Goodbye George W. Bush

To celebrate the end of this 8-year disaster, I wanted to look back at some of the Bush illustrations I created over the years. Above is a portrait from a series I painted of all of the U.S. Presidents. (I am very excited to paint the next one...)

And below are some of the Bush illustrations I made for the Seattle Weekly Newspaper. When looking through my archive, I have drawings of Bush growing a Pinnochio nose, chopping down trees, riding a nuclear missile, and driving a wrecking ball through a group of senior citizens.

Here is a more harmonious piece:



And here's a hopeful one that came right before the 2004 election:


And finally, an illustration of what we should have been able to do to stop this at some point:



Creating politically-charged editorial illustration is a challenge-- how can the grey areas and complexities of any issue be addressed in a single image that needs to 'read' quickly? With the Seattle Weekly, I was lucky to be partnered with writer Geov Parrish, who was well-informed, but also wrote to the extreme to get his readers to react. Illustrating his column for a few years, I had the opportunity to engage in this challenge every week, and eventually get more comfortable with it. George Bush was a regular subject in this column, and for all the bad that he spread around, I have to say that I really enjoyed drawing him.

PostIt

Hello to the Post It Show III, which is still up at LA's Giant Robot Gallery. I was happy to be part of this show (under my pseudonym, Nina Frankel), along with hundreds of other artists. Making work for this show, I was guided by the PostIt's low-key-ness, which got me into an art-making process which went something like this: have an idea, grab a PostIt, try it out... while working on that image, get another idea, grab another PostIt, start that idea, an on, and on. I'd soon have about 20 PostIts gestating together on my desk. Then I would look to sort out which were not worth pursuing and which had possibility. From every batch of 20, there would be two or three that seemed they would make it to full fruition. In the end, I sent off 24 to the show, and have a big stack of rejects to keep for future inspection-- maybe these will serve as good ideas for later, and maybe they need to be recycled.

Here a survivor, that made the trip out to LA for the show:

Hungarians in OuterSpace

I'm grateful to Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson for curating this show and giving so many of us this nudge to experiment and produce. And thank you to the PostIt, for being a liberator of ideas and a receptacle for creativity.

Sculpey 2009

This is the New Year email card I sent out to friends and clients this year, and I thought I'd put it up on this blog to start the new year off with a little Sculpey.

Sculpey is my 'recreational' art form-- I have been working with it for about 12 years, and find it very fun. The best are the colors that you can mix-- it's such a good feeling to take chunks of raw Sculpey, mix them in your hands, and see a new color emerge. For anyone who mixes paint, this is an exciting tactile experience! It's also satisfying to me mix subtle or moody colors out of the very bright raw materials.

These Sculpey lions were made for two people whom I love and admire very much, to stand by and watch over them during cancer treatment. The one in the background was named "Chemo-sabie" by its recipient, and one in the foreground was named "Chemo-simba", as a brilliant riff on the other one's name, by its recipient.

I love creating characters in 3D, and while I haven't yet used Sculpey for any stop-motion animation work, one of my hopes for 2009 is to make that happen.
(Here's a link to my stop-motion heroes, Aardman.)

There is a good resource on the Sculpey site, called Sculpey 101 which I recommend checking out. To supplement, here are some things that I have learned from using Sculpey over the years:

-While Sculpey is non-toxic, I suggest getting a dedicated toaster oven from a garage sale for baking it, and not using your kitchen oven. Also too, you can get a mini-pyrex casserole dish for the oven's tray, to use instead of the metal one that might come with.

-Always underbake your Sculpey-- I find that when you bake it until it is brittle, it will break that much sooner. Take your Sculpey out of the oven before you think it is done. It will continue to bake/harden after you remove it, with the heat it has taken in.

-If your Sculpey creation is to stand, make sure you place it as you want it to stand, on the baking tray.

-You can coat your Sculpey with clear nail polish, or Sculpey brand's clear fixative.
This does seem to make the pieces last longer. I haven't discovered a matte finish, but am sure there are products out there.

-If you are mailing Sculpey to a friend, go overboard with packing. There is nothing sadder than your recipient telling you they opened your package only to discover your loving gift, dismembered.

-And finally, if you are an artist who is used to 2D, I highly recommend getting yourself some Sculpey for exploring the next dimension. I now bring Sculpey to my Animation class at Parsons- once the students have settled on their character designs in their sketchbooks, we make them in Sculpey. This process is valuable for getting to know their characters even more, and then they have a little pal to place next to the Computer for inspiration, when working.

Happy Holidays! 1950

Last month, while digging through my parents' stuff in preparation for a move, I discovered some family treasures about which I will be writing in the new year. One surprise finding was this pair of holiday cards made by my grandfather Albert Kner, in 1950. They are paper collage, done in a style that I hadn't quite seen from my grandfather before. In fact, they are in a style that I have embraced: simple and bold shapes. Needless to say, I was excited and touched to find these and to feel this connection. I love the playfulness with which my grandfather chose the different papers and textures for these two images-- the velvet for Santa's suit, the gauze for the clouds, the silver for the wings of the angle.



