UPPERCASE #54

for the

C R E AT I V E and

CURIOUS

abstract thinking

54

RELEASED

BACKGROUND ART MEGAN WOODARD JOHNSON

JUST

Volume A The UPPERCASE Encyclopedia of Inspiration encyclopediaofinspiration.com

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Dear Reader, In this issue, I’m thinking… about thinking.

Creativity is expressed through our body. We can use our voices to sing, our limbs to dance and our hands to make. But the impulse to make—and to determine how, what and why it shall be—comes from our head. Our mind, with all its complex thoughts and emotions and lifetime of knowledge, directs us.

Through painting, drawing, stitching, sculpting and crafting, we make ideas real. And though sometimes those ideas can be concrete and representational, we can also express the more nebulous notions. We can break free from traditional constructs and explore colour, form, mood, memory and more.

Abstract thinking can help us discover meaning and uncover relationships.

We can understand deeper parts of ourselves and others. Thinking abstractly can help us solve problems without obvious solutions. We can make physical representations and renderings of concepts that have never existed before.

The stories in this issue may explore the abstract, but its embodiment is most definitely beautiful and inspiring to behold.

Ja n i n e Vango ol P U B L I S H E R , E D I TO R , D ES I G N E R

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These abstract and colourful explorations remaining on my palette are reminders of the joy of playing with paint.

The latest UPPERCASE book Art Supplies, written by Jane Audas, has just been released.

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Contents Kirsten Chursinoff VA N C O U V E R , B C , CA N A DA

I’m usually known for my detailed embroideries of the natural world, but I have a private body of work that developed around emotions and process. My family and I were experiencing a few years of turmoil where we had to move suddenly and secure temporary housing a few times due to flooding.

As the flooring was curling up with moisture below my feet and our best linens were soggy and piled up haphazardly to contain the water, I remember packing my art supplies and sewing machine into crates and not knowing when I’d get to unpack them again. I set aside some plain white cotton fabric and my hand-embroidery floss, thinking that I might somehow find some time to stitch something small, or at least be comforted knowing a few supplies were near.

At first it was difficult to find time, but eventually I pieced together some small moments to stitch. It started with some basic mark making on the cloth. I hand embroidered areas of satin stitch in colourful shapes and abstract compositions. I found a new way to work and channel my creativity and soothe my frustration. The compositions grew in an emotional way, with tiny moments of wordless problem solving as I decided which direction to place the stitches. The stitching was calming and I could stop and start again to work around my other commitments. I wasn’t worried about depicting a recognizable animal or plant. It was a new way of working.

My stitches did not lie flat or perfect, but I grew to love the slightly jagged edges and the energy it brought to the pieces. I worked small and without a hoop, stitching up piece after piece, curious to see how they would turn out. I didn’t follow compositional rules. I just let it flow and did what seemed right in the moment.

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@kirsten_chursinoff chursinoff.com

Welcome

Art & Design

Editor’s Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

GALLERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Gallery of Abstract Artists

Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Mary Anne Tateishi . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Snippets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Carole Lyles Shaw . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

CREATIVE CAREER . . . . . . . . 10 Nosheen Ahmed

WORTHWHILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Protest Purse

Misc.

Emma Larsson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

BEG INNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

MUSING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Collaboration

by Arianne Foulks illustration by Andrea D’Aquino

COVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 In Frame

by Andrea Jenkins

PERSPECTIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 How do you define “abstract” in art and design?

by UPPERCASE readers

TEA WITH T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Spilling the Tea with T An imagined conversation with Abstract Artist Alma Thomas

by Tamisha Anthony CURIOUS A T I V E and for the C R E

ASK LILLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 How to Make an Abstract Painting in 13 Simple Steps

by Lilla Rogers

51 for the C R E A T I V E

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SKETCHBOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 I Dwell in Possibility

by Annie Yu

NE E MAGAZI

Vivian-Sofia Mora Bushra Gill

Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

ABstraCt

by Lydie Raschka

UPPERCAS

FRESH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Looking Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

ABECEDARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

UPPERCASE MAGAZINE

Casual Witness: Notes on Creativity from Afar

by Cedric Victor

Addie Boswell Kate Marsden

Yuko Nishikawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Christine Girard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Abstract Beginnings

by Danielle Ridolfi

Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Liam Hennessy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Finding My Way Back to the Abstract

by Meera Lee Patel

LIBRARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The Art of Seeing

by Brendan Harrison

Cover Artist Leigh Bagley . . . . . 51

Maria Atanackovic . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Recommended Reading

HOBBY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Alice Quartly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

BEING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Fine Print

ECO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Shaped by Climate Story and Artwork

by Claire Dibble

DISCOVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 VER FRONT CO

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ER BAC K C OV

Abstract in the Wild: The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal Text and photos by Andrea Jenkins er shirlee fish

Drawing Away (From the Concrete): A History of Abstraction

by Correy Baldwin

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PARTICIPATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Creative Collaboration

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TOG ETHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Collaborators in Conversation An Interview with George McCalman and Joel Benson

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CURIOU S

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Core Contributors Jane Audas Correy Baldwin Andrea D’Aquino Arianne Foulks Joy Vanides Deneen Glen Dresser Brendan Harrison Andrea Jenkins Andrea Marván Kerrie More Emily Orpin Meera Lee Patel Lydie Raschka Christopher Rouleau

Thank you to all of the talented writers, illustrators, creative collaborators and loyal readers who contributed their talents to this issue of UPPERCASE. Thank you to everyone who submitted to the open calls for this issue.

Even if you weren’t featured within these printed pages, your effort was noticed and appreciated!

P RI NTE D I N CA N A DA BY T H E P R O L I F I C G R O U P.

Interior pages are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled Rolland Enviro 100.

UPPERCASE welcomes everyone and all identities, ages, talents and abilities. We share an inclusive, positive and community-minded point of view. Everyone is welcome to explore our creative challenges and submit to the magazine—you don’t have to be a professional artist or writer.

Please visit the Participate page of our website for current open calls for submissions. The Fresh, Sketchbook, Creative Careers and Subscriber Studio columns are always open and submissions will be considered for print and for inclusion in All About YOU: the weekend UPPERCASE newsletter featuring the creativity from readers around the world.

You can also pitch your own work, propose an article about someone else or suggest a topic that you would like to research through the Open Pitch submisison form.

Give this magazine a long life!

The content is evergreen, so we hope you’ll revisit it over and over again. If you’re done with it, please pass it on to a friend or colleague who might enjoy our content, or cut up the pages and create some art.

Please make sure that your submission is suitable for UPPERCASE magazine. Be familiar with the magazine and its writing and visual style. uppercasemagazine.com/participate

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In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3) and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.

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Snippets

L A N DS CA P E S

R ET ROS P ECT I V E

Abstracted Landscapes

What Remains to Be Seen

Billie Rae Busby

Howardena Pindell

Calgary-based artist Billie Rae Busby fragments the landscape using hard-edge acrylic painting. “Everywhere, the older I get, and the more aware that I become of my self and my surroundings, I see wonder and possibilities,” she says. “Sometimes it takes a squinty eye, and some magical, imaginary shapes and colour combinations, but I try to find something beautiful and unique from ordinary spaces, our seasons and time of day.”

From prairie skies to looming mountainscapes, Billie Rae’s paintings portray the vastness that still exists away from city life. “I am trying to depict mood and movement or open up a memory for the viewer.”

This retrospective book, published in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, who mounted a commemorative exhibition in 2018, surveys 50 years of African American artist Howardena Pindell’s art.

Born in 1943 in Philadelphia, Howardena was trained as a painter but her work spans diverse media such as painting, collage, photography, film, performance and writing.

Since the 1970s, the artist has shown dedicated attention to hole-punched papers that are pigmented, painted or made of ephemera. These “very small points of colour and light” are treated as random confettilike texture or, in contrast, labouriously hand-numbered individually and arranged with precision on a grid.

@br_busby billieraebusby.com

pindell.mcachicago.org howardenapindell.org

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M A K E P OS I T I V E C H A N G E S

Things You Can Do: How to Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste WRITTEN BY EDUARDO GARCIA I L L U S T R AT E D B Y S A R A B O C C A C C I N I M E A D O W S

The Artist as a Young Girl Kathryn Lissack

Kathryn Lissack is a collage and mixed-media artist from Vancouver, British Columbia. Lately, she has been looking to herself for inspiration for her art—by using portraits of her childhood self from the early to mid-1970s in a collage series titled Li’l k. “The fashion influence and blatant joy-ofbeing warms my heart,” says Kathryn. Emblazoned with text messages of “All Good,” “Best Day” and “Today Is a Good Day,” each work in the series has a black-and-white portrait of the artist as a young girl, with bright acrylic paint on vintage papers. @kathrynlissack kathrynlissack.com

M

any books about climate change focus on the depressing parts—doom and gloom and worst-case scenarios. Things You Can Do: How to Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste talks about what we’re up against but focuses more on the actions that everyone can take at home and in their community. Written by journalist Eduardo Garcia, the content is straightforward and factual. With colourful and vibrant illustrations by Sara Boccaccini Meadows, the book shows you how you can lower your energy consumption, decrease waste, have a climate-friendly diet, get around with lower carbon emissions and more.

Confronting climate problems can feel daunting but this book offers positive facts and solutions. Things You Can Do is a beautifully illustrated, helpful and informative book on how you can help our planet. boccaccinimeadows.com eduardogarciajournalist.org

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C R E A T I V E

nosheen ahmed MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM

PA R T-T I M E D E N T I S T, F U L L -T I M E I L L U S T R AT O R , S U R FA C E PAT T E R N D E S I G N E R A N D H A N D L E T T E R E R

C A R E E R

Please describe what you do, including any “day jobs” that you also do to support yourself.

I create designs for stationery, home décor, greeting cards and books. I have always been creative. Being creative is like breathing for me. It’s part of my DNA. However, coming from a middle-class Asian family it was not a career option. I went to dental school.

In fact I got two dental degrees and owned a dental practice. However, I couldn’t ignore that creative voice inside me any longer. At the same time I was also going through a very difficult time in my life. I was in a wheelchair. I was depressed and stressed and needed something to help me get through it all. I decided to really listen to my inner child and go back to university and study art. Since then I have been following my passion with a vengeance! I absolutely love making art! I love it when my art helps to bring my client’s ideas to life and helps them to create magical moments. It really is a beautiful experience. It also helps other folks live a more creative life.

