Exhibition at Old Schwamb Mill

Along with the solo show at Bloc 11 in Somerville, I'll also be in a four-person abstract art exhibition in Arlington next month. The show is at the Old Schwamb Mill, which is a frame mill from 1864 that is still in operation. I'd never been there before, so I toured the space yesterday. It's an adorable low building, with the woodworking shop downstairs and a small art display space up the creaky wooden stairs on the second floor. The whole place smells like old wood and history. Several of the walls in the art space have been scrawled with chalk or marker -- at first I thought it was recent vandalism, but then I realized that the messages are historical recordings of events such as first snowfalls, written by the workers there over a century ago. We also got to see part of a tour of the still-working machinery on the first floor, which was developed to use water power from the area but has since been updated to electricity.

The gallery area is divided into small rooms, with a larger room or atrium as you come in and wall space between the individual rooms. The space was currently showing a mosaic show which was in the process of coming down while we were there. My work will be on the walls between the rooms, including this very picturesque window space which I am looking forward to filling with maps!

The opening reception will be Saturday, December 1 from 2:30-4:30pm (the day before my opening at Bloc 11); if it's a nice day, there should be lots of lovely light to illuminate the work. The exhibition will run through mid-March. I will also be running a mapmaking workshop on February 9th, and there will be a closing reception in March as well. I'll be sending out emails about those as they get closer; if you're not already on my mailing list, you can sign up on my site at www.emilygarfield.com.

"Somewhereville" Solo Exhibition at Bloc 11

I spent all evening on Wednesday working with the amazing art curator for Bloc 11 Cafe in Union, hanging what I just realized is my first real solo art show since college. It's a lot bigger than that one was, too -- there's 44 pieces of my art on their walls right now, and when we finish hanging the last few pieces there will be over 50! Here's some photos of the process:

The work in the show spans the three years I've been drawing maps -- we were joking that it's sort of a retrospective, though for a very new artist! I've also been hard at work in the last few weeks finishing several new pieces for the show. I'm especially excited about some new experiments on view in the vault area. I took scans of older map drawings and composited them together with line drawings made from photographs taken over the years to create digital collages that add narrative and texture to my work:

The exhibition runs through December 14, and there's an opening reception on Sunday, December 2 from 5-7pm. If you're in the area make sure to check it out! Here's some more photos of what you'll see:

New composites on display in the vault room:

 Matted small drawings hung in the hallway:

(we decided it was a performance piece, since they move

  when you walk down the hallway!)

Framed works in the main area:

New Necklace at Mobilia Gallery

As part of my extremely busy week recently, I finished and delivered a necklace to Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge for their winter necklace exhibition. I wanted to create something that was similar in spirit to the one I made for their last necklace show, but without the wearability issues that plagued the last one. I came up with the idea of lowering the number of elements but increasing their individual complexity, which gives the necklace visual impact while also making it easier to wear. Below are some snapshots of the finished project. The opening reception will be on November 17th, and the show will be on view through December 28th.

Inside-Out Gallery in Davis Square

The windows by the Davis Square CVS always show an art exhibition, and this month they're featuring artists participating in Somerville Open Studios. I have a couple map drawings in the display, so if you're around Davis I would recommend taking a look!

CraftBoston Spring 2012

Last Saturday I spent several lovely hours taking in the sights at CraftBoston, held at the Seaport. I had been surprised to learn that the event was going to have a steampunk theme, but it turned out that that was relegated to one section and the theme of the talks; aside from that, the event was very similar to last year. I did notice that a large portion of the booths had bright "New Exhibitor" signs on them, and I saw a lot of artists I hadn't seen before. A few highlights:

- Swan and Stone Millinery had a variety of wonderful hats and fascinators incorporating feathers and felted flowers. I really should have tried some on!

- There were a lot of stalls with ceramics at CraftBoston, but I'd never seen anything like the Art Nouveau style ceramics by Stephanie Young before. Her website has a lot of interesting information about her process and inspiration as well. I just saw her work at 13Forest Gallery when I was dropping off work there, so you can see a sample of her style in Arlington as well!

- I remember seeing Joe Bagley's amazing papercuts last year at CraftBoston Spring, but I was glad to have a chance to peruse them again. I was also amused to see a sign in the stall stating that one of his papercuts (a couple on a bicycle, I believe) was the first image pinned on Pinterest. Neat!

City Hall Show

I have eight pieces in this show -- four 18"x24" drawings (three of which are totally new!), and four of my favorite 8"x10" - 9"x12" drawings. 

Also, for anyone attending the TEDxSomerville conference at the Armory tomorrow, I will have a selection of works in the art show there, including a necklace and a teapot among others. 

Two craft fairs this weekend!

New items for these fairs will include brand-new holiday cards, leaf earrings and hand-printed woodblock cards. (Links allow you to view them in my Etsy store!)

Saturday, December 3rd, 11am-4pm: Winter Craft Market inside the Precinct at 66-70 Union Square, Somerville. More info

Sunday, December 4th, 10am-4pm: Comicazi-Con comics and craft fair at the Dilboy VFW in Davis Square, 371 Summer Street, Somerville.

