Miscellaneous posts on Artsy Forager
When we get a glimpse inside the studio of this month’s Featured Artist, Peri Schwartz, we not only see into gain insight into where she works, but in this video, we are also given the privilege of seeing how she works. I promise you will never look at one of her paintings the same way again.
Peri Schwartz: studio from Peri Schwartz on Vimeo.
Amazing right?!
See more of Peri’s work on her website and on the Artsy Forager Facebook page.
Aren’t Saturdays just the best days of the week? Sleeping in, breakfasting out, just doing whatever you like, no worries kind of day! I’m feeling especially grateful this Saturday and wanted to publicly thank a few artsy folks who were kind enough to give the City Mouse | Country Mouse online show a little web love this week!
In no particular order, a big merci beaucoup to…
Inward Facing Girl | The IFG herself shared some CM|CM love on Twitter.. thanks Melanie!
Beautiful Hello | Emily published a beautiful post about CM|CM on her blog!
Curate 1k | Norah knows an art bargain when she sees it! Thanks for the post & including a CM|CM piece in this week’s collection!
The Artful Desperado | Gab included a CM|CM piece in an awesome little spring hued round-up!
Help spread the word by Facebooking, Tweeting, and/or blog posting about CM|CM and get a little shout-out with a link to your site next week! Just shoot me an email to let me know you’ve done it at artsyforager(at)att.net.
CMCM will be up in found through March 28th. If you haven’t seen it yet, please click over to found and check it out! Beautiful little small originals, perfect for gift giving!
One of my favorite activities in the world is visiting artists in their studios or even getting a little peek inside through photographs! Whether an artist is working from a light filled loft or a small corner in the kitchen, the way an artist approaches their workspace says so much about their creative process. I suspicion you enjoy studio visits, too.. And so dear Artsies, I thought I would treat us to a little jaunt to the studio of Deann Hebert website You may recognize Deann’s work from the City Mouse | Country Mouse show currently online at Found Gallery here at Artsy Forager.
Everyone, say hello to Deann!
Deann and I decided this trip to her studio would give us the perfect opportunity for you to get acquainted a bit better. So she indulged me by answering a few questions inquiring Artsies might like to know..
Artsy | You have such a unique style of applying paint to canvas! Can you tell us a bit more about your process?
Deann | My process has definitely evolved over the years. I have always been attracted to texture, and palette knife painting. I wanted to create a style that married these two together. A key factor in this was the opportunity I had to study abroad while receiving my formal training. It exposed me to different cultures, ways of thinking and creating art. It was really just a trial and error type of thing. It’s a process of applying layers on top of layers. With each layer reacting with another. Once I got into my “groove” of painting, it just felt right. I literally had an “ah-ha” moment, of “this is who I am!”
AF | How have you seen yourself grow as an artist over the years?
DH | Oh I have changed so much over the years. I think it’s only a natural progression that a fine artist changes and grows. I hope I am always changing and evolving, not being static. I think this is where true creativity comes from. Over the years my work has gone from bright, bold colors and still lifes, to more muted tones of blues, creams, greys, and landscapes. Who knows what the future will bring!
AF | What is the most exciting part of painting for you?
DH | The most exciting part of creating for me, is watching the painting literally become something right before my eyes as it is on the paint table. But, the créme de la créme, is evoking an emotional reaction from the viewer, for whatever reason.
AF | What is it about the country that captures and holds your imagination?
DH | Well, this little country mouse grew up in a small town and my family always owned horses and cows. So growing up “in the country” was our way of life, and I absolutely loved it. The texture of an old barn or fence, or grass growing in the fields remind me of my childhood days. Unfortunately, many of these old structures are falling victim to time and neglect, but still are a direct link to the past, and the present. These barns tell a story, too, if we could only listen to them, to me, they are the heart and soul of the South. Even my studio walls are made from reclaimed wood from a historic barn that was torn down, so my inspiration, is quite literally, everywhere. Now, I am lucky enough to call Tennessee home, and the rolling hills and landscape are truly inspiring to me and beautiful. In my own little way, I want to pay homage to that.
