SpoonFed Art

the show

It's hard to say how I feel about the Core show Saturday night... all I can come up with is that it's a time I'll never forget.  I met so many amazing people and was really surprised by how excited I was to finally see all the mannequins for the first time.  It was a truly unique experience, and I'm so grateful to Anne for putting the show together and to Christine whose work was the spark that inspired the show...

Anne Carmack

Pixie Campbell

Nicol Ragland

Jessica Seaton

Anne Carmack

Like all but one of the artists who contributed to the show, I'd never worked on a mannequin form before and although it was exciting and fun, it was also challenging.  I learned the hard way that cutting into fiberglass can be painful... that it's darn hard to sew burlap... and that shipping unfinished artwork across the country and trying to finish it at its destination - on a deadline - is not the best plan!  I was somewhat prepared for the "physical" challenges but I had conveniently forgotten the other stuff... the non-physical.  I had forgotten that when I signed up to do the show, I was also signing up to dig deeply and look at some pretty personal stuff... and then put that on display.  I should know that by now... but if it's honest work, it always reflects some truth about the creator... a truth that's necessary to see in order to move forward.  So, in honor of the process of moving forward... here's my piece.  It's mostly white, with lots of math equations, rulers, erasers for mistakes... she's innocent, a schoolgirl, a skeleton, a ghost... but her heart is full of color.  You can see through the top layer to all that's underneath,
the uncomfortable burlap skirt, all the measuring,
all the trying to figure it out.

It was a lot of work, on many levels, but I'd definitely do it again.  In a heartbeat.

 
  

 

NEDA online auction!

It's that time of year again!

Yep, it's NEDA's 5th annual "Every Body is Beautiful" Online Auction and it's up and running!  This year's auction offers a variety of items that are sure to bring smiles. There's something for everyone on your shopping list... the traveler, the sports fanatic, the bookworm... + 2 one-of-a-kind commissioned NEDA logo pendants from SpoonFedArt.com to bid on.  So now's your chance to not only get all the great items you want, but to do it knowing you're helping NEDA support individuals and families affected by eating disorders. Proceeds go toward programs like the toll-free hotline, the annual conference, media watchdog programs, and NEDAWareness Week. For more information about NEDA's programs and services, please visit www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.

CORE show this Saturday, Nov. 7th

As promised, here are the details for the show this weekend...  
it's an open studio event organized by the incredibly sweet and talented (and organized!) Anne Carmack of 
Folk & Fable + The Lovers, The Dreamers and Me,
and the artists in the show will be exhibiting their variation on the theme of "core" using a mannequin torso. It's a really interesting concept and I can't wait to see what this diverse
group of artists have created... 
if you're in L.A., I hope you'll join us!

CORE 
Art & Design of the Torso

One night only, Saturday, November 7
6-10pm
822 Wall Street, 2nd Floor 
Downtown Los Angeles, 90015
Music by KCRW's Ann Litt

Exhibiting Artists:
Anne Carmack
Christine Mason Miller
Marisa Haedike
Jessica Seaton
Pixie Campbell
Kelly Barton
Sarah Ahearn
Mati McDonough
Outi Harma
Chanin McClurkin
Nicol Ragland
Liz Kalloch
Linda Easterly
Carla Terwilliger
+
me!

the buzz

Hello!

I'm in L.A. for an art show this Saturday but before I get to that, I wanted to share a one of my first encaustic pieces.  I'm seriously head over heels over encaustic painting, which has depth like the pendants but involves using heated beeswax as the medium. The result is a ghostly yet luminous quality that sort of looks like it's lit within...(I'm SO hooked!)  The technique is centuries old and dates back to the late 1st century BC/early 1st century AD Greeks and Egyptians... (for more, click here...) 

have a great week!

autumn sunburst

New! 
"Autumn Sunburst"... now available in the gallery...

the allee willis museum of kitsch

Jellybean Sculpture by Mark Blackwell

Today, Allee Willis, a friend of a friend
(and the proud owner of a SpoonFedArt pendant!), is opening
The Allee Willis Muesum of Kitsch.  Allee is one-of-a-kind...
we all are, but she embraces it like a warm cup of cocoa on a cold, cold night!  She's a multi-media artist and mega-successful Grammy winning composer who's sold over 50 million records.  Her catalog includes songs you know and can't help but dance to like those great Earth, Wind + Fire songs "September" and "Boogie Wonderland", as well as "Neutron Dance" by the Pointer Sisters and the theme song from "Friends".... and she recently worked on Oprah's "The Color Purple" on Broadway, her first very musical... whew...
and... Allee loves kitsch!
Her museum is by far the largest and most gloriously supreme online repository of kitsch and kitsch-related human interaction this planet has ever seen! What is kitsch? Step into the wild and wonderful world of Allee Willis and find out!

