It’s rare for fibre arts to make you feel slightly {or very} uncomfortable, but that’s exactly what these beautifully woven tapestries do. I wrote about her for the first time in 2011, and five years later I finally get to talk to Brooklyn based artist Erin M. Riley… I had A LOT of questions for this very thoughtful, smart, and ridiculously talented woman. The combination of her chosen medium, and her subject matter is truly brilliant! Now, before we get started, I thought this description from her site was an excellent way to explain her work:

Riley has referenced found images online as well as her own photographs that address sex, social media and feminism. Influenced by the Instagram generation, her subjects have varied from iPhone nude selfies, screenshots of sexual positions and objects of womanhood or sexuality.

Yep, that sets up our conversation perfectly. You can listen right up there under Erin at the loom, or you can subscribe on iTunes. First up, a few of my favorites from her found photo weavings:

Oh girls… don’t do it! Risky behavior and bad decisions captured forever in woven fibre. Amazing. Next up, we touched on some of Erin’s earlier work that revolved around drunk driving:

It’s heartbreaking to think about the stories behind these found images.

Next, all of these pieces are from her “Daddy Issues” series. They’re beautiful, but make you cringe for these girls at the same time:

I love this series so much. I think it’s incredibly powerful and a really interesting way to slow down {literally in Erin’s case} and take a closer look at the fast-paced world of social media. Erin said she’d had some negative feedback on this work – granted, those were faceless comments from the internet – saying that she was “exploiting these women”. That was not her intention at all, so she switched from using found images, to self portraits. Talk about taking control … while being totally vulnerable at the same time. I think these pieces are absolutely stunning, and yes, these are her tattoos:

Gorgeous – even the shaving and tweezing. I absolutely love that she captures those very real moments too, instead of only choosing to document her body when perfect/posed. Again, brilliant and, oh, so vulnerable. I certainly couldn’t take those photos of myself… and then WEAVE them for the next month or two! Yeah, no. Speaking of which, I found these photos of Erin and her loom in action on her Instagram feed:

That final photo was captioned “nipple day” … and yes, it made me LOL as the kids say. And last, a close up of her truck tattoo that came up in the speed round:

We didn’t talk about gum, but how could I not include this photo!? Apparently this was late at night in the studio, the coffee was gone and all she had left was bubble tape. You do what you have to do, am I right?

Thank you so much to Erin for answering all of my questions and for being so open {and for admitting that she too cries like a baby during Grey’s Anatomy}. As always, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode, and big high fives to you for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. MassArt {Boston}
2. Tyler School of Art {Philadelphia}
3. Grey’s Anatomy
4. She didn’t mention this! Erin’s showing at Brilliant Champion Gallery in Brooklyn till July 26, 2016

I like to imagine that these abstract worlds are made of candy, and are most likely home to a bunch of unicorns. These colorful layers of dots and lines are the work of Kansas based painter Jaime Rovenstine. She is an artist, works full-time at a museum, and is the mother of a beautiful little girl. How does she do that?! Don’t worry, I asked her. You can listen right up there under that explosion of color, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, a few of my favorites {acrylic on canvas} from Jaime’s magical portfolio:

Yum!

Jaime’s studio is in her home, which is great for getting work done. Luckily, she has a little helper in there:

Gah! How cute is she!? I also really wanted to show a couple of Jaime’s “in progress” pieces. I’d hang these on my wall right this very second… but she’s a “maximalist” so she keeps on going. Fair enough. She’s the pro!

So, we also talked about Jaime’s very busy life. She works at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, comes home for dinner / bath / books with her family, and then makes her way into the studio {or the couch for Netflix depending on the day}:

How great is that self-portrait in the reflection on her brush… love! {found on her dreamy Instagram feed}. 

We also talked about the evolution of her work. In college she was already starting down the path she’s on now:

Similar but they’re definitely deeper and richer now. The piece just above, with the phonograph, is the painting that Columbia College Chicago {the art school she went to} bought when she graduated… it’s also the piece inspired by patterns in the Anthropologie catalog!

