December 1st calls for a list of art stuff, because that’s all I want this every year! Here are just a few of my favorite things from 2017 … {ps. scroll to the bottom for links}

BAGS: from one of NIAD‘s artists, Sarah Malpass… love! / BOOKS: A Glorious Freedom by Lisa Congdon; Your Inner Critic Is A Big Jerk by me; If You Can Cut You Can Collage by Hollie Chastain; On the Loom by Maryanne Moodie / ART SUPPLIES: Weaving Starter Kits by Maryanne Moodie; ArtSnacks monthly supply subscription (ps. if you enter ‘thejealouscurator’ you’ll get 10% off at checkout) ; Stand alone supplies from the ArtSnacks shop / CERAMICS: Bowls & more by Mariko Paterson; Mugs by Molly Hatch via Anthropologie; Incense holders by Kinska / ‘RANDOM CRAP’: Tote Bag by Martha Rich; Cat T-Shirt by Martha Rich; Socks by Martha Rich; Bob Ross Board Game {not by Martha Rich}.

And of course, if you’re looking for ART, type “shop” in my search bar and you’ll find the posts with links to artists who have shops. If you want to do a bit of art browsing, I’d suggest visiting Saatchi Art for prints & originals, and Limited by Saatchi Art for limited edition prints….

*Portrait by János Huszti ; Circles by Slavomir Zombek; Abstract by HyunRyoung Kim

“Hot Straws” Red, pink and violet straws on wooden panel and metallic frame; “Too Late” colored silicone bracelets on wooden panel and metallic frame; “Spiderballs” blue, red, yellow, fuschia, and gray plastic cobweb dusters, steel cables and metallic nets… whoa. When this is your art supply shopping list, you know something magical is about to happen. And, if you can believe it, these fantastical works are just the tip of the creative iceberg when it comes to the portfolio of Italian artist Francesca Pasquali. Love, love, love!

Porcelain! Oh. My. Word. I wrote about California based artist ReCheng Tsang a couple of years ago, but today when I came across, what I assumed were dyed textile pieces, well, this post almost wrote itself. Porcelain, acrylic wash and ink … not even close to strips of soft fabric. GORGEOUS.

{These stunning works are available via Uprise Art, NY}

Plants, patterns and gorgeous linocuts … LOVE. These botanical beauties are the work of British printmaker Kerry Day. I used to do a lot of lino prints back in my student days, and whenever I see it out in the world I instantly want to start again… granted, I might need a bit of ‘registration’ advice from Kerry {mine never lined up quite so!}. Her color choices and compositions are lovely, as are her words about the way she works:

“I can lose myself in the intensity and precision of the lino cut process and the recognition that the piece is not finished until I cut that final line.”

Amen.

Mmmmm, sticky. Oh how I love these huge, melty lollipops by LA based artist Desire Obtain Cherish (DOC), aka Jonathan Paul. So, obviously giant, shiny, colorful candy art is lovely to look at, but the story behind this “Cherry Meltdown” is even better. This is an excerpt from an interview DOC did with Artsy:

“The idea for the series came to me after I had dinner with a friend years ago. She told me she was breaking up with her boyfriend. I asked what was wrong, and she said, “Nothing’s wrong, I’m just kind of bored. Onto the next!” Many people look a the sculptures of my Blow Pops and feel that I make art about candy. The truth is, I make art about us. If you look carefully, it’s a sculpture of a perfect candy discarded, in fact, barely even tasted. Almost brand new, just melting in the sunlight. Simply discarded, as if our attention span was that of a child’s.”

Love it! Oh look, an excuse to show the scale of this 9 foot blow-pop one more time… here it is standing proudly beside the Grand Canal at the 2015 Venice Biennale:

Si, si, si!

*Venice images via UNIX Gallery, NY.

Piles of broken vintage glass, milky colors, and lots of fire. Today I’m asking ALL of the questions – I need to understand how Philadelphia based glass artist Amber Cowan does what she does!? So many teeny tiny bits of glass, assembled into gorgeous sculptures, wall hangings and installations. Also, I had to find out if her neck hurts. Spoiler alert: it does. You can listen right up there under “Rosaline Ombré Bouquet”, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First, a few of my favorite pieces that I’ve written about before. The detail… IS… INSANE…

Right?! Ok, let’s get into this. Right off the top we talked a lot about this recent, super duper green, piece titled “Bridesmaids Forest” …

The snail … ♥

Oooh, and look at this! Talk about finding a gem… this is a photo from Amber’s Instagram feed at her favorite source for old glass {note the pile of milky blue shards in the background} …

Wow. I want to go to there … and I don’t even work with glass!

