Si Scott is a contemporary British artist renown for his ink drawings of animals. Scott studied art and graphic design at Leeds College of Art and Buckingmanshire Chilterns University.
Scott has worked for many internationally known brands on advertising campaigns. He has also designed album covers.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
In this clip a brief interview with the artist:
The artist was named one of the top 200 illustrators in the world.
Si Scotti is based out of the United Kingdom.
In this brief clip we see the artist at work on many works:
His style of free flowing animals are very creative but I think his work with text and letters is just as amazing. By using only black and white in most images we are able to view the outstanding drawing skills of Si Scott.
George Condo is an contemporary American artist renown for his own style of art. George Condo was born in Concord, New Hampshire in the year 1957.
Condo attended the University of Massachusetts at Lowell where he studied art and music.
Condo refers to his style as “artificial realism.” He enjoys portraying things that don’t really exist. Condo works as a painter, printmaker, and sculptor.
The artist is a part participant of the famed Whitney Biennial.
George Condo is currently based out of New York City.
In this clip we visit Condo in his studio and he shares some of his views on painting:
Price range information: Prices range from prints starting at $10,000 to originals in oils or acrylics reaching $1.3 million.
The artist is part of many prestigious collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art of New York City.
Below we catch up with the great James Kalm to view a show featuring works over George Condo’s lengthy career:
Condo is an amazing artist with a unique style. I enjoy the high level of abstraction he brings to his work with the figure.
Qavavau Manumie is a contemporary Inuit artist renown for his drawings of animals and people. Qavavau Manumie was born in Brandon, Manitoba in the year 1958.
The artist is now based out of Cape Dorset, Nunavut Territory, Canada.
His first solo exhibition took place in 2008. In this clip we view a show featuring Manumie that took place in 2012:
Manumie was one of the featured artist in the 2015 Cape Dorset print calendar.
Below a great interview with the artist:
Price range information: Sorry none available.
I enjoy the Pop art aspect of Manumie’s art. Though he works with traditional Inuit motifs, the artist also pays homage to modern items such as stiletto high heeled shoes. From a design aspect, his work is similar in composition to Kenjuak Ashevak.
Michael Glier is an American artist renown for his work with the figure. Glier was born in the year 1953. The artist attended Williams College located Williamstown, Massachusetts earning a B.A.. The artist went on to earn a M.F.A. from Hunter College located in New York City. In addition the artist took classes at the Whitney Museum and also the Rhode Island School of Design.
Glier is also a wonderful teacher of anatomy and drawing the human figure. In this clip Glier talks about teaching:
Glier enjoys working with mixed media including charcoal and acrylics using non-traditional backgrounds such as fiberglass. Glier began working en plein air in 2009. He has traveled to locations around the globe to paint fantastic landscapes that show the climate differences between Canada, the Virgin Islands, and New York City.
I enjoy Glier’s use of shape to build solid forms on a flat surface. Glier also has a keen sense of design in his landscapes that keep the eyes of the viewer constantly shifting about the picture. His landscapes are a great mix of realism and abstraction.
Emma Kunz was an amazing artist and healer who enjoyed drawing with ink and colored pencils. Emma Kunz was born in Brittnau, Switzerland in the year 1892. Kunz was a healer and artist. Her family was quite artistic with a background in weaving. Kunz worked with geometric shapes in an abstract style.
In the clip below we view some works by Kunz. A bio by the artist is first and works are shown beginning at 3:20 into the clip:
Many of her works were finished in one sitting. One sitting could last as long as 24 hours. The artist created her works not for display at a modern art museum, but for her patients who might need aid in meditation.
Emma Kunz passed away in 1963.
The shapes and color used by Kunz are remarkable. Her work reminds me of my childhood time I spent playing with the spirograph.
Price range information: Most works priced between $5,000 and $30,000.
Annie Pootoogook also comes from a long line of artists, her grandmother was Pitseolak Ashoona, one of the first prolific Inuit artists who specialized in drawing. Annie Pootoogook was born in Cape Dorset, Nunavut Territory, Canada in the year 1969. She enjoys drawing her surroundings and daily life. Her mother was also a prolific artist named Napachie. Its great to look back and compare the work of Annie to her mother and grandmother.
