Get Inspiration from Artist Shantell Martin

The work of Shantell Martin is a meditation of lines; a language of characters, creatures and messages that invite her viewers to share a role in her creative process. Part autobiographical, and part dreamlike whimsy, Martin has created her own world that bridges fine art, commercial art and the everyday experience — conversations, objects and places.

Using her simple trademark – black ink and white surfaces, Martin’s illustrations transform everything from walls, found objects, ceramics, luxury goods, sneakers, and even faces into a visual narrative. Martin’s diverse portfolio illustrates her gift of navigating many worlds. Her commissions at Asia’s ultra-high end department store Lane Crawford and Y&R’s global headquarters were met with the same amount of fanfare as her live talks and drawing demonstrations.

Martin has been featured on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, and her hand-illustrated bedroom walls graced the cover of the New York Times home section in May 2012. Her work has appeared in Creative Review Magazine, and she is still honored to have been named French Glamour’s New York’s “coolest it girl” in 2011. Her latest fashion collaboration with fashion brand Suno was featured in Vogue in August 2013.
ARE YOU YOU, curated by Isissa Komada-John, is a site-specific installation exploring change, flow and identity. This is Shantell Martin’s first solo museum exhibition. (MoCADA)

Check her FRESH here and meet her in person during her stay at MoCADA. She'll even draw on you, if you're nice. :)

Today is for Lovers but This Post is for SHOE Lovers.

Opened last week at The Fashion Institute of Technology's Museum:
Shoe Obsession
Special Exhibitions Gallery
February 8 through April 13, 2013
Shoe Obsession examines our culture’s ever-growing fascination with extravagant and fashionable shoes. Accessories used to be just that—secondary to clothing fashions. Today, however, shoes have become the main fashion story, replacing the “It bag” as the most desirable accessory.  High-heeled shoes—the fashion shoes of the 21st century—have become so tall that even a 4-inch heel is considered “low.”

Shoe Obsession features over 150 examples of the most extraordinary shoe styles of the 21st-century, highlighting the new concepts, constructions, materials, and types of embellishment that have positioned shoes at the height of fashion. 

Admission is always free. Go, have fun!
Museum at FIT:
Th Most Fashionable Museum in NYC

Artist You Should Know: Lorna Simpson

Ebony (6), 2010.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
April 16 - July 10, 2006

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
March 1 - May 6, 2007.

I learned about this sista in college late last year . It's not often do you read about a black, woman artist, particularly one still living, in school textbooks so I took special interest in her.
She was born in 1960 in Brooklyn, New York, and received her BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts, New York, and her MFA from the University of California, San Diego. When Simpson emerged from the graduate program at San Diego in 1985, she was already considered a pioneer of conceptual photography.  Lorna Simpson first became well-known in the mid-1980s.
Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Miami Art Museum; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. She has participated in such important international exhibitions as the Hugo Boss Prize at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, and Documenta XI in Kassel, Germany. She has been the subject of numerous articles, catalogue essays, and a monograph published by Phaidon Press. Simpson's first mid-career survey was exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Miami Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, and the Gibbes Museum in South Carolina. Of late, she had a solo exhibition at Salon94, New York, in 2008 and a solo exhibition at Obadia Galerie, Paris, in 2009. In 2010, she is the recipient of the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award in Art.

Her latest work is called Gathered and is currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum.

 

 Hear Lorna discuss her process for her latest work.

Learn more about Lorna Simpson at her website.

Roberto Capucci @ Philadelphia Museum of Art

Today I enjoyed a lovely outing at the Art Museum. On exhibit were the "sculptural dresses" of Roberto Capucci in his own room with an audio guided tour. It was truly phenomenal. The craftmanship speaks for itself, the craftmanship has truly inspired me as an artist. Learn about the exhibit here: http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/411.html

Italian fashion designer and artist Roberto Capucci (born 1930) is revered by contemporary designers for his innovative silhouettes and masterful use of form, color, and materials. This exhibition--featuring over eighty works, as well as original drawings and sketches--will be the first survey of his work in the United States. It includes work ranging from the beginning of his career as a boy genius of Italian fashion to his legendary sculpture-dresses--including his seminal 1978 "Colonna" silhouette, based on the Doric column--as well as his series of sculptures from 2007 honoring the city of Florence.

Capucci refers to his work as "a study in form" inspired by art, architecture, and nature. His early career was intertwined with the rise of the Italian fashion industry and of Italian high fashion following World War II. He opened his first couture salon in Rome in 1950 at age twenty, and by 1956 the international press had declared him Italy's best designer, lauding his "vigor, imagination, and uninhibited originality." In 1962 he moved to Paris, where he created both classical and experimental collections, incorporating surprising materials such as plastic and stones. Capucci returned to Rome in 1968, where he has continued his work as couturier and artist.

Philadelphia Art Museum
www.philamuseum.org - 26th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - (215) 763-8100

Become the next Roberto Capucci. Emerging designers, learn how to design a collection to present to stores. Read my book ENVISION: The Young Accessory Designer's Guide to Collection Development. Get the softcover or download it instantly.

Braving the wind/rain in the name of art & design

In the abstract art room