A-R-T Newsletter: Pride Month // Portland Artists
Happy Pride month y’all!
We hope that you had a very queer and very lovely June <3 This newsletter is a little different than usual, to celebrate the end of pride month I wanted to share a couple of Queer Portland Artists that I know and love. There are sooo so so so many other queer artists in Portland that I adore, but I wanted to keep this short and sweet and show you three of my favs, a photographer, a ceramicist, and a stained glass artist.
Let’s dive in!
Jayden Becker pictured on the right
Artist statement:
Hi I’m Jayden (they/them). I am a trans and queer photographer, videographer, editor, multi media visual artist, and graphic designer based in Portland. I strive to capture the authentic and creative being that lies within all of us. Let’s shoot! Portraits, Music, Studio, Commercial, Wedding etc! @jaydenhbecker to check out my work and book :)
Jaydens describes their work as “My work is a collaboration of my mind's eye and the subject I am working with. My creative process stretches to reach new bounds, through alternative perspectives. My comfortable nature evokes raw emotion and playfulness while keeping in mind, style, light, and color. I strive to capture the authentic and creative being that lies within all of us. “
Sara Victorio of Hotel, pictured on the right
“Hotel is a handmade ceramic studio created and operated by Sara Victorio in Portland, Oregon”
Sara’s work is easily spotted and adored for the bold use of color, and iconic cylindrical shape combined with the chunky handle. Check out her instagram @hotelceramics and her website hotelceramics.com
“Plant Haus is the collection of work by self taught artist Jasmine Law (she/they).
Originally from Colorado, she now calls Portland, OR home. Beginning in 2013, they entered the world of glass by making geometric terrariums from scratch, thus the name Plant Haus was born. Over the years they moved away from 3D work and focused more on crafting jewelry. As time went on, Jasmine started to learn and fall in love with more traditional styles of stained glass art and eventually circled back to making more 3D work.
Forever in love with floral design, Jasmine incorporates pressed flowers and ferns into most of her work as a means to preserve and create unique frames in attempt to capture the magic that is the world of botanicals.
In 2022 Jasmine started teaching and is now offering stained glass lessons at a local queer run studio and private lessons from her own studio out of Portland!”
Check out Jasmine’s instagram @plant_haus and her website www.planthausdesigns.com, as well as her stained glass classes offered at Daffodill!
I hope you have many queer artists that you know/know of, love, or admire, in your own lives, circles, communities, instagram feeds, and cities, and I hope you’re able to enjoy and celebrate their work all year long!
Happy Pride Month ♡
xoxo,
Danni
A-R-T Weekly Newsletter: Queer Bodies, Collage, and Seeing Yourself Represented
Happy Monday! Here’s your somewhat weekly dose of A-R-T, our (somewhat) weekly newsletter. Each week we hand pick an article, a recycled project, and a thought to ponder for the week, delivered right to your inbox. We hope this will leave you feeling inspired, intrigued, and introspective.
It’s Pride Month y’all, let’s get it!
In this weeks article titled “Queer Photography Doesn't Just Have to Be White, Hunky Gays”, Photgrapher Jesse van den Berg captured intimate photos of friends and acquaintances to create a more well rounded picture of what queerness actually looks like. Humans are so beautifully and incredibly diverse, and having visual representation of people who look like you, especially in loving and non stereotypical roles, is not only meaningful, but can create a huge sense of permission and acceptance within ourselves. I highly recommend taking a look at their photography and the works of many other queer photographers and videographers who showcase queerness and queer love in a much broader and more inclusive scope.
Our recycled project this week uses photography as a main component, it’s collage!