Price range information: Works range from $500 to $2000 for prints. She works in small sizes of 50 for most prints.
The artist won a $50,000 prize given to a promising up and coming Canadian artist in 2006. This award is called the Sobey Arts Award.
In this clip a short interview with the artist at a time when was pregnant and homeless. At the end she shows a recent drawing:
Her grand mother Pitseolak Ashoona made more than 7,000 drawings over her lifetime. She was born in 1904 and below some examples of her style. Pitseolak Ashoona illustrated some children’s books.
Her mother was the artist Napachie, was born in 1938 and lived in the Cape Dorset area a majority of her life. Below an example of her style.
I love artistic families and this one is no exception. With three generations of celebrated artists I am reminded of the Wiggins family and the family of Antoine Blanchard who both produced artists that depicted their surroundings of New York City and Paris, France.
Madge Gill was a British artist born in East Ham, Essex to a young mother out of wedlock. Gill is known for her folk/ naive art drawing style. She went to live in an orphanage at nine years of age. Afterward she was moved to a farm in Canada.
Quite a character Madge Gill married a cousin. The couple had four children but a daughter was a stillborn and child died due to the Spanish influenza epidemic.
The death of her daughter was bad news but then Gill nearly died from an illness that left her blind in one eye.
Supposedly the artist did her best work when she was in a trance like state of being.
She sometimes signed work with the tag ” Myrninterest.” The was the name she gave to the spirit who inhabited her body when she produced her artwork.
Gill chose not to sell most of her artwork for money, she was afraid it might anger the spirits that helped her produce her wonderful art.
Price range information: Sorry none available. Most of her work is in private collections or owned by the London borough of Newham.
After her daughter was dead the artist came to experience a deepening in spirit. She tried to bring this forth in her artwork.
Here we visit our dear friend James Kalm for a trip showcasing works by the artist. I encourage you to watch the entire clip, but Madge Gill works starts showing at the 7:54 mark into the clip.
Mary Pudlat was a wonderful Inuit graphic artist born in the Povungnituk, Quebec, Canada in the year 1923. Pudlat was made an orphan when she was only a teen. The artist went to live with a brother in the nearby city of Ivujivik.
Eventually made her way to Baffin Island, now famous for its art cooperative in the 1940s.
Got married to Samulie Pudlat in 1943. The couple would live in various nomadic camps for decades.
The couple would move permanently to Cape Dorset, Nunavet Territory, Canada in 1963.
The now famous West Baffin Eskimo Collective was just starting out when the artist arrived with her family.
The artist had a drawing of a bear included in the 1964 Cape Dorset Print collection and this gave her inspiration to further her work. Raising a family became a key priority and Pudlat’s most prolific time as an artist was after her husbands death in 1979. With her husband passed and children grown up, Pudlat then concentrated on becoming the best artist she could be.
What I enjoy most about Pudlat’s work is her use of color. Whereas many print masters focus on bright and flat color, its interesting to see in her works the build up and small strokes of color. We might call it Eskimo Impressionism for her wonderful light filled prints!
Mary Pudlat passed away in 2001 at the age of 78 years old.
Pudlo Pudlat was an Inuit artist renown for both graphic work and printmaking and also sculpture. Pudlat was born at a camp on Baffin Island in Canada.
The artist was very prolific in his output completing more than 4,000 drawings over his lifetime. Pudlat completed more than 200 prints over his career.
Pudlat passed away in 1992 at the age of 76 years old whilst living in the Cape Dorset, Nunavet Territory, Canada.
Originally a sculptor he gave it up due to an arm injury he suffered.
A great experience for the artist was having a work of art he produced used for the UNICEF charity organization on a greeting card. Pudlat was thrilled with this chance to travel south of Canada for the first time and also received great critical acclaim for his work.
Last series of his print work is included in the 1993 Cape Dorset Print collection.
Pudlo Pudlat was the first Inuit to have a one man show at the National Gallery of Canada.
price range information: Works range between $1,000 and $7,000.
