Artist of the Week: Jeremy Miranda

Massive Ice Wall

8 x 10" archival print of original painting

$20 from jeremymiranda on Etsy

Jeremy Miranda is an artist born in Newport, RI who graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in 2004 with a BFA and settled in Salem, MA where he paints acrylic on panel. All of that steeping in the dark New England tea has certainly influenced Miranda's choice of subject matter as well as his muted palette. His paintings are filled with crashing waves on rocky shores and chilly gray landscapes juxtaposed with warm interiors. His interest in nature vs. man-made architecture and focus on what's happening above and below the surface of things has a very science-fiction feel to it that I really like. 

The artist sells original paintings as well as more affordable signed archival prints of his work through his Etsy shop, jeremymiranda. You can see a wider range of Miranda's art on his website: jeremymiranda.com

Shelter

8 x 10" archival print of original painting

$20 from jeremymiranda on Etsy

Chasm

11 x 14" archival print of original painting

$40 from jeremymiranda on Etsy

Library by the Sea

8 x 10" archival print of original painting

$20 from jeremymiranda on Etsy

Greenhouse Interior

11 x 14" limited edition print of original painting

$40 from jeremymiranda on Etsy

- Cathleen 

Artist of the Week Redux: Stacy Scibelli

So good we had to feature her twice (!), Stacy Scibelli The Wundermaker is at it again. This time she's working on a most interesting project titled Suit Yourself wherein the artist has undertaken the Herculean task of designing, cutting, sewing, and wearing a new outfit—down to the underwear!—every day for 30 days. And not only that, but she also arranges and displays each piece of clothing as a wall sculpture that she then photographs. But wait, there's more! Stacy is also documenting her process everyday on her website where you can see each piece she's created, on her person and on the wall, and read her thoughtful commentary on her sometimes frustrating but always revelatory creative process. It's all super inspiring. 

This one goes two ways!

Among her daily expositions, she also talks about what audio books she's listening to while she works and what she's eating for lunch, mundane details to many perhaps, but I for one love peeking inside the artist's studio to get a closer look at who they are behind the grand explanation of what the work MEANS. I often find my eye wandering away from what's on display towards the shelf where they stash their favorite tea and the table where pencil cups brim with their best pens. An aside, I know, but getting to see the personal details makes the whole professional picture so much rounder and fuller, don't you think?

Stacy's only eleven days deep right now and I'm already hooked. 

You would be too! Check out her daily posts on stacyascibelli.com

- Cathleen 

  

[All images courtesy of the artist.]

Artist of the Week: Diane Savona

Domestic Armor 

Diane Savona is a textile and fiber artist who uncovers and exalts the domestic handiwork of the past in her own soft sculpture and 2 dimensional work. People don't mend things anymore, they don't learn complicated embroidery techniques from their mothers, or lacemaking at their grandmothers' knees. Diane exhumes these forgotten practices and artifacts,  garments that were made to last and be passed down from generation to generation, and reemphasizes their worth by deconstructing and repurposing the pieces into something that a new generation can relate to. You can see her hand in every scrap she sews together, and the hands of every woman who darned before her, as if she is holding a magnifying glass up to each French knot and split stitch detail. I especially appreciate the idea of pot holders and aprons as protection and armor. She takes these kitchen garments and tools and elevates them to the level of self-defense for women in the face of their always challenging everyday battles.

Overgrown Fossil, 68"x 49"

Domestic Markings, 32.5"x 20"

Preserved corsets and girdles from Soft-Bodied Specimens

First Apron Excavation, 50"x 33"

Exhibition photograph from her solo show Closet Archeology at The Hermitage Museum in 2010

All images courtesy of the artist's website: www.dianesavonaart.com

- Cathleen 

Artwork of the Week: Spotty Banana Peel

Spotty Banana Peel by Aubrey Levinthal

Oil painting on masonite panel, 5 x 8 in

I love the idea of elevating a cast off fruit rind to fine art status.

You can see more of Aubrey's work on her website: www.aubreylevinthal.com

And purchase some of her small original paintings from her Etsy shop: Tastycakeartist 

- Cathleen 

Artist of the Week: Aimee Baldwin

Scarlet Ibis -- Eudocimus ruber 2011

Aimee Baldwin is the wonder woman responsible for these fine feathered friends. Sculpted from white pellet foam, paper clay, crepe paper, paint, wire, resin, and glass taxidermy eyes, every bird is individually hand-crafted and unique. She creates lovely framed botany specimens as well. You can read more about her construction technique and see photos of all of her work on her website vegantaxidermy.com, where no plants or animals are harmed in the making of her beautiful art. Brava!

