Grand Art Market

Today I'll be preparing a bunch of goodies to bring with me to Grand Art Market, taking place at Lansing City Market tomorrow, Saturday, August 24th from 9am-4pm !

I'm really excited to do something more local and to meet some nice Lansing folks.

Come say "HI!" 

Click for more info

Clouds

                               

Just some glorious clouds shot through a dirty airplane window a few weeks ago.

STUDIO VISIT: TODD BAXTER

I know I've posted about Todd Baxter before, specifically the embroidery work that I did for his Owl Scout series. But I could not do a studio visit series without doing a visit with him. A commercial and fine art photographer based in Chicago and now in Los Angeles, he is one of the people who has helped me a lot in getting to where I am today.

I started out working for Todd as an intern while attending SAIC and went on to work as his studio manager after I graduated. Everything I learned about being in the photo business I learned working for him and I'm happy to count him not only as a mentor but a friend as well.

I was lucky to have gotten the chance to shoot his Chicago studio before he moved to LA. His process is a very involved one. There is a great amount of research and prepping  that went into both the Owl Scouts and his new upcoming Astoria series and there is evidence of it everywhere in his studio. Props, costumes, binders full of reference material, miniature models of sets and characters that will be either composited or simply used as models for the final images have to be made before a single image is shot. He draws upon the talents of a number of people to collaborate with him to create his vision.

 And so every single image he creates is actually comprised of many (many many) images, composited seamlessly together.  I would not be lying when I say that almost every plant in a forest scene was originally  its own image. It is a process that is completely on the other end of the spectrum compared to my own but it made for one of the most interesting studio visits I've done.

A few select images from the visit below. Check out the entire set on VisitVisit.us !

Nice Friday Music

Bank Head - Kingdom ft Kelela

New Site: VISITVISIT.US !!

As my studio tour series has grown, I felt it deserved to have its own home on the internet. I was also beginning to think about expanding my visits to other spaces that are not specifically artist studios. I wanted to do more homes and maybe some gardens, and shops as well. Anticipating the increasing number of galleries from both my regular work and the studio visits, I didn't want to have all the pictures buried on my portfolio site.

So for the past month or so, I'm happy to announce that the new site is up, renaming my series Visit Visit! A simple site, with the same layout and navigation as my portfolio site. The series will remain a blog series, with the new site acting as a repository for the images and each gallery will point back to the original post. It will be an easy way for you to go back and view all the visits I've done without having to search through this blog. 

I'm really excited about Visit Visit's new home, and I look forward to making more work to put on it. 

Do you have a studio I might be interested in shooting? Send me an email! I am currently in Michigan (right in the middle) so I am probably able to visit your space if you are located here. But I do travel, so if you reach out, I can keep you in mind if I am ever in your town. I have done Chicago, Brooklyn, Toronto and will have visits in Minneapolis and LA going online soon!

Click to go to site. Hope you like it :)

GIVEAWAY: Geometric Necklace in Black by Shikama Jewelry!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED -- Congratulations to our winner Kimberly Ronning !

Black Geometric Necklace by Shikama Jewelry

Do you know about Shikama Jewelry? 

Based out of Chicago, Sarah Shikama  has this incredible ability to play with androgyny, soft and severe, color and scale.  And what I love most about her work is that though it may sometimes reference other cultures, her pieces are completely modern, seemingly independent from history, and entirely its own futuristic vision. 

Diagonal L-R: Arc Brass Necklace, Black Marble Wooden Disc Necklace, Marble Bangles, Pink Wooden Disc Necklace. Lower left: Marble Luna Necklace. Upper Right: Metallic Purple Copper Triangle Necklace.

Today we are giving away a Black Geometric Necklace (worth $70!) by Shikama Jewelry to one lucky winner!

TO ENTER:

1. Visit Shikama Jewelry and tell us what your favorite pieces are in a comment as well as a way to contact you.

2. Extra entries for liking Shikama Jewelry on facebook / twitter / tumblr and Debbie Carlos on facebook! Please let us know in the comments section!

THE DRAWING:

Giveaway will run today August 7th to August 15th 12 a.m. EST. Winner will be chosen at random and this post will be updated with the winner on August 16th!

SUPER BONUS!

Get 30% off your purchase in Sarah's shop this week with code: SOLSTICE84

Sarah's Studio

All pictures courtesy of Shikama Jewelry

New Guest Artist Poster: Scout and Catalogue "A Study in Marbling"

I'm so excited to tell you about our new limited edition guest artist poster by Scout & Catalogue! Available in black and white and on pink paper -- now available in the shop .

I have been a huge fan of Breanna's wildly popular line of accessories for some years now. She emailed me back in 2010, we traded some posters for one of her leather totes (which unfortunately was taken during the mugging of 2012) and have been following her every internet move since. Everything she makes is exquisite, and you can see the high level of thoughtfulness, consideration and craft in her pieces. 

Nomad scarf,  Tonola Pequeña pouch,  Yelapa Leather tote

I had been playing around with the idea of asking her to create something for the shop for some time. But when I saw her new pieces, specifically the marble dye on a lightly peach hued leather, the idea totally clicked in my head. A marble pattern on pink paper! I wrote her, she was into it and here we are.

Sierra Phone Sleeve

The poster features an enlargement of Breanna's marble dying technique on leather. I love how rich and visual this poster is. There is so much to look at, your eyes follow the path of the dye, the pattern is punctuated by organic bubble forms. You can also get a sense of the leather grain that the dye lies on, adding to the overall textural quality. What a great piece to add to your space.

"A Study in Marbling" by Scout & Catalogue

Click here to view and order

3 LA Ladies

Its  been a little over a week and LA, LA people and LA food was all incredible. I had the chance to meet up with three very talented ladies to shoot them and their spaces. I came out with some really great pictures so I wanted to share this little sneak preview. Look out for their home and studio tours in the following months!