Inside the Artists: Joanna Schiff

Shapes and colors, they can elicit a flurry of emotions, thoughts, feelings and ideas.  They can make us feel sad, happy invoke thoughts of anger, passion or fear.  The effects of how art affect us emotionally are something that I have always found interesting.  This week we examine an artist who is working towards understanding just that.  RAW artists Joanna Schiff, who recently received her Master’s in Art Therapy, took to time to sit down and tell us just how hard she RAWks!

“Organic shapes, strange color combinations, and playing with composition: these are the factors I take into consideration for every new piece.”  This is clearly a strong source of inspiration, evident when you look at Joanna’s work.  Fields of interchanging shapes of colors, with each one taking a step further and further along a gradating color spectrum.  Fields only broken up by intersecting and interlocking organic shapes that creates interesting positive and negative shapes.  “I love shapes that have movement and flow; to make the art as eye-catching as possible.  The combination of organic and geometric shapes giving each piece an inner energy and creating a surreal narrative.”

With a strong interesting in color theory and its effects on how we interact with our surroundings, Joanna relies heavily on her use of interplaying colors to get a strange unsettling effect, “I have a fondness for “ugly” colors; burnt oranges, obnoxious greens, overly bright pinks.”  When combined in her paintings they give them an eye catching effect that pulls the viewer in with these dizzying vibrant colors. “These colors bring something out in each other that I could never anticipate on my own.”  When these things combined they create compositions that exist on multiples levels of depth, not only as transposed three dimensions on a flat plan, but can affect levels of depth within our own minds. “This can be achieved through use of color, transparencies or playing with the negative spaces between the shapes.  It is a wonderfully dizzying experience trying to figure out what is supposed to move forward and what is meant to stay back.”

If you are interested in finding out more about where you can see more of Joanna’s work on her website, which can be found at http://joannaschiff.weebly.com/, where you can find everything from her paintings, collages and mixed media work to her resume and how to contact her.

With the rise of RAW: Connecticut, be sure to check out our next upcoming showcase at the Russian Lady New Haven.  Mark your calendars and be prepared to RAWk as we have our first showcase at our new venue, EXPRESSIONS on Wednesday May 29^th.  Doors open at 8 and will remain so till midnight, for tickets, our artists and more information about RAW can be found at http://www.rawartists.org/hartford

Inside the Artists: Steven Rand

This week, as we take a look at our next RAW Artists we should first reflect on the idea of mixed media the merger of abstract expressionism and collage as it mixes with graffiti all while seen through the eyes of a onetime media artist. I had the chance to sit down with a fellow classmate of mine from the University of Hartford and now another great RAW artist, Steve Rand.

“My goal is to create work that reflects on and is searching for our most human aspects by analyzing the varying landscapes and its inhabitants in our ever growing techno-culture.”   Steve’s work exemplifies this idea through his usage of bright flashy colors to invoke a flurry of feelings on the viewer, much like in the way that an advertiser goes about choosing the colors they use in an ad, or much like why McDonalds uses yellow to invoke hunger.  But Steve wasn’t always interested in painting, as mentioned before, he was originally a media artist, but after taking a painting class he discovered a new found love for the tactile feel of placing paint on canvas.

What I find interesting about Rand’s work is the combination of collaged photos of figures and how they play, not only within the confines of his matrix, but also how they interact with the multitude of color combinations that make up parts of his fore and background. “By paying homage to classical works and using untraditional mediums I create mixed media paints combining graffiti, action painting, abstract expressionism, collage, and color.”  Asking where the influence for these paintings comes from, Steve told me the process all comes from the idea of “automatic writing”, applying this to his off the cuff color combinations he likes to let the colors see where they’ll take him.  Most recently spray paint has played a major part in his work, “there’s a freeing element to it.”

If you are interested in seeing more of Steve’s work or purchasing one of his artist books you can find out more information about him and his work on his website, http://www.squrlart.com/

With the rise of RAW: Connecticut, be sure to check out our next upcoming showcase at the Russian Lady New Haven.  Mark your calendars and be prepared to RAWk as we have our first showcase at our new venue, EXPRESSIONS on Wednesday May 29^th.  Doors open at 8 and will remain so till midnight, for tickets, our artists and more information about RAW can be found at http://www.rawartists.org/hartford

Inside the Artists: David Mel

Dreams, they are the fantastical playgrounds of the mind in which we can live out our most explicit fantasies whether that may be smiting dragons and capturing a horde of gold, experiencing with your mind just what the color purple is or flying through the heart of a star to witness the sheer elation of a supernova.  But what about those unfortunate to have their sleep turn against them, forced each night to do battle with their dreams.  Those few and ill-fated Dream Warriors; RAW artist David Mel is one of those fighters and this is his journey.

