Urban Art - Moss Graffiti!

A new type of urban art has come down the pike and I'm slapping my forehead thinking, "Why didn't *I* think of this??!!" Unless you’re really a hipster avant-gardener art rogue, you’ve probably never heard of Moss Graffiti.

As the name suggests, this is a graffiti-like rendering which is done with moss, rather than ink. In order to make your own green piece of urban art, you only need a good moss graffiti recipe, and it’s actually quite simple. Basically you’ll need some pieces of moss, some beer and sugar; you just need to mix the ingredients in a blender until you get a smooth “moss milkshake”.

Recipe:

One or two clumps (about a small handful) of moss
2 cups of buttermilk
2 cups of water (or beer)
1/2 tsp. sugar
a blender
container with lid
paintbrush



When you’re done, you just need to pick an appropriate wall (damp and shady) and paint the moss mixture in the wall, using your favorite technique (paintbrush or stencil). After a few weeks, the moss will regroup along the pattern you’ve painted, and you’ll get a perfect moss graffiti. How cool is that?







Eco-minded street artist Edina Tokodi is putting a new spin on green guerilla tactics in the trendy art enclave of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.


Tokodi’s site-specific moss installations of prancing animal figures and camouflage outgrowths are the talk of a local urban neighborhood typically accustomed to gallery hype and commercial real estate take-overs. Unlike the market-driven art featured in sterile, white box galleries, the work of Tokodi is meant to be touched, felt, and in turn touch you in the playful ways that her animated installations call to mind a more familiar, environmentally friendly state in the barren patches of urban existence.

Tokodi believes strongly that the reactions of passersby (or the lack of any reaction at all) is really an indicator of a deeper malaise that we need to pay attention to and reseed with “mentally healthy garden states” and direct interactive engagement.




The artist states:

“I think that our distance from nature is already a cliché. City dwellers often have no relationship with animals or greenery. As a public artist I feel a sense of duty to draw attention to deficiencies in our everyday life. As a cultivator of eco-urban sensitivity, I usually go back to the sites to visit my “plants” or “moss”, sometimes to repair them a bit, but nothing more generally as they tend to get enough water from the air, condensation, and rain - especially in certain seasons. I also like to let them live by themselves. From the moment I put them on the street they start to have their own life. For me, the reaction of life on the street is also very important. I am curious about how people receive them, if they just leave them alone, or if they want to, take care of them or dismantle them. This is what makes my work similar to graffiti, although I am searching for a deeper social meaning and a dialogue with memories of the animals and gardens of my past in a small town in Central Europe. I believe that if everyone had a garden of their own to cultivate, we would have a much more balanced relation to our territories. Of course, a garden can be many things.”

Edina Tokodi studied graphic art and design at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts and also completed urban design course work in Milan, Italy. Her work can be seen on the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn and in unexpected outcroppings on a street near you.




Click HERE to read more about this fascinating new green art form!

How to Draw Eyes - Tutorial

This is a quick little tutorial on how to draw eyes. The eyes shown here are rather cartoonish, but one can always develop these into more realistic-looking eyes. The point of these exercises is to teach drawers how to render the basic shapes, so grab a pencil and have fun!


Figure Drawing and Composition, Richard G. Hatton

The eyeball is located in a socket in the skull. The socket itself is roughly rectangular and slanted slightly down to the outside of the face.
In this drawing A is the upper notch of the eye socket and corresponds to the greatest rise of the eyelid. B is the boney outer top edge of the eye socket and corresponds with the fleshy buldge above the eye. C is the boney outer structure of the eye socket which is relected in the shape of the skin at tht point. D is the lower outer edge of the eye socket. E is the lower lid. F is the smoothest part of the eye socket. H is a nasal bone. I is the lower border. J is the ridge toward the nose. L is the inner side of the upper border is runs over a trochlea or pulley with which one of the muscles of the eye works.

