libra through and through
Posted: May 10, 2010 Filed under: art, baltimore, music | Tags: art, artist, beach house, blanket magazine, illustration, yeasayer Leave a comment
The finished piece that will be appearing in Blanket Magazine in June. The project was about astrological signs. I did Libra, since I am a Libra. I could do whatever I wanted for this project, and it was definitely a lot of fun, especially using those warm colors.
Last week I saw two shows – Yeasayer and Beach House (in that order). Loved them both. Yeasayer was just plain fun and Beach House was beautiful- in both sound and venue. The concert was in an old church – 2640 St. John’s Church and put on by a Baltimore co-op coffee house – Red Emma’s.
Beach House, with their hand-made spinning confetti props on stage. Went perfectly with the music – very moody and somewhat haunting, like Victoria Legrand’s voice.
luke best
Posted: November 17, 2009 Filed under: Artists | Tags: art, artist, collage, cut paper, graphic, illustrator, london, luke best, paint Leave a commentLuke Best is an illustrator I’ve been looking at for awhile. I love his application of media and shape design. I find it so very interesting. His blog also showcase his sketches, which show insight to his creative process.
Luke is also represented by the Heart Agency (London-based) which is also worth checking out.
artist fridays : margaret kilgallen
Posted: November 6, 2009 Filed under: Artists | Tags: art, art 21, artist, beautiful losers, friday, margaret kilgallen, mural, pbs Leave a commentIt’s Friday… and I think you all know what that means! It’s the day I talk about an artist that I like. That artist is Margaret Kilgallen.
My exposure to her was in freshman year in my drawing II class, our teacher showed us the PBS documentary series called Art 21. It’s a bunch of short segments about contemporary artists. One segment was about this couple who, in addition to their own work (murals, paintings, etc.), did graffiti. In their segment, you see them writing on trains. That couple is Margaret Kilagllen and Barry McGee.
That couple is also featured in this great documentary called Beautiful Losers (you should check it out if you haven’t seen it). The documentary film focused on a number of different artists the began a movement in the art world doing D.I.Y. with graffiti and skateboards. It’s a number of different interviews with artists explaining (and showing) their reasoning behind doing things D.I.Y. and sort of with a “punk rock” attitude. The interesting part of their story is the juxtaposition that occurs when much of their art is becoming recognizable. The artists start getting commissioned for things like commercial products and creating work for corporations. The personal convictions of this new lifestyle compared to their beginnings is discussed. Both McGee and Kilgallen were an integratal part in the movement and rose to fame, having a number of different commerical and gallery oportunities.
Margaret Kilgallen
Margaret Kilagallen originally grew up in MD (what what!) and attended art school in Colorado, eventually earning her MFA at Stanford. Her work and murals reflect an interest in hand-painted signs (a dying art), American fold art, mural painting, and work of Southwest and Mexican artists.
I love her work- It’s Americana and references a past culture in our country. I love the hand-done typography and the fact that you can see her hand, her process in it. Sadly, Margaret died in 2001 with complications from breast cancer.
I think her work still looks incredibly current even though it is over a decade old.
a new home
Posted: July 2, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: artist, mary blair, new home, tattoo, wordpress 2 CommentsAfter much thought (more like procrastination), I have moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress. Although I love Google, I felt that I would be give a bit more freedom in terms of the layout with WordPress.
I also thought that the change would motivate me to post in my blog a bit more. Not just art related things, but photos I’ve taken and artists I like. Also, music. Yes, music too.
So, to start off my new blog, I’ll post one of my favorite illustrators of all time, Mary Blair.
Mary Blair was a concept artist in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s. She is probably best know for her concept work done on films Peter Pan, Cinderella, and Alice and Wonderland. After resigning from Disney, she later moved on to doing freelance illustration and graphic design, working on advertising campaigns such as Nabisco, Maxwell House, and Pepsodent. My personal favorites of her work includes her work with Golden Books, many of which are now out of print.
She did the design for Disney’s It’s a Small World exhibit.
Not too long ago at the Enoch Pratt Central Library Branch in Baltimore, I saw the traveling Golden Books show, which included a few of Mary Blair’s originals. Very stunning in person – they were gouache paintings, and it was a great way to see her process. I could see how she constructed patterns and how she built up the layers of her paintings.
I enjoy almost all aspects of Mary Blair’s work. I think what gets me the most is the shape design. I love shapes, and this woman makes these interesting, flat shapes. There’s a lot to stylizing something that we know to be realistic yet still making it recognizable, and she does it like a pro.
A couple of my Mary Blair tattoos.
marshmellow kisses 