I’ve done a show on embroidery and a show on portraits so how can I not love these pieces by Jenny Hart. Actually, these could probably be the offspring of those shows if I left them alone long enough.. and let’s face it, with two of them being topless, half the work is done! Anyway, I digress. While my jealousy started off simply because of her work, it grew even more when I saw her resume. It goes a little something like this…

Her work has appeared in Spin, Nylon, Rolling Stone, Venus, The Face, Bust and Juxtapoz. She’s collaborated with The Flaming Lips, The Decemberists, and with comic artists such as Dame Darcy and Gary Baseman. Oh, and her work is in the collections of Carrie Fisher, Tracey Ullman and Elizabeth Taylor. Seriously.

Wondering what to do with all of those Barbie dolls you have left over from childhood? No problem. Send them to Brooklyn NY, Attn: Margaux Lange… she’ll take care of them for you. Well, she won’t ‘take care of them’, but she will chop them up and turn them into very cool wearable art. These amazing, and hilarious, pieces are from her series called My Plastic Body. It is “the result of [her] life-long fascination with the icon, and a desire to re-purpose mass produced materials into handmade, wearable art”. My favourite piece is the necklace directly above, titled Mounds. Yes… they are what you think they are!

{If you’re in  Pittsburgh, she has a solo show called ‘Wearable Nostalgia: Deconstructing Barbie & Ken’ on at the Luke and Eloy Gallery until January 16, 2010.}

It’s like a biology text book and a ball of yarn fell madly in love, got married and had a few babies.  And the matchmaker that got these two crazy kids together? New York artist Emily Barletta. I have to admit… I might be a little bit in love too. I have a soft spot in my heart for work that blurs the line between art and craft, and she has definitely done that with these stunning, organic sculptures. Crochet, embroidery, clay, bead work and a very interesting concept behind it all. Yep, a match made in heaven.

Inspired? Yep. Jealous? Yep. A tiny bit scared? Yep!

Lynn Whipple is a fantastic, and very accomplished, American collage/assemblage artist. These pieces are from her lovely, yet kind of absurd, mixed media series called ‘Ninnies’. She has work in galleries all across the US, and is featured in more publications than I can list. I love her work, but what inspires me even more is a little section on her blog called 100 Bad Paintings. All of you artists out there – listen up! The idea is that when you’re starting out, or changing your style, or just working on new ideas, chances are you’ll do 100 bad paintings… so you might as well get started. ‘What really happens is, it frees you up to play and not worry. Now you can enjoy the process. The truth is you get better really quick, maybe even by #19. Try it!’ She has bravely posted a bunch of oil paintings (not her usual medium of choice) that she considers bad, but in progress.

That’s it, I’m starting on canvas #1 tomorrow.

This is insane… and photos don’t do it justice. I saw this life size ‘May Pole’ installation by Canadian artist Kristi Malakoff last spring up close and personal. Isn’t it beautiful? And wait, it gets better… the whole thing is made out of, brace yourself, cut paper. Yes. Everything. The curly hair, the lace, the ribbon, the birds. Everything.

{When you visit her site, make sure to check out the ‘Flower Installations’ section – all of which are made from thousands of flowers that she has photographed,  then printed and cut out of paper, and last but not least, arranged into words, scenes etc. Amazing!}

Yes. That’s right. Vintage tattoos made of hand-sewn lace.

You’ve got to think that for Theresa Honeywell this painstaking work must be almost as agonizing as getting a real tattoo. This is how she explains her process… “[Each piece is] made in the similar labor intense way that a tattoo is made, using only a needle to draw with, but instead of ink on skin, my medium is only thread on thread.”

I’m getting a headache just thinking about this. Ouch! Hand cramp! Ooh! And now my eyes hurt! Aaaa!

Jealous is a bit of an understatement. I’m totally in awe of Kate Bingaman-Burt. She is a hugely talented designer, illustrator, crafter (if that’s even a word), Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University, and what I can totally relate to, a detailed list maker. Since I can’t possibly cover all of that in one or two paragraphs, I’ve chosen to write about this:

Obsessive Consumption, a project she began in 2002 in which she meticulously documents all of her purchases. She started out by photographing everything she bought, cataloged with the receipt. Then she moved on to drawing not only all of her purchases, but all of her credit card statements too. Obsessive? Yep. Awesome? You betcha! Now Kate has her own zine called What Did You Buy Today? that you can pick up for only $4/issue on Etsy. Get a pencil… you might want to do a quick sketch of your purchase.

Weird, hilarious and kinda cute… the triple threat that gets me every time.

These strange little creatures are called ‘mooks’. I found one of them on Pikaland, and then followed the trail back to an etsy shop called My Grey Sky, run by an artist who uses the name I love grey skies. Well you know what Ms. Grey Skies, I love your mooks! Especially the ones wearing knitted hats. I’ve had a thing for knitted head gear lately… must be the cool September weather. Brr.

It’s like a giant tea cozy, pot holder, afghan explosion! So fun. So colourful. So cozy.

I had a very hard time choosing which one of Sarah Applebaum‘s crocheted pieces to show. This one seemed the coziest, so it won. It is titled, ‘Padded Room‘. I would love to hang out in there on a rainy afternoon, wouldn’t you?

I wrote about Wendy Walgate a few months ago, and then this past weekend I turned a corner at the Toronto Outdoor Art Show and came face to face with her amazing work. I was so thrilled to actually see it in person, but the best part of it all was getting to meet her. Not only is her work lovely, but so is she. Sadly, that’s not always the case with super talented people!