And finally… I started this post with a few of my favorites, and I’ll end it with a few more. These are the paintings I was talking about when I brought up her fabulous titles {that we now know are words from the mouth of the very dry/hilarious Karl Pilkington.} These are: “Worry Hole”, “Willy Nilly By the Sea”, and “Jellyfish in a Trifle”:

See? I’m sure there has to be candy and unicorns in there somewhere. Speaking of unicorns, here’s a link to the weirdest infomercial you’ve ever seen in your entire life. Thanks Jaime, without you I never would have known about the “Squatty Potty”! *Warning: You may never want to eat ice cream again.

Thanks so much to Jaime for taking time out of her busy life to do this with me, thanks to Saatchi Art for continuing to support the podcast, and as always, thanks to you for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend!

Other links:

1. Design Mom interview with Jaime
2. Art School Confidential {movie}
3. Nelson Atkins Museum of Art {Jaime’s day job}
4. Ian Tan Gallery {re: Sarah Gee Miller}
5. Kirra Jamison
6. Kerry James Marshall
7. Alchemy Candles {Jaime’s painting as packaging!}
8. Land of Nod
9. And of course, Karl Pilkington {and a ridiculous interview with Ricky Gervais}

So, I’m sitting here trying to think of a way to explain what India born, Sydney based paper artist Gunjan Aylawadi does… but in all honesty I really have no idea how she does what she does. Let’s just say there is a lot of paper, woven to look like intricate/patterned tapestries. Yes. She makes paper do this?! But don’t worry, she’s going to tell us how. Listen right up there under that insane “work in progress”, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, this is the original she recently sent to me. Mind. Blown…

Yeah, that’s in my house!? The photographs are fantastic, but I wish I could explain what it looks like in person. So, so, so good.

We talked about her love of geometry {perhaps a holdover from her computer science degree… computer science?!}, and I thought this piece, and the making of this piece, was a beautiful example to show how these perfect geometrics come to life:

Cra. Zy. Have I mentioned yet that she’s completely self-taught, and in fact, invented this technique? Yes. She did. Again, my mind is blown. And while we’re on that topic, I’ll show you this beauty:

It’s paper. I dunno. What I find even funnier, is that Gunjan claims she’s “not a very patient person”… UM, what!? She told me that in day-to-day life she is very impatient, but once she found this work, and while she’s immersed in it she becomes another person. She said it feels like someone else takes over, almost like a form of meditation. Here she is in action working on two HUGE “carpet” pieces:

Yeah. Not very patient. Right.

And now, on to the text pieces we were talking about… love it!

As if her technique isn’t brilliant enough, Gunjan’s reason for doing these text pieces just adds to the awesome-ness of this work. Such a smarty-pants.

Now, as usual, the speed round produced a few gems. Turns out she refuses to eat Vegemite, but claims to be a huge fan of anything dairy. Well, according to her Instagram feed, she wasn’t kidding:

Yep! Ice cream from around the world! Paris, Sydney, and Japan {and there are a lot more where these came from!}. If I make it to Sydney next year, I’m so making her take me to wherever that blue ice cream came from! Oh, another speed round tidbit – she would love to show her very analog work in Silicon Valley, so if you’re listening Facebook, Twitter, Google etc… CALL HER.

