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…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.
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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.
