You may remember the fabulous work of Shaun Kardinal, featured a few months ago. I was completely smitten by his technique of combining found materials and embroidered elements in such an artistic way. Along with Shaun, there are other artists putting their own spin on this way of working. Here are a few of my faves!
British Vogue Cover, Deconstructed by Inge JacobsenPaula by Stacey PageDance 8 by RomussiLucky JacksonWork on Paper #14 by Hinke Schreuders
You may have noticed that I’ve been a bit out of touch for the last few days.. or maybe you haven’t.. 😉 Hubby and I moved rentals and getting the internet connection to work with our Mac has been a bit of a challenge. And then there’s the unpacking and getting settled part AND we have very dear friends coming to visit tomorrow! Needless to say, things are busier than normal in my crazy little life. So please forgive me if the blog posts are not as chatty as usual!
Today’s artist, Laurel Sparks, uses interlacing lines and shapes to create her mixed media abstracts. Each piece becomes a web-like beacon, inviting us in to explore the world that she has crafted.
God’s Eye, acrylic, marble dust, paper mache, glitter, pom-poms on canvas, 36×39Constellation, acrylic, marble dust, paper mache, glitter, pom-poms on canvas, 36×39
Her use of unexpected materials like rhinestones, pom-poms and “googly-eyes”, keep the work feeling fresh and feminine. Yet her use of graphic pattern and colors produce bold compositions.
Conflagration, acrylic, marble dust, paper mache, glitter, beads, rhinestones on canvas, 36×33Forum, acrylic, marble dust, paper mache, glitter, beads on canvas, 39×36
To see more of Laurel Sparks’ work, please visit her website.
Featured image is Gris Gris, acrylic, gouache, marble dust, colored pencil, black glitter, googly eyes on canvas, 27×31. All images are via the artist’s website.
One of the things I love about my husband is how excited he gets about wildflowers. He is the manliest of men, but when spring arrives, he begins the hunt for perfumed beauties. Our camera card gets filled with glorious specimens to remember and identify. We joyfully observe butterflies and bees making their rounds, testing each bud. Artist Jennifer Bain shares our fascination with the beauty that awaits just outside our windows.
Regeneration, mixed media on panel, 24×24
Like yesterday’s artist, Charlene Liu, Bain takes the traditional floral still life and reinvents it. Each work may contain a few realistic portrayals of birds or flowers, but it is the juxtaposition of more contemporary, silhouetted elements and textile-like patterns that give these pieces post-modern punch.
Uphill Climb, mixed media on panel, 12×12
The simple linear shapes give the work a fleeting, unfinished quality which creates a beautifully dynamic tension between those and the more detailed elements.
Seekers, mixed media on panel, 36×48
Butterflies and birds flit across each piece, seeming to be drunk on loveliness. Like the butterflies, I too, would love to dance among these beauties.
Pretty Bird, mixed media on panel, 36×48Swallowtail, mixed media on panel, 18×24
To see more of Jennifer Bain’s work, please visit her website. Oh and Jennifer is another artist represented by Skidmore Contemporary. I told you they had great taste!
PS– Didn’t realize when scheduling these posts that I featured two floral artists within two days. I’m interested to hear your takes on both!
I like to think that a big part of an artist’s purpose is to present the world with a new way of seeing something familiar. Assumptions that were once made and scenes taken for granted are turned on their ear by the artist’s unique vision. In Eugene, Oregon artist Charlene Liu’s most recent body of work, the artist takes an often prosaic subject and gives it fresh, new life.
Her use of handmade paper brings the organic nature of her creations to the forefront. She then takes her playfulness with material a step further, using pigmented pulp to create her delicate floral palette.
Swoops and Cyclone, watercolor, handmade paper, pigmented pulp, 40.5×50.5
Like a cottage garden, the elements of each work are layered and wild, where floral still lifes were once a staid domain, they are now delicately set free.
Mad Bloom, mixed media on paper, 30×30
To see more of Charlene Liu’s work, please visit the website of her representing gallery, Taylor de Cordoba, another of my favorite gallery resources for amazing work!
Featured image is Mad Bloom, mixed media on paper, 30×30. All images are via the Taylor de Cordoba website.
I have such admiration for people who live moment to moment, seizing each day as if it were their last. The artwork of Houston artist Michelle Y. Williams is the artistic equivalent of the ultimate in uninhibited spontaneity.
Plan I, mixed media on canvas, 56×58
Perhaps it is the perceived improvisation of abstracts like Williams’ that attracts me so deeply. They call to the place in my spirit that longs to be the kind of person who doesn’t need to plan carefully, one who can just pick up and go at a moment’s notice.
12-143, mixed media, 12×12
Pops of fluid color flow across the canvas among veiled foggy tones and textures, like vivid mirage-like pools.
Plan K, mixed media on canvas, 52×52
In the midst of the tonal textures, we find surprises of color and light. It’s almost as if we’re wandering lost through the fog, catching glimpses of life in the mist.
