During our time here in Joshua Tree, Mr. Forager & I often find ourselves talking about what makes this place so different compared to everywhere else we’ve lived. Apart from the obvious, there is such an openness to the landscape here that creates incredible beauty, and yet, there is no place to hide abandoned buildings, rusted out cars and windblown trash. The paintings of Dallas artist Kim Cadmus Owens featured familiar lonely landscapes, infused with color and fractured lines inspired by technological irregularities.
Lounge, oil on canvas, 48×48Smoke and Mirrors: Coming and Going, acrylic and oil on canvas, 156×48
Just as the forsaken buildings once loved and cared may now be hazardous eye sores, our relationship with technology and electronic communication also shifts and evolves. We long for the immediate connection it allows, yet find ourselves frustrated and often unable to cope when the lines of communication go awry.
Pawn, carbon and acrylic on beveled wood panel, 24×30Grand, carbon and acrylic on beveled wood panel, 24×30Leader, carbon and acrylic on beveled wood panel, 24×30
We love how easy it is to connect and yet balk at how those systems of connection invade our privacy. We often find ourselves forsaking the people sitting right next to us for those on the tiny screen in our hands, just as we abandon old buildings full of character and history for shiny new strip malls. Owens use of fragmented lines and color in her work remind us that those connections have broken.
Cheap, acrylic and oil on canvas, 48×48
To see more of the work of Kim Cadmus Owens, please visit her website. How have you seen your relationships and landscape change with the changes in technology? What do you do to combat against a reliance on electronic communication & gadgets galore?
We had such a fabulous response to last month’sArt Association that Erin of artsocial, my AA partner and I immediately started choosing artists and planning for the next few rounds. I know everyone loved Christina Baker’s work and pinned like nobody’s business to win that lovely little painting! ( PS– Christina’s work will be available in our first exhibition & sale, which begins tomorrow! ) I think you’re going to love this month’s catalyst & prize just as much! My own pinboard was incredibly fun & inspiring to put together– I didn’t want to stop pinning, but somebody has to write this here blog.
If you’re new to Art Association, here’s the lowdown– You create a Pinterest board around one work of art ( which we provide ), filled with anything and everything that pops into your mind while gazing at the catalyst piece.
So without further ado, I present to you, dear Artsies, your catalyst artwork for this month’s AA, Yellow Rose No. 2 by Emily Jeffords!
Step 2 | You create a Pinterest board titled Art Association, like mine here, where you pin any and all images you associate with the featured artwork ( like word associations, only visual )– here’s a sneak peek at some of my associations
Step 3 | Leave a link to your Art Association pinboard in the Comments section of this post
The pinner who is deemed the winner ( hee ) will be the proud new owner of this beautiful Emily Jeffords original lithograph! Stem + Orchid is an original lithograph and comes matted for an overall size of 12″ x 13″. Wouldn’t this be a lovely addition to a gallery wall or propped prettily on a bookcase?! **
Stem + Orchid by Emily Jeffords
The pinner with the best Art Association board ( as judged by me and Erin ) will be chosen on Wednesday, February 27th at 5pm (mountain standard time). I’m looking forward to seeing all the creative associations you come up with! Ooooh, I just thought of another one!
Ready, set.. PIN!!
**So sorry but the contest is open to US residents only. I know. Pooh.
It is a special gift bestowed upon artists to take what is ugly and make it beautiful. In his Recycle series, photographer Cristobal Valecillos uses every day materials to craft the fashions and sets he then photographs, so that what is often never looked twice upon becomes elevated to extraordinary.
Tea Time, archival digital print on metallic paper on plexiglass, 26×36
Every single thing but the models in each set is carefully crafted from pizza boxes, Starbucks sleeves, newspapers, etc., giving each design incredible texture and depth. The fashions seem to fit the models as well as any couture, and the drama of what seems to be unfolding in the expanded scenes lends those pieces in particular a wonderfully theatrical quality.
Doubt, archival digital print on metallic paper on plexiglass, 53×35Olga, archival digital print on metallic paper on plexiglass, 60×36Untitled, archival digital print on metallic paper on plexiglass, 60×36
I spotted Valecillos’ work several times at the LA Art Show and the photographs, mounted on plexiglass are sleek and beautiful in person. However, it was the artist’s cardboard sculptures and set installation that really stayed with me. A reminder that every thing around us is temporary and fleeting, every chair we covet and save for, every piece of art hanging on our walls, every item of clothing carefully chosen.
Organic A, archival digital print on metallic paper on plexiglass, 24×36
In his artist statement, Valecillos alludes to the creation of beauty from waste, using recycling to inspire art. For me, I see in his work more of a statement upon the artificiality and ephemeral nature of the world we find ourselves in. What do you see?
To see more of Cristobal Valecillos’ work, please visit his website.