You can also see my art in these local exhibitions:

Now through February 4, 2012: ”Plenty” group exhibition on display at 13Forest Gallery in Arlington, MA (167A Mass Ave, near the Capitol Theater, accessible by 77 bus from Harvard/Porter). More info

Now through mid-January: ”Small Works” group exhibition on display at Riverside Gallery in Cambridge, MA (5 Callender Street, near Central Square). More info

Joy Street Open Studios

Yesterday I had a slightly rushed but still wonderfully edifying trip through Joy Street open studios. Even though I was only there for about an hour, and missed several wonderful artists that I wanted to see, I still had a lot of interesting conversations and came out of it inspired to try new things. The first studio I went into was Elizabeth Heide's, where I was drawn in by the intriguing textures in her work. She uses a variety of printmaking techniques in her work, and was kind enough to explain some of them to me during my visit, particularly gum arabic printing, in which you apply a layer of gum over a photocopied image and then ink, wipe and print it. I've used gum arabic for photo printing before, but I hadn't heard of printing with it.

I also spoke at length with Ji-eun Shim, whose does 2-D work that incorporates repetitive markmaking as well as a variety of 3-D sculptural explorations. Her work is incredibly creative, and I was inspired just standing in her studio. She works with some unusual materials such as twigs and grains - there was one amazing repetitive wall piece done in what appeared to be barley. It reminded me that someday I should try doing twig sculptures again, if I can figure out a way for them not to dry out and fall apart -- I recently lost one of my favorite ones when it fell apart out of the blue. One more project to put on my list for when I have more time...

 Ji-eun Shim, Monster Seeds

Upcoming Shows

Instead of posting separately about each show, since I'm doing so many this holiday season I thought I'd just post a page with everything. Feel free to ask questions about any event in the comments!


Art Shows:

Now through February 4, 2012: ”Plenty” group exhibition on display at 13Forest Gallery in Arlington, MA (167A Mass Ave, near the Capitol Theater, accessible by 77 bus from Harvard/Porter). More info

Now through mid-January: ”Small Works” group exhibition on display at Riverside Gallery in Cambridge, MA (5 Callender Street, near Central Square). More info

Craft fairs:

Saturday, December 3rd, 11am-4pm: Winter Craft Market inside the Precinct at 66-70 Union Square, Somerville. More info

Sunday, December 4th, 10am-4pm: Comicazi-Con comics and craft fair at the Dilboy VFW in Davis Square, 371 Summer Street, Somerville.

Saturday, December 10th – Sunday, December 11th: Holly Fair art/craft fair in Harvard Square, Cambridge MA. I will be at the 56 Brattle location. More info

Saturday, December 17th, 12-4pm: SLAM craft fair at the Burren in Davis Square, Somerville MA. More info

Halloween Craft Fair at the Burren Oct 29th!

I will be participating in a Halloween-themed market (perhaps even in costume!) at the Burren in Davis Square on Saturday, October 29th. New works will include one-of-a-kind woodblock print cards, hand-painted autumn tree pins, and a brand new collection of twiggy floral earrings. Of course there will also be map art and cards as well as other standard goodies.

(ähts): The Boston Arts Festival

I'm currently gearing up to participate in my first juried festival sponsored by the City of Boston! (Actually, it might be the first art festival I've done in Boston, not counting exhibitions and open studios). It's on the waterfront on September 10th and 11th from 12-6 each day; more information is on their website. I'll be showing mostly maps, but I'll probably bring along a little jewelry as well.

LIC Open Studios 2011

I was in New York this past weekend to see some friends at the LIC Arts Open, which this year was a week-long event. Unfortunately I didn't get to see all of them, but I did come across some fun new artists at the Juvenal Reis studios.

I was particularly taken with the detailed, almost obsessive pen drawings of Rena Teratani, who is apparently having an exhibition in Montreal in June. Unfortunately the website images and printed postcards don't really show the incredible detail in her pieces. Her work reminds me a little of Julie Mehretu's mark-making, and apparently reminds others of mine -- at open studios, a friend saw the map I have on the back of my phone and thought it might have been something Rena drew! The fact that she does detailed drawings on a large scale has convinced me that my drawings might actually look okay if I did them significantly larger than my usual 9"x12".

The other super memorable art we came across this weekend was hidden in the lower floor of a secluded gallery in Chelsea. Paul Shore & Nicole Root's photographs had made the Internet rounds a while ago, but the full collection was really amazing. They reproduce iconic works of contemporary sculpture in candy, and photograph them in mini gallery setups that make the candy to scale with the original work. I really appreciated the Dan Flavin light installation (one wax stix candy in the corner of a room) and the initially befuddling Claes Oldenburg (naturally, a real ice cream cone and slice of cake). Do check out the link above if you've ever taken contemporary art history.

