Van Studio

2011-11-01T09:29:00.000-04:00

It's been months since I've posted...it's been longer since I've made new work...2011 was a rough year for this girl's creative life. In March, our house fell down. While in housing limbo, I embarked on a journey for my physical health, changing my diet and food norms and lost 25 pounds. It feels great. When we moved back into the house, we immediately moved the printshop into the second house on Coral Street. Anxious to get things set up and make new prints, I can't find enough time for everything. This year has been full of commissioned jewelry, repeats of old projects, collages of old prints filling my extra time. Looking toward the future, I see big changes coming. Soon...

I'll be selling prints and some jewelry at this year's Crafty Balboa Holiday Edition. December 17th at the Broad St Ministry. Last year was a blast, and I'm looking forward to it!

(P.S. Sam and I are going to get married!)

Sneak Peek via Krista Peel

2011-08-23T11:17:00.002-04:00

Coming in Waves

2011-08-22T12:25:00.000-04:00

I've noticed over the past year that orders from my etsy shop come in waves. It'll be tumbleweeds over there (except for Treasury features, which happen regularly for prints and sculpture), but no bites on jewelry for months at a time. Then, out of the blue, I'll receive several custom locket orders all at once. I assume that one sale makes the shop more visible than before, so is it a domino effect? Or just a coincidence?

Many orders are from California, which makes me smile. This time, an order is going to Ontario. Thanks Canadian friends!

soon to be at Arcadia...the Printed Page

2011-08-10T12:04:00.000-04:00

Hi folks...I am finally combining printmaking and birth control pills! Oh! My!

I'm assembling a book for The Printed Page, a show curated by Gretchen Diehl to open at Arcadia Boutique at the end of September. The book will be splayed open to view, and the framework is a pair of Seasonique packages....they make perfect books! I'm assembling some etching collages for the pages...still a secret!

Come out to the opening and snag a limited edition zine (my first ever!) made from the original piece. There will only be a few available!

The Printed Page

Arcadia Boutique

819 N. Second Street, Philadelphia, PA

September 23rd, 5-9pm

Bookmaking....

2011-07-25T13:07:00.002-04:00

something something roundabout....

Placebos at the Random Tea Room

2011-07-05T13:11:00.000-04:00

I just finished installing my square grid of green placebo pins at The Random Tea Room. A final grid size of 24 by 23, I have 552 Ortho Lo placebo pill pins.

Here is The Golden Mean

Just in, this show will be up through August instead of July, more time to see the pills and enjoy the teas!

Repost: How I print an Intaglio edition

2011-06-28T17:08:00.000-04:00

I am what I call an OCD printer. My studio and my house stay pretty messy at at all times, but when it comes to printing an edition, things get complicated. The added prep work to my shared printshop makes edition printing a rare thing. Sometimes, it takes years for me to get around to it. This is what happened this weekend, when a large order of prints came in from out of town, including a print that I finished in college, but had never printed the full edition.

Sunday, I got up early, showered, ate a protein-packed breakfast, and headed over to BYO to get started. I run BYO Print as a small community printshop, so different folks are always working in the shop, and you’ll never know what kind of residues are left on the glass tables. To be thorough, I scraped any dried ink or other gook off the glass with a sharp razor blade, then scrubbed the glass with vinegar followed by glass cleaner. There was plenty of invisible gook on that table! Most of what was there would probably have not affected my inking or the print, but remember, I’m an OCD printer.

Connie, our little workhorse, and a shiny clean inking station behind it.

Next, I spread out all of my supplies for inking on the glass. This includes the plate, freshly cleaned and polished, two cans of ink I will mix from, a flexible putty knife, a plastic ink spreader, a phone book, a handful of Q-tips, and three pieces of tarlatan (clean, a little used, and very used). I keep ink and tarlatan on my left (left-handed), and the Q-Tips and phone book paper on my right, with a blank space and the plate in the middle.

Next, before I get inky, I wash my hands (you’ll do this over and over again), pull out my pre-torn pieces of paper (Arches Cover White, my favorite, 11″ by 15″), and stack up 6 wooden drying racks (homemade) with the clean paper stack on top. I use a large, shallow plastic tub with a lid I found at IKEA for my water bath, which is needed to soak the paper in while you’re inking the plate, so it can grab all the ink and transfer it to the paper better. I’m printing an edition of 12, so I pull three pieces of paper and put them into my bath with my handy paper grabbers (also homemade).

Two pieces of thin stainless steel, with rounded and sanded corners and a tape hinge, about 1.5" by 2.5." You'll need two.

Use the grabbers whenever you’re handling your paper for an edition. Even if your hands are clean, the oil from your fingers could potentially leave a mark on your paper, and it is essential that your paper stays clean as a whistle. With the grabbers, insert one piece of paper at a time into the bath, poking it with the grabber to submerge it and remove any bubbles on the surface of the paper. Insert each piece under the last one, but staggered away from each other, so they have a nice buffer of water to themselves. With a big bath and several gallons of water, you could put all 12 sheets in at once to keep from needing to repeat this step once you’ve gotten started. The length of time won’t affect how much ink comes off of the plate unless the time difference is drastic, say, 10 minutes versus 10 hours. But, I am an OCD printer, so it’s three sheets at a time for me. (In college, I did one at a time, so each sheet was in the bath for the time it took to ink and wipe a plate. I was nuts!) Put a lid on your paper bath if you’re in a warehouse studio, or somewhere that dust or bugs could land in your bath; ick!

Back to the etching press, it’s essential that you use some kind of registration guide to place your plate and paper in the same place with each pass. I recommend a sheet of mylar/acetate/clear plastic. Draw the outer paper frame on the plastic, then find your location for the plate and draw that too. Use a thin-tip sharpie. If you can’t figure out where to place your plate, here is some math: Subtract the width of the plate from the width of the paper (11″-4″ ) and halve it (3.5″) Now, your side borders are each 3.5″, mark a line at 3.5″ in from the left and right. Also mark 3.5″ from the top. Using a clean plate as a guide, line up the plate and trace around it, so that your plate is centered from the top and sides, and has a longer border on the bottom. The extra space at the bottom is for your signature, title, date, and edition info. Flip your registration guide over and tape it directly onto the press bed. Keep the tape beyond your paper border, or you will have an impression on each print from the tape.

Sharpie goes on the underside so you don't wipe it away as you clean the plastic after each pass.

Now, we are finally ready to get inky! Head back to your inking station, and get your ink ready. I use a 50/50 mix of bone black and raw umber for this series of etchings, which looks earthy black, it’s perfect against the slightly creamy white of Arches Cover. (Rives BFK white is MUCH brighter.) I recommend using tubes of ink, even though I have cans here. There’s no waste from ink drying on the top of the can. Another ick. With the putty knife, mix the ink together until it’s creamy, like thick peanut butter. Put on gloves. Using the plastic ink spreader (matboard or cardboard work too), take a dollop of ink and spread a thin coat over the entire plate. From here until the very end, the plate should always be on the table when you’re wiping. Never hold it in your hand and wipe it! Ever! You’ll never have consistent pressure.

With your dirtiest tarlatan, form it into a ball with a flat portion against the plate, and in circular movements, wipe a layer of ink off of the plate, pushing down as you go. Pick up your hands with each circle; we’re not buffing a floor! After two full passes around the plate with the dirty tarlatan, I wipe around the beveled edges with a Q-tip to remove lots of excess ink. Without doing this, that ink will keep getting pulled onto your plate and create smears. (I recommend burnishing your beveled edged before editioning so they’re smooth and don’t hold ink.)

Don't be afraid to hold the opposite corner of your plate, or move it around for the easiest wipe. Maintain even coverage!

After I’ve cleaned the edges, I take off my gloves, and move the plate onto a piece of phone book paper. The paper grips the plate and keeps it from moving around, and there isn’t extra ink around it on the table to rub back onto the plate. With the middle piece of tarlatan, I do a few more passes around the plate (will depend on how oily your ink is or if you have lots of aquatint place on the plate). I’m putting barely any downward pressure on the plate now, and mostly looking to lose all of those swirly lines from ink wipes. Move to the cleanest tarlatan piece, and go over once more, barely touching it. I use my finger tips to hold the tarlatan ball, rather than held in my palm, to keep the pressure light. Then, I Q-Tip the edges again to a clean polish. Be sure to not accidentally rub the plate or you’ll have a super shiny spot there!

Be sure the edges stay clean!

If you think it’s needed, you can do a quick flat wipe with a single piece of phone book paper. Don’t crumple it, but instead rub it very gently and fast across the whole plate, without any pressure. This will pick any remaining plate tone but won’t go into the grooves. Practice, this is a delicate step.

Once the plate is wiped fully, place it on the bed in it’s spot, make sure that the top is in the right place.If you got ink on the bed from your fingers or from positioning the plate, wipe it clean with a Q-Tip. Re-wipe the edges if needed. (OCD)

So fresh and so clean!

Go wash your hands. Thoroughly. I keep a nail brush and an old toothbrush at the sink to get myself as clean as possible. Keep a separate towel to dry your hands, so there isn’t anything on the towel to rub back onto your hands. Using your paper grabber, lift the top sheet (which has been in the longest) out of the bath, letting the excess water drip off (a second or two between drops). Next, to blot the paper a bit drier, sandwich it between two pieces of blotter paper, or between a towel, with newsprint between the towel and the wet paper (to prevent lint from attaching to the paper). I made a heavy roller out of an old replacement roller from a Heidelberg Press. I roll this across the towels/blotter (like rolling out dough) and push down to squeeze out water from the paper and into the towel or blotter.

Use two hands!

Pick up the paper with your two paper grabbers, on opposite sides, and look at the paper itself. Each side is different. The side with the slight crisscross impression is the mold from making the paper, and is the back. The front is all soft, organic texture. Place the soft, non-grid front down facing the plate on the press bed. I let the corners fall first so I can line up the paper where it should be. Don’t nudge the paper once it’s down or you could smear ink. Instead, if you need to re-position it, pull up one side so it isn’t against the plate when it’s moving. Once it’s in the right place, cover it completely with a piece of newsprint. Lay each of the blankets down over the press, so that there aren’t any wrinkles. Any extra water in the paper will get absorbed by the newsprint, and keep the felt blankets dry.

Layers:registration guide, plate, paper (front down), newsprint, and your three felts.

Next, turn your wheel and pull hard! Don’t stop mid way or the pressure could sit at one spot on your plate and mess it up! Phew! My little Connie is a direct drive press, so it’s really hard to turn with full pressure on for printing intaglio!

: My shoulders hurt from printing all day.

But it's so worth it in the end.

Once the bed is through, pull the blankets over and remove the newsprint. You’ll see the emboss from the plate in the paper, which should be even all around. Use your paper grabbers to lift up the paper from once side, and take a peek! Your print should be perfectly wiped, perfectly centered, and without a fingerprint or smudge to be seen! Place the print on the first of your wooden rack (or drying rack if you’re so fancy!)

Perfection!

Move the plate back to the inking station, and wipe the ink from the back of the plate off of the registration. I use a cloth with a teeny bit of spirits soaked in it, and then buff clean with a dry paper towel. You can also just use the paper towel without the solvent. It’s essential that no residue from the spirits or the ink are left on the plastic outside of the plate area!

