DAY OF MONET

Happy birthday, Claude Monet!

I teamed up with the Getty Museum and LACMA to highlight two fabulous works by Claude Monet in their respective collections.

Wheatfields, Snow Effect, Morning, 1891

Nympheas, ca. 1897-1898

Check out @gettymuseum and @lacma on Instagram to see the creation process in their Instagram Stories!

KUSAMA KIDS

My very favorite thing about Artfully Awear is seeing how others are inspired to create their own wearable art.  Leila and Jonah, along with their mother Stephanie, created these fabulous polka-dotted shirts for their visit to the Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum. Stephanie said they were inspired by my Artfully Awear ensembles.  In her words, "The exhibit is so interactive already and interacting with your clothing brings it to the next level."  Have you ever seen a more adorable duo?!  It looks like Leila and Jonah had a blast wearing their Kusama shirts in her infinity rooms!

Have you created any wearable art?  I would love to see it!  Use the hashtag #ArtfullyAwear on social media to share your creations.

SUNFLOWERS

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? –Vincent Van Gogh

There are a few artists that I love, but whose work I am afraid to try to recreate.  (Matisse is one of these artists.)  When the thing that inspires you is a masterpiece – something so beautiful and famous and even spiritual – it is unbelievably frightening to think that you may not be able to do it justice.  In preparation for my visit to Amsterdam, I began working on a jacket inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s masterpiece, Sunflowers, 1889, which resides at the Van Gogh Museum.  I agonized for weeks before even starting the process, wondering if I’d be able to capture the essence of such a well-known and loved work of art.  In the end, I spent more time creating this piece than any other Artfully Awear project before.

On the day I was set to meet the painting, I arrived at the museum before it opened.  There was already a line of people outside waiting to get in.  Meri and I went inside, straight to the second floor, where the painting lives.  When the second door opened, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  There, on a wall to itself, was my inspiration in all its glory.  It was larger than I had pictured, even though I knew the measurements, and the colors and textures were even more vibrant and detailed than any photo could have shown.  I was overwhelmed.  After an emotional moment, we spent some time taking photos with the piece.  After the photoshoot was finished, with a museum employee before exploring the rest of the museum.

We discussed the way that social media has impacted the museum experience, and provides visitors and staff a multitude of new ways to engage with art and to share their experience with others.  I marveled at how I was inspired by a work of art that was three thousand miles away from my home, and how I was able to connect with it through digital images – but how important and meaningful it is to actually see the painting in real life.

Thank you to Meri for taking the photos, to the Van Gogh Museum for having me, and, of course, to Vincent for inspiring us long after his time on the earth.  

Photos by Meri Feir.

CREATIVE AFRICA

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed;

If in terms of 10 years, plant trees; 

If in terms of 100 years, teach the people.

These words of Confucius are the guiding principles to African architect Francis Kéré's work.  Born in the small town of Gando in Burkina Faso, Kéré was the first of his village to pursue higher education as an architect, and eventually returned to build schools and community buildings in his hometown.  The central facet of everything Kéré does is participation.  In all of his projects, he aims to include the local communities in the process, giving them skills and problem-solving techniques that they can apply to future situations. For his installation Colorscape for the Creative Africa exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Kéré used the help of volunteers from local educational institutions to install the large paracord environment.

I visited the museum over the weekend with a dress I made especially for the installation.  After seeing my post online, Kéré invited me to come and meet him, as he was on his way to Philadelphia from Burkina Faso to give a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania.  I was seated amongst the masses in the lecture hall when Kéré noticed my dress and said, "Is it you?!"  We had a wonderful conversation afterward as I told him about Artfully Awear and how his work had inspired me.  For him, it was an example of how his work elicits a response - and, in my case, an entire new work.  For me, he had planted a seed but also taught me a valuable lesson about engaging with a work of art.

Photos by William Sealy.

CREATIVE AFRICA

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed;

If in terms of 10 years, plant trees; 

If in terms of 100 years, teach the people.

These words of Confucius are the guiding principles to African architect Francis Kéré's work.  Born in the small town of Gando in Burkina Faso, Kéré was the first of his village to pursue higher education as an architect, and eventually returned to build schools and community buildings in his hometown.  The central facet of everything Kéré does is participation.  In all of his projects, he aims to include the local communities in the process, giving them skills and problem-solving techniques that they can apply to future situations. For his installation Colorscape for the Creative Africa exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Kéré used the help of volunteers from local educational institutions to install the large paracord environment.

I visited the museum over the weekend with a dress I made especially for the installation.  After seeing my post online, Kéré invited me to come and meet him, as he was on his way to Philadelphia from Burkina Faso to give a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania.  I was seated amongst the masses in the lecture hall when Kéré noticed my dress and said, "Is it you?!"  We had a wonderful conversation afterward as I told him about Artfully Awear and how his work had inspired me.  For him, it was an example of how his work elicits a response - and, in my case, an entire new work.  For me, he had planted a seed but also taught me a valuable lesson about engaging with a work of art.

Photos by William Sealy.

POLLOCK KRASNER HOUSE

After an enjoyable afternoon impersonating Pollock on the roof of my building, I was ready to make the trek to East Hampton to the Pollock Krasner House & Study Center. 

I’d been wanting to visit the historic place for at least ten years (probably as long as I’d known that it exists and is open to the public), so it was quite a treat to pile into a car with three of my friends and hit the road on a lovely autumn morning.  After about a 2.5 hour drive from Brooklyn, we pulled up to a wooden-shingled farmhouse in an absolutely beautiful setting with a view of the river and marshes.

After a warm reception from our very knowledgeable and hilarious tour guide, Myrna, we were welcomed into the barn, which had served as Jackson Pollock’s studio, and then Lee Krasner’s after his death.  After removing our shoes and donning foam slippers, we entered the space, which was filled with light, photographs, and ephemera from both of the artists’ careers.  It was truly overwhelming to walk through the space where Pollock had created such masterpieces as Autumn Rhythm.  The most poignant part of the experience was looking down on the paint drips and splatters, records of Pollock’s action painting practice and still completely intact.  You could even see outlines of specific paintings if you looked closely. 

After spending a long time in the studio, we took a tour of the house, which included the couple’s collection of books, records, and even their monogrammed suitcases.  As a fan of AbstractExpressionism, it was so interesting to see the chattels of two of the movement’s greatest members, and further understand and appreciate their relationship, both personally and creatively.

The Pollock Krasner House is closed during the winter, but reopens in the spring by appointment.

Dress: DIY (read here about how I did it)

Leather jacket: DKNY (also worn here, in my Pollock post from New Year's 2011!)

Scarf: Vintage

Tights: Hue

Boots: Zero + Maria Cornejo 'Aura' Bootie

Sunglasses: Alexander McQueen 'Blue Marble'

Photos of me by Micah Bozeman and Emily Hoerdemann and other photos by me.