artsy forager

Tag: art

  • Branching. Ember Fairbairn.

    Branching. Ember Fairbairn.

    A tree isn’t just its trunk.  To thrive, a tree needs healthy branches.  It needs to be reaching for light, nourished to its tips from within.  Those branches become the homes of birds and squirrels, providing subtle, swishing music on breezy days and shelter from rainstorms.

    In our current home in Marin County, our apartment in the hillside is nestled in the treetops.  We see the world through a filter of blowing branches.  Ember Fairbairn‘s paintings remind me not just of our view, but of the way we need to branch out in order to bloom.
    Ember Fairbairn | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractartEmber Fairbairn | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractartEmber Fairbairn | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractart Ember Fairbairn | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractart Ember Fairbairn | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractart

     

    Just as a tree can’t survive without its branches, so too do we need to continually reach out for new experiences in order to learn and grow.  If we don’t we may become stagnated and overtaken by stronger, greedier vines.

    To see more of Ember Fairbairn‘s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Bound. Pava Wulfert.

    Bound. Pava Wulfert.

    It doesn’t always take another person to imprison us.  We can often bind ourselves up without any outside help– whether by our own thoughts, or actions, or expectations.  It’s a challenge just to get out of our own way.

    In this sculpture series, artist Pava Wulfert binds together painted canvas and wooden racks, illustrating in three dimensions a sense of captivity.

    Pava Wulfert | artsy forager #art #artists #sculpture #contemporaryart Pava Wulfert | artsy forager #art #artists #sculpture #contemporaryart Pava Wulfert | artsy forager #art #artists #sculpture #contemporaryart Pava Wulfert | artsy forager #art #artists #sculpture #contemporaryart Pava Wulfert | artsy forager #art #artists #sculpture #contemporaryart

     

    We don’t always recognize our own confinement– like Wulfert’s elements painted in bright, happy colors, we may be blissfully ignorant of our lack of liberty.  It’s interesting that Wulfert uses typical artists’ materials like paint, canvas and rack pieces in these bound sculptures.  Perhaps how we see ourselves as artists can be a prison of sorts?  Certainly thinking of ourselves only in one artistic dimension limits our boundaries!

    To see more of Pava Wulfert‘s work, please visit the artist’s website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Submerged. Wendi Turchan.

    Submerged. Wendi Turchan.

    Having spent the last two summers on the Northern California coast, where the water doesn’t warm up too much between winter and summer, it’s been a while since I took a swim.  When I was young, spending summers at camp and at my aunt & uncle’s lake house, I loved the water.  One of my favorite things was to hold my breath and sink to the bottom.  Time slowed down, the world became distant and muted.  It felt like an immersion into summer.

    Wendi Turchan | artsy forager #art #artists #mixedmedia #abstractart Wendi Turchan | artsy forager #art #artists #mixedmedia #abstractart Wendi Turchan | artsy forager #art #artists #mixedmedia #abstractart Wendi Turchan | artsy forager #art #artists #mixedmedia #abstractart Wendi Turchan | artsy forager #art #artists #mixedmedia #abstractart

     

    These paintings by Wendi Turchan seem to illustrate that feeling of submersion.  Fluid background colors seem to melt into each other, while bright geometric shapes float and sway.  It feels like diving to the bottom of the pool for a sunken treasure.

    To see more of Wendi Turchan‘s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Chicness. Ryan Jones.

    Chicness. Ryan Jones.

    Once upon a time, I was one of those girls.  Saturdays were for shopping.  Fashion magazines were poured over.  Hours were spent pursuing just the right pair of shoes.  Rinse and repeat.  For years.  Now don’t get me wrong, I still love a little shopping spree here and there.  But I don’t obsess over the things I have or what I wear.  It doesn’t define me.

    In his large scale oil paintings, Bay Area artist Ryan Jones immerses his viewer in the world of luxurious living, where skin is perfectly toned and tanned, life is perfectly chic.

