I just got my comp copy of Masters: Collage! The book covers collage work of all types, and I’m beyond honored to be included. It’s available for pre-order at Amazon and will be in your local Barnes & Noble by June. I borrowed this write-up about the book:
Versatility, innovation, inspiration—that’s what The Masters series offers artists and crafters, and this superb new collection offers a stunning look at contemporary collage work from approximately 40 leading artists. It features a breathtaking mix of techniques from traditional cut-and-paste to digital to collage with paint or encaustic, and styles ranging from wildly playful and colorful to evocative, almost monochrome images.
Each highlighted master takes center stage in an informative eight-page feature that includes nearly a dozen gorgeous, high-quality photos plus a short essay by curator Randel Plowman placing the impressive work and its creator in context.
A huge thank you to all the folks at Lark Books, as well as the curator, Randel Plowman. I am also thrilled to be in the company of Stephanie Levy, a great artist who has always been very friendly and encouraging to me.
Annie Larson is a fashion designer and an all around inspiring lady– her work is stuck in my head. I discovered her on flickr and promptly viewed her entire photo stream in one sitting. I then moved on to her blog, SWNKDLLR, where I became hopelessly sucked in–learning about knitting techniques, the constraints of designing for mass production at Target corp, and her participation with the New Land of Milk and Honey. Intensely curious, I decided to ask her a few questions.
modeled by aby wolf
Could you tell me about what drew you into fashion design, and specifically weaving? Surprisingly, my interest in sweater design and knitting came from my design job at Target Corporation, where I worked for three years after college. In my final year at Target I was designing classic sweaters for men, and became really interested in yarns, sweater construction, and knitting technology. I suppose this interest piqued as a response to how boring my design job actually was, but the intrigue stuck around. My obsession with machine knitting began soon after, right around the time we were writing our first proposal for New Land of Milk and Honey. At first, I didn’t have any plans to knit for the NLMH collection since all of my work up to that point had been in flat pattern drafting and sewing. Up until three months ago, I was only planning to knit a few pieces. In the end, I ended up knitting over twenty full garments. I think I like it so much because I can control the outcome more. Nearly all of my work has involved a theme realized by careful selection of color and pattern, so the idea of creating my own textile in a new medium was overwhelmingly cool.
Clothing is a necessity, but it also serves myriad functions besides just keeping us warm and covering our bits. Could you tell me about what clothing means to you, how it functions, why it’s important? I use clothing for all sorts of things. It’s important for me to dress a certain way because I enjoy thinking up different ways to dress. I am a firm believer that there is a time and place for everything, and having a broad range of options is necessary to be able to change my mind frequently. Clothing articles are important to me in a physical sense because I like to study the construction and materials; I enjoy the way garments take shape on bodies. I could talk about clothes for days with anybody that will listen. Of course, these are my personal feelings. I would never dare to even touch on the subject of why clothing should matter to other people. It’s personal. From a designer point of view, I usually take an opposite stance and focus hard on a single theme that affects my work for a longer period of time. I think all of the energy funneling into one place results in something that often feels…overzealous, but worked through. For me, the physical act of producing clothing is the most important part of the process, I need to understand how everything fits together.
modeled by ann marie delathouder freeman
You’re currently working with The New Land of Milk and Honey. As I understand it, NLMH is a commune in Wisconsin, consisting of creatives who believe in community and the practice/study of ‘alternative’ living. Can you tell me more about NLMH and your role there? 1. The New Land of Milk and Honey is an embellished expression of a spiritual arts-based community, stemming from our own community here in Minneapolis. 2. The New Land of Milk and Honey is a collaborative art show featuring fashion design, video art, choreography, architecture, installation, word play, togetherness, music, and so on. 3. We all believe in the NLMH.
modeled by fletcher barnhill
Oh, so awesome! Thanks Annie! And, if you’re in the Minneapolis area stop by The Soap Factory to view Annie’s work and lots of other cool stuff in the NLMH Exhibition, it runs through April 4th. Credits: All photos taken by Sam Hoolihan and Ross Yates. All the clothing is designed and created by Annie Larson as a part of the NLMH collection, made in 2009 and 2010.
