Take Down At Water Street Studios

Mucho sadness.  On-som'-bel is over.  But it was a helluva show!  -and, I remembered to use my camera this time.

For those of you who are reading this post in order to postpone actually working while at work, enjoy reading Philip A. Hartigan's review of On-som'-bel at Hyperallergic.com and (shameless plug alert!) read Jorie Senses's take on my work HERE.

In my previous post about On-som'-bel (you can read the original post by clicking HERE), I mentioned several artists, but didn't present any examples of their work.  Not this time.  Check out the completely cool mixed media paintings by Jen Evans.

Memba this?

.....the cool, three-person dress by Eli Borrowman?

Here it is with all three dresses 'stuck' back together.

Memba this?

.....the awesome cut-out dress entitled 'Shibuya Crossing' by Claudia Canon and Katherine Kratzer?

Still blows my mind.

Tourist 1, a very cool piece by Dawn Tutt.

During the runway portion of On-Som'-bel, there were a series of four glass busts created by Jenna Walsh and Victoria Belz, that were walked down the catwalk, but my slow camera speed only captured blurs.  Here they are in all of their glory.

Tourist 2 by Dawn Tutt.

Memba this?

.......cool stuff from Patricia Davoust.

Some intriguing compositions from Lisa Limas.

At the opening reception, I didn't capture a single image of Kari Kraus' work -a big mistake on my part.  She had three walls in a separate room covered with her work.  One whole wall was this shape and shadow installation suspended on a whole row of strings.  A small fan in the corner provide a slight movement in the air which was translated into the piece as a gentle undulation of shadows.

On another wall, she had several hoops of stretched material, illustrating several scientific principles/equations.  Good thing I brought the Duggernaut with me so he could translate what I was seeing.

Memba this?

.....Danielle Dobies' wigs?

...and then some of my stuff to cleanse the palette before we slip into a Thunderdome reference.......

'Memba this?.......Tomorrow-morrow land!'

'Memba this?.........Sky Land!'

'Memba this?..........The River Of Lights!'

'Memba this?..........Captain Walker!'

'Memba this?............Mrs. Walker!'

More Goodness At Water Street Studios

On-som'-bel at Water Street Studios.

I snapped a few pictures of the evening. However, I am an abysmal multi-tasker when faced with trying to simultaneously experience cool artwork, and check out eye-catching fashions, and enjoy awesome food, and engage in conversation, and try to remember names, and take pictures.  Those who know me know that the 'names' didn't stand a chance, the food was probably taught a lesson, and I'll let you decide on the quality/quantity of photos.

In addition to their gallery space, Water Street Studios also had access to this long cool 'hallway' where they held a fashion/art show which was immediately followed by an auction.

The dude with a white arrow pointed to his head is artist Chris Hodge (check out some of his artwork HERE).  While I was chatting him I noticed that he was wearing a Figge Museum shirt. -What are the chances of that?

The lights went down and the coolness factor went up!  This first image is actually three people stuck together.  The three of them walked about halfway down the runway and then they peeled themselves apart in  a manner that could have come from one of the Alien movies.

The woman in the back of the trio is the artist/creator of the piece Eli Borrowman (check out her work HERE).  I caught up with Eli after the runway show to snap this picture and chat.  It turns out that she is roommates with one of my friends from undergraduate school back in Missouri (which was nearly half a lifetime ago at this point...).  -What are the chances of that?

More fashions.

There was a series of really cool glass busts with necklaces on them by Jenna Walsh and Victoria Belz.  Unfortunately, I captured zero images of them on the runway that aren't a complete and total blur.

Some really cool wigs by Danielle Dobies (check out her work HERE).

I was able to catch a few more images of this next piece by Katherine Kratzer and Claudia Canon after the runway show.  Just wait, it'll blow your mind.

These next two are just outright cool as hell.

The King and Queen after the show.

Danielle Dobies smiling a big smile while wearing one of her wigs.

Remember that 'blowing of your mind' I promised you a bit ago?  Check this out.......

All of those dark shapes on that outfit......

.......are cutouts!  Just try to imagine how long that took to complete.  Totally worth the effort though.

I have no idea how or why somebody was staging three women to stand in front of my piece Domain for a Photo Op, but I'm totally not above leaning in and stealing somebody else's picture.....

As I eluded to in the beginning of this post, there was a lot of killer work in the show and I only had the opportunity to chat with a handful of the artists who made it (much less get pictures of their work).  The artists for on-som'-bel 2014 were:

-Kari Kraus

-Jen Evans

-Valerie William

-Lisa Limas

-Danielle Dobies

-Dawn Tutt

-Patricia Davoust

-Katherine Kratzer & Claudia Canon

-Lisa Dienst-Thomas

-Eli Borrowman

-Angela Zeedyk

-Jenna Walsh & Victoria Beiz

....and a HUGE thanks goes out to Rita Grendze for inviting me to participate in the show and all of her 'beyond-the-call-of-duty' hard work to make this event happen.  Check out Rita's website HERE and prepare to become a fan.