First off sorry for the length of this article but I found these artists to be fascinating not only for their artwork, but for their personal histories!
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Inez Walker and Leonard Peltier were both found guilty in a court of law for murdering someone and both turned to art as a therapy and outlet during their time in prison. Ray Materson also spent a significant amount of prison where he picked up needlework.
This first set of pictures belong to the artist Inez Walker. Walker led a hard life. She was born into poverty in Sumter, South Carolina in the year 1911. Her family gave her up and she became an orphan at a young age. At age sixteen she married, had some children, and moved to Philadelphia during a time. In the 1960s she was found guilty of killing a man. It is assumed the man beat her often, but she ended up in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for negligent homicide. She took an art class and began to draw, also an attempt to isolate herself from the rough and tough girls of the prison.
Inez Walker was released in 1972. Many works deal with the bad girls of the prison! She got married again in 1975 and passed away quietly in 1990. She was excited to share her art with anyone that wished to see it.
Inez Walker has works in Museums in the United States, Switzerland, and France.
A link to a great website telling the story of Inez Walker.
Leonard Peltier was a leader in the A.I.M. or American Indian Movement in the 1970s. Peltier was born in 1944 and was raised mainly by grandparents in North Dakota. He would eventually live in Seattle, Washington and own an auto mechanic shop. Peltier joined a movement called A.I.M. American Indian Movement. On a reservation in South Dakota a newly elected President Richard Wilson, was seen to have gotten the job via intimidation, violence, and even starting a private militia to intimidate voters.
Wilson stood trial but was not found guilty to the dismay of Peltier and other members of his movement. This led to back and forth incidents in which more than sixty A.I.M. members were killed in a few short years. Even the federal government got involved.
In 1976 some F.B.I. agents went looking for a suspect on the Pine Ridge Reservation wanted for assault and theft. After locating the vehicle they came under intense fire. The agents called in for backup and waited. No help came in time and the shooters were able to get off more than 120 shots. Peltier was one of the shooters and started to flee across the country landing on the F.B.I.s most wanted list. He would eventually end up in Canada where he was turned in by a female witness later found out to have been told what to say to the court by the F.B.I. men. She was threatened severely. Later it was revealed that she wasn’t at the shooting and didn’t even know Peltier before he fled to Canada.
A great painting by Peltier.
Peltier is serving two consecutive life terms and is still behind bars. He sells paintings to help cover his defense and legal fees.If he wasn’t behind bars I am sure he would be among the most sought after native american painters in the country. I found it interesting the rifle that was key behind his guilty verdict is the same rifle we read about daily in the papers, the AR-15. Below is the car from the shootout with the Feds and Peltier.
Peltier has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize award nine times.
A link to a website featuring art for sale by Leonard Peltier.
In this clip we see some photographs of the artist, a cover for a movie made about the story of Leonard Peltier, and some of his wonderful paintings starting at 43 seconds into the clip. Peltier was able to attain a high level of skill with his paintings which rival those of other famous Native American painters such as T.C. Carson or R.C. Gorman. Peltier is still incarcerated.
Ray Materson began crafting needlework during his stay in prison. Materson was born into a family that had many drugs and alcohol users. He started using himself as a teen. Materson eventually became a cocaine addict and to support his habit stole a toy gun from a retail store and completed many robberies. Materson was found guilty and even then tried to escape from jail! He was caught and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Whilst there he collected used and dirty socks using them to create his needlework. Upon his release in 1995 the artist has only increased his skill. Some works can contain as many as 1,200 stitches per square inch.
Below a clip from an appearance by Ray Materson on CBS.
Another artist to check out never spent a night in jail, but I love the works of this artist! His name is Martin Wong and this work has to do with tatoos and prison. I have posted about Wong often as he was a key figure in the street/ graffiti art movement, amassed a great collection, then donated it to the city of New York. He passed away in 1999 of A.I.D.S.
Andy Warhol did some wonderful works with this theme including the movie Prison. Prison was a film that featured such Andy Warhol All Stars as Edie Sedgwick and Sandy Kirkland. The story was about tales that happen while behind bars as was told to Andy by Bibbe Hanson.
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