Repeat! I printed twelve of Blessed, took a lunch and tea break, came back and printed an edition of 6 of Sprawl in the same ink, plus two of Drawer Pull in a bluish grey ink that I will hand-color. A full day’s work, and a job well done!

A long time coming! This plate has been waiting 4 years to be editioned!

Tonight! See the Golden Mean!

2011-06-09T14:12:00.000-04:00

Hello favorite folks!

Tonight, from 6-10, if you are free and willing to venture out into this hot hot heat, visit me at the Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop for an art opening plus backyard music show!

I will be showing the second installment of The Only Reason I'm Still on The Pill is for this Art Project (previously at B Square Gallery this winter), featuring a new work The Golden Mean and a performative installation that will begin this evening and continue through the length of the exhibition.

As usual, The Pill Project (for short) features a donation box for you lovely ladies who have helped make this project sustainable by donating unneeded placebo pills, used blister packs, and other birth control paraphernalia. The next piece in this project will feature YOU! my contributors! If you are a pill-donor, please get in touch (even if you can't make it tonight) for info about this piece! I am excited about it!

So, the details for this evening are as such:

The Only Reason I'm Still on The Pill is for this Art Project

plus backyard jams from:

Pine Barrens, Stag Hare, and Seven Feathers Rainwater (see musical descriptions below, peeps!)

June 9th, 6-10ish

713 N 4th Street

Bring a drink to share if you wish, or sip on some delicious iced teas!

The show is up through July 30th, so be sure to stop back to see the changing installation!

<3 Katie

---

"The Only Reason I'm Still on The Pill is for this Art Project"
Katie VanVliet presents a custom installation
birth control pills, blister packs and spray paint
2006-2011 ongoing
show runs through July 30th
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

in conjunction with the second thursday art opening there will be live music in the backyard performed by:

Pine Barrens - local buddies, lo-fi indie jawns, fuzzy loops, warm songs. members of lavis blake. http://pinebarrenspa.bandcamp.com/

Stag Hare - Ethereal Psych jammers from the west. on tour
http://staghare.bandcamp.com/
http://staghare.net/

Seven Feathers Rainwater - on tour with Stag Hare. songs inspired by magic and colors. howling organic psych.
http://sevenfeathersrainwater.bandcamp.com/

plus one more act that has yet to be determined.

should be a cool low key event.. come hang out.

Tonight! Trunk Show at Ali's Wagon in Fairmount

2011-05-05T13:35:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow, GIVE ME YOUR PILLS

2011-02-11T17:22:00.002-05:00

LOVE: Opening Reception

B Square Gallery

614 South 9th Street

February 12th, 2011

6-9pm

The Only Reason I'm Still on The Pill is for this Art Project
Saturday, February 12 · 6:00pm - 9:00pm
________________________________

LOVE show @ B Square Gallery
614 South 9th Street
Philadelphia, PA
February 3-March 19, 2011

Join me this Saturday night at B Square's Group Show LOVE show, for the unveiling of my 5-year hoard, "The Only Reason I'm Still on The Pill is for this Art Project!"

This project is ongoing and depends on your participation, ladies! If you're on The Pill too, defy the man and skip your placebo pills. GIVE THEM TO ME!

There is a COLLECTION BOX within the installation for participants to deposit their unneeded pills, packs, and other paraphernalia.

If you can't make it during the opening, but have pills to donate, stop by B Square during their gallery hours:

Thursday 1:30-7pm Friday and Saturday 12pm-6pm.

The show runs through March 19th.

Alternatively, you can mail me pills (now or after the show) at:

2206 Coral Street,

Philadelphia, PA 19125

THIS IS AN ONGOING PROJECT, so SEND ME YOUR PILLS EACH AND EVERY MONTH!

The Only Reason I'm Still on The Pill is for this Art Project

2011-02-04T15:14:00.006-05:00

You can see my ongoing collaborative project (with all of you, ladies!) in which I have been hoarding women's discarded birth control pills, packs, and paraphernalia at B Square Gallery!

The Only Reason I'm Still on The Pill is for this Art Project will be installed in its first iteration at B Square Gallery for their LOVE show this month!

Join me on February 12th, 2011 for the opening reception and to bask in the glory of all those sugar pills.

PLUS, if you have a donation to make to the project, there will be a collection box for your convenience at B Square through the duration of the show.

LOVE

B Square Gallery

614 S. 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA

Exhibition runs February 3- March 19, 2011.

Opening Reception: Saturday February 12, 6-9pm

As always, you can mail pills, etc to:

Katie VanVliet

2206 Coral Street

Philadelphia, PA 19125

Sneak peek

2011-01-03T17:45:00.001-05:00

Here is part of a print I've just started....let's see where it goes.

I'm cheating on you, blog!

2010-12-20T15:07:00.002-05:00

So I haven't blogged here or for BYO Print in quite a number of weeks. I may have cheated on you though, Blogger, and guest blogged on a wordpress blog...

I will be blogging every other Tuesday for the Handmade in PA blog, with a Philly-Phocused series.

Here is a link to my introductory post from early December, and check out my post tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, I've been making lockets and new sculptures and prints and I will post them at some point. Crafty Balboa was great. Work is busy. Change is coming.

Holiday Craft-Fair-ing

2010-11-12T09:48:00.005-05:00

I'll be at Crafty Balboa this year, at 315 South Broad Street, December 4th! This will be the last day that I'll be able to take custom locket orders to get done in time for xmas.

New Prints

2010-11-01T13:59:00.002-04:00

Etchings from Copperplate on Arches Cover

In Control

Sneak Attack

A Particularly Bad Storm

Sprawl

Peeping Tom

New Prints

2010-11-01T13:51:00.010-04:00

Etchings from Copperplate on Arches Cover

Astral Plane

Balloons (Blue)

Crab Salad

Just Dropping By...

Drawer Pull

Not at Rest

This Weekend! My Studio is OPEN!

2010-10-08T09:24:00.002-04:00

Hello friends, printers, family, art lovers!

This weekend my personal studio and BYO Print shop,

Fishtown's only independent printshop for community use, are open for your touring pleasure!

Be sure to stop by as part of your POST rounds, or make a special trip just to see us!

(If you cannot make it but want to visit, just email!)

Come see new etchings and band-saw blade sculptures from me, KVV!

BYO Print will be running demos of copperplate intaglio, relief/woodblock, and plexiglass drypoint all weekend,

and will have some yummy rum cider and other fall spicey snacks for your consumption!

To see all the other neighborhood artists to visit; check Kensington/Fishtown's neighborhood page.

Our closest neighbors participating in POST are PartTimeStudios!

Much love and appreciation,

Katie L VanVliet

BYO Print

Finished Bridal Locket order

2010-09-24T17:16:00.002-04:00

Four lockets, custom etched, with interior personal messages, on dainty gold-fill chain.

craftcultcraftcultcraftcult

2010-08-12T14:32:00.004-04:00

I always forget about this site; so when I remembered it for the first time in gasp, 6 months, I found out that I missed myself on the front page a few times!

This post will serve as a quick reminder to check craftcult more often.

And craftopolis too.

I've got to get better at this whole ETSY BUSINESS situation.

In other awesome etsy news, I'll be working on a commission for a set of 4 lockets in the coming weeks, adorned with portraits of Battista and The Duke.

More about Summer Craft Fairs

2010-07-01T16:20:00.003-04:00

As in my previous post, I've taken the summer of 2010 as the summer to finally get out of the studio and sell my work at a bunch of craft shows. So here's the updated lineup:

June 26th - Philadelphia's Magic Gardens (last weekend)

July 10th - Satellite 2nd Saturdays- 50th St and Baltimore Avenue

12pm-5pm at the Triangle at 50th and B'more

This is a monthly craft fair so if all goes well, I will be here in August as well. Hosted by VIX Emporium, this crafty fair will be sandwiched amongst VIX, Firehouse Bicycles, Satellite Cafe, Dock Street Brewery, and DangerDanger Gallery...In other words, there's more than one reason to hop onto the 34 trolley on this day. Baltimore Ave also boasts some of the best ethnic restaurants in town, from Vietnamese, to Middle Eastern and Ethiopian tastiness. It's one crafty fair that I know I won't go hungry!

July 11th - Market at the Piazza- 2nd and Germantown Ave, in Northern Liberties

12pm-7pm at the Piazza at Schmidt's

I'm trying it out. They offered me a free booth for this day, so I'm taking it. Any sales make a profit! Hopefully, it'll make up for the less-than-stellar sales at the Magic Gardens festival last weekend. Come on out, because although it's a total social construction of coolness and hipness, there are actually some awesome things at the Piazza. (There are also awful things, like the JUMBOTRON TV, and P.Y.T.) Visit more crafty goodness at Bambi Gallery, grab some bubble tea, and get non-messy but very tasty BBQ at El Camino Real. They also have awesome margaritas.

Have one of those margaritas for me. Because I've given up alcohol. But I really like a good margarita on the rocks...sigh. We can giggle together at all the funny people hanging out at the Piazza, including us.

July 17th - The Handmade Market - Memphis and Cumberland

11am-3pm at Memphis Taproom

I did this little fair last year, and it was super fun! Lots of nice folks, both artists and shoppers and brunch-havers. It's small, casual, chill. Plus, Memphis Tap is getting ready to start having table service in their side lot, so this will be a nice transition to that. Memphis makes great Bloody Marys, so once again, have one for me, because I can't. Also down the street is Greensgrow Farms, which is a must-stop for a lazy shopping and brunching Saturday morning.

That's it for now. I'm off to California for a week on the 28th to visit my father, so buy some art and help fund my trip! I know everyone likes all the cute vintage dresses I wear, I gotta buy them somehow! AND AND AND, this is a nice coincidence, but I can maybe attend the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco while I'm out in California. Wouldn't that be a hoot?!

I'm contemplating the RiverCity Festival at Penn Treaty Park in October. Thoughts? Has anyone vended here before?

Cheers.

Taking Mutabor Vintage on the road

2010-06-29T19:06:00.002-04:00

Thanks for the help Lauren! Even though this wasn't financially the most successful endeavor; we had fun. Our friends Claire Folkman and Jon Compton, and TAAF artist James Singewald made for good neighbors at the Magic Gardens' Summer Solstice Festival on Saturday.

Look for lots of new goodies showing up on my new Etsy shop, Mutabor Vintage.

Summer Solstice at the Magic Gardens!

2010-06-22T13:38:00.003-04:00

Yes, I know this is ridiculous.

I'll be vending as Mutabor Vintage From 1ish to 6ish. The event goes on into the night, so fee free to hang around! There will be lots of other nice crafters and artists including fellow Moore alumna Claire Folkman, and Jon Compton, a Trenton Ave Arts Festival favorite!

Visit us...buy some art...bring us some water. It'll be hot!

...

About Mutabor Vintage;

I started a second little Etsy shop back in January called Mutabor Vintage, originally intended as just a vintage bits shop; but, as the name implies, I'm going to begin including altered vintage finds, from jewelry to housewares to soft sculptures and prints. It'll be wild! The Magic Gardens event will be a sneak peek, and first dibs. Then everything will (eventually) make it into the Etsy shop.

For now, you can see more of what I do, fine art wise, at katevanvliet.com, as usual.

---PS---

I have officially registered for POST! Philadelphia's Open Studio Tours, which are two weekends in October, are an opportunity to visit artists in their element; see working processes, and have a blast! There will be more info about this later, but I'm so excited that I actually registered this year!