While your collages absolutely don’t need to be a full scale art installation, this week we are inspired by Rakeem Cunningham’s work. In an excerpt from his website, “Cunningham’s collages use his vast archive of anime stills and printed excerpts to create rhythmic expressions of the human condition that simultaneously convey aspects of his own neurodivergent experiences. By drawing upon the emotionally charged lexicon visible in the expanded world of Japanese animation, Cunningham affectively simulates the qualities of obsessive-compulsive disorder through form and content. Instinctively layering facial expressions and decontextualized emotional energies in the shape of abstract forms, collage becomes a therapeutic release and a somatic healing practice—one element of Cunningham’s mental healthcare routine. With a myriad of references and strategies in tow, Cunningham charges into the potent realm of the imaginary—an inherently radical space that envisions alternative realities and better futures.”
Collage can give us the opportunity to express ourselves, and to piece together different imagery that we see elements of our own experiences through.
You will need:
Scissors or an exacto knife
Magazines, newspapers, photos, or other media
Glue or tape
Paper or a surface to collage on to
Many of us have collaged at one point or another, but for those who haven’t, all you need to do is cut out images from your source material, and glue or tape them to a sheet of paper in a creative or visually pleasing way to you. Feel free to add in other materials as well such as yarn, dried plants, polaroids, or other items you’d like to include. Have fun with it!
Our thought to ponder for the week is “Where do I see myself represented?” in either the world around you, or in the media.
I remember the first time I saw someone on a tv show using they/them pronouns was in season 3 of Sex Education (highly recommend watching the whole show if you haven’t seen it already). There was a character who was new to the school named Cal Bowman, played by Dua Saleh, who was openly non binary. It was such a beautiful and resonating moment for me to see a fictional character go through and experience many of the situations and attitudes that I had experienced in my own life.
Going off of our initial question, here are a couple more things to think about:
- What resonates with me in seeing this representation? What doesn’t? What do I wish was different about it?
- How does this representation play into, or disrupt, societally held stereotypes or beliefs about this identity?
- Where are the places or media forms around me that are lacking representation?
- If the identities that I hold ARE already largely represented, where are some places I can consume, support, and uplift representation of identities that aren’t as readily represented?
Talk to you soon,
Danni
A-R-T Weekly Newsletter: A “Bloody” Robot, Bird Feeders, and The Relationship Between Nature and Technology
Happy Monday! Here’s your weekly dose of A-R-T, our weekly newsletter. Each week we hand pick an article, a recycled project, and a thought to ponder for the week, delivered right to your inbox. We hope this will leave you feeling inspired, intrigued, and introspective.
This week I’ve been thinking a lot about technology, and the ever changing impact it has on our lives and the world around us. Let’s jump in!
This is a piece of art I can’t believe I didn’t know about until someone brought it up during a class earlier in the week. This excerpt from the beginning of the article immediately caught my attention, “In this work commissioned for the Guggenheim Museum, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu employ an industrial robot, visual-recognition sensors, and software systems to examine our increasingly automated global reality, one in which territories are controlled mechanically and the relationship between people and machines is rapidly changing.” This is such a unique piece and such an interesting and important concept for us to be considering as technology exponentially advances all around us. Read more here.
It seems as though almost overnight AI went from being something most of us would vaguely hear about, to being integrated on most of the internet platforms we use, and something that now heavily impacts the daily lives of so many people. Personally I’ve found myself on the fence about AI in many many ways, but I have been trying to use it here and there since it’s only a matter of time before we’re all fully surrounded by it. So, with that being said, I asked chatGPT to give me some recycled project ideas, so this weeks recycled project is inspired by ChatGPT. Our project for the week is Plastic Bottle Bird Feeders.
Here’s what I got from ChatGPT:
Honestly, this is usable. We could totally just leave it at that. However, we wanted to have an actual project written by a real person, so we have included a much more thorough project for you all, so here it is:
The instructions and items are similar, but the project posting by an actual person has a much different (maybe just more human?) vibe to it. It seems more real, more creative, and just… better, overall (probably because it is, but that’s entire the point). Here’s the entire project! Generally people think of using a bird feeder in the colder months when food is more scare, but it can be an enjoyable and helpful item/activity to have going all year round!
Our thoughts to ponder this week are less specific than normal, but more of a few questions to ask yourself and get your mind stirring about your individual relationship with technology:
What is your personal relationship like with technology? Do you wish it was different?
How much time per day or per week do you spend on your phone? Your computer? Watching TV?
Are you someone who adapts and accepts new technology easily? Or is it harder for you to embrace the new and ever changing additions?
If tomorrow we lost access to the internet indefinitely, would you still be able to function? Do you know how to drive around your city without using your phone? Are there people you would still be able to stay connected to? Would you still be able to listen to music (by having records, tapes, a radio, instruments, etc)?
Do you feel scared about the future of technology? Do you feel hopeful? Do you feel neither and/or both?
Thinking about ChatGPT, a manmade artificial intelligence, telling me to make a bird feeder, is such a weird dichotomy between technology and nature, and humans are just the middle man. But then again, I suppose we always are and always will be.
AI is an incredibly important and complex topic, and this email does not even begin to touch the tip of the iceberg. In the coming months and years it will be vital for us to be thinking about and considering our relationships with and dependence on technology, and to be involved in the governmental processes of regulating the use of these new technologies as they develop. Technology has so much potential to impact us in such incredible and in such devastating ways, and we need to be intentional and mindful of the power it holds, and of the hands that that power falls into.
*Whew*, personally, I feel like I need to go sit outside after thinking this much about technology. I hope you all get some sunshine this week, and are able to spend some time doing a non screen related activity you enjoy :)
Talk to you soon,
Danni
Art From An Art Therapist, Paper Mâché, and Living Well
Happy Monday! Welcome back to A-R-T, your weekly dose of three topics to orbit your brain in an artful way throughout the week. We’ve got an article, a recycled project, and a thought to think about for you ponder - hope you enjoy!
Let’s get to it!
Our article this week is a brief look into some of the work by Charles Lutyens, an artist and art therapist who’s artwork gives us a look into psychiatric hospitals during a time when they were much more stigmatized and feared than they are today. His artwork not only encapsulates his view of some of the patients he worked with, but also the daily life of the institutions where he worked.
This weeks recycled project is all about paper mâché. As you embark on a paper mâché project, you can use this medium to capture your own personal stories and experiences, turning everyday materials into expressive and meaningful creations. You might not consider yourself an artist, or have any interest in being an art therapist, but there is always space for you to tell your own stories through the art you create.
Paper mâché translates from french to “chewed up paper”, and it is a simple and affordable art medium you can create with materials you probably have lying around the house.
You will need:
Paper or Newspaper (magazines, paper bags, and other recycled paper types can also work depending on your project)
White Glue or Flour
Water
Salt (optional)
Cardboard (project dependent)
Tape (project dependent)
Paint
The basic method of paper mâché is tearing strips of paper or newspaper, dipping them in your glue mixture, and layer them over each other many times, which will then dry and harden into a relatively strong structure. Depending on what you want to make you can use a base such as a balloon or a bowl covered in saran wrap, or even something you’ve constructed out of cardboard and tape that will become part of the internal structure. The project options are endless, and this how to gives you great instructions and many ideas. We’d love to see what you come up with if you try it out!
Living Well
Talking about art, art therapy, and psychiatric hospitals, has me thinking a lot about mental health about the concept of “living well” and what that can look like for people on an individual level. As someone who lives with multiple mental illnesses, and has for the large majority of my life, it’s not a new concept to me that I may never be completely “well” in the same ways that people live without mental illness might be. This is also true for many people who live with chronic pain, on going conditions, or autoimmune diseases. Being or feeling well is something that can come and go, and can sometimes be something we don’t have a ton of control over. However, the idea of “living well” can be an empowering concept to add into our lives. I frequently ask myself "what are the little daily actions that will keep you feeling good?” and I put a lot of effort into prioritizing them. It has made a huge difference in my overall wellbeing, even though on paper they’re totally the annoying things that everyone always mentions, and I hate to be this guy, but I promise they really add up, and they really do help. Lately I’ve really been prioritizing moving my body, going for walks with my dog, spending intentional time with friends, cooking and eating nourishing foods, and practicing mindfulness. These are just some of the ways that help me to live well. While they aren’t bulletproof and I still experience the waves or life, they keep me at a much more stable and consistent baseline, as opposed to the cycle of pushing myself too hard and then crashing or burning out.
