You might know her as @mrsciccoricco on Instagram… that’s how I knew her for years before we finally met in person! My guest today is California based, Dutch artist Natalie Ciccoricco. Obviously we’re going to talk about her insanely beautiful/poetic “Nesting” series {born during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic}, but we’ll also cover important topics like day jobs, motherhood, qualities that make for a perfect stick, and the reasons why she loves David Lynch. Oh, and at one point she ended up interviewing me about my latest book, but I quickly got things focused back on Natalie! You can listen right up there under “Nesting No.64”, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

First up, a few images I posted of Natalie’s “Nesting” pieces, fairly early on in the series:

I mean, COME ON! I love them all so much. And can’t you picture little Lou finding sticks for his mama on their daily walks? So crazy cute. This is just a fraction of the pieces in the series at this point. Personally, I think Natalie has struck creative gold. Speaking of striking gold, did we discuss the circular paper she sourced?

Yeah. ROUND RAG. Ah-mazing! {I can’t remember if we talked about this, but had to include a few images. Clearly.}

Next up, the really big commission Natalie just completed earlier this fall:

Chunky cross-stitch + found drift wood = LOVE.

Moving along to this dreamy series… ‘Color Holes’. This is what Natalie was working on before COVID hit:

Beautiful… the work, and Natalie standing in front of this series at Rasmussen Gallery in California.

Now, I was wracking my brain before we chatted because I could not picture the work she did before the color holes! Ahhh, the mixed media fairies, of course:

So lovely. That shot in the middle is from “Plus One”, a show Natalie invited me to be part of. Each artist from The Main Gallery chose their “plus one” from outside of the gallery to show with, and Natalie picked me! So there we are, up on the wall together in the summer of 2016. Ah yes, simpler times.

Now, I asked Natalie to send a photo of her embroidery thread, because I wanted to see if she really is organized. She is. I, however, have a slightly different storage system for my thread collection:

Hm. Well at least my collage cutouts are organized… really! THEY ARE!

And finally, a little touch o’ Halloween to end the episode. Sadly, Natalie does not have a picture of herself as a singing banana, so instead please enjoy these photos of my first ‘trick or treating’ experience:

A 2 year old bride? Okay. The ‘after’ picture is actually my favorite … the sorting is always the best part! Thanks so much to Natalie for coming on the podcast, and huge thanks to you for listening. Have a safe and happy weekend, and I’ll meet you back here next Saturday for a brand new episode of ART FOR YOUR EAR.

Other Links:

1. Natalie on Instagram
2. Natalie’s Shop
3. #30DayArtQuarantine {that has become a never-ending art quarantine}
4. Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch {the book Natalie loves}

Tape. Paint. Corrugated board. What? This is the mind-bending work of New York based artist Aakash Nihalani. I featured his work waaaaaay back in 2010… now here we are ten years later, and his work is even more wonderfully confusing! Happy Friday.

The mirrored START hooked me, UR OK made me exhale, and VOTE brought it home. Sigh. This is the work of Los Angeles based artist Scott Froschauer, and these are his words about this ongoing series, titled “Word on the Street”:

“How does one express humanity? I think it’s pretty complicated. Sometimes it’s beautiful, sometimes less so. I don’t always know what a particular piece means and I love to discover new perspectives in conversations with viewers.

I ran into a city worker who was maintaining the landscaping around one of my street signs. He asked what the sign was supposed to mean. Of course I asked him what he thought it meant. After several minutes of explaining his search for the official meaning of this very unofficial sign, he finally said that he wasn’t really sure what it was supposed to mean but it made him feel something, something he wasn’t quite sure of… Something that felt like hope.”

Hope, indeed. START, UR OK, VOTE.

{Scott’s work is available via WallSpace, LA}

Outside, inside, outside, inside … nope, it doesn’t matter… I love her work in both places! This colorful ‘moss’ is the work of Chilean artist {based in Canada} Katy Biele. I found her mixed media paintings first, but when I saw that she’s been taking her art out for nature walks, oh my word, LOVE. ps. Katy’s partner/photographer Josh Wicks goes with her on those walks, as these pieces are a collaborative project. LOVE {again}.

“I gather materials everywhere I go … Materials are a language.” 

Yes, yes, a thousand times YES! New York based artist Petah Coyne is my new hero. I saw some of her glass work in Venice a few years ago but didn’t even realize it was hers until today… and then I went down the Petah Coyne rabbit hole! That amazing journey involved not only her intricate glass pieces but also works made from wax, beautifully bizarre taxidermy, silk flowers, more wax … and, eventually, I found my way to this video she did with SFMoMA. Watch the video. Have you watched it? Okay, I’ll wait. Seriously. [pauses for 4 minutes] Wasn’t that FABULOUS!? I’m going to spend the weekend ‘trying to make bad’, because as Petah wisely says, “sometimes when you make really bad, it’s really good.” LOVE.

