Wednesday Work: Hilary White

(source)

Hilary White. Big deal round Fishtown this winter, with a beautfiul showing at Part Time Studios. 2D - 3D. Currently with work at Sweet Jane Vintage. Invigorating in person - so you should go.

Sweet Jane Vintage/ 1820 E. Passyunk Ave., Philly, PA 19148/Tues-Sat 12-8, Sun 12-6.

PS. Images look better when you click on them, than they do in the body of the post.

(source)

Wednesday Work: Christopher Hartshorne

Nebula Christopher Hartshorne

This week's Wednesday work is Philly's own Christopher Hartshorne.

Walking those winding, unassuming stairs up to the second floor of the "Vox building", (a derelict property, just north of China Town, that has been re purposed housing apartments, at least one suite of textile factory-type work, and a myriad of artist-run spaces, including: Vox Populi, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Marginal Utility, Grizzly Grizzly - and the NEW NAPOLEON) I didn't think we were going to make it. Fresh from a down pour of summer thunder storms and a happy hour bar boasting half price everything until 8PM, the sweat was dripping off of our faces, pooling in blotchy splotchy patterns all over our clothes. We round the corner past the elevator doors and into the deplorable bathroom situation that is the second floor - quick past the growing crowd of gawkers in the hall,

And we were made a new once through the threshold of NAPOLEON's door.

The room was white, the air was cool, and we were met with large oversize huge gigantic prints made from woodblock, printed just so, on long rolls of paper delicately pinned to the walls and strung over utility pipes - I found my feet.

This is why we made the trip.

The beautiful movement and abstraction and depth of Christopher Hartshorne's woodblock prints let you in. They let you go - there - where? That's up to your imagination. They deftly set the stage, one with many different avenues and options, but they don't tell you what to say. A variation of line work mixed with subtle color shifts, the work a grotesque adventure, a memory, or a want - all depending on if you had 6 dark and stormys, or just 2 pale ales, at the happy hour bar, and your ability to synthesize alcohol.

I received the image in two parts, which I show together up top. Below, the two images as they were sent as separate. The image size, 96"x38". Now that's some big wood.

Go see the show for yourself!

Gallery hours at NAPOLEON: Saturdays 1-3. 319 N. 11th Street. 2nd Floor. Philadelphia, PA. Up through July.

And check out more of Christopher Hartshorne's work at his website, here.

Nebula Christopher Hartshorne

Nebula Christopher Hartshorne

Winter Print: Memory City II #3 by Sun Ji

(source)

I've got my boots, now I need my coffee and my chocolate. Winter rain - ugh. But such a beautiful gray.

DEFY MONDAY: It's been resolved.

(source)

I am not a big advocate for saying one needs to change. (Or believing that one can change.) Especially not change for change sake, say every year around the 1st of January.

What I am for is realizing what we're working with, what our strengths and weaknesses may be, and what kind of energies we have that we would like to see bend in some other direction than currently bent - - -

(source)

I think I am wonderful, as every individual should think themselves to be - -

but here it is: a short list,

The Mountain's New Year's Resolutions 2011

1. Answer. The. Phone.

2. Be. Consistent.

3. No. More. Negativity. (shit-talking or gossip)

And more than those things we would like to change about ourselves, (or the people around us - but then that would be going against my resolution #3,...) what a New Year is best for is allowing a fresh start - a free pass past all the time we think we've wasted, all the wrong decisions we feel that we've made, up and around too many late nights spent "just thinking" - a fresh start to Get Motivated and to make the New Year even more than the year before it.

So, you heard it: Let's MAKE IT HAPPEN. It's 2011!

(source)

(You can start by supporting your homegrown artist - find these upcycled eco friendly art prints over at Etsy from Moon and Lion. Many messages to start your New Year right!)

(Beautiful!) Alert!: Banquet

(source)

Taken directly from the info section at their shop site:

"Banquet Atelier & Workshop is a Vancouver-based studio, creating inspired learning for families everywhere. We are currently obsessing over handmade quilts, making blood orange marmalade, Eastern European folk costumes, Maira Kalman, the boreal forest, homing salamanders, and growing succulents. But that's just this week."

...I'm in love.

BANQUET atelier & workshop

DEFY MONDAY: bicycles + tattoos

(source)

(source)

Big news from this past weekend - after walking with the dogs down to the neighborhood bike shop to pick up a new tube - I fixed my first flat, all by myself!

I know, I know, not exactly rocket science or even an awesome show of physical strength, but it is those small victories, is it not(?), that put the sugar-free frosting on our mundane day-to-day.

And it was! It was exhilarating! And I did! I did want to run out and get a rad how-to-fix-a-flat-bicycle-tire-diagram tattoo. But I digress,

(Perhaps I should wait on the permanent ink until I overcome a repair which involves a little more difficulty or an awesome show of physical strength.)

