Ah, a find blend of chaos and control… terrifying for some, but thrilling for California based artist Heather Day. Her latest works, complete with Heather’s vibrant washes of color and confidently drawn lines, are about to be hung in a new show, titled The Hysterics, at Stephanie Chefas Projects in Portland. The show opens this Saturday, October 19th from 5-8pm. Here is part of the statement from the show:

As the title suggests, The Hysterics is a reference to Day’s process of mark-making. Her process demands motion, requiring her entire body as she pours and pushes paint across the canvas. The canvases are subsequently drenched with water, enabling an element of vulnerability that remains essential to her work. Acting quickly, Day adds marks to the canvas and thereby allows each gesture to inform the next. An eternal dance between control and chaos ensues, climaxing with a unique and vivid creation.

“It’s moving, it’s rapid, and you can’t always predict what’s going to happen. I’m pouring the paint, I’m manipulating it, and there’s a level of understanding of what might happen as I control the fluidity of the paint or the opacity. Then there’s also the unexpected when I pour a bucket of water and it splashes everywhere.”

“The Hysterics” runs until November 23, 2019.

ps. I looooove Heather’s studio / WIP shots. Always very inspiring… see:

Sigh.

Don’t you kinda wanna go on summer vacation with Portland based painter Lisa Golightly? Me too. Dreamy, beachy memories painted beautifully. I’ve written about Lisa approximately five zillion times, but it’s not my fault! She’s the one that keeps making work like this. Visit her site for available works.

Another weekend, another new episode of ART FOR YOUR EAR! If you didn’t hear last week’s kick-off episode, I’m shaking things up a little this season. Instead of interviewing artists about their personal journeys, I’ve recruited a group of creative experts to be my co-hosts. We’ll be digging deep into the nitty gritty of being Artists {with a capital A} covering a huge range of topics from critique to pricing. Today’s co-host is the kind and generous painter / art school professor, LA based Samantha Fields. The theme today… lessons that Sam has learned from her students! This runs the gamut from how to pencil in eyebrows to heart-wrenching stories of survival. You can listen right up there under that disastrous celebration, or subscribe on iTunes.

Here’s a rundown of everything you heard about on this episode. Let’s start with a few of Sam’s insane airbrush paintings, just to set the mood:

Boom! Literally. So unbelievably good. Okay, I can’t control myself… one more set of her jaw-dropping paintings:

Alright, now I feel better. I needed you to see all of that greatness.

Now, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… I WANT SAM TO BE MY TEACHER! Here’s the manifesto she gives to her Art 307 students:

“Critique is our mirror”. I loved that part of our chat.

Okay, let’s take a peek into Sam’s home studio, shall we:

Works in progress, gouache sketches, and Sam’s bio photo… ? I asked her for a recent photo and this is what she sent, with this explanation: “The stars are the kind teachers give students, I liked that they were like a mask of affirmation!”  Ha! See, just another reason to love her sooooo much.

And finally, speaking of love… the @csun_squirrels_ :

I lay flat on my belly when it’s too hot out as well. And with that, I will say thank you to Sam for sharing all of her stories and lessons learned; huge thanks to THRIVE for supporting this episode of ART FOR YOUR EAR; and of course, thank you for listening ~ Danielle

………

Links, so many links {ie., proof that Sam really is a teacher!}

ps. The winner of Ashley Longshore’s stunning new art book is… Leila Simon Hayes!

Not that you need a reminder, as I’m sure you’ll recognize the dreamy work of New York based painter Samantha French, but yes these paintings are what she’s become famous for. I’ve loved Sam’s work for years – the water, the stripes, and the scale. Well, recently she’s taken SCALE to a whole new, kinda crazy, level. She and her long time partner {in life and love}, fellow painter Aaron Hauck have taken Sam’s pools outside. You know what they say… a couple that murals together, stays together:

What the? How? Oh my. Whoa. Good job, you two!  And look, they’re still together … exhausted, I’m sure… but still together ; )

{Mural 1: Kingston, NY / Mural 2: Benelux Restaurant, Brooklyn / Mural 3: The SoNo Collection, Connecticut}

How’s that for a way to kick off the new season of the podcast? Yes, after an almost year long personal hiatus, ART FOR YOUR EAR is back! I’m shaking things up a little, and instead of interviewing artists about their personal journeys – from childhood till present – I’ve recruited a group of creative experts to be my co-hosts! We’ll be digging deep into the nitty gritty of being Artists {with a capital A} covering a huge range of topics from self-doubt to business plans. We’ll also laugh a lot. Speaking of which, my first co-host is the always hilarious and fabulous Ashley Longshore. Ashley requested we kick this season off by getting real. As she said, “it ain’t all sunshine and roses… but it’s about getting up and getting stuff done when it’s raining.” There were also a few fishing analogies in there too, but we’ll get to those! You can listen right up there under those pink jeans, or subscribe on iTunes.

Here’s a rundown of everything you heard about on this episode… paintings, Instagram posts, and links. Let’s start with Ashley making an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers:

Yep, that’s Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker, beside her too. Okay, I know she didn’t make a big deal of this on the episode, but as a daily viewer of Seth’s show… yeah, this blew my mind. An artist on late night TV. Hell, YES! Moving on. DVF NYC:

Ah, this is such a fantastic project! Ashley has now painted 49 powerful women in collaboration with fashion design icon Diane Von Furstenberg… and I have a feeling there will be more coming. There’s just too many extraordinary women to celebrate! {Mmhm.. that’s Ashley hanging out with Gloria Steinem, Diane, and Chouchou Namagabe, an outspoken Congolese radio journalist and co-founder of the South Kivu Women’s Media Association.}

How does Ashley make all of this stuff happen? She works really, really hard… see:

Ha! Had to throw that last one in given the theme of her most recent watercolor sketchbook. If you follow her on Instagram {you do, right!?}, you’ll notice that Ashley is never not working. Most of the time she’s painting, but when she’s not actually at the easel, she’s emailing, promoting, going to meetings, or traveling. In fact, sometimes she’s traveling to New York to be the official artist-in-residence for Fashion Week. WHAT?

