Beginning with an iconic yet common spherical form, Jorge Mañes Rubio reimagines basketballs as powerful entities in his series New Prophets. Ornamented with stylized creatures, botanicals, and figures, each sculpture tells its own enigmatic story, drawing on the inextricable link between past and present. “These works, although familiar in visual language, seem to come from a dream-like dimension,” the artist tells Colossal, “as if offering a chance at re-enchanting the world we live in.”

New Prophets began with a fascination with an 8th-century Spanish illuminated manuscript called the Commentary on the Apocalypse that’s decorated in a Mozarabic style, which originated in Spain and represents a blend of Romanesque, Islamic, and Byzantine traditions. Rubio, who is currently based in Amsterdam, is fascinated by cultural exchange throughout history. He says:

My artistic practice operates on a similar way: I’m claiming a space where I can continue to learn from a crucible of the most diverse influences, while at the same time carving my own distinctive path. I want to continue to explore cross-cultural themes and symbols that reflect and honour the extensive circulation of ideas, works, and people that came before us.

World-building is central to Rubio’s practice, and initially, he considered another spherical shape for this series as a literal representation of the world: a globe. “The colonial and imperial connotations of this artifact really discouraged me,” he says, but when by chance he placed a string of beads on a basketball that was kicking around his studio, the idea for New Prophets clicked.

“SACRED AGAIN” (2023), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter

Rubio coats the balls with plaster and gesso—ensuring it doesn’t deflate—criss-crosses the form along its distinctive lines, and adds vibrant flowers, stylized text, medieval motifs, and mythical creatures. The orbs play with the idea of an object designed to be bounced and thrown around, instead coating it with delicate patterns and displaying it like a sacred relic.

In his alternative worlds, Rubio is interested in visualizing how past, present, and future can unfold simultaneously. “My hope is that my works invite people to rethink our relationship with the universe and all the beings that live in it —human, nonhuman, material, or spiritual— suggesting alternatives to established systems of representation, power and exploitation,” he says. “I believe this more animistic perspective has the potential to provide a more generous, humbling attitude to make sense of the world we live in.”

Rubio is currently working toward a couple of show in 2025 and continuing New Prophets. Find more on the artist’s website, and stay up to date on Instagram.

Views of “SACRED AGAIN” (2023)

“LIQUID DREAMS” (2024), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter

“PURPOSE POTENTIAL” (2023), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter

Views of “PURPOSE POTENTIAL” (2023)

Detail of “PURPOSE POTENTIAL” (2023)

“MAGICAL THINKING” (2024), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter

Views of “MAGICAL THINKING” (2024)

“EVER LASTING” (2024), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter

“EVER LASTING” (2024)

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article In His World-Building Series ‘New Prophets,’ Jorge Mañes Rubio Cloaks Basketballs in Beads appeared first on Colossal.

Whether capturing the sights of a dive in the remote Mexican village of Xcalak or the internal mechanisms of a sailing ship, Elsa Guillaume’s stylized sketchbooks record her adventures. Glimpses of masts, a kitchen quaking from shaky seas, and a hand gutting a fish create a rich tapestry of life on the move. “Daily drawings (are) a ritual while traveling,” she tells Colossal. “It is a way to practice the gaze, to be attentive to any type of surroundings. I believe it is important to train both eyes and hands simultaneously, and regularly.”

The Brussels-based artist’s frequent travels provide encounters and research opportunities that fuel both her work and devotion to the beauty and wonder of the sea. In fall, she explored the arctic aboard the Polar POD, and she’s currently sailing on a 195-meter container ship called the MARIUS for a residency with Villa Albertine. The vessel launched this month from Nouméa in the South Pacific and will travel the Australian east coast, New Zealand, and the Panama Canal before docking in Savannah, Georgia, in May.