Ok, thanks so much to Gunjan for sharing her insanely inspiring story with us, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and thanks to you for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend. xo

Other links:

1. Elizabeth Gilbert TED Talk
2. Japanese Paper Place, Toronto
3. Broken Hill, Australia
4. Munga Park, Australia

In late 2012, I got an email from an American singer/songwriter named Sally Taylor. She was beginning to plan what she described as “a giant game of telephone, but with art”, and could I suggest a few visual artists that might be able to create something based on a piece of music she’d send them… um, YES! It sounded fun, creative, and amazing… and it was! In 2014 Consenses opened to the public in Martha’s Vineyard, and today I get to ask Sally the ins and outs of this giant project. You can listen right up there under lovely Sally, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First things first, we quickly have to talk about her parents, because:

Yep, Sally is the daughter of American music icons, Carly Simon and James Taylor. For real. As you can imagine, I had a few questions about that too! She obviously comes from an insanely creative family {her brother Ben is a musician too} which I’m sure fueled this big beautiful project. Speaking of which, here’s a peek behind the doors at Consenses. I wish I’d been there for the opening, but my hope is to be there for the closing this coming August {if you’re anywhere near Martha’s Vineyard you should go!}:

Ahhh, so much goodness in one spot! So basically the way it works – there are “chains” of creativity. So a musician writes a piece of music, and an artist would make a painting based on that song. Next, a dancer would create choreography inspired by the visual art. A perfumer could respond to that dance, developing a perfume that would tell the same story, but through scent. This is not one of the official “chains” but it’s a selection of work from Consenses that I LOVE:

Amazing. {Did you see Lisa Golightly and Susanna Bauer in there?!} Each chain was then housed in a customized set designed by, you guessed it, a set designer. Seriously, just the coolest project ever. So, what do you do after you create such a cool project? A TEDx Talk, obviously:

This is such a great talk… and she looks fabulous to boot! Apparently she only got two lunges into her backstage “get the nerves out workout”, but you’d never be able to tell. She did a wonderful job. Watch here.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never sung backup vocals on Letterman for my Dad, or hung out with Oprah and Stephen Colbert with my mom… but Sally has:

Crazy cool! I loved her story about being on Letterman and her “Jolly Green Giant” outfit! Thank you so much to Sally for generously sharing her funny, insightful stories; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting yet another episode; and big thanks to you for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

ps. I cannot believe I’m willingly posting these, but just so you don’t think my description was off… here’s proof. Me. Age 11. Mistaken for a boy. A lot. *note the white California glasses and yellow terry cloth shorts. Yowza:

Other links:

1. Consenses Documentary
2. Mass MOCA 
3. Consenses School Project
4. Oprah clip
5. Letterman clip

Paintings of installations, installations made from paintings, and a painted zebra rug? Yep, it’s safe to say that I’m totally in love with the work of Rhode Island based artist Kirstin Lamb. She has a library of painted “props” that she uses to create her own still life scenes… and a detailed glossary to go with it. Be still my organization-loving heart!  She has a literature degree from Brown, and a painting-focused MFA from RISD. She’s smart, thoughtful, and really into lists … so you know I’m going to love her! You can listen on the player right under that fabulous installation, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

Alright first things first, Kirstin’s still life paintings. This work is inspired by her interest in Dutch Vanitas still life… but with a modern, weird, wonderful twist:

Love! Those were the paintings I wrote about years ago, and yes, I still love them. I think it’s the portraits and cake… and ok, all of that meat too! So from 2D paintings that looked like 3D installations to 3D installations made from 2D paintings:

I cannot get over how much I love this body of work. Paintings as props? So good. I told Kirstin that I really want to curate a show of her work… mainly so that I could pick from her vast library of painted “props” and then sit on the floor amongst them. That would be my happy place. Sigh. Alright, moving on. The evolution continues:

Back to paintings on the wall, but now she’s painting the installations! Hello full circle! She’s creating her own still life set ups by first painting individual paintings, gathering props, setting it all up and then painting the scene. Beautiful, brilliant. So where does all of this magic happen? Take a look:

Wow. I think sitting on her studio floor might be my other happy place. So. Much. Stuff! Thank you so much to Kirstin for talking to me {and inspiring me to index the meaning of everything in my studio}, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and great big thanks to you for listening… there will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Bunker Projects, Residency
2. Wassaic Artist Residency
3. Portia Munson’s Pink Project
4. “The Art of Teaching Art”
5. Photography of Kirstin’s work {not studio} by Karen Philippi Photography

