Artists featured in a solo spot on Artsy Forager
Special treat for your Monday! Due to Escape Into Life website maintenance, my EIL feature ran early yesterday. Head over and enjoy!
Love at first sight. That’s what I felt for Jill Ricci’s work. The colors! The texture! The graphics! I love it all and am sharing it over on Escape Into Life today. Click on the link below to fall in love!
Isn’t it funny how seeing an object from our past will immediately take us back to a certain time and place? It seems that we have an innate sense of nostalgia within us, whether we relate our memories to a place, an object, a film, a piece of music. Ceramic artist Karen Shapiro, after working for years as a pastry chef, now creates raku concoctions of iconic products from long ago and what will soon be past.
Just looking through the images of her work, memories come flooding back. As a young girl, I used to love to buy Barnum’s Animal Cracker boxes. It was like a little purse with cookies inside?! What could be better?
As with any Pop Art, Shapiro puts her own spin on her recreated icons. These effigies are literally larger than life, as you can see in the Starbucks image ( below ), just as the cultural staples often come to symbolize not just a product, but an era. Her use of raku, an ancient process whose temperature change causes characteristic crazing or cracking, gives a nod to the temporal nature of the more contemporary icons.
I’m quickly coming to an age where the pop culture and products that populated my past are reaching iconographic status. It does make me wonder how future generations will look back on us and all that we have consumed. Will it be with disdain or idyllic fascination?
To see more of Karen Shapiro’s work, please visit her website.
This artist found via Daily Dolan Geiman.
PS– I still occasionally treat myself to a box of animal crackers!
Featured image is Chiclets ( wall piece ), raku, 25x11x1.75. All images are via the artist’s website.
I’m loving the slightly Celtic feel of Kelly Eberly’s work! Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, don’t you think?
Check out Kelly’s blog to see more!
Sometime in my late 20s I went through a slight obsession with the Irish part of my heritage & Irish culture in general. I think it stemmed mainly from too many Maeve Binchy books and multiple PBS viewings of Riverdance. Add to that the fact that my husband thinks Guinness is the greatest thing since, well, Guinness, and it isn’t any surprise that we love St. Patrick’s Day. So to get you in the mood for a little Erin Go Bragh, how about some artwork to remind us of the Emerald Isle?
Christina Baker | Susan Morosky | Casey Matthews | Steve Williams
Make sure you check out these artist’s websites ( linked above ) to see more of their work. Happy St. Patrick’s weekend!
Featured image is Empty Bathtub, Full Power Meter by Steve Williams, mixed media, 84×84. All images are via the artist’s websites, linked above.
If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, then you know that I have a few absolute favorite artists. These are the artists whose work I absolutely adore and return to again and again. Today’s artist, Maribel Angel is high on my list of favorites. From the first time I saw her work, during my gallery career in Florida, it was delight at first sight.
The irresistible charm of Maribel’s work is pretty obvious, but even more so when she begins explaining the inspiration behind each one. For these latest paintings, she found unknowing muses in the form of all the birds congregating on her lakeside property in North Florida due to such a mild winter ( even for Florida! ).
From the artist: “..all those feathered creatures that flew south for the winter used our yard as their tourist destination for several months. Not to mention all the local birds who had no reason to fly further south – so we had double the population than usual and I could hear them chattering and chirping non stop from dawn till dusk while i was working in my studio. It wasn’t like song birds keeping a tune and creating a beautiful orchestra of sound – it was just full on chatter! Similar to the sound you would hear of camp kids shouting and playing at the pool. I enjoyed their company and while I was painting I would imagine the stories they were sharing with each other. ”
The way she renders animals in such stylized simplicity is so appealing. Her horses stand lean and graceful, birds are bright and cheerfully scattered. She enriches each with beautifully layered color and texture– as stunning as they are online, her work is even more wonderful in person!
To see more of Maribel Angel’s work, please visit her website and the Gallery Orange website. If you’re lucky enough to be in New Orleans, you can stop in at Gallery Orange to see her work in person or in Florida, check out Maribel’s work at Southlight Gallery.
Featured image is Shangrila, acrylic on panel, 48×12. All images are via Gallery Orange, Maribel’s representing gallery in New Orleans. For more on Gallery Orange, check out the recent Artsy Spot feature on the gallery here.
How about a little surrealism for your Tuesday? Head on over to Escape Into Life, where I’m featuring Dallas artist, Ginger Fox.
Ginger Fox on Escape Into Life
Isn’t it amazing to think that there are worlds all around us that we can’t see? Worlds invisible to our eyes, buried beneath the sea or simply found deep in our imaginations. Portland artist Yellena James fashions her own worlds filled with shapes and organisms both familiar and alien.
Growing up in the south, the land of kudzu, I’ve always been fascinated by vines and roots. The source of nourishment and strength, they also entangle and envelope all around them. The worlds James creates share these same contradictory characteristics. Bright colors and seemingly whimsical shapes float about yet become entangled by tentacle-like forms.
Bold patterns and forms catch our eyes, drawing us into a delicate, intricate world. A darkly mystical universe, a playground for elves and fairies.
Wouldn’t you like to go inside these worlds to explore? If I could, I would miniaturize myself to float and flit among these microcosmic terrains!
To see more of Yellena James’ work, please visit her website. Her Etsy shop is full of gorgeous, affordable prints and be sure to check out these amazing bracelets she’s collaborated on with Morphik! I’m personally coveting the Dulcet piece, which looks fantastic with the Taupe cuff! ( Just in case anyone is taking notes.. I do have a birthday coming up! ;-))
Featured image is Mothership, pen & ink on paper, 21×16. All images are via the artist’s website.
OK, maybe we’re not taking a total break from color today. Spotted this installation by Marilee Salvato and just had to share it with you!
Be sure to check out her website for more images of the incredible installation!
Once upon a time, I was bored by white. The more color the better. And around age 13, the more purple the better! 😉 But as my eye has grown and matured, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the purity and peace of white. It calms us, brings shadows and textures to life and provides a place of rest in a saturated world. Would you like to join me on a little mini-vacay from color today?
Ahh.. don’t we all feel calm & relaxed now? Have a wonderful, peaceful weekend, Artsies! Be sure to check out the artists’ websites for more loveliness.
Natalie Abrams | Lauren Browning | Sana Krusoe at Davis & Cline
Featured image is Remnant VII by Shayna Lieb. All images are via the artist’s websites and shops, unless otherwise noted.
Some days my happy mood gets kicked in the gut first thing in the morning. This usually results from something I’ve read online that a) infuriates me, b) disgusts me, c) leaves me sick to my stomach and shaking my head in dismay, or d) all of the above, as was the case this morning. So it is only fitting that the work of today’s artist, Portland’s Trish Grantham, is the perfect antidote for what ails me!
Unapologetically sweet, Trish’s work is filled with joy-inducing imagery. Masked-bandit-like birds, happily wise woodland creatures, smiling toast (!).. they all speak to me, saying “Hello! We’re here to remind you that the world is really a happy place filled with kind beings!” Many of the world’s inhabitants have simply forgotten how to be truly grateful, gracious and happy.
Just as it is impossible to look into the face of a smiling child and not smile back, as I was looking through Trish’s portfolio, my pursed mouth and heavy heart where replaced by a light-hearted grin.
This world can be an ugly place and for some reason, it seems, many of the people in it are striving to make it even more hostile, all for the sake of their fear of someone taking away something that never truly belonged to them. We don’t own this world. It owes us nothing. Oh what a happier place it would be if the world were ruled by the creatures in Grantham’s work! Instead of devouring the innocent, the wolf instead sets the baby birds free to live as they please. Sure his belly may not be as full, but his heart will be bursting.
Trish’s work spoke to my weary heart this morning. I hope it speaks to yours and perhaps, instead of choosing bitterness and hate, you will instead choose joy. I have.
To see more of Trish Grantham’s work, please check out her website. If you happen to be in Portland, OR ( And if you are, how about sharing a little housing advice? What areas are affordable but still nice & safe? Hubby and I are looking to the future.. ), sorry for the sidetrack– you can see Trish’s work in Portland at Augen Gallery, a delightful contemporary gallery downtown.
Featured image is The Futurist, mixed media, 24×12. All images are via the artist’s website.