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Folk Art of Michael de Meng

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:03:00 -0700

Meng's work is about transformations. It is about the transformation of the common into the sacred. Discarded materials find new and unexpected uses in my work; they are reassembled and conjoined with unlikely components, a form of rebirth from the ashes into new life and new meaning.

These assemblages are metaphors for the evolutions and revolutions of existence: from life to death to rebirth, from new to old to renewed, from construction to destruction to reconstruction. These forms are examinations of the world in perpetual flux, where meaning and function are ever-changing.

Michael de Meng creates Post-modern shrines. In his mixed-media assemblages he combines built elements, recycled frames and objects, and old photographs, with new painting and texts. DeMeng selects haunting and disturbing images that address the darker side of individualism in the contemporary world: themes of isolation, social alienation, and political oppression.

View more of his work at www.michaeldemeng.com.

Betsy Youngquist sculptural mosaics

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:39:00 -0700

Betsy Youngquist was born in Rockford, IL in 1965. She received her Bachelors Degree in art from North Park University in Chicago in 1987, and her Masters Degree in art education from UW-Madison in 1992. During the past several years Betsy has shown her work in galleries, juried exhibitions, and art fairs throughout the United States.

Youngquist says;

"Always in such a hurry to create enough work to fill my booth for the next show, I seldom take time to stop, breathe, and reflect. As I sit here at the computer, with beads accidentally glued to my pants, I’m further reminded that my life as an artist, and my story as a person are intertwined with the significance of the animals that cross my path. Animals are as invested in our experience as we are in theirs. Sometimes I think we want to see ourselves in these creatures in order to hear the messages they bring. I know I do."

"Lately I’ve come full circle as the human heads of my earlier paintings have found their way into my sculptures as antique doll parts. That’s always fun, when an unintentional connection becomes obvious. "

See more of her work at www.byart.com.

Asa Ames American Folk Art

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:21:00 -0700

Asa Ames, a little known American sculptor, worked mostly from life, carving and painting three-dimensional wood portraits of family and friends. When he died of consumption in 1851, at the age of 27, he left behind 12 or 13 sculptures, most made during the last four or five years of his short life.

Much about Ames’s life remains a mystery. It is thought that he may have spent time at sea and might have apprenticed to a carver of ships’ figureheads or trade figures.

Until 25 years ago, Ames’s work, when noticed at all. But in 1981 the American Folk Art Museum received an anonymous work as a gift: a painted wood sculpture of a young girl whose head is painted with a phrenology chart. Stacy C. Hollander, the museum’s senior curator and director of exhibitions, began to research it and
ultimately attributed it to Ames. In 1982 Jack T. Ericson, an antiques dealer, culminated 12 years of research with an article on Ames in Antiques magazine that reproduced the works that could be traced or attributed to him. It included the folk art museum’s piece, which is thought to have been made at the end of Ames’s life, when he was ill and living with a doctor who practiced alternative medicine.

A beautiful and overpopulated daguerreotype portrait of the artist as a serious young artist. Ames is in his Sunday best, working intently on the bust of a man. Three sculptures look on from the upper right: a pudgy baby with a drape of real fabric and the busts of two other children in carved, off- the- shoulder togas.

The busts teeter on a sculpting pedestal beneath which is the young man whose portrait bust Ames works on. The carving of a hand and real-looking bass viol visible behind this party of five increase the sense of elaborate stage-managing. Ames was probably ill when this photograph was made, and perhaps he knew that obscurity threatened. Still, when the time came — and it has come — he intended to be ready for his close-up. Via N.Y. Times

Folk Dog Art by Artist Abby Mcmillen

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:24:00 -0700

A graphic designer by day, Abby Mcmillen makes her home in beautiful Bozeman, Montana, where she knows more animals named Abby than people named Abby. She's a self-taught painter whose love of dogs and folk art encouraged her to start pushing paint around on canvases.

Abby's three dogs, Selah (black lab), Frida (golden retriever mutt mix, and named for the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo), and Mae (white lab), are the inspiration for the original folk dogs. when she's not painting, Abby's usually outside -- hiking, cycling, running, fishing, gardening, reading, and enjoying life in the mountains.

Although Mcmillen loves painting dogs, don't worry you cat lovers! Abby says;

"recently, a few people have asked about folk cats. yes, there are folk cats! i haven't really marketed them very much, because the dogs are doing so well. but i know cat people love their cats as much as dog people love their dogs; i'm no dummy. one of these days i'll get around to posting these guys in the gallery, or maybe the folk kitties will have their own gallery. who knows?"

If you would like to see more of this artists work drop by folkdogart and be sure to keep an eye out for those fun, folky, kitties!!!

"Weaving Together Music & Art" Gray Gallery

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:51:00 -0700

Gray was born and raised in (Snake Hollow) Paint Rock, Tennessee. In this place he developed a sense of curiosity, discovery and imagination which he still pursues through his art and music. His work is rich in southern imagery, for example, from his song Brushy Mountain, Gray painted a convict, transformed into a blackbird, flying away from the remote East Tennessee prison with the lyrics of the murder ballad written across the sky.

