Wisconsin love: Milwaukee Art Museum (3 paintings I liked)

Happy Friday, friends. I love the color in these! Also, it should be noted they are all quite large. On a loosely related note, I am finding that size can be a really good thing for impact when it comes to decorating around my home (special thank you to the The Nester for bringing that to my attention).

Ocean Park No. 68 by Richard Diebenkorn

Across the Fields and into the Distance by Hans Hoffmann

Phenomena Blue Held Over by Paul Jenkins

more on artist Nick Cave

I saw this piece at the Milwaukee Art Museum and I just loved it. A cross between a cactus and a Christmas tree and it is a costume! What the heck is this anyway? The artist, Nick Cave, refers to them as "soundsuits." I went scouting on the world wide web and found some more great images and videos of his work. I had to share it because I think it is so very awesome!

Buy photographs of the soundsuits here

Buy photographs of the soundsuits here

Go see more! (yes, you! yes, right now!):

Soundsuits in motion (only 53 seconds)


More soundsuits in motion + interview (2 minutes)


Interview with Nick Cave by Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston (13 minutes)

Wisconsin love: Milwaukee art museum (the modern stuff)

My five-year-old commented "If it is a museum for art it makes sense that the building is art too."
Be still, my heart! Architect for this portion is Santiago Calatrava.

If you follow me on Instagram (@amandabridle) you know I have a real love for what I call "weird art." If something is completely out there and strange and unlike anything I've seen before, well, that's just my favorite. I like unique explorations. I was delighted to find that my visit to the Milwaukee Art Museum featured plenty of the strange and modern. As a bonus, some of the artists are still living and currently working and I've added them to my Instagram feed so I can keep up with their work.

Edge of England by Cornelia Parker
Yes, this does make me want to hang strings of objects in my house. 

I came around the corner and saw this scene and my heart beat a little faster. For real!

Bluffs by Tara Donovan
 Made entirely of buttons and glue. For real.
I saw her work at the Renwick Gallery in Washington D.C. as well.

High Rise by Claire Zeisler

terraform 02 by Jason S. Yi
This piece is made of metal folding chairs, plastic stretch wrap, and plastic ties.

Detail of a large wall-sized piece Remember Me, Katrina by Susie Ganch.
Made of plastic coffee cup lids.

Soundsuit by Nick Cave
This was my all-time favorite!

Wisconsin love: John Michael Kohler Art Center (artist Jennifer Angus)

So… I got a little obsessed with Secret Lives by Jennifer Angus. Bug snowflakes, people! Insect wallpaper. Yes, those are real insects. Giant and colorful and amazing in pattern form. Jennifer talks about where she gets her insects on her website. The entire time I was at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center I kept getting drawn back to that corner. And it was the first thing I showed my daughters when they were done with their creations made in the on-site ARTery. These insects are absolutely jaw-dropping and shockingly beautiful. I love strange art and this certainly qualifies in the best of ways!

Wisconsin love: John Michael Kohler Arts Center (artist Jessica Calderwood)

Bloom by Jessica Calderwood

First off, if you ever end of traveling in Wisconsin and you like art, well, you better get yourself over to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheybogan. We were having an "off" day (2.5 weeks of togetherness will do that to a family) and the weather was so-so and after having a very windy picnic I kind of insisted on going to this place. Y'all know me, I had done my research ahead of time so no awesome art destination was escaping my radar. It was one of those places that was really for me more than anyone else in my family but they all found it amusing enough. All that to say, please visit!

Head Full of Thistle, Bad Seed, and Haze – all by Jessica Calderwood

My favorite new artist discover in Wisconsin was the lovely Jessica Calderwood. I imagine her to be a lovely person since I find her work lovely. Slightly odd, occasionally disturbing, but mostly pretty. I was very amused by the lady legs attached to plant life. Or the portraits of flowers. And her clever titles are just as telling as the pieces. Despite these pieces being faceless there is a startling amount of emotion in each of them.

Succulent, Barren, Propagated, and Rooted – all by Jessica Calderwood

I just had to devote a whole post to her because I couldn't pick just one favorite.

So Square by Jessica Calderwood

DC inspiration: Renwick Gallery (part 2)

One more post on the Renwick Gallery, friends, and I will have completed my Washington, D.C. sharefest and will officially move onto Wisconsin. You might not think "art" when you think "Wisconsin" but I was pleasantly surprised by my art experiences there. Come back next week for more!

Janet Echelman is a brand new artist to me and I was in awe of her piece. Site-specific art made just for a particular place is pretty cool anyways. Not only was there the sculpture hanging from the ceiling but also the lights and the carpet and the floor cushions. The entire experience was designed.

The piece is titled 1.8  – the number of microseconds the day was shortened  on the day of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Her powerful immersive piece visually represents the energy released during that event. While brushing my teeth this morning and writing this post in my head I was thinking about how this piece of art takes something absolutely horrific and displays it so beautifully. A very curious thing to ponder. You can watch a short video of the artist discussing the piece.

DC inspiration: National Gallery of Art

Hello, friends! This week I aim to finish reporting on my DC trip (from all the way back in May) and dive right into my road trip around the perimeter of Lake Michigan, which, happily, also included art (special thank you Sheboygan and Milwaukee). We've got ArtPrize coming soon soon soon right here in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan and I will be hitting the sidewalks with toddler and stroller to soak in as much of it as I possibly can!

I squeezed my National Gallery of Art experience into a few hours when really you could quite easily spend an entire day there. So don't consider this post a review but instead consider it a word to the wise! The east building alone is pretty much the entire history of American and European art in one place. I rushed through it though because I was afraid of missing out on the west building, which is modern art. Of course it turned out the west building was being renovated and was mostly closed when I was there!