During the six-week journey, Guillaume plans to continue her daily drawings and create a vast repository of ocean life. “It gives space and time to discover and observe an all-new environment to me, the merchant marine,” she says. “How human beings either explore, travel, or exploit the ocean has always been a very strong source of inspiration to me.”

“Arctic Sea Travel Diary”

When the artist returns to her studio, encounters with new-to-her creatures and the discoveries of her travels often slip into her three-dimensional works, sometimes unintentionally. The process “is very probably an unconscious continuity of what I have noticed, of what I have felt, though I don’t necessarily make an obvious connection between these two practices. I like to think of my sculptures, installations, exhibitions (as) projects from scratch, nourished by many other things,” she shares.

Often in subdued color palettes or monochrome ceramic, her sculptures tend to display hybrid characteristics, like the human limbs and animal heads of “Triton IX.” Others disassemble ocean life, revealing the insides and anatomy of flayed fish.

While on the MARIUS, Guillaume will create larger collaged ink drawings that will be shown along with a new sculpture in October at Galerie La Patinoire Royale in Brussels. That solo show will “create a new narration, around human’s shells, like a lost civilization of the seas. This time at sea, connecting the French island of New-Caledonia to Savannah in the U.S. will infuse in many ways this exhibition project.”

Guillaume has limited internet access during the residency, but follow her on Instagram for occasional updates about her journey.

“Arctic Sea Travel Diary”

“Triton IX” (2022), ceramic, 39 2/5 × 16 1/2 × 23 3/5 inches

“Arctic Sea Travel Diary”

“Arctic Sea Travel Diary”

“Tritons” (2020). Photo by Tadzio

“Arctic Sea Travel Diary”

“Arctic Sea Travel Diary”

“Thinking About the Immortality of the Crab” (2022). Photo by Jérôme Michel

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Informed by Research Aboard Ships, Elsa Guillaume Translates the Wonder of Marine Adventures appeared first on Colossal.

Six years ago, Ronald Jackson had only four months to prepare for a solo exhibition. The short time frame led to a series of large-scale portraits that focused on an imagined central figure, often peering directly back at the viewer, in front of vibrant backgrounds. But he quickly grew uninspired by painting the straightforward head-and-shoulder compositions. “Portraits, which are usually based in concepts of identity, can present a challenge for artists desiring to suggest narratives,” he tells Colossal.

In his bold oil paintings, Jackson illuminates imagination itself. He began to incorporate masks as a way to enrich his own exploration of portraiture while simultaneously kindling a sense of curiosity about the individuals and their histories. Rather than portraying someone specific, each piece asks, “Who do you think this is?”

“The primary inspiration for my art comes from the value that I have in the untold stories of African Americans of the past,” he says, “specifically the more intimate stories keying in on their basic humanity, as opposed to the repeated narratives of societal challenges and struggles.” The mask motif, he realized, was a perfect way to stoke inquisitiveness, not just about identity but of its connection to broader stories, connecting past and present.

For the last two years, Jackson has focused on an imagined figure named Johnnie Mae King. To help tell her story, he has become more interested in community collaboration, enlisting others to help develop the character’s narrative through flash fiction and other types of creative writing. Through this cooperative process, Jackson has developed an online platform, currently being refined before a public launch, where literary artists can engage with visual art through the written word.

In addition to the storytelling platform, Jackson is currently working toward a solo exhibition in 2025. Explore more on his website, and follow updates on Instagram.

“Potluck Johnnie” (2024), oil on canvas, 40 x 46 inches

“Saint Peter, 1960 A.D.” (2022), oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches

“Badass” (2024), oil on canvas, 66 x 72 inches

“A Dwelling Down Roads Unpaved” (2020, oil on canvas, 72 x 84 inches

“She Lived in the Spirit of Her Mother’s Dreams” (2020), oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches

“Arrival” (2024), oil on canvas, 66 x 72 inches

“In a Day, She Became the Master of Her House” (2019), oil on canvas, 55 x 65 inches

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Ronald Jackson’s Masked Portraits of Imaginary Characters Stoke Curiosity About Their Stories appeared first on Colossal.

