Oh, I am so doing this. In fact, my little sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project just arrived in the mail from the Brooklyn Art Library yesterday! Wanna do it too? Yes! We just missed the 2017 cut off, but I’m all in for 2018. Here are the ins and outs of this very cool project (est. 2006):

Oooh! So. Much. Paper. This lovely take on landscapes is the collage work of Austin based artist Katy Schmader. She does landscape photography as well, but these textured, papery odes to nature took my breath away. I want to climb those clay cliffs, then dive into blue mountain lakes to cool off! These pieces are available, as insanely affordable prints, in Katy’s shop.

Woven portraits fresh off the cutting table! This is some recent work by Brooklyn based artist David Samuel Stern. I’ve written about him two other times... let’s just say it’s really hard not to share what he’s been up to. How does he do it? Well, this time I’ve got a few ‘behind the scenes’ photos, from start to finish, to share with you:

Sigh. Gorgeous… and I cannot even imagine having patience like David. Mind boggling.

*Process photos by David Gonsier

Mermaids and unicorns + oil paint on paper … I could not be more in love with the work of South African artist Kirsten Beets. Simple shapes, gorgeous white space, and oh, those lovely little beach-goers! They look like collages, no? I was totally smitten the moment I saw those beautifully painted turquoise shapes, but yes, the unicorn floaties sealed the deal. Happy Friday!

{Be sure to check out her Instagram feed too}

Ahhh, what a relief… I can feel my shoulders dropping and my brain relaxing. This series, titled “Nothing In The News”, is the work of Sideline Collective – art by Joseph Ernst. Here’s the description:

“We live in a world of constant sensory overload. 24 hours a day we are bombarded with information in real time by every media outlet and platform competing for our attention, one pop-up notification at a time.

And we play ball. We invest hours on end staring at our mobile devices. We want to know what’s going on, the why and the how. We need to know. But in our perpetual quest to fill every spare minute of our time searching for something meaningful, we learn nothing. We are so busy filling every waking moment with things to watch and do, and learn and listen to, that we have forgotten what it is like to just be. To sit around and think. To switch off and be bored. To daydream.

This project offers a little respite to all this information overload.

Yes, we live in particularly sensitive times. Times where the truth really matters, and where newspapers have a more important role to play in modern democracies than ever before. But for a society addicted to breaking news, gossip, and celebrity status, to Facestagram and Twapchat, the latest trends, and the top tens, to sports punditry, conspiracy theories, cat videos, and ridiculous amounts of porn … for this cultural precipice, we offer the one thing you need more than anything else: “Nothing”. Absolutely nothing. Today, and today only, there is Nothing in the News. Enjoy it whilst you can.”

Aaaand exhale, if only for a moment. Happy Friday.

{These empty newspapers are available, while quantities last, in Sideline’s shop.}

PAPER. Each of these are just one piece of PAPER. My mind is officially blown. This is the elegant, meticulous, beautifully cut work of Toronto based artist Annyen Lam. Not only is she a paper-cutting artist, she’s also a printmaker. In fact, these pieces are a combination of those skills… “Lithograph, hand-cut paper, one sheet”. Mind blown. Again.

ps. so excited to say that Annyen is one of the Canadian artists who’s participating in “That Night In Toronto”, a show I curated to honor Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip. The show opens on July 8th at Mayberry Fine Art in Toronto. Put it in your calendars!

Bunnies in hot air balloons, girls on stilts, and a few creatures I could only hope to see in my dreams. Weird ‘n wonderful worlds created with layers of very carefully cut paper, ink and graphite. This is the magical work of Argentina-born, Berlin-based artist Lucila Biscione. Love.

Today is about starting from square one, AFTER you’ve done all of the things you were supposed to do to get the life you wanted. It’s also about jellyfish alien creatures. Yes, Rhode Island based collage artist Jenny Brown in my guest today. She wrote a really heartfelt story on Facebook the other day, and I just had to get the inside scoop.  You can listen under that flowering jellyfish, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

Let’s begin with a few of her recent pieces that I’m currently obsessing over:

I would happily swim with these elegant creatures. Look at those thin beautiful lines, those perfectly cut bits ‘n pieces. LOVE.

And now, stepping back in time. A dark time. These were the large, very black, incredibly dense (and sad) pieces that Jenny transitioned to during her MFA:

So different than her now very effervescent work. But, she pushed through and found the light again. Here are the first few pieces as Jenny began finding her way back to her “creatures”:

Ah, that’s more like it. Although those charcoal pieces were beautiful in their own right, these are just Jenny… and she knew it.

I asked about the kind of paper she uses for her lovely colorful backgrounds, which seems like a perfect excuse for me to show a few more of my favorite “Jenny Brown” collages:

Yep, love them all… So. Much. Color! I’m totally going to give pink card stock a shot. Beautiful.

Ok, so I found these WIP shots on Jenny’s gorgeous Instagram feed. Clearly, she’s a woman after my own heart:

Gasp! Seriously, I need my scissors RIGHT NOW. Look at that cut-image covered table! Call me a collage nerd if you must, but my heart is racing.

What else makes my heart race? Sugar! The only thing I regret about this episode was not asking Jenny about her deep passion for donuts. All of these sweet gems are also from her Instagram feed. I want ALL OF THEM:

Unicorn donut! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

And finally… Jenny, her cat Max, and Jenny’s perfect (apparently high maintenance) red lipstick:

Perfection. Max must’ve been too tired to put lipstick on for this shot. Thank you so much to Jenny for sharing her story of full-circles, loops, and starting over… so inspiring. Thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting another episode, and thanks to YOU for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Bennington College
2. Amy Sillman
3. School of Visual Arts, NY
4. RISD (Rhode Island School of Design)
5. Jessica Brilli Episode
6. Sidney Pink Episode
7. Anthony Zinonos Episode
8. The Philadelphia Story (Jenny’s fave movie from high school)
9. Kirstin Lamb Episode
10. Jenny on Instagram
11. BUY Jenny’s work 

ps. Oops, I forgot to mention this! The sign-up page for the course I’ll be part of in VENICE is ready! Yes, two weeks this August during the Venice Biennale!?! I’ll be teaching a few classes and workshops from August 7 – 20th via the European Cultural Center’s Academy, alongside several other instructors, curators, etc. Tours of galleries, meeting with curators, art making, passes to the biennale, AND gelato? There are only 20 spots for the weeks I’m going to be there, so if you were thinking about it, pop over there asap. Hope to see you in Italy… ciao! 

Oil pastel on paper. Oh my goodness. These beach-goers, from another time, are the work of a Montreal based artist known as Cluca. Those towels, their skin, the perfect negative space… and of course the woman in a bunny hat / mask being thrown in the air… fantastic! Happy Friday.

Ooooh! Painting and drawing and thread and sequins! I’d love to see these gems in person, but an extreme close-up or two is going to have to do for now. This is the mixed media work of New York based artist/graphic designer Rhian Swierat. Does she have a plan going into each piece? Yes – ish. Small stitched sketches get her going, but then she lets go and the whole process becomes very organic… perhaps that’s how those spider webs and flowers made their way in there.

“My process takes precedent over any drive towards a preordained composition. Sewing has no short cuts, you need to make every stitch to fill a space. This process becomes meditative as I work to recall each memory and distill it into a physical representation.”

Beautiful.