My art experiences in DC made me realize how much I love modern art. I do appreciate the old stuff and I loved my art history classes in college, and really, when you see a bit of a church painted or carved in 1246 it is kind of an amazing experience. But for all my love and adoration of art I get overwhelmed by gallery after gallery of paintings. The quirky strange modern art, the stuff that is more experimental than classical, is what really interests me. Despite that, I do have a few pieces to share with you.

Three of my favorites from the National Gallery of Art:

Madonna Enthroned with Saints and Angels by Agnolo Gaddi
Not only is this piece impressively large and well-done (and old! 1380!) but the detail work is exquisite. I love patterns and textures, fabric design really, and delight in discovering inspiration by leaning close.

The Suitor's Visit by Gerard Ter Borch the younger
This is Dutch. I have Dutch heritage so I always think I should feel some connection with Dutch art. I usually don't. This one, however, caught my eye. Surely we've all experienced a similarly awkward experience in our teenage years? The new boyfriend showing up, the dog (he's cropped out of my pic; click the link to see full painting) and the father suspicious, the little sister conveniently planted nearby. And everyone watching the sweet and sacred conversations of young love.

Multiverse by Leo Villareal
What if your canvas was the art museum itself? And your medium was light? Such an interesting stretch of the traditional expectation of the form art takes! I discovered this passageway between the east and west buildings accidentally and made good use of it when avoiding a rainstorm. His work is super interesting to me. It looks like he has been doing installations on bridges (!) – see more on his website.

Cheery little bird art on my wall

Winter cardinal by Strawberry Luna

Remember when I bought these adorable cardinal prints from Strawberry Luna? I finally got them framed and hung on the wall in my living room. I decided to hang them together so they act as one large piece of art.

I feel happy every time I look at them. I love birds and birch trees and seasons and nature and beautiful colors!

favorite fabrics from ArtPrize

So I am going to keep the fabric theme going this week. I know ArtPrize was over and done with in October but the inspiration lives on people!

I loved, adored, gaped at this magnificent piece "Imperious Decorum" by artist Liz Miller. Have you ever seen felt look so wonderfully regal? It was truly amazing to see the lacy pieces suspended from the ceiling and pooled across the floor. This piece had some presence. It truly dominated the space.

I am showing a second image with my 4-year-old daughter to give you a better sense of scale.

"Plexus No. 18" by Gabriel Dawe is made up of overlapping thread. I think you had to have been there to have experienced how very beautiful it really is.

I am putting this one – "The Land Up North" by Jared Charzewski – out here on the blog in honor of my dear mother-in-law who did not appreciate it the way that I did. Over the course of a single weekend of family visits and meals we not once, not twice, but three times found ourselves talking about a piece of art that I thought was unique and she thought much less of! Fortunately, we get along great so we both laughed it off!

So – I just like the looks of this piece. I like the texture of the mounds of fabric. I like the way it is sorted by color. I like that it is made of thrift shop finds – there is some commentary here on the amazing amount of stuff we produce, consume, and discard in our country. And I especially like that it reminds me of a painted landscape, of rolling hills and patchworked fields.

These, dear readers, are hands-down the most amazing quilted art pieces I have ever seen. "Seasons" by Anne Loveless gets it realistic, beautiful, painted look from meticulously placed shreds of fabric. A mesh is sewn on top and then it is quilted. So amazing! The photo above does not do the piece justice. Please visit Anne Loveless' website to see more of her work.

Renegade Craft Fair – I never saw it before!

One more post about the Renegade Craft Fair and then I am done talking about it. Until I go again. Which, given my spending this time around, might not be for quite a while!

I once thought I should buy myself a piece of art every year for my birthday. Well, I bought 5 at Renegade alone. So, yes, I should rein myself in and actually get things up on the wall! Anyone else out there have pieces waiting to be hung?

So people, here are some totally awesome things that I have never seen the likes of before. I always admire artists who come up with something unique.

Stanley the Stegosaurus by The Plaid Penguin

Dinosaur planters by The Plaid Penguin
So after the fact I had a few people tell me they have seen these before. Since this was my first encounter with them, the fine folks of The Plaid Penguin get credit from me. There is something very perfect about pairing spiky succulents with spiky plastic creatures. Fun!

Terrarium Teardrop Necklace by With Roots

Jewelry by With Roots
It's beautiful and it's alive. People, you know this is right up my alley! I love nature and I really do think moss is beautiful. So how lovely to wear a tiny little terrarium? I wonder if you have to store it in a place where it gets sun? I am thinking my dark closet does not qualify! Ok, just checked on that. They do indeed need some moderate sunlight.

The Night Job by Lisa Swerling

Detail of The Night Job by Lisa Swerling

Lisa Swerling's Glass Cathedrals
These lovely sparkly boxes with teeny tiny figurines posed in moments that make us human are simply magical. So lovely and amazing and dear and sometimes a bit funny. I just loved them. Please take some time to browse this artist's site.

Elements

My hubby and I played hometown tourists on a recent anniversary "trip." One of my local discoveries was the eccentric and unforgettable shop Elements.

It is full of decor items and art and baubles and other such trinket treasures. Some look old, some probably are old, the best are new but created from the old. This lady* knows what she is doing and her entire shop is an awesome reflection of her personal esthetic and I loved loved loved it. That is not to say that her style is my style or that I am going to redecorate my home to match Elements. But it is an incredible experience to step into a store that is so clearly a world of its own.

I splurged on a pair of earrings made with old gears (from a watch or clock maybe?) and a scientific looking poster of butterfly species – the price was great because it is actually intended to be wrapping paper!


*Please note this article references an old address for the store. It is currently at 1503 Lake Drive in Grand Rapids, Michigan.