Shoe Fetish

My Artist X for July loves her shoes. What a coincidence...so do I! Here is a pic of my current fave pair in circulation right now (well, these are the Christian Louboutin version and mine are.....not).

Here is a pic of her clay version. They feel very Beetlejuice to me!

Have a Heart

The artist I am featuring in July is especially near and dear to my heart for her involvement with Think 360, a Colorado state-wide arts organization that provides supplementary arts based education to over 40,000 students a year. Their roster includes over 90 artists who bring in workshops and do residencies that enhance the lives and light creative sparks in the youth of this state, and she is one of their stars. Small disclaimer, I do sit on the board of this organization, but what better use for a blog than to spread an important word?

I chaired a fundraiser for Think 360 this spring called Inspired Art, and many local visual artists contributed their talent in creating auction items that were inspired by poetry of school children. Artist X was a natural fit both for her involvement and commitment to Think 360 and because she has a series of pieces that fit so perfectly with one of the poems. Here is the poem:

Red Heart

Red heart in Love, hip hip hurray
Sad heart it smells like perfume
Red heart is soft it sounds like
Pom Pom Pom

By: Joann R., Age 9
Munroe Elementary

Here is a piece (similar to auctioned):

 Here is another series, more anatomically correct:

Quoth the Artist

Artists get guidance from other artists. Often this is visual, a borrowed technique or subject matter. Sometimes it is just inspirational. Words of our predecessors or contemporaries can spur ideas and creation. July's Artist X chalked out a quote by the one and only Pablo Picasso on her studio wall: "I am always doing things I can't do. That is how I get to do them". Check out the funky/slightly scary/Japanese anime-esque painting resting below!

Speaking of Sir Pablo, if you happen to be traveling to the Bay Area between now and October 9th you MUST go to the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park see the current temporary exhibition of some of his treasures on loan from the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. Send me a postcard!

Free Week Fun: Seeking the Sublime, Strange, Spectacular

I like to ask artists that I meet what they would do with a free week, one without obligations, agendas, or dreaded appointments. July's Artist X replied that she would spend it all checking out thrift stores and yard sales. She loves "old stuff with a history, a story" This was not a surprising response given this doll display in her studio.
 
A great deal of my admiration for her work stems from my appreciation for her somewhat strange, often macabre, but always interesting choice of subject matter. Let's be honest, ceramics can sometimes be too decorative and too kitschy. She transcends that stereotype. Here are a few:

Kokeshi Class

July's Artist X is always coming up with the most compelling concepts for workshops. A few years ago I took a totem series from her, five successive Tuesday night classes in which I created organic forms that were meant to be stacked upon each other. I decided that each was interesting on its own, so they never made it to a stack, but the series is displayed on a glass shelf in my home and gets many compliments.

The artist's son is currently living and working in Tokyo, so her next workshop is inspired by Japanese culture: Kokeshi dolls.

Original Kokeshi Doll

The original Kokeshi were made in the Edo Period, roughly 1600-1868 and produced in only 6 to 8 perfectures, aka studios. Most of these were located in close proximity to health spas, so there is strong speculation that the dolls were used in massage treatments. Another theory, presented by Artist X, is that they were given to new mothers to wish good health upon their newborn babies.

For her upcoming workshop on August 1st, students will be immersed in Japanese music, food, and art as Artist X leads a 90 minute class teaching students to create clay versions of these dolls. Email me if you would like more information...

Clay Kokeshi standing before her wood predecessors

Arty Aprons

July's Artist X is primarily a ceramicist, and it can be a messy job. In addition to her own art creation, this artist is a gifted teacher who is always coming up with creative classes and workshops to bring students' hands into gooey, slimy clay. As such, her studio is set up as a working space but also a fully functioning classroom with a storefront in one of the arty areas of town. Work stations are scattered throughout, one long table and a bar of sorts looking out onto the street. Here on a rack sit a plethora of fun aprons so that students can not only feel the part of artist, they can look it too.

Should you care to look this part at home as well, here are some sites for arty aprons:

Etsy Apron

Etsy Apron

Bending Books

I have previously blogged about my love for reading, holding, possessing, and displaying paper-bound titles. No Nook for this bibliophile.

July's Artist X obviously feels the same way. In addition to real books that she has tucked into the corners of her studio and presumably reads, she has also reinvented some titles that she has found at garage sales and the Denver Public Library sale and made them into unique art pieces. Here is an origami-esque treatment of a book about Michelangelo:

Here is another one that she has mixed with a combination of some other mediums including her material of choice, ceramic, and a beeswax encaustic:

Sounds of the Studio

Many artist studios that I visit are full of music: exuberant jazz, somber ballads, roarin' rock and roll. It depends on the artist and his or her mood. My Artist X for July has another sound entirely: two live vocalists who serenade her every day:

Aren't they lovely? Would you like the look of these gentle creatures in your home without the symphony? Here are some alternate options:

Bird Bath Stacked Bowl from Anthropologie

Art Bird Vinyl Wall Decal Stickers from Etsy

Bird Bedding from West Elm

Or wear your chirpers:

Aryn K Blackbird Dress from outblush.com

Friday Freestyle: Spend your Fourth at the Festival

Every year I am torn about the 4th of July holiday. On one hand it would be great to beat the heat and get out of town, on the other I just can't miss the Cherry Creek Art Festival going on in my own backyard. Considered by many who track these things to be the top outdoor fine art fair in the nation, I personally know that it is worth viewing. In the past year I have placed three of the artists that I met in 2010 in corporate collections. Yesterday was a treat to show Kaiser Suidan, a ceramic artist from Ferndale, Michigan the suspended installation of his pieces I did a few months ago: