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  • November Art Association Pinterest Contest!

    November Art Association Pinterest Contest!

    Surprise!  This month’s Art Assocition contest is coming at ya a bit early!  With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up here in the US next Thursday, we thought many of our readers might be busy making pie & stuffin’ turkeys next Wednesday.  So Erin & I decided to hold our Art Association contest a week earlier than usual.  And it’s a good one!

    If you’re new to Art Association here’s how it works– You create a Pinterest board around one work of art ( which we provide ), filled with anything and everything that pops into your mind while gazing at the catalyst piece.

    Our “jumping off” art this month comes courtesy of artmuse.com, an online gallery website dedicated to bringing you beautiful artwork at accessible prices.  Sphere of Influence by Jennifer Chenoweth will provide some fantastic associations, don’t ya think?

    Sphere of Influence by Jennifer Chenoweth

    Are you ready to start pinning away and maybe win some art?

    Here’s how Art Association works–

    Step 1|  We give you a piece of artwork, this month’s work is Sphere of Influence by Jennifer Chenoweth ( above )

    Step 2 | You create a Pinterest board titled Art Association, like mine here, where you pin any and all images you associate with the featured artwork ( like word associations, only visual )– here’s a little sneak peek at my board

    Artsy Forager’s November Art Associations Pinterest Board

    Step 3 | Leave a link to your Art Association pinboard in the Comments section of this post

    Step 4 | Follow both art social and Artsy Forager on Pinterest ( if you already are, you’re ahead of the game and doubly awesome )

    Here’s what you can win–

    Once you’ve completed the steps above, you’ll be entered for a chance to win any small size artmuse.com print of your choosing!  Some super fantastic choices on their site– be sure to check out all your options so you’ll have your choice ready when you win. 😉  Big thank you to artmuse.com for generously donating the giveaway this month!

    The pinner with the best Art Association board ( as judged by me and Erin ) will be chosen on Monday, November 19th at 5pm (mountain standard time).  With this artmuse.com print as your catalyst, I know your boards are gonna be spectacular!

    Pinning begins… NOW!!

    Would you like your artwork to be featured as an Art Association subject?  Shoot Erin an email at artsocialonline@gmail.com for more info.

    Sphere of Influence & artmuse.com logo via artmuse.com.

  • Consumptive Histories: Norah See

    Consumptive Histories: Norah See

    You can take the Art History major out of college, but you can’t take the Art History major out of the girl.  Yep, I still completely geek out on anything art historical, especially when it’s done in a dynamic way.  Enter Norah See, a New Orleans artist whose Reboot series elegantly repositions famous works of art as tiny trinkets, giving us a lesson in our history of consumption.

    The Loss of Man, oil on canvas, 18×24

    In her take on Rene Magritte’s Son of Man, Magritte’s infamous face obscuring green apple is replaced with the Apple computer logo, showing us a link between the advance of technology and the loss of human interaction, as well as a loss of our connection to our own selves outside of our technologically driven lives.

    Portrait of Madame Y, oil on canvas, 18×24

    Her Portrait of Madame Y reworks John Singer Sargent’s famous portrait into a modernized version of what a 19th century trophy wife might look like– fake tan, breast implants and all.

    The Cliff, oil, ink, gold leaf and enamel on canvas, 18×24
    Green Wall, oil on canvas, 18×24

    To see more of Nora See’s work, please visit her website.  If you’re in New Orleans, her Reboot series can be seen at her representing NOLA gallery, Gallery Orange.

    All images are via Nora See’s website.

  • Friday Design Finds: The Light Fantastics

    Friday Design Finds: The Light Fantastics

    I’m a huge fan of combining artistry with functionality.  Why should we settle for something boring when we could fill our worlds with the extraordinary?  Time to rip down that contractor’s special chandelier you’ve been hating on since you moved in.  Maybe one of these will inspire you to think outside the Home Depot box. Check out these fantastically artsy options!

    Pink Octopus Chandelier by Adam Wallacavage

    source

    Tide Chandelier by Stuart Haygarth

    source

    Bower Bird Nest Chandelier by Tracey Barnes

    source

    Candlelier by Takeshi Miyakawa

    source

    Seriously, how could you not be inspired by seeing one of these every day?  What will you make more artsy this weekend?

    All image sources are linked below each photo.

  • On the Verge: Kevin Peterson

    On the Verge: Kevin Peterson

    You may have noticed that moving over the website didn’t happen yesterday.. things didn’t quite go as planned.  Working on it again today! 

    In just a few days, I’ll be seeing my beautiful nieces for the first time in over a year.  They’ve gotten older and taller and I can tell from photos that they are on the brink of leaving childhood behind.  The work of Houston artist Kevin Peterson looks at that the journey out of childhood and into a fractured world.

    Oil on panel, 27×34
    Acrylic, metallic paint on panel, 36×36

    As children, we’re so quick to want to grow up, we can’t wait to go on our first date, get our driver’s license, go off to college, be able to sit at the “grown-up table”.  But isn’t it amazing how swiftly we would go back to swing sets and school holidays, once we get a glimpse of the cynicism and cruelty of life among the full grown.

    Bubbles, oil on panel, 27.5×31
    Lovely, oil on panel with corrugated metal, 40×57

    While entering adulthood has its carefree qualities ( hello, ice cream for dinner! ), there is a delicious freedom when you’re a kid that only grown-up children can recognize.

    To see more of Kevin Peterson’s work, please visit his website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Art to Inspiration: Linda Monfort

    Art to Inspiration: Linda Monfort

    I’ve been out to lunch Art to Inspiration-wise lately.  I love this collaborative exercise, but alas, there just wasn’t time for it last month with our moving 1300 miles south and all.  But this month’s inspiration piece is so lovely, I couldn’t resist!  The inspiration artwork for November, The Other Side by painter Linda Monfort, is full of the vibrant color I’m longing for after my first few weeks of living in the desert.

