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katie donovan

Oh, I love this on so many levels. This is the latest series by St.Louis, Missouri based artist Katie Donovan. I’m going to let her explain the smart, insightful, and hilarious ins & outs of this work:

“If No Publicity Is Bad Publicity, Am I Any Good?” is a drawing and performance-based project. In creating this work I was thinking about my experience as an artist and a question posed by the Jealous Curator, Danielle Krysa. Often when Krysa interviews artists she asks them how they introduce themselves at parties. Generally Krysa asks this to see if they feel comfortable claiming their art calling and how they describe their day-to-day work. Often when I tell people that I am an artist, specifically a draftsman/drawer, they immediately ask, “Are you any good?” I find this question more compelling than insulting. While I assume that these individuals are actually inquiring whether I can draw realistically or not, this question has provoked me to consider the artist as a worker, albeit a very different kind of worker. I decided to make a series of drawings advertising myself as an artist, but in the way that one would advertise themselves as a dog walker, house cleaner, or babysitter. I added the type of imagery that I typically use in my drawings to give the viewer a sample of what I am selling, so to speak. I also added value-based statements about myself as an artist to continue to play with the question, “Are you any good?”

During the fall of 2017 I will be putting these drawings up in public places. Look out for a piece from “If No Publicity Is Bad Publicity, Am I Any Good?” in Starbucks, at the park, in a gallery or any other public space near you. 

Are you really hoping these show up in your city? Me too! So. Smart. {ps. Also, honored to have been a tiny catalyst for this… who knew!?}





tara donovan


Giant/fluffy pussy willows, and pink stalagmites? Nope. Bunches of acrylic rods, and stacks of buttons. Insane. This is the breathtaking work of Brooklyn based installation artist Tara Donovan. Just imagine seeing this work in person… well, you can if you happen to be on either US coast this summer! Yep, PACE New York and PACE Menlo Park California have Tara’s work showing until mid August. You’re going to go, right?!





i’m jealous of nuala o’donovan

Whoa. Crazy, beautiful, organic ceramic pieces by Nuala O’Donovan, an artist based in Cork, Ireland. I am imagining that these photos do not do her work justice. I would love the chance to have a closer look, and actually hold one of these stunning objects in my hot little hands… very, very carefully, of course. Here is Nuala’s artist statement about this work, and her process:

“My work combines regular pattern with the characteristics of irregular patterns and forms from nature. Each element of the pattern is individually made, the form is constructed slowly over a period of weeks or months. The finished forms are a result of an intuitive response to the direction that the pattern takes as well as the irregularity in the handmade elements of the pattern.”





i’m jealous of tara donovan

Whoa.

These stunningly beautiful, insanely meticulous installations are by Brooklyn based artist Tara Donovan. I was thinking of leaving the close-ups out of the post so that I could have an amazing contest with fabulous prizes for the people who correctly guessed what each piece was made from… but the detailed views were just too fantastic, and I had to show them oh, and also, I had no fabulous prizes to give out. Ah, details.  Ok, if I had actually planned an amazing contest, with fabulous prizes, these are the answers I would have been looking for: 1. styrofoam cups 2. buttons 3. paper plates 4. scotch tape

{via Curbs & Stoops… who I just wrote about earlier this morning}





“greetings from yawnder”

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Today we’re taking a little trip into the woods, to a magical place called “Yawnder”. I’m talking to Canadian drawist {that’s an artist who draws}, Jay Dart. You can listen right up there under that bearded log driver, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

I’ve been a fan of Jay’s work for years, but I’m embarrassed to say it wasn’t until his most recent show,  “Greetings From Yawnder”, that I finally began to understand his work, and more importantly, the secret meaning behind it.  The “Field Guide to Yawnder”, a lovely little book that he created for the show, is to thank for this. It’s insightful, insanely detailed, and a true field guide complete with maps, glossaries, definitions and introductions to characters that I want to be friends with… like Jiggs and his trusty dog Floyd, for example. Jiggs is Jay’s muse/alter-ego who travels Yawnder searching for creative inspiration:

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I want to go to there. Geist trees growing ideas, “Beyawnder” where you’re free to be as creative as possible, and a land called “The Unknowns” … nobody knows what happens there, obviously. This is the part in the podcast when I made Jay read his own poetry. I love this, especially the bit about the referers:

 

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Hilarious and so smart! If you have no idea what this is about, then you haven’t listened to the episode yet. What are you waiting for!?

Next, this is the self-published book, “Wanderer of Yawnder”, that Jay was telling me about. I have a copy and it’s so lovely, magical, and beautifully made:

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Note the author: writing credit to Jiggs! LOVE. Speaking of love… magical mystery beards, and branch libraries:

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So simple. So Magical. That last framed piece is the branch library that Jay made for my Land of Nod collection.