Plan h, mixed media on canvas, 56×58Plan i, mixed media on canvas, 56×58
Please visit Michelle Y. Williams’ website to see more of her work. If you happen to be near Tulsa, OK, be sure to check out her current exhibition at Exhibit by Abersons, a beautifully curated gallery!
Featured image is Plan G, mixed media on canvas, 77×39. All images are via the artist’s website.
In case you can’t tell by the blog’s background, I have a favorite color. I love most of the blue family, but am always immediately drawn to the color turquoise. Or, as my niece Kendall calls it “toy-quoise”. So it should come as no surprise that my favorite artwork includes a heavy dose of my beloved hue. Here are some turquoise favorites I’m digging this week:
Gypsy Blue by Erin AshleyThe Search For Green by Jeanne OpgenhaffenEnhanced Sunspots After Galileo I by Rachel BrumerWish You Were Here by Josh ReamesUnobstructed Effort by Sharon Booma
With the advances in communication and technology, our world in many ways seems much smaller than it once was. But it also feels like we’re losing touch even as the lines of communication are more open and free. How many times have you been guilty of texting instead of calling? Substituting online interaction for the real people just outside your door? The work of mixed media artist Clark Goolsby reminds us just how fractured our world has become.
Plastic Messiah, mixed media on linen over panel, 18×24
Culture and news spreads more rapidly than ever, for better or worse, lives can be changed overnight thanks to media exposure. Families text, Twitter and Facebook each other while in the same house, even the same room, instead of having a real conversation. Almost all of our needs can be met online– work, news, reading, shopping, etc. and the more we rely on it, the more insidious it may become.
Unknown Degredations, mixed media on wool over panel, 16×20
Goolsby’s use of line recalls the wires and cables that connect us and make all of this communication possible. But we also see in his use of graphics lettering & images and brightly hued, fractured geometric forms that this bombardment of media, though enticing, takes it toll on our psyche and our relationships.
Untitled III, mixed media on canvas, 12×12
I’m as guilty of the overuse of technology as anyone. I write this blog. I use Facebook & email as my primary means of communication with friends & family who are far away. But nothing beats a day spent outdoors with my husband or having a face to face conversation with a friend.
Untitled Shape I, mixed media on canvas, 54×68Scrape, mixed media on canvas, 30×24
Do you have a strategy to avoid communication overload? Please visit Clark Goolsby’s website to see more of his work. But after you’ve spent some time with his work, turn off your computer and talk to a loved one face to face. 😉
When you were young, did you ever dream of living in make believe places? Like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, The Jetson’s futuristic abode or maybe the Smurfs’ village? The work of Tory Cowles reminds me of the bright, whimsical worlds that inhabit our childhoods.
#495, mixed media, 60×48
Given that Cowles’ background includes working in interior design, woodworking and carpentry, it makes perfect sense that her abstract mixed media work would have an architectural quality.
#562, mixed media, 48×48
She’s creating landscapes full of whimsy and imagination, an abstracted, make-believe toyland where you might feel like you looking right into Candyland.
#642, acrylic on canvas, 72×60
Cowles’ work reminds me of hours spend building houses and worlds out of anything we could find– blocks, spools, pipe cleaners, my grandmother’s colorful Tupperware. Worlds that appeal to the child in all of us, yet are sophisticated enough for adult eyes.
#596, mixed media, 48×60#569, mixed media, 48×48
To see more of Tory Cowles’ work, please visit her website.
Featured image is #495, mixed media, 60×48. All images are via the artist’s website.
The first time I saw the work of Jill Ricci, I was completely smitten. Her palette, use of texture, pattern and materials lend such a glamourous edge to her work. Wonderfully feminine and sophisticated yet rustic-ly urban. I’m giddy to have her as the Facebook Featured Artist for May! So much so that I find myself going to the Artsy Forager Facebook page just to gaze at her cover image. Is that weird?
Breathing Room, mixed media on canvas, 48×24
Her work reminds me of the things I love so much about New York– the glamour and elegance of the city, its history and architecture, how it teems with life and colorful characters.
Decadent, mixed media on canvas, 48×36
But even as we idealize the city, it hits us with its grittiness, its realness. As the song goes, “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.” Ricci’s work shares that same energy, stubbornness and passion.
Star-Crossed, mixed media on canvas, 14×14
Like apartment windows in the city, each portal in Ricci’s work is a glimpse into a different world– graphic niches to discover and explore.
Thoughtful, mixed media on canvas, 48×30Happening, mixed media on canvas, 30×40
If you haven’t done so already, head over to the Artsy Forager Facebook page to see an album of more of my Jill Ricci faves– tell me which is your favorite! And of course, check out her website for even more gorgeousness!
Featured image is Bullseye, mixed media on canvas, 48×24. All images are via the artist’s website.
I absolutely adore work that is marries striking visual elements and imagination stirring imagery. Come and take a magical ride through Geoff Mitchell’s work with me over on Escape Into Life today!