    The Other Side by Linda Monfort

    I’ve put together a gallery of work of varied styles that tie in beautifully with the palette, texture, and energy of Monfort’s piece.  I give you, Color Riot!  Hope you enjoy!

    Glow One by Liz Tran
    Love Me Two Times by Kirra Jamison
    Avant Garden by Karen Klassen
    Square ( Equipose ) by Michael Velliquette
    CUBEN series by Simon C Page

    Liz Tran | Kirra Jamison | Karen Klassen | Michael Velliquette | Simon C Page

    To see more from each artist, check out their websites, linked above.

    You can find more information on Art to Inspiration here and if you would like to participate in the next Art to Inspiration, just fill out this form! Follow me and all the other Art to Inspiration bloggers on Twitter by subscribing here.  Let the inspiring begin! 

  • Artsy Forager is on the move.. soon

    Artsy Forager is on the move.. soon

    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 Luminous Grace: Jennifer JL Jones

    A Luminous Grace: Jennifer JL Jones

    An artist I met recently regaled me with tales of how she painted with “glow in the dark” paint.  While I can certainly understand the desire for work that glows, I prefer to see the luminosity achieved instead by the deft use of color, layering, and a way of revealing light in a more natural, less neon-sign kind of way.  Case in point, the work of Atlanta artist Jennifer JL Jones glows gracefully, as if lit from within.

    Bluebird, mixed media on wood panel, 48×48

    Taking her cues from nature, Jones builds layer upon layer of material, creating a canvas as ever changing as the scenes they reflect.  As the seasons change, different aspects of the landscape advance and recede.  So too, in Jones’ work, as we gaze upon it the elements in each work seem to float and fluctuate in a delicate dance.

    Radiant Flux I, oil on wood panel, 40×40
    Prelude to Spring, mixed media on wood panel, 40×40

    These paintings have an ethereal mystery to them, like a wooded lake shrouded in mist or standing behind the veil of a waterfall.  What we see isn’t quite clear, but we know there is beauty.

    Ojai, mixed media, 60×60

    To see more of Jennifer JL Jones’ work, please visit her website.  If you’re in the Atlanta area, don’t miss her show Wet Ink with fellow artists Courtney J. Garrett and Kathryn Jacobi at Alan Avery Art Company.  I’m looking forward to seeing what new work Jennifer has at Stellers Gallery when I go home to Florida in a few days!

    All images are via the artist’s website or the website of her Santa Fe representing gallery, Hunter Kirkland Contemporary.

  • Artsy on Escape Into Life: Zuzka Vaclavik

    Last weekend, after our day spent art touring, Mr. Forager asked me to explain how to draw.  What a loaded question!  I hoped what got across to him the most was that it isn’t always how proficiently you do something, but the way in which you do it that makes you unique as an artist.  While the work of Zuzka Vaclavik may appear to be elaborate doodles, the lines, patterns, and forms show an artist’s eye at work.  Check out more of her work on my Artist Watch on Escape Info Life today! ( See it here and linked again below ).

    And There are Vibrations by Zuzka Vaclavik

    Zuzka Vaclavik on Escape Into Life

    Artist found via Emily Amy Gallery.

  • Blueprint Constructions: Jose Betancourt with Susan Weil

    Blueprint Constructions: Jose Betancourt with Susan Weil

    Since the glory days of the Polaroid and the advent of the digital age, photography in many ways has become a bit of an “everyman’s medium”.  We all pick up our pocket digital cameras and iPhones when a scene inspires us.  Artist photographers like Jose Betancourt seek to bridge the gap between historical processes and modern sensibility.

    Danky’s Blue
    Sassafras

    In this latest series, a collaboration with artist ( and ex-wife of Robert Rauschenberg ) Susan Weil, the two artists come together using historic and experimental photo processes such as cyanotypes, photograms, and Van Dyke Brown prints to create constructions consisting of photographic images.

    Secrets, Weil’s Reflections

    Sometimes, the constructions are configured to take on the form or another aspect of the photographed subject.  In this way, the photographs aren’t just two-dimensional images but come to life in a multi-demensional way.

    Spring Sprung
    Catenary

    To see more of this series, please visit the websites of Jose Betancourt and Susan Weil.  The exhibition of this series, Blueprints, can be seen at the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art in Tuscumbia, Alabama until November 15th.

    All images are via Jose Betancourt’s website.

  • November Facebook Featured Artist: Susan Melrath

    November Facebook Featured Artist: Susan Melrath

    There are some artists whose work I’ve been following and admiring long before my blogging days.  I first spotted this month’s Facebook Featured Artist, Susan Melrath’s work in print form during my art consulting days in Florida.  I was always drawn to the beauty in her limited palette and the way her distilled compositions were powerful in their simplicity.

    Party Table, acrylic on board, 22×19
    Charger, acrylic on board, 12×12

    In her Figurative series, Susan takes those quick little moments that often pass by unnoticed, capturing the sweetness of this particular day, that particular party.

    Landscape, acrylic on panel, 30×25 framed

    Although her shapes are simple, Susan uses color and pattern to create depth and visual texture, especially evident in her Garden series ( although she’s now playing with pattern in her Figurative series as well! ).  Her use of floating, layered patterns give her florals a colored gossamer effect, leaving them distinct yet beautifully distorted.

    Memory of Magnolia, acyrlic on paper, 20×26 framed

    To see more of Susan Melrath’s work, please visit her website and be sure to check out her gorgeous cover image and album on the Artsy Forager Facebook page.

    All images are via the artist or her website.