Inside these cards, printed in letterpress green letters, it reads: "Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year from the Kners *1950*". I don't know how many of these my grandfather would have made and sent out at the time, but I can imagine him very methodically printing the inside text, methodically cutting out all of the illustrative elements for the covers in multiples, and then methodically affixing them.

The colors of these cards, 58 years later, is bright and alive.

Janet Hamlin

Janet Hamlin, Figurative Illustrator



Janet Hamlin is a figurative artist and illustrator with very strong powers of observation and empathy. I admire her skill and the clarity with which she sees and 'gets' her subjects. Janet is able to get right in there with the subtle postures and features that make a person who they are.
I love the sketch atop this entry, because it is so active in line, and so much about her act of seeing as translated through her hand and onto the page. This kind of sketch shows the fundamental skill which is the basis for her ability to then produce a more developed representation of someone in all of their complexity, like Woody Allen. I love this portrait Janet drew of Woody Allen, because she was able to capture both his physical and spiritual appearances, attached to which are the confidence and ease of her drawing ability.



Janet has illustrated for the Associated Press for many years, has drawn many books for children and grown-ups, and most recently and famously, has found a niche drawing in high-profile courtrooms. It was Janet who was sent to Guantanamo Bay several times this year to draw the 9/11 trials. There, under tremendous pressure, she was able to witness and capture the courtroom scenes. And it was she who so open-mindedly went back to correct an infamous nose. You can read about it in the New Yorker Talk of the Town

Janet teaches figure drawing classes at Edward Hopper's boyhood home, Hopper House, where she has been leading
her students to higher planes of observational and drawing achievement.
I know Janet as family and friend, and have come to be a big fan of her daughter Nancy's artwork, as well. Here are a few Nancy Hamlin Ryan treasures to enjoy:



Two portraits of important people in her life



A piece inspired from learning about The Day of the Dead



And my favorite... Germ School!

The Inspired Turkeys of Leah Guenther

I have had the good fortune to spend the last three Thanksgivings with the talented and inventive Leah Guenther, who, each year, has brought along a supplemental Turkey of her own creation. Inspiring visually, conceptually, and digestively, Leah's turkeys all have sweet expressions, are hilarious (just by virtue of their being), and are cleverly assembled. Behold...

2006 (the debut)
The Bread Turkey


2007
The Sweets Turkey



Profile:


2008
The Lettuce Turkey
Front:


Three-Quarters, aerial:


Rear:


Notice how body parts were carefully selected for form as as they could possibly represent function. I love the variation of gullets from year to year, as well as wings and tail feathers. To me, they all embody a very Proud-to-Be feeling-- I think this comes from their festive tail feathers, especially. The spirit of these turkeys also conveys to me idea of 'imagining what could be, and making it happen'. Leah made something new by freshly combining what was around. I love this mode of thinking and find that some of the most satisfying solutions come out of this process.

For Thanksgiving, it is especially poignant that while so many turkeys are killed and consumed, some are also being created anew...

While Leah resists being considered the artist that she truly is, her creative accomplishments extend beyond the turkey realm. Leah spearheaded the creation of 826 Chicago which is the Chicago chapter of the National 826 Writing, Reading and Publishing non-profit organization geared to helping kids develop themselves outside of school. One of the most beautiful and touching collections of writing and drawings that I have ever seen, A Sunday Afternoon Hotdog Meal sprung from the hard work and creativity of Leah Guenther, her 826 Colleagues, and the Kids of 826 Chicago. This book contains short essays about what the 826 Writers (and Artists) have found to be noteworthy about their experiences of living in Chicago. The collection is sweet, hilarious, and well-crafted, just like the Turkeys. And it has that Proud-to-Be quality about it that makes it very joyful to behold. Consider obtaining a copy for yourself, or supporting the 826 National Organization.

Obama in the Garment District

Hooray!

Even two weeks after the election, it's still sinking in-- and how thrilling to see these additions to the windows in my studio neighborhood!



I love that someone Photoshopped the Obama Family "sitting in the lawn" of the White House (see upper right poster in window). I believe in the power of creating an image in the service of helping to envision something before it becomes real.


Now there are endless variations of three dimensional Obama objects for sale here, and everywhere. Products sprung out quickly and are now ubiquitous. I wonder how Barack himself feels about the spectrum of Obama Stuff available... and if they'll soon have Obama Perfume and Colognes for (whole)sale here too.



Perfume is a common item for sale in the Garment District (it's the invisible garment, is it not?). As an addendum... a day after I finished the above entry wondering when we'd see Obama perfume, there it was!



Smells like... hope? change? And when applied, it activates the wearer's ability to achieve his or her full potential and thus become excellent.