artsy forager

Author: Lesley

  • This Artsy Life: Weekend 21 [ Roamin’ in the Rain ]

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 21 [ Roamin’ in the Rain ]

    As we thought it would, the rainy days came back full force here in Seattle, just in time for the long holiday weekend! That didn’t stop Mr. Forager & I from getting out and exploring some new ‘hoods. We checked out up & coming neighborhood Columbia City ( rumored to be the most diverse neighborhood in the US! ), discovered lots of Asian goodies & yummies at Uwajimaya Market in the International District, roamed around the uber trendy and totally fun nightlife on Capitol Hill and picnicked in the rain at Chateau Ste. Michelle, along with thousands of other Seattleites. One of my favorite things about Seattle? No one lets a few raindrops spoil their fun. Gotta love the determination!

    20130528-111149.jpg
    [ columbia city ]

    20130528-111223.jpg
    [ those streaks are rain drops.. 😉 ]

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    [ periodicals at uwajimaya ]

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    [ i promise, mr. f, i was trying to get a pic of the wine bottle in hand ]

    20130528-111841.jpg

    [ international district ]

    Hope you enjoyed lots of fun in the sun in your neck of the woods!  See more from This Artsy Life on Instagram here.

    All images by Artsy Forager.

     

  • Artsy on Escape Into Life: Max Warsh

    Artsy on Escape Into Life: Max Warsh

    When I first saw the collage work of  Max Warsh on Pattern Pulp, I totally fell for it– hook, line & sinker.  The combinations of visual textures in such limited palettes is just stunning!  See more from him in my Artist Watch on Escape Into Life today here !

    Untitled by Max Warsh
    Untitled by Max Warsh

    Max Warsh on Escape Into Life

  • The Lovely Randoms: Landon Metz

    The Lovely Randoms: Landon Metz

    I love the surprise of a random find.  Whether it’s wonderfully creative and delicious food out of a tiny, tucked away dive or as simple as a pink flower growing amongst the rocks.  New York artist Landon Metz creates work that is simple and arbitrarily lovely.

    Metz_Varying Degrees of Absurdity (V)_dye and canvas_50x62.5
    Varying Degrees of Absurdity ( V ), dye and canvas, 50×62.5
    Metz_Varying Degrees of Absurdity (II)_dye and canvas_50x62.5
    Varying Degrees of Absurdity ( II ), dye and canvas, 50×62.5

    The artist composes loose, casual compositions, in a subtle mostly pastel palette, punctuated by forms in dark hues of midnight blue and mossy greens.  The shapes recall pieces of torn and scattered paper, their edges appearing to be weathered and worn.

    Metz_Varying Degrees of Absurdity (III)_dye and canvas_50x62.5
    Varying Degrees of Absurdity ( III ), dye and canvas, 50×62.5
    Metz_Varying Degrees of Absurdity (I)_dye and canvas_50x62.5
    Varying Degrees of Absurdity ( I ), dye and canvas, 50×62.5

    While our eye might at first perceive the compositions as accidental, we soon grow to see that each shape has been carefully and thoughtfully placed.  The result is work that gives the viewer a feeling of both freedom and balance.

    Metz_Varying Degrees of Absurdity (IV)_dye and canvas_50x62.5
    Varying Degrees of Absurdity ( IV ), dye and canvas, 50×62.5

    Want to see more lovely randoms from Landon Metz?  Please visit the artist’s website here.

    All images via the artist’s website.

  • Out of the Mystic: Spencer Herr

    Out of the Mystic: Spencer Herr

    When we were in San Francisco, the famous San Fran fog had taken the day off in exchange for record setting heat.  But that didn’t stop us from experiencing it thanks to artist Fujiko Nakaya’s Fog Bridge.  There was something mysterious and magical about walking through the fog, then emerging into the bright sunlight.  In his work, self-taught artist Spencer Herr embraces the power of the emerging figure.

    Roman Trip
    Roman Trip

    Herr’s figures, starkly enshrouded within their backgrounds seem to be just breaking through the surface.  Or perhaps the opposite is happening.  Are they being enveloped by their surroundings?

    Herr_Tally Mark_acrylic on birch panel_48x36
    Tally Mark, acrylic on birch panel, 48×36
    Herr_Slow Draw_acrylic on birch panel_36x48
    Slow Draw, acrylic on birch panel, 36×48
    Herr_Beloved_acrylic on birch panel_48x36
    Beloved, acrylic on birch panel, 48×36

    Keeping the compositions simple allows the viewer to compose his own story.  Like stills from a movie whose story we do not know, we are left to ponder who these figures might be and from what place they are emerging.

    Herr_Trip_acrylic on birch panel
    Trip, acrylic on birch panel

    To see more of Spencer Herr’s work, please visit his website.

    All images via the artist’s website.

  • Design Foraging: Rainy Day Artsy

    Design Foraging: Rainy Day Artsy

    When we arrived in Seattle and pretty much for the last few weeks, the weather has been glorious.  As in uncharacteristic bright skies and unseasonable warmth.  At first we thought it some kind of cosmic joke– we’d left Florida, then most recently the California desert, to escape the heat, thinking we’d be safe from it in Seattle..  But we found that we didn’t flee in vain.  The grey skies, soft drizzle and cool temperatures returned this week, leaving me ready for a quiet day spent doing rainy day fun.  Here are a few artsy essentials I found to aid in the soggy fun!

