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All The World’s A Miniature Stage: Grace Weston
I find it intriguing when artists let us into their imaginations, giving us a glimpse of the world as they see it, scenes of life as they interpret it. Portland photographer Grace Weston creates small, staged vignettes that take on big, universal themes and canonical artwork.
Winter Wish, Winter Dream The images are simple in their composition, poetic in their imagery and completely relatable. Their dreamlike quality is, depending upon the image, entrancing, wryly humorous or slightly disturbing in an intentionally sweet yet creepy way.
Lovebirds 
Baby Makes Three I especially love her take on iconic artwork such one of The Unicorn in Captivity tapestry from the Metropolitan Museum in New York and The Son of Man by Rene Magritte. What can I say, the art history major in me totally geeks out on these kinds of references and reinterpretations.
Petting Zoo 
The Overseer Grace Weston is represented by G. Gibson Gallery in Portland, Oregon, so if you’re in that area, stop in to see her work in person or visit her website.
Featured image is Laundry Day. All images are courtesy of the artist’s website.
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New Feature! Artsy Dwelling
I am constantly inspired by how people live with art in their own homes. I love the way folks are thinking outside the box in terms of the art they collect, where and how they display it. I’m hoping these short little visual features, Artsy Dwelling, will help inspire you!
We spend so much time in the kitchen these days– let’s face it, this room is the hub of any home. It is where people inevitably gather during any party! So why not display some of your favorite art in the spot where you spend so much time? The only guideline? Keep valuable original art away from cooking & prep areas to prevent damage. Otherwise, feel free to think outside the icebox!
How about you, Artsies? Do you have art in your kitchen? Or have images of how you live with art in your home that you’d like to share? We would love to see! Feel free to email digital images to artsyforager@att.net and we might just feature your home on the blog!
Image sources can be found by clicking on the image.
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Her Own Private Utopia: Melissa Loop
Do you ever wish you could just escape? From your cares, stresses, work, technology, you name it. Take a moment to run away with me into Minnesota artist Melissa Loop‘s landscapes of fantastical refuge. They are part wonderland, part social commentary, but fully contemporary and brilliant.
Walmart, acrylic and enamel on panel, 36×24 Slide down a huge pink curvy slide as tall as a skyscraper leading down to a river coming out of a mountain shaped like a bear’s head? Don’t mind if I do!
City Park 3, acrylic and enamel on panel, 48×36 Her use of flat shapes, vivid colors and perspectives make these a bit reminiscent of vintage travel posters, but then the added contemporary pops of patterns such as swoopy stripes and repeating textile-like shapes add more dimensions of interest. These truly are works that I could escape into– just to try to figure out all that is going on! They are like a crazy dream gone wild. And I love them.
U.A.E. Arc Intervention, acrylic and enamel on panel, 24×36 
St. Thomas All Inclusive, acrylic and enamel on panel, 36×24 To see more of Melissa Loop’s world, please visit her website. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to close my eyes and dream of curvy pink slides.
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Make Way For Pamela’s Parade: Pamela Durga Robinson
Everyone loves a parade, don’t they? Well, I certainly do. And Seattle artist Pamela Durga Robinson’s Parade series brilliantly captures the spirits of the parts that make the whole.
Drill Team Captain, oil on canvas, 36×36 She choses to isolate the individual players– band members, clowns, audience– so that we can focus in on them and their experience.
Seasoned Critics, oil on canvas, 12×12 Her figures are so human.. these are your parents, children, friends, the people you see at the supermarket on Sunday. She uses negative space to give importance to figures that otherwise might just be faces lost in the crowd. And her brightly colored backgrounds recall the upbeat cheeriness of a parade and provide an interesting juxtaposition against the sometimes sullen faces.
Flutes All In A Row, oil on canvas, 12×12 
Drill Team Wannabes, oil on canvas, 12×12 To see more of Pamela’s parade of characters, be sure to check out her website. You can also see her work in person ( and enjoy some yummy goodies ) at Fresh Flours on Phinney Ave in Seattle.
Featured image is Anticipation, oil on canvas, 36×12. All images are courtesy of the artist’s website.
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Deconstructing Beauty: Christina Chalmers
As you probably noticed during the recent artsyF A S H I O N Week, I have a keen interest in the gray areas where art and fashion collide. What we wear and it’s design is such an integrated part of our culture and psyche that it is no surprise that clothes influence art and vice versa.
A Magical Life, steel mesh, plaster, oil and mixed media, 56x30x30 Often in art, clothing is used as a symbol, as a vehicle for deeper thought. This is especially true in the work of New Mexico artist Christina Chalmers. Her sculptures and mixed media pieces are, in her own words, contemplations on the “cloaking and revealing of the inner self”.
Acquaintance of Kelp Forests, kelp, driftwood, vintage silk and lace, 56x41x41 Through her use of organic and weathered found materials, we see an interconnectedness with who we truly are and the self we are projecting out to the world via our appearance.
The Fleeting Things of Time No. 4, mixed media, copper and oil on panel, 60×48 
Sea Dress II, kelp, shells and steel mesh, 34x25x9 In her sculptures especially, I see this connection between the deconstructed, feminine garments and the found and organic materials that is incredibly intriguing. The texture and patina of the materials are such a striking juxtaposition between the ladylike flowing shape– powerful in their vulnerability. Just like us as women.
What do you think of these? Do you see what I’m seeing or have a different perspective to share?
To see more of Christina Chalmers’ work, visit her page on the Selby Fleetwood Gallery website. If you’re in Santa Fe, you can see her work in person at the gallery. It will definitely be on my list when I finally get to Santa Fe!
Featured image is I am the Root, the Wind and the Bird ( detail ) by Christina Chalmers, mixed media on panel.
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Harvesting Nature’s Bounty: Ryan Coleman
Cooler weather has finally made its way to Southern Oregon. Which brings with it my favorite season, autumn. There is something about the quality of light in the Fall that makes everything seem to glow like candlelight. Atlanta artist Ryan Coleman is no doubt aware of the effects of autumnal light. His abstract paintings sing in tune with the loveliness of this transitional season.
Nature's Tempest, oil on canvas, 48×48 Taking his inspiration from the nature around him, Ryan uses expressive brushwork and subtle shifts in color to achieve his soft abstractions of the bountiful beauty found within the landscape.
Untitled, oil on canvas, 48×48 Glorious color bursts forth from the canvas, just as autumn leaves provide a last triumphant explosion of hues before grey winter sets in.
oil on canvas 
oil on canvas These paintings make me feel like I’ve just taken a walk through the autumn woods. Hope to experience the real thing this weekend! To see more of Ryan Coleman’s work, please visit his website and Facebook page. If you’re in the Atlanta area, his work can be viewed at Pryor Fine Art.
Featured image is Celebration, oil on canvas, 40×30. All images are courtesy of the artist’s website.
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Visual Tales of Allegory and Absurdity: Jamie Baldridge
The fantastical work of Jamie Baldridge weaves for the viewer visually complex stories that engage the mind and entrance the spirit.
Phrases From A Broken Language Baldridge, a professor of photography at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, creates his fantastical works by utilizing not only photography, but also digital manipulation and collage. The resulting images are full of depth, texture and an extraordinary sense of light.
The Socrates Safe Co. His Vermeerish palette lends the eccentric images an old-worldly feel and their dark sensibilities recall the iconography and symbolism of the Victorians. Yet there is something inherently modern about them– perhaps it is the subtly infused humor or the fashiony bent to some of the work.
A Confluence of Extraordinary Ideas 
A Pair of Gnostics Burdened On A Platform There are stories at work here, some obvious, others more subversive, but all entirely up to the viewer to complete. Baldridge has opened up the book to a random middle page and it is up to us to find the beginning and end.
To see more of Jamie Baldridge’s fascinating work, please visit his website. I first saw his work this weekend at the Thomas Lee Gallery in Ashland, OR, so if you’re anywhere near the area, you could do the same. ( Note to the Thomas Lee gallerist: Immediately going into the archival paper, framing and pricing of an intriguing work of art is NOT the way to sell it. Just sayin’. )
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Artsy Around Town: Art Along The Rogue
I love and appreciate any community that embraces its artsiness. Even more, I adore a place that reaches out to bring art into the lives of children who may not otherwise experience it. This weekend, our little temporary hometown of Grants Pass, OR had it’s annual Art Along The Rogue festival, featuring an entire street filled with chalk-artists and lots of opportunities for the kiddies to get their hands all colorful and chalky!
Art Along The Rogue 2011, Grants Pass, OR Forty local and regional artists came together to create temporary 8’x8′ chalk-on-pavement masterpieces and visitors could pay $5 for chalk and a 2’x2′ square of their very own. There were also free art activities for kids at the Grants Pass Museum of Art. It brought a huge smile to my face to walk by and see kids painting and drawing!
Art Along The Rogue 2011, Grants Pass, OR 
Art Along The Rogue 2011, Grants Pass, OR Internationally known street artist Tracy Lee Stum’s 16’x50′ scenic was the featured work of the festival.
Art Along The Rogue 2011, Grants Pass, OR Folks were lined up for a peek at this painting, that came to life in 3-D when viewed through a special glass window. Lots of artsy goodness in Grants Pass this weekend, along with a music festival and Beer Walk. But someone’s wife forgot about the Beer Walk until it was too late to buy tickets. Not mentioning any names.
How about you, Artsies? Anyone attend any shows or festivals this weekend?
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Gallerist at Home: Heather Taylor
From the New American Paintings blog, the fantastic home of LA gallery owner and blogger Heather Taylor. Simple, humble furnishings mixed with amazing artwork give her home personal, inviting style.
