For Mr. Forager and I, the natural world plays a big role in who we are, what strengthens and calms us. Getting out among the trees and streams renews our energy and every time we go, we are reminded how precious it is. The work of Berkeley artist Myong Stebbins captures that transportive feeling of our cherished natural world.
Yeonkkoch II, mixed media on paper, 29.5×24.5
New Morning, mixed media on paper, 22.75×17
Stebbins’ soft, translucent layers mimic the filtered light to be found deep in the forest. The isolated flora could be seen as a reinterpretation of scientific specimen drawings. Like dried and pressed petals, the flowers have a sense of papery fragility.
Morning Calm II, mixed media on paper, 14×18
Whenever we are out in the woods or beside the water, I try to capture the magic with my camera, but somehow, the lens never seems to do justice to the mystical beauty of the landscape. In paint, Myong Stebbins has captured that essence that is so fleeting.
Kibun II, oil on canvas, 24×32
Echo, acrylic on paper, 31×38.5
Want to see more of Myong Stebbins’ gorgeous work? Please visit the artist’s website and the websites of her representing galleries, Pryor Fine Art and Bryant Street Gallery.
Every new place Mr. Forager & I go, I try to hit the local art museum. Not only because I think it’s important to patronize local art resources ( artsy duh ), but I also find them to be an interesting gauge of the local tastes and what’s important to the surrounding culture. After being in Seattle for six weeks, we finally ventured to the Seattle Art Museum last week.
In addition to their current special exhibition, Future Beauty ( more on that in a separate post ), there were a few other intriguing exhibitions on display. I was especially excited to see 50 Works for 50 States, selections from the Herb and Dorothy Vogel collection.
[ Codex Morales Braccio Sermugnano by Michael Goldberg and Untitled by Tony Smith ]
I am continually amazed by the collection this couple put together on a modest income! Truly inspiring to anyone who is intimidated by the prospect of collecting artwork. The Vogels collected many smaller works and works on paper, making them more financially accessible but allowing them to build an enviable collection. Such a great example to follow!
One of the things that impressed me the most about the SAM experience was the thoughtfulness given to how each exhibition was displayed and how the galleries interacted with each other. Glimpses of work seen not just within each exhibition but from one gallery to another allow the work to relate and interact in a way that allows the viewer’s eye to flow naturally throughout the space.
[ Thicket by Martin Puryear ]
A delightful surprise was the small show currently on display in the Knight Lawrence Gallery, In a Silent Way, “a quiet reflection on African American identities and histories”. This small gallery is tucked in a corner of the museum, away from the crowds and bustle of the larger galleries, which was perfectly fitting for such a thoughtful group of works. The palette of the show was almost exclusively black and white, a subtle nod to the subject matter, but each piece filled with subtext of what it means to evolve as a person of African descent in America.
From the museum’s permanent collection, an exhibition of mid-twentieth century work, From Abstract Expression to Colored Planes, features superstars of the era such as Frank Stella, Jackson Pollock and Helen Frankenthaler. The progression of that era of modern art is always fascinating– you can literally see the artists deconstructing and reconstructing the meaning of form across time. It is without a doubt one of my favorite periods of art history!
[ contemplating Frankenthaler ]
In keeping with the special exhibition’s focus on fashion, I was especially drawn to the work of Yinka Shonibare, whose Nuclear Family installation shows us a “traditional” family dressed in the structure of Victorian garb in textiles reminiscent of modern Africa. In a different, but no less interesting textile sculpture, Walter Oltmann‘s Caterpillar Suit mixes two destructive species, the caterpillar and the conquistador, while exposing their vulnerabilities and tenuous existences.
[ Nuclear Family by Yinka Shonibare ]
[ Caterpillar Suit III by Walter Oltmann ]
I love the way the Seattle Art Museum is blurring the lines between ancient and modern, leading the visitor down familiar paths only to introduce them to something new and exciting. Can’t wait to see what else is in store!
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with collage. My first college art professor loved collage and it figured heavily in her basic drawing classes. At the time, I found the cutting, arranging, and pasting pretty tedious. I was more of a thrown some paint around a canvas kind of art student.. but I did love how flexible a collage composition could be. In their work, French artistic duo Max and Adele of Atelier Bingo utilize collage, gouache, ink, screen print AND digital media to create abstract compositions as expressive as any painting.
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The flattened panes of bright color immediately reminded me of the famed collages of Henri Matisse— his Blue Nude remains one of my all time favorite pieces of art, ever. The layering of such simplistic shapes assists our eyes in completing the composition. No details are needed– we are allowed to fill in the blanks– but only by choice.
The flat planes of color are mixed playfully with pattern, keeping our eyes moving across the plane and helping us to add to the story our eyes are concocting along the way.
Want to see more work from Atelier Bingo? Of course you do! Check out their website, Tumblr and Facebook page.
The weather in Seattle was absolutely perfect this weekend! Bright and sunny skies punctuated by cool breezes meant there were no excuses for staying home. So Mr. Forager and I grabbed our coffee and continued our island tour around Seattle, taking a ferry across the Puget Sound to spend the day exploring beautiful Bainbridge Island. Still think I could totally love island living!
And then we came back to the beauty of the Seattle skyline.. *sigh* Is this a spectacular city or what?! Want to get more glimpses into This Artsy Life? Follow me on Instagram!
