May 4, 2016 – May 29, 2016. That’s how long paper artist Tiffanie Turner will be spending as the fabulous artist-in-residence at the de Young Museum in San Francisco! I had her on the podcast last year, while she was tucked away at another residency in a beautiful barn, and she talked about this… and now it’s finally here! If you’re in San Francisco, you can pop by to see “Nature Constructed”… you can see her giant flowers hung on the walls, watch her working on new pieces, talk about flowers, talk about paper, etc. And if talking’s not enough for you, you can get in on the flowery action:

During her month-long residency, museum visitors are invited to work on a giant communal botanical paper sculpture, learning how to stretch the paper into the proper shape and adhere it to the flower. The first two weeks will be spent creating something vibrant and beautiful, and the last two weeks will focus on taking the piece to a state of decay, inviting visitors to return to the gallery toward the end of the residency to see the piece’s transformation.

Beautiful, on every level. Pop by the museum if you can {tell her I say hi!}, and if you’re too far away then you can follow along on Instagram: #natureconstructedsf

“Dream House” … indeed! This stunning paper installation {yes, PAPER}, is the latest work from American artist Nicki Crock. I wrote about her series Tessellate in early 2015, but clearly this dreamy installation had to be shown too. Here are her words describing this lovely project:

A dream house is something to aspire to and long for. What better form could a daydream take shape in, than with something that we, as humans, already use to fulfill our imaginations: clouds.

Happy Monday.

Time-consuming, candy-hued, magical. That’s what comes to mind when I think of the work of this artist. Today I’m talking to LA based German artist Nike (pronounced Nee-ka) Schroeder… I have to add that because for years I thought her name was Nike… like, you know, Nike. It’s not. It’s Nike (Nee-ka). Ok, now that that’s out of the way, we can talk about her absolutely stunning work. Miles and miles of thread, porcelain, sometimes a bit of paint, and more thread. You can listen right up there, or subscribe on iTunes. 

First things first… one of my faves… this installation, titled 34°North 118°West :

Ah-mazing… and the photos don’t even close to do her work justice. I’ve seen them in person and they’re so so so beautiful. The way they move in the slightest of breezes… magical. Next, these pieces are from an older series, titled Fundamental Reports. This is what she was making when I first wrote about her work in 2012:

You can tell she reallllly wanted to start playing with that dangly thread! Speaking of which, this is the custom piece she made for interior designer/stylist Emily Henderson… here’s the installation of this colorful, ten foot beauty:

Ah! And there it is featured in Domino Magazine… not too shabby! I want to take full credit for this piece, because I introduced Emily to Nike’s work. Yep, this love affair started at The Fig House – a gorgeous event space in LA that Emily designed. She asked me to curate the art, and Nike was one of the ten artists I chose. Match. Maker. Just sayin’.

Next up, Nike’s latest show where she went back to some of her figurative work… this time with paint… porcelain, and of course, THREAD. This was shown with her primary gallery in LA, Walter Maciel Gallery:

So. Good. And now, brace yourself… Nike’s amazing, light-filled, downtown LA studio:

So. Much. Thread! And those windows {and of course, those great shoes}. Oh. Such beautiful work, and another episode that I loved. It never fails… in every single episode there is a moment when I get chills, and when Nike said “nothing is a mistake”  – that those layers and layers gives your work depth and wisdom because they have learned – yep I had a little shudder of excitement. Sigh. And with that, I will thanks to Nike for doing this with me, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and as always thanks to you for listening. There will be more art for your ear next week.

Other links: Jack Fischer Gallery

Ah, beautiful little sandwiches of paper, paint and found images! Today I’m talking to Austin based artist Xochi Solis. We’ve worked on a few projects together but we’ve only communicated through email, so I was very excited to hear her voice and get to know her a little better. It worked! You’ll notice throughout the post I’ve put the titles of each piece… thanks to a little tidbit I learned during the speed round. Oh, the speed round… such a wonderful source of information. Alright, you can listen right up there under “she sings hymns out of tune”, or you can subscribe on iTunes. Let’s kick things off with a few of my favorite pieces of Xochi’s:

Her work makes me want to make things. I want to find paper, flip through old books, squeeze out a few tubes of gouache and get stackin’! I was so thrilled to have Xochi as one of the artists in my book, Collage. In that book I gave all 30 artists the same starting image to do with whatever they pleased. It was a photo of my dad and uncle as kids so it was really fun for my whole family to see the amazing artwork that came back. Here’s a peek:

Love! Can you see where Dad and Uncle Bill are? And as mentioned, Xochi sweetly packed up her original piece {above} and sent it to me! It’s hanging in my living room as we speak… and so is the other piece shown right beside that photo of my dad and uncle. I had no self control so I made a collage for the book too.