Next, this is a peek at “Ginny’s 16 Piece Snack Set” made from, yep, a 16 piece snack set just like this one…

A stunning transformation, again.

Oh look, here’s another one. This is the piece Amber read the note about… the broken blue candy dish that a complete stranger sent to her.  “Sky Mountain with Coy”…

Gah! Gorgeous! Please note all of those teeny tiny little glass balls that Amber painstakingly makes. Seriously cannot get over that. I suppose that’s why these quick, melty bud vases are necessary in her practice…

Love. I also love that her cat made it into this shot. They always do that, don’t they?

I asked if she ever combined those super quick melts with her very intricate little pieces, and she has in fact. These are two pieces, from 2013. They are part of her “Wedding Compote” series …

And now, onto the green “Hands and Handkerchiefs”, some of her newest work…

Ah, so good! I had to show these in-progress shots too, again from Amber’s Instagram feed. Fingers being melted into their new ‘handkerchief’ holding positions. I also thought that shot on the right showed the scale nicely – I didn’t realize they were this big!

And here we are, back to that little green snail from the beginning, but now, Amber OWNS the mold…

Ah-mazing. I predict many many many snails in Amber’s future. Just a hunch.

And finally, here she is in ‘flame-working’ action. And ps., she was right… I don’t consider this a “small flame”!

Oh boy, that was so good. Thanks so much to Amber for sharing all of her thoughts, insights and advice! If you want to send her old glass just reach out to her right here. Oh, and if you want to sign up for her class in Venice next spring, the link to the school is right here, and listed below. Thank you to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and giant high-fives to you for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Send Amber vintage glass
2. Amber on Instagram
3. Heller Gallery, NY
4. Art Miami
5. Salisbury University, Maryland
6. Michiko Sakano
7. Corning Museum of Glass
8. Paul Stankard
9. Pilchuck Glass School, Washington State
10. Oprah article about Amber
11. Abate Zanetti Glass Courses, Murano Venice
12. Glasstress 2017, Venice
13. Recipe for PIECAKEN! … you’re welcome.

Ceramics and tattoos as far as the eye can see! This is the fun and beautiful work of Brazilian artist Evelyn Tannus. Other than that, I don’t know anything else about her… BUT, I do know her gorgeous work is available in her shop. I also know that I might need at least one of those arms and a couple of hands. Happy weekend.

Gasp! Imagine walking through London, turning a corner and seeing this?! This insane floating net, titled “1.8” is the work of American artist Janet Echelman. In 2016 this beauty was hung in the middle of Oxford Circus, the busiest pedestrian area in all of London. This was its world premiere, opening Lumiere London {light festival}, but now it will continue to travel the world being shown in other cities. Ok, back to that title. Why “1.8” …

“The work’s title is 1.8, referring to the length of time in microseconds that the earth’s day was shortened as a result of a single physical event, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that emanated from Japan. The sculpture’s form was inspired by data sets of the tsunami’s wave heights rippling across the entire Pacific Ocean. The artwork delves into content related to our complex interdependencies with larger cycles of time and our physical world. The sculpture’s net structure is a physical manifestation of interconnectedness – when any one element moves, every other element is affected.”

Chills.

ps. Janet is one of the artists featured in my upcoming book! Could I be more thrilled? NO.

“I Gave You All The Clues”, is a series of faceless {ish} portraits by New Zealand based artist Henrietta Harris. Each of them is titled “FIXED IT” and then numbered. I desperately want to know why these perfectly painted portraits are covered with juicy strokes of pink oil paint, but I’m wondering if she already gave me all the clues, or maybe she was just trying to fix something? Either way, I’m totally in. Gorgeous.

“Comfort Hair”… Wow. This is the stunning work of Korean born, US based artist Yuni Kim Lang. This gorgeous series is referencing Korean gache, wigs that women of high society used to wear… and the bigger, heavier, and more adorned the better – obviously! Now, I’m sure you’re wondering if this is actual human hair :

[Lang] … creates sculptures, photographs and wearable art that explores themes of weight, mass, accumulation, hair and cultural identity. She creates sculptures out of rope and synthetic materials where it transcends its materiality and become bodily. She is fascinated by what people give power and meaning to, along with our obsession with adornment. 

Ah-ha! It is in fact synthetic rope that she buys from the hardware store and then manipulates until it becomes a braided, shiny, glorious – and unbelievably HEAVY – piece of art. LOVE!