I am a self-taught artist originally from St. Paul Minnesota and currently based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Most well-known for creating intense and emotionally captivating works of art. I specialize in mixed-media female portraits that incorporate graphite, ink, and watercolor. I had my first art exhibit at Foster Art Gallery on the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus at the age of eleven. Most recent exhibits include the 2014 solo exhibition Blood, Sweat and Tearsâ at gallery Sev Ven in Los Angeles, California and the 2013 group exhibition at Art for a Cure at studio 21 Tattoo and Gallery in Salerno, Italy.
I started drawing when I was three years old. Other children played outside; I played in my sketchbook. During adolescence I realized that engaging in the creative process had supported and sustained me through some darker life expe- riences, and it continues to do so. For me, making art is emotional therapy. I get lost in the creative process and am able to exist in the present mo- ment where I am able to explore and contemplate the darker aspects of life in a constructive way. Artistic influences include M.C. Escher, Francis Ba- con, Zdzislaw Beksinki, and the writings of Charles Bukowski.
Art enables me to express what I feel inside, with great attention to detail. In addition to graphite, ink and watercolor, I am exploring coffee as a medium. I find the way that it bleeds into the paper unique and beautiful. Currently, I am incorporating fluorescents into my work and am thoroughly enjoying expanding my creative boundaries by playing with color.
A DESTINATION FOR THE CURIOUS WOMAN SEARCHING FOR A LINK BETWEEN STYLE AND COMPASSION
Named for a busy street in Karachi, Victoria Road is a social enterprise that curates hand-picked collections that incorporate traditional materials and techniques to create modern and edgy fashion. We help designers scale their operations by providing them access to the U.S. luxury market as well as business, creative and logistical support at all levels of the value chain. www.victoria-road.com
PHOTOGRAPHY: AYESHA MALIK MAKEUP ARTIST: ALANA GUY MODEL: MEKI SALDANA STYLING & PRODUCTION: SARA MALIK & MEGAN BROSTERMAN
When I start my day in my studio, I want to listen to some music. It is generally not always the same. I also like to use some incense.
When I begin a new artwork, I used to use a special cardboard that allows the pigments and water too react in a special way; giving textures, shapes, deformations and then letting my imagination act freely.
The music always transposes me and my sensory part which takes me to an inside world, an introspective. It nourishes my imagination, it motivates me.
It constantly leads me to paint many of my paintings and I feel pleasure in that. I feel like I never want to stop doing this. It’s part of my life.
I used lots of techniques, like pencil, small coal and oil. Especially when I was young. Nowadays I like to use more than one technique at the same time, and make different results.
I use India ink with salt, and I let them act freely on the support. I use other things to generate texture, and I use oil painting, pencils and pens to realize details.
If I had to pick a style for my art, it would be quite difficult. Perhaps I associate my work with surreal art. My characters and their environment have nothing to do with reality.
The distorted reality is part of my inspiration, my contacts and my experiences. My artwork is based on the unconscious – all associated with my dreams, relationships & with life itself.
I don´t try to tell stories in my artworks. My work isn’t the realization of an illustration for a story, book or magazine (with a text behind the artwork). There are always ideas or suggestions (of a story) but it’s not a literal sort of story. I take fun in other people’s freedom in interpretation. I feel that it is important is to feel total freedom without restriction and without much precise meaning. I like to leave the interpretation of each piece to each person, you can get carried away like I do in every piece of art. Ithink each work has something special, they are part of my pleasures.
Each work is part of a sensory and emotional expression, for sure. I often think that the power of paint lets me express myself of many things that are somewhere in my head.
For example, relevant situations, dreams, experiences and thoughts that I keep (in my mind), I need to express them in some way, and doing it on a canvas is a perfect idea for me!
When I talk about a relation to my work as an artist, I mean that’ s the way that I have fun with the characters, animals and plants when my playfulness arise. You’re letting it flow! So you have to let go of the restrictions and really play with everything that is created, generating a new and unique artwork.
My inspiration comes from music, books, a good wine, plants, dancing while I’m painting and my small garden.
The narrative of an artwork is not something important for me. I want to do art without thinking, without restrictions, like art is for me. I think that the style is generated, created as one grows as an artist. Plus experience and techniques, the papers, the canvas helps form and then you feel comfortable (in that space).
