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Category: Mixed Media

Prevailing Beauty: Megan Weston

I am never not struck by the incredible beauty of this planet we call home any time Mr. Forager and I are out hiking. It is amazing to think of the way this earth evolves, adapts, endures. In these beautiful mixed media paintings, Australian artist Megan Weston, in her own words “presents our earth as fragile and damaged by our selfish behavior, but also demonstrates that its beauty still survives“.

Inspired by aerial landscapes, these mixed media paintings seem to whirl and swirl within their planetary atmosphere. Just as the earth is filled with wonder and variety, Weston’s work leads the viewer on an imaginary journey around its circumference. We don’t know if we’re looking at storm systems brewing from above or microscopic views of tiny bits of our planet. As the colors bleed and blend, we are left with the assurance that no matter how we abuse it, this ever changing earth will endure long after we have left it.

To see more of Megan Weston‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

June 10, 2014
June Featured Artist: Deb Haugen

There are certain artists whose work just instantly resonates with me. Perhaps it’s their style or subject matter, but in the case of this month’s Featured Artist, Deb Haugen, it’s both. When I first saw her work waaay back in 2011, I immediately responded to the free flowing naturalness to her work.

Since then, Deb’s work has evolved beautifully, in some cases incorporating graphic drawing as in her ink pieces featured above. These intuitive drawings have a delicious tension between the concrete illustrative quality of intricate patterns and the bright, watery world surrounding them.

I’m not the only one who is drawn to these organic beauties– Neiman Marcus and Crate & Barrel have both carried Deb’s prints ( currently available through Neiman Marcus, new large print to come for C&B! ). But you can also purchase Deb’s work directly through her own website shop! Gorgeous work at super affordable prices, you can’t go wrong!

To see more of Deb Haugen‘s work, please visit her website and be sure to follow her on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram to keep up with what she’s up to! You’ll be seeing more of Deb’s work around the blog & Artsy Forager social media all June long!

All images via the artist’s website.

June 2, 2014
Escape to Wonderland: Kelly O’Connor

I don’t know about you, but I could really use an escape right now. To Wonderland, to the Chocolate Factory, to anywhere I don’t have to answer emails, make dinner or otherwise in any way be a grown up! I want to go to a place where no one speaks an unkind word and everyone is insanely happy. Where trouble melts like lemon drops. Truly, what I want is to get lost in the crazy wonderland of Texas artist Kelly O’Connor.

OK, perhaps I take it back. Like the fictional Stepford, O’Connor’s collages of vintage vacation destinations juxtaposed with candy colored geometrics and crazy-eyed mid-century ladies is a bit loopy. But then it’s meant to be. From the artist “My intention is to create an immortal or dreamlike space, such as one that could only exist in a person’s subconscious.” These worlds are like those dreams from which you wake, feeling exhilarated, but relieved that it wasn’t real.

To see more of Kelly O’Connor’s work, please visit her website. If you happen to be near Houston, be sure to check out Kelly’s solo show Blinded by the Light at David Shelton Gallery, up until June 7th! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to put on my sparkle ray glasses and get back to work.

Top two images via the artist’s website. Other images via David Shelton Gallery website.

May 19, 2014
Messy Utopias: Scott Sueme

Some people dream of a perfect utopian existence. But utopias always seem more Stepford-ish to me, communities where every house looks perfectly the same, every person has the same ideals, there is never any conflict. But where there is no conflict, there is no contrast and it’s in the differences that true life comes through and true beauty shines. The work of Vancouver artist Scott Sueme exposes those contrasts found outside of the perfect.

Sueme uses landscape like compositions mixed with graffiti ideology to reference human interaction within nature. Whether it be from overdevelopment filled with strip malls or a small cabin in the woods, landscape is different and loses its sense of balance and perfection once the hand of man has been laid upon it. It’s hard to imagine a world without street lights and signs and parking lots. Would we even recognize it?

To see more work by Scott Sueme, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

May 15, 2014
Wear the Artsy: Jill Ricci

Something about the warmer months make me long for the exotic. Maybe it’s childhood conditioning bringing on dreams of summer vacations to faraway places! I’ve always loved the work of Jill Ricci for her brilliant way of combining exotic motifs with pop art and urban graphics and her mixed media piece, Roam, perfectly inspires an urban globetrotter ensemble! This Mintzita Maxi Dress from Anthropologie embodies a free spirited, exotic traveler type.

art | find it here

inspiration | find it here

dress | find it here

How to make it just a tad more Ricci? Edge up the dress’s sweetness with a moto jacket and Chuck Taylors and suddenly it’s like you are living it up Ricci-style. Roam, if you want to. 😉

See more of the Wear the Artsy series in the archives!

