Remember the feeling [or try to imagine it] when someone grabs you by the ankles and turns you upside down and shakes you? That’s Mark Dion.

The messages in his work may be familiar- but consider his approach. Big!

His work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge and the natural world. The job of the artist, he says, is to go against the grain of dominant culture, to challenge perception and convention.

Why not? Why not set out to do something big? Mark’s art is fantastical- but even more compelling are the big questions he’s asking. We can all learn something from someone who doesn’t follow the rules and isn’t afraid to abandon old conventions.

Life Raft (Zurich)

The Curiosity Shop

Costume Bureau

Landfill

Mark Dion in collaboration with other artists is participating in the Mildred’s Lane Project (based in the Delaware River Valley). 

This project is an “attempt to collectively create new modes of being in the world– this idea incorporates questions of our relation to the evironment, systems of labor, forms of dwelling, new sociality- all of which compose an ethics of comportment- and are embodied in workstyles.”

While this endeavor is a little beyond me- I am gripped by the force of it. I have a feeling that something very recognizable and awe inspiring while emerge from it.

Check out Mark Dion in this PBS video called, Art:21 Ecology. Artists explore how our understanding of the natural world becomes deeply cultural.

by Dozen Bakeshop

The show, held at WildCard (4209 Butler St, Pittsburgh, PA 15201) and other Lawrenceville locations on Saturday, June 26^th from noon to 5pm, is designed to present an alternative to the mammoth bridal expos that fill the community centers every year.

Says Carrie Nardini, organizer of I Made It! Market, “Our goal is to showcase the people that we all work with on a daily basis who create fantastic work for weddings, but don’t get the exposure they deserve.”

WildCard storeowner Rebecca Morris agrees, saying “As someone who got married in the past year, I was thrilled to discover many local vendors and artists who do great and creative work. It just takes a little extra effort to find them.”

by Iron City Upcyclery

The goal of Hand(Made) in Marriage is to provide Pittsburgh-area brides and grooms a chance to look at an array of independent arts & crafts, food vendors, and creative clothing, as well as meet the artists involved.

The vendors showing wares at Hand(Made) in Marriage include:

•                Dozen Bakeshop (cupcakes, baked goods, & more)

•                Iron City Upcyclery  (Recycled vintage fashions)

•                On the Rocks Designs (ring and jewelry design)

•                Evolve Modern Hair (Lawrenceville hair salon)

Working with the Lawrenceville Corp., Hand(Made) in Marriage is focusing on the Lawrenceville area for artists. Also on June 26^th: Lawrenceville boutique Pavement (3629 Butler St.) is hosting a trunk show by Lilipad Creations, including wedding and bridesmaid dresses.

This week I’m proud to feature fellow Team HiP member, Staci of Contempo Jewels. Staci is a busy mom, who creates lovely jewelry and hairpieces. Enjoy a day in her life!

7:30 Is wake up time! Time to get my son and daughter off to school. I am not a morning person, so I may yell a lot in the mornings. I need a good hour to adjust to consciousness. If it weren’t for my kiddos, I’d probably sleep til around 10:00ish.

8:30 Everyone is gone, peace and quiet!  I begin my routine with coffee, breakfast and interweb all at the same time… it’s a talent! I check etsy, facebook, emails, twitter, etc. I spend a good part of the morning answering emails, responding to convos, relisting on etsy, doing promotion for events. Around 9:00 I feed my dogs and run them out, then it’s back to my computer.

11:00 I am ready to get to my studio at Surface Artist Cooperative. At my studio I get my orders ready to ship, take pictures of work,  tag and display new work and I generally have a couple of appointments for bridal pieces, repairs, custom work, corporate gifts, consignment and putting on events. If I have some extra time, I squeeze lunch in and I might make a piece or two.

2:00 I will run to the post office, bank or anywhere else I need to go before my kids come home.

3:00 They’re home and they are hungry! I will chat a little bit about their day at school, have a snack, look at the papers they bring home. Then they do homework and some cleaning. I’m back on the interweb! I post my new pictures, I send them to clients, list on etsy, add them to facebook. I make up any invoices that may need to go out.

