Lauren DiCioccio - New Work

Lauren DiCioccio has been doing new work, "sewn news". For someone as indifferent to football as I am, I think the football images are by far my favorites.

Link (via WhatTheCool -thanks, tonivanb!)

Previously on EAA: Lauren DiCioccio

Uncommon Project

This piece, "Dirty Face, Crowning Glory" is part of Uncommon Project's "Artist Series" line of user-modifiable, licensed artwork for mobile device cases. This has been the most popular work of mine with them, so I thought you might like it, too.

Link

Study Hall Drawings - Review

There is a very nice review of my new work, "Study Hall Drawings" in this week's Austin Chronicle. Put me in a good mood. I had no idea my own nostalgia could inspire so much in others -even transposing it to another decade by the incredibly generous reviewer. Austin, Texas is ground zero for "Slacker" and "Dazed and Confused", after all. But I didn't go to high school here. I grew up in a then-very-small (one stoplight) farming town that was stuck in a bit of a time-warp during the 80's, where, just as in the not-too distant 70's, many of the boys still had long, feathered hair just like the girls.

Link

Fine Cell Work - UK Prison Needlework Program for Inmates

As I mentioned in my earlier post, former inmate and legendary embroiderer, Ray Materson told me about the UK's Fine Cell Work charity program for inmates. They are employed as needleworkers, often outsourcing their skills to high-end designers and interior decorators. Some inmates spend as much as 40 hours a week stitching. Gone are the days when I used to stitch up to five hours a day...It reminds me of the solitude and freedom from distractions that this kind of work requires.

From their website:

Fine Cell Work is a social enterprise that teaches needlework to prison inmates and sells their products. The prisoners do the work when they are locked in their cells, and the earnings give them hope, skills and independence.

Our mission is to rehabilitate prisoners by giving them the opportunity to earn and save money and the chance to reflect on and rebuild their lives through craft and achievement. Prisoners do Fine Cell Work for an average of 3 years: the benefits can therefore be profound.

Link

Ray Materson

"Andy Pettitte" by Ray Materson

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by renowned embroidery artist Ray Materson. We ended up talking on the phone and it was wonderful to connect with an artist whose work and story I have admired for a long time.

If you are not familiar with Materson's work, please consider getting a copy of his book, Sins and Needles. When I was in Lille, France last year for the Sur le Fil group show, it was the first time I had seen Ray's work in person. I was stunned by the minuteness of his stitching.

Ray also offers custom embroidered portraits. Art is an excellent investment...

Materson and I talked for over an hour, and he told me about a work program for prisoners in the UK called Fine Cell Work (which I'm going to blog about separately).

"Joan of Arc" by Ray Materson

In the meantime, if you are not already with Ray Materson's embroidery work, please be sure to visit his website.

Over & Under - Nominated Best of Austin

Over & Under, the group show of contemporary embroidery that I curated for Yard Dog Gallery last winter, has been nominated as a "Best of Austin" by the Austin Critic's Table! Thanks to all of the artists who answered my call for work, and congratulations to everyone -your work made this show great.

Link to Critic's Table nominations - Austin American Statesman
Link to Critic's Table nominations - The Austin Chronicle

Previously on EAA:
Over and Under
Over and Under webpage
Over and Under on Flickr

Orly Cogan in Chicago and LA

Size Matters, Orly Cogan

Tonight is the opening of Orly Cogan's solo show entitled "Child's Play" at Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago. When I've had the opportunity to see Orly's work in person, I'm always struck by how large they are. I wish I could go! From the press release:

Inherent to her own personality, these works play with the artist's attraction to the spaces between dichotomies. She explores the extremes of soft and tough, dirty and clean, fantasy and reality, especially as they relate to gender. Her work delves deep into the feminine ideal and mixes subversion with flirtation, humor with power and intimacy with frivolity. The characters in her work are present in the way a child perceives the world: wholehearted, engaged, uninhibited, and reliant on the senses.

