Book 'Em, Mike!

photo by Dave Kinsey via FecalFace.com

The altered book ain't nuthin' new. That being said, the stuff artist Mike Stilkey is doing at the moment is totally rocking my world. I may have emitted a tiny gasp when I came across his work, I was so impressed! As a bibliophile, art lover, and color maven who organizes her book spines in aesthetically pleasing ways (nerd alert), his stuff is right up my alley. The Fecal Face interview gives a great glimpse into his studio as well. Reading and painting... can't go wrong with that.

Change Is In The Air

I think we both know how much I have been slacking on the blog in recent months. I'll spare you the lengthy apology and explanation for my absence, so let's just pick up where we left off shall we? In addition to life keeping me busy these past months, I have also been invited to be in an art show - Collective Conversations In Clay: Merging Media. The show opens this Saturday (please come out and support me!) and my finished piece, No. 9, is that lovely square accompanying this post. I am pretty damn proud of it, but I am more proud to say that along with its completion I have set many wheels in motion for the months ahead.
It's good to be back. Now that's keen.

Music to My Eyes

I love a good cassette tape just as much as the next guy, so obviously I am totally digging this art by irI5. These portraits are so spot on, and the creative use of the otherwise out of date cassette is genius. If only I would have been inspired by these in my youth instead of wasting valuable hours desperately winding beyond-repair tapes back in to their case with the end of a pencil...
Make sure you take a look at her flickr set for more fun pieces.

Ode to the DCW

Just finished this housewarming gift. Who doesn't love a little more Eames in their life?

The Conundrum... Resolved.

There is nothing quite like being called out on your whining by a fortune cookie...

The Conundrum

I love the comics of James Kochalka, truer words were never spoken...
I feel like I have artistic ADD these days! I just can't seem to complete anything, and things that should bee seemingly fun are feeling like one big ol' burden. Do I start with the easy stuff, or the difficult tasks? Finish the ones in progress, or start something new for fresh inspiration? Complete the tasks that will get me paid but are boring, or go in a different direction which will take some time to complete? Or should I just watch a few more episodes of The Wire so that I don't have to think about how much I'm freaking out?!

How does a person balance art as a hobby and art as a profession? And how does one tackle art as a profession when they also need to get $$PAID$$ in the meantime? Such is the conundrum I have been facing lately.

Urban Art

If I had a gazillion dollars I would blow a ton of money on art. For now maybe I will dip into my stimulus check...
Right now I'm loving the prints made by Hiroshi Ariyama. His works are really vibrant and combine several of my favorite things: photography, screenprinting, and Chicago, into a totally rad piece of art. You can check out more of his great stuff at ariyamastudio.