All images are via the website of the artist’s representing gallery, The McLoughlin Gallery.
Collage seems to be the “it” medium these days. And why not? It takes a gifted eye for composition, color, and visual texture to make a collage that stands out amid the throng. French artist Pascaline Dargant’s collages are beautifully simple yet remarkably memorable. My new collage crush! I’m sharing her work today in my Artist Watch over on Escape Into Life. Check out the post here!
21st century humans are over thinkers. In this age of almost unlimited information access, we Google it, Wikipedia it, overanalyzing most anything and everything that comes our way. The moments in which we just lose ourselves to what is happening right that very secondare increasingly rare. Los Angeles artist Jan Zoya intentionally strives to keep the intellect out of her work, resulting in abstract paintings that are free from constraint.
Castle in the Sky, oil on canvas, 23×23Ramshackle Harbor, oil on canvas, 30×30
Her journeys in paint become a conversation on canvas, a talk between color, texture and what emerges. Between the path the artist decides to pursue and the road not taken.
City at Night, mixed media on canvas, 36×48Garden of Earthly Delights, mixed media on canvas, 17×23Daisychains Around the Maypole, mixed media on canvas, 36×36
As I mentioned in a post last week, I’m learning how to have these conversations in paint. To let your brain take a vacation while you paint is very difficult to do! We’re always wanting to know, what will the outcome be? Where is this going? When will we get there? But as in Zoya’s work, I found that it was when I stopped thinking that the magical combination of instinct and intuition took over. And the journey became much more interesting!
Passage, mixed media on canvas, 36×36
To see more of Jan Zoya’s work, please visit her website and give her Facebook page a like, too!
Sometimes the amount of garbage we accumulate in a week completely shocks us. We wonder how in the world two adults could create so much waste. We do try to be aware of our consumption and curtail it wherever we can. The work of French artists Hortense Le Calvez and Matthieu Goussin aka Forlane 6 Studio speaks to the human race’s over consumption and the consequences it will eventually bring.
Ordinary, mass produced objects, decorated with “seaweed” and “tentacles” are submerged. These objects, which weigh so heavily on many of our lives and the earth in general, gloat weightlessly.
This slowness of movement contradicts the rate at which so many of these objects are consumed and disposed of. The objects seem at once foreign and organic to the sea’s atmosphere. Perhaps in a nod to how we fool ourselves into thinking that buying that next thing we don’t really need doesn’t make a difference.
To see more of the work of Forlane 6 Studio, please visit their website and be sure to follow their Facebook page, where they’ve recently posted photos of a new installation!
Perhaps some pretty flowers arrived at your house yesterday? Maybe not ones of the Christy Kinard variety ( but if so, LUCKY!! ), but the sweetly scented kind. Pray tell, what did you do with your floral treasure? Please don’t say you just left them in the boring, cheap-o, mass manufactured vase they came in! A beautiful token of love deserves a special vessel. An artsy vessel. Here are a few I would happily grace with blooms!
Green, Yellow, and Red Ceramic Pot by Esther Griffith
Hope you the lovey doveyness keeps coming your way! I’m off to Palm Springs today for the Palm Springs Art Fair, looking forward to spending the day discovering more artsy to share with you!
**this vase is extra special because it is emblazened with lyrics from mine & Mr. Forager’s song. It’s not super mushy, but it fits us perfectly!
Happy Valentine’s Day, Artsies! Back in my singleton days, February 14th brought out the snarky cynic in me. I even owned and regularly sported a “Love Stinks” t-shirt. But ever since Mr. Forager finally realized he loved me, I’ve retired my sarcastic tee and look forward to this celebration of love. For millions of people, this day is all about sending and receiving beautiful bouquets of flowers. What could be more romantic? I say nothing says love like a painted bundle of blooms by Atlanta artist Christy Kinard!
Stripes and Roses, mixed media, 36×36
Kinard is obviously an artist painting what she loves and having the most fabulous time doing it! Her work is filled with such joyful energy, it is impossible to look upon it and be sad. Go ahead, try. See? The candy colored palette alone makes me want to sing silly love songs and dance in the kitchen with Mr. Forager.
Peacock Roses, mixed media, 48×48Yellow II, mixed media, 36×36
Kinard’s bouquets aren’t perfect and polished, they’re a bit messy and layered with textures. This isn’t modern, sophisticated, too cool for school kind of love. It’s your grandparents’ love. The kind that sits on a porch swing every evening. The kind that still holds hands after sixty years. This is what love is really like.
Pink, Yellow, Orange XOXO, mixed media, 36×36
How are you celebrating love today, Artsies? To see more of Christy Kinard’s work, please visit her website and show her some love on Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest!
