Studio Tour: Anna Asilo-Pamasa

I first met Anna through Lilian (BFGF) back in 2011. She comes off as friendly, super chill, and kind of quiet. This is why its really surprising to see her highly visual  paintings. Sometimes cacophonous, sometimes peaceful but often a nice mixture of both,  she strings together various subjects, creating striking forms and strange narratives. Cultural references, pop cultural references and things like, "clouds, bathrooms, [her dog] lupe, gravity, hands, fast food motifs, memories, body dialect, foil, fabric that hangs just right, strangers, the texture of water, wishful thinking, hillsides" all come together in this beautiful, subconscious landscape. Pieces that you can get lost in.

Last fall, I was able to pay Anna a visit at her and her girlfriend Jocelyne's home and studio before they moved abroad. Their space is like a physical manifestation of her paintings. Not only because the walls are filled with her paintings but also decorated with pictures of family, friends, each other, books, toys, trinkets, and lots of plants. Everything arranged awkwardly and perfectly.


Take a look:






See all images on my site or on flickr

Studio Tour: Cursive Design + Up In The Air Somewhere

As someone who loves to look at things, and obsessively partakes in internet-window shopping, I subscribe to a lot of blogs, tumblrs, pinterests, and the like. I go through so much visual candy everyday and it gets to a point where you like a lot of whats going on but its also a lot of the same things and its easy to just skim through much of it. But when I discovered Susan's ceramics and Sarah's jewelry, it was a kind of revelation because they showed me something I hadn't seen before, ideas that I haven't thought of before. Airy, dreamy, almost-way-too-delicate, gold accented vessels that straddle the line between art and functionality? Also some of it looked like water towers? Balls-y and playful collage based jewelry in a weird but perfect mix of disparate materials? AWESOME. 

At some point, I realized that the two share a studio together in Chicago's West Town neighborhood (coincidentally, adjacent to Laura Lombardi's space which I shot that same day). They have always been at the top of my list when I started this studio tour series and thought it was a great opportunity to meet and hang out with two people I've always wanted to meet and hang out with! Their studio is, of course, beautiful and dreamy just like their work. As I snooped around with my camera, it was cool to see how two artists working in different areas, that don't really make the same work aesthetically, can also play off each other in small ways. I hope this comes through in the images. 

Enjoy !

See all the images on my site or on Flickr

Studio Tour: Laura Lombardi

The thing about Laura Lombardi's jewelry is that each piece seems to be full of history. Its true that she uses vintage and dead stock pieces to create her jewelry which has something to do with it but I think she composes in such a way that  it implies that each bracelet, necklace, pendant was found in some ruin, having been worn by an oracle, priestess, prophetess, seer. Although her jewelry gives the feeling of antiquity and ceremony, they are also thoroughly modern, edgy and feminine.

A couple of months ago, Laura agreed to let me stop by her studio in Chicago with my camera. A gracious hostess, she chatted with me about her work, background, inspiration, gave me a little sneak peek at her spring line and, of course, let me snoop around. She even made me a necklace while I was there which makes it even more special. To see someone as nice as she, enjoying such great success at a young age is really inspiring. I hope you find these pictures equally as interesting and inspiring.




Also view images on my site or on Flickr

Preparations

I am going to be at Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago this year with boothmate Boyfren/Girlfren. This week I started to get my stuff in order, printing posters en masse, trimming prints, rolling things up into tubes, figuring out how to display things. FUN! Hope to see some of you there??

In other news, I've got a short and sweet and fun interview up on Sarah Ervin's blog as part of their Maker's Remarks series. Go read it!

Homework for the weekend:

1. Chat
&
2. Smile

Antler Magazine

I've got an interview up on Antler Magazine's website! It includes some photos of my home and a little tour of my favorite things to do / places to go in Chicago. I had so much fun doing this.

Thank you, Antler!!!


* Andi, the editor/founder of Antler Mag has got a fabulous shop on Etsy, selling leather bags from repurposed jackets. Go take a look!