Austin Art Talk

"I’ve always dedicated my life to the work, and what ever the work needed that’s what I did."

It has been an incredible year for Austin based artist Deborah Roberts. But after decades of hard work and scholarship it’s not really a surprise. She was already an established artist long before deciding to go back to school to get her MFA in 2014, to study and find the language and direction for her new work. Her imagery started out in a very romantic Americana style but after a time that didn’t completely match the reality of what she was feeling and seeing in the world. The work needed to change. After finishing school she gave herself two years to succeed in art before having to give up once and for all. Then she received a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 2016. For the first time she could spend a whole year completely focused on her art full time and create without fear. What has followed is sold out shows all over the country and lots of press praising the work and giving her credit which was overdue.

With a focus in collage, painting, mixed media/installation, and text, Roberts is best known for creating portraits of young black girls, aged 8-10, that ask the viewer to consider how their beauty has been imagined: by art history, pop culture, American history, and black culture. And when and why do these young vulnerable girls have to put on their gloves and start fighting battles? It's important work and it resonates with a lot of people.

Deborah is a delight to be around and the interview was a lot of fun. We go all the way back to her beginnings in art and work our way to the present. She then dissects the meaning and language of the work and talks about the future and her new found fame and power.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Drawing as a kid

Links:

• Deborah Roberts website

"You're an artist, you can create your future"

Childhood talent

https://roijames.com/

[email protected]

Links:

• Roi James Studio website

Advertising and editorial photographer Kirk Weddle has worked with a lot of different local and corporate clients on jobs that have taken him all over the world. Throughout his career he has honed his skills photographing people and loves to do environmental portraits which often include the opportunity to visit some interesting and exciting locations. He has also specialized in a very difficult and adventurous type of photography. Underwater. Near the beginning of his career he got a big break with a shoot for the iconic cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind album and a few months later photographed the band in a swimming pool. Kirk works well under pressure (and underwater obviously) and has a lot of experience which allows him to continue working steadily, but what will his next big gig be? We will just have to watch and see where his talent and momentum takes him.

Beginnings in photography

The Nirvana Nevermind swimming pool photos are now available at Modern Rocks Gallery here in Austin, run by fellow photographer and musician Steven Walker.

https://www.modernrocksgallery.com/shop-nirvana-nevermind

PHOTOGROUP STUDIOS SOUTH

http://www.photogroupaustin.com/

Links:

• Kirk Weddle - Website

Bale Creek Allen has chosen to pursue a beautiful and rich life and live by his own rules. He is a prolific artist with a great work ethic who creates art in a very diverse amount of ways and with many different materials. Bronze, neon, sculpture, painting, wood, photography, music, spoken word and theater to name a few. Bale grew up in California, went to school in Boston and now calls Texas his home. He is a working artist with a great Austin gallery that exhibits fantastic national and international contemporary art. What a joyous and inspiring interview full of the experience and wisdom that comes with working your ass off and having the courage to never stop.

If you find yourself at Canopy in Austin which is at 916 Springdale Rd, and you are visiting another gallery or grabbing some coffee or food at Sa-Tén, be sure to stop by and see Bale's studio and gallery in Building 2 Suite #103. Call to make an appointment or if the light is on knock on the door and you might be lucky enough to meet Bale in person and see his kick-ass artwork.

Growing up in Fresno

Gallery open by appointment only

Links:

• Bale Creek Allen Gallery website

Michael Anthony García is a multidisciplinary artist, independent curator, and activist. His work takes many forms and attempts to addresses personal, local, and global issues, often highlighting those in this world who are marginalized, unseen, and under appreciated. Whether he is curating a show of someone else’s work, doing a live performance interacting with a video and audience, or presenting a very personal one man exhibit made up of sculptures created from old clothing and furniture, Michael is sharing with us his passion and what drives him to be an artist as he attempts to make a positive difference in his life and community and world as a whole.

Dual citizenship

Links:

• Artwork of Michael Anthony García

By seeking out the mundane and overlooked visual aspects of our world and sharing them through her perspective Nancy Mims shows us the beauty and expansiveness we might be missing. There can be order from chaos and it can be photographed. Not stopping there, by printing these images on fabrics, sometimes weaved back to together or embellished with vibrant stitching, she enhances these views to create a very personal take on what is right in from of us all. Our lovely conversation delves into her life and work and how hard it can be to accept and embrace the fact that you are an artist.

The artist label

Dougherty Arts Center - The Julia C. Butridge Gallery

Links:

• Nancy Mims website

This is bonus content from the interview with Flip Solomon Episode 12. The first inspiring story is about Lek Chailert who with the help of many others saves and rehabilitates hundreds of animals in Thailand. The second story is of a dream that inspired a drawing and created a connection. If you haven't listened to Flip's main interview please go back and check that out first. Thanks!