TVLSE, Okla. – The 2024 Mvskoke Art Market was held April 20-21 at River Spirit Casino and Resort in Tulsa. The third annual market, held Saturday and Sunday, featured over 90 Native artists, public lectures, a comedy show, and a children’s activity table.

Cherokee artist Bryan Waytula took home the Best of Show Prize for his colored pencil portrait, “The Grass Dancer.” Art is a handed-down family tradition for Waytula, whose mother and grandmother are both Cherokee treasures. “The Grass Dancer” has recently been named as a finalist for the National Portrait Gallery.

New to this year’s program were a series of public lectures. Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Turner Hunt presented, “Symbols, Iconography, and Myth: An Exposition of Muskogean Art Through Time.” Hunt spoke about the archeological and historical context of Muscogean art and creative expression. Hunt’s presentation focused on non-Indigenous misinterpretations of artifacts and contemporary Mvskoke cultural continuity.

Concluding his lecture, Hunt stated, “As I’ve talked about art through time, how we look about art, I hope that I’ve answered questions and made people think about some things and want to pursue different areas because it’s a really neat thing to look at, our art, our ancestors and how we can use it in the modern day to make a living, to tell stories, to honor our ancestors in the past.”

Scott Hale presented “People Don’t Call… A Picasso a Spanish Painting: Recontextualizing Indigenous Art of North America.” Hale, a scholar and appraiser of Native art, owns Native American Art Appraisals and has worked and studied at the University of Oklahoma, the Gilcrease Museum, and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Hale’s lecture gave a history of the collection of Indigenous art and focused on the ever-increasing market for contemporary Indigenous art.

Jason Asenap discussed the Indian art world of the 1970 and 1980s with his father, artist Hollis Asenap in “Portraits of the Artists.” The discussion featured work by Jason that highlighted found polaroid portraits of Indian artists found in McKee’s Indian Store in Anadarko, Okla during the time period.

The market also featured children’s activity tables. The MCN Native Youth Community Project sponsored these tables. The activities featured Mvskoke motif stamp designs and ink pads in numerous colors. The tables were a place children and families could create and take their own art home.

2024 Mvskoke Art Market Award List:

Best of Show
Bryan Waytula

Mvskoke Heritage Award
Kenneth Johnson

1st Place – Innovative Award
Tony Tiger

2nd Place – Innovative Award
Dustin Mater

3rd Place – Innovative Award
Eva Cantrell

Honorable Mention
Jon Tiger

Honorable Mention
Jackie Sevier

Honorable Mention
Leslie Deer

1st Diverse Category
Johnnie Diacon

2nd Diverse Category
Sandy Fife-Wilson

3rd Diverse Category
Jamie Bennett

1st Basketry
Michael Dart

2nd Basketry
Ronda Moss

3rd Basketry
Jacob Waytula

1st Drawing/Graphic Art/Photography
Benjamin West

2nd Drawing/Graphic Art/Photography
Ron Mitchell

3rd Drawing/Graphic Art/Photography
Randy Kemp

1st Painting
Starr Hardridge

2nd Painting
Candace Shanholtzer

3rd Painting
Jimmie Fife

1st Place Sculpture
Danny Beaver

2nd Place Sculpture
A. Wayne “Tay Sha” Earles

3rd Place Sculpture
Grant Morris

1st Jewelry (Stone/Silver)
Nelson Garcia

2nd Jewelry (Stone/Silver)
Antonio Grant

3rd Jewelry (Stone/Silver)
Mark Stevens

1st Pottery
Tama Roberts

2nd Pottery
Erna Wilson

3rd Pottery
Karin Walkingstick

1st Textiles (wearable)
Leslie Deer

2nd Textiles (wearable)
Jaylee Lowe

3rd Textiles (wearable)
Jaylee Lowe

1st Textiles (non wearable)
Randi Narcomey-Watson

1st Textiles (non wearable)
Cathy Abercrombie

1st Beadwork/Quillwork
Deana Ward

2nd Beadwork/Quillwork
Breana Hill

3rd Beadwork/Quillwork
Patricia Belagarde-Cornelius

1st Digital Art
Raven Kemp

2nd Digital Art
Joseph Hopkins

3rd Digital Art
Chad Earles

A team of industrial designers prototyped a furniture collection that dramatically transforms from flat sheets into fully functional objects, no tools required.

