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.

The Cracks in the Liberty Bell

Liberty Bell Philadelphia

The Liberty Bell is cracked.

Whether it’s broken, I suppose, depends on your point of view.

Liberty Bell, Philadelphia

No one knows when the fissure first started to form.

We know there was an attempt to fix it by making the crack wider in 1846. But this ultimately caused another crack, making the Bell unringable and irreparable.

Independence Hall, Philadelphia

It remains on display at the Liberty Bell Center across from Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

While silent, it continues to reverberate as a symbol of a more free and just society.

Whether it’s broken depends on your point of view.




 

Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space

From Cheesesteak to Cheesecake: “Local” is Relative

Independence Hall

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“Really?! You want to eat one of those things?”

Until at that moment, I hadn’t thought wanting to get a Philly cheesesteak in Philly was such a crazy idea. But Phillip’s uncles, who we were visiting a few years back, seemed surprised and disgusted at the thought.

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I guess when you have lived your whole life just outside of Philadelphia, you’re over the whole cheesesteak thing.

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More recently, while in line at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, we struck up a conversation with some guys from Germany, who had already been to their bucket-list restaurant for their SoCal trip. It wasn’t a beachside seafood spot, Downtown Disney diner, trendy vegan cafe, or even an L.A. taco truck.

It was the Cheesecake Factory.

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To me, that’s part of a big ol’ chain I could eat at whenever (but haven’t for a long time). To them, it’s the hangout from The Big Bang Theory, and something you can’t experience where they’re from.

Local – and interesting – eating is relative.

Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space