As with the head is is useful to have a knowledge of the skeletal structure.

A simple sketch to indicate eyes.


This sketch is more involved. Grab a pencil and try the sketch above two or three times until you get the hang of it.



Two eyes, one is the mirror image of the other.

Eyebrows

Eyebrows are neither a a straight line nor an arc. Instead draw the eyebrow as a downturn toward the outside of the eye socket.



Eyebrows show expression.

Use the eyes to indicate expression.

Duane Hanson - Sculptures

Duane Hanson
Hanson began making startlingly lifelike sculptures of middle America back in the 1970’s. He accomplished these amazing feats through a complex process of casting from live models, recreated in bronze or fiberglass resin.


When describing this sculpture the artist stated: ‘I like the physical burdens this woman carries. She is weighted down by all of her shopping bags and purchases, and she has become almost a bag herself. She carries physical burdens – the burdens of life, of everyday living. But initially, it’s quite a funny sculpture’.


Queenie can be understood on one level as the personification of all those resigned-looking women who drag their bodies around in pursuit of the mess created by the rest of us. But we are made to confront the fact that such women, who are usually invisible and ignored, are not just faceless domestics.


Hanson was born in 1925 in small city in Minnesota. He received his BA at Macalester College in Minnesota and his MFA at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. As he was in school and later professing abroad, he began sculpting in his signature realistic style.



While teaching in Munich, Germany, he came into contact with the philosophy of the Post Expressionists. He would later be considered to be a Verist, a movement of Post Expressionism who , as described by the art historian Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, “… tear the objective form of the world of contemporary facts and represent current experience in its tempo and fevered temperature.” As such, his focus turned to creating his accurate, surreal recreations of regular people.



Duane Hanson died on January 6th, 1996.



To get a better idea of how realistic his sculptures are, it helps to watch this video of some of his work. If you subscribe to this blog via email and can't see the video, please CLICK HERE:

Saimir Strati - World's Largest Nail Mosaic

Albanian artist, Saimir Strati, shows the portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci he created with industrial nails at the International Centre of Culture in Tirana September 4, 2006. Strati, 40, was recognised by Guinness World Record officials for having created the world's largest nail mosaic with about 500,000 industrial nails.










This video about the artist is not in English. However, it does show the artist and one of his magnificent mosaics that warranted a new world record in the GUINNESS Book for the 2nd time:


Please click THIS LINK if you receive this blog in your email and are unable to see the video:

Shannon Kringen - Self Portal: Amplified Chameleon

Shannon Kringen

I am excited to announce the opening of my friend, Shannon Kringen’s self-portrait photography show at Art/Not Terminal in Seattle on Saturday, September 6th from 7-10 pm.

(2045 Westlake Avenue Seattle, WA 98121
206.233.0680)



The talented Shannon Kringen is a multi-disciplinary artist who has been producing/directing and performing in her own one women tv show "Goddess Kring" on the Seattle Community Access Network (SCAN) for the last 12 years.



Shannon Kringen lives her art.

With a background in graphic arts, her talents take many forms. She is a photographer. She is a figure model. She writes poetry and is a performance artist. Shannon hand paints shoes and records her spoken word withiImprovisational piano music.



Back in the 1970's, I met Aaron Copeland at a computer music symposium in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When I listen to Shannon's original compositions, I am reminded of the very complex types of music samples we listened to that evening. Listen to some of Shannon’s free-form musical creations HERE.


Here is a brief video interview with Shannon:

Please click HERE if you can’t see the video.



Shannon writes:

“I tend towards being an introspective person. I use my camera to create Self Portraits that amplify and exaggerate different aspects of Myself that would otherwise remain hidden within and silent.


A chameleon like variety of Passionate Self Portrait Photographs capturing very different facets. From black and white high contrast to full color in natural light with face paint to the distorted face reflected in chrome. Images that symbolize the paradox of being one person and yet having many different sides to oneself simultaneously. The Self Portrait could be seen as a metaphor using the I to represent the Macrocasm of how many different cultures we have on the planet yet it's all one humankind.”