Every day David does battle with Narcolepsy, “It’s a disease that robs it’s victims of sleep, routine, self-esteem, relationships & eventually ….hope.” Hope for a normal life. That same dream state for the Narcoleptic is, at times, a nightmare where vivid visions encapsulate the mind & body. “I would keep my painting supplies beside my bed and when at the end of the dream I would instantly start painting what I’d experienced.  As they developed they became what I call “atmospheric abstract landscapes.”  Life-like astral projections, tunneling patterns of color, confrontations with a “demonic” presence & Cataplexy are all symptoms.”  But through the use of his art he finds strength.

For the last two years David’s most recent obsession has been on a series of geometric mandala paintings.  “I’ve been uplifted in an almost spiritual sense, in the creation of mandalas.”  These paintings are carefully crafted by using old school drafting tools with elements of tribal, folk art, abstraction & pop art that go towards detailing some of the patterns seen in his dreams.   The process is completely random really, I’ll start with the canvas, take a compass and make some circles, add some colors and shapes until a geometrical pattern starts to appear.”  There is a tribal feel to these paintings, as if they are from an ancient unknown culture.  Looking at these seemingly random compositions a veriaty of different feelings can be inferred.   To some there is a calming power where to others, the sharpness of shape and line and repetition of elements could express something more carnal.

More about David’s work as well as where you can expect to see his work next can all be found on his website http://www.davidmel.net/

With the rise of RAW: Connecticut, be sure to check out our next upcoming showcase at the Russian Lady New Haven.  Mark your calendars and be prepared to RAWk as we have our first showcase at our new venue, EXPRESSIONS on Wednesday May 29^th.  Doors open at 8 and will remain so till midnight, for tickets, our artists and more information about RAW can be found at http://www.rawartists.org/hartford

Inside the Artists: Erica Lee

Fantastical worlds have always been something that I have found really interesting not only as a writer but also as a fellow artist (see “ITA Jon Sideriadis), so it is not surprising that I would yet again be drawn to another lover of the fantastical realms. “I’m inspired by a lot of fantasy based images, the fantasy genre and myths” this is very clear upon first look at her work. Worlds that feed on the might of a knight battling against the powers of magic, blood stained crowns and the kings that have taken them, and a the calm relaxation found at the end of a smoking a pipe after felling a mighty dragon.  This is only some of the worlds that RAW Artist Erica Lee’s imagination has traveled to. And I had the pleasure of finding out where we were going next.

“I’m also inspired by the work of Alphonse Mucha and more contemporary illustrators like Kid CHAN, what I like most about them is their use of pastel color, themes, and soft illustrations that I try to emulate in my own work.”  After looking at Erica’s work with that in mind the styling’s of Mucha are what popped out to me first.  A fellow love of my own, his use of Art Nouveau is very apparent in Erica’s work especially in the piece “Allergy Season”.  From the use of intricate patterns filled with different flowery filaments, to the flowing filigree of the figures hair and handkerchief.  The subject matter is humorous, playing with the bane of most everyone when that dreaded season comes around.

Working primarily digitally, though not opposed to the use of oils and acrylics, each one starts out as either a feeling, or a phrase.  An image of a woman in a bridal shawl one day becomes the basis for a shrouded figure the next.  Searching through scores of images on Tumblr she looks for something that breathes life into the fires of her creative mind, tweaking each one here and there so that they better suit her needs, until finally digital brushes loaded with digital paint transfer the images in her head onto digital canvas to create these elaborate works of art.

Would you like to see more of Erica’s work? But of course! Well humble travelers images of her work can be found on her website http://www.ericajlee.net/.  There you can see in full detail all of her recent work as to date as well as ways to contact her.  And to all you fellow artists out there she imparts a simply elegant phrase, “Always draw what you like. Even if people tell you this is not what the world wants, cause that is what will always keep you drawing.”

