Weekly - Blog Posts by the Venison Team - VENISON

Gathering: Artist Tyler Thrasher

8/9/2017

Abrams Claghorn Gallery
1251 Solano Ave, Albany, California 94706

Showing July 5 - August 31, 2017
Recption: Saturday July 15, 5 - 7 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday August 12, 5 - 7pm

www.tylerthrasher.com
www.tylerthrasher.storenvy.com
@tylerthrasher

We spoke with modern day Renaissance man, Tyler Thrasher a couple years ago in our Summer 2015 issue. Amber was drawn to his work after discovering their mutual interest in the Ozark Mountains. Read more about Tyler's work and stop by Abrams Claghorn to see Quartz Cholla!

Quartz Cholla (detail) // mixed media // 1" x 9" x 1" // 2017 // now on view at Abrams Claghorn

About:

Nature and its respective curiosities. That is my current narrative and inspiration. My work has always spoken of and about the natural elements and microscopic ones that surround each and everyone of us, the tendencies for humans to trace and follow curious and natural callings, and most importantly, the importance of curiosity and experimentation.

For as long as I can recall, my work has revolved around these things, because I revolve around these things. I am driven by these elements, and in turn they are driving me.

Most of my time is spent exploring, reacting to, and prodding nature. Taking any chance I can get to hike, look for caves, find rare plants, dance alongside the fundamental principles of molecular chemistry, and following EVERY SINGLE ITCH. Every calling, whether it be a faint whisper or more of a dire screaming that wakes me up in the middle of the night, I answer them. This tends to come across as sporadic and chaotic in my work and what I "want to do" but it couldn't feel more natural and at peace. While scrolling through my site, you'll get little glimpses of that knack to answer every calling. Rather it be chemistry, illustrating, painting, photography, music, writing, you name it. If I need it, I do it.

Quartz Cholla (detail) // mixed media // 1" x 9" x 1" // 2017 // now on view at Abrams Claghorn

Quartz Cholla (detail) // mixed media // 1" x 9" x 1" // 2017 // now on view at Abrams Claghorn

See the work!

gathering: a venison magazine retrospective

Gathering: Artist Skye Livingston

8/6/2017

Abrams Claghorn Gallery
1251 Solano Ave, Albany, California 94706

Showing July 5 - August 31, 2017
Recption: Saturday July 15, 5 - 7 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday August 12, 5 - 7pm

www.skyelivingston.com
@skyeliving

Skye Livingston joins Gathering: A Venison Magazine Retrospective with Not Quite a Mountain View, on view at Abrams Claghorn through August 31st!

Read Jennifer's interview with her in our Spring 2015 issue where they discuss her delicate works inspired by the body.

Not Quite a Mountain View //wood, milk paint, silk organza, artist's hair, gravel, pins, nails, tracing paper, tape, thread, shrink wrap // 5.75" x 2.75" x .75" // now on view at Abrams Claghorn

Not Quite a Mountain View //wood, milk paint, silk organza, artist's hair, gravel, pins, nails, tracing paper, tape, thread, shrink wrap // 5.75" x 2.75" x .75" // now on view at Abrams Claghorn

Bio:

Skye Livingston is an interdisciplinary artist working with textiles, paper, and organic materials. She has received several awards for her work, including “Best of Show” in the Kansas City Art Institute’s 2012 BFA Exhibition, an award juried by artist Andres Serrano and director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum Julian Zugazagoitia. Her work is included in the collection of The Wichita Center for the Arts in Wichita, KS as well as numerous private collections. She has completed several residencies including the Artist in Residence program at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. She received her BFA in Fiber, and BA in Art History from the Kansas City Art Institute and is currently maintaining her studio practice in Ashland, W

Citrus Paradisi: of flesh & skin // including: grapefruit liqueur, grapefruit soda, grapefruit juice, slices of grapefruit, grapefruit flavored candy balls, and candied grapefruit peel

Artist Statement:

My work utilizes skin-like materials and recognizable motifs to rearrange the concept of home. Through elements oftranslucency, fragility and repetition, I investigate the idea that our homes and our identities are enmeshed within each other, aswell as individually faceted: we create and discard them through a psychological process of growing and shedding skins. Byutilizing repetitive processes and creating collections of subtly unique multiples, I aim to depict and memorialize this overlapbetween mental and physical space, and consider each piece a small monument, both personal and universal.

See the work!

gathering: a venison magazine retrospective

Gathering: Artist Kay Healy

7/31/2017

Abrams Claghorn Gallery
1251 Solano Ave, Albany, California 94706

Showing July 5 - August 31, 2017
Recption: Saturday July 15, 5 - 7 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday August 12, 5 - 7pm

www.kayhealy.com
@kayshealy

Philadelphia based artist Kay Healy spoke with Amber last summer about her large scaled screen printed and fiber based, installations. You can hear their conversation in our Summer 2016 issue! We're excited that Kay will be joining us on August 12th, 2017 for an artist talk at Abrams Claghorn as part of Gathering: A Venison Magazine Retrospective.

installation view of Lost and Found // 2014

Artist Statement:

Since 2008 I have been creating large-scale screenprints of furniture, based on images I have found online, from my childhood, and most recently a series created based on other people’s descriptions of their childhood homes. Through my art I investigate themes of transience and the search for stability in an ever-changing world. I am by nature a nostalgic person and am very interested in how an object as mundane as a plastic salad spinner can embody vivid memories of people, events, and periods of someone’s life.