All image sources linked above.

May 7, 2014
Natural Synthetics: Shane McAdams

When I was a little girl, like every other kid, I loved going to places like the zoo, Disney World & Busch Gardens. I reveled in the feeling of being in exotic places without losing familiar comforts and conveniences. Then as I grew older and especially since Mr. F & I have been traveling, I’ve realized that there are far more amazing places existing in their natural states than man could ever conceive of. In his mixed media work, Brooklyn based artist Shane McAdams addresses the duality of nature versus man-imitating-nature.

In these brilliantly detailed landscapes, McAdams uses familiar mediums like ballpoint pen and Elmer’s glue in unusual applications against traditionally rendered landscapes. The result is what appears to be a pushing in or pulling apart of the scene, symbolic of artificial forces rendering their effect on the natural world. I love the way bright colors seem to melt from the landscape, giving to me, the effect of revealing the artificiality of a constructed scene. What we see isn’t always what it seems, especially when touched by the hand of man.

To see more of Shane McAdams‘ work, please visit his website. Interested in another artist working in ballpoint? Check out Joan Salo.

All images via the artist’s website.

May 7, 2014
In Shatters: Jessica McCambly

Some of my art experiences here in Eureka have been of the “iceberg tip” kind. I discover artists by seeing work in person that is a bit interesting, then upon further online investigation, discover that there is so much more. San Diego artist Jessica McCambly, whose work I saw recently at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, works in the very nature of a first glance drawn into an intimate viewing.

McCambly creates these tiny paintings ( the larger pieces pictured above are zoomed in details, most work is on 7×7 or 10×10 paper ) using a unique mixture of acrylic and glass fragments. The resulting paintings are these beautiful little jeweled microcosms. They could be geodes or macro images of crystals, or aerial views of geothermal pools. There is a quality of a world to be discovered in each minute piece, drawing us in for a closer view.

To see more of Jessica McCambly‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

May 1, 2014
Stratified Spaces: Pam Saturday

When you think about it, our entire world, every organism, every object is composed of a system of layers. Artwork included, especially the work of process driven artist Pam Saturday. Employing layer upon layer of paint and other media, the artist creates a universe in which we see only a fraction of reality.

Bold stripes and other forms may dominate, but for the close observer, there are small glimpses and surprises waiting to be discovered. Colors peek and peer from beneath their blankets of paint and we have no idea how much there is to be unearthed.

To see more of Pam Saturday‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

April 30, 2014
Time, Worn: Kathe Fraga

I may have mentioned before how enchanting I’m finding our new temporary home. Eureka’s Victorian architecture is very well preserved, many of the buildings have been lovingly restored or revamped. There is such beauty, grace and elegance to be found in every detail. The work of Bainbridge Island artist Kathe Fraga recalls the fanciful beauty of those departed days.

Modern frescoed canvases bring to mind Chinoisserie wallpaper, layers of reminders of sweet lives and loves of the past. Dark, smudged edges reinforce that feeling of antiquity, yet Fraga’s painterly style and composition give the work a modern edge. Like wearing your grandmother’s pearls with a biker jacket. Sweet but not saccharine.

To see more of Kathe Fraga‘s work, make sure you check out her website. You can see her work in person at a number of representing galleries, including one of my favorites, Gallery Orange in New Orleans. Oh and she is now offering gorgeous pillows featuring her imagery!

All images via the artist’s website.

April 25, 2014
Earthly Balance: Hannah Chalew

This planet we live on is an incredible example of a delicate balancing. I’m always amazed to read stories about the ripple effect one tiny plant or micro organism may have on an entire eco-culture. Often it is man whose hand begins the tidal wave. In her work, New Orleans artist Hannah Chalew explores the tenuous relationship between nature and the built environment.

Much like the work of Jess Riva Cooper, Chalew examines the idea of the built environment being overtaken and pushed back to the earth. So often it is man and his development that does the encroaching, providing an interesting juxtaposition when plant life is given the opportunity to reclaim what was.

To see more of Hannah Chalew‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

April 24, 2014

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