With the rise of RAW: Connecticut, be sure to check out our next upcoming showcase at the Russian Lady New Haven.  Mark your calendars and be prepared to RAWk as we have our first showcase at our new venue, EXPRESSIONS on Wednesday May 29^th.  Doors open at 8 and will remain so till midnight, for tickets, our artists and more information about RAW can be found at http://www.rawartists.org/hartford

Inside The Artists: Jamie Pearson

The play between line, color, positive space, negative space and the interaction between different planes of existence is what, to me, makes abstract art such an interesting and exciting form of art making.  The choice of how different colors will interact within a composition or how bisecting lines lay with or against its peers in space, these are the questions that abstract artists deal with whenever they start a new piece of work.  I see it much in the same way as writing, you have an idea or concept that you want to get across, but the words, your experiences, even if you have or haven’t had breakfast that morning will all decide the outcome of that piece of work.  Today we celebrate RAW artist Jamie Pearson, as he examines the ambiguity between the audience and author.

Inspired by artists such as Andy Warhol, Jean Mitchel Basquate and Salvador Dali, Jamie is working towards taking once recognizable shapes and symbols and changing them so that they become something different.  “I use a series of symbols to create my images, sometimes its words in a tagger style, ancient symbols from the past associated with esoteric societies and religions or some as easy as circles, squares and triangles. It really depends on how I’m feeling but it’s always a combination of symbols.”  When viewing Jamie’s work it is exciting, as the eye travels throughout the composition small details that could have originally been left unnoticed will pop up after the second, third or even fourth viewing; in a way that it is almost as if the painting is hiding something.  Some of my favorites of Jamie’s work are those that include different hues of the same overlapping color lying on top of a flat of another color to create a push and pull between multiple layers of positive and negative space.

          Working in almost a Rorschach-ian style, Jamie actually starts his paintings, not on the actual canvas, but on newsprint.  With the paint still wet he then folds it in half to create a balanced image before then printing the paint onto canvas, paper, wood or even metal.  This process is then repeated again and again using different colors and symbols. “My paintings are all about sharing the interpretation that one sees in them. To each their own!”  And it is in each painting that the viewer is encouraged to seek out their own understanding of the world.  “Painting is a powerful drug. It allows me to reflect on the past and the future; Think about history or how someone felt at a point in history.” 

          You can find out more about Jamie’s work and where to see it next on his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Art-of-Jamie-Pearson/230661360403695?fref=ts or on his webpage which can be found at http://www.jam-iepopart.com/

With the rise of RAW: Connecticut, be sure to check out our next upcoming showcase at the Russian Lady New Haven.  Mark your calendars and be prepared to RAWk as we have our first showcase at our new venue, EXPRESSIONS on Wednesday May 29^th.  Doors open at 8 and will remain so till midnight, for tickets, our artists and more information about RAW can be found at http://www.rawartists.org/hartford

Inside the Artists: Mark Patnode

            The world around us has always been a source of inspiration, from the vast cityscapes of a rising metropolis to the unspoken silence of a whispering forest.  And with these flowing landscapes comes the introduction of light, it can give a piece the sense of foreboding or fill it with a flood of joy, it all depends on how the light falls.  These are the things inspire RAW artist Mark Patnode.

A en plein air painter Mark finds inspiration from the study of nature in the actual elements, “Below zero – fingers going numb; rain whipping around; hot summer sunshine and high humidity; low visibility on a dark night.” With this knowledge in mind, this viewer can fell the actual pain and suffering all in the name of the art in each painting.  With canvases often approaching on greater than seven feet in any one direction, Mark works showcases the sheer physicality of his brushwork, “It involves me in the act of creating and conveying that experience to the viewer. It’s a full-body experience.”

When it comes to the actual act of painting, Mark finds focus and inspiration through nature as well as how light falls on a particular object, “The light from the sky influences everything because it is not only above us but all around us. What is around objects puts color in them.” This is relevant in everything Mark paints, whether it is the Norwich City Hall building with all its hard angles and sharp lines seen under a bright midday sun. Or the Dennis Gardens as seen during the last long winter, where the yellows of the sun were affected by the cold blues and purples with their ability to chill flesh and bone.   “My goal with all my artwork is powerful visual simplicity. The first strokes establish my relationship with the subject and it becomes a dialog as I develop the work.”  A somewhat new development in Mark’s work is his deconstruction of each object down to its base form.  This allows him to focus more on how light, color, and form interact with each other in the creation of his compositions.

