oops, i fell in love.

I fully intended to cover a different creative topic this week, like music, or cooking.

But the recipes I made were horrible. And I was introduced to the work of two amazing, primarily 2-D, visual artists this week. Thank you Facebook and Urban Fashion Network.

First, Christoff Niemann. Is it wrong to blog about a blog? Niemann is an illustrator, whose pieces can stand alone, but his blog brings an added element. He strings several pieces together with captions and commentary, which add up to a whole storytelling-style piece.

One entry that's been floating around Facebook shows various ways you can depict New York trademarks with legos. But everyone, New Yorker or not, can enjoy my favorite of the series: the server with a larger than life peppermill!






Another entry tells a story about the artist's lifelong relationship with coffee by drawing on napkins with, you guessed it, coffee. Poetic.





These entries and more can be found at: http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/

Next week... I'll cover Carla Sonheim, mixed media artist from Washington!

i've seen the light.

(Pardon my missed posting last week - I got swept into the holiday weekend!)

My tiny little apartment had a very dark, tiny little entryway. With no options for floor lamps, or an entry table, and no desire to do electrical work in a rental, I was seeking a rare treasure: a plug-in chandelier.

Budget? $10.

Here's a how-to in 5 simple steps:

1. Visit your neighborhood re-use store and look through their lighting section. I found this fixture, sans globe, at Value Village for $1.99. And lucky me, they were having a 50% off President's Day Sale! Price: $1.

2. Find a "quirky bowl". Depending on your style, and the final size you want, there are several creative options. For a small square pendant lamp, consider a tissue box cover. For a larger fixture, a punch bowl works well. The overall goal is you will need an existing hole in the middle of the bowl, or you will need to be able to drill a hole for the cord to go through. Glass is bad unless you are really talented. A thin plastic works well. Unless you are using a halogen bulb, most materials should be safe. This was a pretty floral bowl from the seasonal section at Target. Price: $5.

3. If the bowl shape you like isn't the color you like, change it! I liked this hammered bronze spray paint. Price: $1 (I already had the spray paint on my shelf.)

4. Drill a hole in said quirky bowl.

4a. If your bowl is tall enough, your hole only needs to be big enough to feed the chain through. The bowl can rest on top of the fixture.

4b. If your bowl is more shallow, your hole will need to be big enough for the lightbulb base to fit through. The bowl will sit between the top of the fixture and the bowl. Use a strong glue or epoxy to affix the fixture to the top of the hole.

5. Hang that pretty fixture from a plant hook in the ceiling. If there is a chain, swag it with flourish. Enjoy your newly lit, no-longer-creepy entryway.

I've come undone!

Scultpure's been on my mind. I've been noticing a significant amount of commercial pieces around Seattle. And not just the Sculpture Garden, but miscellanous pieces scattered thoughout the city, adding just a bit of interest as you are passing by or entering your office building. I was also talking to a co-worker earlier today about my secret wish to one day do some large scale metal lawn sculpture.

With all this on my mind, I started browsing for Seattle sculptors for inspiration. I stumbled upon Diem Chau, a Vietnamese-American artist, who received her training at our very own Cornish.

Now I had originally been thinking large scale, freestanding, metal or stone... I was completely suprised to find this body of miniature 3-D sculpted works. I always love being caught off guard - it gives me a little bit of joy to realize this artist has stumbled on something completely new and original.

First, the crayon figures. Crayola - not just for grade school anymore. I love the play on medium. Rather than using the crayons for their traditional purpose, as a drawing implement, the wax now becomes a sculptural medium. Yet the scale of the piece practically requires the context of the crayons to remain the same. The small scale encourages the adult artist to create a loosely detailed, child-like piece, reminiscent of the very drawings one would create with the crayons if used as drawing tool. It's downright witty.

Second, the miniatures within the dishes... Again, a play on the pieces used, this time with scale, using inverse proportions. How clever to use a plate to frame a table! Perhaps I'm easily amused, but it's this twist on our expectations that makes these pieces stand out.

Beyond amusement, though, I also get a sense of, well, eeriness. How strange would it be to be the little person who lived at that table, trapped in this room of white walls?

Next, Diem Chau has series of pieces that involve string adhered to dishes. The irony I find here is that, while many artists, including myself, try to find ways to make their art functional to appeal to a larger audience, Chau has done the opposite. She has chosen a functional canvas and rendered it disfunctional. Yet that simple choice adds charm to her pieces. I, for one, am drawn to texture of this mixed media, and find interest in the 3-D form created by using an alternate canvas.

The last piece. Does anyone else hear Weezer's Sweater Song?

P.S.

I'm pleased with my blue treasury I created on etsy tonight. :-)

craigslist, not just for amateurs anymore

In the sea of craziness that is craigslist, you will see a wide range of characters. We've all heard stories (both horror and amusing) of the experiences you can have when trying to sell things, of people standing you up, or trying to scam you, or when you check the personals or roommate listings, every entry reads "Just looking for someone normal?!". Craigslist is its own little microcosm of the internet world, and so entertaining that two gals, Katie Goan and Nitra Gutierrez, actually crafted a play called Kidnapped by Craigslist.

Well, the artists' section tends to follow the same pattern, with a significant portion of the promotional listings leaving you feeling a little confused as to what you just saw.

Today, however, I was browsing happily along, because I ran across a few awesome artists!