Somerville Open Studios Recap

Open Studios was surprisingly hectic, but really amazing. I met a lot of people who were really interested in my work; two of my favorites were a young child who came to my table, politely asked to buy a print (after studiously perusing the designs available) and even signed up for my mailing list, and a guy who ran over on a friend's recommendation, took a glance at my table and the drawings I had on display and summed up his review by exclaiming "Holy shit."

Because I was behind the table the whole time, I didn't get a chance to look at many other artists' work, but I did take one opportunity to run around the space a little, and I even had some fans bring me business cards from other artists they thought I'd like. I was recommended to check out one of the tables in the Armory because the artist was working with cut-outs from roadmaps, and when I got a chance to see her work it turned out she already knew about my maps and had bought two pieces from me! It's getting to be a smaller and smaller world, and I love it.

I also met a lot of interesting artists by chatting with the people who came by my table. I had some new, stylized watercolor maps out, and got into a discussion with a photographer about how they resembled some work he'd done with images of cobblestones. 

 

He works with much brighter colors than I do, so his image is a lot more eye-catching. I should definitely think of using more color; even if it's not something I normally do, it does get peoples' attention. I had prints of "Growing Fields" (by far the most colorful map I've done) for the first time at Open Studios, and almost sold out of that one design. I'm thinking of doing the abstract maps (like the one above) in brighter colors, to make more graphic map representations.

Somerville Museum "Artist's Choice" Exhibition

I am again participating in the Somerville Museum "Artist's Choice" exhibition this year, in conjunction with Somerville Open Studios. There is an opening tonight (Friday, April 15th) from 6-9pm, which should be a lot of fun. Each artist participating in Open Studios was invited to submit one work, so the show is always very varied. I am showing "Sunset Parks", which is pretty much my favorite map. I can't wait to see how the show looks!

Inside-Out Gallery

The windows of the Davis Square CVS always display local art, and have been named the "Inside-Out Gallery". The display is currently various artists who will be participating in Somerville Open Studios. I'm showing two map drawings there this year. If you're in Davis, you should check them out!

Somerville Open Studios - Save the Date

I will be participating in Somerville Open Studios again this year, and again at the Armory (191 Highland Avenue). The event is April 30th and May 1st. I hope that everyone will be able to come!

I will also have three drawings in a show at Bloc 11 in Union Square (11 Bow Street). The exhibition will be up from March 14 to May 3, with an opening reception on March 14th from 6:30-8pm catered by the cafe. Put this information on your Google Calendar with this button:

First Friday in the South End

Thanks to my amazing friends Marion and JB, I will be participating in First Friday next month in their studio space! First Friday is a monthly open studio event in the South End that also includes gallery openings and other fun stuff. I will be at the 450 Harrison Ave studio building in studio #223B, and I'll be showing mostly original map drawings and large-scale pop-up cities. I don't really show these pieces outside of exhibitions any more, and certainly not all together like this, so it will be a good opportunity to see the full spread of my current work.

Add this event to your Google Calendar -

SLAM at the Burren

I took some photos at Saturday's craft fair in Davis Square. I had a whole lot of new things for sale!

Holiday map cards, crocheted flower earrings, twiggy earrings, crocheted flower pins...

My very Victorian earring/necklace display frame. I've been doing a lot of floral designs lately; the crocheted flower earrings are the most recent.

Hair accessories (clips and combs). Again, more florals!

I also had some brand new map posters, which were getting snapped up! I will be at SLAM again this coming Saturday (12-4pm) for my last holiday craft fair of the season, so please stop by if you're in the area.

Upcoming Shows

There are a lot of events coming up soon -- here is a complete list:


December 2nd-23rd, 2010

"13 Under 30" Group Exhibition

Thirteen emerging artists in the Boston area will be showing a wide variety of art. My contributions include an imaginary map drawing and a large pop-up of a city intersection. The exhibition is at the Rubin-Frankel Gallery of Boston University's Hillel Center, located at 213 Bay State Road in Boston. More information: www.bu.edu/hillel/gallery/

December 3, 5-7pm

"Small Works" Opening Reception

An exhibition of small works (under 12"x12") by artists of the Fort Point art community. I have contributed two imaginary maps, each with a different style. The exhibition is at Fort Point's gallery space "Art at 12", located at 12 Farnsworth Street in Boston. The exhibition will be up through December 31. More information: www.fortpointarts.org/

December 4, 12-4pm AND December 11, 12-4pm

Saturday Local Artist Market

I will be showing lots of new jewelry, maps, holiday cards and more, and would love to have you stop by! There will be lots of other talented artists as well, with a wide variety of handmade products. The perfect opportunity for holiday shopping! As usual, the event is at the Burren in Davis Square, located at 247 Elm Street in Somerville. More information: www.burren.com/SLAM.html

13 Under 30

Two of my pieces were just accepted to the "13 Under 30" show of young artists at the Rubin-Frankel Gallery at BU. The opening reception is December 2 from 6-8pm, and the show will be up until December 23rd. Please come if you're available! I will be showing the "Russet Map" from a recent post as well as one pop-up from the installation at M55's "Core and Mantle" exhibition.