New Inspirations

2010-06-10T18:12:00.003-04:00

A quick post on the Etsy blog lead me to discover my new hero, J. Morgan Puett, who closed her New York City clothing boutique in the late 90's and preserved everything in the shop in beeswax...

...and now lives on a surreal rural farm in Northeastern PA near the NY border with her son, Grey Rabbit, a collaboration with Mark Dion, another fave artist obsessed with anthropology and collections, among other things. Mildred's Lane, as the compound is named, is about to launch a live-work intern program and visiting artist program, which looks amazing.

NOT TO MENTION, that finally my mother's house is close to something amazing from the art community, a mere hour and 6 minutes away!

And good lord, dinner party guests are subject to finding an assortment of meats and other foods skewered on antique stick pins stuck into beds of moss.....that's just my kind of ridiculousness.

China Adams's piece, The Official Stitch and Hide Procedure, is another favorite of mine....but a whole different take on dealing with the inventory of life. Here, China determined what of her belongings were officially a burden, and made each piece a shroud that obstructed the identity of the object.

Summer Craft Shows!

2010-05-31T14:46:00.004-04:00

I'm making it a goal to get out and sell my wares this summer! Now that the Trenton Ave Arts Festival is officially over, I can concentrate on getting my own art out in the public eye, instead of getting everyone else's out there.

June 4th, July 2nd, August 6th, etc

First Friday @ BYO Studio (first Friday of the month, June & beyond!)

2212 Sepviva Street in fair Fishtown. Visit me and all the printers at BYO to see what we're working on in the studio, maybe learn how to make a print, and even take one home! The building houses plenty of other artists too, who open up on on First Friday, as well as Extra Extra Gallery. It's madness!

June 26th, 1pm-10pm

Summer Solstice Festival @ Philadelphia's Magic Gardens ( 1020 South St)

Isaiah Zagar's outdoor sculptural wonderland, the Magic Gardens, will again host a Summer Solstice Festival at the MG and streets surrounding. I'll be there with works on paper (etchings, woodblocks, collages, drawings), jewelry (necklaces, earrings from recycled or vintage stock), copper and brass housewares (etched illustrations on vintage or repurposed items), and if I get really pumped, perhaps some good 'ole unaltered vintage bits too. Check the link above for info on musicians, dance, and other events of the summer solstice festival.

July 17th, 11am-3pm

Handmade Market @ Memphis Taproom

No walnut chucking squirrels this year! This is a great little art market put on by the nice folks at Memphis Tap. Check out the side yard and the walks around the restaurant for unique local bits. Grab some brunch (super bloody marys), after you've found the perfect piece of handmade awesomeness, of course. For a complete tour of Cumberland Street summer greatness, stroll down to Greensgrow Farms and pickup some fresh produce or plants for your home too. What a complete afternoon!

Gallery Talk and reception at the Kimmel Center...Fancy!

2010-05-18T19:45:00.002-04:00

Psst! Go to the opera...

2010-04-21T14:36:00.001-04:00

I have a nice drawing on the second floor of the Kimmel Center through the summer...go to the opera and check it out during intermission. There will be a reception of some kind in late June. Holler.

Not Grandma's Doily

2010-04-01T20:57:00.003-04:00

This is all cut pieces of steel bandsaw blades.

A million!

2010-04-01T20:04:00.003-04:00

Posts? NO.
Hits? NO.
Sales? NO.

Years, in blog years, since I've posted? Yes.

Sorry about that.

I've been very very busy for a few different reasons:

THIS
THIS
and
THIS

For one, it's prime season for arts festival planning, and I happen to be the head planner for Trenton Avenue Arts Festival this year. New responsibilities like getting city block permits, find food vendors with the right paperwork, making electrical plans, approving design work, are all new on top of recruiting the fabulous 150 artists and non-profits who vend at the festival. It's an amazing, difficult, eye-opening experience. My kudos go out to the people who plan big events all the time.

For two, I've been working hard hard hard with a fellow sculptor turned printmaker Moore alumna on BYO Studio, our now fully functional community printmaking shop. Visit us tomorrow night during First Friday for a sneak peek. We're ready for you to make a print here.

For three, I'm not the only person obsessed with printmaking right now. Philadelphia is wrapping up a season long series of exhibitions, parties, workshops, conferences, and general awesomeness focused on the printed image. Philagrafika 2010 has been a blast, but an exhausting one! Lots of amazing events at Moore, and all over the city. Tomrorow is the last First Friday while the Philagrafika shows are up, so don't miss them! I've already said how I'll be celebrating; with a new beginning.

----

Looking forward...
A piece was just installed today at the Kimmel Center.
This drawing on wood, as part of a Moore alumnae exhibition, Essentially Pattern.

Pricing Your Artwork F.A.Q. (for emerging artists)

2010-02-16T15:10:00.002-05:00

As the manager of a gallery boutique, I'm often fielded for how to price artwork. Today, a lecture at Moore on the topic (focusing on seniors who are graduating this spring), prompted me to organize my thoughts on paper.

Some tips, tricks, and urgent rules of thumb....

There is no concrete formula for pricing your own work.

Do your research, stay organized, be consistent, and trust your instincts.

Research:

Look at prices of similar work in galleries you’d like to show in, and make note of the pieces that SOLD. Keep in mind the mission of the gallery. Is it commercial or a co-op? Does it cater to collectors, decorators, or artists?

Read artists’ resumes, bios, and artist statements. Compare prices with their stage of career. Prices will go up as an artist becomes more desirable, or noteworthy. If you are an emerging artist, your work should be priced less than someone who has sold work consistently for the last ten years.

Talk to a professional. Occasionally, a gallery curator, owner, or other professional can offer you advice, but you should be making the first move. It's your call, really. Ask your friends who have success selling work how they determine a price.

Organize!

Maintain records of your sales: who, what, when, where, how

Determine the difference between selling a piece at a sidewalk sale in Old City, to a friend or relative, or in a gallery, to a stranger.

Having a sale history on record is proof to a buyer that your work is worth the price.

Price work with your brain, not with your heart. If a piece broke your heart, was a personal sacrifice, or you just might want to keep it, don’t sell it. Save some of your best work for exhibitions, if that's your priority, and document your work well, otherwise.

Pricing work higher because you don’t really want to sell it will just confuse a buyer, and undermine the value of work that's priced appropriately.

For the first, ten or so years of your career, don't worry too much about saving your work for future exhibitions. For the most part, you'll want (and need) to show your most recent work in any shows. Maintain a personal collection of artists' proofs of editioned works.

Consistency & Logic:

Smaller works should be less expensive that larger ones of the same media.

Paintings usually are priced higher than prints or drawings.

Sculpture that’s sculpted or built is usually priced higher than found object assemblages.

Finer materials demand a higher price (brass/copper is always less costly than silver or gold.)

If your materials or process demand a higher price, list those expensive materials, or include a description that explains the process.

Buyers will research too. Price artwork the same retail price in a gallery or boutique, at a craft fair, or online (like on etsy). Buyers WILL look you up on the Internet if they don’t want to purchase something right away. If your prices are consistent, it’ll encourage them to honor the first place they saw your work (whether they met you at a public event, or saw your work in a gallery or shop).

It's important to maintain a good relationship with the people who sell your work for you. Don't undermine them by trying to bypass the gallery or boutique if they brought you a buyer a client. They work hard to promote your work, and deserve any commission they take.

Cheers! Hope this helps!

In...liquid for the underappreciated!

2010-02-09T11:15:00.004-05:00

Well, sort of. A new Philly-based artists' website called Funnel Pages has popped onto the radar. One of the contributors, Erin Riley, vended at Trenton Avenue Arts Festival last year, and since then has kept in touch art-wise and often posts useful info the Tyler MFA blog. Now, she's writing the "Studio Visit" column on Funnel Pages. It's a great way for her, and for us, to get to know some lesser-known, but very hardworking, artists in Philadelphia. I was honored to be visited by Erin a few weeks ago, and she asked me all about my life as an artist in Philly. Check it out here.

Also on Funnel Pages:
A Philly Gallery Map
Art Questions (a forum for discussion!)
Calls for Entries

The whole site is set up like a (very dense) blog, so a visitor can comment on anything and everything and, in general, become part of the conversation. Their mission is listed as such;

Since 2007 FunnelPages has been offering Philadelphia art opening & event listings, as well as reviews and opinions from Philadelphia arts writers. Maintaining a belief that Philadelphia is, at it’s core, a community driven arts scene, we constantly look for outside support (you) to help us grow & evolve. We look to you to put in your 2 cents on a column, help with the ArtAnswers, and get your shows onto our listings. If you think that there is a lack of proper critical writing in Philadelphia, then get your fingers typing, and we’ll gladly share your thoughts with our readers.

Sounds great, just what Philly needs when even the youth art culture is proprietary. I'm just glad there are alternate conversations out there!

Serious content update on the site

2010-02-06T15:38:00.000-05:00

Lots of new old work. Stuff that's never seen the light of day. Check it out.

Beginnings; Studio Nostalgia

2010-02-06T13:27:00.005-05:00

I recently had a virus scare on my old laptop...kept freezing and the screen would go all Magic Eye on me.

I took it as a warning to backup all my old files; and here I am on a snow day going through the archives. Some old photos from the last semester of studio at Moore are proving very inspiring right now. As Lauren and I are in studio purgatory now, trying to transition from one place to another, and have not made actual work in about a month; these are consoling images...

The beginning of the Epic Tea Quilt. Who knew something so small could become something so expansive...

The parts of sculptures I hadn't even made yet....this is a great reminder as we're moving to consider anything and everything before I officially purge something. An art episode of Hoarders is in my future....

My first blood orange sits precariously in a coil of sharp saw blade...the first bandsaw blade framed sculpture...an old shovel.

Bedsprings! Wow! And the beginnings of the Steppenwolf sculptures.

We've redecorated!

2010-02-05T15:07:00.002-05:00

I've officially retired the original html and designs of katevanvliet.com, and upgraded to a fancy pants site! Check it out, at the same place, katevanvliet.com.

Uploading new work is now super easy, so stay tuned!

xoxo

Smile and Wave: Doily Pillow Tutorial

2010-02-03T10:53:00.000-05:00

Smile and Wave: Doily Pillow Tutorial

If you've been following my work, or know me at all, you'll know that I'm a sucker for vintage doilies. I print them, glue them, insert pharmaceuticals into them, and otherwise bastardize doilies for arts' sake.

I've been gifted my first sewing machine this x-mas, so it looks like this will be a great project for me. The soon-to-be fate of the 5 foot diameter doily tablecloth I picked up last month: giant pillow beanbag chair.

A Very Nice Day!!

2010-01-05T10:41:00.002-05:00

Oh my Goodness!

I'm on the front page of Etsy!

Oh my Goodness!

I'm so very glad to have listed my Objects for Tea Time on the Etsy!

First Sale at Mutabor Vintage!

2010-01-02T15:52:00.003-05:00

Hallelujah! I've only posted three items on my new etsy shop, Mutabor Vintage, but some very smart someone has already picked out the fabulous Serenader's Trinket Box! Cheers to that person!

Just spent a bit of time shopping for the shop today, so expect some nice new things in the coming days...a very nice Sheffield silver and glass pair of jam serving jars, a miniature printers tray, a nice red dress, and buttom down skirt, some hats.