Oh, the geist trees. The entire idea behind these rainbow-hued beauties is absolutely brilliant:

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Sigh. Wouldn’t you love to spend an afternoon in Jay’s mind?

Aaaaand here we are… we’ve arrived in “Beyawnder”. This wonderful, creatively-carefree place is a collaboration between Jay and his little boy. One of them is in charge of scribbles, the other takes care of the wanderers:

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Yep, anything is possible in this wonderful little corner of the map.

Now, we thought we were finished and then I realized I forgot to ask about these fabulous album covers that Jay designed for his friend, and talented Canadian musician, Donovan Woods:

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Ah! I love all of them, but that geist tree cut-away?! So, so good.

And finally, in case you want to see his ginger beard, a photo of Jay mid-install at Galerie Youn in Montreal {they were the first gallery to represent his work, and he’s forever grateful.}

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I think I see a bit of Jiggs in that photo of Jay, can’t you? Thank you so much to Jay for taking us to Yawnder; Thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode; and you guessed it, big high-fives to you for listening! Now normally I say, “there will be more art for your ear next weekend”, but I’m in Hawaii at the moment and didn’t get organized enough to have an episode ready for next week… but there will be one waiting for you the weekend after that {I promise!}.

Other links:

  1. Galerie Youn, Montreal
  2. University of Guelph
  3. Elspeth Pratt, sculptor/professor
  4. Toronto International Film Festival
  5. “Beautiful Losers” documentary
  6. “Greetings From Yawnder” Show, Art Gallery of Sudbury (Feb 3)
  7. Jay’s next show, Wall Space Gallery, Ottawa (May 5)
  8. Jiggs’ site (yes, Jiggs has his own site)

ps. “Log Driver’s Waltz” for all of you true Canadians out there:





#5womenartists

A project for today! Listen to this…

The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NWMA), the world’s only major museum solely dedicated to celebrating great women artists, has announced a new social media campaign for this March’s Women’s History Month. If you ask someone to name five artists, they will likely name prominent male artists, but how many people can list five women artists? To increase awareness the museum will launch the campaign “Can you name five women artists?” March 1 on its website and blog as well as on social media outlets, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Using the hashtag #5womenartists, the campaign will encourage NMWA’s online community to help address the gender imbalance in the presentation of art both in the United States and internationally.

Oh, I am so in… mind you, I could name 500 women artists that I love, but I’ll play by the rules. Here are 5 of my {many} favorite artists, who also happen to be women:

5women_kilgallen
5women_donovan
5women_rich
5women_smith
5women_anne
5women_MAIER

Alright yes, that was 6, but I had to make sure that the mysterious and talented Vivian Maier was in there too! Ok, now it’s your turn – jump on those social media channels and name #5womenartists whose work you love {contemporary or historical} and help make it really easy for people to be able to name five women artists ♥

{click on the artwork above to see more of their work}





be jealous in brooklyn tonight

If I was in Brooklyn tonight, I would be at Curbs & Stoops Active Space {566 Johnson Ave}. In fact, I would be there right at 7pm because that’s when their latest show, Goodbye Space Shuttle, opens. Here’s what it’s all about:

To those born near or after the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969, the Space Shuttle Program epitomized the ascendant glory of U.S. manned space exploration. Now, thirty years after the launch of the first space shuttle, we react with ambivalence to the retirement of these artifacts of 20th century technology. Ending manned space exploration represents a silent admission of the United States’ lessening world status and ambition. It echoes the seismic shift in potential that seems to have been brought on by concurrent economic, environmental, and geo-political crises. This confluence of disasters points to another meaning of Goodbye Space Shuttle, which is: no rescue. What new visions can alter the trajectory of this overcrowded rock?
In retrospect, the abandonment of the shuttle program may prove to be as large a milestone as its first launch. It thus seems appropriate to dedicate an exhibition to the moment. Artists participating in this late summer homage include:
Taylor Baldwin, John Bianchi, Matthew Capezzuto, Jane Corrigan, Bill Donovan, Jen Durbin, Sue Havens, Alexis Knowlton, Andy Lane, Beth Livensperger, Sakura Maku, Brian Maller, Vasken Mardikian, Jason Mones, Wilfredo Ortega, Jen Schwarting, John Silvis, Lee Vanderpool, Peonia Vázquez-D’Amico, Letha Wilson

{The work shown above is titled “Payless” and is by Jason Mones. The show runs from Friday July 29th until August 19th}