You know my little phrase, “Damn, I wish I thought of that” – well, Australian artist, curator, and writer Tai Snaith has come up with a project that makes me think exactly that. She recently collaborated with eight writers, asking them to describe the one thing that they could not live without… and then she drew all of those things, as she imagined them from the writers’ descriptions, to scale! Um yep, I totally wish I thought of that.

The Best Things In Life Aren’t Things opens at the Helen Gory Galerie on June 29th.

{I wanted to show more images, but this lovely yellow dress is the only image I could find [via frankie magazine]. Hopefully when the show opens we’ll be able to see everything!}

Lots of lovely shows happening in June!

1. The beautifully odd photographs of Ranee Palone Flynn are now showing at Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art in New York… but hurry, because the show ends on Saturday, June 18th!

2. Ahh, the fabulous urban quilts of Amy Ahlstrom. The show is on now, and the reception is happening this Thursday June 16th at a.Muse Gallery in San Francisco.

3. Perfect for the beginning of summer! Samantha French’s paintings will be in a group show at 801 Artists Lofts in Minneapolis.

4. The Cheaper Show No.10 is a crazy, fun, artsy one night event on Saturday June 25th in Vancouver. 200 artists, 400 pieces of art, all for $200. Seriously. Get there early!

5. Pieces of the Moon, Photographs by Mikael Kennedy opens on Thursday June 30th at Catalog Gallery in Vancouver. Yes, a little bit of shameless self-promotion, but I’m so proud of this show! Hope to see you there : )

Yep. Still jealous. This is the third time I’ve written about New York based painter Samantha French, but when I received an email about a few of her upcoming exhibitions {see dates below}, I could not control myself! Archers, bathing beauties, and tranquil blue water… really, could you stop yourself from writing about her a third time? No, I didn’t think so.

1. Groveland Gallery / Summer Shorts: Contemporary Classics / Minneapolis, MN / Opening reception: Thurs., June 16, 5-8pm / Show runs from June 16 – June 28, 2011

2. 801 Washington Lofts / Summer 2011 Art Opening / Minneapolis, MN / Sat., June 18th, 6 – 9pm

“Pieces of the Moon ~ Photographs by Mikael Kennedy ”
Opening Reception ~ Thursday June 30th, 2011 6pm til late
Presented by Catalog Gallery, Vancouver
Curated by… me!

I am beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to hang this show! I have been a huge fan of New York based photographer Mikael Kennedy since the first time I wrote about him in 2009. We quickly became friends… well, email friends who have never actually met in person. Anyway, earlier this year I had an idea for a show, I emailed him about it {as email friends do}, and he said yes! Easy, right? Now all I had to do was find a gallery… and, thankfully, that was easy too. The guys at Catalog Gallery in Vancouver offered their amazing space in the very cool neighborhood of Gastown. I’ll keep you posted on our progress over the next few weeks… but until then, here, in a curatorial nutshell, is what this beautiful show is all about:

Over the past decade, American born photographer Mikael Kennedy has taken thousands of Polaroids during what has often been described as a ‘Kerouac-esque” journey, wandering back and forth across the continent, hitching rides, couch surfing, moving from city to city. In 2010, Kennedy had his first solo show in New York City, titled “Shoot the Moon” with the Peter Hay Halpert Gallery who now represents this immense body of work. “Shoot the Moon”, an exhibition 500 Polaroids was an introduction to Kennedy’s story, edited down from the thousands of Polaroids. I have looked at this series countless times, and while all of his work is a mysterious narrative, it is the photographs of the women that have completely drawn me in.

“Pieces of the Moon” features 50 images that have been pulled from the original “Shoot the Moon” show. When the photographs of these women are shown along-side the other 450 images in the series, they’re a quiet part of the overall story. But when hung together in this smaller, more focused grouping they create a beautiful, feminine view into the personal life of the artist. There is an undeniable intimacy in each image, revealing an obvious closeness to the subject – however, to the viewer, the details still remain vague. Were these friends, lovers, strangers, or all of the above? The images are titled with the name of the woman, the location of the photo, and the year, leaving it completely up to the viewer to piece these relationships, friendships, and chance meetings together. These are the women that have shaped Mikael Kennedy’s life over the past decade – and they are beautiful.

Ok, all of you moms out there… get ready to cry. These images are part of a show called Threads of Feeling that just ended in March, at The Foundling Museum in London. Here’s the story:

During the late 18th century women who, for whatever reason, couldn’t care for their babies could bring them to The London Foundling Hospital. The idea was that the hospital would care for the babies until the mothers were ready to come back and get their children – sadly, many of them never did. However, in hopes that these women would be able to return one day, they put a system in place. No names were recorded, instead each mother left a piece of fabric that was unique in some way. Part of the fabric was left in the baby’s file, and the other piece was taken by the mother. This would prove which baby was hers when, and if, she returned. Over 16,000 children were left there between 1741 and 1760. These beautiful, and unbelievably sad, images are from the hospital’s records during that time… are you crying yet? Yep, me too.

