Linen, cotton, sequins, tablecloth, handmade glow-in-the-dark beads … felt, cotton, found textiles: towels, long stitches, velvet & wool … towel, shells, handmade beads, cotton, fringe, wood, handles, cord … towel, wool, cotton, velvet, trim, handmade sequins. Be still my mixed media loving heart. This is the work of Sera Waters – an Australian artist who turns forgotten fabric into deeply personal narratives. Beautiful on so many levels. (Also, the towels… I love, love, love the towels.) Happy Friday.

Witches! …and if you look closely, I believe there’s a tiny ghost sneaking out of that shotgun. Clearly I couldn’t let Halloween creep by without sharing the latest work from Vancouver based painter Rebecca Chaperon. Spooky – check! Beautiful – check! Little touch of magic – check! Happy Halloween.

ps. A lot of Rebecca’s work is available, either as originals or prints, in her shop. Definitely a treat, not a trick.

Sigh. This is the beautiful outdoor installation work of Texas based artist Molly V. Dierks, inspired by a Mary Oliver poem… both of which make we want to cry – not in a sad way, but with relief. Watch the video, listen to the sounds, breathe deeply, let your worries go, and just sing. Here are Molly’s words about this project, followed by Mary’s poem:

Inspired by the eponymous poem by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver, “I Worried” is a series of modified street signs that replace typical regulatory language with lines of Oliver’s poem about anxiety, vulnerability, and evolution.
Attaching electrodes to leaves and human skin, I recorded the music made by local plants, as well as by my body and those of other Franconia residents as we meditated on different states of being – worry, love, connection. This music was combined with nature recordings (wind, birds, water, frogs) to make original compositions. As viewers pass by, a solar-powered sound device vibrates the thin aluminum, and select signs act as speakers – ‘singing’ each unique song.

‘I Worried’ by Mary Oliver
“I worried a lot.

Will the garden grow,

will the rivers
flow in the right direction,

will the earth turn
as it was taught,

and if not how shall
I correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong, can I do better?

I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up.

and went out into the morning,

and sang.”

Aaaaaand, exhale.

Yes, I am completely dating myself by loving these bizarre, cartoony hand-cut collages… but I don’t even care! Mowgli, old school Spidey, JELLO?! Ah, my 1970s childhood is all rushing back to me. This is the whimsical work of Melbourne based collage artist / designer Maximillian Malone. He clearly has fun doing what he does, but I wonder if he has even more fun organizing his cuttings…

Yessssssssss. So satisfying! Seriously, anyone who puts this much obsessive effort into organizing their cuttings, well, they’re A-OKAY by me.

Gasp! And, yeah, I threw that last image in so you could understand the scale of these insanely beautiful “rotting fruits”. This absolutely stunning work, by New York / Los Angeles based artist Kathleen Ryan, has been all over the internet in the past few weeks… and rightly so! Beads carved of onyx, jade, malachite, serpentine, bone, agate, pyrite, marble, smokey quartz, and the list goes on – encrust various gigantic fruits {that are made with polystyrene foam}.  Kathleen’s rotting riches are making comment on the excessive consumption and a culture of excess that exists all over our world.

But wait, there’s more. So much more. Kathleen’s portfolio is filled with wonderful things… like these HUGE “pearls”:

Bowling balls. BOWLING. BALLS. I’m dying. ♥

Live from SMoCA! Ok, well it was live almost a year ago. Today’s episode has been in a holding pattern since last fall, when I recorded at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art – aka SMoCA – in November of 2018. I loved every second of my time there, especially floating in a pool on a flamingo (I’m Canadian, so I realllly like being in pools when it’s snowing at home). Once I got myself out of the pool, I had the great pleasure of talking to not only one, but two fabulous women: Jennifer McCabe, the Director and Chief Curator at SMoCA, and Saskia Jorda, a Venezuelan-born Arizona-based installation artist. You can listen to the full episode right up there under my pink friend, or subscribe on iTunes.

First, a little peek at this gorgeous gallery in lovely Scottsdale, Arizona:

Such a beautiful building filled with gorgeous art, not to mention a smart and talented Director & Curator. Jennifer is doing fabulous things at SMoCA – curating original shows, and also bringing in really interesting traveling shows. We talked about the two shows that were there during our record, and you can find links to both of them at the bottom of this post.