Margaret Britton Vaughn, Poet Laureate of Tennessee, says it best in her poem:
BARNS OF MY YOUTH
I miss the barns of my youth,
The ones that read, “See Rock City.”
Hungry Caterpillars ate them alive,
Spitting out nails
To become thorns in the side
Of crawling asphalt,
Erasing small towns
To link big cities
They die hard, these old barns,
Leaning on the everlasting
Shoulders of Time
That cushion the fall of rotting boards.
Light seeps through decaying skeletons,
Causing shadows to tiptoe
Like ballerinas dancing the waltz of the wind.
In our hurry to get there
We destroyed the landscape:
Masterpieces of America.
AF | You are very involved in children’s art activities, like Art Camp. What do you see as the most important creative lesson a child can learn?
DH | Since I have two children myself (2 and 6), exposing children to the arts is very near and dear to my heart, and I think the most important creative lesson a child can learn is that art can be used to express yourself in ways that nothing else can. That you can actually say something with your art.
AF | Obligatory question. If you weren’t an artist, what would your dream job be?
DH | It’s so hard to answer that question because I am living my dream job…. but let’s see, since I love to travel, I always thought Samantha Brown had the coolest job ever to tour the world and work for the Travel Channel show, “Great Hotels”. How cool would that be?!
That would be a pretty sweet gig, but I have a feeling most folks would trade with you in a heartbeat! Thanks so much for opening up your studio to us, Deann!
To see more of Deann’s work, please visit her Deann Hebert website and the City Mouse | Country Mouse online show and sale in Found Gallery here at Artsy Forager. Big thanks to Ray Sanduski of With an Eye Photography for the gorgeous shots of Deann’s creative space and process. Be sure to check out Ray’s website!
Happy weekend, Artsies! I don’t normally post on Saturdays, but I just had to extend a big thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of the debut show and sale at found, City Mouse | Country Mouse. Christina, Deann, & I are so truly grateful for all the encouragement and artsy love that has been thrown our way!
We would especially like to publicly thank those that have blogged, Tweeted, and/or Facebooked about our little show this week!
isavirtue | Lovely blog post about City Mouse | Country Mouse
The Jealous Curator | Thanks for the Twitter and Pinterest love!
Inward Facing Girl | Thanks for the tweet-out!
Arbus Magazine | Mine & Christina’s hometown art publication supported us Florida girls
and of course, our sponsor,
Gregg Irby Fine Art | Showing artsy love for CMCM on her blog, The Art Selectress!
CMCM will be up in found through March 28th. If you haven’t seen it yet, please click over to found and check it out! Beautiful little small originals, perfect for giving yourself a little artsy treat! Want to hear more about the CMCM “story” take a peek here.
Welcome to the new Artsy Forager site! All of the blog’s content was successfully moved yesterday and I’m still working on getting everything set up, so please bear with me as the new site continues to evolve. Big things are planned for the future of Artsy Forager and I’m so glad you’re along for the ride!
Help me spread the word about the new site by using the Share feature below!
Love & Artsy-ness,
Lesley
11|8|12 note– I’ve amended the title of this post, as moving the site is proving more complicated than originally thought.. still working on it and hope to have it moved over in the next few days!
Last week, I mentioned that Artsy Forager would be moving to its own domain soon.. well, my friends, the day has come! This afternoon I’ll begin the process of transferring over all the posts, images, files, etc to the NEW ArtsyForager.com! I am excited about what this move will mean for the future of Artsy Forager and am thrilled you’ll be along for the ride!
