In collaged pieces, Leah’s photography is often non-specific and enlarged to highlight texture. Aesthetically, I love the diffused nature of her mark-making and photos, which speaks to the larger scope of her work. She writes:

The intention of my work is to visually record the subtleties in everyday life that we do not always notice or appreciate. For example, the idea of pausing and enjoying a moment that is right there in front of our eyes, such as a shadow on a wall, a piece of paper in the wind, or a reflection in a window. Through capturing details of things that may seem insignificant in our daily lives, the fragmented beauty of the subject is brought to the forefront and chaos is pushed back. Ultimately, the raw purity and fragility of the image is unravelled.

All images via her website/Tumblr.

If you were to walk by MICA’s Studio Center on North Avenue (close to what I am told is the slowest McDonald’s in the world) during the month of January, then you most likely saw the work of Jowita Wyszomirska through the window of MICA’s Curatorial Studies gallery, The Temporary. Three site-specific installations were featured in her solo show, Tenuous Connection. I met Jowita in her studio that is housed in School 33, an art space in downtown Baltimore. The space itself has wonderful views of the city and a lot of room for her and her husband to share their work space.

Jowita’s recent endeavors take shape in installations (such as the one in her studio) and drawings. Pen, gouache, and tape are all used to create intricate works that are meticulous yet minimal in detail. Citing architecture and maps as inspiration, a recent set of drawings reflect the routes of the Purple Line, a bus line of the Charm City Circulator in Baltimore.

It was nice to see the progression that Jowita’s work has taken. In a relatively short period of time, her work went from three dimensional paintings of buildings, to a focus on the folded forms of those buildings, to the installation on the wall. Always wanting to challenge herself, Jowita told me it was to fueled by the desire to speed up her working process. Tape is faster than paint — more immediate results and exercises ideas quickly.

Below: An example of the boxes Jowita made after painting architecture. Image via website.

Overall, I liked Jowita’s way of working juxtaposed with the result of her work (installations, specfically). Although she tends not to sketch before she starts working, her years of being an exhibition fabricator have made her process-oriented and it seems to have keep her attuned to refining her artistic process. So far, this has been working — her work continues to move on an interesting path of abstracted observations. I’ll be excited to see the work she has coming up for an exhibition in June, and how it is a continuation of where she is working now.

Thanks Jowita!

The illustration and paintings of Sarah Williamson are simply wonderful, utilizing a few different techniques to bring forth her visual language. There is a major emphasis on the freedom of media (as she paints with wet-on-wet) and a love the figure and landscape. Inspired by what’s around her, the Brooklynite writes:

I used to work, but one day I picked up a pen and images came, I began to see all of the dreams the decay and the excess around me. Around all of us. I once read in a very famous book, “All things are full of labor, man cannot utter it…” But I don’t think of what I do now as labor. My work feels like a natural product of curiosity about our surroundings: people and things disintegrating, dreaming, living, not living. The world is full of color, I cannot utter.

All images via her website.

Checking in on Gina’s work, I found discovered her newest endeavor — the creation of flowers out of paper and placement in unexpected places. Small wildflowers placed in the cracks of buildings, and greenery installed on rocks. These small additions to the landscape really make the passerby more aware and conscious of the space and make it feel a bit more precious. I’m reminded of the Dispatchwork project but with an organic twist.

All images via Gina’s blog.

My present work stems from tensions and comforts that reflect feelings of anxiety, celebration, power and control and the boundaries between them. Culturally I investigate the emotional relationships that dwell in the intermediate space between the natural world and the domestic world by way of choice materials and images from American Subcultures. I explore relationships of color, composition and objects within these contexts.

All images via her website.

Lisette’s other illustrations (and animations!) share similar qualities to her GIFs. Stylistically, she uses a light hand with minimal line work to tell a story or describe a place. With colored pencil, graphite, or ink, Lisette communicates a feeling of introspection and a tinge of sadness.

All images via her website.

infra 6 from Thoka Maer on Vimeo.

infra 7 from Thoka Maer on Vimeo.

All images via his website.

Matt has an Etsy store where he is selling prints, paper dolls, and t-shirts. I am especially excited for the unique, hand-colored paper dolls and the You Are Forgiven color print:

All images via Etsy.

My work illustrates a fantastic landscape. It represents nature’s subtle way of dealing with the peculiar aspects in the relationship with mankind. A giant glow-in-the-dark heart, or a pile of precious gems tells us that we are loved, just as blood squirting from an oak tree trunk says, all is not well. I am inspired by my conversation with the landscape, I imagine long monologues when pine forests make me laugh and mountains test my patience.

All images via his website.

Laura’s own work utilizes simple, bold images and supporting text that’s often short and sweet. I especially liked this one:

Paper is also something that Laura explores in the three-dimensional sense, creating popup letters and hand cut and assembled. She curated an exhibition, Toy Shop where she made miniature houses to promote the show.

All images via her website.

If you stop what you are doing and look as far away as you can, even if it is just in the other room, or if you are lucky enough to be outside, look as far away as you can. There are so many things/stuff/objects in your way of seeing far into the distance. Those distractions, objects, patterns and the smallest opening that lets you see even further are what my paintings are about. They are about the things in the way of seeing as far as you can. Sometimes these objects in my paintings are from memories, memories of the color of a room or shape of a hill. The combination of the struggle to see in the distance and flashes of memories make up the stories within my paintings. Out of these thoughts comes work that looks almost abstract, but in my eyes the combination of shapes and colors have stories.

All images via her website. Ky also has a blog detailing her art collection, which I really enjoyed viewing as well.