Paper Engineer Helen Friel..

Helen Friel, a self professed paper engineer recently sent me a bunch of pics of her books ofsilhouettes. Pretty rad looking, and beautifully and delicately crafted. I am always enamored by folks who manipulate paper. Plus, how can you argue with a title like paper engineer? It's clear the woman has a way with words when you consider her title, then the names of her books: The Demise of the AdorableThe Fellowship of Realists and Associated Literal Thinker's Tea Partyand The Elephant is Sociable but Rarely Speaks at Great Length.You can purchase her books at her etsy store.

Robots Will Kill Take On Where The Wild Things Are..

Robots Will Kill just finished their take on Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are over in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at "Espeis Outside" in collaboration with Brooklyn Street Art. Check out the time lapse video of the piece from beginning to end below.

merry happy joy to the mistletoe..

I wrote about Tilman Faelker last week, and as I looked through his website I thought the above drawing was a perfect holiday image. A little bit of Merry a little bit of Sass, something I hope we all get this week. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Joyous Festivus! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading the blog. I'll be back on Monday with more art, q&a's and general good stuff. Please be safe, have fun and above all take a deep breath and be happy this holiday season because it truly is a wonderful life, isn't it? love, meighan.

Ann Toebbe on 20x200..

This print by Ann Toebbe makes me so excited about the fall/winter. Getting all cozy by a fire with some cocoa, kicking off the wet booties and getting toasty! That's all. I heart 20x200.

Puppynapping

Do you think I would go to jail for kidnapping a dog??????

Even if he’s technically related to me??????

I mean.. you go to jail for hurting a dog.. but I won’t hurt him.. I promise..

I’m just so in love with this guy…
I don’t ever want to let him go.

These two just fit together like a puzzle piece… They’re so perfect..

I did realize last night though… If this baby is a boy.. and we have 2 boy dogs and my husband.. I am pretty sure that will be WAY more testosterone than I can handle under one roof. Could you even imagine 4 boys..and me???

Spike actually did go home last night.. and Riddick was EXHAUSTED! We’re going to miss him sooo much… it was a lot of fun to have another puppy in the house for a week… We hope he comes to play more often….

Love me and my baby acne.

My poor baby… I feel so bad about how bad his acne is getting….. I almost worried if it was chicken pox because it’s now down his arms and half way down his chest and back. I’ve never had chicken pox or the vaccine so he doesn’t have the antibodies for them.. I don’t think it’s chicken pox… but it’s getting bad…. poor baby….. he is still so loved… speckled faced.. or not! :)

New Work Stacey Rozich..

Stacey Rozich has been on tear recently as she gears up for her upcoming solo show, The Last Wave at Flatcolor in Seattle. Stacey's show opens on April 5th, so she's got some time but she's really been banging out some great pieces.

Her new work still captures her overall incredible attention to color and detail -- but her pictures seem to be growing a bit on subject. It's exciting to see her world grow. She mentioned to me via email that she felt like she was moving in a new direction...and it's subtle, but clear to see.

You can follow Stacey's tumblr or check her out on Instagram (staceyrozich) to follow along with her work and her amazing cat Julius.

This is separate from her upcoming solo show, but worth attaching here if you haven't seen it yet. Take a look at The Fleet Foxes new video, The Shrine / An Argument. Stacey illustrated the characters for it! Beautiful.

The Shrine / An Argument from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo.

Just Because...Margaret Kilgallen..

I saw this painting by Margaret Kilgallen a few weeks ago at Steven Wolf's new spot in the Mission. I know how much we continue to love Margaret's work, so I figured I'd post it for us all to enjoy.

Amazing Aakash Nihalani..

I love some sharp, witty street art. Aakash Nihalani takes flourescent painter's tape and makes it dynamic, beautiful and a little bit trippy. His site is interactive and fun too.

 

 

via tumblenerd.

Erin Curry's Polaroids..

Love Erin Curry's polaroids. Dreamy and the perfect color palatte. See more on her site.

 

I call this one Daddys Home!

Jenny Odell 20x200..

Whoa. I love the visual insanity of Jenny Odell's satellite print, 195 Yachts, Barges, Cargo Lines, Tankers, and Other Ships for 20x200. Anyone who is a tetris fanatic, like myself, can only imagine how fun this project was to piece together. So visually stunning. Check out Jenny's website here. And see more of her satellite prints here.

Mini Q A Megan Whitmarsh..

Megan Whitmarsh's solo show Radiant Artifacts, at Michael Rosenthal Gallery opened on October 23rd here in the Mission in SF. I was super excited to see so much of her work all in one place. Megan took full advantage of the space, utilizing the walls and floor space with her sewn paintings, sculpture and installations throughout the gallery. It's a literal sewn and sculptural walk through Megan's colorful and creative world. I asked Megan a few questions about her latest show, subject matter and her colorful medium...