FOR MY WORDPRESS.COM FOLLOWERS— please note that although the current site will redirect you to the new site, once I begin posting on the new site, you will no longer receive notifications of new content unless you are signed up as an email subscriber on ArtsyForager.com. The WordPress.com interface doesn’t transfer followers into WordPress.org, so you’ll no longer see new content from AF in your WP reader, dashboard, etc. I’ll be sending each of my wordpress.com followers an email reminder, I’d hate to lose you just when Artsy Forager is expanding! 🙂
The new site will look a little wonky today, but I hope to get most everything looking pretty by tomorrow and will begin posting over there pronto!
See you on the other side!
A few weeks ago, I let ya’ll know about plans to move Artsy Forager away from WordPress.com & over to its own domain, asking you to help me decide on a newly tweaked site design.** I’ve been working on getting all the backend functionality up & running and hope to move this little blog over into its new home soon– soft target move date, Wednesday November 7th. Yikes!! I’m excited and extremely nervous about this move.
I’m excited to see the blog continue to grow and evolve and with a self-hosted domain, the opportunities for where Artsy Forager can go and how it can serve the art loving online community are endless!
But here’s why I’m nervous– 1 out of every 10 Artsy Forager blog followers are following via the WordPress.com platform and when the blog moves, your follows do not move with it. So while there will be a redirect if you visit the old artsyforager.com site, if you are a WordPress.com follower, unless you resubscribe with an email subscription, you will no longer receive notifications of new content on www.artsyforager.com. I don’t want to lose you & I don’t want you to miss out on all the wonderful new artsiness I have planned for you! 🙂
So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if you “follow” Artsy Forager via your WordPress.com dashboard, please take a moment to become an email subscriber. I’ve even moved up the Subscription Box in the sidebar to make it easy to see! This way, you’ll be guaranteed to continue seeing all the artist features, Friday Design Finds, studio tours, and some exciting NEW features comin’ to ArtsyForager.com!
You guys make writing, maintaining and now growing this blog such a pleasure for me. Artsy Forager would not be what it is without you!
Love & Artsiness,
Lesley
**The overwhelming majority of you loved site design Option A and it was also my first choice. But many of you also loved the square logo represented in the other designs ( me too! ). I think everyone will be happy with the new design. 😉
I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Seattle. While Mr. Forager has lived in Seattle, I haven’t yet. But when I do ( and when I visit! ), you can bet I’ll be utilizing the recently launched site, Artsyo to find local artists and their work. The brainchild of Sarah Brooks and Stella Laurenzo, Artsyo is a searchable site providing users with ways to find the kinds of local artists and artwork they love, connect with those artists and ( hopefully! ) buy a work of art they adore.
Co-founder Sarah Brooks gave me a little time yesterday to chat about the how, what, why of Artsyo–
Artsy Forager | How did Artsyo get started?
Sarah Brooks | When I moved to Seattle in 2007, I had my first apartment and my first real job, and I was really excited to buy a piece of original art for the first time. I was going to art walks and loving the art scene here, but it was harder than I’d expected to find a piece that I both loved AND could afford. I knew that somewhere out there in Seattle, maybe at a coffee shop in Ballard or a studio in Georgetown, there was a perfect piece for me that was also in my price range…but how would I ever find it? I was working a lot, and I didn’t have enough time to visit every gallery and every art walk, and I was wishing for some way to see a bigger visual of what was out there to guide my search. I finally decided last year to leave my job and start working on building this big visual map of the Seattle art scene for real.
AF | What do you see as the biggest challenge to connecting would-be art collectors with artists and galleries?
SB | One big challenge I see is that there are a lot of people who don’t think of themselves as collectors. Because it’s historically been this thing only for the really wealthy and the people-in-the-know, the prospect of buying art is intimidating. And the way most of the avenues are set up now — you have the gallery that’s only open by appointment, for example — reinforces that very formal, art world exclusivity feeling. Which is great for some, but I think there are a lot of people who would rather be able to get familiar with pieces in a stress-free setting, like in their own home. I think more and more people are starting to realize that anyone can be an art collector, and that not every piece costs $20,000. There are a bunch of great people working on the same problem in Seattle right now: Sharon Arnold with LxWxH, Wynne Greenwood with SeaCat. It’s an exciting time, and the more people who realize that they can be appreciators and owners of art, the better for everyone!
AF | What is it about Seattle that attracts so many artists?
SB | Good question! I think it has something to do with the freedom to be different over here, and that’s got to be linked with creativity. I’m from the northeast, and one thing I love about Seattle is that out here, you can be weird. And that’s cool. I think it’s also the reason that we have such a great tech community here…there’s room to be creative and weird and try new things, and the whole culture out here embraces it. Look at the Solstice Festival! I can’t imagine that happening where I grew up…
AF | Have you purchased any Artsyo featured work for yourself yet? Any particular piece you’re coveting?
SB | Not yet! I knew I was putting myself in a dangerous spot with all of this amazing art right in front of me all day every day, so I made a solemn promise that I wouldn’t buy a piece until I found a way to make Artsyo financially sustainable. Right now all of my expendable cash is tied up in getting Artsyo off the ground. But there are so many pieces on the site that I would love to take home with me. Ryan Molenkamp’s Cut Bank in particular (but you might have guessed that from the Artsyo home page design).
AF | What are the hopes and dreams you & Stella have for the future of Artsyo? Any plans to expand to other cities?
SB | Our hope is to make Artsyo the site that we were dreaming about before it existed: a new way to discover art in Seattle that makes it easier and more fun to find art and buy art and live with art. With that in mind, we’re working on an art map (so that if you’re going for a walk in your neighborhood, you can see what’s up at every place nearby and drop in if something catches your eye). We’re about to add “last mile” services, too — the whole process of framing and installation is daunting for a lot of busy people, and so we want to take care of that and make it as easy as possible. In terms of new cities, we’d love to try Artsyo in Portland and San Francisco in the future…actually, I think there are a lot of cities that need an Artsyo. But first, we want to make sure we’re doing it right in Seattle.
Thanks, Sarah, for taking the time to chat– now here’s a fun little announcement for you! To commemorate its launch, Artsyo is running a Pimp My Wall contest for Seattle art lovers! Basically show Artsyo that your wall is in major need of some art lovin’ and you could win an Artsyo work of art of your own choosing ( worth up to $500 ). See the Artsyo blog for more details! Sorry, the contest is only open to those lucky enough to live in Seattle. 😉
Happy Friday, Artsies! Allow me to distract you for a bit this afternoon.. Artsy Forager will soon be moving from WordPress.com to its very own domain at ArtsyForager.com. I’ve been working on design options and think I have it narrowed down to three favorites. Since you, my readers, are the primary users of the site, I would love to find out which design you like best! ( Note: This isn’t a drastic redesign. That will happen when I can pay someone else to do it. 😉 ).
Option A:
Option B:
Option C:
Each option has its own set of positives and negatives, but I’d like your gut reactions to the visuals of each option. Your input is important to me & greatly appreciated!
PS– If there are any web designers out there who’d love to help with the design in exchange for major props/free advertising on the blog, give me a shout! 😉
I am super excited to announce that Artsy Forager is now a regular feature in print! Arbus, an arts and business magazine in my old ‘hood of Northeast Florida will regularly be running select Artsy Forager features beginning with their October/November 2012 issue ( see it here!! ).
Arbus features the best of what’s happening in art, culture and design in the Northeast Florida area. But publisher Cinda Sherman knows that there is a great big world of art out there, so each month’s Artsy Forager feature will showcase artists from around the world, introducing Arbus readers to a whole new set of artists to love.
As a blogger, it’s a special kind of thrill to see my words in print, but for me, it’s especially wonderful to see them in a publication I’ve read since my college days. I hope you’ll check out the issue online ( or pick it up in person, NEFL Arsties! ), lots of great features in this issue, including a spread on one of my Florida faves, sculptor Joe Segal!