Loves.

-Katie

Got The Philadelphia Blues!

2009-12-28T12:55:00.001-05:00

Katie makes a Treasury on Etsy.

2009-12-22T13:32:00.000-05:00

Been oogling over this fine old bike...

Claws and Paws

2009-12-18T17:48:00.003-05:00

I recently purchased a fantastic drawing from a Moore alumna who I've bonded with over the past few years through the Art Shop. The drawing was hanging in the Art Shop years ago while I was a student here and working in the shop for the first time. I loved it then...

I'm loving it now! I recently visited Jane in her studio, and found her drawing was still around! We both agreed that I had to have it.

Here it is after Jane dropped the piece off for me at work. I'll repost when it's hanging in my living room, next week sometime. A nice Christmas present for me!

A new Venture

2009-12-18T17:29:00.003-05:00

For a while now, I've been toying with the idea of running my own vintage and artists' shop. Very original right? When I was a teen, I didn't know they existed, because I grew up in the Poconos, where the only place to get vintage was at the thrift store.

I had no idea.

Now, I run an artists' consignment shop, and I love what I do. I love the artists I work with, the people who shop there, and the mission of the store. But it's not my shop; it belongs to the college, so I've done my best to add my personal flair to the layout, the curating choices, the featured artist program. While everything I've done has made the store as great as it is, I sometimes wish I had one of my very own. Someday.

I'm starting a new adventure, to try to find some peace of mind, a compromise for the time being. I'll be starting an etsy shop for vintage and antique items, called Mutabor Vintage.

Mutabor, taken from my favorite book, Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse, loosely translates to: transformation into anything you please. I certainly find it fitting. There's nothing in the shop yet, but I plan to use my time off from work in the coming weeks to get it going. Perfect timing, yes? I'm missing the holiday shoppers, but that's okay. It's not about that.

Mutabor was also the title for a series of etchings (that may or may not be complete), which you can view through a link on the right....

Lastly, you can still find my prints, sculptures, and jewelry at kvanvliet.etsy.com.

Here's to happy vintage shopping, one of my favorite activities, only surpassed by art-making!

Two instances of famous!

2009-12-08T13:09:00.003-05:00

So this morning I joined Rebecca Goldschmidt at the Random Tea Room in No. Libs (my favorite place for caffeinated beverages..or non) just in time for TV! Yes, the Random Tea Room was featured this morning at 11am on NBC 10. If you caught the segment, I'm in a green hoodie sipping tea and chatting with her neighbor, Kevin.

Other news, a lovely visitor to the Philly Independent Craft Market on Saturday, happens to be a blogger, and happened to love my little display of prints, jewelry and little birth control reconstructions. She blogs about vintage finds in Philly as Phintage, so my re-purposed jewelry and aesthetic in general seems to fit right in! So thanks, Chesney!

Art in the Home!

2009-12-07T09:12:00.002-05:00

Here's a nice shout-out from a fellow Moore alumna, who happened to have bought a lovely little Tea Stories print from me in the summertime, and has featured it on her own little blog. She writes of her adventures renovating her new house in quaint Port Richmond. She's working with a small budget, but a strong work ethic and intelligent mind! Yay for smart, hands-on ladies! Thanks, Lauren, for the prime real estate!

And One More Thing....BC style

2009-12-01T21:42:00.002-05:00

Birth Control Jewelry!!!

2009-12-01T20:22:00.005-05:00

Sneak Preview!!!!!

This weekend at the Philadelphia Independent Craft Market, catch the very limited edition birth control pill earrings....only four pairs...

Yes! Actual Birth control pills!

...I'll also be selling vintage-part jewelry and lots of etchings and works on paper (unique drawings and collages)

The Philadelphia Independent Craft Market

(fundraiser and bake sale for The 941 Theater)

2424 Studios (2424 York St in fishtown)

Saturday, December 5th, 12-7pm

live music($2 donation suggested) and free PBR (if you're into that kinda thing)

Rain, Without Thunder...or...how apathy could be degenerative

2009-12-01T11:38:00.004-05:00

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters."
- Frederick Douglass

Tomorrow is a National Day of Action in Washington DC, when women's rights groups focusing on reproductive health care will flock lawmakers to urge them to reconsider the amendments to our National Health Reform Bills that severely limit women's access to health care in this country.

It seems that this is a very large chip off that old block, Roe vs. Wade.

My fear is that someday we (women) could end up here:This is a still from a low-budget mock documentary from 1992, in which women are imprisoned for fetal murder. Rain Without Thunder is a terrifying possibility. For me, the most frightening part was how now, in 2009, many of the predictions are reflective of our current truth, climate, economic, and social state. Even in 1992, basking in the heavenly light of a new democratic president, advocates for women's rights were still hard at work, predicting the fight we'd be fighting now. Watch this film; take your time, ease in, and reconsider what you've done to help stop the Stupak/Pitts and Hyde Amendments.

It could ruin us. As women, we must not be apathetic and must continue to fight the fight for the rights to our own body. Someday, something growing inside of us will have stronger human rights that we will.

Please watch it, while it's on Hulu and available and free. The first time I did, it was a copied DVD translated from an old VHS. It may not be accessible for very long.

Thanks for the great work, Jeanne-Claude.

2009-11-19T17:23:00.003-05:00

Artist and collaborator, Jeanne-Claude, of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, died today. While I never met the artists, I do remember their most recent undertaking, the Gates project in Central Park a few years ago.

I was able to attend the opening day with my aunt, and we watched my good friend, Mandy, unroll the final of the largest of the Gates. (The tube that the fabric was wrapped around did indeed hit someone on the head.)

I will always be changed as an artist by the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, so may she rest in peace. Thanks for inspiring me.

Jewelry & Prints for sale in Philly

2009-11-16T12:43:00.004-05:00

Places to find Katie VanVliet artwork and crafts for you holiday shopping needs:

The Art Shop @ Moore College of Art & Design
20th Street & The Parkway, Philadelphia, PA
11am-7pm weekdays, 11am-5pm Saturday

Open through Christmas Eve, so stop by early and often for the best stuff by me and other amazing Moore alumnae. (I happen to manage this little store, so feel free to stop by and say 'hello!' anytime.)

All By Hand
The Shops @ Liberty Place
16th-17th & Market-Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
9:30am-7pm weekdays & Saturday, 12pm-6pm Sunday

A brand new artists' consignment shop started by two friends, Julianna Lose (Uarts '07) and Abby Flanigan (Moore '08). Seasonal for now, with the potential to stay after the holiday blitz is over. Definitely stop by and support them and the artists who consign there, and show the world that handmade gifts are the best gifts!

Because this little community of artists and crafters in Philadelphia is just so small, tight knit, incestuous(!) even, there are many artists that sell their goods at The Art Shop AND All By Hand, but to see the differences, visit both...just a hop skip and jump away from each other.

Love,

Katie

P.S. Happy holiday shopping.

Open Studio Party!

2009-11-01T12:25:00.003-05:00

Ladies and Gents,

The gals and I are finally having our much anticipated Open Studio Housewarming Party. Please join us, check out our art, and have some libations foods and dance. Experience the unveiling of our new collective printshop, B.Y.O. Studio, with the littlest etching press ever, and lots of nice working space.

PileofGirls, aka Sammy baby, will be providing a 'kick you in the fucking neck' dance party experience. It's not to be missed!

Saturday, November 7, 2009. 7:00pm
Come early to spectate art, and later for dancing and debauchery.

B.Y.O. Studio
Amber St Studios, studio 2-4-S (Fourth Floor, Yellow Door!)
3245 Amber Street (at Allegheny Avenue in Port Richmond)
Philadelphia, PA 19134

Mutabor, 2007

2009-10-13T13:19:00.004-04:00

Mutabor
A series of 12 etchings on Arches Cover

The Frog PrinceThe Onion
Blessed
Sculpt in Print
Scarred
On the Fringe
Martyr
Marriage Beach
Long Distance Hearing Aid
Generation House
Clipped
Alpha House

Statement, 2009

2009-10-13T13:10:00.002-04:00

Contemporary femininity is full of blurred boundaries, undefined roles, chemical control. I make sculpture out of the parts; there are objects of daily routines that are inherently and historically feminine. Twining's first tea shop was catered to women, and the image of women chatting over tea is omnipresent. For me, tea has always been 'a girl thing,' and I consider the paraphernalia and detritus of tea drinking to be equal to the paraphernalia and detritus of taking the pill. To bring the contemporary topics of sex and reproduction to the table of the historically feminine and sedate tearoom, I combine the contemporary pharmacological ritual object, the birth control pill, with archaic ritual objects like makeup compacts, mirrors, and doilies.

Working with wood, metal, and fire is still not considered as a feminine art, despite that boundary being torn down decades ago by women. I find beautiful balance when something from a man’s world, like a saw blade, is nestled amongst those womanly objects like birth control pills, or pearls and lace. Often precarious, sometimes brutal, the artworks that manifest from these musings remain quaint. They are a fragile and terrifying portrait of what it means to be a woman today, if that can even be defined.

New work! Objects for Tea Time

2009-10-13T12:30:00.004-04:00

Objects for Tea Time.

Pearl Diver Map, 2009
woman's compact, paper, pearls

A Few Good Days, 2009
woman's compact, birth control pills, band saw blades, powder

Trophy, 2009
woman's compact, birth control pills, band saw blades, plastic

Tea Table, 2009
pine, horse hair, birth control pills, doily, pearl

Sweet Mary, 2009
woman's compact, birth control pills, band saw blades, compact accessory

A little too dedicated

2009-10-12T09:20:00.002-04:00

Last week I parked my bike on 18th street on one of the bastardized parking meter poles; the ones with the bar left at the top so bikes don't get lifted off of them...

Apparently, the holes were the parking meters were attached have become miniature trash cans, or compost bins.

I was quite tempted to *remove* this teabag from the pole I was locked to, you know, for my teabag art.

But I decided against it. Too gross. A new rule: only when I know where they came from will I use someone else's spent teabag.

Later that day, I saw another spent teabag in the middle of the street. What is the world coming to??

Pills!Pills!Pills!...I mean...Girls!Girls!Girls!

2009-09-22T11:21:00.005-04:00

In case you're a craigslist junkie....this is from me, not some copycat:

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/ats/1386712345.html

I'm serious, though. I need your pills. I'm addicted.

Custom Bookplate

2009-09-17T18:28:00.003-04:00

So a few years ago I was commissioned by my good friend, Bret Bowie Hays, to design and produce a bookplate. He was entering seminary at the time, and wanted his bookplate to reflect his new devotion to his church.

Serious Casualty!

2009-09-16T21:05:00.003-04:00

So I am humming as I ride my bicycle across Girard Avenue, wearing my helmet and a hoodie and looking like a total dweeb, when Flandria, aka not so much the best bike ever, decides that it's time to fail. Pop! goes the chain. Off! flies my shoe. And down she goes. but not before the chain and/or cog teeth gouge the hell out of my right foot.

So on my way to execute the studio revelation outlined here:

which I am ridiculously eager to do and excited about (I know you can't read it. That's part of the suspense.)

I instead end up creating this beauty:

And ruined the one decent hoodie I own:

And now perched on the couch unable to wear shoes so I can't go anywhere. Dirty Dirty City.