YASSS! Ashley was painting as models walked the runway at Christian Siriano‘s show… art and fashion, literally hand in hand.

Up next… Warren Buffet, Oprah and Rihanna:

Yep. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with gettin’ paid.

Oooh, Ashley’s NEW art book – I DO NOT COOK, I DO NOT CLEAN, I DO NOT FLY COMMERCIAL. Did we even talk about this?

I’m not sure we even got to this, but I did ask Ashley to mail me a signed copy… which I’m going to GIVE TO ONE OF YOU! It is big, beautiful, hilarious, and filled cover-to-cover with Ashley’s gorgeous work. Just leave a comment below, and I’ll draw one name and announce the winner on next week’s podcast. And with that, I’ll say thank you Ashley for her hilarious, joy-filled, honest conversation; huge thanks to THRIVE for raising their hand to help support ART FOR YOUR EAR; and of course, thank you for listening ~ Danielle

ps. This is Che Che:

Paper … that IS NOT PAPER! I’ve written about his NOT paper sculptures before, but today it’s all about “Einmal ist Keinmal”, the most recent solo show by Italian artist Daniele Sigalot. Huge balls of crumpled up failures, towering stacks that are “attempts at greatness”, and my favorite (clearly), those post-it notes! And yes, as the lilac beauty at the top of the post points out, it’s metal but looks like paper… just like all of Daniele’s fabulous sculptures. The exhibition is at Anna Laudel Gallery in their newly opened space in Dusseldorf. Here is part of the curatorial statement:

“Sigalot is aware that one cannot be successful without failures. Any creative person goes through a struggling process in order to come up with good ideas. According to him, in order to find a successful idea, at least hundreds of ideas might go to trash. Sigalot transforms this process of producing “bad” ideas into sculptures that balls and towers of wrinkled up papers in a large scale of art works … [Sigalot] appropriates his advertising background in order to create sharp and short sentences, which are critique to art market, perception of life and expectation from future. Enlarged post-it notes are part of the production of ideas but they are indeed satirical, which capture the audience with their humor.”

“…one cannot be successful without failures.” Amen! The show runs until December 14, 2019. Happy Friday.

Ahhhhh, I absolutely love the work of Oakland based artist Anna Valdez. Clearly, it’s gorgeous online, but in person? Oh my word… ridiculously vibrant, detailed, and filled with stories. If you happen to be in New York, Anna’s latest show, titled NATURAL CURIOSITY, will be opening this Saturday October 5th at Hashimoto Contemporary Here’s a part of the gallery’s description:

“The works function both as still life and self portrait, offering vantage into Valdez’s daily practice and the objects which inform it. Venus Painting, oversized and brilliantly pink, features two of the artist’s plants against a wall covered in a swirling floral design. Framed by the houseplants is a smaller, more serene still life painting, depicting a bust of Venus in cool blue tones. This self-referential painting-within-a-painting nods at the time honored tradition of oil painters breaking the fourth wall while subtly hinting at a more modern practice of image-viewing and media consumption.

The careful consideration of each detail––each hand-mixed oil paint, every carefully composed vignette––invites the viewer into the artist’s studio and practice of close observation, begging the question: when do we allow ourselves to follow our own curiosity?”

Anna will be at the gallery for a book signing of her upcoming monograph {also titled “Natural Curiosity”}, and an artist talk in conversation with curators Chad Alligood and Nina Mdivani from 5-6pm, followed by the opening reception from 6-8pm. The show runs from October 5th through October 26th, 2019.

Historical subject matter meets the contemporary art of texting! These meticulously painted works are the most recent work of Denver based painter Shawn Huckins. I’ve written about Shawn a couple of times over the past ten years, and he just keeps getting better and better! Here is part of Shawn’s bio:

“In his most notable series to date, ‘The American Revolution Revolution’ and ‘The American ___tier,’ Huckins satirizes social media, asking whether the devolution of language in the face of technological advancement weakens our ability to empathize and connect to one another in a meaningful way. By layering early American portraiture and landscape with text taken directly from the internet, Huckins confronts the priorities of our society in comparison to simpler times. What would George Washington post on Facebook? How would Lewis and Clark communicate their progress westward via Twitter?”

And I can’t help but wonder, where would they have charged their phones? I bet Sacagawea would have helped with that too. Anyway, Shawn has a show opening this Thursday, October 3rd, at Galerie Bessières in France {west of Paris}. Now, if you’re not in Paris at the moment, you can also see his work at the Tucson Museum of Art beginning October 19th, and at the Pulse Art Fair in Miami starting on December 5th. Yep, he’s busy.

“…a balancing act of both planned and un-planned”… yes, yes, YES! Oh my word, I love these so much. These explosions of color are the large-scale work of Australian artist Michael Gromm. I can’t decide if they make me want a whole bunch of fruit-flavored candy, or zillions of new paintbrushes! Okay, fine… I want both. Happy Friday.

{Install image – to show scale – from Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne}

Gorgeous palettes, perfect lines, and huge fields of negative space that take my breath away. This is the work of American artist Mark Bradley-Shoup. I have loved Mark’s work for years… he was one of the first artists I ever wrote about {way back in 2009}, I curated a show in Chattanooga which included his work, and he was episode no.12 on the podcast! Oh, and if you’re not already, you should go follow Mark on Instagram because the “work in progress” he posts is beautiful too:

Told ya.