuring everyone they know takes on their civic duty to vote. Facebook comments read with anxiety, hope and fear. As it has been so easy to get caught up in polarized political attitudes, a good friend and fellow artist Nick Guarracino a.k.a. Grumpyboy reminded me that we shouldn't romanticize or idolize any human, there is no such thing as a perfect or completely good or bad person - at the very least we will wake up tomorrow and finally be done with Bush. Thank you Nick.

Now I offer you my favorite pic of the week, Chica. In this shot she is thoroughly annoyed that I have awoken her from her nap on my desk just for a pic!

Baby Chica Sleeping on My Desk at Work

Now I must return to watching my favorite Rocky scene where Rocky slides down his apartment wall making out with Adrian for the first time! So hot!

Inspiring Artist - Sylvia Levenson

While I was taking the class at The Studio @ the Corning Museum of glass I got to visit the museum collection frequently. One of my favorite pieces (and there were many) was this piece by artist Sylvia Levenson.

It's Raining Knives by Sylvia Levenson

On of our class assignments was to seek out a piece from the glass collection to respond to via our own art work. As I get adjusted to moving out of NYC and deeper into the jaws of suburbia, and as I watch the continuing politics of fear immobilize people, I was deeply drawn to this sculpture. The title card also spoke volumes about our human exchange with fear.

For me, Sylvia's sculpture invokes the innocence of youth. The colorful houses and even the astro-turf are reminiscent of cloistered safety. The fact that she makes use of glass only adds to tenuous, fragile and volatile potential of the situation.

In my own work I am very drawn to the melancholy of loss, especially innocence lost. I had been feverishly illustrating a series of young girls in my sketchbook and was considering carefully composing them in a paper-doll fashion of sheets of glass. In addition I am very interested in stained glass, and really wanted to consider cutting my sheet glass into forms before I illustrated on them with the vitreous paint (this technique is explained in past post). I was inspired by the element of repetition as well. That is how my art pieces entitled Lost Girls was born.

detail of Lost Girls by marisol diaz

Lost Girls by marisol diaz

So with little time (for class was in its last three days) I cut sheet glass, painted and fired as many girls from my sketchbook and bunnies as I could. The scale is much smaller and less colorful than Levenson's work but the inspiration is there...in my way.
Lost Girls 2 detail by marisol diaz

Phil Young - Inspiring Artist

This is Phil Young, an inspiring and phenomenal Cherokee and Scotch-Irish artist. I had the pleasure of meeting Phil for the first time this past April when artist Gregg Emery (my husband) and I, did an artist talk at Hartwick College. Phil is my husband's college art professor and much more, they traveled together to the Southwest and Phil made a deep, resonating connection with Gregg. While we were visiting, Phil gave us intimate views of his most recent work and a special in-depth tour of his studio!! We were so fortunate to have this undivided time with Phil. Gregg and I own quite a few of his pieces of art from years back. However, his most recent work continues to be deeply provocative as Phil has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and comes face to face with this via his artwork. Since I have been known to do 'Inspiring Artists' posts, as I walked through his studio layered with a lifetime of art-making, I thought 'I'm so going to blog about this!!!' So here is a peek into the images, art and words of Phil Young.

Phil Young MIXEDMEDIABLOODDOUBLEVISIONSCAPEARTIST

"This work is honoring the Creator, the Earth, our non-human neighbors, my family, and the communities from which I come, some of whom are still disconnected. It is also meant as a recognition of years of grappling with cultural outrage, invasive MS, and an affirmation of the powerful, loving beauty of this variegated world and my family stories to reclaim history and identity with hope, humor and healthy being."

"Each night I give myself a Copaxone shot, one of the medicines with some success at lowering the severity and rate of “progression” of Multiple Sclerosis. It is like meeting a friendly scorpion which acts as a decoy for the MS shark, feeding on the medicine instead of our bodies. This form of autoimmune disease attacks the myelin sheath around our nerves, much like insulation around electrical wires. So, when I’ve had double vision, or more recently, great difficulty walking, the messages from the brain and central nervous system don’t come through correctly."

"The drawings often incorporate the back and front diagram of an “idea” body, printed on the instructions from the manufacturer of the medicine. Upon this graphic, muscularly healthy body are grids of injection sites to be rotated: the abdomen, the back of the upper arms, and the right and left hips. There are even warnings such as “inject at least two inches from the navel”. I have enlarged, cropped and printed these shot sites as black and white negative squares on clear acetate. The viewer can expect the unpredictable predictability of MS to generate narratives of continuity and disruption...