And I swear, that's after I've been cleaned up...those wounds are nice and deep.

And I'm attending a fancy wedding on Sunday. Thank you awesome timing!

At least I can use up some of the sick days I've been accumulating at work.

P.S. I'll bet that Flandria is getting revenge on me for the graffiti.

Pearls and Piano Stools

2009-09-15T10:24:00.000-04:00

This piece hung in the Kimmel Center last year for a while.

Old Work

2009-09-15T10:19:00.001-04:00

I've always loved this photograph.

Sundays at the Studio

2009-09-15T10:12:00.004-04:00

I enjoyed a nice morning and early afternoon working diligently in my studio this Sunday. I left the building at 3pm only to find that two young North Philly boys had tagged up my bicycle, (who I caught because they were right down the block tagging a mailbox) which was locked to the bike rack at Richmond Mills.

Stupid me for leaving it outside, but I expected it to be stolen in the evening before it was tagged in the middle of the afternoon.

Sadly, the sparkly white seat is no longer so perfect, as it is currently adorned with a penis and other writing. Luckily, there are no other unwelcomed appendages on the handlebars, but the new mint green bar tape is also tagged. Maybe I will recover the bike seat with another kind of vinyl, if I can't get the marker off.

Le sigh.

Anyway, works in progress:

Revelations, Fashion, Weddings.

2009-09-09T13:22:00.010-04:00

Well, it feels like it's been quite a while since the last post...but only two weeks. Since then, I've been interviewed and photographed by the folks at the Inquirer, finally gone down to Rohobeth Beach for the weekend, had a revelation in the studio, started to paint my living room, uninstalled everything at the Art Shop and rehung fresh artwork for the season, and replaced my bike saddle, all while trudging through the madness at Moore that always comes with the beginning of the fall semester.

~Look for an article covering the Bike Part Art Show this Friday in Inquirer (print and online I think) that will, hopefully, feature me with the work from previous post as well as other super Philly bike-loving artists.

~Brought back a nice stash of shells and other dead-stuff from the beach...will post photos soon. Pretended to swim in deep waters in the bay, swam and fought waves in deep waters in the ocean, shucked crabs, rode bikes, went out on a boat, traipsed uninhabited islands...a very nice weekend! You can find some unflattering photos of me chowing down on crabs on Facebook, but I won't say where.

~The day before leaving for Delaware, I was photographing the sculptures I've been making all summer, only to be filled with an intense disappointment. They were BORING! The little bits, while lovely when you can hold them and peer around different parts and squint and see tiny things, etc, were pretty boring in a photograph. How will I win over the jury at CFEVA that way? I don't have any pictures to share. I was that disappointed.
HOWEVER, I've decided to make big drawings on wood, along the lines of this guy:
So far, I have three in the works, with three sculptures featured, but I think more will come. The sculptures tend towards whimsical dollhouse accessories, and the drawings are elaborating on that notion, while also being navigational tools into lunar lady calendars! Lots of pearls and birth control pills and tea and mirrors, oh my!

Here's a sneak peek....this was the first drawing session (shitty phone photo):

More about that later.

~Painted the long wall from my front door up the stairs very dark brown...almost black. Many more walls, and several cans of paint are left to be tackled.

~Not much to say about the Art Shop rehang, except that it feels nice in here, and I'm looking forward to a greater transformation once the wonderful woodworker, Jayme Guokas, builds me a new desk! During the rehang, I don't think I sat down at the computer at all.
The plan for the new desk:
~The steel under-structure of my vintage Italian saddle finally snapped...I was biking around Fishtown wondering why the right side of my ass was falling down as I peddled....rode standing up over to The Bike Stable and splurged on a fancy white seat with sparkles, and mint green grip tape. For real. See?

~I didn't mention it before, but I also went shopping....took advantage of an awesome sale on Monday. Half off already clearanced clothes at Urban? Yes, please! After all, needed a new dress for a fancy wedding next weekend! (Note: my Aunt B, my mom's youngest sister, is getting married, and I'm so happy for her!)
I scored a bunch of stuff....within my budget, including this sleeveless 50's house-dress style:This dress has three pockets...the re-domestication of women, via fashion & utility, is upon us. I'm working on this thesis.

And a shirt in the same print, reversed:
Now, I know it's silly, but so often I think, oh! If I just had this shirt in a dress, then I'd be set! or, Damn, it's cold out, I wish this dress were a top so I could wear jeans instead of three pairs of leggings....

I did get a dress for the wedding too, only after leaving the store and realizing I hadn't, and went back. Oops. I'll save that for post-party photos. Sam and I will be driving to New Jersey with my brother and his girlfriend for the festivities...so it should prove to be a crazy day.

P.S. The large drawing on wood featured above now resides in a lovely home somewhere in Vancouver. Thanks Memphis Taproom for featuring my work, and facilitating sales!

Surprise! Bike Part Art!

2009-08-22T12:06:00.003-04:00

I haven't participated in the bike part art show since 2007, but I figure, why not? Here are some nice things that will be up for auction in September, to benefit West Philly's Neighborhood Bikeworks.
Wee!!!

P.S. A selection of the artwork will be on view from August 28th, and everything will be up for the auction on September 18th, 7-10pm. This year's Bike Part Art Show will be at Studio 34 Yoga | Healing | Arts on Baltimore Avenue.

MECCA, the rural Maryland way

2009-08-21T11:27:00.004-04:00

My father, Robert VanVliet, just recently joined that phenomenon, Facebook. While some children would abhor this connection, I relish in the fact that we can keep up with each other while living far away.

When I was younger and he lived far away, I called it unrequited love. When I grew up and really understood what that meant, I wrote this:

"...never unrequited, but an affection abridged..."

which is really how I feel.

He's been posting photos of our family farm, Sapling Ridge, which was sold to developers in the 90's. Drive through suburban and rural Maryland today and you can see that we weren't the only family to let go.

He posted this beautiful photograph of the farmhouse there.
This house was lucky; the investors fell in love with it and restored and modernized the house, according to Dad. I still dream about this place: maiden voyages to the scary attic and closed-off back bedrooms reveal both horrifying and enchanting mementos of times past. Stacks and stacks of tin toys, frosted mirrors, tattered portraits, termite-ridden floorboards, caverns, canning jars, ribbons, all in a misty haze of nostalgia.

Of course, that's all in my head.

During the year and off months that I lived in this house, I never once remember climbing the staircase to the attic, which was separate from the main staircase, and rose from the back of the dining room, to a large bedroom above it, to the attic. It was built of brick, dark and ominous and it curved around and up. I felt similarly about the cellar, which you could only get down to from outside, and remember looking down the short staircase there and seeing huge spider shells, white, hanging from the beams.

Ribbons though, adorned the huge enclosed 'porch' on the side of the house, as my great-grandmother was skilled at canning, and won many ribbons for her efforts.

There was a trap-door in one of the second floor bedrooms, that opened up over the porch.

I always wanted to ride my sled down the main staircase and out the front door, but didn't. There was a thick, ominous metal cable hanging over the front porch, which I also always imagined myself swinging on. If I had, it probably would have pulled the roof of the porch down, or damaged it. The house, when we lived there, needed a lot of restoration work.

I remember riding bikes with my little brother, down the dirt road through the corn fields behind the house, all the way to the cow pasture (where there were still cows). When we got there, our reward was the sweet nectar from the honeysuckle bushes that grew there.

At the far edges of the horse pastures, on the other side, were a group of huge boulders that Fletch and I would play on. I remember riding on the school bus; when we passed the break in the trees where I could see those boulders, I would get up to get off the bus. Dad was waiting for me at the foot of the driveway. Fletcher hadn't started school yet.

There are lots of other memories. We lost our family dog when we lived there. She was a loving Boxer/Shepard mix, and was hit by a car, chasing a rabbit. My parents swore that a ghost led her there. Ralph, the beagle that my mom and brother would learn to love and hate found us there. He grew and moved with us and died an old dog after Fletch and I had both settled in Philadelphia. It was the only time in my life that I went to church. My grandmother, Betty, who grew up in that farm, would take Fletcher and me to church down the street. I was the star of Bethlehem and played with other children there. My love for miniatures and thrift stores are attributed to the time I spent with her.

There was a fire at the elementary school I attended, and we were shuttled to another school for a while. I punched a boy in the stomach on the playground once. I think I remember riding Dad's motorcycle with him around the farm. Pumping water from the well next to the horse barn. Mosquito, the pony, would follow mom into the grain house. Feeding chickens. Jenny, the shy horse, would only come up to Dad.

Playing Monopoly in the kitchen with an ancient board and wooden houses, holding down the money while gusty winds blew through the screen door. We, of course, played Monopoly during stormy nights.

Of course, I was only 6. I could have dreamed it all.

The Sapling Ridge farmhouse prompted a series of etchings that became the flagship of my thesis while at Moore. This print was the first of twelve etchings.

Do you know what this is??

2009-08-18T00:15:00.004-04:00

Recognize these? Yah, I need more of them...

If you happen to be a lady who happens to take oral contraceptives, and you happen to want to contribute to lovely community-fueled art making, then save me your placebo pills, empty packs, and any other birth control papers or paraphernalia.

Perhaps send me a nice package in the mail, or drop them off at my house, or deliver them during your weekly visit to me at the Art Shop.

And yes, I still need more tea bags, too.

Cheers.

All in a Days' Work

2009-08-18T00:08:00.004-04:00

Finished several small sculptures today. It seems that waiting and contemplating and not committing to any particular arrangement of things fares well in the end for sculpture making. At least for me.

And this:

Many more too, but no photos today.

Music and Musings at Little Berlin

2009-08-17T00:08:00.006-04:00

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful night for an experimental music show in Philadelphia. Below are some photos from the event, Julia Child's Birthday Party. For more info about the show and the performers, see my previous post.

Samuel C. Cusumano setting things up, already twilight.
He's likely dropping some hardcore booty dance party jams too.

The last set of the night exploded as an improvisational participatory experiment. Here is David Kessler, Ben Warfield, Sam, Geoff Bucknam, and Patricio DeGouveia making weird sounds with circuit bent children's toys. Kessler rocks the Barbie Keytar.

Inside Littler Berlin, the exhibition, Bone Tails, continues, and is a mutated comedy of anthropomorphic parts and homages to lost souls. Some grotesque, some humorous, but all part of a very strong show.

A small portion of an on-the-wall installation-collage-drawing of missing portraits and surreal 'scapes.

Girls. Music. Food : A Mantra

2009-08-11T09:51:00.010-04:00

And more specifically, the 2009 mantra of one boyfriend; Samuel C. Cusumano. Samuel will be feeding this mantra full force right in front of your very eyes (at least, the eyes of those attendees of a very special event) this Saturday, in celebration of the very fine Julia Child's birth, at Little Berlin Gallery in North Philadelphia.

Sam has been planning playing planking (a word? no, just phonetics), and more accurately tinkering and experimenting and giggling for over a week now in preparation for this upcoming sensation of the ears, eyes, nose, and tongue.

