All Art Friday

All Art Friday

All Art Friday Spotlights

✦ Glass, not thread or yarn, is the material Catherine Carr uses to create her gorgeous one-of-kind, hand-crocheted and -knitted sculptures (see the image at left) that have the look and feel of centuries-old textiles. Carr also has devised a technique for turning old photographs into glass art by permanently fusing a copy of the image into glass. Carr's work is on tour in the United Kingdom through June. (My thanks to Looking at Glass, which introduced this stunning artist in a January post.) 

Catherine Carr on FaceBook and Twitter

✦ The only collection of suffrage campaign cartoons by Nina Allender (1872-1957), who created more than 150 cartoons, most of which were original drawings, for The Suffragist and Equal Rights, publications of the National Women's Party, is thought to be housed at Washington, D.C.'s Sewall-Belmont House and Museum. Many of the cartoons are in need of cleaning, repairing, and stabilization. The museum has created the Adopt-an-Allender program to underwrite conservation of the work of this significant political artist. More than 100 Allender cartoons (a list for the collection is here) are available for "adoption"; both individuals and corporate donors are welcomed. Here's one example from the collection:

Nina E. Allender, Dinner Will Be Spoiled, 1918

Original Drawing

Nina Allender Political Cartoon Collection

 Sewall-Belmont House & Museum

Sewall-Belmont on FaceBook and Twitter

✦ If you're a crafter who's serious about making a living but unsure of how to combine business with your art, pick up a copy of Meg Mateo Ilasco's Craft Inc.: The Ultimate Guide to Turning Your Creative Hobby Into a Successful Business (Chronicle Books, 2011). In this revised edition, Ilasco, who is a designer and illustrator, covers all the bases, from product conception and development, to materials sourcing, to operating a Web shop and using social media to sell your work. Checklists keep you focused on basics.

Go here for a 16-page look inside.

Exhibitions Here and There

✭ An exhibition to celebrate a gift of more than 300 artworks collected by Milwaukee, Wisconsin, businessman Anthony Petullo is on view through May 6 at Milwaukee Art Museum. In "Accidental Genius: Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection", MAM features more than 200 self-taught artists, among them Henry Darger, Minnie Evans, Martin Ramirez, Freidrich Schroder-Sonnenstern, Bill Traylor, Adolf Wolfli, and Anna Zemankova. Petullo's is one of the most significant collections of "outsider" artists; amassed over three decades, it has been shown around the United States, and objects from the considerable holdings have been loaned to museums and galleries around the world.  

Scottie Wilson, Blue Birds in theTree, c. 1960

Crayon and Ink on Paper, 25-5/8" x 20-1/2"

The Anthony Petullo Collection M2012.250

Photo Credit: Larry Sanders

Brief profiles of all the artists in the exhibition are here (pdf). A selection of images may be viewed here. Gallery talks, panels, films, and lectures during the exhibition's run are listed here. The exhibition Website also features a range of informative videos, including an introduction to outsider art, the art of Scottie Wilson, and a five-part series with Petullo (Part 1 is here). 

About the Anthony Petullo Collection

MAM on FaceBook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube

MAM Blog, Under the Wings

✭ At its West Building, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., has mounted "Picasso's Drawings, 1890-1921: Reinventing Tradition". On view through May 6, the show's 55 works, created over three decades, include selections from academic exercises as well as mature achievements in cubism and collage.

Pablo Picasso, Self-Portrait, 1901-02

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

National Gallery of Art

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

NGA Collection of Picasso Artworks

✭ In observance of the Year of the Dragon, Washington, D.C.'s wonderful Textile Museum is presenting year-long, until January 6, 2013, "Dragons, Nagas, and Creatures of the Deep", drawing on its collections of 16th Century to 20th Century textiles to feature the legendary dragons, divine snakes ("nagas"), and other mythical sea beasts decorating clothese and furnishings. 

Pillar Rug, China, Ningzia, 19th Century

Collection of George Hewitt Myers

✭ Philadelphia's Snyderman-Works Galleries presents the 8th International Fiber Biennial through April 28, showcasing the work of more than 50 artists using materials as diverse as knotted hemp, embroidery floss, children's barrettes, silk, metallic thread, walnut bark, woven telephone wire, and carved tires and Mexican shawls. A list of the artists and a selection of images is here.

✭ Patricia S. Ward's installation Re/Vision, a replica of her workspace complemented by miniature books and book objects crafted from shredded pieces of an unpublished novel, is on view at The Center for Book Arts in New York City. The installation is described as a reflection on loss, nostalgia, and war.  (Ward was raised in war-time Beirut, Lebanon; she is the author of The Bullet Collection (Graywolf Press, 2003) and has published short stories, poems, and essays.) The exhibition runs through March 31.

Patricia S. Ward, Transformation (Front View), 2008

Tunnel Book with Casing, 4-3/8" x 3" x 1-1/4"

Bristol Board (Casing), Shreds, Index Cards, Ink, Acrylic Paint

© Patricia S. Ward

Also on view at the center through March 31: "Fine and Dirty", on letterpress work; and "Ethan Shoshan: Strange Birds", a collaboration presenting "an archive of 31 treasured objects and their accompanying conversations" about their meaning to their caretakers. 

Installation View of Re/Vision

Collection of Objects from Re/Vision (Go here to view other work by Ward.)

The Center for Book Arts on FaceBook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube

The Center for Book Arts Blog