Like all of Gray's work, it is rendered in acrylic house-paint -- in this case on the side piece of an old church pew. Gray's art has been featured in the Oxford American and Time Magazine. Also, The Complete Hank Williams boxed CD set, featuring Gray's art, won a Grammy Award for design. His newest music and art is evocative of his childhood in Paint Rock, Tennessee near the Smokey Mountains where he was reared by his grandparents on a small farm.

He grew up in an anachronistic life-style as a child where he and his family had no plumbing or running water, but Gray says;

"From an artistic point of view, I'm glad I went through that. Sometimes I'll paint a memory and write out what I remember from it. You could call this 'folk tales or songs mixed with painting'."

His recent paintings are of blackbirds, mules, and men cutting wood or curing tobacco, often with lyrics of his songs superimposed on the image. Gray's work is popular among Nashville musicians, but it has shown as far away as SoHo, New York and as nearby as the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville and the Country Music Hall Of Fame.

To view more of this artist's work visit GrayGallery and learn more about this wonderful folk artist.

Funky Chicken Art of C.E.Harrison

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:15:00 -0700

C. E. Harrison is a self taught southern Folk Artist from Georgia. Her work has been collected all over the United States. She lives a quiet life with her husband, son, 2 dogs, over 80 chickens, Taylor Turkey, and a couple of geese - Lucy Goosey and Zander Gander. The chickens number the most, and so Harrison became the "Mama Hen"!

Harrison says, " My animals give me a lot of my inspiration,but I also rely on my Southern heritage and the many stories I grew up listening to, to come up with my creations!"

"I love color, and I paint on any and everything. In this age of recycling I have a hard time throwing things away, so if I can see the art in something I go to creating. My favorite times are when I can sit under the shade tree, my feathery friends running all around me, and paint."

Of course, she paints more than just chickens. Visit her website at mamahenfolkart to discover more fun and funky art. There you can find pieces that are currently for sell, and find out more about C. E. Harrison.

Folk Art Pottery of Kyle Carpenter

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:50:00 -0700

Kyle Carpenter was born and raised in the Raleigh, NC area. He attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2000. Also in 2000, Kyle married and settled down in west Asheville. In 2002, Kyle Carpenter built a salt-kiln and made a studio at his home. Since then, he has been working as a studio potter, selling his wares at craft fairs and galleries.

Kyle describes his work;

"As a studio potter, I work diligently to make well-crafted wares for everyday people. It’s seemingly less about the “ritual of the table” and more about respecting a long tradition of craftsmen before me and discovering my own voice. As a contemporary potter, I often look to past traditions for inspiration. I’m interested in folk pottery of many origins. My native state of North Carolina, of course, offers a deep well of talented potters, both folk and contemporary, to look towards for inspiration."

"Simplicity in form offers a broad surface for me to embellish with lines, patterns, and drawings. Before I was introduced to the ceramics arts, I did a fair amount of illustration before and during art school. The combination of three-dimensional forms and two-dimensional drawings was a natural fusion of both my love of drawing and pottery, art and craft. It is my intention to bring together clear and abstract markings to engage the viewer to look closely at how design relates to the form of the pot."

To view more of his work and to see the process he uses, visit "www.carpenterpottery.com". There you can meet the artist and find the galleries which sell his work.

Elegant Watercolors by Elaine Frenett

Fri, 01 May 2009 11:15:00 -0700

Elaine Frenett graduated in 1991 from San Jose State University with a BS in Graphic Design, focusing in Illustration. As an Illustrator, she has been published from New York to San Francisco. In between illustration jobs, she began to paint things she loved and received such strong response from her audience, she knew her direction had begun to change. Eventually, Elaine's interest shifted to fine art, where she now finds more personal satisfaction. Ms. Frenett has taught private classes as well as, done presentations at Universities and various art clubs. Her art pieces are currently in collections private, corporate, museum and international. And while her wanderings do continue, worldly and creatively, she has happily relocated to the Rogue Valley where beauty and discovery spark her artistic spirit.

Elaine Frenett describes her work and inspirations;

"These images come from my heart out onto the watercolor paper. It is usually something in nature that touches my feelings strongly - strongly enough that I want my audience to see/feel it too. And then, out comes my paintbrush. What has evolved as my intention for these images is to have people pause long enough to see the amazing beauty around us and acknowledge how vital it is to our peace and happiness."

Frenett keeps a journal of her travels and inspirations. The pages are filled with beautiful images of the people and places she visits. She "has a passion for Journaling and now shares it through her classes". She has made a video describing how she began her Journaling, please watch and meet the artist.

To purchase her artwork visit elainefrenett.com.
Elaine Frenett also has two blogspots were you can view her current art and passions. Visit elainefrenett.blogspot.com or womensmexicoretreat2009 to find out about her recent trip to Mexico.