Vegas artist M. Mellon spoke to me on several levels - please be sure to check out his website, as I only have room to post a couple here. I often have the discussion with non-classically trained artists (whether it's visually art, music, anything) about why training is important, and usually the argument is that the untrained artists are worried their pieces would become too polished, and uninspired, just clinical or technical.

Mellon here is someone I admire for being that well-rounded artist. He has managed to master technique, demonstrating a understanding of anatomy and communicating through his figures' posture and gesture. His figures in ink and acrylic are equally matched with his more fluid and abstracted watercolors. He maintains technique and understands his media, while still keeping originality.

Three of my favorites:

"Death's Waiting Room" - I will be directing Sartre's No Exit this summer, and this is exactly how I pictured the room. Saving this one! My next favorite piece also reminded me of a scene I imagined.

Below is "Pleased to Drown," which, with that title, I can only hope to imagine that great minds think alike. I immediatly thought of the final scene of Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Having moved apartments several times, I've finally settled down enough to unpack my boxes of books from high school. Getting to revisit some of this literature has been a joy, and even more of a joy to discover these paintings that so closely matched my imagination!

And, "Internal Landscape Six."

An alien seahorse. Clearly.

OK, enough love of Mellon. I also want to take a quick moment to appreciate San Francisco artist Hiroko Sakai. Here are a few teasers showcasing her varied styles, but you'll want to check out here website too. A great example of modern surrealism, with a twist of humor.

i don't know why i'm surprised

but there is a LOT of political art on Etsy! (I'm posting early this week with the excitement of the Inauguration.)

Even the classics, those artists who were paid by patrons to create what they wanted, found ways to insert their own messages, points, or even jabs. Politics have frequently found their way, whether openly or sneakily, into artistic creations.

So, in the spirit of this week's Presidential Inauguration, I bring you some of the Obama art that caught my eye.

First, this Circles of Change bracelet by tafurious. This is a bracelet I would wear regardless of theme, because I love the simplicity of design, and how each circle has a different texture. The words "hope" and "dream" stamped in two of the circles just add to the small surprises you find looking at this bracelet.

Next, I fell in love with this mixed-media painting by StormOne. I'm immediately drawn to his smiling soulful eyes. What is he looking at? If I didn't know this was Obama, what would I see? I love the jazzy feel of this painting. I feel like he could be inspired to start playing a double bass at any moment.

Then I stumbled across some Hope. Hope on a Rope, that is!

With the seriousness of this election, it's great to see some (loving, not mocking, in my opinion) playfulness!

I don't know if want Obama grinning at you in the shower, but this is sure to start your day off with a smile. And everyone will love this Obama, because he's purple (both red and blue friendly), vegan, and smells like fresh air. Thank you, dugshop, for making my day.

Additionally, if you thought Obama was just going to restore our country to fabulousness, you were wrong. O-Balm-Ah (by themefragrance) will also restore your skin. That's right, folks. You can put Obama on a rope, and you can also put him in a jar. Here's hoping the new President can heal our economy and reputation - but no matter what, we know he can heal our bodies!

With all this great Obama floating around,

let's all jump on the hope train.

breaking my first rule...

I had to. I had a request. A snippet about Paul Rudd:


According to IMDB, Mr. Rudd has 3 movies in post-production. Thank you for making my 2009! I'm a sucker for comedies, so I'll be seeing "I Love You, Man" and "The Year One" (been a fan of Michael Cera since Arrested Development, and did you see the rest of this cast?!?!).



Besides. Paul Rudd is hot. Here's proof:

Told you.

Now onto more important things! This is an art blog after all! And while Paul Rudd may be considered a piece of art, let's get to the real stuff.


Shortly after college, I moved to NYC to try out grad school, and then I ended up selling my art on the plaza in Union Square.


While I was there, I made friends with quite a few of the other street artists, and we'd often barter or give each other "fellow artist discount"s. This is how I began my own collection of art.


My very favorite piece of all time acts as the centerpiece for my living room. It's acrylic(?) on canvas, and it is entiled "The Hidden" by artist Cypha. I was drawn to the African imagery because I have a tendency to be attracted to international and eastern pieces, but I was especially drawn to how the abstract lines of the masks and leaves just blend into each other as if it was a geometric pattern.
I'm now very familiar with the piece, and the faces peeking through the bushes have become household friends, but at very first glance, the faces truly were Hidden. Every time I took a closer look and saw another face, it was a little joyful surprise.



Once I moved back to Seattle and knew I could make a permanent home for The Hidden, of course they needed a frame! How does a starving artist pay for a custom frame?! Well, they build one of course!


But what the hell do I know about framing?! What I do know is how to raid my dad's scrap wood pile and cut 45 degree angles on a power saw.


When I first told my parents about my intentions to build a frame out of two-by-fours, they stared at me with the usual, "What the hell?" and, "Shouldn't we research this first?" and, "Yuck! Two-by-fours! Eeeewwwwwww...." And I stared right back with, "Trust me, fools."


And just like when I was 5 and tried to dress myself with polka dots and stripes, etc., it somehow all came together.


Step 1: Build a frame. You all are smart, and I know you can work this out! It involves 4 - 2x4s, with 45 degree angles to join them together. You'll also cut (on the back side) a 1" x 1" groove to the interior side of each 2x4, so you can set the painting into the frame.






Step 2: Stain or paint the frame. I was VERY impressed at how well stain, on cheap wood, exposes beautiful grain.

Step 3: Hang your beautiful painting in your awesome new custom homemade frame which didn't cost $400.

Step 4: Stick your tongue out at Mom and Dad. You knew you rocked.