Oh my word … dreamy, bead-covered, aquatic, Greek goddesses in blue! This is just a tiny bit the textile sculpture work of American artist Tasha Lewis. I’ve written about her before, but she currently has a show happening in Nashville TN, so I wanted to make sure you knew about it. Yes, some of her most recent work is currently being shown at the Centennial Park Conservancy {Parthenon Gallery} in an exhibition titled Flood Lines. Here are a few words, and a quote from Tasha, from the gallery’s site about this show:

A student of art and literature, sculptor Tasha Lewis borrows from ancient artifacts to evoke contemporary narratives about women. In ‘Flood Lines’ she updates classical forms such as vessels and figures featuring hand embroidered beads, wire, and hand dyed fabric. Over 35 sculptures of exquisite craftsmanship are carefully arranged within the gallery to create an immersive space that is both formal and organic. Here life-sized human heads, legs, and torsos wend their way among Alabastron and Lekythos vessels to create what Lewis calls a “minimalist bath house.” … 

Flood Lines coincides with the 100th anniversary of the 19th US Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. As Tennessee suffragists were instrumental to the ratification of this law, Lewis sees Flood Lines as an homage to these women.

“My figures embody an independence not unlike the Tennessee suffragists of 100 years ago who fought for the voting rights of American women. Their courage helped to make democracy available to all citizens. My work employs sewing, embroidery, and beadwork, crafts that were among the housework that anti-suffragists worried women would abandon if they got the vote. As ancient Greece is the birthplace of democracy, the Greek forms in my pieces evoke a connection between the ancient and modern, hopefully celebrating and reinventing the classical.”

You can find Tasha’s show in the East Gallery of the Parthenon from now until Sunday, May 10, 2020. I plan on popping in when I’m in Nashville this March… can’t wait!

I am so excited for you to listen to this episode! American artist Phil Hansen is my guest today, and we’re going ‘old school’ with this one. Was he an art kid? Did he go to art school? How did he end up doing an absolutely inspiring TED Talk? Did he really make a portrait of Edgar Allan Poe out of earthworms? Is he seriously going to rip up one of his pieces and give the chunks to some of you!? Let’s find out! Listen right up there under Phil and all of the portraits of Phil, or subscribe here.

First things first, a few grabs from his fabulous TED Talk:

“Embrace the Shake” … such an inspiring story and message! To watch it in full, click right here.

Alright, next. Grabs from his project titled, “Just Peachy”, ie., Trump made from canned peaches, because, impeachment:

Apparently the whole thing turned to mold and required an air purifier for the room it was in, along with having it closed off from the rest of the building. Sounds about right.

Okay, moving on. Edgar Allan Poe’s portrait made from 7000 WORMS!?

Ew. But also, WOW. That’s dedication. *All worms were returned to the earth.

Ahhh, happy little stamps:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Happy little stamps 🙂 . . . . . #art #artist #artistoninstagram #design #stamps #stamp #bobross #philinthecircle #happylittletrees

A post shared by Phil Hansen (@philinthecircle) on Jan 14, 2020 at 8:03am PST

So, if you’ve already listened to the episode, you’ll know what this is about:

Yep! Get over to Phil’s instagram feed, @philinthecircle if you want a chance to win one of four framed pieces of this “destroyed” portrait … good luck!

Speaking of Bob, here’s the info for the event I’m doing at my local gallery that also happens to have a Bob Ross show opening in March!

Gah! I cannot wait to see a few Bob’s happy little landscapes in person! Also, how much do I love that my photo is next to Bob’s on an event calendar?! Okay, and with that I will say a huge thank you to Phil for “philling” in the circle for us, thanks to YOU for listening, and thanks to my family for letting me sneak away on our Hawaiian vacation to get this podcast up! There will be more ART FOR YOUR EAR next weekend. See you then!

Other links:

1. Phil’s Instagram to enter the Bob Ross giveaway
2. Phil’s TED talk, “Embrace the Shake”
3. My talk at the Penticton Art Gallery, March 11, 2020

Gasp! This stunning work is part of ‘‘Nothing Is Separate: A Collaboration with Nature,’  an experimental, traveling installation created by Detroit-based mixed-media artist Ellen Rutt as part of Temple Children’s artist residency in Hilo, Hawai‘i. Here are a few words about this project, followed by a quote from Ellen:

… by creating intuitive compositions of painted, repurposed wood shapes and costumes at several of the island’s majestic, distinct and isolated terrains, Rutt explores the complex relationship humans have with both natural and constructed environments. The bright colors and familiar shapes signal our attraction to aesthetics and modes of idealized presentation.

“I’m acknowledging my own contradictions and our collective moral flexibility – how we are simultaneously celebrating the sacredness of the natural world, while also engaging in practices that knowingly or unknowingly contribute to its destruction. We are balanced on a continuum between understanding the infinite nature of existence and participating in the mundane routine of everyday life.”

Beautiful, in so many ways. I am going to leave you with this gorgeous project from Hawaii while I spend the next week on Maui with my family. There will be a new podcast going up this weekend though, so keep an eye {and ear} out for that!

*Photos – and this video – by Emad Rashidi.

Jaw. Dropped. This is the paper work of Denmark based artist Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen. The colors, those textures, the scale… oh my word, I’m in love. Also, paper. It’s all PAPER!