Take a look at Shannon’s additional work at HER WEBSITE.

Antonio Gaudi

I saw the new Woody Allen flick, "Vickie Christina Barcelona" a week or so ago. Filmed in Barcelona, the mosaic work of Spanish architect, Antonio Gaudi, (whose real name was Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet) figured prominently. I’ve not been able to stop thinking of it since, so decided to revisit it here.


Gaudi, whose work is currently experiencing a large Renaissance, represents a style that is wholly individual and fantastic. He is attributed to the art nouveau style, which flourished around the turn of the century in Europe with national characteristics and different names, and followed the idea of the synthesis of the arts and the organically asymmetrical line.



Design objects by Gaudi are very scarce and much desired in the market today. The largest number of Gaudi works in private hands are held by New York dealer and collector Allan Stone and by Chilean-born artist Pedro Uhart. Gaudi sales are rare, but Stone has held a few exhibitions at his gallery, with some items for sale, and Uhart occasionally sells works from his own collection, but only to major museums or their patrons.

Here is a brief video that shows some of Gaudi’s colorful mosaic work in Park Guell :


Please click HERE if you are unable to view the video above.


Gaudi’s mosaic style was free-flowing, asymmetrical and colorful with an indescribable visual richness. Parts of it resemble Klimpt backgrounds or intricate patchwork quilts.


Artificial mounds and hollows were created to animate the general topography of Gaudi’s architectural works.



His multi-colored mosaic lizard at the entrance to Park Guell is among his most easily recognizable mosaic work.





“Gaudí, throughout his life, studied nature's angles and curves and incorporated them into his designs. Instead of relying on geometric shapes, he mimicked the way men stand upright. The hyperboloids and paraboloids he borrowed from nature were easily reinforced by steel rods and allowed his designs to resemble elements from the environment.

Because of his rheumatism, the artist observed a strict vegetarian diet, used homeopathic drug therapy, underwent water therapy, and hiked regularly. Long walks, besides suppressing his rheumatism, further allowed him to experience nature.

Gaudí loved for his work to be created by nature as he used concrete leaves and vine windows to create his ideas for him, so his work is not just because of him but because of nature as well.”
Juan Bergós Massó
Gaudí, l'home i la obra ("Gaudí: The Man and his Work")








Michael Kaplan has written a beautifully illustrated book on Gaudi and his work at Park Guell. You may order it for $15 on Amazon.com.

Lavirille Aber - The Heart of Oakland Art

Remarkable portrait artist, Lavirille Aber, was born in Illinois to a single mother of eight.




He creates realistic, edgy works based on different subject matter including popular musicians and singers. He puts his whole heart into his paintings, capturing the personalities of the characters he depicts.




From his earliest memories Aber knew he would grow up to be an artist. He began making art at around age eight and hasn't stopped since!




He arrived in the Bay Area at age 16 and attended Oakland public schools.In his youth, he took jobs where he learned about sculpting and mold making, all the while as he continued to draw and paint in his spare time.

While living in Denver, he worked for the Ed Dwight Studios. There he worked in sculpting and bronze. He was one of the major sculpters of several life size bronze statues of African American history makers in Denver City Park, as well as other historical pieces located in South Carolina. He also worked as a mold maker, creating large garden fountains in Denver. His first job was in St. Louis, MO. at Eagle Arts and Bronze where he work in bronze, sculpting and molding.




His canvas work typically measures around 36" x 48" and is executed in acrylic paint.