It is this through this relation as well as with the before mentioned knowledge at I have found a greater appreciation for Mark’s work.  Waiting for just the right light to strike an object and being able to capture it quickly using only the mind’s eye and paint, which essentially is just ground up elements pulled of nature and mixed with oil; the thought of it fills me with feelings of excitement and exhilaration to create.  You can find more about Mark’s work and where you can see it next on his website http://www.marktheartist.com/News.html

With the rise of RAW: Connecticut, be sure to check out our next upcoming showcase at the Russian Lady New Haven.  Mark your calendars and be prepared to RAWk as we have our first showcase at our new venue, EXPRESSIONS on Wednesday May 29^th.  Doors open at 8 and will remain so till midnight, for tickets, our artists and more information about RAW can be found at http://www.rawartists.org/hartford

Contemporary Art Fair & American Craft Show

SoNo Field House

365 Martin Luther King Drive

Norwalk, CT 06854

April 27th-28th, 2013

Websites: http://www.contemporaryartfairct.com/

http://www.anamericancraftsman.com/

http://www.boxology.com/

With 200 artists from all over the country, you will be amazed with the art that will be displayed at this event! Sponsored by American Art Marketing, they’ve gathered the nations most best and talented for this weekend! Come out and get your tickets, as they are selling out quickly.

 

SoNo Field House is about 40 miles short of New York City and 30 miles from New Haven. It’s Half- way between both large cities of the two states.

 

Showcasing the most exquisite hand- made jewelry and fine glasswork, you won’t be disappointed come Saturday. The contrast between colors, texture, and mediums, the array of art to be in SoHo Field House is a fair you won’t want to miss. Take a trip to Fairfield county and see what this fair is all about.

 

Not only will there be glasswork, art pieces, and fine jewelry; there will be fine crafted wood work as well. There are some magnificent boxes carved to perfection.

Come out to the fair this weekend for some new art for home decor!

Inside the Artists: Isabelle Rodriguez

“Show me a man with a tattoo and I’ll show you a man with an interesting past.”

~Jack London

            Tattooing has been something that has been around for hundreds if not thousands of years.  With its origins beginning in the Neolithic period; there it was used to tell stories of the hunt, monsters as well as a treatment for arthritis.  China, Egypt, Japan; this form of art making has permanently left its presence on the history of the world as a way to remember glorious days and long lost sorrows all the way up to our 21^st century.  The styles and technology may have changed, but the process is still the same, needles loaded with ink, penetrating flesh.  That’s one place that Isabelle Rodriguez, our last RAW Hartford Artists draws inspiration from.

Originally from Western Massachusetts you can now find Isabelle putting ink to flesh at Hartford County Tattoo, where she works to make its patrons bare flesh more aesthetically pleasing.  But what was it that drew this RAW artist to the world of tattoo? “I was working summers at a theme park doing henna tattoos when a co-worker suggested I look into tattooing; at first I was terrified, but within a year I decided I’d give it a shot.”  So after leaving college behind her and jumped head first into working towards an apprenticeship she started down the road that would eventually lead her to a promising career as a tattoo artist.  But the question you’re all asking is, “what about the work?”

And you’d not be disappointed, working in a bold, colorful, and graphical style, inspired through a love of comics “I tend to gravitate towards traditional and neo-traditional tattoos I find thick outlines and bold colors to be very aesthetically appealing”.  Isabelle’s work tells a history of herself, at least to this viewer.  Images of carps and skulls prominently featuring a fully open “third eye” speak of an artist who has herself opened her “third eye” and tapped into the raw and fearsome power of her own inspiration.  While images of keys and locks hint that there could be still some doors left unopened or that what she has already found are the keys to unlocking those doors.   All of these things coalesce into artist whose found happiness through putting art on people.

You can find Isabelle’s work along with the rest of the Hartford County Tattoo team at http://www.hartfordcountytattoo.com/page/artists/izzy and while you’re there why not give them a call and see what RAWsome artwork they can put on you today!

As we say goodbye to RAW Hartford and like the phoenix of legend burning brightly, we rise up and become something greater, RAW: Connecticut!  So be sure you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming showcases or all amazing RAW artists at our new location, the New Haven Russian Lady. Next month, come and be a part of our next showcase “Expressions” on Wednesday May 29^th.  Doors open at 8 and remain so till midnight, for tickets, information about our artists and more about RAW can be found at http://www.rawartists.org/hartford

Inside the Artists: Valerie Doty “The Tiny Hobo”

 

Comics and videogames,  the two are as synonymous with Nerd culture as peanut butter and jelly is to Lunchtime, in that they are two great tastes that can be enjoyed in any number of different ways!  The two are a means for the consumer to escape from a boring reality.  There we can pass through warp tunnels and cut the bridge with hopes that the Princess isn’t in another castle or fly through the sky, faster than a speeding bullet to save that sassy news reporter with the attraction to high places and poor balance.  They’re a way to escape from the mundane and enter a brand new world.  It’s through these bright and colorful worlds that RAW artist,  AKA The Tiny Hobo, draws inspiration for her adorably nerdy works.  I had the chance to sit down and chat with her about that as well as the genesis behind the name “The Tiny Hobo”.

