Hello! Today I am sharing the work of Joseph Yoakum. Joseph Yoakum (1888-1972) was a self-taught landscape artist who created his drawings from memories of his travels. He traveled extensively due to his employment with a circus, and then with the army during World War I. Yoakum eventually settled in Chicago where he worked various jobs until he began to make art in his 70s. He created over 2,000 artworks within the last ten years of his life!
Read more…Several years ago, I had the pleasure of working with a Chicago artist named David Philpot. David could fill a room with joy. I worked at a museum where he helped us run workshops for our teacher training program. Students that were usually distracted when visiting our museum would drop their jaws in silence when David showed up carrying one of his incredible art staffs (which were usually about 6 to 8 feet tall). From teachers to students, everyone listened eagerly to every word that David said. I am sharing his art today because his work should be even more widely recognized.
David Philpot was born in 1940 in Chicago. He was a self-taught mosaic artist and wood-carver who created intricately detailed and embellished art staffs. He used various discarded items to decorate his staffs, including jewelry, shells, mirrors, and beads. David carved the staffs out of locally sourced wood from the Ailanthus altissima tree or Tree of Heaven, which grow like weeds in Chicago. David used to tell his story about being called by a power higher to go outside to the ailanthus trees and cut one down (they are small trees). That was in 1971. It took him about one year to make his first staff. He went on to create 350 more staffs, which are now in collections all over the world.
Read more…Hello! We are excited to share our third interview from our artist interview series. We have been admiring the work of artist Mayuko Fujino for a while. Mayuko is a self-taught papercut and stencil artist from Tokyo currently based in the Hudson Valley in New York. Inspired by Japanese traditional stencil textile designs, she has been practicing her art since 1999. Mayuko shares her insight and inspiration with us below.
Uncommon Canvas: What inspires you when making art?
Mayuko: Sometimes an image I see in my everyday environment starts to linger in my mind, and that’s what inspired me to make art. For example, when I lived in Brooklyn, it was a littered plastic bag on the street; now I live in upstate New York surrounded by nature and it is mirroring trees on the water surface that inspire me. I create a series to decode the lingering image so that I understand what it is trying to tell me. I believe successful art is autonomous and I try to let my intuition speak as much as possible, since it often has more depth than what I can conceptualize.
Read more…“I am not interested in complicated things nor in the commonplace, I like to paint simple things that are a little strange.”
Gertrude Abercrombie
I am excited to share the work of one of my favorite artists, Gertrude Abercrombie. I can’t get over her color palette! It’s gorgeous and moody. We have a painting of an owl and cat in our collection, and it is always a pleasure to view it. (As you may know, I am obsessed with owls.)
Here’s some background information on Gertrude Abercrombie. She was born in Texas in 1909. Her parents worked for a traveling opera company. She and her family briefly lived in Germany until World War I broke out. They relocated to Illinois, where she remained until her death in 1977.
Abercrombie was involved in the Chicago art and jazz scenes. She was a painter and pianist. She loved hosting salons in her apartment with appearances from notable musicians, such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.
Read more…Hello folks! We are excited to launch a new artist interview series today. Our goal with this series is to provide a platform for artists to share their process, advice, and inspiration in their own words. We recently interviewed Kat Brandao, a self-taught artist who lives in Asheville, North Carolina. Learn more about her below, and get the added bonus of a Fall recipe!
Uncommon Canvas: When did you start making art?
Kat: I started making art about seven years ago. In my first attempt at painting I thought I was going to paint a poem, then I quickly fell in love with colors which led me to try abstract paintings. Once I started, I was hooked.
Uncommon Canvas: What are your favorite materials to use?
Kat: I really enjoy experimenting with different materials. I use acrylic as my base and I like to incorporate wax crayons, painting markers, charcoal, graffiti, and anything I can get my hands on, really. I also like to try using different materials for mark making. For example, I have used leaves and wood that I’ve found during hikes in some of my paintings. I’ve also used the plastic wrap covering my canvases as an art tool.
Uncommon Canvas: What inspires you when making art?
Kat: I find inspiration in everyday events where emotions are present; some examples are my walks in nature, my interactions with others, my dreams and my reality. Seeing, listening to, and making art in other forms also informs and supports my painting process. I find baking very inspiring, as an art and a connection with my grandmother, who taught me how to bake.
Aleksandra Apocalisse is a self-taught artist living in Portland, Oregon. Originally from the USSR, she lived most of her life in New York until moving to Portland in 2015. She studied behavioral neuroscience and has a broad and interesting range of experience including working as a circus arts teacher, science teacher, a counselor, and an organic farmer. She is currently a full-time professional artist working with acrylics, watercolors, and pen. Her prints are available for purchase on Etsy at ApocalisseArt, and she is a vendor at Portland Saturday Market.
Aleksandra describes her art below:
“For me, art is more than just a passion or a career. It is my therapist, my teacher, my guide, my meditation, and my truest form of communication. My artworks are, for the most part, bits of my subconscious mind in their attempts to become conscious content. I often get lost in my works, as I immerse myself in ineffable themes and ideas such as death, attachment, connection, the trap of memory, and many more. I like to incorporate in my artworks literary ideas and song lyrics that touch me. I am also greatly inspired by any rock, leaf, fruit, tree, mountain, pair of eyes, or body of water that I happen upon.”
More information about her artwork is available on Aleksandra’s website: www.apocalisseart.com. There is also a great article about her life and process here.
Image credits: (from top to bottom):
Aleksandra Apocalisse, Ghosts
Aleksandra Apocalisse, Cosmic Heron
Aleksandra Apocalisse, Cosmic Bear
Please note that all images are copyright © of the individual artists and used on this blog for educational purposes. Selling, printing, or repurposing artwork without an artist’s permission is not nice.
These beautiful hand-printed cyanotypes were created by the self-taught artist Annie Randall. Annie lives in Bristol, UK. Her work explores the relationship between humans and nature, and the deep need for humans to reconnect to the natural world. Her art delivers an important message – especially during these times. Here is an excerpt from the artist’s website:
“Much of the work shown here was created during the coronavirus lockdown, where the world quickly came to a halt, and our personal worlds suddenly became much smaller. Undoubtedly a difficult and tumultuous time for many, our interactions, smell, touch and feel became restricted. It highlighted humanity’s need for these sensations, both with people and nature.
We’ve become observers of nature, fearful of the unknown, yet equally destructive in our path. Multiple narratives (colonialism, patriarchy, capitalism) perpetuate this relationship, which permeates into the intimate relationships with each other and ourselves. We’re taught to be individual, but we’re intrinsically social just as multiple animals and plants communicate with one another for sustenance and support. My work questions these toxic relationships that we have with the natural world and ourselves, so that we might be able to conjure new connections, and develop a deeper appreciation and awareness of our place in the living world.”
Annie uses her sketches and photos to create digital negatives for her prints, which she then places on cotton paper and leaves in the sun. The above artworks are printed on handmade paper made from recycled t-shirts. (You know we love seeing artists creatively reuse materials to create their work!) Her process is described in more detail here.
In addition to cyanotype prints, the artist also creates pencil sketches, and sometimes works with watercolors and oil. Her work can be purchased on her website: www.annierandallart.com. Annie is donating 10% of the proceeds from the sale of her artwork to the Free Black University Fund.
Best of luck to you, Annie, and thank you for letting us share your artwork!
Artwork credit (from top to bottom):
Annie Randall, Plant Head
Annie Randall, Moon Face Flowers
Annie Randall, In the Flowers
Please note that all images are copyright © of the individual artists and used on this blog for educational purposes. Selling, printing, or repurposing artwork without an artist’s permission is not nice.
I instantly fell in love with these paintings! The patterns are so intricate and the female subjects have so much to say to us their bold stares. Sofia Bonati (1982 – ) is a self-taught artist and illustrator from Argentina. She was raised by two artists and learned a lot from observing them. She arrived at her own artistic career in 2013, shortly after moving to England. Her work quickly gained recognition from galleries and collectors. Working with gouache or watercolor, she creates these striking portraits of female subjects.
“At first, I drew men and women alike. I’m not sure why I ended up creating mostly female portraits. My style used to be caricature-like and surreal; discovering other artists, their techniques and style helped me develop my own.”
– Society6 interview with artist
More of Sofia’s work can be viewed on her Facebook or Instagram pages, and her prints are available for sale on Society6.
Please note that all images are copyright © of the individual artists and used on this blog for educational purposes. Selling, printing, or repurposing artwork without an artist’s permission is not nice. Images in this post are © Sofia Bonati.
“I am growing flowers that are not grown anywhere else.”
Anna Zemánková from “The Dawn Drawings of Anna Zemánková” by Jo Farb Hernandez in Raw Vision, No. 14, Spring 1996. 40-45.
Anna Zemánková is a self-taught artist known for her beautifully abstract and imaginative botanical drawings. Anna (1908-1986) was born in Olomouc, Moravia (now the Czech Republic). She loved making art as a child but was told to focus on more practical pursuits. She became a dental technician, married an army officer, and devoted her time to raising her children.
From the outside, Anna’s life appeared full with the busy activities of family life, yet she often felt like she was missing something. She still carried sorrow from the loss of her first born son and began to feel more depressed about the state of her life.
In her early 50s, needing a positive outlet to manage her depression, she turned to art again. One of her three sons was a sculptor, and he happily encouraged her to channel her sadness into art. He helped her buy art supplies and from there her creativity took off. She worked on her drawings in the early morning hours while the house was quiet and still. In the 1970s, Anna expanded her exploration of art, adding collage and embroidery.
Over the years, Anna hosted art showings or “open house” exhibitions. Her work gained the recognition it deserved after being viewed by French painter and sculptor, Jean DuBuffet. (DuBuffet coined the term art brut.) He included several of her pieces in the Collection de l’Art Brut Lausanne, which is the world’s most notable collection of outsider and self-taught art. Zemánková was also included in a show at Hayward Gallery in London in 1979. Since then, her works have been widely exhibited and cherished by many collectors.
More info and artwork images can be found at:
Cavin Morris Gallery
annazemankova.org
Please note that all images are copyright © of the individual artists, collectors, or gallerists and used on this blog for educational purposes. Selling, printing, or repurposing artwork without an artist’s permission is not cool!
Recycleart Sculpture Garden is located in Waldoboro, Maine. It was created by the late self-taught artist and welder, Nathan Nicholls. Through his art, Nathan encouraged others to think twice before throwing an object away. There is not an object out there that Nathan could not recycle into a beautiful artwork. He welded nails, tires, bike parts, and broken farm equipment into sculptures of owls, flowers, frogs, and cats. Even the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland makes an appearance in his garden.
Nathan was originally from Massachusetts. He moved to Maine after his teenage years. He took on odd jobs, from harvesting blueberries to repairing lawn mowers and motorcycles. The latter job introduced him to the beauty of scraps and discarded objects. Inspired by these objects, Nathan started making sculptures in the 1990s. In 2003, after his mother passed away, he began devoting even more time to his art in order to comfort himself. After many years of creating art, his 5 acres of land is now covered with sculptures.
Nathan passed away in 2014, at the age of 52. His family is working to preserve his artistic legacy. They are in the process of figuring out how to ensure the safety and longevity of his art, especially during the Maine winters. Ideally, it is best to keep an art environment as the artist left it but this leaves the risk of the artwork being destroyed. We hope they come up with a solution that works for them because his sculptures are truly unique and inspiring.
For more information, please visit the Facebook page for the site.