...The materials are red sandstone from my home state of Oklahoma, a mixture of charcoal, conte pencils, pastels transferred used to make a form of "carbon paper" (tracing paper), some iridescent acrylic (usually copper), and pencil on a(r)ches cover buff. The numbers were blind stamped into the paper from both sides, somewhat randomly, as were the areas of scratched and pounded points. Sometimes the charcoal and other dry drawing media were blown after they left random marks when the transfer paper was taken off. The tool to make the numbers was one that permanently put serial numbers on car engines and other parts. It will make impressions in steel. The small round puncture holes which also can be seen going in and sometime rising up are a graphic equivalent of giving me(the paper) a daily injection of my Multiple Sclerosis Copaxone medicine."

This is a glimpse of the inside of Phil's studio. Phil built this studio himself and he built it on rafters so that the whole space could be picked up and moved where-ever he goes!! I find artist studio shots to be as much self-portraits as facial self portraits.

Here Phil is showing us an art piece that is a play on kitsch jewelry that is often found at trading posts.

These photos from two series: “Trading Post Ruins: Delaminations and Cancellations” and the others from “Kinship”, both installations.
The process is; "I found Fiber based paper to be the right one to give me the quality and range of experimentation that I’ve sought since I began these. So, I go into the darkroom armed with the dremmel tool, hammer, Jerry’s mechanic stamping tool, nails, and in the Kinship series, a range of fishing hooks. In the dark, I begin to attack the paper, again from both sides, with the tools. I use the rather small pointed dremmel tool, again related to shots or pock marks, etc. and when used as a drawing line, it sometimes creates a surface like scarification of the skin or incisions. I also use permanent pigment pens, black, silver, copper. Writing is quasi-legible and again includes portions of family stories, some frenetic, Parkinsonian-like marks like my Dad had near the end of his life."

"After all the work on the photo paper, it is then exposed. Instead of putting the whole piece into the developer, I spray it like working on a painting. When the spray is more from the side, it catches on the raised scarification lines and reinforces a kind of topography. TP ruins pieces, the acetate is laid down on top of the paper before it is exposed, thus leaving a ghost like image of the words, which has some interesting ironies as related to some of the specific texts."

Another kitsch jewelry piece!!

"The planks of wood are wooden cedar shingles, each of which are from a rejected bundle which has marvelous holes in them. What you saw are part of a series which I made which includes sections from a poem I wrote, “Wetumka”. What I did was use a dremmel to write in the letters. The marks are very much in line with the marks in the installation papers and that appear in my most “mature” paintings and drawing/collages. After this first stage of the “gouged” inscriptions, I go back and do some subtle painting by staining randomly to reinforce both deterioration and the elevation of family story (again some minor use of iridescent acrylics, hair, dried blood color). How these particular shingles will be displayed is yet to be determined."

Click on Image to See POSTCARDS!

If you are interested in purchasing any of Phil Young's paintings (such as the one at the very beginning of this post), I found that Phil is represented by the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did, let me know!

Street Art in Berlin, Tacheles & Andras Bartos

Gregg making a rubbing of a manhole in Berlin. You may think why? Well, that rubbing is an excellent image for us to make our OWN silk-screen in order to make our OWN Berlin t-shirts, instead of buying mass produced touristy ones! Once we have our t-shirts made - I'll post them here for you all to see.

Some of the best gummy bears I have ever eaten in my whole life were from Potsdam, Berlin. They actually tasted as though they were made with real fruit juice - not to mention they were mammoth in size.

Berlin's mascot/national-animal is the bear - hence we saw lots of artist renditions of the form. Like these! Since these particular bears were in the lobby of our hotel - they 'embody' paintings of all the popular tourist attractions in the area.

Now for another kind of street art...see that building- that is the Kunsthaus Tacheles. If you look closely you can see the name of the building written on it.
Tacheles is not so simple to describe, although the tourist's books try to do it justice. It is a counter-culture artist space. A former department store, it now looks like an abandoned building that has been taken over by a self-organized collective of artists. There are studio spaces, a cafe, cinema, performance space, workshops and exhibition space. In the evening it is a night club. The grounds, hallways and ever architectural feature has had an artistic mark placed on it. There are stunning sculptures out back, in addition to surrounding buildings used as canvases. I was so enthralled I took so many pics. SAdly, we saw many petitions out while we there and upon returning have learned that the lease runs out this year - it seems that the future of this space is yet to be determined. For the 'creatives' out there that read my blog, this is sure to be a treat.

Here I am out in back of Tacheles in their sculpture garden. I love charging bulls so when I saw this I knew I had to have a pic with it! There were quite a few welded- sculptures out back that were beautiful in their execution. There was also a train, automobile and helicopter covered in graffiti.

Here is Gregg out back in front of the helicopter

.