“Comics, anime and manga all inspire me, but the biggest inspiration on my art has to be video games; the graphics, the story and worlds, everything about them is just so colorful and happy.” This is clearly portrayed through her use of bright vibrant colors and stylized figures. “When it comes to the actual creation of the work I start out with an idea, not so much an emotion, but it starts as an image in my head that evolves from there.”

“I wanted to be a hobo, and just ride the rails; I saw it as a kind of freedom from the world.”  It’s by this philosophy of positive energy that Valerie lives her life by.  When she’s not creating these gorgeous works of art she can usually be found playing her banjo, drinking tea or acting as a positive influence on her community and world around her.

This freedom of spirit can be clearly found in each of her pieces as they float freely in vibrantly colored background and in the case of some, disobey the laws of borders, and break free.  These mandalas of pattern though can help to tell a little about a particular piece though, created through the use of turns of phrase, descriptive images or just playful patterns these borders are just as important as the images themselves. They lend themselves back to the figures and could be used to tell a colorful story of a man whose love is the sea or the fact that “Nerds Never Die”. Each one, as this viewer sees it, is an expression of the many different characters that exist in our lives with each one dealing in a different way to how we relate to ourselves.

You can find out more about Valerie’s work through her Facebook page, which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/ValerieTheTinyHobo while you’re there be sure to check out her blog, Flicker and Tumblr accounts.

Be sure to check out all the other RAW artists at our new location, the New Haven Russian Lady. Next month, come and be a part of our next showcase “Expressions” on Wednesday May 29^th.  Doors open at 8 and remain so till midnight, for tickets, information about our artists and more about RAW can be found at http://www.rawartists.org/hartford

Inside the Artists: Jon Sideriadis

You wake up floating amongst lost starlets upon an ethereal plan towards a city hidden amongst the clouds when gravity retakes and you begin plummeting back towards the realm of man.  As you fall you can spot castles hidden within the lush overgrowth housing untold traps and treasure, mountain trolls carrying entire forests on their backs and swamps filled with death and decay that any who enter are surely doomed; is that flicker of fairy fire that lies on the horizon a beacon to freedom or only a farce of the mind?

These are only a small section of the vast worlds that RAW artists Jon Sideriadis has sprung forth from his mind using only the basest materials of oil paint, pen, and pencil. After having the opportunity to sit down and thoroughly pick through all the colliding worlds inside his head, we learned just what is it that makes Jon Sideriadis tick.

Currently employed with the University of Hartford’s Hartford Art School where he teaches sequential art and illustration, Jon also teaches a course about comic books at MCC as well as works as a freelance illustrator. When he is not teaching Jon spends most of his free time writing and developing his new book, “Astromythos”. 

Taken from a Greek translated word meaning “Star Myth”, Astromythos is an entirely new mythology that takes place in a universe populated with characters that are produced entirely from Jon’s imagination. “Astromythos was meant to carry on the tradition of my ancient forefathers by creating a new, original mythology foretelling of the final stages in the Greek mythological cycle and the human race at the end of time.” The book is inspired by such noteworthy poets such as Homer, Milton, and Dante with the artwork being influence by Greek Orthodox and Byzantine styles; “Astromythos is a story set eons in the future, but is still notably primal in its storytelling.”  What does this mean you ask?  Well simply put, Astromythos is a fantasy story written entirely in Hexameter verse, much like Homer’s Iliad and Aeneid, the reason for this is to give it that ancient history feeling.  With all of these entities combining it will guarantee to be a work that bends the very fabric of fantasy and science fiction into one that will be remember much in the same way as Tolkien.

Like a majority of artists and writers, Jon pulls inspiration from his own background.  The characters names and places are heavily based on his own Greek background.  “Much like Homer, I’ve named my characters and settings by combining a series of words together to give a brief background to the character.”

Currently you find Jon’s most recent work at http://astromythos.wordpress.com/ there you can find images of Jon’s work as well as more information on the upcoming book “Astromythos” along with ways of getting into contact with him.

Check out Jon’s and all the other RAW artists on Thursday April 4th for “Marvel”; a one night event at the Russian Lady, located on 191 Ann Uccello St, Hartford CT. Tickets can be purchase from the artists of your choosing for $10 or at the door for $15. Doors open at 8 and remain so till midnight, for tickets, artists and more information about RAW can be found at http://www.rawartists.org/hartford