Behind "Ancestral Modern" at the Blanton Museum: The Power Of Three Australian Aboriginal Women Artists
Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan & Levi Collection, currently on view at the Blanton Museum of Art, features the work of over 65 indigenous Australian artists spanning approximately 1966 to 2010.
This summer, we've partnered with the Blanton Museum to explore their newest exhibition Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan & Levi Collection. Over the next few months, we'll take members of our community through the museum tour to highlight the women artists who have contributed to it, as well as the work of Ancestral Modern's Assistant Curator Claire Howard. This past week, the exhibit's Associate Curator, Claire Howard, told us the stories of three works in Ancestral Modern, each created by women artists whose art teaches us about their communities, history, and lands.
Read on to meet them. 🎈
FIRST UP, MEET Emily Kam Kngwarray (1910 - 1996).
Emily Kam Kngwarray
Anooralya (Wild Yam Dreaming), 1995
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
59 13/16 x 48 1/16 in.
Seattle Art Museum, Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan
© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VISCOPY, Australia, Courtesy American Federation of Arts)
Emily Kam Kngwarray, one of the best-known artists in the exhibition, only began painting in acrylic on canvas in the last eight years of her life. She produced Anooralya (Wild Yam Dreaming) when she was eighty-four years old. Her vigorous strokes suggest the tangled roots of the wild yam, an essential food for the forager culture of Kngwarray’s people, the Anmatyerr of Utopia in the Central Desert.
Kngwarray was a “boss,” or senior custodian, of ancestral knowledge about yams, including where and when they would proliferate. While the Anmatyerr people’s forager culture was disrupted by the arrival of white colonizers, Kngwarray depicts an underground scene invisible to outsiders in tribute to the sustenance the desert offers.
NEXT UP, MEET THE Yuendumu Women's Collaborative.
[Biddy Napanangka Hutchinson (born 1931), Betsy Lewis Napangardi (circa 1940 – 2008), Judy Napangardi Watson (circa 1925 – 2016), Rosie Nangala Fleming (born circa 1930), Amanda Nangala Jurra (dates unknown); Bessie Nakamarra Sims (circa 1932 –2012); and Pamela Napurrurla Walker (born 1957)]
Yuendumu Women's Collaborative
Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming), 1999
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
59 1/16 x 47 1/4 in.
Promised gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan to the Seattle Art Museum
© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VISCOPY, Australia, Courtesy American Federation of Arts
Seven Warlpiri women from Yuendumu in the Western Desert collaborated on this painting as a testimony to the significance of their Mina Mina (home or living place). Together, they traveled to the location where ancestral women stopped to sit under desert oaks, get water, and collect snake vines to wrap around food bowls and cure headaches.
Like the women in their ancestral Dreaming narrative, these Yuendumu artists gathered bush tobacco, fruits, goannas (monitor lizards), and grubs. After lighting fires to drive away blue-tongued lizards, they roasted food and sang quietly together.
The painting is laden with symbols that relate the features of their homeland, including concentric circles that suggest desert oaks and long wavy lines representing snake vines, surrounded by U forms that stand for the women.
third, meet Yvonne Koolmatrie (1944 - present).
Yvonne Koolmatrie
Pondi (Murray River Cod), 2003
Native spiny sedge grass
27 3/16 x 47 5/8 x 7 1/16 in.
Promised gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan to the Seattle Art Museum
© Yvonne Koolmatrie, Aboriginal and Pacific Art Sydney, Courtesy American Federation of Arts
Koolmatrie’s woven sculpture represents the Murray River cod, the modern-day descendant of Pondi, the Ancestral cod who created rivers with the sweep of his tail. Koolmatrie uses a traditional coil weaving technique to convey her concern for the current state of the Murray River and its inhabitants; the sedge grasses used to weave the sculpture diminished as the river was degraded by intensive agricultural practices, and the Murray River cod is now on the endangered species list.
Koolmatrie’s work testifies to the importance of “caring for country” to Aboriginal people, and their ties to homelands that extend not only to the ancestral past but remain continuously present.
About the exhibition: Currently on view at the Blanton Museum of Art, Ancestral Modern features the works of more than 65 indigenous Australian artists spanning approximately 1966 to 2010. Their work represents a renaissance in the world’s oldest continuous visual tradition, as contemporary Aboriginal artists adapt traditional motifs developed over the last 40,000 years to modern media such as acrylic paint on canvas, producing vibrant works that relate stories of creation, ancestors, and traditional knowledge and laws. Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan & Levi Collection is on view at the Blanton through September 9.
This exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Seattle Art Museum. It was made possible by the generosity of Mrs. Donald M. Cox, the Wolfensohn Family Foundation, and an anonymous donor. Support for this exhibition at the Blanton is provided in part by Ellen and David Berman.”
About Claire Howard: Ancestral Modern was curated by Pam McClusky, Curator of African and Oceanic Art at the Seattle Art Museum. The Blanton’s Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Claire Howard, managed the exhibition’s presentation in Austin. (This included everything from choosing wall colors and laying out the exhibition’s fifty paintings and sculptures, to developing an educational resource room that helps contextualize the artwork to training docents to share the exhibition with Blanton visitors.) Managing traveling exhibitions has been a focus of Claire’s work at the Blanton since she arrived just over a year ago; she oversaw The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip last fall, and her next project is Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, opening this October.
Stay tuned for more collaborations with the Blanton Museum, as our community explores this exhibit in different capacities.
Meet Her Hands: Alie Jackson
The first exhibition Meet Her Hands, "Cemented Passengers" by artist Alie Jackson, opened on Thursday, June 28. Thank you to the Elisabet Ney Museum, Austin Cocktails, our volunteers and partners for making this show possible.
Photo by Jinni J
Meet Her Hands is a collaborative exhibition series, produced by #bbatx and the Elisabet Ney Museum every summer, featuring three Texan women artists. This season, we're proud to host animator and illustrator Alie Jackson, documentary photographer Deborah Valcin and conceptual artist Cindy Popp. Each artist will showcase work within the Elisabet Ney's collection for two weeks, and throughout the summer we'll explore sculptor Elisabet Ney's legacy, while writing a new history of women in the arts.
The first exhibition Meet Her Hands, "Cemented Passengers" by artist Alie Jackson, opened on Thursday, June 28. Thank you to the Elisabet Ney Museum, Austin Cocktails, our volunteers and partners for making this show possible.
MEET THE ARTIST BEHIND EXHIBIT ONE:
An award-winning designer and animator, Alie Jackson has over 8 years design experience working with big brands, blockbuster movies, music festivals, non-profits, and small businesses. Past and previous clients Include: Marvel, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Amazon Studios, ABC, Disney, FX, Home Depot, Office Depot, GSK, Sears, Boss Babes ATX, Juice Land, Texas Laser and Aesthetics, Sound on Sound Festival, Fun Fun Fun Festival, Margin Walker Presents, Transmission Events and more. Alie Jackson also exhibited work at #bbatx's electronic music and digital arts residency at Native Hostels in March 2018.
ABOUT THE SHOW:
Hosted within the guest artist space at the Elisabet Ney Museum, Cemented Passengers by Alie Jackson is about the constant disruption of people's lives while living in an urban environment. "We can't escape our senses, inundated continuously with audio and visual stimulation. I wanted to explore how my subconscious interprets the everyday sensory experiences of city life. I used a color palette predominantly comprised of artificial colors and objects across all mediums as a unifying principle. Through audio and animation, I made abstract shapes more recognizable when mixing them with collage elements and giving them movement paired with familiar sounds. Through the mixed media panels, I wanted to explore the more tactile and physical awareness of the city." — Alie Jackson
Photo by Jinni J
COMING UP NEXT:
You can view "Cemented Passengers" through July 13 at the Elisabet Ney Museum during museum hours.
PS: Our next exhibition in this series will present a series of works by videographer and photographer Deborah Valcin, opening July 19. You can get more details on the opening reception here.
MEET THE PRODUCERS, PARTNERS AND VENUE:
About #bossbabesATX, the producers: We exist to build educated and empowered creative communities at the intersections of sisterhood and space. Through event series, showcases and personal/professional development programs, we amplify and connect women-identifying artists, creatives and entrepreneurs. Since we've been in operation, we've provided a platform of visibility, outreach and financial opportunity to 300+ Texas-based women artists, 400+ women-owned businesses and women activists. We were selected by The White House to attend the United State of Women Summit in June 2016 and inducted into the City of Austin Hall of Fame in 2017. This production has been made possible in part by 2018 presenting partners Resplendent Hospitality.
About the Elisabet Ney Museum: In 1892, European portrait sculptress Elisabet Ney (1833-1907) purchased property in Austin, established a studio named Formosa and resumed her career as a noted sculptor of notables. At Formosa, Ney sculpted legendary Texans, among them Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston. Ney also assembled at her American studio portraits of European notables, including King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Otto von Bismarck, Arthur Schopenhauer and Jacob Grimm rendered from life as a young artist in Europe. At the turn of the 19th century, Elisabet Ney’s studio became a gathering place for influential Texans drawn to “Miss Ney” and to the stimulating discussions of politics, art and philosophy that took place there. Following Ney’s death in 1907, her friends preserved the studio and its contents as the Elisabet Ney Museum and established the Texas Fine Arts Association dedicated to her memory.
Where Do We Find Goodness In Our Lives?
At our last community meet-up in Austin, Texas, we asked 'Where are you finding the good in your life right now?' You answered by telling us about the good you find in yourselves, in others, in trying new things and even in Austin.
At our last community meet-up in Austin, Texas, we asked 'Where are you finding the good in your life right now?' You answered by telling us about the good you find in yourselves, in others, in trying new things and even in Austin. We've collected some of your answers below.
PS: Our theme for our next meet is "When Do You Feel Most Supported?" Answer at our next meet, happening August 15 at Cheer Up Charlies.
Interested in #bbatx community meet-ups? Learn more about them by clicking here.
URL IRL Resident Artist: Cindy Popp
Cindy Popp is a performance artist and concept photographer, occupying our URL IRL residency in June and July of 2018. For her residency, Cindy Popp will debut an exhibit at the Elisabet Ney Museum on August 9 (as part of our Meet Her Hands series), as well as create work for our ongoing DJ and digital art pop-up at Native Hostels (her work will be featured on July 5). In this piece, she discusses her personal influences and her process.
Cindy Popp is a performance artist and concept photographer, occupying our URL IRL residency in June and July of 2018. For her residency, Cindy Popp will debut an exhibit at the Elisabet Ney Museum on August 9 (as part of our Meet Her Hands series), as well as create work for our ongoing DJ and digital art pop-up at Native Hostels (her work will be featured on July 5).
Below she discusses her personal influences and her process.
Self-portrait by Cindy Popp
How would you describe your creative practice?
I would describe it as solitary. I like to use what little alone time I have to explore this side of me. It's the only time I feel like it isn't irresponsible or rude to make my work. I also find I'm not as self-conscious and am willing to indulge in whatever ideas I have. The actual act of making the photos takes a lot of prep time: looking at inspiration, playing around with costumes and makeup, figuring out the lighting or background. Finally I take the photos and then spend some time editing and posting.
The playful, yet destructive imagery in your work suggests themes of beauty, deconstruction and disruption—would you agree? Disagree? What other themes do you explore in your work?
I definitely think my work seeks to take beauty tropes and subvert them. I find a lot of inspiration in fashion editorials but don't see myself fitting into that world so I replicate it on my own (in a much more DIY fashion) and insert myself. It's about making these unattainable ideas less intimidating and sacred. I like to inject humor, grossness and imperfection to bring them back to Earth.
There's a level of vulnerability to your self-portraiture. What motivates you to take self-portraits? Are you naturally comfortable exploring those aesthetics of yourself?
Logistically, I started taking self-portraits because it was easier. I could experiment (and fail) and figure out what I was doing in private. I think subconsciously, I was motivated by my favorite artists (Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman) and found that they made me feel like my work was legitimate.
As far as comfort, I would say no. I am extremely critical of myself and my appearance and honestly kind of cringe at the fact that I am in all of these photos. However, I do think that's part of my process. I wouldn't say it's really helped my personal confidence but I think it gives other people that impression. I am a strong believe in "fake it till you make it" so I'm hoping that by putting myself out there more and more, it will have the nice side effect of making me a little kinder to myself.
Self-portrait by Cindy Popp
What's your ideal working environment?
I like being at home. I have taken great care to create a space where I am surrounded by the objects I love and a place that makes me feel comfortable and inspired. When I was younger, I hated being home alone and would just make myself go to sleep to avoid dealing with it. As I've grown older, I find myself cherishing that time and using it to create. My work was born, because I was trying to find a way to cope with the crushing loneliness and fear I felt whenever no one else was home with me.
What do you look for in a creative collaborator?
I want someone who understands that things don't have to look pretty or cool. It's also helpful if they understand my references and share my aesthetic. I also like someone who can commit, I'm not the kind of artist who likes to be spontaneous—I need everything planned and scheduled!
Editor's note: Cindy Popp currently collaborates with filmmaker and artist Andie Flores on Ay Payasa.
Are your photos entirely unedited? If not, what's your stance on editing vs. realism in your work?
My photos are not unedited. While I don't remove anything (like wrinkles or stray hairs), I do like to punch up the colors but that's about it. Personally, I prefer the leave the photos as untouched as possible. I hate filters, borders, or anything that makes the photo look more like a social media post than a photograph. I tend to do a lot of work in person (covering my face in something, wearing a wig, creating a background, etc.) so when it comes to editing, I like to keep it simple. I don't mind this in other people's work, but I just don't feel like it makes sense for this particular work.
Self-portrait by Cindy Popp
Any routines of self-care to share?
I don't have any self-care routines per se, but I did make a New Year's resolution to get a manicure every month and have so far been keeping that promise. I also love a good face mask or trip to Arby's.
What have you been reading, watching or listening to lately?
Reading: My favorite thing to do is eat alone somewhere and read something from www.longform.org. Literally every article I've ever read on it has been super interesting and informative. I'm currently reading "Men Explain Things To Me" a little bit at a time because each essay has a lot of weight that I need to process.
Watching: I watch a lot of TV and movies. I spend pretty much every evening watching something and the range is pretty wide. Lately a lot of Parts Unknown on Netflix, Allie Kay videos on YouTube, and whatever catches my eye from I Luv Video.
Listening: Talking Heads are my summer jam, so a lot of that on repeat. Cardi B is my favorite driving music.
Any particular works coming up that our community should know about?
I'm really excited for Lindsay Eyth's show at RECSPEC and the YLA 23 show at the Mexic-Arte museum. I also keep close tabs on the Alamo Drafthouse and AFS cinema for great movies to catch.
What do you want people to know about you or your art the most?
Putting yourself out there is very scary, so be gentle with me.
About #bbatx's The Residency: We annually work with 10 to 15, Texas-based women-identifying and nonbinary visual and musical artists to produce site-specific work, commissions and exhibitions throughout our programming and events. Through these residencies, we invite the public to learn more about their process, approach and sustainability of their practice. Click here to meet this year's artists.
You Belong Here: Our First Dinner Party
On April 21 we hosted our first rendition of our newest series, The Dinner Party.
Photos by Tess Cagle Photography
On April 21, we hosted our first rendition of our newest series, The Dinner Party.
Behind this series
The Dinner Party is an intimate gathering series partially inspired by Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party. The original art installation is ceremonial banquet consisting of a triangular table with a total of thirty-nine place settings, each commemorating an important woman who has been excluded from history.
Playing on Judy Chicago's concepts of rewriting history, our Dinner Party is simply a meal for the creatives, entrepreneurs and organizers working within our programs—a space to intimately share our stories, break bread, unwind and reflect on professional and personal achievements.
About the first rendition
When we agreed to collaborate with Fusebox Festival and Exploded Drawing for an electronic music showcase (which would bring in talent from all over the United States), it only made sense to give The Dinner Party a shot. We wanted to intentionally introduce these out-of-town artists to one another, while also creating room for them to meet some of the artists in our immediate community—so that's exactly what we did.
On April 21, prior to the show, we hosted 40 artists for dinner. With wine by local maker Rae Wilson and food by Deepa Shridhar, we shared our stories and spent time getting to know one another.
Beyond connection, these dinners serve as a time to learn. After dinner, guests were prompted to answer the following questions.
Here were some of their responses:
What do you believe your art is communicating to the world?
Permission to exist and be goofy and free. We spent enough time nurturing and worrying and working for others.i want my work to let you escape and just be.
- Belonging and magic in the everyday, old school myths in the familiarity of flyness.
- Powerful play in compassionate spaces...that’s my shit
- That I have the power and agency to change something old into something new and uniquely me
- Que somos Xingonas
- Music is love, happiness - a way to enjoy life w/o the strife. Xo
What are three ways you can support the work of the women in this room?
- Professional development, connecting people, workshops, advocate for self-care...
- Listen to each other, share each other’s worth, reflect the light and talk to each women
Genuinely wish the best for them in, support with our dollar when possible, let others know how dope they are
Attend each others events, share/connect with them, with their own resources encourage one another verbally with positivity and how their art is making a difference
Advocate, listen, show up—put in the work and put out the vibes you wish to receive back
Our next Dinner Party will be hosted at BABES FEST on Sept. 2, 2018. Details to be released soon. Thank you to all who joined us.
URL IRL Resident Artist: Kwanzaa Edwards
Kwanzaa Edwards is a mixed media artist and occupied our URL IRL residency in March and April 2018. For her residency, Edwards help created the community mural for our "International Women's Day Yellow Hour" which was later debuted at the 2018 Spring craftHER Market.
Kwanzaa Edwards is a mixed media artist and occupied our URL IRL residency in March and April 2018. For her residency, Edwards help created the community mural for our "International Women's Day Yellow Hour" which was later debuted at the 2018 Spring craftHER Market. Below she discusses her personal influences and her process.
How would you describe your creative practice? Do you have any rituals or particular styles that you find inherent to your work?
A ritual I have is that before I start to work on a piece is that I have to get myself into a state of focus. I'm easily distracted when I have chores or other worries going on. Once I'm focused, I can really enjoy the making process. As for styles, I have a few motifs that I rotate through from piece to piece. It always keeps me interested in what I'm painting and adds consistency to my work.
What motivates you to pursue painting and mixed media, in particular?
Painting was one of the few mediums I really connected with growing up. The action of just pushing paint around is very soothing and keeps me in a calm mood. I am a firm believer that everyone should do something that makes you happy (as long as it's not harmful to your self and others), and painting gives me that happiness.
How do you approach a new piece?
My approach varies from painting to painting. If there is a concept that I really want to hit home I'll plan though sketches or writing. Sometimes I'll just be flipping through my sketchbook and I'll find something from maybe months ago and just go with it. A few of my best works have been just me playing by ear and doing what feels right.
Who/what influences your work?
My artistic influences are Audrey Kawasaki, James Jean, and Happy D, to name a few. I have tons more but these particular three are a continuous source of inspiration. Personal influences are a lot of the women in my family and my circle of female friends. I don't mention it often but the personalities of the ladies in my work are loosely based off of their personality types.
Your work incorporates themes of Afrofuturism themes. Could you expand on that?
To be honest, I've only recently made the comparison of my work to Afrofuturism. For a long time I didn't even know that was what it was called. (Thanks, Internet!) I love the idea of combining African culture with technology and surrealist concepts because it's something that's not seen often enough in art, literature and pop-culture. I guess my draw to it comes from not feeling like you fit in anywhere in terms of what you like. The attraction to combining pop-surrealism elements with black culture creates that world I want to belong in.
Kwanzaa Edwards in front of the craftHER Market Spring '18 community mural. Photo by 1778 Photographie
Progress shots of Kwanzaa Edwards' mural, courtesy of the artist.
Progress shots of Kwanzaa Edwards' mural, courtesy of the artist.
Tell us a bit about your experience painting the craftHER Market piece. It was a new thing for all of us!
It was so awesome! This was a first for me, so going into it was a bit daunting at first. I questioned every decision I made and had to do quite a bit of problem solving. I had issues even choosing the right paint. (Thank you to the guy at Lowe's for being so patient with me!) I was so nervous up until the night I brought the canvas to the Women's Day event. Seeing the enthusiasm of the people painting with me made all the stress worth it. This was my largest piece to date, and it has motivated me to try more large pieces in the future.
When working, do you find yourself working in silence or with noise in the background? If noise, what kind of noise?
I prefer silence while listening to music or have something playing on Hulu—usually a sitcom I've watched a bunch of times or some mellow beats playlist on Spotify. This has somewhat turned me into a night owl. Living with two roommates who are noisy gamers is really distracting even with headphones on.
Why do you find art important? Expression? Problem-solving? Tell us!
I think its vital for so many people. Finding an art piece that captures you is a great feeling. The best thing about art is that it can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Don't like thinking? Just push paint around on a canvas. Want to create something hyper-realistic? Learn proportions and value. It's so available and can literally be anything.
Keep up with Kwanzaa Edwards on Instagram.
Four Electronic Music Producers On Craft, Career-Building And Maintaining Muses
This weekend, we're gearing up to produce a collaborative showcase with our friends at Fusebox Festival for a special edition of Exploded Drawing. Together, we're hosting six award-winning electronic music producers under one warehouse roof on Saturday, April 21 from 9:30 PM to 2 AM. o celebrate, we've got four interviews, featuring Dot, SassyBlack, vhvl and FreshtillDef. Each artist walks us through their week, their process and the creative muses that keep them inspired and hungry.
This weekend, we're gearing up to produce a collaborative showcase with our friends at Fusebox Festival for a special edition of Exploded Drawing. Together, we're hosting six award-winning electronic music producers under one warehouse roof on Saturday, April 21 from 9:30 PM to 2 AM.
The show is free, all ages and a reflection of a four-month-long collaboration between three like-minded organizations, invested in the arts and community, with sets by Anna Wise, Linafornia, vhvl, Dot, SassyBlack and FreshtillDef, plus next-level visuals and art installations.
To celebrate, we've got four interviews, featuring Dot, SassyBlack, vhvl and FreshtillDef. Each artist walks us through their week, their process and the creative muses that keep them inspired and hungry. Read up below.
DOT
Whether providing cutting edge beats as part of LA beat collective Team Supreme, or fulfilling her role as founder of her own female focused music label Unspeakable Records, DOT is a champion for the often unsung female producer. Her music has been praised by the best in tastemaker media, including features in Pitchfork, LA Weekly, Okayfuture, MTV Brazil, C-Heads Magazine, Nest HQ, Rookie, LA Record, The 405, and more. Born and raised in Olympia, WA, Dot’s upbringing in the Pacific Northwest and background in classical music had a profound impact on her current aesthetics and influences. She moved to Southern California at the age of 17 to study classical music at the Conservatory of Music at Chapman University, which quickly led to her immersion in the LA beat scene and signing to Alpha Pup Records. Dot debuted her first live set at Low End Theory, the infamous hip-hop/electronic night at The Airliner in Los Angeles. She continues to tour regularly as a live performer, gracing the stages of world-famous venues including The El Rey Theater (LA) The Echoplex (LA), The Observatory OC, Output (New York), and Home Club (Singapore). When she’s not traveling, Dot holds down a DJ residency at the Ace Hotel Los Angeles. In addition to her solo work, Dot produces for artists including SZA (TDE) and Teri GenderBender (Le Butcherettes, Bosnian Rainbows), and writes original music for film and television (MTV and OWN).
1.) How would you define your creative practice and approach to making music?
I do my best to simply listen and write what I hear. The less ego involved, the better.
2. What's your ideal environment for creation?
I like to get away from big cities and be out in nature as much as possible. Going to shows and meeting people in busy cultural centers is endlessly inspiring for me, but I prefer a small cabin out in the middle of nowhere to process all of my experiences.
3. Walk us through your weekly play-by-play. Who are you working with, where are you going? What guides your professional tempo?
My weeks are varied depending on the number of projects I have in the air at any given time, but the usual flow of my day begins with meditation, followed by two to three hours of reading or theory study before launching into “work,” which consists of music practice, writing, producing music for myself or other artists, label administration, rehearsals, mixing/mastering, travel for shows, or any number of other responsibilities that come with managing your own career and a collective of other artists. I’m also an artist “coach” for a select number of producers and songwriters, and I meet with each of them two times per week to guide them through the process of creating and releasing a record.
Obsession with music guides my tempo. If I’m passionate about a project, then I usually have little trouble with finding the necessary time and energy to complete it no matter how much I have on my plate. Excuses cease to exist and I feel like my bandwidth is unlimited. However, if I take on work solely for the money or some other ego-based reason, then it usually becomes exhausting and I start hitting walls and burning out.
4. What currently inspires you (could be people, places, things, Instagram accounts—you name it)?
I love reading and try to finish one to two books per week. Currently digging into ‘Synchronicity' by Carl Jung, ‘The White Album’ by Joan Didion, and a few books by Marianne Williamson. I also recently read ‘Paths to God’ by Ram Dass, and the Miles Davis autobiography, both of which I highly recommend to anyone who makes art it some form or another.
5. Any music/artists you're listening to that we should check out?
I’ve been getting into the new Chris Dave and The Drumhedz record. And anything Anna Wise/Sonnymoon does is pure magic. I keep my current rotations updated here.
SassyBlack
SassyBlack is a jazz vocalist & producer based in Seattle, WA. This Goddess of “electronic psychedelic soul” & “hologram funk” explores sound through deep compositions. With roots in classical & jazz, her voice is comparable to Ella Fitzgerald & Sarah Vaughan while her production value is reminiscent of Roy Ayers, Pharrell & Herbie Hancock. Black has traveled the world having performed in Berlin, Barcelona, New Orleans, Milan, London, Brooklyn & beyond. Sassy has gained praise from The Fader, NYLON, Pitchfork, Noisey, Saint Heron, SPIN & many others. She successfully released her sophomore album New Black Swing June 23rd and is recently returned from touring North America & Europe in Autumn 2017. She will be releasing new music every month in 2018.
1.) How would you define your creative practice and approach to making music?
When creating music, I seek healing and some sort of communication. I am looking to release something that is wishing to leave my being or extend my being. I’m not sure how to define it event after 15 years of doing it because it always changes but the core of it is to heal myself.
2.) Walk us through your weekly play-by-play. Who are you working with, where are you going? What guides your professional tempo?
I am working with myself and my many personalities and spirit. I work with my guy and my intuition and we dance and play together. Typically begins with a drum pattern or something I’m humming. I use Ableton to build up the idea and sometimes being with my TASCAM app on my phone to capture the first though. My tempo is guided by gut more often than not these days and less and less by deadline. Unless I am working on an album or a project. If that is the case, I allow my creativity to flow within the confines of deadlines to create a different kind of special piece.
3.) What do you look for in creative collaborators?
Currently I seek safe collaborators that aren’t toxic. People who are secure or working to be secure in themselves and allow me space to be myself. Also people who respect my artistry and creative process and vice versa.
4. What are you looking forward to? In your own career? Or perhaps in the industry, at large?
I look forward to working with artists that I admire that hold a kind energy towards me. I also look forward to traveling more and producing more music for other artists. And scoring films, I would really like to do that.
5. When did music shift from a hobby to a profession for you? What did that shift look like?
I started taking music seriously at age 14 when I selected my High School based on its choir program. Music became my profession when I was 18 and I started performing in a band that came to me and asked me to sing. My voice always had value to me, but I knew my voice had financial value at that point. 8.
FreshtillDef
FreshtillDef lives in San Antonio, Texas and produces via her own imprint FreshMoon. Well known for destroying dance floors all across Texas since the early rave days till present as well as holding it down in production with past aliases in DnB, Trip-Hop & Experimental Music.
1.) How would you define your creative practice and approach to making music?
I sit down smoke some weed, drink some caffeine, open Logic and start gathering ideas. Usually I will open Omnisphere and start going through sounds and playing melodies until something sparks and I run with it.
2. Walk us through your weekly play-by-play. Who are you working with, where are you going? What guides your professional tempo?
As of right now I have a collaboration with Cesrv called Machina that will be dropping on my label, Freshmoon Records, at the end of this month! I'm mostly staying in the studio and focusing on writing new music. 160 to 175 BPM guides my professional tempo. ;)
3. What currently inspires you?
First of all my husband, Tony Mundaca. My family, friends, being healthy and being happy!
4.) Any music/artists you're listening to that we should check out?
Definitely J. Mundaca, MoonDoctoR and Dj Earl.
5.) What do you want to see more of in the music industry?
More equality, respect and empowerment for women!
vhvl
vhvl is the recording alias of Harlem-based beatmaker Veronica Lauren. Her tracks burst with bright, chiming melodies, and her heavily thumping beats ensure that her brand of instrumental hip-hop is atmospheric but not lightweight. She debuted in 2013 with a self-released digital album titled Myrrh. Her 15-minute track “Fvrfew” took up the entire B-side of Seat of the Soul, a split cassette with Ras Greleased by Leaving Records in 2014. While working on her next release, Lauren suffered from a spine injury, and was bedridden or wheelchair-bound for much of 2015 and 2016. After regaining the ability to walk in June, Leaving Records released her EVN EP in August of 2016.
1. How would you define your creative practice and approach to making music?
Everything I make is steeped in emotion, and I cannot create if I believe the work might be devoid of it. So, when I sit down to work, I call upon instances and occurrences which trigger emotional responses—the work grows from that.
2. Walk us through your weekly play-by-play. Who are you working with, where are you going? What guides your professional tempo?
I can’t say I’m a collaborative artist anymore—I don’t work with anyone, and am not currently working with anyone. I live in Brooklyn with my partner, I have a very normal day-to-day life: I work a day job, I have a ferocious kitten I care for (he’s a rescue), and that’s it. I have a very slow professional pace when it comes to music because my process is extremely toxic. My aforementioned manner of making music requires dark memorable experiences, and those create the tones which dictate my sound.
3.) What currently inspires you (could be people, places, things, Instagram accounts—you name it)?
Just life in general, and that might sound like a lazy response, but I don’t draw from people, places, or things outside of myself. I like to create within my own personal eco-system—I don’t like to be influenced. I rarely listen to music, if I intend to make any either, and that’s a serious rule I adhere to.
4.) When did music shift from a hobby to a profession for you? What did that shift look like?
I didn’t notice, it might’ve just happened—it was out of my hands. I was led one way, and I continued that way. I’ve been led many ways since, and I’m sure I’m viewed more as a hobbyist than a serious artist.
5. Any music/artists you're listening to that we should check out?
The group I listen to the most is Sales.
Are you based in Austin and want to catch these artists in-person? Don't miss our showcase on Saturday, April 21 with Fusebox Festival and Exploded Drawing. It's free, open to the public and all ages.
Our Largest Market Yet: A CraftHER Spring '18 Recap
From 11 AM to 5 PM on Sunday, April 15, we hosted our fourth installment of craftHER Market. 3300+ attendees filled the space to shop local and support women artists.
Photo by 1778 Photographie
At #bossbabesATX, we're inspired by the magic that happens when people meet. And all of our productions are centered around supporting and sustaining visibility around women and nonbinary creatives, entrepreneurs and organizers. craftHER Market is no different. It's been inspired by a few of our favorite things: pop-up spaces, traditional marketplaces and the people who organize others to gather.
From 11 AM to 5 PM on Sunday, April 15, we hosted our fourth installment of craftHER Market. 3300+ attendees filled the space to #supportwomenartists and #supportwomeninbusiness.
THE VIBE
This year, we hosted 125 booths, including 105 Texan makers, 10 Austin-local community groups and 10 food and beverage vendors. Attendees were greeted with an installment of greenery and illustrative interpretations of our makers, courtesy of Spring '18's badass illustrator Kelsey Kilcrease. On top of the pop-up marketplace, we produced five panels, curated by members of our programming committee, spanning topics of entrepreneurialism, maker culture, representation, mental health and community-building. Through this year's raffle, we also fundraised more than $650 for DACA application renewals (learn more about this project here.)
Already missing the market? Recapture some of the day's energy by listening to DJ Ella Ella's craftHER Market playlist. We played this all day!
Photo by 1778 Photographie
Photo by 1778 Photographie
Photo by 1778 Photographie
Photo by 1778 Photographie
Photo by 1778 Photographie
THE PANELS
featuring five discussions between local community members and the #bbatx committee, emceed by Leslie Lozano
This spring, our craftHER panels explored mental health, negotiation, continued skill-building, representation for women of color in entrepreneurship and building an honest brand. Curated by five of our committee members (Nina Rose Bailey, Nina Berenato, Leslie Lozano, Keisha Gillis and Jasmine Robinson), each panel was an intentional and candid conversation. With stage design by Party at the Moontower, the backdrop for these discussions featured a commissioned piece by artist Kwanzaa Edwards.
We'd like to thank this spring's stage partners, Volusion, for making these panels possible!
Photo by 1778 Photographie
Photo by 1778 Photographie
THIS MARKET'S PRODUCERS AND PARTNERS
#bbatx is an online and offline space for women-identifying and nonbinary creatives, entrepreneurs and community organizers. Through our event series, showcases, strategic collaborations and professional development programs, we provide a platform of visibility, outreach and financial opportunity to 900+ emerging Texas-based artists, businesses and causes and educational opportunities to more than 15,000 community members. We were named "Best Bossy Babes" of 2015 by The Austin Chronicle and were selected by The White House to attend the United State of Women Summit in June 2016.
This production has been made possible in part by 2018 presenting partners Resplendent Hospitality, supportive collaborators at Fair Market, Volusion and MYEVENTISTHEBOMB, as well as our community press partners Austin Woman Magazine.
Want to get involved in the next craftHER Market? Sign up for email updates at the bottom of crafthermarket.com and stay tuned for Fall '18 applications (they'll reopen in July '18!).
URL Resident Artist: Alie Jackson
Alie Jackson is a mixed media artist, designer, and current #bbatx resident artist. For her spring residency, Jackson created an interactive, augmented reality installation to be displayed at our inaugural Power to the People set at Native Hostel. Within, she discusses her process, the various themes her work takes, and interacting with social media as an artist.
Alie Jackson is a mixed media artist, designer, and current #bbatx resident artist. For her spring residency, Jackson created an interactive, augmented reality installation to be displayed at our inaugural Power to the People set at Native Hostel. Below she discusses her process, the various themes her work takes, and interacting with social media as an artist.
How do you know you’re an artist? (Besides the obvious!)
I know I’m an artist because I can’t imagine myself as anything else.
You are both an artist and a designer. How do you differentiate those identities? How do you differentiate those styles?
When designing for a client, I am creating something based on their identity. Design has taught me skills that are used in my own work but the way I approach the two is completely different.
What works were formative for you and/or continue to influence your work today?
I received my BFA and have a good foundation of Art History but I think overall life events and experiences influence my work the most. Living in Chicago was definitely one of those experiences. There are so many different art communities and small movements, it really broadened my perspective on what art could be. I actually didn’t make art for a while after living there because I re-evaluated everything I was doing at the time.
Tell us about your process.
There is an intuitive nature to the way I work. I try not to plan anything out and just see where the process takes me. When creating a body of work, I like to define the medium first and then explore different variations of color shape and subject matter. For example, when painting, I am often working on a few things at any given moment and switching between them randomly depending on the materials used and the mood I’m in.
What about your process specifically for our residency? What was the impetus to use social media as an access point for art? How did you conceive of this idea?
A combination of factors contributed to the way I approached this work. Since this is a mostly digital residency, I decided to use digital media as a tool to create it. The work shown at the Power to the People event was not in a traditional “fine art” setting so it posed unique obstacles. This presented the opportunity to use World Lens Studio, a free tool that I used to build an interactive installation that required little set up in the physical world.
What is the payoff in having viewers undergo an extra level of interaction with their smartphone in order to view and engage with the art?
Most people associate Augmented Reality with commercialized media so It was cool to take it out of that context and change people’s perspective. It was also interesting to me that everyone’s experiences were different because of the many variables involved when using your phone as a portal to view the work.
So much of being a creative these days is also about making sure that your work is seen. How have you approached the current art landscape on social media/the Internet? Are you appreciative of that outlet? Or how do you feel about it?
I’ve used social media as a tool to promote live events and reach out to people rather than a place to showcase my work. I will often share in-progress work and little glimpses of my creative process but I would rather people experience my work in the physical location that it’s intended to be seen.
When creating, do you consider how your art will be perceived through a digital lens (i.e. via Instagram, snaps, or photos)?
Yes and no. Specifically for the installation using Snapchat, I had to think about this because using an actual digital lens was how the art was viewed. For everything else I’ve done, it’s not really something I think about.
Though your art interfaces with digital spheres, it appears that you also use traditional mediums like paint, and photography. How do you decide when to move between the two? Are there different thought process behind each?
For the most part, it depends on my mood. I tend to do a lot of painting when work is stressful and busy. I try and avoid computer screens on nights and weekends and it’s almost therapeutic for me. There is a lot of crossover between digital and traditional. I use a lot of photography mixed in with painting on my mixed media work and then sometimes paint backdrops into photographic or video scenes.
How has your work evolved since your first began to the present? How do you foresee it evolving in the next few years? Are there any constant themes?
I used to create work with more technical precision and realism. As time has passed, I’ve been mixing more abstraction and learning new techniques and technology. I think this is how my work will continue to evolve.
Constant themes in my work involve fractured self portraiture, different forms of collage and the idea of formalism. The human body is so versatile and everyone connects with it in some way. I think the reason I use self portraiture a lot is out of convenience. If I feel like using an image of a hand I can just set up my camera on a tripod and take a photo of myself and it’s done.
View more of Alie Jackson's work at aliejackson.com. She is on Instagram as @shuttastunna.
Finding Your Present: Spring Tarotscopes with Solaris the Hii Priestess
This post continues our seasonal tarotscope series with Solaris the Hii Priestess, one of our regular exhibiting artists and routine collaborators. Each season, Solaris draws cards for each astrological sign and interprets your forecast.
This post continues our seasonal tarotscope series with Solaris the Hii Priestess, one of our regular exhibiting artists and routine collaborators. Each season, Solaris draws cards for each astrological sign and interprets your forecast. (You can find Solaris at Space 24 Twenty on Guadalupe St. in the back tent from 4 to 8 PM every Tuesday .)
Capricorn — The 6 of Cups
This a card of nostalgia, happy memories, platonic relationships and reunions with family or friends from the past. The element here is water which relates to love and emotions. The No. 6 in numerology stands for home, responsibility and family. For someone looking for love or a relationship with another person, this card would be a "no" to romance but a "yes" to true friendship instead. This card often appears when old friends meet up again or someone comes back from the past.
Aquarius — The Magician
This card combines all four elements in a single Ace. Its numerology is important, as this card is a card of power, as well as creativity. The Magician has the power to create something from nothing. The Magician also has the power to transform. Although the misuse of this card can corrupt, it can also point to channels for good use of this power. Whatever your situation is this spring, you have the ability to take control, create the new or change the existing into something better.
Pisces — The Empress
This card embodies femininity, fertility, beauty and romance. This is a woman of power. She is the Earth mother. This card can point to a pregnancy or the desire to be fertile and pregnant. She sits in fertile lands abundant with plants, flowers and fruits. This card represents all that you desire. She is often referenced to as Venus, Goddess of love, beauty and fertility. The appearance of The Empress can indicate plans, events that have not yet come to fruition but are growing and receiving, and/or needing nurture. As a person, The Empress points to a mother or mother figure.
Aries — The 9 of Wands
This card indicates the completion of projects, endings in the home and workplace. The element here is Fire which relates to passion, community, work and creativity. The aspects of the number 9 in numerology are endings, completion of cycles, charity and generosity.
Taurus — The Moon
This is the card of illusion, confusion, falseness, monthly cycles, imagination, intuition and the subconscious (dreams and nightmares). The light of The Moon is a false light, a reflected light, a light that is never the same from night to night. In the light of The Moon the world appears differently and our natural instinct is to fear the night and indicates a period of fertility and/or sexuality.
Gemini — 2 of Cups
In this card, a man and a woman stand facing, holding a cup towards each other. In some tarot decks, their arms may be crossed and they may also be drinking from the cups. This card is more commonly associated with a romantic relationship than a platonic one. This is a card of nostalgia. It may mean that you and your lover are in harmony, or you may be reunited with a friend or even a hobby that brings you comfort or a peace of mind.
Cancer — The Ace of Cups
This card is traditionally represented as a single vessel filled with water. Its symbology is simple; it has the element of water and a numerological value of one. As a one, it represents a new beginning and—with water as the element—an emotional one. You may be in for an overwhelming time, dealing with emotions that you have been trying to avoid. But remember, crying is a cleansing ritual. This card also points toward a romantic relationship that needs some attention or towards healing yourself. Remember, Cancer, you are the element of water, and this means you should listen to your intuition and pay attention to your dreams.
Leo — The 7 of Swords
This is a card of theft, greed, deceit and avoiding confrontation. The element here is Air, which relates to challenges, conflicts and the mental aspects of our lives, i.e. the storms on the path of life that we have to navigate through. In numerology a number has positive, negative and destructive influences. The negative aspects of the number 7 in numerology are hate, theft, cheating, confusion and lies. On the flip side, the positive aspects in numerology of the 7 are rest, introspection and thinking before making a final decision.
Virgo - The World
This is the card of completion, accomplishment, victory, travel and expansion. It's a happy card to find in any spread, as it is the final card of the major arcana and symbolizes the end of the journey of the fool. It represents the ultimate goal and reaching the pinnacle in your life. In numerology the World has the number 21 in the major arcana, so in numerology this is reduced to 3 (2+1). The number 3 is the number of joy in your life, freedom from worry, expression, imagination and sociability.
Libra — The Star
This is the card of hope, renewal, direction, navigation and success. The Star can point to good things to come, especially toward the other cards surrounding it in a spread. The woman is naked in The Star and she pours one container onto the land and the other into the sea. The water represents the subconscious mind and emotions and the land represents the material world. This symbolizes renewal and balance. In numerology, the Star also has the number 17 in the major arcana, which is reduced to 8 (1+7). The number 8 is the number of success, good fortune, wealth, power and control.
Scorpio — The Page of Pentacles
This card could be indicate that you are a young person stubborn and/or reluctant to change. Pages also represent messengers who bring news. This news could be about money, promotions etc. The element here is Earth, so the message you receive this season will more likely be about money.
Sagittarius — The Ace of Swords
This card is traditionally represented as a single, upright sword, sometimes with its tip inside a crown or gold ring. As a one, it represents a new beginning and, with air as the element, this beginning has to do with new challenges or new ideas. This could be a contract, a business opportunity or a situation that needs to be dealt with. Be open to the new.
A note from Solaris: Allow me Solaris The Hii Priestess, to give you a spiritual forecast for this upcoming week. My goal is to give you insight and awareness from the cards that I pull. As a tarot reader, my job is to make you aware and present of your current energy and to explore what is in your subconscious. I want to help you find closure and put you at ease if you are facing a tough decision. I am not a psychic—I consider myself a holistic counselor.