Special thank you to Michael Rosenthal Gallery for letting me take pics of the show. 

Your current show Radiant Artifacts is really detailed with literally radiant items in both color and material everywhere in the exhibition. I personally related to so much in the show. The Cyndi Lauper & Flock of Seagull Tapes, the Rubiks cube, the rainbow erasers, moonboots, etc all brought me back to my childhood/teenage years. Can you tell us about the show & your inspiration behind it?

I grew up in 70’s and 80’s with parents that limited my exposure to pop culture (or maybe I should say curated it) so what I was exposed to made a huge impression on me. I went to art school in the middle of the country in the early 90’s and my sense of what constituted art was pretty limited. I think young artists today feel free to use any medium and reference any kind of cultural ephemera- but for me this was a radical kind of action. I think partly the radiance that you see in my work is the pure pleasure that I have in making it. I take art-making seriously and I am rigorous in it’s pursuit, but am mainly aiming for happiness and creating a world that feels immediate and enveloping.

Can you tell us about your Yetis? Who are they and what are their personalities like?I don’t see them as iconically as other people seem to. It really started quite humbly--- I did not think I was good at drawing people but I wanted to make narrative work that people could access through a character and the yeti became a kind of surrogate for the misfit which is how I felt growing up and how a lot of artists feel growing up I think. I always thought he was a kind of sad character with some comedic possibilities and this is my favorite kind of person. 

A lot of your work is soft sculpture or has some sort of sewing/embroidery involved in it. How long have you been sewing and embroidering?In undergrad I sewed things for my sculpture classes but I actually got berated for it. I went to Kansas City Art Institute, which at the time had a really macho sculpture scene and my teacher told me I was going to end up delivering pizzas for Domino’s if I kept making such diminutive work. My work wasn’t small necessarily but always had emphasis on detail. I remember in response to that I welded this giant metal thing and covered it in paper and set it on fire for my next critique. He made me mad but I am not sure it made my art better.

It wasn’t till grad school in the mid 90’s that my work became totally focused on embroidery and using textiles and sewing objects and I kind of abandoned painting.

Do you work in/with any other craft medium? Do you see yourself branching out? Is there a medium you would like to work in that you haven't?I don’t specifically want to work with any other craft mediums per se. I think what attracts me to fabric and thread is texture and color. These are the things I am in love with and whatever materials that play with these elements will attract me. Beyond that I am a lazy learner meaning I don’t like to have to use mechanical means or read manuals so if I can’t figure out how to work with something on my own I probably won’t master it. I am pretty impatient and like to work fast. This might seem antithetical to embroidery but the simplicity of this medium has kept me engaged. I also like limited technologies because if everything is possible I get overwhelmed and can’t commit. It’s like a restaurant. I don’t like big menus. I want things to be simple and singular and well chosen. 

If you had one thing to tell a younger you about how to proceed into the art world what would it be?I would tell myself there is no rush. I think any innovation that has happened in my work almost always came after I discerned failure and that this painful realization of freedom led to self evolution. I work hard to listen to myself and make what I feel compelled to make and this is a hard won discipline.

What is coming up for you in 2011?I have solos in LA (this gallery), Brussels (Elaine Levy Projects) and Seoul (Factory Gallery), and an installation at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts. In the summer I will do a residency at Robert Wilson’s Watermill.

Skinner, Ferris Plock David Cook..

I spent a few days over at White Walls and it's sister galleries last week to check out the three shows that opend this past Saturday: Skinner's This Fear You May Know (White Walls), Ferris Plock's No Rest For The Wicked (The Shooting Gallery) and David Cook's Epic Battles.

Friday I dropped by to check out the installs of the shows, all three artists were in the galleries and there were lots of laughs happening. Each show was almost hung and things were looking soooo good. Each show complimented the other perfectly. I couldn't get over the amount of work that was on show. Especially Skinner's...the shear volume coupled with his detail was INTENSE! It was great to see so much of Skinner's and Ferris' work in one place. Upstairs in Gallery Three was Brooklyn based artist David Cook, whom I had never heard of. So it was great to get a sneak peek at his stuff before the opening. All very detailed and well done.

The opening was crazy packed and a lot of fun...last I heard Ferris Plock had sold every piece but two. No doubt those'll be gone in no time. Skinner's masks were going quickly as they were certainly priced to move at $300. I've compiled a bunch of pics from the installs and opening, plus a video of Skinner talking to me about various shivs and shanks he's both made and acquirred as far back as 3rd grade. You can see all three shows separately on the blog's flickr.

Many more images after the jump.

Skinner's This Fear You May Know:

 

Ferris Plock's No Rest For The Wicked:

David Cook's Epic Battles: