artsy forager

Category: Artsy Forager Featured Artist

Posts about each month’s Featured Artist

  • June Facebook Featured Artist: Geoff Mitchell

    June Facebook Featured Artist: Geoff Mitchell

    I first discovered the work of LA based artist Geoff Mitchell when he opened a solo show at Steve Williams’ Florida Mining Gallery last year.  Steve has impeccable taste in art, so of course, I was immediately intrigued and blown away by Geoff’s work.  In case you missed it, you can read my initial feature on Geoff’s work here.  Since that first feature, Geoff has been busy creating new work and collaborating on a book project– more about his book later today!

    The Emperor’s Night Garden, mixed media on panel, 97×105

    While the images with which Geoff works are representational in nature, his method of composition is free and intuitive.  Images are chosen for their sheer beauty, interest or what they may bring to the composition texturally.  Chosen found imagery doesn’t necessarily relate to the other images around it, or at least not intentionally.

    Crossing the Needles, mixed media on panel, 97×105

    Geoff works from the principal of the sensation of pareidolia, a “psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus, often an image or sound, being perceived as significant”.  His works are telling stories, but not of the artist’s making, but of the viewers.  He provides the stimuli, we fill in the story with our own memories and meaning.

    Stage 3, mixed media on panel, 20×20
    Ivory Lolly, mixed media on panel, 20×20

    To see more of Geoff Mitchell’s work, please check out his ( newly designed! ) website and his cover image & album on the Artsy Forager Facebook page.  If you happen to be near Biloxi, MS, don’t miss his solo exhibition, Chaos at the Confessional at the Ohr-O’Keeffe Museum, opening June 12, on display until November 24, 2012.

    Featured image is a detail of The Emperor’s Night Garden.  All images are via the artist.

  • June’s Facebook Featured Artist is..

    .. up over on the Artsy Forager Facebook page!  Head on over and check it out!  Exciting things to come from this month’s artist.. stay tuned for details.

  • May Facebook Featured Artist: Jill Ricci

    May Facebook Featured Artist: Jill Ricci

    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, 48×30
    Happening, 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.

  • May’s Facebook Featured Artist Is..

    .. head over to the Artsy Forager Facebook page to find out!

  • Steve Williams in Sustainotopia

    Steve Williams in Sustainotopia

    I hope you guys have wandered over to the Artsy Forager Facebook page to check out this month’s Featured Artist, Steve Williams!  It’s been so much fun sharing Steve’s work with you over the month of April.  With the Month of Steve is coming to a close, I wanted to share with you a few new pieces from the irrepressible Mr. Williams.

    Cap Tossing Over the Wall of Space

    These latest works were created for the Sustainotopia conference, which happened in Miami this week.  Sustainotopia is “an impact conference that encourages people to really consider how social relationships between investing, finances, and environmental sustainability can become more collaborative, creating a global community that benefits economically from doing what is, essentially, the right thing.”

    A Slender Acquaintance With the World
    National Soil Destruction Leading to Self Implosion

    You can read more about Sustainotopia on their website ( and make plans to attend next year! ) and read about Steve’s thoughts on living an impactful life on his blog, Making Cheddar.  And if you’re new here or haven’t already done it, be sure to check out Steve’s website!

  • April Facebook Featured Artist: Steve Williams

    April Facebook Featured Artist: Steve Williams

    When I launched the Artsy Forager Facebook Featured Artist program this month, I was thrilled when Steve Williams agreed to be my inaugural artist. Like me, Steve is a native of our hometown, Jacksonville, Florida and has long been a fixture on the art scene there.  Steve, along with his then gallery partner, Jim Draper, encouraged a young Artsy Forager  to continue painting just out of college.  Even though I allowed myself to get sidetracked, I never forgot their kindness.

    Marco Polo, mixed media

    As he splits his time between being president of his family’s successful sign business, Harbinger Sign, the gallery he has created at the business’s headquarters, Florida Mining, his own work as an artist AND being a devoted father of three, Steve is a busy soul.  Which makes it all the more amazing to see the quality of thoughtful work he creates.

    Jackson, mixed media

    His experience in the sign business is evident in the strong graphic quality and balance evident in his compositions.  His most recent Money series ( images above ) explores currency as symbolic of all that we strive for as a society yet ensnares and imprisons us.

    Into the Goodly Land, mixed media on panel, 60×72

    While I love this current direction, my personal favorite works of Steve’s are those that incorporate layers of texture and color in which graphic signs and images are enshrouded.  These works, as well as the Money series, invite us in, asking us to look more closely at not only the world around us, but the motives and desires within us.

    TV Exploration of Mars II, mixed media, 12×12
    Revolutionary Exploration: Shallow Discovery, mixed media, 11×19

    I hope you’ll check out more of Steve Williams‘ work on his website.  And do yourself a favor– don’t miss his blog, Making Cheddar, or his Twitter feed.    He’s as hilarious as he is insightful.

    Featured image is Grant, mixed media, 60×36.  All images are via the artist’s website.

  • April’s Facebook Featured Artist is…

    Check out the Artsy Forager Facebook page to find out!

  • Attention please! Special New Feature Coming Tomorrow!

    Attention please! Special New Feature Coming Tomorrow!

    If you’re an Artsy Forager fan on Facebook & Twitter, you may have seen my little hint regarding a new feature coming to the Artsy Forager Facebook page.  ( If you’re not following AF on Facebook and/or Twitter, it’s so easy! Handy little buttons in the right sidebar will take you right to the pages! )  Facebook fans know that the powers that be at FB have rolled out a new look for profiles and pages.  Always one to look on the brighter side of things, when I changed the AF page over, I started thinking about how I could use the new format to further promote the artists’ work I love..

    Annoucing the new Artsy Forager Facebook Featured Artist program!

    Ok, I’m obviously not a graphic designer..

    Each month a new artist’s work will be featured as the Artsy Forager Facebook page cover image, there will also be a special feature post devoted to that artist on the blog, a thumbnail of their work on the Artsy Forager sidebar, as well as fun tidbits featuring their work on Facebook & Twitter throughout their month!  Are you excited?!

    The inaugural artist will go up TOMORROW, April 1st, so stay tuned tomorrow for the big reveal!

    PS– Due to an overwhelmingly positive response from the artists I contacted, Facebook Featured Artist spots are filled as of right now through November 2013. (!)  First priority was given to artists with whom I have an ongoing correspondence or relationship.  If you’re an artist who has been featured on Artsy Forager and would like to be a Facebook Featured Artist after November 2013, feel free to shoot me an email.  Thanks!