Diattaart Blog

A quick clip about Swoon and another artist named Olek, a sculptor, done by PBS. You can see her applying some wheatpastes. Looks like fun!

Another clip with music by Cinematic Orchestra and an interview with the artist in the background. See many of her wheat paste works here.

So first off the demo by David Griffin was amazing! I arrived 30 minutes before the start time so as to get a seat in the front row. I got a seat right in the middle of the front row. As a bonus the Capital Hill Market Whole Foods gave $5 gift cards to anyone who stayed the entire length of the presentation. The artist was so excited to be working, it was fun to watch. He actually worked up quite a sweat, like what I do when I play basketball or tennis, but he did it while doing the demo. Several times the artist had to towel himself off. With the extra seats and those standing there must have been around 80 people by the time the demo ended. What a great turnout!

The artist brought in several of his own works, some were even interactive allowing the viewer to turn the characters which were on wood panels to suit there needs according to the mood they were in that day. The artist said people who buys these works end up interacting with them every day.

He works with full pencil block. When doing trees it was great fun to see all the different lines used to represent shapes of the pine needles. The artist starts his works with a 50 / 50 split with gloss or matte medium. For the later glazes he uses 1/10 or 1/20 split with very little acrylic and much gloss or matte medium.

The artist gives classes at the Denver Art Students League on making  great works of art using a photograph reference.  His class is set up so you watch him paint for the first part of the class, then the artist gets to work on their own pieces some finishing as many as 3 to 4 during the 8 week class.

So the artist I will feature today is one of my favorite contemporary artists working in a variety of media. Many times she will do a print and then hand color the works with acrylics. She got her start by installing wheatpastes around the New York, street art if you will. She has done so much work for the greater community that she inspires me in that regard as well. She was one of a select group of artists that sold artwork and went down to Haiti to help rebuild it.

The artist was born in 1978. Her family was living in New London, Connecticut.

Legal name is Caledonia Dance Curry. Was raised in Daytona, Florida and at age 19 moved to New York to study at the Pratt Institute. She started doing the wheat paste street art in 1999.

I enjoy this artist as she performs what I like to think of as “street magic.” She takes old pieces of wood or even a door, and does these wonderful paintings with a figure that has a tremendous amount of expression. I am moved by the expression her faces contained yet I have never seen them in person. Only someone with great drawing skills could pull that off.

In 2009 she and a crew crashed the Venice Biennale. The arrived using boats they had made from recycled and discarded items. The crew started in Slovenia. She is just very cleaver and free spirited. She is a true adventurer!

She is also very giving and generous with her time and uses art to pursue one of her passions of helping people.

Go get a brown paper bag. Be like Swoon and draw a portrait on it, say in marker so you don’t go back erase. She must have gotten A+s in design at Pratt!

I encourage you do some more research on this remarkable artist!

Happy painting!
D