My Medias

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My Medias: Books

December 19, 2011 in Book Binding, Kate Renee, My Medias | No comments

Another side project I made is hand-bound books. I began to book bind during college. I had to take a few design courses to complete my design major and decided that book binding would be fun. It was a really great class! Since then I designed my own themed series of books.

Each book is 6 by 6 inches and 1 inch thick. I hand cut, fold and stitch all of the pages together with 4 yards of bookbinders thread with the coptic stitch. Sewing the pages takes about an hour a book.

I cut book board and cover it in themed paper. I find unique papers online such as papermojo.com or head up to the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA)’s bookstore and find some supplies and paper there.

Video game themed books

Once the inside of the book is sewn and the cover is wrapped I use an accent paper to connect the two parts together. So what do you do with these books? That’s your job! Get creative and use them as a journal, mini scrapbook, sketchbook, perfect sized and affordable gift, photo album, notebook and more. There are eleven 2 paged signatures giving you almost 50 pages to fill.

I sell these books myself on my Etsy page

OR You can head over to I Like You, an artist consignment shop in Northeast Minneapolis where you can find my books also; they are only $20!

My Medias: Jewelry

December 12, 2011 in Jewelry, Kate Renee, My Medias | No comments

One of my side art projects is creating shrunken plastic jewelry with pop culture themes. I began to work with this material as an accent piece to the books I bound. I had a Space Invader themed book and wanted to add little plastic invaders to the book. Unfortunately the two didn’t complement each other. So I took all of my mini invaders and turned them into charms and attached them to a bracelet.

The Level_13 Video Game art show at Altered Esthetics was approaching and I decided to make a few other video game themed bracelets. I created a Pac Man and Mario themed bracelet. All three pieces sold. And I received a commission for another Pac Man and a Donkey Kong bracelet too.

Since then, I had two friends ask for additional themed pieces. I made a Charlie Brown Christmas themed piece for a friend who gave it to his mother as a gift and then she ordered a charm bracelet with themes, objects and events that were personal to her life.

To make these bracelets, I take my designs and draw them on the plastic. I use colored pencils to fill in detail. Holes are punched so I have a loop on each charm to use to connect to the bracelet, then I carefully cut the designs out with an embroidery scissors. I put the charms in my toaster oven and they melt down to approximately a third of the original size. Then I take jump rings and attach each charm by hand to a chain. Each bracelet takes 8-12 hours depending on the theme and number of charms.

Interested in a custom bracelet? Contact me through my website and I can make you one too!

I have also been getting into creating other accessories as well. At my work, I was in charge of repairing jewelry that arrived in shipment broken. After repairing everything possible, I used the remaining fragments from necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets and more to create this hair clip. Any job that allows an artist to be creative while working is the best job! This specific piece has part of 2 necklaces, 3 different earrings, 2 finger rings and a piece of a belt.

Here is another hair accessory I made! I plan on continuing with this idea of remaking jewelry and accessories from other jewelry. Once I have a small line made, I will be featuring it on my Etsy page!

Custom Painted Shoes

November 28, 2011 in Commissions, In the Studio, Kate Renee, My Medias, Shoes | No comments

My latest creative endeavor has been hand painting shoes with custom themes and imagery. I first began to experiment with this concept while at my artist residency this past July. One morning, I woke up with the idea that I needed to paint a pair of shoes. There just so happened to be a Good Will a few minutes away. I found a cheap pair of red pumps there and bought them with out even trying them on! Eight hours later….and tadah!

These are my octopus tentacle shoes!

Complete with rhinestoned suction cups too! I’ve worn these shoes to the Giant Steps 2011 conference and also to two interviews (both with job offers!). And people have been very interested in my unique creation! Seems to me like I made my own lucky pair of shoes!

My second and third crack at custom painting shoes was for a family friend who I have known most of my life, Cassy (Peterka) Lahr. She asked that I make her two pairs of shoes, pumps and flats, for her wedding which is in a couple of days.

Approximately twenty hours and hundreds of rhinestones later, I created these gorgeous shoes for her to wear during the ceremony!

Her theme of the wedding was roses and snowflakes! These shoes are decked out in tons of rhinestones.

The entire is covered in silver stones with a red accent on the very bottom. The sides of the shoe show a snowflake and red rose design.

And the second pair of flats is for the dance! Also themed with the snowflakes and roses but a different spin to them. These had no rhinestones but featured a lovely snowflake charm and bow, and white roses and small snowflake designs along the side!

I took the original bow off that came with the shoes and replaced it with subtle sheer ribbon and added a snowflake charm.

Are you interested in getting your own custom pair of shoes?

Here’s how it works: You buy the shoes so they fit and are comfortable. I would not recommend any dyeable wedding shoes from David’s Bridal and would also not recommend pleather or other sort of plastic material (paint may not stick!). Pick a theme you would like for me to paint on them. I love rhinestones and I hope you do too… I can do a ton, or a few tastefully! I truly wish to make your shoes one of a kind!

Contact me at kate.r.johnson (at) comcast.net for more information.

My Medias: Life Drawing and Anatomy

November 21, 2011 in Anatomical Art, In the Studio, Kate Renee, Life Drawing, My Medias | No comments

During college, I chose to focus on life drawing. I have always been drawn to the figure and trying to draw it realistically and found to really enjoy life drawing class. It was one of the few 4 hour studio courses that I enjoyed sitting there and working.

One exercise that I found fascinating was working with the skeletal structure. During my first few weeks of Life Drawing I my professor asked me to take a sheet of tracing paper and draw the inner structure of the figure we just drew. This seemed extremely hard to do and was a bit intimidated by the project. I spent about 20 hours on this one sketch of a skeleton, and in the end I was super proud of what I created. Since then, I have been drawn to an anatomy focused life drawing.