What makes your job, profession or calling unique and interesting? Why are you drawn to this work?

What makes my job unique is that I have had amazing opportunities to meet several different types of people, and serve them in some way or another. There is something so special in knowing that you have helped someone, be it by putting a smile on someone’s face by the art you have created or by helping to save someone’s life by diagnosing cancer and referring them for the appropriate treatment. Admittedly, some days as a dentist can be quite stressful, especially since Covid. My art then helps bring balance in my life.

Art is an emotional and healing experience.

What training or education prepared you (or didn’t!) for this career?

Even though I have formal training in both professions and regularly take courses to stay afresh in both fields, nothing really prepared me for the emotional rollercoaster I used to feel I was on, at the beginning, when I was trying to carve out my identity. It was overwhelming trying to figure out “who I was.”

Initially I used to find it very stressful trying to balance my analytical scientific self with my creative and playful side.

It took me a long time to embrace the idea that my brain works in a certain way, and that’s okay. I don’t need to pick and choose a part of me to be happy.

What advice do you have for someone trying to find their own creative career path?

My advice for anyone who feels stuck between two identities would be to be patient with yourself. Selfdiscovery and acceptance takes time and courage.

Don’t pigeonhole yourself as being either “A” or “B,” but rather be you. When you search within yourself, you will find beauty in the very existence of who you are, and that’s truly magical. @nosheendesigns nosheendesigns.co.uk

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W O R T H W H I L E

the protest purse Kulsum Tasnif R ALE IG H , NORTH CAROLI NA , USA

Using our creativity for good is one of the best ways we can make a difference.

Through design, art and craft—and with our hands and hearts—we can effect change.

However small it may seem at first, each incremental effort is still significant.

“Injustice infuriates me. It’s why I’m an activist; it’s why I’m a lawyer, and it’s why I’m a writer.

But as a proud Iranian-American Muslim feminist who has been fighting injustice for decades now, I’ve learned that fury alone can only carry you so far before it begins to burn from the inside out. Ire can be incredibly useful, even necessary, in the pursuit for justice, but it’s far from sufficient.

Ultimately, the most effective and powerful weapon in my arsenal as an activist isn’t anger. It’s love.”

— M E LO DY M O EZ Z I

In 2018, I immersed myself in stories of multicultural and multigenerational women by asking them to take their messages out of designated women’s march spaces and into the public sphere. I sought to learn what inspired us to resist and to exist in these times of national chaos, global catastrophes and day-to-day challenges.

My “resistance purses” are portraits of contemporary human struggles and triumphs.

They are empowering, bold and collaborative—fuelled by our collective passions. They serve as a documentation of an era in which voices are silenced, yet remaining silent is not an option. The Protest Purse is an ongoing, ever-evolving project that seeks to recontextualize how we see female strength and allows insight into the hearts and minds of a diverse community of women. kulsumtasnif.com

Re ad e ach p erson’s story: facebook.com/theprotestpurse uppercasemagazine.com

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C O N T E M P L AT E

Meditations for Makers D E A N N E F I TZ PAT R I C K NIMBUS PUBLISHING

“When you spend four hours a day hooking a rug you have to think about something.

Eventually, I suppose, you end up thinking about the way you think.”

Rug maker, writer and educator Deanne Fitzpatrick reflects on beauty, creativity and the act of making.

“Others with a quieter mind might not need it,” she writes, “but I have long accepted that, for me, the joy is in the progress. My contentment comes from doing. As I write and as I hook, my mind quiets. For me, this is the only stillness I know.”

With 365 short, insightful and heartfelt musings, this book can be your gentle guide to help you think a bit more deeply about your existence as a conscious creator.

“How are you adding beauty to the world?”

Deanne asks. “Once you start thinking about it you will find that there are many ways. Start being aware of it—think about it, be deliberate about it. There is no such thing as too much beauty.” hookingrugs.com

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U P P E R C A S E

L I B R A R Y

thinking about thinking RECOMMENDED READING BY

OPTIMIZE

ja nine va ngool

E X P LO R E

How to Think More Effectively: A Guide to Greater Productivity, Insight and Creativity

Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways

THE SCHOOL OF LIFE

SA R A H ST E I N G R E E N B E RG

“Our world places a high premium on good ideas but spends tragically little time planning how best to line up our minds to generate them.”

“This assignment is a way to cross-pollinate ideas (and people) and to help you free up your thinking.”

TEN SPEED PRESS

Tackling some big ideas in a succinct paperback, How to Think More Effectively presents a manual on the methods and meanings of the activity of thinking. From strategic, focused, philosophical and analogical thinking to empathetic and skeptical thinking, each chapter brings forth a concept and concludes with a list of recommended “Mental Manoeuvres” for you to try. “Ask yourself what you think,” the book says. “Learn to catch your own unthought thoughts.” theschooloflife.com

R E F L ECT

Do Pause: You Are Not a To Do List RO B E RT P OY N TO N TH E DO BOO K CO M PAN Y

“Pausing to think about what we do also matters in the moral dimension. If you never stop to question what you are doing, how will you know you are doing a good thing?”

Essentially an unconventional textbook for Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (known as “d.school”), Creative Acts for Curious People offers dozens of exercises to expand our thinking on how design informs, affects or alters our human experience. Good design aspires to be experiential, intimate, empathetic, community minded and socially conscious.

By applying this holistic approach to design we will have the tools and mindset to take action on our ideas—and, hopefully, to design solutions for the world’s problems.

In reaction to a culture that demands productivity and devices that devour our attention, many books have been released about our collective need to slow down, unplug and reevaluate. Robert Poynton’s take offers a new reason to take a breath: drawing from a background in improvisational theatre, the author explains that the secret to success in improv—and indeed a happy and balanced life—is to relish the pauses. “A pause is an opening. It acts as a portal to other options and choices.” Inside the pause, possibilities await.

dschool.stanford.edu

thedobook.co

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M U S I N G

casual witness notes on creativity from afar TEXT BY

c e dr ic v ic tor

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Vivian-Sofia Mora N A N O O S E B AY, BC, CANADA

fresh talent W H ET H E R YO U ’ R E A F R E S H G R A D UAT E O R M AT U R E A RT I ST, I T I S O F T E N A D R E A M TO B E P U B L I S H E D F O R T H E F I RST T I M E !

You’re welcome to submit your work for consideration. uppercasemagazine.com/participate

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Hola! I’m a painter, illustrator and potter originally from Costa Rica. After studying visual arts in Toronto, and taking a break to raise a family, I took up my artistic practice again in 2018 when I moved to British Columbia. My work is informed first and foremost by combining media. I rarely create work in one medium; the play between textures and depth is what interests me. As a young girl, one of the sources of art available to me was fashion magazines.

This has come to influence my portraits—I like eloquent, rich and multi-layered approaches to subjects. It’s important to me to maintain colour at the centre of my practice. I hope to grow in my practice and add another voice to the women of colour chorus in the arts. There’s exciting work to be made! @viviansofiadesigns viviansofiadesigns.com

Bushra Gill L A FAY E T T E , C A L I F O R N I A , U S A

I returned to making art just a few years ago, after a 20-plusyear hiatus after graduating from art school. The need to make things and look at art never left, so I worked in graphic design and fashion, all the while teaching in museums and galleries. A cross-country move 12 years ago halted my career, and I got busy raising my two young sons. When I turned 40, it was time to return to a regular art practice, although the first few years were very slow and frustrating.

Creating a studio space in my sons’ abandoned playroom led to a few years of being

my own art teacher, doing exercises I found in books, art podcasts and blogs. Inevitably, something clicked and I found my voice. Beginning with images from everyday life, I use Islamic geometric patterns to enfold personal and narrative images. The shapes in the patterns are a point of origin for plays on colour and spatial structure, while creating order to help me understand the natural world. Exploring the idea of privacy, images are present but hidden or veiled, like my hair which I cover with a scarf in public. @bushradraws bushragill.com

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O R I G I N

STO RY BY

correy baldwin

drawing away (from the concrete) A H I S T O RY O F A B S T R A C T I O N

C

ountless artists and creative folks have embraced the use of gestural mark making: creating free-flowing strokes using everything from paintbrushes to fingertips to simple household objects. For some, it is an essential component of their artistic practice; for others it serves as a creative exercise, a method for getting into a creative headspace, for generating ideas or finding inspiration. Gestural marks capture the movement of an artist’s hand, if not the individuality and character of the artist themselves, expressing the more uninhibited side of one’s creativity.

Such gestural work is a form of abstract art: that much-loved, much-loathed modern art form featuring splattered paint, surreal shapes and geometric blocks of colour. Abstract art is seen by some as exciting, even liberating, and others as oppressive and opaque.

Abstraction shows up in everything from the creative arts to economics, to the ways we encounter and think about language, and how we relate to each other and our world. But what is abstract art?

And where does the idea of the abstract come from?

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Art & Design

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U P P E R C A S E

How do you personally define “abstract art”?

Abstract art allows each viewer to interpret the painting in their own way.

You can try to find objects or subjects in the artwork. Or you can bask in the line, colours and shapes. The best abstract art causes an emotional reaction in you.

What is your thought process in the creation of your art? What sort of decisions are made before you start the work, as opposed to during?

I use the same process to create each of my large paintings. The base layer is always colourful stripes. Then the next layers have different paintings or patterns, often one leading to the next. I’m inspired by things I’ve seen that day or ideas like travel or memory. Some layers I paint are actually representational, while others are text, pattern or pure colour.

My process slaps down my inner control freak. I can’t predict the final product.

Tearing away layers adds a random quality to the work. I lose good parts of the painting but hopefully reveal better ones.

The biggest question becomes: when is this painting done? What combination of composition and destruction will make a harmonious whole?

How does thinking abstractly inform or impact other aspects of your life?

While our phones allow us to take photos of everything we see, I get inspired by fleeting images—glimpses of colour or eccentricity seen in passing. They can only be recalled in memory. I’m always on the hunt for image inspiration, in my reading, my television viewing, my visits to art galleries. When I look at things, I try to enjoy them for what they are and not impose meaning or an agenda on them.

Any other thoughts or comments that you’d like to share?

I like the idea that the viewer completes the artwork. I create a painting and put my own ideas and energy into it, but then you come with your own mood or expectations, and the painting communicates something new and different to you. I love when people who own my paintings tell me that they can look at their paintings and find something new each day. matart.ca @matateishi

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carole lyles shaw B R ADE NTON , F LOR I DA , USA

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A R T I S T

leigh bagley EAST LOTHIAN, SCOTLAND

What is your story, in a paragraph or two?

I was born and raised just outside Birmingham, and developed an eye for colour and an interest in design from an early age. My design career began shortly after graduating from the Royal College of Art in London in 2000. I worked as a freelance knitted textile designer selling to Calvin Klein, Levi, Nicole Farhi, Eddie Bauer, Milk and Woolmark, to name just a few.

Following my textiles design career working in both fashion and interiors, I now share my passion for colour and textiles as a lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art. In 2012, I launched the Graphic Pattern Studio, in order to develop my interests in abstract graphics for limited-edition prints and wallcoverings.

How would you describe your artwork to someone who didn’t have the benefit of seeing it in person or in a photograph?

My prints explore interactions of colour, each one meticulously planned; every hue, proportion, saturation and opacity of colour is considered. Creating shapes and form which explore varying degrees of opacity allows for an ever-changing palette of blended colour.

My style hovers somewhere between abstraction, minimalism and a geometric approach. With a penchant for textiles and print design and a passion for colour, my art is a firm favourite with leading architectural and interior design firms.

Layers, shape and colour form the basis of my prints, coming together to create compelling and complex digital works of art. My distinct colour palette links each of the works in my portfolio together, with the transparency levels revealing a depth to every piece. With a harmonized colour scheme making my style instantly recognizable, I continue to experiment with shape and the illusion of depth.

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defining abstract

How do you personally define or interpret “abstract” in art and design?

Energy Flows Agnes Pierscieniak NAPA , CALI FO R N IA , U SA

Loose, abstract mediums allow me to let go of control, embrace imperfection and let the process guide me. Abstraction allows me to tell a visual story through colour, form and movement. It lets me reinterpret the world in a nonliteral way. Abstract art is emotive and emotional, connecting with us on a subconscious level. Colours and textures speak to our souls.

Inks guide us and art is unfolded rather than forced. Happy accidents abound. @agnesartshop agnesartshop.com

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brightNESS

The freedom of abstract art

Anette von Anbeginn

Ariane Nijssen

VA N C O U V E R , B C , CA N A DA

PERTH , AUSTR ALIA

To me, abstract art sends an emotion to the viewer without the brain interfering by trying to explain what “it” is—that is, from the outside in. From the inside out—while creating abstract art—emotion is put on surfaces or into shapes and designs while bypassing that place in the brain that has the need to name “it” and make it into something that is understood rather than felt.

For me, abstract art is freedom.

It allows me to make pieces that I like, without having to stick to conventions or expectations. My favourite time is sitting in the middle of a stack of printed paper and seeing which shapes want to be discovered. There are no set proportions, perspectives or colours. I love how abstract art is open to interpretation: everyone who views it will experience it in their own way. What do they see?

How does it make them feel? Do they like it or not? There is no right or wrong. @aribombari_papercut aribombari.com.au

Like Blue Coco Zimmerman T O R O N T O , O N TA R I O , C A N A D A

Abstract art creates a world for the viewer.

It can be representational or non-representational. There is a recognition between the artist and the picture plane that creates a balance or an upheaval. Having repetitive structures can provide the viewer with a landing place, as can forms that either are or can be interpreted as something familiar.

The placement of forms creates a narrative that allows the viewer to enter into the piece. When at its best, the improvisational or intuitive nature of this art is not random, but rather a culmination of thoughtfulness and skill. @adieucoco uppercasemagazine.com

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W I T H

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spilling the tea with T I L L U S T R AT O R

ta m isha a nthony

I M A G I N E S A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H A BST R ACT A RT I ST A L M A T H O M AS

Tamisha Anthony I am an illustrator who currently works on picture books for various clients such as Penguin Random House, Macmillan Publishers, and Little, Brown. I find that educating little ones or the young at heart inspires my art. I have been an educator for the past several years teaching at institutions such as the New-York Historical Society and the Harlem School of the Arts. Currently, I teach an art history and illustration class called Redrawing Black History with Lilla Rogers for Make Art That Sells. When not illustrating, I enjoy indulging my love of jazz music through dancing and appreciating life in my new home, New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz.

A

s a Black female artist, I find looking at the women who “did it before me” to be inspirational, but more importantly, informative.

In this instance, I’m not looking to learn from their mistakes, but rather from their struggle. I hope to learn how to put on their armour of resilience. The world has opened its doors more and more to people of colour and women, but there are still moments when an “armour of resilience” is necessary. So, if I could take a step back in time and uncover these struggles with any amazing Black female artist, I would have afternoon tea and “spill the tea” with… Alma Thomas.

“From my lengthy experimentation with color, I discovered that it was the light glittering through a holly tree near the bay window of my home that attracted my fancy. I noticed how the light shone on and through other trees, shrubs, and flowers and tried repeatedly to capture this magic. My goal was not to offend the beauty in nature, but rather to share with others those aspects of it that have given me so much joy.”

– ALMA THOMAS

Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful Yale University Press (2021) 92

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As I read about Alma’s biographical and artistic background, I imagine us chatting candidly as we have afternoon tea in her lovely garden in the 1960s. This is when her artistic career really began to bloom after retirement from teaching. I know we would admire each other’s outfits. At least, I hope she would admire mine!

I would be sure to dress in the colours and patterns of her work, as she often did. We would discuss the importance of gardens and outdoor spaces. She would talk about her childhood in a predominantly white

I M A G E C R E D I T : S M I T H S O N I A N A M E R I C A N A R T M U S E U M , WA S H I N G T O N , D C / A R T R E S O U R C E , N Y

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In a fruitful collaboration, the sum is greater than its parts. Collaboration brings together diverse talents, fusing them together in a new entity, a new project, a new concept.

Nine Women, Nine Canvases: A collaborative abstract painting project Jen Sterling, Lynn Reynolds, Joan Machinchick, Faye Weiss, Pam Ernst, Constance DelNero, Janice Hendra, Pat Goodlin & Val Bembenek ANNAPOLIS, MARYL AND, USA

I paint large abstract works. Several women in a local critique group approached me to learn how to “paint big.” We took the opportunity to create a collaborative project. We gathered together for one day and all took turns adding our own marks and colours to nine canvases that had been connected together (and blindly labelled with our names). By the end of the day, we had one large beautiful piece made up of nine smaller pieces. Everyone got to take one home. We even had a scarf made later for participants with the full piece of art. @jensterlingart jensterling.com

Quarantine Quilt June Hannah, Mildred Chester, Brittney Hannah & Casey Chatham M T. J U L I E T, T E N N E S S E E , U SA

In April 2020, I organized a mini quilting bee for my grandmother, great aunt, cousin and me: June Hannah, Mildred Chester, Brittney Hannah and Casey Chatham, respectively. Even though Covid kept us apart, we were excited by the idea that we could make four quilts in four months by working together, one month at a time.

The goal was for each of us to have our own completed quilt top that was made of blocks sewn by all four of us.

I created an email questionnaire to help everyone create clear guidelines and expectations for their pattern requests. The email thread also became a forum for discussion, questions and clarifications.

Over four months, we each completed three blocks for every other member of the bee so that, by the end, everyone had 12 blocks for their own quilt, made collectively by the group. We all embroidered our names and the date on one block of each quilt.

My grandma, June, was the first to finish her quilt, and afterward, she kept it on her bed as she battled cancer and recently passed away. My grandfather cherishes it now. One day, Brittney and I plan to trade it back and forth each year to continue the spirit of sharing and togetherness in which it was created. @sewworthymama

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To Make, A Stop Motion Short Film Todd Davis LOS ANG E LES, CALI FORN IA , USA

A volunteer crew of friends, colleagues and new connections made a stop motion book trailer inspired by the picture book To Make, written by Danielle Davis and illustrated by Mags DeRoma. The story itself is an ode to the joys of creativity and collaboration—and that’s what our communal process was all about. The team consisted of five animators/fabricators, a photographer, an expert knitter, five voice actors of all ages, a letterer (the illustrator), a writer (the author) and a sound design pair.

@todddaviswashere davishandmade.com @writesinla danielledavis readsandwrites.com @magsderoma magsderoma.com

Trust is everything when collaborating. As director, I trust my crew to shine in their unique ways and to contribute their skills, problem solving and perspectives, which undoubtedly makes any project better. The other piece that makes or breaks a community is environment. Here’s where we need to trust each other too. Everyone needs to feel safe, open and free. Part of that is making sure every person feels accepted and valued. Another is creating an environment where people want to be. Joy and playfulness are paramount. If energy lagged in the studio, I’d take over the speaker and play death metal until they begged for it to stop. We laughed a lot. And we collectively “whooped!” when we finally finished shooting, late on a Sunday night.

Showcasing the Brilliance of Budding Artists Maggie Weiss E VA N S T O N , I L L I N O I S , U S A

Over 90 local children ages 6 to 15 contributed to a public art project in a city building in Evanston, Illinois, by creating their self-portraits in fabric, guided by resident textile artist Maggie Weiss. Beginning in late 2018, portraits were generated over 18 months while children were attending camps of different types at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center. Maggie assembled their work into a four-foot by eight-foot collage, for which some of the campers also created collaged houses or monoprinted background fabrics. On March 25, 2022, the completed mural was hung and revealed to the public for the first time. Now the community and these children can come and see their very own portraits on permanent exhibit! No one person could generate the incredible variety of faces that radiate the spirit and energy of these youth. What a pleasure to bring their work and voices to the public! maggieweiss.com

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Pink Picture Book

Publishing at Pele Prints

Mary Newell DePalma & Virginia Zimmerman

Amanda Verbeck

BOSTON , MASSACH US E T TS, USA

S T. LO U I S , M I S S O U R I , U SA

Our book collaboration began as a dinner conversation at a children’s book creators’ retreat. The woman sitting to my left shared with us that she couldn’t find a picture book to explain to her five year old what the Women’s March was about. She turned to me and said, “You should write one!” I said I would be happy to illustrate a book like that… but I didn’t want to write it. I turned to the woman on my right, whom I had just met, and said, “You are a writer, right? You write it and I’ll illustrate it!”

Pele Prints is a collaborative fine art printmaking studio dedicated to creating limited-edition prints and original works of art. The studio was opened in 2006 by master printer Amanda Verbeck. A small number of artists are invited to publish each year. Publishing projects are a collaboration between the master printer and the individual artist. It’s a residency of sorts, where artists spend a weekly intensive in St. Louis creating a new body of work. At Pele Prints, we work with artists from all disciplines (painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video, etc.)—no printing experience is necessary. Artists create a wide range of work using photolithography, woodcut, relief, intaglio and screen-printing techniques. Since the studio is equipped with large-scale presses, many projects highlight large-format printing. We take a non-traditional approach to each project and encourage experimentation. Here artists are free to explore their ideas in the studio, using multiple print processes as a jumping-off point.

While the print medium is the primary focus, finished pieces may also include three-dimensional components, collage, handwork and various other elements. The goal is to create a unique body of work that displays the curiosity, learning and constant discovery exemplified in the collaborative process at its best. (Images from collaborations with Benjamin Guffee and Ken Wood.)

A week later, Virginia Zimmerman emailed me to ask if I was serious about the project. Of course, I was! So she wrote a story and sent it to me within a month. In picture books, some of the story is told in words, some by the illustrations. As I began to make sketches, I imagined the characters moving through their world.

I noticed that the mom was pregnant and that they owned a mischievous cat. Virginia encouraged these additions. In turn, Virginia imagined a history of feminist advocacy for the grandmother. We went back and forth like this for several months. Each time the connections between words and pictures became richer and deeper. We knitted together a picture book that was better than either of us could have imagined on our own, and it was published by Running Press in January 2022, for the fifth anniversary of the Women’s March. @marynewelldepalma marynewelldepalma.com

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Modern Service Quilts Jessica Schunke S T. LO U I S , M I S S O U R I , U SA

The Joy of Making Siobhan Watt & Rachel Lawson UNITED KINGDOM

We’re Rachel and Siobhan, the sisters behind the Modern Crafter. We’ve been running a business together since 2017.

We now have a shop/studio in Saffron Walden, Essex. The Modern Crafter began when Rachel was on maternity leave.

There was a lack of fun modern punch needle designs out there, so she asked Siobhan, a textile designer, to create some patterns for her. We decided to create our own DIY kits for punch needle and embroidery. All of our designs begin as rough sketches. Rachel then carefully makes each project. After the sample, we refine the design and colourway before creating a kit. Our collaboration has also led to some exciting projects that we would have never dreamed of doing alone: publishing our first book, Punch Needle: 15 Contemporary Projects. We began it during lockdown, so our collaboration was done through phone calls and email. Rachel is a natural organizer, which was key to getting through the momentous task of writing a book. Having each of our skills involved in this project was so important. A successful creative partnership allows each person to play to their natural strengths; it’s also about being open and willing to see things from a different perspective. You need to understand each other—being sisters, perhaps that’s our superpower! @the_modern_crafter themoderncrafter.co.uk

There’s nothing new about making quilts for veterans, but our trio of quilt friends—Lilo Whitener-Fey, Kristy Daum and Jessica Schunke—noticed there was a disconnect between the modern quilting movement and the quilts typically made to honour those who have served our country. We collaborated to create a new organization, Modern Service Quilts, to help bridge the gap. We are quilters who each brought our own special skills to the project—pattern writing, technical editing, longarm quilting—but we knew this collaboration needed more than our little group to truly succeed, so we reached out to fellow designers of modern quilt patterns with a request to collaborate. Each one would be assigned a month during which we’d highlight one of their existing quilt patterns (making a sample that spotlighted how it would work well as a modern service or honour quilt, then featuring it on our blog and Instagram pages). In return, they’d donate a percentage of the sales of that pattern for the month to a progressive veterans’ organization. The acceptances flooded in, and we’ve been thrilled to feature 10 quilt patterns so far, with many more to come. To help keep everything looking good on the technical end, we brought in another quilting friend, Christine Boyd, to design our website. This creative partnership has encouraged the skills of each member, celebrating the ways in which they could contribute. We hope it results in a modern service quilt in the hands of every veteran. @modernservicequilts modernservicequilts.com

Sister Octopi Natalya Konforti & Justine Formentelli U N I T E D A R A B E M I R AT E S & U N I T E D K I N G D O M

Sister Octopi is a four-year artistic correspondence between cousins Natalya Konforti and Justine Formentelli. The immersive installation forms a forest of floating tentacles, each reading like threads of conversation between two artists. Initially ignited by a series of losses and a desire to strengthen family ties in times of struggle and grief, the collaboration is an homage to the resilience and strength of the women in their family. Separated by oceans and several time zones, the pair designed a format allowing them to create together from their respective homes in Dubai and London, ironically making it perfectly adapted to today’s pandemic lifestyle. Loosely inspired by the surrealist art game “exquisite corpse,” the artists conceived of connecting paper panels exchanged via email, having each created alternating sections in response to the other’s art. The rich universe of Sister Octopi is rooted in scientific and literary research. The cousins borrow vocabulary from the natural kingdoms to explore themes of expatriation, belonging, heritage and alienation from multiple angles, drawing parallels as they relate to their own life experiences. The artists saw the octopus, this strange surreal creature, as a family totem: the animal’s nine brains represent the four pairs of sisters and their matriarchal grandmother, while its three hearts echo branches of their family tree. Octopi are also uncontested masters of camouflage, despite their alien appearance, much like the cousins, both living far away from their home country of France. @sisteroctopi glitchesandstitches.com/sister-octopi uppercasemagazine.com

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Nature’s Echos Karla Blonsky & Cole Atkinson C O C H R A N E , A L B E R TA , C A N A D A

Unique Interpretations of Masterpieces Melissa Weinman & Lara Herrmann TA C O M A , W A S H I N G T O N , U S A

What began as a student-teacher relationship has evolved into the traditional apprentice-master relationship and into a collaboration. Traditionally, if you wanted to learn how to paint, your father paid for you to apprentice in a master’s workshop. By watching and copying the master’s work you learned how to paint. Eventually, the apprentice is encouraged to paint portions of the master’s compositions, as Leonardo da Vinci did with his master Verrocchio’s paintings. At this point and in our modern world this work may be classified as a collaboration. Melissa Weinman has been teaching Lara Herrmann how to paint by allowing her to select the masterpieces she wants to study and then teaching her how to paint them. Copying masterpieces is a time-tested method for learning the demanding art of representational painting and Melissa has been copying masterpieces for years as a way of improving her own painting skills. Now Melissa and Lara are painting masterpieces together. Technically no one alive today has ever heard Mozart’s music; we have only heard people copying and interpreting his music. Why should it be different with art? Melissa and Lara are taking masterpieces from the past and bringing them into this century to celebrate them. @melissaweinmanstudio melissaweinman.com

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My least favourite part of the creative process is coming up with concepts for new projects, either where it can feel like I have too many things I want to do and can’t decide which to choose, or where nothing feels inspiring on a given day. Working collaboratively with my son, Cole Atkinson, has been an excellent solution. When I am stuck, I pour through his portfolio of photographs and inevitably find something that triggers an idea. Then we work together to figure out how to play with light, angle and perspective to capture a simple moment—typically nature- or architecture-based. After he takes the photos, I create acrylic skins or transfer the images directly onto a canvas. We then make a series of sketches as to how we want to alter the image, choose which media to use and do the final marking on the surface. Communication before, during and after the project is key to making it work. Seeing the final creation always spurs ideas for the next project.

It is always surprising to see how our different approaches to art can work together. There is something magical about how different eyes approach the same idea and can combine to make something entirely new.

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in frame STO RY A N D P H OTO BY

a n dre a j enkins

O

n the morning my mom died, I held my camera in my hands. I could not bring myself to look through the viewfinder. Eventually, I set it aside.

An hour or so later, I saw a slant of light on her dining room wall, pointed my iPhone at it and made the one and only photograph of the day. The rest is a blur, of course. I remember the beginning of unending waves of grief, and that light. Ten years later, I still find comfort in this strange, solitary image and I think about what I chose to put in the frame that day, and what I didn’t. As a documentarian, I still question the choices I made. What I do not question, however, is the enduring relationship I have with the camera and the quiet, unexpected way it got me through those first unthinkable hours.

If a symbiotic relationship exists between camera and photographer, it’s one-sided, at best. While it can be argued that the camera is nothing without the human who picks it up and makes images with it, it can also be argued that the photographer is not, in fact, a photographer without it. The truth is that I need this miraculous piece of machinery more than it needs me.

Sometimes I don’t even need the photographs I make with it—sometimes it’s enough just to hold it in my hands, to look through the viewfinder and fully consider what I see. What is worth remembering? What moment is worth distilling? What elements fall together inside the frame? Alternately, what lives outside of it?

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In this way, I work in tandem with the camera to decide how I feel about the world around me. Even when I don’t have one with me (which is rarely these days), I am still looking, as if through a viewfinder. Sometimes, if the situation calls for it, I try to document the frame with just my eyes—to conjure frames that live in different ways, on the pages of notebooks or in memory, the elements of each image instead a collection of words, which I choose as carefully as if I was composing the photograph itself. This too, is part of the ongoing practice, the work of both camera and photographer, proof of a kind of relationship that extends beyond the traditional, physical image.

Recently, while winding my way through the narrow, storied streets of New Orleans, I stumbled onto a jazz funeral. I gently approached the gathering and in between layers of music and magic, recognized the soft, familiar edges of grief. I pulled the camera up to my eye, held the body of it flush to my face and looked through the viewfinder to see what I could see. What to include inside the frame? When to press the shutter? When to just stand and watch and listen? In the span of 15 minutes, a barrage of questions, a silent back and forth with the camera. A handful of photographs, maybe. Years from now, I hope to pore over what still lives inside each frame, and remember what doesn’t. The camera, my forever conduit—a conversation that, thankfully, never ends. @hulaseventy

F RO NT C OVE R

lei g h bagley BAC K C OVE R

l i a m h en n e s sy

772-0-06863155-54 772-0-06863155-54

J U LY- A U G U S T- S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2

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