Lavirille's work can be found online at Eye of The Art and at Lavirille Aber Art. In addition to paintings, Lavirille is a mold maker and sculptor. He does repair work on sculptures and other restoration work and can be contacted at (510) 978-7552 or email to: stillwello@earthlink.net

Violise Lunn - Paper Clothing Sculptures

I'm writing to you this morning from my friend, Delaine's house in San Francisco. I was out walking her dog in Golden Gate Park when I saw a woman walk by carrying a large paper sculpture of a goat attached to a long pole. There is a concert going on across the street all weekend and I've seen any number of these paper sculptures, but their significance remains a mystery. They are cool, though, and I love 'em!

Anyone who knows me also knows that I am crazy about paper arts. Earlier today, my friend, Tammy, sent me information about an artist who makes sculptural paper dresses and shoes. Light as air, these works of art hang in museums and galleries across Europe.




Copenhagen artist Violise Lunn was born in 1969. She studied fashion design at Denmark’s Design School and has operated her own studio in Copenhagen since 1997. She specializes in the design and making of one of a kind pieces of clothing for women. However, alongside creating these wearable items, she also has a passion for making unwearable paper clothing sculptures.



Finding perfect freedom in paper through sculpting figure silhouettes, angels and her favorite theme, shoes, Violise creates sheer lightness and utter fragility combined with experimental reflection about what these objects represent.




Allowing herself to divide her time between these two art forms, the usable and the “useless”, Violise Lunn lets them feed each other with inspiration. Their origins is the same – to permit dreaminess and the search for perfection.



A Violise Lunn garment, be it wearable or not, is timeless, References to both the past and fantasies of the future can be found, but far more important is that each piece struts a suprising and uplifint indifference to what else is going on in the world.

Lynn Dowing - Imagine

Art, music and theater have always been a part Lynn Dowing’s life.


“I have been fortunate to have been affiliated with B St Theater in Sacramento, I taught in the San Juan Unified School District, held private mosaic classes for children and offered mosaic classes through the Natural Food Coop and mosaic and “trendy scarf” classes through a local craft store.

While I was teaching I took a class, Art for Teachers. In that class one of the requirements was to go to a school and teach an art project. Well, I became the “come-to my-school “gal and many of the students used my class as their project school. I was very inspired by the enthusiasm and varied types of art from these student teachers.”



Five years ago Lynn was working for a stained glass master craftsman. While she was there, a woman from Australia came to town and was learning to make stained glass. Marina shared her style with Lynn and then left!


So, with no formal training Lynn has used a combination of stained glass techniques with what she terms as her “hit and miss style” to come up with her own signature mosaic work. Her grandchildren are her test classes.



Lynn writes:
“I am the resident artist of The Art Farm which has a rich harvest of handmade scarves, yarn and clothing, jewelry, mosaic art and a harvest of seasonal offerings. My harvest from the sea is a bounty of functional marlinspike seamanship. My Dad has been doing knot magic for years. I finally figured out what a great skill that is.”






Lynn says that she now has a new quest, and that is to start making homemade paper, per one of my blog entries!

It just never ends!




Please CLICK HERE to visit Lynn's flickr album where she has photos of some of her other work.

Amazing Potter!

Greek POTTER Hand Creation - Watch the best video clips here

...and a hand knit Ferrari (Thanks, Maya!)

Cold as Ice

Lynne "Millimomo" Mosiman

Those of us who know Lynne Mosiman from flickr, know her best by the name, “Milli MoMo”. Her art photos featuring her concrete work and mosaics have delighted us time and time again. She says that her favorite artists are two mosaic pals of us both, Susan Crocenzi and Karen Pearle, but she is a cheerleader for all artists with her friendly nature and encouraging spirit. She brings us together by hosting the Mosaic Challenge group and by making other unifying gestures.

Lynne's mosaic work encompasses a wide variety of techniques and styles and best represents her playful side. She calls this whimsical piece, “Ethel”. Ethel was her first concrete piece and resides in Lynne’s daffodils awaiting mosaic embellishment on her glasses and face.


Lynne’s work takes on a sensual quality in this delicious-looking altered box.