Eli Stonberg first caught our eye with his intensely colorful video for Daedelus’ La Nocturne. His new video for Dublab really shows his diversity as a filmmaker. It features beautiful imagery of astral projection set to music by Dan Deacon.
Created as an introduction for “Dublab’s Labrat Matinee VI: Selections from an Astral Projectionist”, this intriguing short makes me wish I’d been there for what must have been a very fun day at the theatre. In Eli’s own words: “The video includes several references to astral projection including a hat tip to Walt Disney’s 1936 Mickey Mouse cartoon Thru The Mirror.”
We were interested in how he approached his work, and he was cool enough to answer a few questions. It’s our first interview ever—hope you enjoy it. Let us know what you think.
PW: When did you begin working with video, how’d it all start? ES: I made videos as a kid. I would dress up as a ninja and lip sync to Sublime songs with my friend Mac. But I certainly didn’t know from age 10 that I wanted to make music videos. I think it started in the beginning of high school when all of my friends were skateboarders. I was a pretty lousy skater, but a big part of skateboard culture is watching skate videos. So I spent a bunch of time watching skate vid’s which are essentially big music videos. While my friends where mostly interested in which skater ollied the tallest stair set, did the most technical grind, etc. I was more into which skater had the best song soundtracking their part. For instance, one of my favorites is this one video called Chomp On This. It features all of these guys who usually film the pro skaters, so they are considerably worse than what you are used to seeing… But I love that video because its soundtrack includes Gang Starr, the Knight Rider theme, Ja Rule, Daft Punk, etc. Something about fun music and exciting visuals really does it for me. So this interest in skate videos translated into wanting to actually make videos.
PW: Skate videos, perfect! So did you seek formal training in video, or are you self taught? ES: Both. I did a few years of A/V class in high school and then went to film school at Boston University. During that time I interned for music video production companies Ghost Robot and The Directors Bureau. But as with anything, I learned the most from doing. I decided that instead of spending tons of money on a thesis film, I would make two low budget music videos.
PW: Low budget…I think working that way creates serious creativity. Agreed? On the flipside, do you have a big budget dream project? ES: It both creates and stifles creativity. I wouldn’t know what it’s like to make a big budget piece because all of mine have been under 2k. So everything has been on a low low low budget. But the thing is that nobody will judge your work based on what it cost to make. So you need to figure out how to make something great with no money. It’s almost more about being crafty than creative. One way I have done that is to make videos exist within “the black void”. The thinking there is… if you take out the background, you save a bunch on art department and set dressing. For this cloud video we were able to do everything with a greenscreen, a miniature cloud model, and some amazing After Effects work by Peter Sauvey. So there are certainly ways around spending money… But yes… it really limits how big you can make things look if you have no budget. I have lots of big budget dreams…. how about this one… an underwater epic with lots of coral reef puppets and an animatronic vampire squid.
PW: Squid! Yes I love it. Ok. So who are your favorite artists in your field? Do you have a top 5 favorite music videos? ES: To list my favorite video directors I’ll stick to some dudes still making music videos (most of the greats have moved on to commercials/features). Andy Bruntel, Encyclopedia Pictura, Kris Moyes, Megaforce and Jesse Ewles. My top five favorite videos ever would be pretty tough… so let’s pick some good ones from the above mentioned geniuses.
PW: I can’t wait to dive into your recommendations. I read that you just joined The Masses and that you’re doing some innovative work for a new Au Revoir Simone video. Tell me a little bit more about what you’re doing right now. ES: I’m in post on a video for their track “Knight of Wands”. The title refers to the tarot card and the video carries that theme. It will be an interactive experience for each unique viewer. In the end of the video you will be rewarded with something that you personally created while playing. That’s really all I can say about it now. It’s been amazing working with those girls, they are the sweetest.
PW: What artist would you most like to work with next? ES:Animal Collective.
I did my first ever telephone interview– it was with Stephanie Fereiro for the Under My Bed blog. I had a fun time talking with her I think the interview turned out nice, even though I was kind of nervous.
I think phone interviews are a little more revealing. I talk about my most embarrassing item of clothing, my unforgivable habit of cutting up children’s books, and my day job—at the plumbing office. Read, read on…