The specifics:

SATURDAY AUGUST 15 AT 8PM

Julia Child's Birthday Party ( #2 in a series of famous folks' themed birthday parties)
Little Berlin Gallery
119 West Montgomery
Philadelphia PA, 19122

You can expect musical performances by:

Blood Like Mine (a duet of lovers)
(members of) Niagara Falls
Sam Cusumano (aka PileOfGirls)

And wait, a level of participation is encouraged! As Samuel is a Fishtown guru of toy tinkering and circuit bending, a festive array of modified children's toys and instruments will be available for musical makings. And horrid sound makings. And dirty dance party beat makings. Etc, etc. Et cetera.

Of course, in honor of Julia Child, there will be a plentitude of fine foods, and 'bottomless' wine and beer, thanks to Philadelphia Brewing Company.

This event was curated, planned, and executed by Beth Heinly, member of Little Berlin Collective and creator of the 3 o'clock book.

Zooid Vamoose - Tory Franklin @ FluxSpace

2009-08-11T08:58:00.001-04:00

Two-year Trenton Ave artist, Tory Franklin, has a solo show opening this weekend at FluxSpace, Trenton Ave freshmen, in North Philly. It should be an amazing show.

Zooid Vamoose

By Tory Franklin

Exhibition Dates: August 14– September 13, 2009
Opening Reception: August 15, 2009, 7 – 10 pm
Gallery Hours: Saturdays 12 – 4 pm or by appointment
Artist Website: www.toryfranklin.com

FLUXspace is pleased to present Zooid Vamoose, a solo exhibition presenting the work of artist Tory Franklin (Philadelphia, PA) from August 14 – September 13, 2009. The opening reception for Franklin’s first solo Philadelphia exhibition will be held August 15, 2009 from 7-10 pm. A multi-media installation featuring electronically enhanced light conducting LED prints, drawings, and cut-vinyl pieces, Tory’s work utilizes our animal friends (and foes!) as reassuring stand-ins to pictorialize human dramas, fears, and flashes of joy.

Zooid Vamoose is a show full of animals, animated and anthropomorphized, that render human emotion into an element more tangible. For this show, Franklin’s feverishly patterned and decorative language expands to include the magic of electronics and light, allowing flocks of birds to truly dazzle and attract, and unseen voices to arise from otherwise static yet turbulent prints, as though a flattened museum diorama were to come to life. Through the use of sumptuously layered imagery and detail the work begs the viewer to come in close, whispering, “let’s feel this together”, until some unbeknownst twist sinisterly repels. Permeating the overall mood of the show is the feeling that someone has something to say, in a hectic, frenzied, persistent and pressing way. Although two dimensional, Franklin’s work escapes the gallery walls, winds its way up the railings, flashes and reflects your stark emotions into the back of your retinas and somehow lands on its own two feet, secured in reality and standing right next to you, trying to hold your hand.

Tory Franklin has exhibited her work in solo and group shows across the nation, chiefly concentrated in Seattle, Washington then spanning the states all the way over to our neighbor New Jersey and including institutions such as: CoCA and the Seattle Opera House, both in Seattle, WA and the ISE Foundation in New York City. Internationally her work has been shown in the Glas Moog Gallery in Koln Germany, as part of an exchange exhibition with Kunsthochscule für Medien. Franklin holds an MFA from Rutgers University and received her BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA. She has slaved away to hone her self-taught printmaking skills, working in numerous screen shops and receiving first a printmaking residency at Old Dominion University in VA then an internship at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute in Singapore. Franklin lives and works in Philadelphia, PA where she continues work on new large-scale installations, along with smaller prints in what seems to be a manic fashion and is currently researching ways to incorporate print and technology, the first large-scale version of such to be exhibited at FLUXspace.

Installation Gallery: The below image is one of Tory's LED prints partially lit up during one of the many tests involved in the production of her prints. This piece will accompany a multitude of other work as well that will brighten up FLUX for the month of August and September.

FLUXspace is a Philadelphia based 501(c)(3) contemporary arts space which provides artists, curators, and instigators the opportunity for unrestricted and uncensored experimentation, professional presentation, and critical dialogue for the purpose of exploring and creating new art practices and media. FLUX consists of an exhibition space, artist residency program, as well as public programming including artist lectures, panel discussions, workshops, movie nights and performances.

Mammoth Love!

2009-08-10T13:29:00.002-04:00

My etched lockets are finally taking off! I will be recreating this locket for a friend of a friend, who saw it at the Memphis Taproom's Handmade Market before it sold to someone else! Stay tuned for in progress shots, to learn all about the process; from shiny to black to perfect!

Etched jewelry, the printmaker's way!

Exciting Studio Things!

2009-08-08T22:07:00.002-04:00

Been working through the heat and the rain in the studio this week. Worked through several small sculptures and one biggie, and the tea quilt is still over at Pterodactyl, which needs to be photographed and de-installed. It's nice to have it out in the world, and not taking up so much space in my field of vision there.

Visited with Aubrie Costello, of The Other Woman Collective, on Thursday. She is planning a series of drawn portraits that are very exciting! I will be posing for one of them; oh, the costume possibilities! She shares a studio with the very nice Darla Jackson, who is also working on some exciting new sculptures! Won't say a word though.

Instead, here are a few new things from my desk.

Working through Thunder

2009-08-06T15:38:00.005-04:00

I learned the other day that thunder and lightening can still be quite ominous, especially when working in front of several 15 foot tall windows. At noon, it was the darkest point of the day, and felt a little end-of-the-world, before the sky opened up and dropped rain, wind, and lightening on us full force.

Here is Christina, working away to install Specimen at the Art Shop on Sunday.

And here is a close-up shot of my favorite pieces...the small orange and the blue with the gold tear are rubbed with wax, and smell amazing.

Specimen-new work by Christina Barbachano

2009-08-02T11:40:00.005-04:00

Specimen, new work by Christina Barbachano ’98

Christina hails from Santa Fe, NM, and is the Art Shop’s first featured artist from outside of the Philadelphia area. She is a gifted ceramicist, crafting beautiful and heart-wrenching sculptures that reflect the current events in her life. Specimen is a collection of small ceramic and mixed media sculptures that evoke talisman, voodoos, good-luck objects, and protective shields. Each is unique and individual, but together, the pieces command a feeling of interdependency, where one needs the other to survive.

Specimen is a moving installation. I hope you can join the Art Shop in celebrating Christina Barbachano and her work.

Specimen
Christina Barbachano ’98

August 3-31, 2009

Opening Reception with the artist:
Monday, August 3rd, 5-7pm

The Art Shop @ Moore
20th St & The Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103

for more information:
215.965.8586
theartshop@moore.edu

Name Drop in the Citypaper...wee!

2009-07-31T15:43:00.002-04:00

There's an article in the Citypaper for tomorrow's art and music party at Pterodactyl in North Philly...includes a KVV name drop. Famous! Just kidding.

I etsy'd.

2009-07-30T10:46:00.003-04:00

Finally have a populated Etsy shop. If you check the side bar on the right, you'll see lots of new fancy wearables. If you made it to Memphis Taproom's Handmade Market this past Saturday, you'll recognize that these were there in mass!

Fancy things like lockets:

Sculptural necklaces:
And fabulous prints!
The jewelry is all one of a kind, but I have 8 or 9 left of this print! Snatch it up and show your pro-contraceptive pride!

Impromptu art show and birthday bonanza

2009-07-28T09:34:00.004-04:00

I'll be creating an installation in space #6, weee! If you've been following, you'll know that I've been working on all kinds of new things this summer, so come see them!

Weekend Adventures

2009-07-27T10:38:00.005-04:00

Took the day off with Sammy Friday to execute a 'Sam and Kate Adventure 1.0' There will be more of these to come. I suppose the first official 'Sam and Kate Adventure' (let's say version 0.5) was with our friend Mark, as we scoured the neighborhood thrift stores for children's toys for Sam to circuit bend. Mark documented this for his blog, thepovertyjetset.com, as one of his missions of the Ford Fiesta Movement.

That said, Sam and I rented the MasterP from zipcar (He's trying out the zip while I nostalgically hold on to PhillyCarShare...), ran some errands in the neighborhood, then hit 76 to say goodbye to Philly for the afternoon. First, we visited the parentals for lunch, a tasty veggie wrap with tahini and plums. It's easy to see where he inherits his love for providing others with great food.

Next, over the hill and through the woods to St. Peter's Village, a quaint little village in Chester County that boasts glacial boulders and a cute little inn. We climbed along the river on the boulders, enjoyed the sound of the river until the sound of the impending thunderstorm brought us back to civilization. This little place reminded me immediately of the town surrounding the Mystery Spot, in Santa Cruz, California, and the drive into Big Sur. If you think that all of America is the same, then you're right. Luckily, I could site this as an example rather than the blooming strip malls and suburban sprawl that usually bring about that notion.
Even with a stark difference of vegetation, I felt like I was right at home, all tricks of the eye that defy gravity and physics aside. Granted, it did seem like some of the most stationary boulders were a little precarious. We grabbed some ridiculously good whole wheat bread at the village bakery and were on our way.

Also on our itinerary: a trip to Zern's, a huge indoor farmer's and flea market in Gilbertville, PA. We went specifically for some fresh Italian sausage from a very specific butcher. Kudos! It was delicious!

