Theresa Himmer is someone to watch. The young Danish/Czech artist was born in Denmark where she studied, lived in Iceland from 2005 – 2009 and is currently working in New York. She creates mostly site specific pieces of art that interact with existing art and city life. The pieces we’re showing below are only a few that focus on her use of a specific material, but her talent extends far beyond. I bet these pieces within her sequin series really do glimmer in the light and dance in the wind. I wish I could see one in person. I love how she chooses to layer her material and art over existing pieces of graffiti, in a way creating a conversation between both expressions of art as well as a conversation between her art and the landscape in which she places it.

Photo // Kristinn Magnusson Volcano #01 (2008) (DETAIL)

Photos // Gunnar Þór Nilsen The Mountain Series Waterfall #01 (2006)

Photo // Gunnar Þór Nilsen Glacier #01 (2008) (2006)

Once taken for a defacement of public property, Graffiti art has now become a way to express community individuality in the form of public art. We’d like to introduce a group of women graffiti artists, collectively known for a project called Few and Far.

Few and Far is comprised of 17 (and growing) solid and rockin’ women from all over the country who not only installed a large mural (spans two warehouses) on Mandala Parkway this past year, but who plan on continuing their effort in various cities all over the country. I recently interviewed Meme, the artist responsible for organizing this event. Read below for more.

Check out this cool video of the installment of the mural in Oakland!

Few & Far 2011 from MTN COLORS USA on Vimeo.

Tell me a bit about “Few and Far”?

F&F started as just one all female mural project, because we enjoyed producing this mural together so much, I decided I wanted to branch out more and start a collective.

How did you come up with the concept?
Ksra (Our PR) and I were talking about what to call this mural after a few days it came down to there are few women in the graff scene and we all far from each there..so Few and Far.

How did all 17 of you find each other?
I always wanted to paint, skate and hang with lots of females all ages with the same interest. I reached out and found a great group of girls who desired the same thing.

What are your backgrounds?
I only can speak for my own background. Every person in our collective is very unique and brings something different to the table.

I’m from a small town in Northern California. My mother was always supportive of her kids to be expressive and different. I was never an artist as a child. I was much more interested in being out side helping with the family garden. I couldn’t get enough of dirt!! I’m still addicted to gardening!!

Do you have any upcoming events/mural projects?
Next year we are doing an animal rights mural at the same spot in Oakland. We hope to have a great turn out!

How do you all work together? Does everyone work on their own portion of the piece or do you collaborate?

For Few and Far I picked out spots for the girls and invited a group to participate. I had 3 women show up randomly to the previous event. With a mixture of styles, I curate where whose artwork will sit next to whose…It works out nicely;)

How did you go about getting funding and approval for the process?

Funding is very difficult to receive, very few people see the same vision as us.
I received local funding (Mtn Colors and Nomad Body Piercing to name a few), but a lot of the funding comes out of my own pocket. Getting the right wall for this mural took a lot of persistence, I did months the foot work to find the right location for what I had in mind.

One Love Meme!

I want to thank my awesome boyfriend (Jersey Joe) for helping with everything!! I couldn’t have done it as well with out him!!
As well as all the women/girls and men, wanting to be apart of this movement!

Check out more of their up coming events here.

We recently discovered local artist and maker, Jay Nelson, represented by Triple Base. With always a surfboard in tow, his work explores unique, wooden forms that attach themselves like barnacles to conventional objects synonymous with transportation and motion (ie. cars, boats, bikes). All images below were taken from Jay’s website – be sure to visit it for more of his whimsical pieces.

Don’t forget that today marks another First Friday Art Walk in Oakland, otherwise know as Art Murmur. With it comes a whole new range of art exhibits that are a must see. This month we’d like to feature the new show at the Chandra Cerrito Contemporary Gallery. The exhibit, titled Lightspace, features four artists: Kana Tanaka, Cathy Cunningham-Little, Amy M. Ho (Bay Area), and Keira Kotler (Bay Area). The focus of the show challenges the artists to “incorporate light in their art in order to bring the viewer’s attention to his or her own perception.”

Lightspace

Sneak peak of work by all 4 featured artists

Amy Ho // Wall Space III

August 5 – September 24, 2011
Opening Reception August 5, 2011, 6 – 9 pm
The opening reception is tonight (August 5th) at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary. If you can’t make it this time around you’re in luck: the show will also be open for public viewing at next month’s Art Murmur on September 2, 2011.

We’ve explored artists who use many different mediums in our blog; light, string, yarn, paint, felt, clay, cardboard, you name it. Here’s an artist, right here in our hometown of Oakland, who is redefining art in a colorful and illustrative way; through pen and ink and paint. Meet Michael Wertz. His illustrations are playful characterchures of the everyday. How much fun would it be be able to screen print and design like this for a living! You can find one-of-a-kind t-shirts and posters of Michael’s right here.

Oaklandish Monster Tee of Lake Merritt

Client // Ellen Toomey, Developmental Studies Center

Client // Pitch-A-Tent Records

Client // Rickshaw Bagworks

Zodiac Signs for the San Francisco Chronicle

Client // CamelBak

It’s an amazing work of art when someone can transform everyday objects into something as beautiful as these pieces below. Tara Donovan has captured our attention with her ability to take man-made materials and transform them into images of the natural world that they originated from. Her works tend to be site specific. Each installment originates from the idea of one singular object, with which she methodically organizes and morphs into a fluid new shape.

Photos // Ace Gallery

Her most recent exhibit was at the Pace Gallery in New York. Her material of choice: mylar. I can’t wait until she has an exhibit closer to home for me to check out.

Photos // cubeme.com

We ran across Candy Chang’s art recently. This one project in particular inspired us to think about our own Oakland, abandoned houses included. In her project, Before I Die, she transformed an abandoned building into an interactive piece of Urban Art, encouraging passers-by to engage in the piece by filling in the blank after the title. The art has recently been recreated in Kazakhstan! Maybe some day we will see it travel here.

Before I Die
Candy Chang is passionate about redefining the ways we use public space. As a public installation artist and designer, her work, “Before I Die”, is both provocative and engaging.

Photos // Civic Center

Photos // provided through Candy Chang’s web site

We are really inspired by the artist Patrick Dougherty. Sure, he’s been around for a while but his work demands recognition again and again. We’re amazed by his talent to weave nature into a magical story. What is more intoxicating is that his art, which catalogues well over 200 pieces, seems effortless. You can check out some of his work right here in the Bay Area at the Palo Alto Art Center.

above photo: by Adam Rodriquez: taken on location at the Desert Botanical Gardens

above photo: courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of Art

above photo: by Wayne Moore: Savanna Georgia

above photo: by Paul Kodama: The Contemporary Art Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2003.