Thread… a ferris wheel made out of THREAD!? This is the work of Japanese artist Takahiro Iwasaki. He does all sorts of jaw-dropping things with a long list of other materials – like wood, tape, etc – but this series from a few years ago, titled “Out of Disorder”, took my breath away. It is meant to represent “the graceful transition of a Japanese landscape from the past to the present.” Beautiful.

“Bad Fruit” has never looked so delicious! This is the latest work by New York/LA based artist Kathleen Ryan. I wrote about her oversized ‘rotting’ pears, peaches and lemons last year, but these beauties are from a show she had in early 2020 {pre-pandemic} at Francois Ghebaly Gallery in Los Angeles. I am absolutely in awe of Kathleen’s work, for two reasons… 1. the meaning behind them, “a comment on the excessive consumption and a culture of excess that exists all over our world”; and 2. the insane detail and absolutely exquisite bits and pieces she uses to create this work. The materials list for the grapes looks like this: Amethyst, aventurine, agate, garnet, pyrite, ruby in zoisite, tektite, tigereye, turquoise, serpentine, obsidian, blackstone, Indian unakite, labradorite, Sierra agate, red agate, black agate, serpentine, quartz, marble, amazonite, rhyolite, calcite, dalmation jasper, glass, steel and stainless steel pins, copper tube and copper fittings, polystyrene. And the list for the melon chunks… cherry quartz, rose quartz, agate, smoky quartz, rhodenite, rhotochrocite, labradorite, quartz, citrine, calcite, horn, stone looking beads, silver lace agate, magnacite, rhyolite, Botswana agate, carnelian, acrylic, glass, cast iron and brass flies, steel and stainless steel pins, polystyrene, aluminum Airstream trailer. Airstream trailer!?

Nothing says IT’S FRIDAY like a porcelain eyeball floating in an Old Fashion! This is the most recent work of Brooklyn based artist Genesis Belanger. I wrote about her in late 2019, but when I realized her first major solo museum exhibition opens this weekend, clearly I had to write again. ‘Through the Eye of a Needle’  will be installed at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Connecticut. Here’s their description:

“Anthropomorphizing common household objects–lipsticks with wagging tongues, lamps with ladies’ pearls, and tins with doey-eyed sardines–Belanger’s methodology blends Surrealism and Pop art with a self-possessed feminism informed by a career inside the fashion and advertising industries. Debuting an entirely new body of work specially conceived for The Aldrich, Belanger will create her largest and most elaborate mise-en-scène to date: dozens of animated objects arranged on ghostly furnishings that suggest narratives about our anxiety afflicted present. The artist’s first museum publication, featuring an essay by the exhibition’s curator, Amy Smith-Stewart, will accompany the show.

The show will be open for a Members-Only Preview Day on Saturday, September 19 and there will be a private opening on Sunday, September 20. The first day the exhibition will be open to the general public is Monday, September 21. To book your timed-ticket for September 21 onwards, click here. To register for the Members-Only Preview Day, click here. Not a member? No problem, you can join today and see the exhibition early!

Gasp! All of it… I love all of it. This colorful, thoughtful, beautiful world is the work of Claudia Martínez Garay, a Peruvian artist who lives and works in both Amsterdam and Lima. This gorgeous show was exhibited earlier this year at GRIMM Gallery {Amsterdam}. It was titled, “A las revoluciones, como a los árboles, se les reconoce por sus frutos”, which translates to, “Revolutions, like trees, are recognized by their fruits”. Here is the description from the gallery’s site:

“Claudia Martínez Garay’s work dwells on Peruvian history through the life of cultural artifacts and visual archives, and the multiple voices and meanings which are ascribed to these. She combines graphic iconography and abstraction in her paintings and ceramic sculptures to reflect on the idea of memory, life and after-life, invoking a strong identification with native American cultures of South America.

With a focus on re-reading, remaking and interpreting the visual traditions, the artist presents installations that exists in a specific imaginary’s time and space. Underlying the arrangements, there is a drive to reanimate the existing fragments of lost and forgotten stories. Persistent and bittersweet, Martínez Garay’s work analyzes modernity as an inseparable component of colonialism.”

“Reanimating the existing fragments of lost and forgotten stories”… yes, I love that too.

Gasp! What are we looking at here? Well, for one, VINTAGE SARIS woven together to create stunning sculptural textile pieces… not to mention the neon lighting and hair rollers in that “rainbow”. See, the *gasp* was very necessary. This is the work of Guyana born, Denver based artist Suchitra Mattai, and I could not love it more! Here is part of her artist statement:

“I am interested in giving voice to people whose voices were historically quieted. Using both my own family’s ocean migrations and research on the period of colonial indentured labor during the 19^th Century, I seek to expand our sense of “history.” Re-writing this colonial history contributes to contemporary dialogue by making visible the struggles and perseverance of those who lived it. I often focus on women and employ practices and materials associated with the domestic sphere such as embroidery, weaving, etc. I re-imagine vintage and found materials that have a rich history as a way of creating dialogue with the original makers and the time periods in which they were cherished.”

So beautiful. ps. Suchitra’s latest solo show, at K Contemporary in Denver, just came down in mid August. Reach out to them re: her available work.