Back to Philly for dinner: sausage, onions, veggies, and a going-away party for our friends Jim and Margie, who are moving to D.C. soon.

~~~

P.S. Saturday's Handmade Market at the Memphis Taproom was a great success! Thanks to all who came out and supported the hardworking artists and crafters! We had a great time, despite the assaults from walnut-chucking squirrels!

Studio-mate, Lauren Fischer, and I grabbed a nice cup of tea and played checkers at The Random Tea Room (best chai ever) after the Handmade Market on Saturday. Even checkers can be fiercely competitive between two Leos.

Samantha Ernst- Mondays @ Moore-July 09

2009-07-26T11:26:00.001-04:00

Because my camera was finally found (hiding in a bag of goodies that I moved to my studio from The Art Shop), I can share with you the invitation to Samantha Ernst's closing tomorrow.

Some Catching Up...Part 4.

2009-07-23T11:39:00.002-04:00

Yes, part 4.

As some of you may know, I plan to apply this fall for the career development program through CFEVA. I've been working on sculptures and installation components for a body of work called mini/maxi (pad). The tea quilt project is part of this (and is going quite well as several friends, old and new, have been bringing me their used teabags!), and I've made a few small sculptures. The carving project interrupted me for a while, but I am eager to get back on track. I'd love to apply to this program with all new work.

So, as a reminder, bring me your used teabags!

A second huge distraction has been this:

Memphis Taproom's Handmade Market will be held this Saturday in their lovely little side lot and will definitely spill out onto the sidewalk. They are located at Memphis & Cumberland, on the border of Fishtown and Port Richmond. The event runs from 10-3, and I'll be there with a Bloody Mary in hand (they make the best ones in town, now that my bff and favorite bloody mary-maker, miss Mandy Harrington, has returned to her home state)

I've been working on wearable alternative etching projects, namely, a collection of earrings and necklaces of etched vintage brass and copper stock parts. Brass silhouettes and large lockets are the core of this series of jewelry, with one-of-a-kind combinations of vintage parts, pearls, and other oddities. Keep your eyes peeled for the dollhouse size shaker chair earrings. They're a hoot.

Not to dismiss my art practice, I will have plenty of etchings, block prints, and other works on paper from my ongoing 11x15 series. This is a great series, because it's bound by a dimension, not a style, and changes in the work over the past several years has been tracked through this series. You can see the series of prints that started the 11x15, Mutabor, on Etsy (link-love on the sidebar).

To read about it in their own words, and for a list of the participants this Saturday at Memphis, you can check their events page.

I hope to see you Saturday!

Some catching up...part 3.

2009-07-23T10:50:00.010-04:00

I am anxiously awaiting August!

First, the month starts off with my birthday...turning 24 on the 2nd. Sometimes I am surprised to have come this far, which sounds horribly pessimistic but that's not what I mean. The decision to make Philadelphia my home (which, quite frankly, happened almost as soon as I left the Poconos for good and moved into an apartment here in Philly sophomore year) changed me and propelled me into a confident social creature, proud of her womanhood, her craft & ideas, while in high school I still felt shy, confused by my desire to make art and wanted desperately to revert back to my roots and move back to the West Coast, where I thought I belonged. Now, I know that Philadelphia is destined to be the home to great VanVliet's, while making my roots on the east side, Fletcher, my only brother and a great love of my life, makes change, music, and movements in West Philly. (You can catch him on Sundays at The Marvelous record store, playing greats and blowing minds.)

I'll be meeting an Art Shop sculptor, Christina Barbachano, for the first time on the first. Christina lives in Sante Fe, but to coincide with an East Coast visit, she will be installing about 50 sculptures in the Art Shop's window space for the month.
Specimen will open Monday, August 3rd at The Art Shop @ Moore, and we will host Christina for an artists' reception and meet-n-greet that day from 5-7 pm. I really want to make her visit back to Philadelphia and to Moore a great one, so I hope everyone will come out!

Christina builds ceramic (with other media) scarabs and shield, and sometimes scarab shield. Some sculptures become humanoids with little heads, and others seem to be protective charms; shields watching over the space they occupy.

I'm really excited to see a whole field of these pieces in our window space. I know we'll be safe all month long.

First Mondays @ Moore
Specimen
-Christina Barbachano '98
August 3-31, 2009
Opening reception with the artist; Monday, August 3rd, 5-7 pm.

Some catching up...part 2.

2009-07-23T10:40:00.003-04:00

Second, I recently (finally) was able to complete the freelance carving project that's been looming sine sometime this spring. It turns out, that I am excellent at carving Garamond inset beveled lettering, creating sharp shadows that show off the carving even in subtle light. Yay!

However, this was a multi-faceted project, which included some gold leafing. This was my second time ever using gold leaf, the first being the (ahem) GoldenRod collaboration with Mandy Carmichael at Little Berlin.

Tim, the woodworker who hired me for the carving, just sent some photos from his end, after the plaque received a nice coat of varnish and is being assembled with the trim and book-ends I carved up for him. Shimmers and shines!
I am glad that this project is finally complete (for me), and really look forward to seeing the final product. A bit more trim and color is to come (the white is just primer).

I was so grateful to have the opportunity to do this project; it reminded me how very much I love to carve wood. I have so many curious pieces of scrap wood in my studio, just waiting to become something wonderful, that I will have to revisit woodcarving again soon. Very soon.

Some catching up...part 1

2009-07-23T10:02:00.004-04:00

I've been meaning to post for a few weeks now, but I seem to have misplaced (lost...) my camera, and that has put a serious damper on my desire to share what's been going on at the Art Shop and in the studio.

First, Samantha Ernst, a 2009 graduate at Moore has some spunky new mixed media collages up in the window space at Moore, and we're hosting a closing party and meet-n-greet for her this Monday (July 27) from 5-7pm. If you haven't heard of Sam or seen her work before, she was recently part of a multi-sensory exhibition at the Painted Bride. Here is a photo of her installing her work there:
Some of the frames that are suspended there reappear in the work that's at the Art Shop now, or at least hearken to the same thing. Sam uses almost exclusively recycled, found, donated materials, so her work is never boring and always changing! My personal fave creations of Sam's are beautiful pen and ink drawings on torn pieces of cardboard and other papers, attaching pieces together to get to the scale she wants.
She was also an amazing student employee at The Art Shop @ Moore, and I will miss her now that she has graduated! Come by Monday night to say hello, check out the art, and munch of some tasty delights with us!

Mondays @ The Art Shop @ Moore: July 2009

Samantha Ernst installs a new series of mixed media collages that are composed of entire recycled/found/donated materials in the Art Shop's window space.

Closing reception with the artist:
Monday, July 27th, 5-7 pm
The Art Shop @ Moore College of Art & Design
20th & The Parkway (between 19th and 20th, on the south side of Race St)
215.965.8586 for more information

(~These are both borrowed photos, and they belong to their creator, not VanStudio or myself~)

Nix composting, Start sun-drying. (But JustTea)

2009-06-24T00:55:00.006-04:00

...In dire need of your teabagging skills, Philadelphia...

I once thought I'd be making story books,

but now I'm making story quilts. And I'm running out of teabags. I thought I never would.

What you can do to participate in 4 simple steps:

1)Drink bagged tea, Lipton, Twining's, Yogi are the useful format. (think teabags that are sealed at the top with a staple (Lipton) or a knot (Twining's), rather than a fancy edge seal.

2)Remove teabag from mug, cup, pot, etc before adding cream or sugar, and place in the sun to dry. Keep separate teabags from touching each other to promote fast drying.

3)When completely dry (like absolutely bone dry...no mold for me, please!), deliver to me in any way you possibly can. I will also pick up within Philly boundaries.

This summer, I've committed to brewing iced tea every few days (whenever I go through a pitcher, I refill it.) This gives me 5 teabags every 2-4 days, that are dry in about a week.

Commercial Carving Enterprises...

2009-06-19T12:10:00.006-04:00

Since leaving Moore as a student, I've had a couple of carving jobs for a woodworker who is based in the 'burbs. He was trusting enough to hire a recent grad with not much in her portfolio like what he needed, but saw the potential and the work ethic. The first job was for eight small flowers carved for a door restoration project in Fairmount.

The result:

Now, He's hired me for a second job. Here, in progress, I'm starting to carve inset lettering for this donor plaque, and will later carve some book spines too.

In progress:

Katie's Curating

2009-06-03T16:12:00.004-04:00

When an installation finally comes to fruition in the shop window, my artsy heart is filled with pure joy. It's a great challenge for me to invite an artist to create something especially for the window space without trying to guide her. Regardless of my own vision for that person's work, it's theirs and they need to find the answer on their own. I am always amazed, surprised, and delighted at the results.

A few recents:

Bridgett Bonn Wagner's installation of silver Black Hawk's with fine jewelry hanging from their baskets...
Classic Ali Williams...her signature pink lines are here interrupting/connecting...and from the photo, her new black lines look like hair growing over the walls...

Summer vending at the Handmade Market!

2009-06-02T10:16:00.002-04:00

July 25th, 2009 10am-3pm
Memphis Taproom yard and sidewalk
NE corner of Memphis and Cumberland, Philadelphia, PA

I'll be vending at this little market, which is in it's second year. I'll be donning a thick book of etchings, woodblocks, and mixed media prints and works on paper, etched vintage-stock lockets and other brassy and coppery jewelry from recycled parts (and taking custom orders for lockets, whee!), and probably some other lovely small sculptures.

It's free to vend at this little fest, and is functioning in a first come first serve fashion. Last year, the weather was a bit iffy, so all the participants fit nicely in their side yard. This year, they'll be expanding out onto the sidewalk, since yard space is extremely limited, and we're hoping for picture-perfect weather. Cumberland Street is also a great place to go yard-sale hunting in the summertime, as it's a wide sidewalk street and there are usually sidewalk sales every weekend! It'll be a destination! Do brunch, some art-shopping, then yard-sale hop down to Greensgrow Farms to get some fresh produce from their Farmer's Market!

If you haven't been to Memphis Taproom already, then you must be living in a bubble! Great food, good folks, and a superb beer list. Plus, on the weekends, they usually tap a firkin; how excellent! Memphis is one of Trenton Avenue Arts Fest's new favorite food vendors, too. This was their second year vending at the fest (and their second year in existence!). Kudos to them. And just kidding about the bubble-living, unless you have been living in one.

If you want to inquire about vending, email leigh@memphistaproom.com. I'm not sure how many vendors they're accepting.

Goldenrod

2009-06-01T12:35:00.003-04:00

This Friday is the opening for Offerings, an 80-person collaborative project , at Little Berlin Gallery in North Philly (Front & Montgomery). I'll have a pair of sculptures showing from a collaborative project with another sculptor.

The project started out as 20 groups of 4 strangers, thrust together to coordinator, collaborate and end up with some sort of art project, to be shown in the gallery this June. Each group's members can't know each other, and can't spend over $50. These were the only requirements.

My group was almost immediately down to two people, with one officially bowing out and another disappearing. I think I will include a copy of his text messages as part of my documentation for the project. My remaining cohort and I brainstormed and clicked well, I think.

Unfortunately, our schedules do not click. Still. Maybe we should have collaborated via text message. Two brainstorm sessions and numerous missed connections through and we're down to the wire, and thankfully I picked up her contribution. A few hours in the studio, and viola! ART!

Here's a teaser, taken from my phone, text message progress report to my cohort, who is in Corning, NY right now for a workshop. Text messaging; it's the new telegram.

.drop in the bucket.

2009-05-29T10:06:00.003-04:00

It's an exciting weekend and beginning of June this year!

Recent Moore alumna and awesome jeweler, Bridgett Bonn-Wagner, will be showing a very excellent new body of work at The Art Shop @ Moore. She has created a series of pierced sterling silver Black Hawk Helicopters to fill the window! We'll have an opening at the shop on Monday from 5-7pm as part of the First Mondays @ Moore series. We'll also have a special closing reception for those that can't make the opening...look for a date soon!