What!? Rachel Castle? Yep! I managed to get Sydney based artist, designer, entrepreneur, lover of wiener dogs… Rachel Castle to come on the podcast. I was so excited about this because Rachel has always been a bit of a creative enigma to me. She does so much, her work is so popular, and honestly I’m kind of intimidated by her success… success that has always seemed effortless from where I’m standing. I wanted to look behind the curtain, and I did! Turns out, she’s just a normal person. Who knew?! We cover everything from our favorite TV shows to her career in PR, over to dirty words in Australia that mean something completely different in Canada… and we did all of this from her car. For real. You can listen on the player right up there, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, a few of her paintings {clearly you can see I like her floral pieces}:

Ahhh! So gorgeous! These beauties sell so fast… in fact I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them without a SOLD sign underneath. Next up, you can’t talk to Rachel Castle without asking her about her felt text pieces:

Yes! From KISS to Wham to a whole bunch of bananas in between … and yes, during the speed round I asked her preference between marmite and vegemite. Vegemite, obvi. Ok, and then of course there’s everything else she does outside of the paintings and felt pieces. Bedding, pillows, towels, sculptures, tea towels, bags, sweatshirts and more. Here’s just a teeny peek:

Great, right? And yes, she clearly has a background in branding and marketing because, whoa, everything on her site looks FABULOUS!

Speaking of fabulous, here’s a look into her beautiful, messy, colorful studio {most of these photos came from her lovely instagram feed}:

Yep. Love it. And thanks to her new-ish studio out of her house, her family won’t get stuck with pins that got left behind in the couch… hopefully.

So, sweet song lyrics and romantic sayings are great… but I have to admit, I kind of like the slightly ruder ones, as does Rachel:

Turns out, not everyone agrees… not one “DOUCHE” print sold. Shame, I think it’s hilarious! And then in the speed round I just had to ask… did she have a wiener dog that looks just like mine? Yep! Granted, she calls hers a “sausage dog”, because, Australia:

So cute! Oh, and that DAMN sweatshirt… yeah, we didn’t actually talk about that, I just really want it. That’s all.

Ok, and that’s that! Thanks so much to Rachel for talking to me for an hour in a very hot car, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and thanks to you for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend! xo

Other Links:

1. Lucas Grogan
2. Wayne White
3. Roots

Astronauts, dinosaurs, Hello Kitty, and even a pegasus thrown in for good measure. Yes, it is safe to say I absolutely love the gorgeous work {oil paintings!?} of Boston based artist Scott Listfield. I wrote about him for the first time in 2010, so it’s about time we finally talk. Well, it turns out he’s not only insanely talented, he’s also really funny and I’m pretty sure we’re on our way to being BFFs. You can listen right up there under that very stuck Hello Kitty balloon, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

As usual, let’s kick things off with a few of my favorites from Scott’s portfolio – yep, there are quite a few:

Oh. So. Good. You can definitely see his years of being a designer in there! Here are a few of his more recent pieces… and yep, they have astronauts in them too! In fact, he hasn’t done a painting in the last 15 years that doesn’t have a silver-suited space man in there somewhere. Why mess with brilliance!?

I love the work, and I love the story behind it {ie listen to the episode!}

Ok, next. Scott might kill me for posting this, but here is one of his first astronaut / dinosaur paintings. It was done in 2000, aka Y2K… remember that? When everyone was scared about what might happen when the clock ticked over from 1999 to 2000:

Sixteen years ago! Well, his subject matter may not have changed, but boy oh boy, his style / technique certainly has evolved. Speaking of evolution, let’s talk about his pal “dinosaur”. This hilarious gem came up during the speed round:

Yep. When his wife was his girlfriend, she gave Scott this little t-rex for his birthday… a little t-rex who ended up traveling the world! If you want to see everywhere that “dinosaur” went, before his arm fell off and he was retired to the shelf, check out the map right here.