Taking Gaetano Pesce’s spectacular “Up 5” chair as a starting point, Under Pressure Solutions (UPS) is an experimental research project helmed by industrial designers and ÉCAL teachers Camille Blin, Christophe Guberan, Anthony Guex, Chris Kabel, and Julie Richoz. The team recognized the rampant demand for online commerce and subsequent shipping processes that, for furniture, was often cumbersome, expensive, and wasteful given the size and bulk of the products.

As an alternative, they produced a line of stools, chairs, wine racks, and more from cellulose sponge that can be squashed and dried flat, sometimes small enough to fit into a regular envelope. The biodegradable material activates with water and expands ten times its size. Once dry, it hardens into its final form and is more durable than other plastic-based foams. As the furniture bows or dips with use, a spray of water allows the material to spring back to a more robust position.

UPS departs from the particle board and plastics often seen at big box stores. During a two-year research process, the designers tested 56 materials before settling on cellulose sponge made with vegetal fibers, sodium sulphate crystals, softeners, and wood pulp. After various manufacturing and sustainability tests, the team produced 16 unique objects from pendant lights and shelves to chairs and coffee table bases.

The project was recently on view for Milan Design Week, and you can learn more about making process on the UPS site.

Photo by Younes Klouche

Photo by Younes Klouche

Photo by Jasmine Deporta

Photo by Jasmine Deporta

Photo by Jasmine Deporta

Photo by Jasmine Deporta

Photo by Jasmine Deporta

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Just Add Water: Grow Your Own Furniture with These Pop-Up Sponge Designs appeared first on Colossal.

Wednesday, April 24

School of Art Market | Free Speech Alley

The Ceramic Arts Student Association will be hosting an art market from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Students are welcome to stop by and see work by the Ceramic Arts Student Association, the Digital Art and Design Association, the Graphic Design Student Association, the Painter’s League, the Photo Club, the Society Of Sculptors, and The Print Guild. Learn more here.

Pie a Phi |Free Speech Alley

Phi Mu will be hosting Pie a Phi in Free Speech Alley from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. All proceeds will go to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Learn more here.

Thursday, April 25

Student Short Film Screening | Julian T. White Hall, Room 103

The Digital Art and Design Association will be hosting a Student Short Film Screening from 6 to 8 p.m. Short films made by LSU students will be shown. Submissions are due by Tuesday, April 23. Refrain from bringing food or drinks. Learn more here.

41st Annual CSA Gala | Lauberge Hotel

The Construction Student Association at LSU will be hosting its Spring Gala at Lauberge Hotel from 6 to 9 p.m. It will include a three-course meal, a silent auction and many networking opportunities. This event will recognize the many achievements of these construction management students. All are invited to attend. Register here.

Friday, April 26

2024 LSU Sales Symposium | Lod Cook Alumni Center 

The E. J. Ourso College of Business will be hosting experts from academia and industry to explore AI-driven sales in business. This is open to all, but ideal for those interested in business. The event runs from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Learn more here.

RHA Annual Crawfish Boil | Nicholson Gateway on Oxbow’s Lawn 

The Residence Hall Association will be hosting a crawfish boil for all LSU students. There will be crawfish, jambalaya and T-shirts. The event will run from 4-7 p.m. Learn more here. 