I listen to many styles of music; I need that every day (to have a musical change).This change produces in me an energy and mobility different in my body.
I like pianist music, jazz, rock, hip-hop or ambiance. My musical panorama is very broad. I try to constantly meet new artists and new bands that are emerging. I like to investigate the soundtracks of movies and series.
Besides music, I love my studio; it is full of colors, pins, my favorite library and plants. I think the place (to create) is an important point when you are creating. I consider my atelier to be full of colors and visual incentives that help open your mind. I have a lot of travel objects, artist books and books from friends. Music for me is like my battery to start each day, but I love where I work. And another important point is that it has an incredible luminosity, overlooking a terrace where I have a small cottage and plants that I care much for.
I would say that the core passion about art, is to feel free, to have your mind open to all the new things that can appear.
Every crisis is a new starting point and always the beginning of something new and not something that ends.
My top list of people who constantly inspire me and the reasons behind it are:
Jean-Michel Basquiat: Because of his expressiveness, his loose strokes & his liberty.
Egon Schiele: His obsession for expression, postures & sexuality. His work tries to capture the sensuality of women and men.
Paul Klee: I love the choice for his color palettes, his compositions & his details.
Amy Cutler: Because I like her imagination, how she tells a story and her incredible levels of details. She creates strong characteristics via clothes, human expressions, hairstyles, animals and landscapes.
Pablo Picasso: I admire his versatility. It’s amazing how much work he was able to create during his life. I consider him as a genius. I love watching his videos and seeing how his imagination puts his art is in constant transformation – like seen in this VIDEO: http://www.picasso.fr/es/picasso_pagina_index.php
http://www.pablopicasso.org/
Frida Kahlo: Because I admire her strong personality, her passion, her ideology and her deep love for Diego Rivera. All of her art works were about her life and her physical & mental pain. She was a fighter, yet a very sensitive one who created a lot of wonderful art full of color.
My full name is Jessica Slagle, but most of my friends call me Slagle or Slagletron. I’ve been living and working in New York City. I’m originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota.
How do you describe yourself?
Within the first couple of weeks of moving to New York City, I came across this quote from Frida Kahlo (my favorite artist). I feel that it describes me perfectly: “I used to think I was the strangest person in the world, but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me, too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.”
Medium, what do you use to create?
I used to do all my work by hand – cutting out all the photographic elements and gluing them down. This tactile process was something I really enjoyed about my work. Once I moved to the city, it became nearly impossible to work this way. My apartment is so small that there is no place for me to set up a workspace. It forced me out of my comfort zone and pushed me to start working on the computer. Digital collage is something that has brought my work to the next level. I am able to capture colors and subtle layering qualities that I would never be able to do with traditional collage.
Describe your work.
I’ve been told by several people that my work is like ‘high fashion on acid’ as well as ‘neo-pop art’. I think both of these descriptions describe my work well. My work is a fusion between beautiful photography and digital collage. Each piece is a day dream captured in a single moment. I love using tons of bright, saturated colors and subtle layers of pattern.
What inspires you?
My work is highly inspired by my surroundings and my own experiences within my environment. Moving to the city has significantly affected my work. If you held a piece up from two years ago next to a piece I created while in New York, you would be shocked at the differences. New York is such a magical place, and I feel that my recent work captures the magic I’ve experienced here. Music is another huge influence. Most of my pieces are titled after the song they were inspired by. I often find that music helps create a siren-like quality in my work – and helps to create a rhythmic progression throughout each piece.
What motivates you when you may not be inspired?
When I’m not feeling inspired and for whatever reason I have to get something done, that is usually the time when I’ll try something totally new. Generally, for me, that is the best time to try something new because I don’t have a preconceived notion of what I want the end result to be, because I’m not in the ‘inspired’ mindset. Sometimes in these situations is when I create my best work – this is also the time when some of my worst work gets created too. I feel that it’s always important not to let yourself get stuck in a particular style – forcing yourself to work outside of your comfort zone really helps to evolve your work.
Why do you create?
I create because I have a basic need to create. It’s my way of leaving my mark on the world. Each piece is an extension of myself and my experience and my thoughts.