{There is a fantastic article in The Guardian if you’d like to learn more… oh, and also cry more.}

Mmm… nothing like some polymer clay, acrylic paint, and cardstock to make a girl wanna do a late night run through the drive-thru! Although the majority of Vancouver-based artist Chris von Szombathy’s work seems to be digital illustration, I just love {love!!!} his food sculptures… yes, even the healthy options, like some ‘flav R full’ milk or a few perfectly fine/slightly over-ripe bananas. Yum.

{ …and hot off the presses, yesterday the The Cheaper Show announced the 200 artists that will be in this year’s show, and Chris is on the list! June 25th in Vancouver. Hm, I may have to do a burger run immediately after the opening.}

How do you know when a cake belongs in a gallery instead of a bakery? When the recipe list reads as follows: pink foam, plaster, polyurethane spray foam, modeling paste, found objects. Mmm, found objects… one of my favorite ingredients! And I’m not alone. Clearly American artist Lauren Brescia considers them an important part of any pastry / fabulously gooey mixed media sculpture, or she wouldn’t have tucked them into a large illuminated hole in the side of that 7′ cake.

{This Friday night, don’t miss the closing event of her exhibition, “One Art Please”, at one of the Pop-up art galleries from the Chicago Loop Alliance – 208 S Wabash. Fabulous art, champagne, and actual cupcakes! Yum.}

Ahhh… it was a blur of glitter, candy sprinkles, painting, assembling, matting, and a whole lot o’ coffee. Yep the opening of, TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS AS PAINFUL AS IT SEEMS, New Work by Ben Skinner, was everything I’d hoped it would be. I had planned to write this post last week, but honestly I needed a bit of time to come down from the thrill of seeing this show actually come together. Aaaand exhale. Ok, I’m ready. From the 65′ text mural, to the 20′ foam board scaffolding, everything came together perfectly. All of Ben’s work looked amazing, the opening was filled with wonderful/excited people, and I still can’t believe I got to curate my first show with such an incredible artist at a gallery staffed by really, really, really nice people. Thank you Ben, and the Honfleur Gallery. It was an amazing journey. What now? Well, on to the next proposal I guess!

{1. TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS AS PAINFUL AS IT SEEMS ~ glitter on Alupanel  2. HOME WRECKER ~ ink on wood  3. TWICE ON SUNDAYS ~ candy sprinkles on wood  4. A SIMPLE GESTURE ~ paint & dye on wood  5. I’VE GOT JUST THE THING ~ watercolor, gold leaf on glass  6. MAYBE WE CAN WORK SOMETHING OUT ~ RGB LED’s & light tube  7. UNTITLED ~ 20′ foam board scaffold  8. THIS TIME NEXT YEAR ~ 65′ text mural  9. THE BLINDS LEADING THE BLINDS ~ ink on wood blinds  10. a. THIS ONE’S GOING TO HURT ~ spraypaint on mirrored plexi  b. NOW TAKE A DEEP BREATH ~ paint on plexi  11. MY HEART IS BIGGER THAN YOUR FIST ~ glitter coated screenprint 12. The Honfleur Gallery on opening night… the show runs until April 8th, so pop in if you’re in DC!}

Yes… so far this experience has been all of those things:  astounding, brilliant, amazing, incredible, fabulous… Washington DC is astounding, Ben is brilliant, the staff at the gallery are amazing, and we got to do an incredible interview yesterday. In short, it’s been fabulous!

The 65′ mural is done. The two storey high foam board scaffolding sculpture has been assembled. The site-specific work is in place throughout the neighborhood {ex. ‘every time you walk by’, shown above},  and there are just a few pieces left to hang at the gallery today… and then at 7pm the doors at Honfleur Gallery will open. I’ll be back with a full report {and photos of everything mentioned above!} on Monday morning – wish us luck! Oh, and if you happen to run into the Obama’s, let them know that they’re invited. Thanks!

It’s go time people! The work has already arrived at the Honfleur Gallery, and as of tomorrow morning Canadian artist Ben Skinner, and his lovely wife/installation assistant/fellow artist Genevieve Dionne, will be boarding a plane for Washington DC. Ben is creating some of the work on-site {a painted text mural, site specific vinyl text installations, and a 20 foot sculpture} and so, obviously, he needed a few extra days on the ground! I’ll be arriving on Wednesday to do whatever he tells me to do, and of course, hang the show. TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS AS PAINFUL AS IT SEEMS opens on Friday March 4th at 7pm. You really have to see the glitter-covered screen prints, and the pink text coated in candy sprinkles with your own eyes. Yes. I said candy sprinkles.

{I cannot wait to post photos of the final show… stay tuned! If you want to see more of Ben’s work, check out ‘the jealous curator goes to washington (1) and (2)‘. Happy weekend everyone xo }