Saturday, April 27

Audubon Day 2024 | Hill Memorial Library 

LSU Libraries will be hosting Audobon Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be a viewing pf John James Audobon’s “Birds of America”. Registration is free. Reserve a time here.

Disney On Ice Presents Magic in the Stars| Raising Cane’s River Center

The Raising Cane’s River Center will be hosting Disney on Ice starting at 7 p.m. Special characters such as Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, Aladdin, and more will make an appearance. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased here.

Sunday, April 28

LSU Baseball v. Auburn | Alex Box Stadium

LSU Baseball is playing North Dakota State at home at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15-18 for the public and $8 for children ages three to twelve. Tickets can be purchased here.

Fiber Arts and Makers Festival | Mid-City Artisans 

The Mid-City Artisans will be hosting a festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will be hosted by local yarn and fiber vendor, Fleur De Stitch’d. Learn more here.

Many therapists advise patients to reconnect with their inner voice, a part of treatment that, as anyone who’s tried it can attest, is easier said than done. But what if you could tune into to your internal ups and downs in the same way you listen to a song?

In his Sonic Meditation for Solo Performer series, Austin-based artist and musician Steve Parker fashions immersive installations of salvaged brass. Suspended in clusters with their bells pointing every direction, the instruments envelop a single viewer, who wears an EEG brain monitor and silently reads a series of meditations. A custom software program translates the ensuing brain waves into a 16-part composition played through the winds. The result is a multi-sensory experience that wraps the viewer in the soft vibration of sound waves and makes their inner monologue audible.

Parker frequently incorporates unique ways to interact with instruments into his practice, including in the sprawling 2020 work titled “Ghost Box,” which produced sound in response to human touch. He recently installed the towering purple “Fanfare” sculpture in a Meridian, Idaho, public park, which similarly invites the public to listen to the sounds of the surrounding environment through small trumpet bells at the base.

For more of Parker’s musical works, visit his site and Instagram.

Detail of “Fanfare,” steel, copper, and brass, 6 x 6 x 18 feet

“Sonic Meditation for Solo Performer No. 2,” salvaged brass, electronics, astroturf, EEG brain monitor, video projection

“Sonic Meditation for Solo Performer No. 1 (for Pauline Oliveros and Alvin Lucier),” salvaged brass, electronics, astroturf, EEG brain monitor, video projection

“Sonic Meditation for Solo Performer No. 1 (for Pauline Oliveros and Alvin Lucier),” salvaged brass, electronics, astroturf, EEG brain monitor, video projection

“Fanfare,” steel, copper, and brass, 6 x 6 x 18 feet

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Tune into Your Own Brain Waves with Steve Parker’s Suspended Constellations of Salvaged Brass appeared first on Colossal.

Julie Heffernan likens her paintings to “advent calendars gone haywire.” Working in oil on canvas, the Brooklyn-based artist renders vast dreamworlds with tiny vignettes scattered across wider landscapes. Appearing from a distant or aerial perspective, the pieces envision the possibilities of life after fires, floods, and other climate disasters and potential opportunities for emerging anew.

Grand in scale and scope, the intricate paintings bear titles like “Self Portrait as Emergency Shipwright” and “Self Portrait with Sanctuary,” which nod to the personal details within each work. Various characters recur in the pieces, but where they once appeared alongside fresh fruit as an enduring metaphor for youthfulness, today, they’re surrounded by imagery of decay.”I find myself repeatedly drawn to landscape painting in order to explore my own issues, both planetary and personal,” she says. “I imagine landscapes that bear witness to our rise and fall as a great power but also to the workings of one woman’s mind.”

“Self-Portrait as Tree in Water” (2014), oil on canvas, 40 x 46 inches

Painting, the artist explains, is a way “to see better” and to place the struggles and difficulties of the world within a context. Despite fires raging in the background, or in the case of “Weather Change,” a massive iceberg rapidly melting in the seas, Heffernan’s works are not fatalistic, instead highlighting the immense beauty of human ingenuity. She adds in a statement:

I wanted imagery that might suggest other ways we could cope and possibly even flourish in a new extreme climate and to give my characters things they must tend. I give them water and tools to stop the burning; the tarred and feathered heads of big polluters; a library of great books to surround themselves with as they contend with the madness of man-made calamities.