What are some small ways that you can think of that might help you to live well? What are things you enjoy, or feeling nourishing to you, that you could work on prioritizing, or working into your schedule as a regular occurrence? In what ways can you connect to people you love, or the community around you?
(There are so many people who will always experience chronic illness, or who will live with their disability forever, and this is in no way to meant undermine anyone’s experience in any way. Nor, will any of these small daily actions or rituals necessarily cure major on going health conditions. Also, should go without saying, but clearly none of this is medical advice and of course contact your doctor if you have any concerns or before making large changes to your lifestyle.)
Spring is trying it’s best to bloom, and we hope you are too!
Catch you next week,
– Danni
A-R-T Weekly Newsletter: A Rotting Shark, Cupcake Liner Flowers, and The Contrast of Preservation VS Replication
At this point some of you are probably starting to know what’s happening here, but for those of you who are new, welcome to A-R-T, our weekly newsletter! Each week we hand pick an article, a recycled project, and a thought to ponder for the week, delivered right to your inbox. We hope this will leave you feeling inspired, intrigued, and introspective.
This week is a weird mix, so get ready, and let’s jump in!
Damien Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991). Photo courtesy of Oli Scarff/Getty Images.
I’m not gonna lie to you guys, I’m sure this one is going to be a little controversial, but then again a lot of art is. In this brief article written by Richard Whiddington, he discuses the slightly graphic and decently gross reality and journey of using an actual dead 14 foot tiger shark for this famous art piece. Not quite a shark POV, but an interesting, odd, and alarmingly decaying aspect of this art piece.
On a very different note, our project this week will not involve preserving something dead, but replicating something fresh that will last.
photo credit: The Little Dove Blog
How many times have we purchased a huge pack of cupcake liners, to use them once, and then let them sit in our baking cabinets for years? I know I’m definitely guilty of this. These sweet cupcake liner flowers give a new life to our forgotten baking items, and give us a cute spring decoration all without leaving home.
What you’ll need:
colorful cupcake liners
small twigs
scissors
hot glue gun
green pipe cleaners, or other stem option like wire or dowel rods (optional)
Check out the how to instructions from The Little Dove
Preservation VS Replication
Our Thought for the week is regarding the contrast between preservation and replication, and the impact that they carry. There are many examples, including the shark in The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, where choosing to replicate a shark artificially to get the same aesthetic outcome of the current finished project, would probably have been more ethical, but potentially have a significantly different impactful emotionally for the viewer in many ways. Because the shark is preserved, it may conjure, awe, amazement, terror, disgust, or a wide range of other emotions from the view, that might not have hit the same way if it had been a fully artificial project. Similarly, preservation of sentimental objects in our lives is generally more important to use than replication is. We dry flowers from weddings and funerals to preserve them, as opposed to creating plastic or paper replicas to recapture the memory.
There is also such a huge place in our lives where replication just as, if not more, beautiful and valuable, and can transcend the medium limitations that certain artists experience. Stephanie Shih (ceramicist) and Deborah Czeresko (glass blower) are both great examples of people who create hyper realistic food replicas in permanent mediums to immortalize these objects that will otherwise degrade.
Does the replication of these items lead to their preservation, but in a different way? Are the motives behind preservation vs replication the same? How in your mind and experience does preservation and replication differ?
We hope you enjoyed this odd and interconnected mix of topics.
Happy Monday, we hope the end of April treats you well, and we will catch you next week!
– Danni
A-R-T Weekly Newsletter: Exploring Ideas of Culture Through Materials, Slime, and Our Emotional Bank Accounts
Welcome to our new weekly newsletter - A-R-T! Each week we will hand pick an article, a recycled project, and a thought to ponder for the week, delivered right to your inbox. We hope this will leave you feeling inspired, intrigued, and introspective.
