Tumblers inspired by the 2012 Seed Savers catalogue.

Pedestal bowl inspired by dragon fruit from my uncle Peter, moon cycles, watermelon, bottle brush flowers, pansies, and lace texture.  Dragon fruit was pink before firing, purple after.

Book III, secret project, Santa Barbara Central Library. Shelf no. 759.4 M433

James Ensor was born in Ostend, a small seaside town in Belgium, popular during the tourist seasons in the summer and the month preceding Lent.  His grandparents had a shop selling sea shells, lace, rare stuffed fish, old books, jams and an assortment of things that were constantly being knocked over by cats, deafening parrots, and a monkey..The subjects that populate Ensor's paintings- portraits, skulls, sea life and masked "figures", often a broomstick wrapped in fabric, create the illusion for telling the tale, such as here in The Despair of Pierrot,1892. 

Henri Matisse and J.D. Salinger

Matisse expressed a "joi de vivre" quality in all aspects of his artwrork and life style.  Above is the second installment of my secret donation to the Santa Barbara Central Library.   Under the Matisse book is the cover of the J.D. Salinger box set which I made for Kate and Laura of Rodarte (2008).  It was a commission, however I chose a collage by Matisse for the cover.  An intuitive choice, maybe if you have read J.D. Salinger you can feel it;)    

Frida Kahlo

Best known for her self-portraits, Frida Kahlo is celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition, and by feminists for her depiction of the female experience.  She contracted polio as a child and was badly injured in a steet car accident as a teenager, which often kept her in bed where she painted.     

David Alfaro Siqueiros

A soldier and political activist, Siqueiros (1896-1974) is also considered one of the artistic masters of the 20th century, a member of the great Mexican school of mural painting that includes Jose Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. 
The city of Los Angeles and the Getty will soon be unveiling "America Tropical".  It is the only mural by Siqueiros in its original location.  A controversial work when it was completed in 1932, the mural depicts a Mexican Indian bound to a cross under an American eagle.  Damaged by whitewashing and the sun, the Getty Research Institute has recreated his original materials to preserve the mural's authenticity.  

Pierre Bonnard

I am making an anonymous donation of my hand painted book covers to the Santa Barbara Central Library..shhh:)  This is my first one, Pierre Bonard.  I replaced the shelf tags and barcode, returned it and it was reshelved. 
Bonnard often painted his wife in the bathroom, as she suffered from depression and baths were a remedy.  He brought something special to his subject and her surroundings in the act of everyday life.   

Leonora Carrington

      Carrington was born April 6, 1917 (my Grandma Rosemary was April 6, 1914)- in Lancashire, England.  Her father was a wealthy textile manufacturer.  Her mother was Irish and she had an Irish nanny who told her Gaelic tales, which likely influenced her imagination.  After being expelled from two schools for her rebellious behaviour, she was sent to study art in Florence. 

      She met Max Ernst in 1937 and they immediately fell in love.  They lived in Paris and in the south of France.  With the outbreak of World War II, Ernst was arrested, but was able to escape to America with the help of art patron Peggy Guggenheim.  Carrington was devastated and suffered paralyzing anxiety.  Her parents had her institutionalized, where she was treated with "convulsive therapy" and cardiazol, a drug that was eventually banned.  She was able to escape to Mexico with the help of a friend of Pablo Picasso's.  She and Ernst had experienced so much misery they were unable to reconnect. 

      In Mexico she married and had two sons.  She worked throughout her life painting and writing novels.  She died in Mexico City on May 25, 2011. 

      Her work is currently included in the LACMA show (January 29- May 6, 2012) "In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and United States".

David Smith

Probably the first American sculptor to weld, Smith considered his work more closely related to painting. Smith made sculptures of subjects that had never before been shown in three dimensional forms, such as Hudson River Landscape 1951, or in honor of his children, Rebecca Circle 1961 and Hi Candida 1965. Unlike traditional metal sculpture made from castings which could be duplicated, Smith assembled his pieces from scratch, each one different.

Lewis Carroll

Best known for writing "Alice in Wonderland", Carroll was also a talented portrait photographer, capturing his friends and their children in Victorian England.

David Armstrong

Armstrong first became know for his intimate portraits of men- lovers or friends. He often pairs his portraits which are sharp and clear with soft focus photographs of cityscapes and landscapes.

For Nan Goldin

At the age of fifteen Goldin held her first solo show, based on her photographic journeys among the city's gay and transsexual communities, to which she had been introduced by her friend David Armstrong. Goldin photographed New York's post-punk music culture of the late 1970's, along with the post stonewall gay subculture. By the 1990's most of her subjects were lost to drug overdose or AIDS, and she is recognized for the impact her photographs acheived in the capturing of a historical genre.

3rd Edition of my Reader/Zine

I always appreciated the readers my professors put together, a compilation of the "best of" their subjects of expertise. I also love the DIY quality of zines, the "do-able" being most important for me.
My version is a selection of favorite poems, stories, recipes, pictures and art from my library.

 

Rodarte Catherine Opie Alec Soth

A new book by the Mulleavy sisters with photographs by Catherine Opie of subjects she dressed in Rodarte, alongside California places and things photographed by Alec Soth. Here are five of twenty-five covers I made for the new book :)

also check out: http://purple.fr/diary/entry/thomas-erber-presents-le-cabinet-de-curiosities-at-browns-london