DETROIT — One of the first points of discussion at the “HBB from the future” workshop, conducted by Armenian-American weaver Levon Kafafian and Lebanese-American poet and educator Kaymelya Omayma Youssef at Room Project, was the definition of the word “habibi”( حبيبي), often abbreviated as HBB. Translated literally from Arabic, it […]
Back in the day, I used to publish fiction! Including this piece of micro-fiction titled “Xanhaar” — which I guess has more or less always been kicking around at the back of my brain, because I just did these two portraits. I like to think of them as the anniversary […]
As early as the introduction of railroads and the telegraph system, the Western landscape has struggled with the aesthetics of convenience. From commercial interests like strip malls and billboards, to national systems like highways and telephone wires, to individual interventions like graffiti and public sculpture, the definition of “eyesore” is […]
One of the basic truisms of freelancing is: You can have time, or you can have resources, but you will almost never have both simultaneously. A foundational lesson of this workflow is doing the work when it’s available and saving as much as possible for the slow times. But its […]
I just finished work on a pretty large-scale piece, and actually managed to get it documented before it sold and flew out of my life. It’s on its way to its forever home now, but I thought I’d share the details here. I’m proud of it and think it is […]
Evidence of multimedia artist Judith Schaechter’s decades-long relationship with computer-assisted design tools might be hard to pinpoint. Her stained-glass compositions are ornate, wildly imaginative, and intricately hand-detailed. Where the physical ends and the digital begins only adds to the dreamlike, ethereal quality of her work—an update to the old-world conventions […]
With roots as old as the concept of art itself, it is difficult to imagine the medium of drawing as having much to offer in the way of innovation. But Telling Stories: Resilience and Struggle in Contemporary Narrative Drawing, a three-woman show at the Toledo Museum of Art, showcases the […]
COLUMBUS, OH — The Yoruba philosophy of ase or ashe (fromàṣẹ) speaks to a way of life with specific spiritual and social constructs, but also has a particular influence on Yoruba artmaking. Aside from the precise rituals associated with deities, there is a general notion of piece-work — countless individual […]
In terms of the fine art world, one of the first major hurdles for quilters was to be seen as artists, rather than (or at least in addition to) craftspeople. Now fiber art has come a long way from fringe practice to becoming part of the natural weft of the […]
“The overarching intention of the work seems to be located somewhere in the psychic territory between nostalgia and satire.” First of all, K.A. Letts has really emerged as a champion for regional arts writing on top of her prodigious chops as an artist. Secondly, as someone who is more used […]