And finally, I thought these three images were the perfect way to wrap things up:

The future, Scott in a secret hideout, and a Pizza Hut pegasus. The only thing that would have made this better… pie. Hm, I wonder if I could convince Scott to do a painting with an astronaut and a coconut cream pie? A girl can dream.

Thank you so much to Scott for sharing his story {and making me laugh for an hour}, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and big thanks to you for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Oh, I love that painting so much. Sigh. Anywho, the episode today is titled “Chance favors those in motion”. It’s a favorite quote, by James H. Austin, of Canadian painter Zoë Pawlak. Not only is it a great quote, it’s a perfect description of how Zoë lives her life. She is a talented artist, a brilliant entrepreneur, a fantastic mother, a lover of tacos, and a great summer brunch date. I’ve known Zoë for a few years now, but I’ve never really dug in and asked where it all started and how she does the things she does… usually we just eat brunch. You can listen right up there under one of my fave “Zoë Pawlaks”, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, her new studio in Montreal {she was based in Vancouver for years, but recently moved}:

Ok, how great is that little message on her big brush? And I had to include those photos of Zoë, because that’s generally what she looks like most of the time… giant smile ‘n fab style! ps. I grabbed all of these images from her gorgeous Instagram feed.

And now, her work! Here are a few of her absolutely dreamy and poetic figurative paintings:

Gah! Beautiful. Those colors, those curves. Stunning. Speaking of which, her ethereal landscapes:

Annnnd, exhale. Maybe just one more deep breath. Yes.

Next… the underpainting “pink girl” that I said I saw/loved on her Instagram feed the other day:

And that’s just the underpainting!? I’d take it just like that, thank you very much.

Up next… her paintings turned into gorgeous rugs. Yes. Paintings as huge, beautifully made rugs. This is such an ingenious collaboration between Zoë and the Burritt Brothers:

Wow, right? {speaking of wow, all of these photos were taken by the very talented, Vancouver based Janis Nicolay}.

Moving on to another beautiful collaboration, this time between Zoë and Vancouver based furniture designer Jeff Martin:

Right?! Ah, so beautiful and so smart. See, she is such a talented artist / brilliant entrepreneur.

And finally, I had to include this shot given one of her speed round answers:

Avocado, Corona … yep, I’m pretty sure she’s going to use that credit card to buy tacos! HA! Had to. Thanks so much to Zoë for doing this with me, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and BIG thanks to you for listening {and rating the podcast on iTunes? please? xo}. There will be more art for your ear next weekend!

Other links:

1. Concordia University
2. NSCAD
3. Ben Skinner
4. TED Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert
5. IDS West
6. Nowness

VICTORY! It took until episode 50 but I finally convinced peer pressured Irish artist Lola Donoghue into doing the podcast! She was a tough nut to crack, but I eventually wore her down. I so badly wanted to have her on for three reasons… 1. I love her work   2. She is one of the coolest/sweetest people I’ve ever met   3. Her story is ridiculously inspiring. Oh, and 4. Best. Accent. Ever. You can listen right up there, or you can subscribe on iTunes. Here are a few of Lola’s gorgeous abstract paintings to get us started:

Sigh. Beautiful. Her mark making is so free, and don’t even get me started on her color palette.

I made sure to bring up her home studio, mainly so I could show as many photos as possible of her gorgeous space. Canvases stacked everywhere, and a view of the Irish countryside:

Oh my goodness. I want to spend an afternoon {or a month} in there! Next up, Lola talked about what a difference this made for her sales. She resisted doing this but thought she’d give it a try… she decided to show her work in room settings so people could understand the scale, and how her work might look in their home. It worked. A lot!