This is Gregg in the Tacheles hallway. Now you see what I mean about every iota of the space having a mark on it.

The surrounding buildings are used like mammoth canvases. This soccer mural below is mind-blowing. Click on the thumbnail to see the soccer image up close.

Gregg and I discovered these small paintings by painter and graphic designer Andras Bartos and we bought one! His paintings are whimsical and also somber takes on humanity. While walking around the neighborhood we also saw his studio.

Well, I have more images but I think is this enough for today. I hope I haven't drowned you all in visual noise!!

Artist Gregg Emery - On Being Centered

My husband is both a professional sketcher and a painter. We work in two completely different ways. He is an extrovert and I am in introvert. That is to say he gathers his energy from external sources and I from interenal. With that said, he can draw in public (and does so frequently) I on the other hand have to be alone in the studio - with no one looking over my shoulder!

So about Gregg Emery, he has over two hundred sketchbooks filled with drawings. These are gesture drawings done with a piece of graphite as pictured here:

There is no eraser, no point, only an edge. Therefore, he never erases. Every line even if done in a not-so proportionate way, remains as part of the overall composition. Much like life, we get no erasers- no do-overs. Instead we have to learn to live with the choices we have made, move-on and resolve them -but we can't really erase them. He draws anywhere - and I mean anywhere, at music performances, at broadway musicals, on the subway, in the cafe, restaurants, really just anywhere. I have even seen him draw while he was walking!

Most of our students know this side of Emery, but what they don't know is the prolific painter he is and his penchant for abstract yet centered art.

Gregg is concerned with discerning an internal balance within and without our human selves. He is concerend with making connections and the deep value involved with human exchange. His paintings and his drawings remind me of Rumi's poetry on being centered.

To see more of Gregg Emery's work click on his name here! His latest Paris/Munich/Berlin sketches will be posted by Sunday!!!

Inspiring Artist- Kiki Smith

I'm in Paris for my last night! Tomorrow we spend the last Parisian day absorbing the exquisite sites. There is an amazing Marie Antoinette exhibit that I am hoping to see, as well as, Jim Morrison's grave and a phenomenal Patisserie that I spotted earlier on the trip (providing there is no drama with the students - tomorrows block of free time should prove exceptionally appreciated and divine). Thus far, all of us are incredibly cold and exhausted, yet we have seen absolutely phenomenal things. This is my third time in Paris and each time feels deeply more moving. I'm afraid the weather in Berlin will be the death of us as far as weather! Next is Munich than Berlin. I wrote quite a few blog posts before I left anticipating having no internet access, so the following is one of those posts!

One of my favorite artist is Kiki Smith

photo by Nan Goldin

"Best known for provocative depictions of the female body — both in anatomical fragments and in full figure — Kiki Smith has explored a broad range of subjects, including religion, folklore, mythology, natural science, art history, and feminism. By turns intimate, universal, visceral, and fragile, Smith's art renders the figure in frank, nonheroic terms, expressing its dual aspects of vulnerability and strength. Smith uses a wide variety of media, seeking out equivalences between the body and materials of art — the fragility and imperfections of skin and handmade papers, for example, or the fleshy, organic volumes of wax and plaster. Organized in close collaboration with the artist, this full-scale survey of her 25-year career includes nearly 100 objects grouped into thematic clusters she refers to as "gatherings," with works in plaster, bronze, paper, glass, and ceramic, as well as installations, prints, drawings, and photographs."-SFMOMA WEBSITE

I saw Kiki Smith speak at some museum talk back when I was living in Baltimore and working on my MFA. She combines printmaking and varied mediums in her work which is often rich with female referents. She is fascinated with dissecting the myths around our sociological culture. I am in awe of her presence and mind. I think she is most definitely a phenomenal woman. Check out Kiki Smith and tell me what you think! Mind you the video is part of the Art:21 PBS series and is an excerpt of a longer piece. The snippet does come across as a bit morbid.

If you have never heard of Kiki Smith I really recommend clicking of the links I have provided since her work is more varied than what I could possibly offer here! I especially marvel at her Prints, Books & Things collection. This website is informative, interactive and elegantly designed- its a real treat. Furthermore, the Feminine Context theme is excellent, thought-provoking and stimulating for any artist with 'female sensiblities' at the core of what they do!

Inspiring Artist- Candy Jernigan

Candy Jernigan

This is another one of my favorite artist's. Candy Jernigan collected memoribilia of her everyday life and experiences to manifest the idea of proof of life/ EVIDENCE of her existence. If you think about it, its a powerful concept to honor the mundane of your life, to be fully present and say "I Was Here".

These are object drawings, from a trip to Rome. It gives all new meaning to scrapbooking doesn't it?