*bio photo by Frederik Lentz Andersen

Breath. Taking. Oh my word, this is the latest work by New York based artist Daniel Arsham. He’s known for “visually transforming ready-made objects of the last half century into subtly eroding artifacts”… objects like Mickey Mouse phones and old school Apple computers… well, in his most recent show, he’s going a little further back in time. Perrotin Paris is currently showing “Paris, 3020” from January 11 until March 21, 2020. Here is a description from Perrotin’s site:

For this exhibition, Daniel Arsham will present a new suite of large-scale sculptures based on iconic busts, friezes and sculptures in the round from classical antiquity. Over the past year, Arsham has been granted unprecedented access to the Réunion des Musées Nationaux – Grand Palais (RMN), a 200-year-old French molding atelier that reproduces masterpieces for several of Europe’s major encyclopedic museums. Arsham was able to use molds and scans of some of the most iconic works from the collections of the Musée du Louvre in Paris, Acropolis Museum in Athens, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the San Pietro in Vincoli as source material for this new body of work. Interested in the way that objects move through time, the works selected by Arsham are so iconic that they have eclipsed their status as mere art object, and instead have embedded themselves into our collective memory and identity.

Ranging from Michelangelo’s Moses to the Vénus de Milo, each item was cast in hydrostone to produce a perfect to scale replica of the original sculpture, a process that shares formal qualities with historic wax casting. Arsham utilizes natural pigments that are similar to those used by classical sculptors, such as volcanic ash, blue calcite, selenite, quartz, and rose quartz. From that, individual erosions are chiseled into the surface of the hydrostone, a nod to the sculpting techniques of the Renaissance sculptors. Finally, Arsham applies his signature tactic of crystallization.

If you’re in Paris, 1. lucky you, 2. GO to this show!

{via Colossal}

Yep, Ashley Longshore is back and she’s ready to fire us up and get this decade started RIGHT!  You know the drill… here’s a peek at the stuff Ashley and I talked about. You can listen right up there under that very festive shot, or subscribe here.

First up, a few of Ashley’s usual muses… one of which could be YOU! What!? Yep:

Um… DO IT!  Email your authentic, colorful and enthusiastic selfies to hollywood@ashleylongshore.com and then cross your fingers. Tight.

Speaking of muses:

This is Ashley with one of her fashion heroes, Japanese designer Tomo Koizumi. His colorful, layered frills could not be more perfect for Ashley. The photo above was just a fun try-on session, but look what she took home for her own closet:

Bahahahaha! HELL YES! Oh, there’s so much to say. 1. The rainbow Tomo is perfection. 2. Yes, Tommy and Dee Hilfiger hosted a show for Ashley’s work during Art Miami at their home (!?) 3. I had to include those two photos of Ashley and her hilarious and talented friend, interior designer Andrew Alford (Note: I need to be friends with him.) 4. The “I’m just gonna do one last pee before the party” shot from Ashley’s Instagram feed during Art Miami. Pure f’n GOLD … just like her shoes.

Oh man, how do you go on after that? Easy, by showing a few pieces Ashley has recently acquired for her own collection:

Yes. All of of it. YES. There are links for all of these artists at the bottom of the post.

And finally, her amazing team. Not only does she work with them every day, sometimes she paints them too:

Ahhhhh! She was talking about Kate Grace … that’s her nursing her baby girl, Coco, dressed as – of course – a masked luchador. And I couldn’t NOT include a shot of Ashley and her Dad. If you see him pop up in her Instagram stories, WATCH.

At the very end of the episode, I asked her, WWALB {What Would Ashley Longshore Buy} – truffle fries or chocolate cake? I liked the very smart reason for her choice. Also, it gave me an excuse to show her sheet cake sculpture one more time:

Thanks to Ashley for being my first co-host of 2020, and thanks to you for listening! There will be more ART FOR  YOUR EAR next weekend.

Other links:

1. Be Ashley’s muse
2. Tomo Koizumi, Fashion Designer
3. Andrew Alford, Interior Designer
4. Little girl dressed like Ashley! 
5. BLOOPERS! Will Ferrell / The Office / Carol Burnett / WestWorld

Links to artists:

1. Elizabeth Barden
2. Nora Martin-Hall
3. Ann Carrington ps. she’s in both of my women books!
4. Tali Lennox
5. CB Hoyo

Wow. Liquid gold pouring out of the wall, and seeping up from the vents… or maybe it’s draining into the floor? Either way, I could not love the work of Brazilian artist Vanderlei Lopes more. Happy Friday.

Denim on plywood. Ummmm, what? These large-scale sculptures – MADE OF DENIM ON PLYWOOD – are the work of Brooklyn based artist Nick Doyle. I get it, it’s hard to understand, that’s why I included the closeups. If you still don’t believe me, you can follow Nick on Instagram for behind-the-scenes proof.

ps. Nick has a new show opening on January 10, 2020 at REYES | FINN in Detroit. Here’s a little peek into what he’s working on for this show:

Love!!!

Whoa. This is the work {ie., zillions of silk petals transformed into gigantic lichens}, by Connecticut based artist Molly Gambardella. The orange piece above, titled “Elegant Sunburst”, was just shown at Scope Miami Beach with GALLERyLABs over the weekend… and it SOLD. No surprise, it’s a huge burst of joy for your wall! In fact, that’s exactly why Molly does what she does:

“I create things to battle shame with the intention of spreading joy in order to better face the challenges, darkness and the injustices of the world around us.”

Nailed it.

Wait. What? Sculptures? This is the reaction you have when one of your favorite painters lifts her surreal figures off of the canvas and onto, well, logs! Oh my word, this is the latest work of UK based artist Lisa Wright and I am completely smitten… late, but smitten. This show, titled “Infinite Forest”, was at Coates & Scarry in London and came down about a month ago. How did I miss this? I have no idea, but as far as a post gushing about this new development in her already fabulous repertoire, better late than never!