Artwork of the Week: Jeu de Ficelle

Jeu de Ficelle by Mathilde Aubier 

signed digital print on 21 x 29.7 cm paper

$21.11 via MathildeAubier on Etsy

Now it's my turn to get in on the First Communion talk. My sweet niece Rita was communion-ized for the first time this past weekend, and I had the great honor to attend the mass and celebrate her milestone with the rest of the Potash crew. It was a quick trip, but I really enjoyed getting some quality time in with both my niece and nephew. We talked about the best movies they've seen lately (they were completely horrified that I haven't watched Frozen yet) and Rita and I even played a couple rounds of Cat's Cradle. Ok, she did all of the fancy finger work and just told me where to pinch the string, but it was still fun.

You can see more of Mathilde Aubier's work for sale in her Etsy shop: MathildeAubier

- Cathleen 

Artwork of the Week: The Clasp

The Clasp by Tim Lahan

Last week was not as bad as I feared it would be. Don't get me wrong—there were plenty of moments that tested my mettle, but I did it. I ran necessary errands, I took morning walks, I kept us both fed, and I single-handedly bathed a little twisting mister five days in a row without (too many) tears or life-threatening incident. There's also this hyper-vigilance that sets in when you become the main person responsible for keeping your child alive. The 24-hour high alert state is exhausting. I know women everywhere do this kind of thing on their own all the time, and I deeply admire them. I only had a handful of days to get through, and I probably shouldn't be surprised that I did just fine, but I am. Still, I feel incredibly lucky to have the partner and the support that I do, and these last few days made me appreciate him all the more. The best part of my week was definitely when Micky came back. 

- Cathleen 

She Brakes for Art: Kiki Smith

Concluding my fascination with different artists' tool of the trade, I bring you Kiki Smith's hands. "Hands?" you ask incredulously. Yes, I know that all (ok, most) visual artists use their hands to create, but Kiki's are something altogether enchanting and mesmerizing. I got the chance to see them up close recently when she sat across from me on the subway. (Gah! It was all I could do to stop myself from shouting at her, "You are the reason I art today!!") I've searched the internet high and low for a close up of her hands at work, but have yet to find something truly illustrative of their abilities. And beauty—they are marked with a delicate constellation of turquoise tattoos that only adds to their allure. Her hands contain a certain character, unparalleled skill, and a yearning to create.

"Her hands constantly fiddle: she’s always drawing or making things out of clay or whatever. Partly, it’s a way to distract her gaze. Mostly, for her, making art is like breathing."

[Images courtesy of kikismithsquattingthepalace.com, huffingtonpost.com, quote from a great feature titled The Intuitionist by Michael Kimmelman on nytimes.com]

- Cathleen 

Artwork of the Week: Relic

Relic is one of my newest sculptures, cobbled together just in time for open studios at the beginning of this month. It's actually something I wanted to make when I started grad school four years ago (yikes!), but it never quite fit with whatever theme I was working on. This piece was inspired by several ideas, namely the story of St. Thérèse the "Little Flower" of Lisieux, the spontaneous stigmata of Padre Pio, relics that hold a mystical power, and epidermodysplasia verruciformis, a skin disorder that manifests itself with a proliferation of hard, scaly growths on the hands and feet. I learned about that last bit watching this video of the Treeman on Youtube. Amazingly his nearly lifelong crippling affliction was cured with a simple regular dose of vitamin A. 

- Cathleen