Launching globally today, with a spectacular week of live events in Los Angeles and a progressive YouTube festival of eight original Allee-crafted "What Is Kitsch?" short films, The Allee Willis Museum of Kitsch website, www.AWMoK.com, will showcase an ever growing, mind expanding panoply of utterly delightful items from Allee's legendarily massive private collection (as seen at  www.AlleeWillis.com/blog in her wildly popular "Kitsch O' The Day" blog). The site will also encourage like-minded "aKitschionados" around the globe to send in digital images and descriptions of their own prized kitsch treasures, which Allee will personally curate, adding the cream of the kitschy crop to the museum's collection. In the "Kitschenette" section, visitors to The Allee Willis Museum of Kitsch ("Allee's Legendary Landfill of Esthetic Essentials With Intrinsic Life Lessons In Soul") will be able to share their favorite kitsch and interact with other like-minded aKitschionados - including Allee herself, live from her kitsch command center at Willis Wonderland, the party pad built for MGM in 1937 and the physical location of The Allee Willis Museum of Kitsch.

The first launch party for the museum will be tonight at the newly-relocated Ghettogloss art gallery on Melrose in Los Angeles, where Allee will be displaying hundreds of amazing artifacts from her rarely-seen-in-person kitsch collection and will be on hand greeting visitors and discussing the museum. Allee's grand kitsch exhibition will feature two fabulous AWMoK launch parties (one today and a second on Monday, Sept. 21st); the debut of her delightful "What Is Kitsch?" short film series; Allee's unveiling of her featured "Kitsch O' The Day" blog item live at noon daily in the gallery's front window on L.A.'s ever-popular Melrose Avenue; her usual megaton of scrumptious junk food; specially created gourmet treats from L.A.'s hottest new restaurant, Susan Feniger's Street, of which Allee is part owner; live auctions of spectacular kitsch masterpieces hand-picked by Allee herself; a first-time-ever public raffle to win a guided tour of Allee's exclusively private Willis Wonderland; a not-to-be-missed karaoke sing-off of "September," at the party on the night of the 21st
("Do you remember...the 21st night of September...?");
plus many more kitschy surprises... wow!

And stay tuned for photos of my entry into
Allee's museum...

Here it is!
The "Devilled Eggs" Plate

 

Bad eggs won’t end up here… only devilishly good ones!
And the best part is that "Devilled Eggs" is mispelled...
perhaps intentionally misspelled to indicate that the little devils in the middle have ensnared the unsuspecting eggs and “led” them to their final resting place before they’re eaten! 
"Devil led" eggs indeed!

the scoop!

Hi there!
SpoonFed Art is now available at
Scoop studios in Charleston, SC!
Scoop is a new gallery on Broad Street in beautiful, historic downtown Charleston... if you're in town stop by and take a look around - and please say hello to the gallery's lovely owners, Angel Powell + Colleen Deihl. 
This black and white photo (which I believe is infrared) is by Stewart Young and is available at Scoop...

"Bono Ferry Grotto"

...have a nice weekend!

the mystery of the grey ghost

There's a cat in this neighborhood who seems extraordinarily mysterious and sly.  For the two months I've been here, I'd see him almost every time I'd take my dog Astrid out for a walk.  We'd be walking along innocently enough when all of a sudden I'd look over and there he'd be... staring at us.  He wouldn't move... he'd just stand there and stare... with his cool, grey stare.  I quite liked him, but the weird thing was I got the feeling that he was everywhere at once... and he was stealth quiet.  He's a little grey cat, kind of skinny,
but his demeanor was unsettling, mostly due to his
"everywhere at once" persona.
So I decided to name him "The Grey Ghost."
+ * + * +  * +  *  + * + * +  * +
But...
yesterday, after, again, two full months of being here, I realized that there are two grey cats - no, wait - three! 
Three grey cats on this street! 
So the mystery of The Grey Ghost was solved... I don't know which is which or who belongs to whom...technically, I guess that doesn't matter...
they're all my beloved Grey Ghost.
Here's one of them now, miraculously captured on film...