I have always been fascinated with figures and bodies. Since a young age I had wanted to be a paleopathologist (someone who studies disease in ancient man). I was drawn to mummies! I have a small collection of books about mummies and bodies in my own library. I was also introduced to a book called Skin by Claudia Benthein which analyzes the metaphors of skin. I have books by Muybridge and countless anatomy books, including Grey’s Anatomy. My favorite anatomical book which I would recommend is Joseph Sheppard’s Anatomy: A Complete Guide for Artists. During my undergrad, I had this book checked out for 2 years. I finally bought my own copy!

For my final in my last life drawing class I decided to do a self portrait of myself as a skeleton. I took a picture of my body and plotted out the bone structures. Certain bone surfaces stick out such as elbows, hips, knees, backbone and ribs. Then I drew in the bones and created an entire skeleton of myself. What I created was a six foot high drawing of my insides! Creepy, I know!

When I am not working with anatomy I like to work with line, I draw an intricate drawing of a figure and then begin to eliminate lines where light is hitting and thicken likes where there is weight and shadow. I capture the essence of the figure through a stark black and white piece.

So while I have been recently focusing on painting, the passion for life drawing is still there. I have a few ideas about what I want to do next so hopefully some new anatomical pieces will pop up in the future!

My Medias: Painting and Lowbrow Art

October 17, 2011 in Kate Renee, My Medias, Painting | No comments

While I am primarily a professional acrylic painter, like most artists I have a variety of medias I like to explore. So the My Medias blog series will be about each of bodies of work I create, so this one will be about how I came to be a painter!

Most of my painting training has been self taught. I took a few courses in high school and did a variety of 2D techniques. In one of my 2D classes, I self taught myself how to oil paint. One of my favorite pieces is a self-portrait in oil. This is my first and only oil painting, but I do hope to try to work with it in the future. I absolutely love this image of me. It demonstrates my quirkiness, festive swimsuit and me manhandling a frog. I’m sure my three year old self scared that frog to death too!

Untitled (Self Portrait)

2007

During my undergrad believe it or not, I chose to focus on life drawing. I only took one painting class in college and I absolutely hated it and by that I mean dreaded going to class and would of preferred lecture. I was inspired by Stella Im Hultberg and Jenny Saville with some early painting work.

Self Portrait

In the manner of Stella Im Hultberg’s work. Check out her art here

 

A personal rendition and copy of Jenny Savilles work, painted by me. Check out her work here

My recent body of work has been these large scale graphic acrylic pieces which focus on storytelling and character development. I have always wanted to be a writer. My first book was in Kindergarten and was about a pet bunny I lost while blueberry picking in the woods. Maybe something to share or blog about in the future! Anyways, this passion for writing and telling stories is very apparent in this body of work.

 

 

Storms Make Rainbows 1 and 2

July 2011

 

My pieces are created with a childlike sophistication and all have quirky, witty, funny, and sarcastic titles. The works are companion to the titles and vice versa. I often hear that the pieces don’t make sense with out the title, a criticism I heard just this past month during the Featured Artist Contest review….EXACTLY! That’s the point, and that’s my goal.

You’re not going to understand the character, its personality, or what it wants or is doing without the title because my work is an exploration of both visual and written creativity. Sometimes the title comes before the piece or the piece before the title. But the title is as important as the piece itself!

Suction Cup Me Baby!

December 2008

The first two pieces were Suction Cup Me Baby! and Giggle My Gelly! These were made during finals week in college, when I didn’t feel like working on my final for painting class. I had this elaborate self portrait installation piece in mind and after beginning the piece, the tool of the canvas and the uncontrolled brush look disenchanted me. I gave up. Friends were worried about what I was going to do for my final, days and even hours before. I wasn’t, I hauled in these two paintings into class and used them as my makeshift final piece and have worked with this series ever since.

 

It Makes Them Taste Better

Bad Disney Princess Series

July 2011

I began this body of work December 2008 and since then I have been exploring characters and building the portfolio I have now. I have recently created enough work to have a variety of themes in this body: animals, food, objects, people, games and toys, and clouds and weather. Eventually, I would like to turn this body into more design orientated objects such as making prints, creating fabric, or jewelry out of my work. I would also like to show every piece in a retrospective exhibition.

Littly Tikes Series: Never Trust the Ginger (1 of 4)

July 2011

So what is this exactly? It took two years of searching to find an answer. One day while at work at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, I opened a book about contemporary art and found a section on Lowbrow and Character art. Lowbrow art is a recent art movement beginning in California during the seventies, and now a copyrighted term first mentioned in Juxtapose Art magazine in 1994. It’s slowly gaining momentum as a movement, although many museums and academic institution don’t recognize it as such.

We Charge Extra For Black Ink

July 2011

 Here’s some basic facts:

It’s usually paintings and has a sense of humor to the works whether it’s happy or more sarcastic humor. (Check!)

  • Many of the artists are self taught and have a figurative focus to the works they make. (I’m a self taught painter, and love figure art and creating characters…so check!)
  • Artists know the technical rules of art, but tend to not follow them. (Overly expensive 4 year art degree…check!)
  • This form of art picks up influences from Japanese anime, cartoons, and other sub cultural themes and was born out of street culture or underground art. (Interest in those topics…check!)
  • Is it weird to define what your art is?…. maybe. I think a lot of artists want their art to speak for itself, but I find that ineffective. I want to know what I create so I can talk about it when people ask me! The unique aspect is that I began to create and build this portfolio before I knew any of the details or characteristics of the movement!

Bitch I’m a Unicorn (I Am Not A Pony!)

July 2011

Have more questions about what or why I am creating what I do? Interested in a commission? Leave a comment, and check out my art on my website at www.katerjohnson.com