So smart {she has these for sale as prints on her site, and I have quite a few in my online gallery as well… and if you want an original you have to move fast! They sell before she even finishes them sometimes. Visit her site and sign up for her newsletter to be kept up to date on available originals}. And finally, the speed round… always delivering an interesting gem or two… who just bought four of Lola’s paintings? Yep, Sia:

Um yeah, I can see why they might have a fondness for each other. Perhaps one of Lola’s paintings will end up in the background of Sia’s next music video… you never know!

Thank you so, so much to Lola. When I say she didn’t want to do this, I mean she REALLY didn’t want to do this. Well, she had absolutely no reason to be nervous, in fact, I think we should all celebrate with some cider and cheese! Thanks also to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and of course, thanks to you for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Marvel’s Jessica Jones
2. Sia

I’m starting to sound like a broken record… today I’m talking to an artist that I’ve loved for ages, have done several projects with, but you guessed it, we’ve never actually spoken. I was so excited to speak to New Hampshire based artist Aris Moore. She’s an amazing artist, a recent MFA grad, a full-time middle school art teacher, and a single mother with twins – phewf. I was so excited, in fact, that I forgot to hit record. Episode 49 and I forget to hit record? Sigh. Anyway, we made a full recovery and also became BFFs in the process. You can listen right up there under the lovely lady in the red blouse, or you can subscribe on iTunes. Now, I always like to start these posts with a few of my favorites. Aris’ sad/beautiful portraits are on that list:

I love them. So strange. So beautiful, and yes… not a chin in sight. Next, this is some of her older work. These were the pieces I discovered and wrote about way back in 2009. And that bunny block at the top? Yes, that’s the original piece she sent to me, again, in late 2009. It was a major highlight in the first year of being ‘the jealous curator’:

That bag full of little people is heartbreaking, and I can’t help feeling that it’s my fault. Someone left a very harsh comment on one of my posts about Aris’ work back then, and it really hurt her… to the point where she just wanted to gather up all of her little characters, throw them in a bag, and toss them out. See? Heartbreaking. Well, she didn’t throw them out, but she definitely evolved them. Yet another reason to admire this fabulous artist {because, remember from last week’s episode… “no one can wrestle the pencil out of your hand, you get to keep going in absolute defiance”}. And that’s what Aris did.

This is the collage Aris made for my book, Collage. She used the accordion from the starting image I gave all 30 of the artists, and before you knew it “Joan With Her Castle” was born:

I love that piece so much…. almost as much as Aris loves drawing mouths:

She wasn’t kidding! Ooh, next… I love this series so much. Same photograph, oh so many different faces:

This is what Aris does best as far as I’m concerned. Such emotion-filled, personality-exposing expressions.

Ah, I love this next project too. This is also some of her older work, but she had a little help with these ones. Her daughter August, who was 4 at the time, decided to add some hair to these otherwise hairless ladies:

Beautiful job, August! A fantastic collaboration.

So, I usually like to include photos of the artist’s studio space, and I absolutely love that Aris’ studio is basically wherever her fancy bag of pencils happens to be. Bookshops, cafes, her living room… her studio is the world:

How fabulous is that!? Granted, it wouldn’t work as well if she was an oil painter, but it certainly works for her! One of the things she’s been doing “in her studio” lately are these flip books. I love what she talked about re: always having a starting place/never having to look at a completely blank page. Brilliant. I’m going to try this:

Sigh. So fun. So weird… and let’s be honest, if Aris and I lived in the same town we’d be fun, weird friends in a heartbeat! This is how I felt through the whole episode:

A brand new soul sister  ♥  Thank you so much to Aris for doing this with me {I’m glad I actually recorded some of it!}, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and great BIG thanks to you for listening. If you happen to be over on iTunes, I’d be so grateful for a rating or a review – it helps keep the podcast near the top of the art section, and who doesn’t want to be near the top of the art section!? Ok, there will be more art for your ear next weekend… EPISODE 50 to be exact!

Other links:

1. Agnes Martin
2. Esther Pearl Watson’s Comics
3. Laylah Ali