    Ryan Jones | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #fineart

    Ryan Jones | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #fineart

    Ryan Jones | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #fineart

    Ryan Jones | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #fineart

    Ryan Jones | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #fineart

     

    Some folks seem to have been born with the chic-gene.  Even if they aren’t a part of the Beverly Hills elite, they still seem to carry themselves with that certain something.  I’d like to think that I fit that description, but I’m doubtful.  More than likely, my shoes are worn from travel, my hair is windblown and unkempt, my clothes probably stained with paint.

    In exchange for the pursuit of chic, the quest for the latest fashion, I am reaching for the next moment of inspiration, the next place to explore, the next adventure.

    To see more of Ryan Jones‘ work, please visit his website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Submersions. Kim Keever.

    Submersions. Kim Keever.

    Re-entering the real world after so many hours, weeks, months spent by my mom’s side has been more of a struggle than I might have imagined.  There was, of course, a desire for a return to normality, to get back to a world in which each ring of the phone didn’t follow with a sense of fear and foreboding.  But lurking constantly, just beneath the surface, are emotions that threaten to float to the top of my throat, sting my eyes, and take over.

    Kim Keever | artsy forager #art #artists #photography #abstractart Kim Keever | artsy forager #art #artists #photography #abstractart Kim Keever | artsy forager #art #artists #photography #abstractart Kim Keever | artsy forager #art #artists #photography #abstractart Kim Keever | artsy forager #art #artists #photography #abstractart

     

    I’m trying to walk the line between acknowledging and allowing those emotions but not giving them complete control.  It is natural to feel this swirl of hurt for someone I loved so fiercely and miss so terribly.  But as much as she would appreciate and understand those emotions, she would absolutely hate to see me overcome by them.  So I let them come and then I let them go.

    The images above are photographs by artist Kim Keever.  See more of Kim’s work at his website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Superfluity. Amanda Krantz.

    Superfluity. Amanda Krantz.

    If I could think of any one way to honor my mom’s memory in my life going forward– it could be summed up in one word. MORE.

    These paintings by Melbourne artist Amanda Krantz teem with color, movement, and life, seeming ready to burst from their canvases.  They embody what I would like my own life to be.

    Amanda Krantz | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractart Amanda Krantz | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractartAmanda Krantz | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractart Amanda Krantz | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractart Amanda Krantz | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractartAmanda Krantz | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractart Amanda Krantz | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings #abstractart

    In the last year of Mom’s life, there was less of the good, less of what she loved and enjoyed. That was perhaps one of the toughest challenges we, as those who loved her, faced.  Watching that light fade as she couldn’t eat what she wanted, couldn’t go and do as she had always done, her life seemed merely a struggle for survival.

    For her, and for myself, I want what is left of my own existence to be abundantly more.  More colorful, more adventurous, more days spent doing what I love rather than merely surviving.

    To see more of Amanda Krantz‘s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Surfaces. Mila Libman.

    Surfaces. Mila Libman.

    We have a tendency to make snap judgements, to see in monochromes.  You believe “A”, so you must be “B”.  We quickly demonize and categorize without knowing the full story.

    In her monochromatic pastel and ink drawings, artist Mila Libman finishes with what is so often our beginning, a distillation of an impression.

    Mila Libman | artsy forager #art #artists #drawings #fineart #water Mila Libman | artsy forager #art #artists #drawings #fineart #water Mila Libman | artsy forager #art #artists #drawings #fineart #water Mila Libman | artsy forager #art #artists #drawings #fineart #water Mila Libman | artsy forager #art #artists #drawings #fineart #water

    How often do we refuse to see past our initial perception, to give another the opportunity to be understood and appreciated?  Social media these days is a firestorm of quick judgements often based on very little truth.  Perhaps we have only ourselves to blame, selves that are so wrapped up in our surfaces that we fail to allow our depths to be explored.

    To see more of Mila Libman‘s work, please visit her website.

    Artist found via K. Imperial Fine Art.  Images via K. Imperial Fine Art and the artist’s website.

  • Crevices. Sean Newport.

    Crevices. Sean Newport.