I hope you don’t mind if I get personal. Something has been missing from my life. I was seeing it every day from all points, sharing with you when I found it elsewhere, yet finding it lacking for myself. I’m talkin’ about the ARTSY. You see, once upon a time, I could paint. I could draw. And I loved it. But post-college, life happened, I got a string of “real jobs” ( art related, fortunately ) and in general, the busyness of life took over. Occasionally I would dust off my paints and brushes, but those creative rendezvous where growing fewer and farther in between.
You might think that the perfect opportunity to get back into it came when Mr. Forager & I began traveling. No longer would I have the constraints of working a 40+ hour work week, no longer would I be maintaining and upkeeping a house, we’d be far from family, so no excuse of making time for everyone but me. And I did think about it. But it scared the daylights out of me. That little voice inside ( you know, the nasty, mean one ) told me I’d waited too long. Any skill I’d cultivated and talent I’d had was gone. Who was I to try to be an artist? I worked with and personally knew so many phenomenally talented artists. I didn’t feel worthy of even trying to join their ranks. So I choose to stretch my creative muscles in a different direction– I wrote about those phenomenal talents here on the blog. All the while knowing something was missing.
Instead of cultivating my own creative spirit, I’d thrown all my energy into celebrating the creativity of others. Please don’t get me wrong, I adore creating, writing, and developing Artsy Forager! Yet I find myself feeling envious of all the artists I was discovering. HE has such a way with paint, SHE can draw like nobody’s business. I wanted to get back the artistic mojo I’d been missing. For Christmas 2011, Mr. Forager gave me a new set of acrylics and a full-size foldable easel. I’m ashamed to say I can count on two fingers the times I’ve used them. There always seemed to be a reason not to. But now we’ve been here in Joshua Tree for 4 months with 2 1/2 more to go. We’re in a house big enough for me to have room to paint. No more excuses.
So Sunday, while Mr. Forager was brewing beer, I got out my paints and brushes and set up my easel. Underpainting, done. Easy enough, just a wash of phthalo blue. There was a photograph I’d taken of rocks in water that I decided to use as my jumping off point. I sketched in the shadows and forms and started pushing in color and highlights. But it wasn’t working. At times it looked OK, I started to remember what I loved about the process, but then it all seemed to fall apart. I hated what I was doing. I didn’t find it at all creative or inspiring. Mr. F could tell it wasn’t going well. He lovingly reminded me that this was supposed to be fun. And correctly pointed out that maybe I was just trying too hard. I continued to stew and then just got mad. At myself. And with that, I did what most angry artists would do– I destroyed what I’d done with more paint. I slashed cadmium yellow and alizarin crimson all over the tight, controlled mess I’d already concocted. And I immediately felt better. And inspired.
I continued just freely pushing paint, slashing, spraying, muddying, wiping, taking a break and then doing it all again. Mr. F brought me a glass of Kona Koko Brown, one of the few beers I love, and I continued to play. I forgot that I was trying to make “art” and just enjoyed how the colors were working and what the paint was doing. I could see something emerging that made me happy. I was loving the way the colors were mixing, the way light was coming through. I had a breakthrough. You can see the results of my day below.
Kintla Lake ( detail ), acrylic on board, 12×16
Do I think this is the most fabulous inspiring painting I’ve ever seen? Not even close. But compared to where I began that day, I’m pretty happy. It feels good to have a visceral connection to paint again. I have a long way to go. But I’ve vowed to try to create something every day, whether it be just a sketch or a quick study in paint on paper. I’m even inspired to begin a series ( more on that later ). My creative muscles need exercise. I’m sharing this with you because I’m sure you’ve experienced something similar. And because I needed to tell someone. And I need accountability. So if you don’t mind, I’ll occasionally share a little of my own artistic journey. It will be nice to have some company.
After my grandmother died, there were a few pieces of her clothing that I kept just because they reminded me of her. Even a few years after she was gone, you could catch the faint scent of her perfume in the cloth. Clothing is so deeply personal, it lies close to our skin, keeps us warm and dry, carrying with it memories of moments, past lives and future hopes. Finnish installation artist Kaarin Kaikkonen embraces the influence clothing has over us in her site specific installations.
Kaikkonen’s installations began with the hanging of men’s jackets, a coping mechanism of sorts in dealing with the loss of her own father. She would eventually shift to women’s clothing in memory of her mother. Her most recent installation, though, turns her eye upon children and gender roles. Children’s clothing is strung in rows, subtly organized by color. The blues and pinks face off, yet as the lines recede, the colors fade. Perhaps a symbolic nod to how traditional gender roles have always been the “loudest voices”?
What we chose to clothe ourselves in does say something about who are. Whether we are designer label fiends or thrift store junkies, what we wear tells the world our story with one glance. Even Mr. Forager, who claims not to care about fashion, is still picky about his clothing choices! What story are your clothes telling?
You can find more of Kaarina Kaikkonen’s work on her website.
Artist found via This is Colossal. All images via their website.