Check out these illustration by Matt Taylor! I am sure all of you out there know someone around your 'hood like this. (Ugh:way to go Dad - all I can think is: where are their helmets?)

(source)

(source)

Bicycles + Tattoos + Art = a splendid day ANY day! See more of these things at Brush & Spoke, Pedal Consumption, and Fixed Gear Blog.

(source)

A ball-bearing hub?

Can I be honest with you out there in blog land?

I keep dreaming about a mobile made of sticks & feathers & string & rocks, I think the tattoo sitting there just inside my subconscious resembles a ... dream-catcher! shriek BaHahahaha (evil laugh), on the inside of my upper arm, The Sea won't mind, no, not at all.

Oh the lunacy of a humid August - hope you all enjoy your week!

Wednesday Work: speaking of Matte Stephens...

Rupert and Leonard wait for the tram on their Swedish holiday.

You've seen Matte Stephens' paintings and work whether it be for American Express, IBM, Disney or The Boston Globe - or from our last blog post - to name a few, but have you seen Matte Stephens' felted "action figures"?

Mr. Owl and Uncle Rutherford

Felted Action Figures.

I am not usually all too interested in those things (styles, ideas, etc) that I see everywhere. They often seem ungenuine, or at the very least less accessible to the individual, to myself as a person. They instead just become a commodity, an extension of the corporate working to establish something else, usually a product.

While I enjoy Stephens style, my enjoyment was purely an aesthetic one until I saw these little guys. These felted "action figures".

I'll say it again: felted "action figures".

Whimsical and endearing, I especially like the way they move from felted form to 2-D medium. See the felted figure above, and their corresponding gouache paintings below.

Mr Owl.

Uncle Rutherford.

Not only action figures and portrait paintings, Stephens weds his work with titles imbued with a sort of magic realism.

Titles like: "Felted Rooster School Bus and Mr. Owl".

And, "Alfred, Louis and Francios after 12 years of preparation were surprised to find a cafe at the top of Mount Everest".

I like that Matte Stephens' work consumes him.

Large Owl paper sculpture.

In this image titled "Large Owl paper sculpture", notice not only the sculptural object, another extension of Mr. Owl, but also the clock on the wall behind it. Stephens' style all-consuming of his reality.

These seem less like paintings for paintings sake, or ads for hire, and more like these characters, combined with their background stories and daily lives depicted in various paintings, it seems this is not work for Stephens, but in fact, that these are Stephens' friends.

This inspires me, not only as an artist, but as a person too. To see not only that which is before me, presented to me, available to me in my daily routine, but to see more, to create those things and those stories that allow me an outlet - that give me a little magic; it is a unique occurrence indeed.

The further on into adulthood I go, I am beginning to see just how important it is to be reminded of the potential and the magic all around us.

Thank you, Matte Stephens.

Lumberjack Breakfast.

Lillian playing with abstract thought.

See more of Matte Stephens at his blog, here. Buy some of Matte Stephens work from his etsy shop, here.

Wednesday Work: Posters of the WPA

(source 1, 2, 3)

Did I tell you we're moving?

Yup. Packing and sorting and trashing GALORE!

Hence, the theme of this week's Wednesday Work: the Posters of the WPA (Work Progress Administration). Felt fitting for all the heavy lifting we've been doing.

(source)

I chose this one especially for The Sea.

I am sure you are all familiar with some sort of variation of the poster above, but are you familiar with the posters below?

(source)

While the WPA was prominent with the onset of WWII, they were not designed in response to wartime. The WPA was an agency formed during the era of the New Deal (a series of economic projects passed by Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. )

The WPA employed millions to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects.

(source)

It fed children, redistributed food, clothing, and housing.

(source)

The WPA was also concerned with the community's quality of life,

(source)

Health,

(source)

And clean teeth, (my favorite)

(source)

You can learn more about the WPA here and see more of this wonderful collection of print work and design here.

Propoganda? Sure, but what isn't?

Alright, alright - back to work!

Wednesday Work: Linoleum Prints: Troy Lovegate

(source)

So, I am really into acessible art as of late. Art that I think I could make too... ok, well, at least art with a process that isn't way far over my head, or way out of my ability to gain materials for.

Viola - the linoleum print, or linocut. No fancy materials, nor does one need a lot of materials. A process - that once you get past the idea of printing backwards - laying down those colors in the background first and working your way out to the front of the print - a process that doesn't seem too difficult to understand.

L-L-Love these linoleum prints by Troy Lovegate! A jack-of-all-trades, he works in painting, drawing, mixed media and installation as well.

(source)

You can see more of Troy's work here, and here.

(source)

And in the spirit of doing-it-yourself, check out easy to follow linolem print tutorials here, and here. The first one even has a margarita recipe at the end! (The second is more kid-friendly.)

(source)

Who's going to try it with me? I'll post mine, if you show me yours....

DEFY MONDAY: Made With Awesome

Made With Awesome