    As humans, none of us are one dimensional.  We are a mashed up conglomerate of peaks and valleys, opposing polarities that often don’t make sense.  It is when we reach below the surface, into the crevices where the true self often hides, that we see ourselves and our fellow beings in reality, for better or worse.

    In his wood sculptures, San Francisco artist Sean Newport begins with individual geometric shapes, building them up and arranging them into a finished whole.

    Sean Newport | artsy forager #art #artists #sculpture Sean Newport | artsy forager #art #artists #sculpture #paper Sean Newport | artsy forager #art #artists #sculpture #paper Sean Newport | artsy forager #art #artists #sculpture #paper Sean Newport | artsy forager #art #artists #sculpture #paper

     

    Varied colored surfaces reinforce patterns and illusions created by the undulating geometrics.    Our perception of the shapes changing with differing perspectives.  Just as opening our eyes to a different view of another may alter the way we see them, or at the very least, help us to understand the crevices behind their own facade.

    To see more of Sean Newport’s work, please visit his website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Temporal. Bill Armstrong.

    Temporal. Bill Armstrong.

    This is my first blog post since my mom left this earth.  It has been seventeen days.  We were lucky in that we had time to prepare, time to say goodbye, but it still doesn’t seem real.  I can still hear her voice in my head, that musical little “Hi Les!” that always greeted me on the other end of the phone line.  I still see her in my dreams, but she is never sick, always whole, always the way I most remember her, the way I want to remember.

    Bill Armstrong | artsy forager #art #artists #photography Bill Armstrong | artsy forager #art #artists #photography Bill Armstrong | artsy forager #art #artists #photography Bill Armstrong | artsy forager #art #artists #photography Bill Armstrong | artsy forager #art #artists #photography

     

    It was a harrowing, heartbreaking experience, to watch someone you love so much slowly slip away.  The hospice nurses marveled that she held on as long as she did– that she must have had some sort of unfinished business to tend to.  But those who knew her well knew that she would let go of her tortured body in her own good time.  Always the boss, always organized and in control, she would decide when.

    If there is anything I’ve taken away from this last year of my mom’s life, it is that we have no guarantees. She never should have been gone at only sixty seven.  There were still plans to be made, life to be lived, grandchildren to watch grow up.  If my mom could be gone, then so could my husband, so could my brothers, so could I.  I’ve been left with a resolve to follow my passions more fully, bask in each day more completely, love more abundantly.  I have today and for now it is enough.

    These photographs by Bill Armstrong reminded me of the fleeting nature of our lives on this earth.  To see more of his work, please visit his website.

    Artist found via Dolby Chadwick Gallery.  Images via the artist’s website.

  • Temporaries. Ann Chamberlin.

    Temporaries. Ann Chamberlin.

    We are all in some ways living transitory lives.  None of us are here forever, though some, like Mr. F and I, find ourselves moving from place to place quite often.  Sometimes we stay in one spot long enough that we begin to be recognized at the local coffee shop, but about the time that begins to happen, we move on to the next locale.

    Vaiven, New Paintings from Mexico, a new series of paintings by artist Ann Chamberlin now showing at Lora Schlesinger Gallery take their inspiration by the transitory places we find ourselves in– hotels, airports, campgrounds– and the lives and tales unfolding as people drift in and out.
    Ann Chamberlin | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings Ann Chamberlin | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings Ann Chamberlin | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings Ann Chamberlin | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings Ann Chamberlin | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings

     

    Chamberlin’s paintings, seen from a not-quite-bird’s-eye view, show a quick glimpse into a moment in these places.  The unremarkable moments are seen, the instances that don’t necessarily burn into our memory, yet are essential to the way these places of transitions feel and function.  For a time we are part of a collective when we find ourselves in these spots.  There’s a kind of kindredship and bonding that happens when we meet others moving through the same space, coming and going to and from so many varied experiences.

    To see more of Ann Chamberlin‘s work, please visit her website.  Vaiven, New Paintings from Mexico will be showing at Lora Schlesinger Gallery in LA through July 11, 2015.  If you’re in SoCal, go see it!

    All images are via Lora Schlesinger Gallery.