About her interest in art, Lynne writes:

“My interest in visual arts started early with me spending many a Saturday morning clipping snowflakes out of notebook paper while watching cartoons. This naturally led to participation in the Smokey the Bear Fire Prevention Poster Contest each year where my entries always placed in the top three. That’s some highbrow art right there! ;-)

Later, a favorite high school art teacher was integral in demonstrating that art was a million more things than I thought it was. She showed us that art lived outside lines and expectations; it could be loose and emotional, and it could be anywhere. Perfection was not required.”


"In a wonderfully serendipitous way “loose, imperfect and emotional” came together with my constant attraction to color and texture the first time I noticed abstract mosaic art and realized I could do that. The possibilities of color and texture and form and function did, and still do, make me giddy."


"It took a short time to realize mosaics also fit nicely with my concern for our environment and the creatures with whom we share the earth. Where else can you use all those broken tiles and plates and windows that would go into a landfill to beautifully cover an old chair or homely vase headed to yet another landfill?"



“Dinah the Fur Seal” is the mosaic of which I’m most proud. She was made as part of a huge mural that will be displayed in Australia in memory of Steve Irwin, and she was inspired by the plight of the Canadian harp seals."


“Lily Pads” is my favorite mosaic, because I just plain like it. It uses my favorite colors and the mirror pieces and gems are really nice under candles."


Interested parties can join Lynne’s fun mosaic challenges by going to her blog.

See her great collection of photos on flickr, please CLICK HERE:

Jan Wurm - Time Traveler

Diverse Berkeley artist, Jan Wurm, graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, and received a Master's degree from the Royal College of Art in London. She creates drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures.

Wurm's work has been exhibited in many galleries, including the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, the Mandeville Art Gallery of the University of California, San Diego, the Newport Harbor Art Museum Art Rental Gallery, and Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco. She has taught for the University of California Extension, and the Art Studio of the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC).
(Please click HERE if you can't see the video above.)
Jan's art embraces so many different styles and techniques that I found it very difficult to choose which work to show you here. I finally decided to upload a random sample from various exhibits and hope that this will entice readers to go to her web site to further inspect her compelling talent.


Jan studied with and was influced by the reknown American abstract painter Richard Diebenkorn and the pop artist Peter Blake.

Wurm draws many of her bold, abstract figures against bare backgrounds with Conté Crayon on gessoed canvas. They have a signature painterly effect filled with emotion that lures viewers to envision a story being told within each piece.




In November, Jan will be participating in a group show at the Rocky Mountain Art & Antiques Show that will be curated by: Albert Wang:

Iao PROJECTS
925 East 900 South
Suite 40
Salt Lake City, UT 84105

Heather Hancock - Bodies in Motion

A big hello to one and all! I'm still away from home, but had some time this afternoon so thought I would give all of you an update. School begins for me on Tuesday and once I'm back in Jingletown I should be able to get back to my regularly scheduled entries. ;-) Meanwhile, please sit back and enjoy this entry about a fantastic mosaic artist from Chicago, Heather Hancock.

Stacy
___________________________________________________________________________



In physics, motion means a continuous change in the location of a body. Motion is typically described in terms of velocity, acceleration, displacement, and time. Chicago artist, Heather Hancock aptly uses motion-based nomenclature for her series of works...Bend, Flex, Focus. Shapes and colors scurry about her substrates, sometimes in defiance as they dash above or below them to create active, vibrant work that speaks to the viewer in a new language, a thoughtful one, full of energy...music...life.


She writes, "In my art, I reinterpret the ancient form of mosaics to produce works that capture the vibrancy and inter-connectedness of contemporary urban life. Glass serves literally as a lens to transmit and focus light, and metaphorically, as a channel through which something can be seen or understood.

Both the spare beauty of the Canadian prairies where I grew up and the sensory richness of the urban environments of Chicago where I have spent most of my adult life influence my aesthetic sensibilities. Color and rhythms play off each other to explore pattern and surprise in nature and life."