Evoking the tradition of Hudson River School artists like Thomas Cole, Heffernan’s paintings focus on landscapes that appear amidst chaos as a sort of paradise. She’s also known to paint over and retouch works even after she’s deemed them complete, each time revising her idyllic vision and inching closer to the sublime.

It’s worth checking out an archive of the artist’s paintings to see how the scenes and characters have evolved. Follow her work on Instagram, along with updates about her graphic novel, Babe in the Woods: Or, the Art of Getting Lost, slated for release in September.

“Self-Portrait Between a Rock” (2014), oil on canvas, 68 x 66 inches

“Weather Change” (2019), oil on canvas, 74 x 96 inches

“Self Portrait with Sanctuary” (2017), oil on canvas, 102 x 76 inches

“Self-Portrait as Animal Bed” (2017), oil on canvas, 56 x 48 inches

“Study for SP with Mound” (2023), oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inches

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Imagining Worlds After Climate Disaster, Julie Heffernan Melds Chaos and the Sublime appeared first on Colossal.

From the Huntsville Festival of the Arts

The Huntsville Festival of the Arts (HfA) is pleased to announce artist applications are open for the second annual The En Plein Air Art Market on June 22nd from 10 am-6 pm at River Mill Park in Downtown Huntsville. The live auction will take place at 4 pm. 

The event consists of a day-long art market featuring local artists along with live outdoor painting and music. A maximum of 20 local vendors will have their work on display and available for purchase. This original art will include paintings, jewelry, ceramics, clothing & fashion, and more. 

“We’re thrilled to bring the event back to Huntsville’s Downtown” says HfA Executive Director Dan Watson. “It offers opportunities for local artists to sell their work, brings more visitors to downtown Huntsville and raises funds that will help young artists to develop their talents.” 

The market also features the popular En Plein Air painting event. The event originally run by Kelly Holinshead of the Shutterbug Gallery, invites artists and area dignitaries to grab an easel and some paint before choosing an outdoor location downtown to inspire their creations. A few hours later, participants have to put down their brushes. The paintings are then given a bit of drying time before they are auctioned off to the public at 4 pm, with proceeds going towards the Kareen Burn Visual Arts Scholarship supporting a local student studying visual arts-related studies in a post-secondary institution or program. 

“Kareen was an HfA Board member and creative force in our community,” adds Watson. “She loved events like En Plein Air, and we are honored to raise funds in her name that will support young artists at the beginning of their careers.” 

The deadline for applications to participate is May 10, 2024, at 5 pm. 

Participating vendors will be provided a 10ft x 10ft space in River Mill Park, on-site support, and will be included in the marketing and promotion of the event. A $100 deposit is required to secure a spot. These vendors will then receive a $50 refund on the day of the event. 

Artists who wish to participate in the live painting En Plein Air Auction event will be provided with a blank canvas and paints. Those who wish to participate as both vendors and as live painters will receive a full refund on the registration fee. 

For further information and updates, please visit huntsvillefestival.ca or huntsvilleartcrawl.ca Or contact Huntsville Festival of the Arts- Director of Programs, Outreach and Education Hannah Naiman at [email protected] or 705-788-2787. 

The En Plein Air Art market is the culminating event of the 2024 Huntsville Art CRAWL. Now in its 4th year, the CRAWL is a self-guided art tour in downtown Huntsville. Throughout the month

of June, visitors will create their own free art crawl experience by touring local businesses, galleries & studios, which feature exhibits, demos & interactive experiences by local artists. The program is supported by Huntsville’s Downtown BIA and participating businesses.

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