Next, Saskia’s installation work:

Gasp! Gorgeous! I’m sure her butterfly genitalia drawings were gorgeous too, but wow, I’m thrilled she found a path to her map-based installation work. I love her 2016 project, titled “Soft Borders”, which just happens to be featured in my latest book, A BIG IMPORTANT ARTIST – A Womanual.

That brings us to today. Literally. Here are a few images from Saskia’s Instagram feed showing her installing and preparing for the group exhibition, “Counter-Landscapes: Performative Actions from the 1970s – Now” (curated by Jennifer) that opens TODAY, October 26, 2019:

So exciting! … and, a few of the final pieces:

Oh my word! Those mixed media drawings are gorgeous, and I cannot deal with how much I love the piece above, titled “Zona Ambigua”. The rest of the installation shots won’t be ready for a few more days… that’s how hot of the presses this show is!  If you are anywhere near Scottsdale between now and January 19, 2020, go and check out this show.

Thank you so much to everyone at SMoCA for not only inviting me to do this, but also for being so patient. I’m sure they weren’t betting on this taking a year to go up, but I’m so glad this LIVE podcast is actually finally live! Thanks to Jennifer and Saskia for sharing their stories; huge thanks to THRIVE for supporting the episode; and as always, thank YOU for listening.

ps. And thanks, Mom, for reminding me that the universe really will unfold as it should. xo

…………………..

More Links:

1. The two exhibitions that were showing last fall:

NKAME: A Retrospective of Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999)

Double Agents: Carla Fernández and Pedro Reyes

2. Saskia’s drawings above were photographed by Claire A. Warden

3. And, in case you’re wondering where that flamingo lives: The Saguaro, Scottsdale

Seafood, anyone? Oh my word, these are a few of the most recent oil paintings by Hungarian artist Naomi Devil … and I LOVE THEM. Did you notice the lemon glasses? Gah! I’ve written about Naomi before, and those ‘past-meets-hilarious-present’ portraits were fantastic too, but the first platter of oysters above? Clearly, I had no choice but to write again. Fabulous technique AND humor… easily one of my favorite combinations {almost as good as lobster with lemon}.

Uh oh – you better go to this show because you don’t wanna upset that lil lady, do you?

Last year, Jen Tough of Jen Tough Gallery asked me to jury a show that she had titled, The Ladies Room. I said, YES!!! The Ladies Room is happening in San Francisco’s Dogpatch {1599 Tennessee St} THIS WEEKEND, and features the work of 18 female artists from around the world. The above work is just a teeny, tiny snippet of what you’ll see there, AND almost all {if not all?} of the artists will be on site wo-manning their booths so you can actually talk to them about their work, process, hopes and dreams, etc. The opening reception is on Friday, Oct 25 from 6-9pm, or stop by on Saturday, Oct 26 {11am-8pm} and Sunday, Oct 27 {11am-6pm}.

Go. Buy LOTS of art. Give the artists a high five from me. {Artists shown above in this order: Amy Stewart, Jill Stoll, Sasinun Kladpetch, Adriana Villagran, Margharita Paoletti, Monique Martin, Mary Souza, and Laura Johnston.}

Ah, the gorgeous ‘n hilarious book paintings of Australian artist and illustrator Anna Hoyle. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. I’m guessing here, but it certainly feels like she’s allowing us to “read her mind”. They really cover the full gamut too – from awful art parties to anxious pecking – pure gold {especially for those of us who have anxiety about awful art parties}. Sooo many of Anna’s fabulous book paintings are available as prints in her online shop. Just sayin’.

ps. I had her on the podcast in 2017, so have a listen if you like.

Okay, I love everything about these giant, soft, pleather ‘n polyester filled sculptures! The huge, limp Sriracha? Don’t get me started on how much I love THAT. This is the work at New York based artist Al Freeman. All of these pieces were part of her show last year at 56 HENRY in New York. Here’s a blurb from the gallery’s site:

“Variously depicting everyday objects, including a beer can; a black soda can; a human foot; a human head; a hammer; a LaserDisc; a lava lamp; and a paper toilet seat cover; the works exaggerate items typically associated with masculine household settings. The sculptures drain objects of their virility and invest them with humor, replacing rigid geometries with flaccid forms.”

Fantastic.