Paint By Needle

Friday November 2nd, 2007
Rowan Morrison Gallery
"Paint by Needle"
The Textile works of Narangkar Glover and Ako Castuera

Details from the works that will be on exhibit

As I gather the bits and pieces together and work frantically to finish up my last pieces, I'm being reminded of the work of many talented contemporary artists whose work is also in the textile-soft-sculpture-visual-art category. Here are just a few of our picks:

Laura Splan

"Underneath" (installation) 2003, cosmetic facial peel, wood, metal, thread, blood

Frances Trombly is a Miami Artist showing at Steven Wolf this month, and has a write up by Kenneth Baker at SFgate.

"Balloons" 2004, crochet

Anu Tuominen is Swedish, I think.


Maria Porges is an Oakland sculptor perhaps known more for her wax sculptures, but this I'm very familiar with, as it's as the Berkeley Art Museum:

"Bomboozle", 2003, felted wool, dimensions variable, 48” x 48”

Tonya Solley Thornton just moved from Oakland to Ashville, NC

"Merry Go Cake", mixed media, 5'9"

Lacey Jane Roberts knits with a little toy that makes I-chords. At CCA she made a giant, bright pink, chain link fence with I-chords. Here's another of hers:


And here's a preview of my work that will be showing here at Rowan Morrison Gallery and Artist's Bookstore.

"Color Wheel", 18" x 18", Crewel Embroidery on Jute

Upcoming Shows

I will be participating in a group show at the Swift Pigeon Studios:

Friday June 6th, 7pm - 10pm
4707 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland.
Should be fun!

*****

Now permanently on view, at the GWPC climbing gym, is a 27' x 13' mural painted by myself and my husband Pete:


December 15th, 2007 5pm - 10pm
Rowan Morrison Gallery

(Rowan Morrison Low Commission Group Show)

28 of our favorite artists have been asked to exhibit a few small pieces of work to hang in the 332 portion of Rowan Morrison (which is our studio). Since I've put the list of artists together, I will be adding a few new paintings to the wall. The gallery is taking only 15% commission on the sales of any works - this is hopefully an incentive for art collectors to support some of our personal favorites.

In addition to the group show, Rowan Morrison's latest book publication, "Killer Cuts and Killing Shapes" by Tokyo artist Royhei Tanaka will be unveiled.

RoMo will be offering a 10% discount on all books and paper goods.

Come on out and enjoy champagne and holiday treats on us! We want to party with you, because it's you that's helped us get this far!

Work will be available for purchase until December 22nd.



November 2nd - December 22nd, 2007
Rowan Morrison Gallery
"Paint by Needle"
The Textile works of Narangkar Glover and Ako Castuera

Details
In this split show both artists exhibit a series of new textiles that explore the concepts of using these traditional mediums to express their own currents of artistic practice and ideas. The artists combine their love for the needle arts to create elaborate, colorful, and very narrative work that is most characteristic of traditional and expressionist painting.

Narangkar's works literally combine crewel embroidery with paint to convey a cohesive personal narrative that cuts through the obvious paradox of using one medium to express another. A common thread in her work is the use of the figure and the self portrait, which is primarily expressed through very formal principles in modernist painting, yet allowing room for interdisciplinary exploration. Throughout her career, Narangkar has consistently used old fashioned art forms, from hand drawn animation shot on film and optically printed, to crewel embroidery, to an ongoing dedication to the institution of painting. Her work conveys, not only in the subject but also in the medium itself, a sense of belonging, a connection to humanity and ancestry, and a deep understanding of the profundity of making art: process, progress and narrative.

While saturated color is a running visual theme for the exhibit, Ako Castuera offers an entirely different beast. Castuera is a freelance illustrator from Los Angeles, and character artist for the animated TV program, “Metalocalypse”, which satisfies her blood-thirst for drawing monsters and unfortunate people. For Ako, knitting is a challenging and stimulating process that fuels her interest in craft and narrative. Structure and image are simultaneously created one stitch at a time using various traditional knitting techniques to create colorful woolen pictures that are largely freestyle and unplanned. They show the energy and unexpected decision making of one who is testing new waters, and reflect the artist's mythical view of everyday life, from glimpses of the suburbs (as familiar as knitting itself) to portraits of monsters you will NEVER see anywhere else.


Narangkar Glover, "Color Wheel", 18" x 18", Crewel Embroidery on Jute


Ako Castuera, "Roadkill", 8.5" x 15.5", Hand Knit Wool

For Press Kit or images email info at rowanmorrison.com

Korean Embroidery at the Asian Art Museum

Made it to the Asian Art Museum last weekend for the Yoshitoshi woodcuts exhibit. Big Thanks to Robin and Don for clueing me to that one: it's remarkable and exquisite. You can catch the second half of the show until September 2nd. They organized it in two halves because of the light sensitive pigments in the prints, but holy moly are those colors vibrant!

Upstairs in the permanent collection are a bunch of Silk Embroideries by Korean artist Park Pil-Soon, b. 1949. Neither the museum, nor the internet have any information on her - guess I'll just have to travel to Korea to learn more! They let you take photos upstairs so here are some rather adequate photos of her beautiful work - but I do encourage a visit in person if you live in the Bay Area.





I absolutely love the Magenta, Blue, Glod, Red and White Traditional colors of Korea. The only thing missing this visit were the silk wrap clothes that women used out of scrap silk in these colors. They were used to wrap gifts for auspicious occasions like weddings. Usually the gift would be a wooden duck for good fortune.





That silk robe took her two years to complete. I'm telling you: Go in person!



These are some Japanese grave shrines made from clay that I really like.


This is a Shinto Diety. Normally Shinto dieties were not depicted in human form, but this one is.



More Korean Contemporary art. They organize their permanent collection into region, and by far my favorite regions of the museum are Korea and Japan.