Lady Liberty Out of Time // Stuffed and sewn cotton, acrylic shirt, ceramic // 2017 // now on view at Abrams Claghorn

George's Argus Camera and Miiko's Purse // 2016

Armchair // Screen printed, stuffed, and sewn fabric // 2015

Screenprinting allows me to make large-scale works that I can detach from with relative ease. If I made large-scale paintings, each one would be too precious to wheatpaste onto buildings or gallery walls, which destroys the art object. In direct contrast to my nostalgic impulses with the original objects, working with the multiple enables me to let go of the pieces and spread them throughout the community.

By working with the memories of other people I am creating a physical representation of collective recollections, while investigating how a variety of people, who differ in gender, age, race, neighborhood, sexual identity, income, and education, all relate to the objects that populate their memories, and cope with the fact that there is no way to truly return home.

Artist talk with Kay Healy!

Philadelphia based artist Kay Healy will be joining us for our artist talk on August 12th from 5 - 7pm at Abrams Claghorn! This is an evening not to be missed!

Gathering: A venison magazine retrospective

Gathering: Artist Bryan Kring

7/29/2017

Abrams Claghorn Gallery
1251 Solano Ave, Albany, California 94706

Showing July 5 - August 31, 2017
Recption: Saturday July 15, 5 - 7 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday August 12, 5 - 7pm

www.bryankringdesign.com
@bryankring

Bryan Kring shared, as Danielle introduced, "His enchanting images and dark humored writing... often enhanced with interactive mechanisms that pull you into another world held in the palm of your hand" in our Summer 2015 issue.

We're delighted to have Shared Illusion showing in our retrospective, now up for viewing at Abrams Claghorn through August 31st.

Traveling together Apart // edition 40 // paper, ink, thread // 4" x 5" // intaglio and letterpress printed

Shared Illusion // woodblock print with painted figure // 10" x 4" x 4" // now on view at Abrams Claghorn

Bio:

I originally wanted to be a writer but moved on to painting when I found that I didn't have any stories to tell. I went to art school and filled my home with large canvases. When there was no room left I switched to printmaking and working with small bits of paper. Now, after finding a few stories, I am working in book arts and am able to do a little of everything and am enjoying connecting the circle back to the writing.

I am also a graphic designer and run the creative firm Kring Design Studio.

Sea Monster // edition: 100 // paper, ink, brass, wood, acrylic // 2.75" x 3.5" x 3.25” // intaglio and letterpress printed with hand water coloring

See the work!

Gathering: A Venison Magazine Retrospective

Gathering: Artist Amabelle Aguiluz

7/24/2017

Abrams Claghorn Gallery
1251 Solano Ave, Albany, California 94706

Showing July 5 - August 31, 2017
Recption: Saturday July 15, 5 - 7 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday August 12, 5 - 7pm

www.amabelleaguiluz.com
Amabelle Aguiluz on Facebook
@amabelleaguiluz

Amabelle Aguiluz was featured in our Spring 2016 issue, where we discussed fiber arts, fashion and meditations of her process. She has joined Venison's first retrospective with Veil. We're delighted to have her speak during the artist talk on August 12th!

Artist Statement + Bio:

Amabelle Aguiluz expresses the flow of life as a vast web of interconnections using the medium of fiber as a symbolic map; linking us to the past and connecting us together. Her preference for using discarded fabrics allows her time to explore the process of transformation while collecting and analyzing the materials of her production. Aguiluz uses her art as a means to connect with history, nature and her surroundings.

Amabelle Aguiluz lives and works in Los Angeles.

Veil // cotton, linen, puma stretch // 11" x 7" // 2017 // on view at Abrams Claghorn

Her practice incorporates clothing, textile, fiber sculpture, and installation processes that are presented as free form sculptures and often are incorporated into live performance, video, and photographs. She studied at Politecnico di Milano, Italy and graduated in 2011 from the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York BFA in Fashion Design. Aguiluz’s work has been exhibited nationally and was part of the La Triennale Internationale des Arts Textiles in Outaouais, Canada in 2016

Veil // cotton, linen, puma stretch // 11" x 7" // 2017 // on view at Abrams Claghorn

Shhh Chute // Triennale Internationale des arts textiles en Outaouais // Canada // 2016

See the work!

Stop by the gallery to see all the art, and pop in on August 12th for an artist talk!

gathering: a venison magazine retrospective

Gathering: Artist Bernie Lubell

7/23/2017

Abrams Claghorn Gallery
1251 Solano Ave, Albany, California 94706

Showing July 5 - August 31, 2017
Recption: Saturday July 15, 5 - 7 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday August 12, 5 - 7pm

www.bernielubell.com

Bernie Lubell's interactive artworks were first introduced to us in 2015. We were looking back on the year, sharing our favorite works. While he's lived in San Francisco for a number of years, his work has been shown locally and internationally, and has received varying number of awards, including the Guggenheim Artists Fellowship in 2011. We're delighted he has joined us for Gathering: A Venison Magazine Retrospective!