5:00 I make coffee for my husband and I. We chat a bit and I start dinner. Dinner time is important to me, I like to sit together as a family.  Conversations include “Why are you so mean?”, “I don’t like what you made for dinner” and my favorite “I hate my brother/sister”. But, I wouldn’t change it for the world! After dinner I clean up a bit and then it’s back to work!

7:30 I finish any interweb business I didn’t finish earlier and then start production. I really like to create at night. There is something very soothing about the process and it is hard for me to sit still during the day. At night I can concentrate and focus. I am generally behind on my work, so it isn’t hard for me to “find” something to make. I am rarely uninspired, I have a check list in my head of what I need to accomplish that day and I rarely achieve my expectations.

10:00 It’s time for a glass of wine. The kids are asleep and I’m still working. If I don’t have any early meetings, I may stay up and work until about midnight. Otherwise, I go to bed around 11:00. A girl needs her beauty sleep!

image from flickr [pwbaker]

In my dream world, you buy your food from a farmer you know: that is the food you haven’t grown yourself.

Every Main Street would be filled with eclectic shops and boutiques. You make your own clothes or buy them from your friend. Chickens in the backyard. Your cupboards are full of pottery and wooden vessels from makers down the street.

It all feels right. So why have we let a lot of these things fade away?

I guess I crave a simpler life with less big box drama.

This week I am so happy to feature Anna of Ettie Ogle Press. Anna’s work is a combination of painting and drawing, with some silkscreening and fabric collage thrown in for good measure. Anna’s work is truly unique and whimisical. You can’t help but smile when you look at her pieces. I hope you enjoy a day in her life!

A typical day for me starts with a mug of strong black tea. This is necessary to avoid zombie-like traits that can occur during the hours before noon. Mondays through Fridays I go to my day job from 8:00am to 4:30pm, where I am a payroll clerk. Although this job is not really art related, and it takes up 40 hours of my week, it does give me the more comfortable lifestyle that I prefer. In my opinion having a guaranteed, weekly paycheck does wonders for the nerves, the brain, and the heart. I do hope that someday my business will be my sole source of income, but good things take time.

During the day I try to find inspiration in the workplace, or at least do some planning and brainstorming between tasks or during breaks. Usually my desk is scattered with lists of thing I need to do for Ettie Ogle Press. I like to give myself tentative deadlines on all my tasks and arrange my lists by importance. Like, what needs to be done tonight? Or what needs to be ready for next Friday?  I also try to always keep myself thinking ahead. For example, I try to keep a vague idea of what Ettie’s next trip will take her before her current trip is even complete.

When get home from my day job I usually like to spend a little time either sketching or looking through art books. It depends on whether I have a work in progress or I am about to start something new. I just moved recently and this is the first time I have had my own studio, which is set up in the spare bedroom. It is a little tight, but with a more cozy than claustrophobic atmosphere. Most of what I do is not bigger than my tabletop, so I don’t seem to run into too many problems.

So far all of the work I have for sale has been created through some combination of ink drawings, gouache, acrylic paint, silkscreen, and fabric collage. Some of the collages are assembled by hand and some are assembled in Photoshop. So if I am not drawing, painting, splicing or printing, I’m usually on the computer. In addition to creating the actual artwork, I also spend a lot of time creating the stories behind each piece and linking them to Ettie’s never ending journey. I find that story telling really helps my creativity flow, but can also create a challenge that I enjoy.

Once I have completed as many tasks on my list as possible for one day I like to curl up in bed with a good book, and maybe some ice cream.

On Sunday my sister took me out for a day in New Hope, and along the way we stopped at Moravian Pottery & Tile Works – a factory that produces original tile using a process created by Henry C. Mercer. While we didn’t take the full tour, we did get to visit the shop and browse all of the lovely tiles. The number of designs that they had to offer was surprising – from boats, to animals, to people, to numbers and letters – they really had it all.

The Tile Works has produced hundreds of tiles for private and public buildings throughout the northeast and strive to preserve the spirit and and look of Mercer’s original process. For myself? Well I bought letters to spell “The Zerrs”, and hope to find a unique place for it in – or on – our home.

I suggest if you are in the area, to stop in and take a look because you won’t be disappointed. (editor’s note: if you go, think about using HiP’s 5 Handmade Stops in Bucks County as a guide to other stops in the area).