Links:

• Elephant Nature Park

Flip Solomon grew up with art being at the center of her world but after leaving home found herself exploring everything else life has to offer for many years. But with the arrival of her daughter and the necessity of self care and meditation, to manage her newly intensified narcolepsy, she found her passion for creating art again and started translating the themes and symbols found in her very vivid dreams into epic, touching, and timeless pen and ink drawings. In the last five years she has built up a successful art business selling originals, prints, and a whole line of products based on her images. It's an inspirational story about how to turn a problem into a solution and help others in the process.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Her upbringing and parents influence

Her current series ‘Darkest Before Dawn’ is at Book People until the end of January. In February it goes to Black Feather Vintage on Springdale Rd. behind Dimension Gallery, with a Pre-Valentine’s Day Event the weekend of February 10th.

Also, there are some large canvases going to the Hye Rum Distillery in Hye, TX on the 290 Wine Trail. And in San Marcos, there are some large canvases on display at One and Only Tattoo on the Square.

Her work’s available year round at Austin Art Garage and the big events in November and December are EAST, Blue Genie and The Armadillo Christmas Bazaar. Works can be purchased online at Skyline Art Editions.

Links:

• Flip Solomon website

PRINTAUSTIN is one of the top art events in town that happens every January and February. Cathy Savage and Eliva Perrin started this celebration of printmaking five years ago, and with a lot of hard work and some help along the way they have created a month long community building and art promoting steamroller. Join me for a fun conversation about their own careers, how they met and started PrintAustin, and many of the great exhibits, artist talks, demonstrations and workshops that will be happening this year.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Cathy’s background

PRINTAUSTIN: Jan 15-Feb 15, 2018

https://printaustin.org/

Volunteer! https://signup.com/group/26958268080

[email protected]

PrintAustin's mission to the Austin art community and galleries is to share our enthusiasm for printmaking by helping galleries curate, exhibit, and promote works on paper and to engage a wider audience through in-house artist talks, signings, panels, printmaking demonstrations, and print-focused art happenings.

Elvia Perrin received her MFA from the University of North Texas at Denton in 2002. She was a collaborator, printer and artist at Flatbed Press + Gallery in Austin, Texas for seven years. She has taught printmaking and foundation courses locally for over a decade. She currently is a Lecturer of Art at Texas State University and working in her own printmaking studio. Elvia is the Founding Executive Director: PrintAustin, a city-wide contemporary print event. She has collaborated with Retailers Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and TRNK, NY and has shown nationally and internationally. Elvia is currently represented by Wally Workman Gallery and  lives in Austin, Texas. 

Links:

• Print Austin: Sharing our enthusiasm for printmaking in Austin,TX

This interview is with Claire Howard, the Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Blanton Museum of Art here in Austin. The museum is currently hosting a traveling photography exhibit called The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip. Claire speaks about the content and images that make up the exhibit and shares what goes on behind the scenes to plan for and integrate an exhibition into a new space. She also had the chance to add elements to the original line up that enhance the conversation and relate to our location and it’s history for the benefit of a local audience.

Don’t miss this great exhibition which will be on view from November 25th, 2017 until January 7th, 2018. It was organized by the Aperture Foundation in New York and curated by David Campany and Denise Wolf, supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Photographs by Robert Frank, Inge Morath, Ed Ruscha, Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, William Eggleston, Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore, Victor Burgin, Bernard Plossu, Shinya Fujiwara, Eli Reed, Joel Sternfeld, Todd Hido, Alec Soth, Ryan McGinley, Justine Kurland, Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs.

Blanton Museum of Art

Some of the subjects we discuss:

The Blanton

Claire's Bio

Claire Howard is the Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Blanton Museum of Art. She was the 2016-2017 Vivian L. Smith Foundation Fellow at the Menil Collection in Houston, and from 2010 to 2013, she was a Graduate Research Assistant at the Blanton, where she worked on exhibitions including Through the Eyes of Texas: Masterworks from Alumni Collections, and curated the collection exhibition Cubism Beyond Borders (both 2013). Claire previously worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where, as a Research Assistant for Modern and Contemporary Art, she helped organize special exhibitions including Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés and Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective (both 2009). Claire has also worked and interned at the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia), Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (New York), and Wellesley College’s Davis Museum and Cultural Center (Wellesley, MA). She is a PhD Candidate in Art History at The University of Texas at Austin, and is writing her dissertation on the Surrealist movement and its cultural context from 1950-1969. Claire earned an MA in Art History from The University of Texas at Austin and a BA in Art History and English from Wellesley College. She is a native of Philadelphia.

Links:

• The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip – Austin's Blanton Museum of Art