Just in Case // pine and music wire // 7" x 6" x 2.5"

Just in Case // pine and music wire // 7" x 6" x 2.5"

Artist Statement:

I make interactive installations that focus on the intersection of science and the arts -- but my work is adamantly low -tech. These installations use no computers or video or motors and are entirely powered by visitors to the show. As visitors work together to animate the mechanisms they create a theatre for themselves and each other. By requiring participation, touch and manipulation I get the audience to engage their bodies as well as their minds. As they play, participants tap into the vast reservoir of knowledge stored in each of their own bodies and they become active partners in constructing an understanding. The way that pieces move and feel and sound as you rock them, pedal, crank, press against and listen applies the kinesthetic comprehension's of childhood to the tasks of philosophy.

The use of wood and ancient technologies to examine 21st century issues adds a disarming historical perspective to my enterprise. The pieces are funny, friendly and personal even as they tackle serious issues such as the nature of conscoiusness or the origins of life. The malleable woods I use are ill suited to be machines and yet they do work. Hovering at the line between working and not gives the mechanisms that tenuous yet tenacious character which mirrors control issues in our daily lives. And their very unlikeliness allows each installation to comment on itself.

My work resembles three dimensional Medieval diagrams, mapping questions about our place in the universe. But these are maps of the incompleteness of our knowledge that call for participation and they are diagrams you may literally inhabit.

See the work!

gathering: a venison magazine retrospective

Gathering: Meet Shannon Taylor

7/9/2017

Abrams Claghorn Gallery
1251 Solano Ave, Albany, California 94706

Showing July 5 - August 31, 2017
Recption: Saturday July 15, 5 - 7 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday August 12, 5 - 7pm

http://shannondtaylor.com/
@magicmakerdreamweaver

Shannon Taylor was interviewed in Autumn 2016 by our previous artist, Danielle Schlunegger in a unique podcast style interview. Tune in to listen to these brilliant artists discuss Shannon's work! We all met Shannon at Venison Camp, an adult art professionalism summer camp, in the Spring of 2016. Shannon creates these majestic paintings in Oakland California and we are happy to say, Shannon will be joining us for our Opening Reception of Venison Magazine's first exhibition on July 15th and she will be giving an Artist talk at Abrams Claghorn on August 12th!

Shannon Taylor is a professional watercolorist based out of Oakland, California. With exception to the summer she lived in Italy (amazing), and the pursuit of her terminal degree in the UK (also pretty good), she has lived in Oakland since 2002. Her work has always focused on themes of nature, magic, and beauty, with special attention placed on detail and decorative elements. In addition to her professional practice, Shannon is also the Director of Art and Restoration at Children's Fairyland, and a Professor at the California College of the Arts. In her free time (ha) Shannon enjoys swimming, soft fabrics, and petting other people's dogs.

Come Meet the Artist!!

Shannon Taylor is a Oakland based artist and will be in attendance for our first group exhibition at Abrams Claghorn gallery on July 15th from 5-7pm. Shannon will also be doing an artist talk on August 12th at Abrams Claghorn Gallery.

Gathering: A Venison Magazine Retrospective

Gathering: A Venison Magazine Retrospective

7/4/2017

July 5th to August 31, 2017

Opening night: July 15, 5-7 PM.
Venison Magazine founder Amber Imrie-Situnayake and exhibition curator Rebecca Reeves will be speaking opening night.

August 12, 5-8 PM Artist Talks by exhibiting artists: Amabell Aguiluz, Sarah Ammons, Kay Healy, Jonathan Odom, Samantha Rausch, Clare Szydlowski, Shannon Taylor and Adriana Villagran.

Detail Image by Tyler Thrasher

In 2014, Bay Area artist Amber Imrie-Situnayake founded a quarterly online publication called Venison Magazine. Her vision was to highlight emerging artists whose experimentation with process and media created compelling work in an ever-evolving art culture. In fact, Venison Magazine created more than a platform for artist introductions; the publication created a family of artists with one common thread – the necessity to create. For this maiden voyage, we are gathering up the family for the very first Venison Magazine reunion.

Bryan Kring

Jennifer Pettus

Shannon Taylor

Gathering: A Venison Magazine Retrospective is a multi-media, contemporary art exhibition consisting of 27 national and international Venison artists: Amabell Aguiluz, Sarah Ammons, Zoe Childerley, Eric Coppinger, Brian Donnelly, Kay Healy, Meline Höijer Schou, Amber Imrie-Situnayake, Bryan Kring, Skye Livingston, Bernie Lubell, Bonnie MacAllister, Spencer Merolla, Ankica Mitrovska, Jonathan Odom, Jennifer Pettus, Yulia Pinkusevich, Samantha Rausch, Rebecca Reeves, Danielle Schlunegger-Warner, Clare Szydlowski, Shannon Taylor, Jessica Tenbusch, Tyler Thrasher, Adriana Villagran, Chris Vogel and Amber Jean Young.