Describe any elaborate activities, rituals you may have done while seeking inspiration…
My senior thesis project was about art as a tool for meditation. I made seven chakra meditation posters – while making each one I would open that particular chakra and infuse the piece with my own energy. Hilma Af Klint is another artist I admire. She often would invoke spirit guides and translate their messages through her art. I’ve done something similar in my recent work. The recent digital collages I made are all portraits of various meditation visualizations I’ve had since living in New York City.
When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
I’ve always wanted to be an artist! I can hardly go a couple days without creating something… one time when I was three years old I painted a giant floral scene on my parent’s living room wall using my mom’s makeup – she was not happy about that. 😉
What do you hope to accomplish in 5 years?
In 5 years I hope to be showing my work in solo shows around New York, as well as selling my work on a regular basis.
Which is your own favorite piece or body of work? Describe why.
My own favorite piece would probably be my ‘Transcendental’ piece. It represents my ultimate transition between traditional and digital art… as well as from small town to big city, and from adolescence to adulthood.
Who is your favorite artist? Describe why.
My favorite artist is Frida Kahlo. Her work is brilliant and highly personal, and she views the world the same way that I do. She is not ashamed of who she is or what she does. I hope to be as influential in my own time as she was in hers.
I am a 59 year old local artist residing in Brazoria County, Texas south of Houston. I am an abstract/image-centric artist active since 2001. I have studied and have been heavily influenced by Johannes Itten’s Art of Color as well as by my Art Mentor Dean Hunsaker of Berkeley CA. As a member of the Osage Nation my art work was selected by the Osage Mineral Council to represent the Nation’s yearly Oil and Gas Summit in both 2011 and 2012.
Guadalupe Herrera is a freelance Innovative Graphic Artist/Designer. Born and raised in Eagle Pass, Tx in 1963, in a small board town near Mexico. Moved in the summer of ’81.
Attended the Art Institute of Houston, graduating with a degree in visual communication and specializing in graphic design.
He spent a year in Kenner, Louisiana. He worked in the signage field after college but decided to return back to what he loves, belongs and calls home, Houston, Tx. After a few various positions he finally found a home with one of the largest title companies in Texas, where he worked for 25+ years. Still maintaining a 8 to 5 position, He found time to create personal endeavors.
He started Graphics & Friends – Advertising & Design Studio, GLH Designs – Signage Studio, HH&H – Renovation & Innovation Remodeling, and optimistically, soon to come… Aztec Arte Gallery.
One of his specialities and passions was creating mechanical or technical illustrations. In his downtime he would squeeze in a painting or two throughout the year. His pieces are mainly large scale and often take a month or more to create especially with his new latest style.
His background encompasses advertising, sign making, furniture creation and construction. With knowledge and experience in most trade skills in the field. Drawing and mimicking DC and Marvel Comics was his first initial skills his mother noticed at an early age and encouraged. His mother was the only one growing up that believed in him, and told him he would be an artist one day. Eventually, having that day in what she always believed in and say, “I always knew you would make it.“
For the Artist in Studio Series, @Fallenroyaltyart, Artist Francesca discusses inspiration, the role of the artist, and her process at the Glassell School of Art in Houston, TX.
Film+Editing by Sabrina Scott, Photography by Violeta Alvarez
Artist Statement
My paintings are heavily inspired by art history or the history of architecture, I take multiple styles of art that I am drawn to and I mold them together. My main work is influenced heavily on medieval architecture and ruines, I painted these in the manner of manuscript paintings and Pompeian illusionistic fresco. My new series explores the line-work of renaissance drawings as a means of capturing elements of geological decay such as ice cracks, mud flows and planetary surfaces.
My goal is to enhance the experience. I seek to produce a pictorial problem solving response in the viewer, I want the viewer to question if the painting is in production or falling into decay, through the use of repeated linear motives. I create works that appear to be self generating as though by computer design system, to this end I invite a dialogue between classical design principles and the purity of technology and machinery. Through my process I engage in a paragone with technology ,to imitate with my own hand a machine made work in order to produce the effect of meta materiality. I want my paintings to glow from within and pulsate like a computer screen.