Belted Kingfisher -- Megaceryle alcyon 2011

Detail of Acorn Woodpecker -- Melanerpes formicivorus 2010

Detail of Cedar Waxwing -- Bombycilla cedrorum 2010

- Cathleen


[All photos courtesy of the artist's website & Etsy shop]

Artist of the Week: Julia Harrison

Blue Belle, 2006, 2.5 x 1.5 x 5"

maple wood, gouache, lacquer, wax, nickel, magnet, epoxy

This exquisitely hand-carved wearable art is made by Seattle-based artist and jewelry maker Julia Harrison. Creating in wood and metal primarily, Julia also teaches jewelry and wood-carving classes. I'm amazed that she can pull these animated shapes forth from a dull block of wood, reducing the lifeless material to produce such a vibrant form. You can see more examples of her work on her website: www.juliaharrison.net

The Dozen Rosebuds, 2005

various woods, gouache broaches, also wall-mountable

Mirabella, 2005, 2.5 x 2.5 x 5"

maple wood, pearls, gouache, varnish, wax, nickel, magnet

Daikoku, 2006, 2 x 1.5 x 1"

pear wood, gouache, wax, nickel, magnet

- Cathleen 

[Images courtesy of the artist's website.]

Artist of the Week: Colleen Ford

Colleen Ford is a Brooklyn-based artist and dear friend of mine whose mixed media work is both a humorous critique on our culture and a thoughtful response to what's found. The Depression/Recession series I've posted here are made of two images; the one on the left is a collection of drawings she found in her neighborhood thrift store signed by a woman named Elizabeth Fletcher in 1933, and the graphite drawing on the right is Colleen's interpretation of the same subject through the lens of today. The work makes a simple, eloquent statement contrasting two time periods that are separated by nearly a century, two eras that are so similar in their bleak economic state and hopeful outlook and yet so completely different in terms of their ideals and reality. 

Colleen is also currently trying to raise money for her newest project Saving For Our Futures through the fundraising site indiegogo. The work she is hoping to execute will be an installation of ten handblown glass piggy banks stuffed to the snout with lottery tickets, like this little guy:

The piece is a commentary on the debt we incur in the hopeful (and often fruitless) pursuit of our dreams, and the sometimes impractical investment in our futures, a reality that has smacked so many of us even before we reach adulthood. Once completed the work will be a part of an exhibition titled How Much Do I Owe You? produced by the public art organization No Longer Empty set to open in an abandoned Long Island City bank in December 2012. Please consider contributing—even the smallest donation of $10 will put your name into the work as a patron, $25 will earn you a piece of art in exchange for helping the artist realize her vision, but larger amounts will invest in even greater art rewards—for your walls and your karma.

You can also see more examples of Colleen's work on her website: colleenford.com

- Cathleen


[Images courtesy of the artist's website: colleenford.com]

Last Friday Night

Eyes of Mine, 2010

Last Friday night my scheduled plans fell through, so I decided to stop by the Whitney after work to check out the Yayoi Kusama retrospective that I'd been hoping to visit all summer. When I strode up to the stacked block museum, the line to get in was already around the building (ugh), but thankfully I had brought my overconfidence and my SVA staff ID, both of which I flashed at the Membership desk. "Right this way, Ms. Cueto!" Ok, no one actually said that. I'm not Daddy Warbucks. But I did feel like a total VIP. Unfortunately, being ushered past the waiting plebs did not mean I'd get to see her mirrored twinkle-lit installation Fireflies on the Water—those times tickets had sold out hours ago. But I did get to experience works of hers that I'd only seen in art books before. Her Infinity Net paintings were stunning up close and from far away, simple repeated strokes of white that undulated like a vast foamy sea. But it was the final room of her most recent paintings that really excited me and made me wish that photography was allowed. Especially Eyes from 2009, Secret Moments from 2010, and Eyes of Mine from 2010 (above, thanks Shamanism), all bright red on blue shapes that looked as if they were positively vibrating. Some things I learned about Kusama from the show: she and Joseph Cornell were lovers for 10 years (she was his first girlfriend when he was 60!), she also made beautiful, seamless collages, and she staged a nude happening in a MoMA fountain in 1969 that was covered in the Daily News with the headline, "But Is It Art?" 

Creepy coincidence: Yayoi was our Artist of the Week one year ago today!

- Cathleen