Let’s get into it!
In her monologue formatted interview, written by David Eardley, we follow Rose Nestler through a variety of subjects, topics, textures, mediums, and emotions. She delves in to the intricate intersections of art, feminism, consumerism, and self-identity in this thought-provoking article. From navigating the complexities of social media as a tool for both promotion and personal exploration to dissecting the allure and contradictions of beauty products in the age of digital metrics, the author candidly explores the dichotomies of participation and resistance within contemporary culture. With each revelation, the author unveils layers of meaning, inviting us to question our perceptions and redefine our relationship with materiality, gender roles, and the essence of creativity itself.
As we ponder the complexities of contemporary culture, let's dive into a tactile journey inspired by Rose: DIY slime.
Photo by One Little Project
While we might not always think of using household items in a new way as “recycling”, we are giving a new life to a material or substance we might not have another use for, or something we use infrequently. The intention behind the recycled project aspect of our newsletter is to give you ideas of projects you can make without having to buy anything new - to use what you already have.
This weeks project is fluffy slime! While slime is often thought of as something for children, it has grown hugely popular both on social media, and in the lives of many adults. Not only is it fun, it can also be a way to keep your hands busy and act as a stress reliever.
What you’ll need:
glue
contact solution
shaving cream
baking soda
acrylic paint
Take your pick of video instructions or written instructions for this simple & fun activity!
Last but not least, our thought to leave you with this week is based on the concept of emotional bank accounts
Just as we deposit and withdraw funds from a financial account, we also make emotional “deposits” and “withdrawals” in our relationships. This is a concept that exists within many of the relationships in our lives, not just romantically. Acts of kindness, empathy, and understanding serve as deposits, while criticism, neglect, and insensitivity constitute withdrawals. Every person will have slightly different criteria on what may feel like a deposit or a withdraw, based on what values they hold and how they like to receive care. By cultivating thoughtful and intentional interactions we can nurture healthier, more fulfilling connections with those around us. Small gestures of appreciation, active listening, and genuine empathy can all contribute to building emotional wealth in our relationships. Moreover, understanding the importance of balance and reciprocity reminds us to approach our interactions with intentionality and care, being mindful and proactive about the ways we contribute to those around us.
What are a few things you can do this week, and this month, to make some deposits into your relationships? Take note of your current “bank balances” are there any relationships that could use a boost?
Catch you next week!
- Danni
A-R-T Weekly Newsletter: Dreamy Pools, DIY Terrariums, and Bridging The Gap to Your Dream Life
Welcome to our new weekly newsletter - A-R-T! Each week we will hand pick an article, a recycled project, and a thought to ponder for the week, delivered right to your inbox. We hope this will leave you feeling inspired, intrigued, and introspective.
Let’s dive in!
Our article this week includes a brief interview with Jared Pike, a 3D artist known for his imagined liminal pool rooms. These ethereal 3D renders are absolutely mesmerizing, and are both eerie and unbelievably beautiful.
Our recycled project of the week is making a DIY terrarium! If you have any old jars lying around, this is a great way to put them to use and give them a new life. You can use any sized jar or clear glass container. A mason jar, fish bowl, aquarium, or wine bottle could all potentially work!
Terrariums are essentially a miniature ecosystem composed of rocks, soil, and plants. They can be closed or open, but when fully closed they create their own atmosphere and need very little from the outside world other than sunlight. They’re a very beautiful, low maintenance, virtually self sustaining way to keep a houseplant. Try making one for yourself, or keep this in mind for an easy diy gift idea!
Last but not least, our thought to leave you with this week is:
What does the life I truly desire look like? What lives between the gap of where I’m at right now, and where I want to be? What is one thing I could do today, this week, and this month, that would help get me closer to my goal?
We hope you had a lovely eclipse, and we will see you next week.