At a very young age when I had only a vague idea of the meaning, it was predicted that I was an artist. This was from observations by my elementary school teachers and encouragement from my Mother, who not only appreciated art but was also a talented painter. The title of artist tended to give me a kind of identity…a suggestion that I was gifted in a certain way. With only that assumption as my guide, I pursued drawing and painting without academic training. My earliest attempts were produced by my sense of awe when pouring through books and art magazines. The works of a famous surrealist caught my eye at age twelve. From that time forward I would say that I was basically self-taught. That is not necessarily a compliment. There are areas I will never be proficient in yet the simple love of creating art drove me to figure things out along the way. It wasn’t until I was 31 that I availed myself of some formal art training but by then I had already spent many years working in commercial graphics, technical illustration, animation, photography and film production. Those earliest accomplishments tutored my creativity but did little to satisfy my urge to paint large meaningful works. That would have to await a while. A very fortunate aspect of my career in the earlier years was the wide variety of artistic areas I managed to find work in. In each decade from the seventies, I augmented commercial art with a few fine art paintings. Results were slow at first, I was yet to emerge from all the strict confines of commercial work to the freedom of just painting for imaginations sake.
I partnered in a three man show in 1988 and hung a one man show in 1990. After a serious painters block in the mid nineties, I re-awoke determined to attend to a lifelong desire…that of large canvases with more serious intent. As the turn of the century approached, I couldn’t escape a distinct feeling that something big was going to happen. I began painting futuristic images inspired by the notion that entering the third millennium should be punctuated by some visionary artwork. Having already produced one painting in the late eighties, that turned out to be somewhat of a premonition, I was startled when a second one ‘appeared’. *Omen* painted in September of 2000, contained several key elements of the WTC attack that happened one year later. That image went viral online, was my first published painting and is still posted at September11news.com. To me, it was simultaneously an ugly painting yet strangely significant.
I’ve always remembered the words of my favorite art teacher; ‘produce a sense of light direction’. I have only reached that lofty goal on occasion. In some of my recent works I’ve attempted to capture beauty in the midst of calamity to produce a sense of wonderment and emotional response. And of course there’s often a curiosity about symbols present and their interpretation. So after a significant time spent in seclusion I offer a few pieces that came into being in the past 6-8 years. These four canvases are connected; A Surrealistic Quadriptic. There’s a lot more from the past and hopefully from the future as well. Enjoy.
This group of four canvases, when combined, form a 16′ panorama. The sequence begins with 2012, an imaginary convergence of multiple calamities coming upon the earth. Fortunately, we were spared a global catastrophe. Second, is Waves and Particles, a scene depicting the enigma of quantum mechanics, the warping of space/time and Plato’s allegory of the cave. Third in the sequence is Clockwork, the mechanization of time measurement with sublime, human icons in flight. The last scene is Spiritus Mundi, or ‘spirit of the world’…with obvious troubling events and situations existing on the human level and the arrival of divine intervention.
Born in Texas, Luisa Rod started drawing since she was in elementary school and began painting when she was in her early twenties. She took lessons with renown artists from Mexico.
She pursued her BA in Art degree at Texas A&M International University, and studied in 2014 at the New York Academy of Fine Arts.
She layers her life experiences and rites of passages in all of her works. Every stroke is filled with an array of emotions that make her work come to life.
Education:
2013-2015
Texas A&M International University; Fine Arts
2014-2014
New York Academy of Fine Arts
Awards:
2018 – Women at the Border, Laredo
2015 – Women in Art, Austin
2014 – Educational Conference, Texas A&M, Laredo
Group Exhibits:
2018 – Capital Sin, Museo Reyes Mesa
2017 – Women at the Border, Laredo Center for the Arts
Santi was born in the United States and raised in Colombia, City of Medellin. He has helped develop projects such as: animations, video games, and concept art in the world of entertainment.
He has had the privilege to illustrate the complexities of mental conditions; The Warrior, depicts the adventures he faced during a crucial period of his life. He loves working with bold, bright colors, experimenting with different medias, and enjoys conversing.
The Palenquera is a work in progress- its a Colombian lady that sells fruit in the Colombian beaches – an embodiment of color and joy.
The female body was a series of colored pencil sketches for different plastic surgeons.
The Dino collage was my first colored pencil piece.
The Warrior was my first charcoal piece and it is important as it showed my struggle and love for art.
The Portrait of the girl is concept art- made in photoshop for a client who wanted a tattoo of his lady.
![[Video] Francesca Bayegan Talks Art at Glassell](https://creativesugarmagazine.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-20-at-3.48.46-PM-768x536.png "[Video] Francesca Bayegan Talks Art at Glassell")