I haven't seen anything from her in person yet, but I am VERY excited. Stop by this Sunday in the early afternoon for a sneak peak while Bridgett is installing. Also at Moore this Sunday is the opening for the 5-Into-1 show, an annual graduating sculptors' show from Philly schools, and this year it's curated by another recent Moore graduate, Jennifer Willet. Lastly, Philadelphia Sculptors Annual Spring Meeting will be at Moore right before the afternoon opening, featuring an artist talk by Pepon Osorio!

Tonight is the debut of new series at The Galleries @ Moore, NET Nights, and this weekend is also Art Star Craft Bazaar. It's bound to be an exciting, exhausting, and invigorating last few days of May!

Gimme Shelter this Friday in Aviator Park; support a great project!!

2009-05-07T09:36:00.003-04:00

Gimme Shelter is the culmination of a semester-long animal shelter building project for several classes of sculpture students at Moore College of Art & Design, in which they built birdhouses, bat houses, sculpture houses, and shelter-inspired wearables. The full proceeds from the sale of these objects will go directly to Women Against Abuse.

Work will be sensibly priced, from $10. The women of Moore who lovingly created these sculptures hope that you will be able to take time out of your busy Friday to visit the park, see some art, and perhaps help a good cause by buying a birdhouse (or other shelter) that you adore.

Gimme Shelter
May 8, 2009
11am-2pm
Aviator Park (Logan Square),
between Race St and The Ben Franklin Parkway, 19th and 20 Street.

Famous!

2009-05-06T16:25:00.003-04:00

I'm being interviewed by someone from WRTI on Friday!

And I had a phone interview with a reported from the Inquirer yesterday! Whee!

In case you're wondering, it's in regards to the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival and the neighborhood I live in, rather than about my art practice.

Long Time Gone...Things Coming up!

2009-04-27T10:52:00.003-04:00

Apologies for a long delay...lots going on.

The gals and I have finally arrived in our new studio! Many photos to come, as well as updates on projects long awaiting their beginning. The ladies have been building walls, hanging drywall, painting, cleaning. Half of us have moved our studios into the space, and are ready to get settled. I feel the sun rising.

Visit me in the Art Shop @ Moore this week to catch the last few days of Michelle Wilson's Reverse Archaeology installation. This is a participatory project, where Michelle's cast paper bowls are to be planted in shallow earth by the participant, and wildflower seeds that were infused into the paper will sprout and grow. I'm wondering if Michelle will have a grand planting of the bowls that do not sell this week. I"m planning on taking a few home with me.

This weekend Ali Williams, one of my new studio mates, will be installing her work, Since Feeling is First, in the Art Shop window. Ali's previous work can be seen here, along with pertinent artist information.

Join Ali and me this Monday, May 4th, from 5-7 pm in the Art Shop for an opening reception for Since Feeling is First, which will run through May.

Postponed....and an homage to Faith Wilding

2009-03-02T14:45:00.002-05:00

The opening for Darla Jackson's installation, Flock, at The Art Shop @ Moore has been postponed due to weather. Moore is closed for the day, and so is the shop. Stay tuned for an update for a later opening date, or a closing reception. Or both. In the meantime, stop by the shop as her installation is up and looks pretty amazing.

I've been sitting at the RocketCat for four hours doing a year's worth of back bookkeeping for EKNA. I have a $3.00 discrepency somewhere in the first three months of 2008 that I can't find. Many debit card purchases at Home Depot and Staples. "F" is for frivilous; "F" is for Fritz. (But I didn't just say that.) Still have more to do....won't try to tackle 2007, like being blind in an obstacle course.

I always knew I was too good at math to be an artist...can't even think about the abtract problem solving that leads to art-making. I am in a concrete world. My brain in fried.

Although I did explain the new trend of pockets in dresses as an icon of a resurgance of traditional family values last night. I'm quite proud of that connection.

I have no looming deadlines, no exhibitions on my plate. Waiting, waiting. Waiting for the studio. Waiting for the arts festival. Waiting for something different.

News on the studio:
Should have gotten in yesterday....previous tenant is still occupying the space. Her court date (today) was cancelled due to weather. No indication of a prompt rescheduling. Waiting.

the beauty of being double-booked

2009-02-27T12:36:00.003-05:00

Is that you only have to pick one engagement to go to....ba-bam.

This weekend is jam-packed with appointments, art events, record release shows, art installations, coffee dates, and hopefully some sleep and nice surprises. Maybe I'll be able to see the boyfriend. Maybe.

On the list of events I'll miss:

Tonight:
A house-gallery art opening in West Philly ladies' house. Preoccupation: sleep and fear of biking in the rain on a Friday night. And a going-away party at a friend of a friends that is MUCH closer to home...

Tomorrow:
Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby (see link) Meet-n-Greet at PBC. Preoccupation: Installation date with Darla Jackson at The Art Shop. If they were geographically closer, I'd make it to both.

Also tomorrow: Sexy (toy) party in the Northeast. Preoccupation: My brother's record release party at his house in West Philly. And, when I get intimidated by all the youthful adrenaline surging through the house, a nice imperial stout will be waiting for me down the street at Fiume, my favorite under-the-radar bar. I'll need that to handle the long ride home to Kensington.

Sunday: Plastic at the Plastic Club (an art opening). Preoccupation: Installation date with Darla Jackson, part II. Yes, it's gonna be so good, that we need two days to install.

Also Sunday: Date with my 6 studio comrades at the Last Drop. Preoccupation: none. Unless we actually get the keys to our space that day....then we'll be in North Philly saving the previous tenant's abandoned goods from the dumpster.

Oh, didn't I mention? We signed a lease last weekend for an absolutely HUGE studio space in North Philly, to be shared between 7 alumnae from Moore, all 2007 fine art ladies. Private studios, a communal print shop and tool shop, and studio cat coming soon. If anyone is especially gifted at building walls, and salvaging the materials to built said walls at minimal cost, please see me asap...maybe it's time to rekindle that relationship with the dumpster divers and Please Take Materials Exchange.

On the radar: deciding on a studio name, so we can register for POST as one entity. Deadline: May 1, 2009

FLOCK...this Monday at The Art Shop

2009-02-26T15:14:00.002-05:00

Introducing ( and yet she needs no introduction):

the amazing Darla Jackson

FLOCK- Darla Jackson '03

First Mondays @ Moore -March 2009

Please join us on Monday, March 2nd as we kick off Women's History Month and March alumnae celebrations with The Art Shop's First Mondays @ Moore!

Darla Jackson, a CFEVA fellowship fellow, has exhibited all over the Philadelphia area and beyond. She is a founding member of the all women art collective, The Other Woman. She also is the sculptor responsible for the giant boot (that perhaps you've seen around town), Moore's 160th Anniversary city-wide public sculpture project; Footsteps.

March 2-30, 2009 at
The Art Shop @ Moore College of Art & Design
20th Street & The Parkway, Philadelphia.
215.965.8586

Opening reception: Monday, February 2, 5-7 pm.

Come by for hot coffee and tea and tasty snacks! Perfect for that 'pick me up' at the end of your Monday!

Find VanStudio on etsy!

2009-02-20T15:56:00.004-05:00

I've finally done it. I have an Etsy shop. Currently, I have the Mutabor etching series from 2007 listed, and one reductive woodcut, an homage to Queen Anne and birth control that I printed by hand before I bought the etching press. Makes a girl really appreciate Japanese printmakers, who print infinite layers of color, making beautiful hand-printed woodcuts.

I'll be adding the found metal necklaces that I had for sale at the V-Day Arts & Crafts Affair. And etched lockets. Email me for a custom locket! Right now, I've been wearing (showing off) a brass locket that I etched a drawing of a bee onto.

Small sculptures, a highly curated collection of vintage/antique parts, and more works on paper to come.

Trenton Avenue Arts Festival 2009-Call for Artists!

2009-02-04T15:18:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again....it's time for all those freelance artists and craftspersons to start booking the summer festival schedule. First on the list, this year's Trenton Avenue Arts Festival, on the border of fair Fishtown & East Kensington neighborhoods, in Philadelphia. I will be doing the artists' coordination again this year, and am looking forward to an awesome festival!

Registration is now open, and early registration ends April 1st, 2009. Contact me for more details, or visit EKNA.org.

This Saturday! Vday arts fair at Studio 33

2009-02-04T14:08:00.000-05:00

A St. Valentines Day Art & Crafts Affair
(a place for buying tokens of love)

3237 Amber Street~Studio 33A, Philadelphia, PA 19134
www.studio33a.blogspot.com

This Saturday I've been invited to show/sell/peddle art and wares at Studio 33, the studio of some of the members of The Other Woman Collective.

Aside from myself, a large group of ladies and gents will be offering up their dear creations to the public, friends, and other passers by. Also present: North Port Fishington Cookie Factory! Vegan treats for all! This guy makes the BEST vegan donuts.

I'll be bringing lots of prints by yours truly and a book of woodcuts by my housemate, David S. Aponte, who unfortunately can't be there himself. I've also been working on a series of necklaces that collage vintage copper, brass, and metal parts. Also available on a made-to-order basis: etched copper and brass lockets. I'll have samples at the fair to give ideas...

This will be a great place to bring your sweetie for some sweets!

Bubbles...

2009-02-04T13:59:00.000-05:00

Bubbles: the Effervescent lives of the Hippocampus Laura Marta '08

Laura Marta uses printmaking processes to create unique works on paper. Inspired by marine life, her images usually take on a colorful and whimsical aesthetic.

February 2-27, 2009.

Mad Toy Run- a nice surprise

2008-12-23T15:09:00.000-05:00

Some photos from the installation.....

Was a blast to install, and make all the little critters. I will now be making etching plates that look like sheets of stickers, specifically for cut-outs.

Mad Toy Run

2008-11-20T18:48:00.000-05:00

Finally, since the opening of the show at the Random Tea Room, I have inspiration/motive to make a lot of new work. The artist I have had booked (months ago) to show her work in the Art Shop window this December bailed out (about a week ago). In lieu of scrambling to find an alumna who would be able to pull together a site-specific installation in a matter of weeks, I decided to put that pressure on myself.

I'm not favoring myself or anything, but having begun the project with myself in mind, the opportunity just came sooner rather than later. Shameless self promotion.

In light of the upcoming holiday season, the title of the installation will be Mad Toy Run. I was inspired by the piece I put in the last show, a printmaking nightmare maquette of a hand getting stuck in a printing press...VanStudio won't be hosting any all night printing marathons anytime soon...

The installation will be up through the holidays, with the shop open through Xmas eve. The opening 'reception' or 'viewing party' is December 1st, from 4-6pm. It'll be cold, so we serve coffee and tea at the winter openings.

Look for a menagerie of cut paper, prints and found object sculptures. Very exciting...lots of paper scraps on the studio floor...

Nightmare on Wood St - opening this Friday

2008-11-03T14:45:00.000-05:00

I'm going to have a small piece in this show.

Should be an excellent time with lots of funky work by Philly's most creative folks.

The opening is this Friday, November 7th from 6-10 at the Compound Warehaus in Chinatown.

This studio is located in a great building at 319 North 11Th St, shared with Vox Populi and Copy Gallery.

The Compound Warehaus is on the 1st floor, but Vox and Copy will be having openings too since it's First Friday.

See you there.

Don't forget that tonight is the opening for Marie Elcin's installation, Cityscape, at the Art Shop @ Moore. I'll be hosting this fall warming viewing party (a mouthful) from 4-6 pm. (See previous post.)

Marie Elcin, Cityscape

2008-10-31T13:37:00.000-04:00

This Monday, November 3rd, from 4-6 pm, we will celebrate Marie Elcin's new embroidering work, Cityscape, at The Art Shop @ Moore College of Art & Design. Be sure to come out early, as it'll get dark early since we change clocks back on Saturday.

Cityscape, Marie Elcin '00
embroidery

November 3-29, 2008 at The Art Shop @ Moore College of Art & Design
20th Street & The Parkway, Philadelphia.
215.965.8586

Opening reception: Monday, November 3rd, 2008. 4-6 pm.

Marie's work has been exhibited all over Philadelphia, including Highwire Gallery, the Fleisher Art Memorial, and the Physick House. She teaches embroidery at the Fleisher Art Memorial and most recently hosted a "Stitching Hour" workshop at the Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop in conjunction with an exhibition there in October, 2008.

Success in the Art of Selling Art

2008-10-07T15:29:00.000-04:00

The Art Shop hosted the opening for Ruth Lampi's installation, What My Eyes Saw and My Hands Remembered, last night. There was a great turnout! Also, we sold the centerpiece of the installation to a couple who is involved with the college. Besides friends of the artist, a few of my contacts from University of the Arts and the PA Academy of Fine Arts showed up. Everyone had some wine, coffee, cheeses, and a good time chatting about art.

It did get cold and windy by 6 o'clock, so I think next month we'll move the viewing times to 4-6 instead of 5-7pm.

Now it's time to start getting artists committed for next year.