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Sunday, April 18

Mutual Admiration Society

I've had a lovely response to my Spontaneous Repetition Show and the review over on Artblog, including getting contacted by artist Amy Bouse. After looking through her website I could see what she liked about the Stratasphere exhibit-- her paintings have an affinity with Erin Castellan's stitched prints (like in "Harelip (red tent)" below). There's a similar color sense and abstracted space in both their work. I'm always curious where artists find inspiration for their titles, and this one especially makes me wonder if there's a literary reference (Red Tent by Anita Diamant? awesome book).
This sketchbook series inspired by the design proposals by Los Angeles Fencing Company for Limerick Avenue School (if I've understood the inspiration correctly) seems to relate to my stitched urban landscapes. I love seeing the back of the previous page's stitching as you flick through the "book" on her website. The markings break the tight lines of the blueprints, marking perhaps how the site was actually used by children in play.
The internet is a wonderful thing, especially when it can introduce like-minded artists to each other. I like how Amy gives equal weight on her website to all her areas of artistic focus. Although I wish she'd write more about them in an artist statement or description of her series so we could have insight into her process (hint hint?)

Have a creative week! Mine will be filled with a lot of stitching... which I'll share later.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for featuring my work!

    Yes, the Red Tent painting was inspired by the eponymous book- a section describing how harelip babies were abandoned to die.

    The original Limerick School designs were done by my Grandfather, who made fences and playground structures in Los Angeles for decades. I thought about how people would interact with these constructions as I did the embroidery. I too am fond of the backsides of the stitchings- and agree that I need to work on artist statements for the site.

    Now I'm going to check out Erin Castellan's work!

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  2. Hooray! I'm so pleased with myself when I "get" a reference.
    It was a pleasure to hear your expanded story about the Limerick School designs- that's exactly the kind of juicy info I'd love to read on your website!

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