Child's Play - Solo show by Orly Cogan
@ Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, IL
May 14th - July 2nd 2010'
opening reception: Friday May 14th 5:30 - 8pm
Link

and, Orly has another ongoing show currently hanging:


Love Street - Solo show by Orly Cogan
@ Charlie James Gallery Los Angeles, CA
April 24th - June 19th 2010
Link

Replanting the Garden curated by Richard Saja - Group Show

Tonight is the opening for Richard Saja's invitational group show called "Replanting the Garden", works based on Hieronymous Bosch's famous painting (I uh, though we could reference any of Bosch's work, so, er...oops). I have will have two pieces in the show, that you can see here. From the Big Car website (dig all those links, man!):

Replanting the Garden Group Show - @ Big Car Gallery in Indianapolis

May 7, 6-11 p.m. as part of IDADA's First Friday Gallery Tour.

Although painted over 500 years ago, Hieronymus Bosch's triptych THE GARDEN of EARTHLY DELIGHTS has lost none of its allure, beauty or ambiguity. Theories attempting to illuminate its hermetic iconography abound yet noone seems to have been able to definitively pin down what exactly the artist is attempting to do in the painting or why. Is it a visual representation of the alchemical process? a cautionary depiction of the dangers of the flesh or just the opposite: a voyeuristic revel extolling the pleasures (and consequent dangers) of free love? Regardless of original intention, the painting functions as a mirror of the viewer: we take away from it what we wish to see and it becomes many things to many people.

With this in mind, REPLANTING the GARDEN brings together the works of over 40 artists and craftsmen from all over the country who were simply given the directive to create a piece in direct response to Bosch's greatest work. The show is curated by New York-based artist Richard Saja.

Also Friday night musical performances by winners and others from the recent Thrift Store Music competition including Tonos Triad, Sonic Assault Duo and more. And a new electronic set from Marck Ferrari.

Artists include:
Richard Saja - click
Emily Thompson - click
Elizabeth Corkery - click
Guy Davis - click
Aaron Nicholson - click
Marina Borker - click
Jeff Grant - click
Larrybob Phillips
Joel Blazer - click
Robin Vanvalkenburgh - click
Mark Meadows - click
Steven Levan
Inbred Hybrid Collective - click
Amanda Cartagena
SCUBA -- click
Mab Graves - click
Jenny Hart - click
Martin Bland - click
Michael Aaron McAllister - click
Diane Field
Bascom Hougue - click
Penny Nickels - click
Johnny Murder - click
Stacey Holloway - click
Albo Jeavons - click
Ryan Wilson Kelly - click
Britt Browne - click
Brooke and Justin Rothshank - click

Lost at Sea at Gallery Hanahou NYC - Group Show

"Bottles 1, 2 and 3" colored pencil and embroidery on bristol by Jenny Hart

Tonight is the opening of "Lost at Sea", an invitational group show at Gallery Hanahou in NYC. I'll have three small works included. This show was planned last year, and now seems especially poignant considering the disastrous situation occurring in the Gulf. From the Gallerly Hanahou website:

32 exciting artists who share underwater visions of items lost, creatures forgotten, and life that struggles to stay with us.

Curated by Kristen Rask of Schmancy and "Plush You," "Lost at Sea" will feature a broad array of amusing and uncanny works in embroidery, plush, and other materials, including new pieces by Hine Mizushima, Jill Bliss, and Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching.

Lost At Sea group show
@ Gallery Hanahou NYC May 6th - June 11th 2010

Study Hall Drawings at Domy Books Austin - Solo Show

Things have been so busy around here that I didn't even have a chance to post about my solo show that opened this past Saturday, May 1st here in Austin. "Study Hall Drawings" are pencil portraits of students from my own high school year books embellished with hand-drawn embroidery "stitches" in colored pencil. There are 15 drawings in all. I have work in two more shows opening this week in NYC and Indianapolis, so be sure to check my exhibitions schedule (I'll post about each show on here).

Study Hall Drawings by Jenny Hart

works can be viewed / purchased here

@ Domy Books, Austin

Exhibition runs May 1st - June 10, 2010

*I will be giving a gallery talk about the work on Wednesday June 9th