This is a drawing of each Cheese Doodle that she ate. The drawing even comes with a clever map of the route the Cheese Doodle takes as it travels through her body!

Can tabs! Candy Jernigan collected both real and illustrated evidence of her life, unknowingly of the fact the she would die too young from liver cancer.

These images have dust from the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Grottoes, St. Peter's Basilica!!

Lately, I've been thinking about our collective consciousness and impressions, marks and stains that our life leaves - as residual impressions on people and space. I hope you enjoyed looking at Candy Jernigan's work and that it has given you (as it has me) a new way to be present in the world around you!

Inspiring Artist - Judith Schaechter

Judith Schaechter, Stained Glass, Snakes and Ladders 31"X30", 2003

The first time I ever saw Judith Schaechter's work I was doing our yearly NYC Chelsea gallery walk with our senior high-school class and it was quite a few years ago. I was floored by a stained glass artist using the medium in such a fresh/new, illustrative way. To me, she is the first artist that has therefore given a medium that I felt had been relegated to sun catchers, imitation Tiffany lamps, craft fairs and cathedral metaphors of 'enlightenment' a new face. Not everyone may appreciate Judith's work since it has a macabre, sombre often deathly glow about it. She enjoys investigating "...sex and death, with romance and violence the obvious runners up. I'm trying to be as cliche, sentimental, and decorative as possible--not as a strategy for ironic commentary about how stupid sentimentality and clichés are, but because this is the stuff, that time and time again, I am obsessed with, in love with, and that I have faith in."- Judith Schaecter

Grant it my husband and I, appreciate this kind of sensibility. We are after all huge Tim Burton fans! We each are collectors of Nightmare Before Christmas memorabilia before we met...he had all the Jack stuff and I had all the Sally. In fact, my husband's cousin Facundo Rabaudi worked as a model-maker on the set of that film (along with quite a few other phenomenal animations), and we were able to see some of the actual pieces used in Nightmare in real life! We love Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, and Tim Burton's book of poetry - The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy...so you see Judith Schaechter's work doesn't jar us in any negative way.

Technically, Judith's art is brilliant and painstaking work. She uses something called flash glass, a material that I am still looking into which she sand-blasts, etches and layers to get the color. I am still researching the areas that look so painterly.

My understanding is that Judth Schaecter uses the copper foil method, as do I. If this is true, it makes me happy to hear since I haven't had the opportunity to learn the lead came method and I always berate myself for it. So yes, I enjoy stained glass too. Here is a sample of one of my older stained glass pieces of a Phoenix.

My work pales in comparison to Judith Schaecter, but I am looking forward to the inspiration she serves me and my newest adventures in drawing on glass with powdered frit. Right now though I'm working on a series of oil paintings for the Herstory project and it will be while before I get to play with stained glass again.

Whether you work in glass, are a writer, illustrator or painter, seeing the work of other artists can inform your own discipline in countless ways. So check out new artists working around you and get inspired!

Celebrating Creativity @ The Oscars

This is a picture of a miniature model that I discovered while going out to dinner at a Spanish restaurant called EL CID in Paramus, New Jersey last weekend. The details in the model are incredible - Cheers to the artist or artists who continue to go unknown to me.

Behind all the fanfare and star-struck glitz of the Oscars (which many of us will be watching tonight) are the humble, model-makers, story-board artist's, art director's, musicians, costume designers, set-designers, writers, sculptors, prop-designers (along with countless other creatives...I can't seem to name this Sunday morning) that go unflanked by spotlights and paparazzi on the red carpet. So tonight, as you watch remember those who are instrumental in creating a genre of artistic expression that moves us regularly at box offices and in our DVD players. Good luck to phenomenal artist, designer extraordinaire, Elsa Mora and her Beau Bill the Hollywood Producer who will be attending the Oscar's tonight and the work he did on Lars and the Real Girl and The Kite Runner!

With all that said, let it be known that my favorite category is ...the ANIMATED FILM SHORTS!

We have some wonderful pieces being nominated tonight that are not big studio shorts and these are always my particular cup of tea. It takes a very special kind of artist to deal with making an animation; understanding how to create believable characters consistently and sequentially, pacing, composition, writing, sound, layering. I am in awe of the genre and hope to one day create something beyond my current youtube tests.

I have embedded part one of Moya lyubov (My Love) a Russian animated short that is one of the nominees tonight that I am particularly interested in, since it was done by painting onto glass!!! Check it out!!

To me this is an exemplary feat. It is the visual arts at its finest. This piece transcends translation, the way most universal works of genius do!

To see some of the other absolutely amazing nominated animated shorts go to TickleBooth who has done much of the online searching for us!