    Delicious: The Life and Art of Wayne Thiebaud
    Delicious: The Life and Art of Wayne Thiebaud

    find it here

    Print Burst Umbrella
    Print Burst Umbrella

    find it here

    Emobossed Dots Mug
    Emobossed Dots Mug

    find it here

    Cavez Rain Boot
    Cavez Rain Boot

    find it here

    Mosaic Dots Tote
    Mosaic Dots Tote

    find it here

    On damp days, we love to sit for hours in a coffee shop, chatting and reading.  Mr. F likes to tour breweries ( that’s on sunny days, too 😉 ) and I love to spend rainy afternoons wandering around a favorite art museum.  What are some of your favorite activities for the days of grey?

    All images linked above.

  • Eccentric Circles: Loretta Lux

    Eccentric Circles: Loretta Lux

    There are artists who take a subject which might, in other hands, be cloying and saccharine, and create imagery that is interesting, intriguing and ok, perhaps a teeny bit creepy.  It is in that contradiction that photographer Loretta Lux has found her own sweet spot.

    Hopper
    Hopper

    I first discovered Lux’s work through The Jealous Curator site, where blogger Danielle Krysa compared Lux’s figures to characters from of Wes Anderson film.  I totally see it.

    Marianne
    Marianne
    Boy in Yellow Pullover
    Boy in Yellow Pullover

    Thanks to her pale, subtle palette, absence of detail and painterly use of light and composition, Lux has created portraits that are eccentric and just so slightly off in a wonderfully delightful way.

    The Waiting Girl
    The Waiting Girl

    To see more of Loretta Lux’s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Life in Balance: Ben Fiess

    Life in Balance: Ben Fiess

    Mr. Forager & I both marvel at the way architects here in the Northwest deal with the terrain.  Houses and other structures are built to hug the earth or conform to it, often leaving us wondering what a feat of design and engineering it took to solve that problem!  The ceramic compositions of Philadelphia artist Ben Fiess  remind me of those precariously perched buildings.. seemingly random or off-kilter, yet as a whole making perfect sense.

    BC: DD: DB:: YW, porcelain, stoneware, fabric, tape, wood, 23x10x7 cm
    BC: DD: DB:: YW, porcelain, stoneware, fabric, tape, wood, 23x10x7 cm
    BL:: DD:: DO:: FS, porcelain, fabric, 23x10x7 cm
    BL:: DD:: DO:: FS, porcelain, fabric, 23x10x7 cm

    Fiess, whose more practical design I featured in last week’s Design Foraging, puts together these compositions with great care and concern for the elements of texture, materials and space.  Indeed, each piece seems like a perfectly balanced still life in three dimensions.

    GP: FS: SD:: PB, porcelain, stoneware, lizella, felt, rubberband, 23x13x7 cm
    GP: FS: SD:: PB, porcelain, stoneware, lizella, felt, rubberband, 23x13x7 cm

    In addition to line, form, and texture, color plays a key part in Fiess’s compositions.  He works within a tight palette, each cool tone balanced by the natural warmth of wood and textile elements.

    IW: WP: DD:: LB, porcelain, izella, wood, felt, tape
    IW: WP: DD:: LB, porcelain, izella, wood, felt, tape
    IC: SB: PS:: GD, porcelain, stoneware, felt, tape
    IC: SB: PS:: GD, porcelain, stoneware, felt, tape

    Want to see more of Ben Fiess’s work?  Be sure to check out his website here.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

     

  • Artsy on Escape Into Life: Anna Pogossova

    Artsy on Escape Into Life: Anna Pogossova

    When I first saw the work of photographer Anna Pogossova on The Artful Desperado blog, I was completely enchanted by her use of color.  So I couldn’t resist featuring her in my Artist Watch on Escape Into Life!  Check out more of her work over on EIL here.

    Anna Pogossova
    Anna Pogossova

    Anna Pogossova on Escape Into Life

  • The Pleasure of the Journey: Charlotte Foust

    The Pleasure of the Journey: Charlotte Foust

    Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Life is a journey, not a destination.”  Do you think the same is true of a piece of artwork?  We place so much value in the end result, the “finished” painting, sculpture, or photograph, that sometimes we spend little time thinking about the pilgrimage the artist undertakes to get there.  Abstract painter Charlotte Foust finds delight in each mark making expedition upon which she embarks, each painting becoming a travel journal of her creative adventure.

    Untitled
    Untitled
    Summer's Day
    Summer’s Day

    Our vagabondish life has afforded us some pretty incredible adventures.  We’ve lived in the mountains, the desert, and in the city.  Every voyage to the next destination has brought us new discoveries and places to remember.  Foust uses the strokes she makes with paint, graphite and collage to mark a part of the journey of her creative process.  In finding her way through the work, she is discovering the painting that longs to be found.

    Foust_Untitled2
    Untitled
    Untitled
    Untitled

    As she explores, she invites us along for the ride.  We can the breadcrumbs of her expedition in each brushstroke and are happily taken to our final destination.

    To see more of Charlotte Foust’s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

     

     

  • This Artsy Life: Weekend 20 [ Discovering and Settling In ]

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 20 [ Discovering and Settling In ]

    This was the first weekend that felt like we actually lived here.  We weren’t running around and unpacking all weekend ( although there was a little of that ).  We had the luxury of sleeping in, exploring and discovering.  A bike trail just around the corner from our apartment happily leads almost directly to Pike Place Market where we explored the seafood and produce stands and Mr. Forager bought me a bouquet of poppies.  Which we quickly realized don’t last very long… We explored our neighborhood and searched out what are already becoming a few favorite spots.

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    [ calder sculpture and space needle ]

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    [ pike place poppies ]

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    [ publicly artsy ]

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    [ my favorite steps in magnolia ]

    How about you, Artsies?  Did you get out and explore this weekend?  Any exciting discoveries?  Want to see more from This Artsy Life?  Follow me on Instagram!

    All images by Artsy Forager.