Daily Art Fixx

Dena Schuckit has a BFA from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and her MFA from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. She was a master printer with Crown Point Press for twelve years.

Schuckit works from stacks of saved and categorized photos pulled from online news. “My hybrid landscapes chart loose and abstracted scenes of construction, destruction and the suspended chaos that often accompanies the two. The process decontextualizes the action from any specific event, instead drawing from the connections that emerge in the process of organizing the photos. Online news is often accompanied by entire slide shows of photos capturing the drama and dynamism of the disaster and the surprising and unplanned landscape that is the deconstructed physical manifest. Sorting stacks of these pictures is a way of mapping my relationship to my landscape. Pattern, shape, color, and event overlap and repeat in a complex rhizome charting the ebb and flow of civilization vs. nature.” (from artist website)

Schuckit’s work is included in the collections of the University of the Arts, London and the Parsons School of Design, New York. Her current solo show ” The Garden is a Raging Sea” at David B. Smith Gallery in Denver, Colorado runs August 27th through September 25th.

To see more visit DenaSchuckit.com.

1. Giclée is the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing. The word “giclée” is derived from the French language word “le gicleur” meaning “nozzle”, or more specifically “gicler” meaning “to squirt, spurt, or spray”. It was coined in 1991 by printmaker Jack Duganne to represent any inkjet-based digital print used as fine art.  The name was originally applied to fine art prints created on Iris printers in a process invented in the early 1990s but has since come to mean any high quality ink-jet print and is often used in galleries and print shops to denote such prints.

2. Found Art is art created from the undisguised, but often modified, use of objects that are not normally considered art.  Marcel Duchamp coined the term “readymade” to describe his found art in 1915. Since then, found object art has been prevalent in the Dada, Surrealist, and Pop Art movements to name a few. The meaning of found art has expanded over time and now, numerous categories have been defined including assemblage, appropriation, collage, and even Internet based found images that are reworked with computer graphic tools to form new works of art.

3. Six publishers rejected Beatrix Potter’s  “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” before she decided to publish her own edition of the story. Having seen the edition, publisher Frederick Warne decided to publish Peter Rabbit, and within a year had already had to produce six editions to meet demand. During her career, Potter wrote and illustrated a total of 28 books, including the 23 Tales, the ‘little books’ that have been translated into more than 35 languages and sold over 100 million copies.  Her stories have been retold in numerous formats including a ballet, films, and in animation.

4. Throughout his life, Rembrandt van Rijn was plagued with money problems. At the height of his career in 1639 he bought a large house on the Sint-Anthonisbreestraat that he borrowed heavily to acquire. The artist also liked to spend money, purchasing art and other objects that were beyond his means, a habit that would eventually catch up with him. In 1656, the artist declared bankruptcy and had to sell his house and collections in 1657 – 1658. Upon his death in 1669, there was no money for a tombstone. Rembrandt was buried in an unmarked grave in the Westerkerk, in Amsterdam.

5. Encaustic Painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface and metal tools and special brushes are used to shape the paint before it cools. Today, tools such as heat lamps, heat guns, and other methods of applying heat allow artists to extend the amount of time they have to work with the material. This technique was notably used in the Fayum mummy portraits from Egypt around 100-300 AD, in the Blachernitissa and other early icons, as well as in many works of 20th-century American artists, including Jasper Johns.

Sources: Wikipedia (giclee), DAF, Wikipedia (found art), DAF (Beatrix Potter), DAF (Rembrandt), Wikipedia, Poetic Mind, (Encaustics)

Painter Danielle Duer works from her studio in Nashville, Tennessee. She describes her  narrative pieces as manifestations of a romantic walk inside her own head. Duer sees this world and the people in it as “blissful and beautiful but equally heartbroken and sick.” She wants each piece of art to contain all of these Authentic elements of life. She is  interested in human behavior and why we are the way we are,  why we act the way we do, and how it often differs from who we are inside. How do we really feel?  How do we cover this up?  How are we sincere? What is the truth?  Aesthetically, her paintings are illusive but they often symbolize her undying urge to expose our vulnerable hearts and the weapons that guard them, all from a feminine perspective.

To see more of Danielle Duer’s work, visit WebMe.com.

These incredible lampwork beads are by Canadian artist Sherry Bellamy.  Lampworking is a type of glasswork that uses a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with a variety of tools and hand movements.

Bellamy is mostly self-taught and has  developed several innovative techniques, pushing the boundaries of beadmaking and glass sculpture. She spends a lot of time designing the interior architecture of her beads – building them from the inside out.  As well as creating beads, which she primarily sells to designers and collectors, Bellamy teaches her techniques in classes and workshops.

Bellamy currently lives in British Columbia, Canada with her husband David and their dog Buddy.  To see more of these incredible glass sculptures, visit OrcaBeads.com.

Nicoletta Ceccoli was born in San Marino, Italy and graduated from the Institute of Art in Urbino where she studied animation cinema.

While Ceccoli is gaining  recognition as a painter, she is already well known as an award winning children’s book illustrator. Working with publishers in Italy, the US, and the UK, some of her credits include The Faery’s Gift, Fiendish Deeds (Joy of Spooking), Horns and Wrinkles, and Oscar and the Mooncats. In 2001, Nicoletta was awarded with the Andersen prize as best Italian illustrator of the year. She is also a four time recipient of the ‘Award of Excellence’ from Communication Arts. As well, in 2006 she received the silver medal from Society of Illustrators (New York).

With influences such as Remedios Varo, Domenico Gnoli, Paolo Uccello, Mark Ryden, Edward Gorey, Winsor McKay, and Ray Caesar, Ceccoli creates her own unique style of  surrealism with doll-like characters and other strange creatures that are darkly whimsical.

Ceccoli’s work has been exhibited at numerous galleries including Roq la Rue (Seattle), Magic Pony (Toronto), Dorothy Circus (Rome), and the Richard Goodall Gallery (Manchester). Her illustrations have been shown at the Bologna Children’s Book fair seven times.

For more information about Nicoletta Ceccoli, visit her website at NicolettaCeccoli.com.com. There is also a great interview at Arrested Motion.

Sources: Arrested Motion, Richard Goodall Gallery (images)