Perhaps Heather's unique slant on mosaics with its rich, organic flow comes from following her own mind's eye. The only formal mosaic training she received was in 2005 when she took the Orsoni course in Venice. Her work has truly evolved from her personal vision as an artist.
Heather's Bend series is about light refracted through undulating glass. Interesting colors and forms weave themselves together in effortless less patterns via the use of glass, 24K gold smalti, acrylic paint and wood.

She says, "From another angle, 'bend' explores how we shape our own reality. We are perpetually constructing our narratives—incorporating new experiences, forgetting some details and remembering others, and shifting emphases to create a cohesive, compelling pattern. Our individual narratives evolve across time, rippling into those of others."


Heather's Flexx series consists of small format pieces exploring form and movement in glass and grout. She writes, "The patterns I use reflect my vision of how, as time flows, we all experience convergence and divergence; connections between people are formed, evolve and lead to new connections and influences. Individual works provide glimpses of the larger patterns from which they are excerpted."





My personal favorite series of her work is the one called, Focus which Heather says examines the internal processes that creates a continuous sense of self. "Trillions of synapses collaborate fluidly through unimaginably complex interactions allowing us to achieve narrative coherence, an autobiographical self, complete with freedom, responsibility and imagination."

"Focus explores the notion of moments of clarity and insight in the midst of the blur of life."

"As a speech-language pathologist, my work with adults following brain injuries gave me insight into the grim reality of a fragmented conscious experience. Amazingly even the severely injured displayed a relentless drive to re-organize and make sense of this disconnected or inexpressible existence.

This mixed media work explores the significance of ‘noticing’ as an organizing force in mental life. These moments of noticing take place within contexts—the internal contexts of personal history and perceptions and the external or social contexts to which we are so keenly attuned."

Heather lives and shows her work in the Chicago area. Sets of her various mixed media/mosaic art pieces can be seen on her flickr album and you can read more about the artist and her works on her most excellent web site.

Update

Hey Everyone!

I've been receiving a lot of email from folks who wonder where I am, so I thought I'd write a little update to say that I'm working on an art project in San Francisco until the 18th. Then I'll be home. Then I'll be in SF again from the 23rd through the next four days....and then I'll be home again and will begin to regularly update this art blog.

I hope all of you are happy, well and enjoying the last weeks of summer!

Best wishes,
Stacy

Xuan My Ho - Swan Mosaic

Her name is Xuan My Ho. Her first name, "Xuan" is pronounced "Swan" in English and her work is easily recognizable by her signature swan logo. She is a Vietnamese American mosaic artist who currently hails from California.



During a visit to Barcelona in 1998, Xuan was inspired by Antoni Gaudi's use of mosaic in his architectural structures.
Gaudi detail
The discovery of his work was the impetus behind her pursuit of mosaic art. She began to research different techniques and methods until she perfected her own.

Nature
In this mixed media piece, Xuan emphasizes the unusual shape of the organic substrate by using unconventional, geometric and abstract patterns of one form on another.

Skateboarding Time
This piece combines rich, varied texture with strong horizontal lines to create an energetic, dynamic representation of a popular California sporting activity.

Rock Park
Equally interesting is this strong study in texture and form entitled, “Rock Park”.

Xuan's mosaic style spans the range of traditional, pique assiette, to the exotic. Marble, seashells, and other materials are commonly found in her art pieces. Each tesserae is meticulously hand-cut to achieve the perfect look. Her diverse interests continue to grow as Xuan challenges herself with new methods of creative expression each year.

Click here to see a multi-viewed video of Xuan’s piece, “The Kiss” which was exhibited in the Art Museum of Los Gatos, California.
The sculpture is a near-full-size shape of a man and a woman from the waist up, embracing.