Now, we also talked about her work going from paper to walls… in the form of giant installations:

Beautiful! Up next, her love of hands! Yep, she loves hands and elbows in her work. See if you can find them in these next three pieces:

Where’s Waldo… but more hand-ish. Now what kind of an artist interviewer would I be if I didn’t ask the question, “What’s your favorite color?”. Well, she had a complex answer! Sort of a peony pink/orange and an avocado/citron green. Here they are in action:

And I looooved her story about finding that green paper, hence the title of this episode! So, somehow in the excitement of talking about paper and tacos, I forgot to mention the piece she did for my Spring 2016 collection at Land of Nod. It’s so gorgeous, and surprise surprise, also includes her favorite colors:

Isn’t that lovely? My favorite thing about working on that Nod collection is having accomplished contemporary artists make gorgeous work that could hang in a nursery… or in the middle of your living room. Love.

Alright, that’s that! Thanks to Xochi for talking to me… I wish we could have shared a few tacos and margaritas {next time}; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode – and don’t forget, I’ll be drawing one name this Monday, February 29th for a $50 gift card to be used toward art at saatchiart.com… just sign up for my ‘art for your inbox’ email if you’d like to be entered;  AND huge thanks to you for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Yes. To all of this. Just imagine wandering along, you know through the woods or a corn field, and coming upon one of these text-based installations by Canadian artist Trevor Wheatley… so good! I need that SQUAD in my backyard.

*photos by Jake Sherman ; SUS photos by Jp King

via Booooooom

“nothing lasts forever” ; “time is running out” ; “up & down” ; “alone” ; “when the sun goes down” ; “we all make mistapes” … LOVE! Clever, clean, text-based work by Austrian artist Anatol Knotek. I’m even feeling inspired to make a few mistapes today. Happy Monday.

Can you imagine a place like this? Well you don’t have to, because it’s real:

Every three years, three hundred square miles of land in northwestern Japan are transformed into the most ambitious and largest-scale art installation in the world: the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field. One hundred sixty of the world’s best-known landscape artists, sculptors, and architects create artworks in two hundred villages that dot the mountains and terraced rice fields of the Japanese countryside, with the intent of rediscovering relationships between nature, art, and humanity, forging collaborations between global artists and local communities, and connecting people to each other and the land.

Half a million people make the annual pilgrimage to witness this unique art project. Art Place Japan offers an exhaustive full-color catalog of the eight hundred artworks created during the past fifteen years. For those lucky enough to visit, this book, the first in English on the subject, also offers detailed information on how to visit the often-remote sites, with travel information and a newly commissioned map that locates the projects throughout the Niigata Prefecture.

So there you have it! And if you can’t get yourself there, this lovely new book – Art Place Japan: The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale and the Vision to Reconnect Art and Nature by Fram Kitagawa – can help you at least pretend!

{1. Harumi Yukutake (Japan), Restructure, 2006-ongoing; Image credit: Masanori Ikeda  / 2. Kyota Takahashi (Japan), Gift for Frozen Village, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 ; Image credit: Osamu Nakamura / 3. Antje Gummels (Germany/Japan),
 Traveling Inside, 2009
; Image credit: Isamu Murai   / 4. Chiyoko Todaka (Japan),
 Yamanaka Zutsumi Spiral Works, 2006; Image credit: Hisao Ogose}

Available at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / PAPress / IndieBound

Ah, more organized work that satisfies the over-organizer in me! I wrote about some tiny painted grids last week, and Australian artist Naomi Zouwer saw them on Instagram and thankfully pointed me to her Instagram feed! Little thrift shop finds, beautifully painted and organized into perfect lines? Yes! While on her site, I found another project she is working on… more objects, but for this series, titled “Auditioning Objects”, she paints them, cuts them out, and displays them like a beautifully bizarre shrine to odd objects:

Love.

Ahhh, gorgeous colors and folded paper… this is the delicate work of Paris based set designer and artist Laure Devenelle. She studied at the Sorbonne and during her studies she “discovered a passion for paper.” Yes, I can see that. She makes personal work, but also creates installations for various clients like Guirlain and Louis Vuitton.

Wallpaper. Made from bugs. A lot of bugs. This is the beautifully buggy, ornately patterned work of Jennifer Angus. Crazy iridescents, bright electric colors, delicate wings… yes, she absolutely shows off these little wonders of nature, but she also wants this to be known about her work: “Part of my work is the rehabilitation of the image of insects — that insects are so vitally important. We need insects to pollinate flowers that, in turn, produce fruit. We need insects for decomposition… “ because without insects, we couldn’t exist. She uses her inventory of bugs {none of which are endangered btw}, over and over again in each of her installations. Creepy? Kinda. Mesmerizing? Definitely. If you want to see them up close and personal, the installation in this hot pink room will be opening on November 13, 2015 at the Renwick Gallery in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

{quote from Fast Company / images from designboom, photographed by rob blunt}