Your 2018 Local Art Loves

becklaneartistFinished portrait of soul singer Lauren Mitchel.

In February, we focused on local artists and asked you to share local art you love from wherever you are.

Check out these submissions by artists and fans, and keep showing love to local arts!

 

Sculpture by Peter Skidd

 

Scottsdale, Arizona

Peter Skidd produces large works in steel, especially hand-painted wall art in the shape of bowls, waves, or lotus flowers.

He and his wife Sarah are a dynamic team, who we got to meet during a Hidden in the Hills studio tour.

 

Manitoulin Island, Ontario

Jocko Moriarty shared this work “purchased from a craft and souvenir shop in M’Chigeeng, Manitoulin Island, Canada and painted by island artist Leland Bell*.”

 

Richmond, Virginia

Mixed media artist Sarah Irvin shared High Note. It’s part of a series of pieces she creates by writing on Yupo, a smooth synthetic paper, and then smearing the ink with a squeegee. Her solo show, In and Out of Weeks, is at the Page Bond Gallery in Richmond through March 31.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdrEGZHAB_L/

Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

Another Virginia artist, Jessie Rublee creates ceramics for both functional and decorative uses. This porcelain vase is from her Frail and Sound series, which explores the dichotomy between the strength of the earth and fragility of pottery.

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/539611287/unique-mandala-pillow-self-care-anxiety

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jenny Parks draws an original, one-of-a-kind illustration on each pillow she makes – like this mandala “cuddle pillow” with a napping bunny curled up in the center. Her work is meant to comfort people in need of healing.

 

Beck Lane's portrait of soul singer Lauren Mitchell.

Sarasota, Florida

Many of Beck Lane’s works are vibrant, unconventional portraits of women. She recently completed a two-canvas painting of soul singer Lauren Mitchell.

 

San Francisco, California

Matthew McKinley shared pieces from several artists he’s worked with in the Bay Area. (More on his Instagram.)

 

Art by Barking Owl

Sophia Lee incorporates non-traditional materials into her paintings, like the expired make-up that gives color to Night Stroll.

 

Self-proclaimed “artist of multiple personalities” LE BohemianMuse feels abstract art is more able to capture the complexity of life. Her acrylic painting Bedlam Desired is from the Chaos Series.

 

Parade

Arran Harvey is interested in how people group together. In this spirit, Parade Crowd 2 focuses on the spectators, rather than what they’re watching.

 


*Note: This is the Canadian Leland Bell (a.k.a. Bebaminojmat), Woodlands school artist of Anishinabe (First Nations) ancestry. He was born on Manitoulin Island in 1953 and still lives in Ontario. Not to be confused with the American Leland Bell (1922-1991), a figurative painter born in Cambridge, Maryland to Russian-Jewish parents. Anyone else think it’s a weird coincidence that there are two 20th-century North American artists with the first name Leland?

 


Photos in this post link to their sources. Each one comes either from the artist or the person who submitted the work.

December’s Last Sunset and 2017 Photos

The sunset the last evening of 2017 was gorgeous – nature’s fireworks to celebrate the New Year.

A couple of the year’s other beautiful sunsets showed up on my Instagram Best Nine, fitting neatly into its unintentional bright pink/purple/royal blue color scheme. All of my most-liked photos were taken in Arizona, so, of course, they include some desert scenery.

Only a few coincided with my monthly photo picks.

1. #LOVE sign at airport protest 2. Star Wars Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) 3. Sunset behind palms 4. Tovrea Castle, Phoenix 5. Buildings in Old Town Peoria 6. Hotel Congress sign, Tucson – July 7. High Desert Trail, Black Canyon City – August 8. “Let’s Be Better Humans” campaign bus – March 9. View from Picacho Peak – en route from Tucson


I thought the photos I’d picked for 2017 were more varied than the automatically-generated Best Nine list. But, looking back, almost all are plant- or architecture-related. I guess it was a good year for both those categories.

I wonder what 2018 will bring.




Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space

Museum Day in the Garden

Last Saturday was Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day. The weather was too good to be inside, but they count the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) as a museum, so we took advantage of the free admission and spent the afternoon walking garden paths.

I guess a botanical garden is kind of like an outdoor museum with living plants and animals.

We saw a hummingbird and bees buzzing around the Garden’s flowers and a big lizard was just hanging out on a rock next to the bench where I was sitting.

Since the DBG no longer allows picnicking, we ate our lunch at a nearby picnic area in Papago Park and were entertained by ground squirrels scurrying around and birds attempting to carry off pieces of a pizza someone had left behind.

Maybe they’re the reason DBG banned picnicking. You really don’t want grackles flying through your museum and dropping half-eaten pizza slices.




Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space