The Kiss
The couple is created with a repertoire of mosaic materials which are layered over the Styrofoam core covered with fiber mesh and mortar. Here, one can witness the compassion of love through their embrace. Multi colors of grout are employed to enhance the image. On the base of the sculpture, two layers of mirrors with varieties of colored tiles, tempered glass, and vitreous glass reflect the couple's happiness.

Mermaid

"This mermaid enjoys her break from the ocean and is bathing in the sun. As her hair flows carelessly over her shoulder, she shows off her delicate seashell and majestic body to the outside world."

Xuan’s work has been featured in a number of books and magazines. (One of her pieces, the "Four Seasons" was acquired by a famous rock musician.) She makes both interior and exterior mosaic art, including intricate water fountains such as her Lions Head fountain. (below)


Xuan has an exhibit in the Annual Kings Mountain Art Fair on Labor Day Weekend. The art fair is held in the woods at 13889 Skyline Boulevard, Woodside, Ca 94062. Visit HERE for more information about the fair.

Xuan teaches mosaic classes on weekends for both private and group lessons. Her classes are inclusive of all levels, styles, experience and any type of project. If you are interested in taking a class, please email her directly for inquiries regarding times and prices:
myxuanho@hotmail.com.

Read more about Xuan and see additional photos of her fabulous work.

Dinner With Judy Chicago

I have long been a fan of the work of Judy Chicago. She is an artist, author, feminist, educator and intellectual whose career now spans four decades. Renowned for the convention-shattering nature of her work, Chicago has served as pioneer for an enlarged definition of art, an expanded role for the artist, and a woman’s right to freedom of expression.


Her seminal work, The Dinner Party (1974-79), is a monumental, collaboratively created, mixed-media tribute to women which in March 2007 will be installed in its new permanent home at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.




What follows is a video that covers the opening of The Dinner Party at the Brooklyn Museum www.brooklynmuseum.org and a casual interview with Chicago:

(If you can’t see it, click HERE.)

Chicago's controversial, yet wildly popular art is exhibited frequently in the United States and internationally. Her ten books, published in several languages, have brought her art and philosophy to readers around the world.


Prior to creating consciously feminist art and other work rich in content, Chicago made significant contributions to the direction and focus of Minimalism as part of the Los Angeles-based Finish Fetish movement.

The geometric forms, meticulously applied finishes, and luminous, gradated hues of color in paintings, drawings and sculptural works she created between 1965 and 1973 also laid the aesthetic foundations for her own later work.


Rainbow Pickett, first created in 1966 and later destroyed by the artist, was re-created in 2004 and served as the hallmark image for a major Minimalist retrospective held that year at LAMOCA.

In 1970 Chicago set out to create a Feminist Art practice that would give authentic voice to women’s experiences and affirm the ways in which women are and always have been key contributors to human society and culture. As an educator, she pioneered Feminist Art programs at California State University, Fresno, and the California Institute of the Arts. Her own art of the early ’70s ranges from bold representations to abstract symbols of Feminist identity, including the iconic “Through the Flower” image and others which evolved from her Minimalist work.


Prior to the series, known as Birth Project, few images of birth existed in Western art, a puzzling omission as birth is a central focus of many women's lives and a universal experience for all humanity, as everyone has been born.

Seeking to fill this void in Western art, Judy Chicago created multiple images of birth to be realized through needlework, a visually rich medium which has been ignored or trivialized by the mainstream art community.


Resolutions: A Stitch In Time is a series of painted and needleworked images created by Judy Chicago and a group of highly accomplished needleworkers, many of whom worked with Chicago on previous projects. Begun in 1994 with the intention of addressing the contemporary breakdown of social values, this project reinterprets traditional adages and proverbs for the future. In Resolutions, such age-old values as Family, Responsibility, Tolerance, Human Rights, Conservation, Hope and Change are cast in a multi-cultural and contemporary perspective.

See more of Judy Chicago’s work at HER WEB SITE.