One of my favorite things about Seattle, or any big city for that matter, is the people watching. Anywhere we go, there is always such an intriguing array of humanity to be observed! New York artist Scott Duce must agree, because his latest series, In Public, focuses on observations of urban individuals.
Pink Stripes, oil on panel, 12×12
Woman With Flowers, oil on panel, 12×12
Walking in a big city, you definitely get a sense of being on display, but then there is also a strange contradictory feeling of the ability to melt into the crowd. Duce’s choice to isolate each figure against a monochromatic background serves to call attention to the specialness of each individual and the uniqueness of each moment.
Skinny Man, oil on panel, 12×12
Summer Stop, oil on panel, 12×12
As we each move through life, we do not do so in a bubble. We are one of many, each individual an important part of the the entire sum.
Fashion Runner 4, oil on panel, 12×12
Want to see more of Scott Duce’s work? Please check out his website.
In our traveling, some of the things I’ve missed most have been my beautiful functionals. What’s a beautiful functional, you say? It’s an object that serves a purpose, while still being a bit of eye candy. Like my gorgeous carnival blue glass jars that sit in my bathroom, or a pretty little dish at the kitchen sink to corral rings and such. We’re having our pretties shipped from Florida soon and I can’t wait to see them all again! Until then, I’m totally drooling over these beautiful functionals by Emily Reinhardt aka The Object Enthusiast.
Porcelain Ring Dishes
Gray Teardrop Vase with Gold Dots
White and Gold Mini Faceted Vessel
Spotted Vessel with Gold Brush Strokes
Mint and Copper Ball Vase
Emily’s pieces are each handmade and painted, each so pretty and unique. She’s moving in mid-July, so now is the perfect time to snatch up one of these lovelies at 20% off in her Etsy shop! Just use the coupon code SUMMER20 when you check out. I must admit, I am seriously tempted!
Happy Independence Day to all the US Artsies! It’s always been the artist’s job to be the visual voice of each generation. Whether that means celebrating what we love most about our country or being a creative outlet for independent critical thought, each artist sees the world with their own unique vision.
As we celebrate freedom today, let’s each have our own Artsy Independence Day by throwing off the shackles of whatever is holding us back. Have a great one, Artsies! Mr. Forager & I are headed to the Seattle Art Museum today for a little Artsy Independence of our own. More on our visit soon!
While I appreciate masterfully drafted, detailed drawing as much as the next artsy, what really gets my heart pumpin’ is a looser, more child-like style. So the work of Spanish artist Paz Lopez immediately caught my eye when I spotted it on the Anthology Magazine blog!
Venir 2, mixed media on paper, 40×40 cm
These quick, sketchy mixed media pieces have the feeling of those frenetic, emotion filled pieces of artwork we created as we tore through a stack of drawing paper as children. ( Tell me I wasn’t the only child who did that! )
Ladra, mixed media on paper, 40×40 cm
Carta, mixed media on paper, 40×40 cm
Yet compositionally, these are so much more than child-like sketches. Lopez’s use of color and texture perfectly balance the lines and text, the elements fitting onto the page just so.
Untitled, mixed media on paper
To see more of Paz Lopez’s work, please visit her website.
In all the stress of leaving California, moving to Seattle, finding an apartment, furnishing said apartment, working, etc., Mr. Forager & I seemed to lose sight of what always made our weekends like mini-vacations for us– exploring! Sure, we were seeing other areas of Seattle, but we weren’t in our get-up-early-and-get-outta-town mode. Until this weekend! It probably helped that it was A) amazingly beautiful this weekend and B) this little heat wave made sleeping in quite unappealing in an apartment with no a/c.
We spent Friday evening hanging with some inspiring folks from Tulsa ( seriously, most everyone from Mr. F’s circle there has moved up here, can’t say as I blame them ). But then the rest of the weekend was just us two. The way we like it. We took a lovely hike to Greenwater Lake ( about 2 hours outside Seattle ) complete with ferns and moss and waterfalls, things we missed so much during our time in the desert. Then on Sunday, we took a long drive north up through Bellingham, over Deception Pass and through Whidbey Island, where we seriously contemplated whether we could be island people.
Did you give yourself a mini-vacay this weekend? Explore any new places? An artsy is always looking for new sources of inspiration! Want to see more from This Artsy Life? Follow me on Instagram!
Last week I shared with you guys how lost I’d been feeling lately. It seems, that when you reach a certain age ( gulp! ), staying true to yourself, who you are and who you long to be becomes a matter of the utmost importance. You’re no longer that young person trying on personas for size. This series of illustrations by Paris designer Leslie David, done for Please! magazine called out to the feeling that had been haunting me, that denial of my own self.
For this series, David reinterpreted a series of photos from issue 11 of the magazine, painting over the faces of models in colorful, textured splotches.
No matter how you may glam it up, denial of who we are in our core destroys us. It may begin innocently enough, but over time that mask that we’re wearing eventually overcomes us and overtakes us so that we can no longer see who we used to be.
Stay true to who you are, dear Artsies! Whatever your vision, whatever your passion, stay your course. Pursuits true to the soul are never wasted.
Want to see more work from this artist? Check out Leslie David’s website and don’t miss her postcard series! She also has some really lovely prints for sale in her shop.
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