“The Big Enough Company: Creating a Business that Works for You”

Posted on September 24, 2011 by artstar-artstar

Please join Amy Abrams and Adelaide Lancaster, co-founders of In Good Company Workplaces, for a conversation about business growth, success and sustainability. In their new book, THE BIG ENOUGH COMPANY: Creating a Business that Works for You Adelaide and Amy offer a fresh approach to entrepreneurship. Rejecting the notion that entrepreneurial success is about size, the authors encourage entrepreneurs to instead lead with their own goals so they can build a sustainable and satisfying business that meets their needs.

Where: Art Star, 623 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123
When: October 11th, 7-9pm

Free & Open to the public, but space is limited.  Please contact us to reserve your space.

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An Interview with Ryan Myers

Posted on August 20, 2011 by artstar-artstar

We asked Art Star artist, Ryan Myers, to create an exclusive piece for us & I love what he came up with: Naptime Was His Kryptonite, oil on canvas (below). The original can be purchased for $350 or you can pick up an archival pigment print for just $25!

"Naptime was his Kryptonite", oil on canvas

I thought this would be a great opportunity to highlight Ryan & his work! Check out my interview with him below.

What is your art background? Where did you study?
Art has always sort of been part of my life. I can’t think of a time growing up where I wasn’t at the very least drawing. I have a degree in illustration and art history from Hartford Art School in Ct..

How long have you been painting?
I started painting in college. I got serious about showing my work the way it looks now in about 2004.

Have you always painted children? How much of your own childhood inspires this imagery?
I definitely haven’t always painted children. I came out of art school content on being an editorial illustrator, so my work was focused on whatever the job required. There wasn’t a lot of personal work then. I am not sure there’s a lot of my childhood in the kids I paint now, but obviously all my experiences help inform the paintings.

"Adoration of the Snozzwanger", oil on wood

The way that you draw the children & the overall color palette is very cute & sweet, but I get a deep sense of sadness & loneliness when looking at your work. I am assuming that is intentional? Do you have back stories for these children? I am curious why they are so sad.
This is a tough question with a few parts, so I’ll do my best to tie this one up with a nice little bow. The cute and sweet colors matched against the feelings of sadness and loneliness are definitely intentional. To use a loaded art word it’s basically for the juxtaposition of the emotions. I don’t typically think of the kids as sad. There are some of the teary-eyed exceptions, more typically though I like to think they are just completely indifferent to everything going on around them. They may not be happy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are sad. I feel like much more emotion can be attached to a non-smiling face. Obviously I have some sense of a story when I begin work, but they don’t really have back stories. I like to include just enough in the paintings to hint at a back story, but leave the scene open to interpretation. The viewers are interrupting something that’s going on in the painting and it’s their job to figure out what.

How much of the work is autobiographical? I notice that your dog makes a bunch of appearances with a little boy, which makes me wonder if that little boy is supposed to be you.
I wouldn’t say that the little boys are me beyond the dark hair and eyes. I use some aspects of my daily life to inform some of the symbols and elements that reoccur in my paintings. It’s more like a familiarity that I am comfortable with, like keepsakes in a curio cabinet, than an autobiography.

"The House Call", oil on canvas

You are a father with two small children now, correct? How much is your imagery inspired by them?
Yes that’s right, I’m blessed with two beautiful children. I’m not sure that they themselves inspire my imagery, it’s more like their stuff does. The tiny clothes and toys usually give me a good jumping off point. Having two big eyed models at my disposal certainly helps though.

 

What is your artistic process like? Do you begin with an emotion / story & then go from there?
I’ve never been really good at explaining the process, but I can give it a go. I really always start off with an idea that makes me laugh – it’s sort of strange to say that though considering people so often speak of the sadness or haunting feelings of the paintings. For a long time I came up with the titles for paintings first and then worked out an image to suit. Occasionally I still do that, but more typically now I’ll get myself in the mood to work with music and depending what I am working on I’ll either start a drawing on paper or work things out right on the canvas.

Are there any particular artists that you are inspired by?
Inspiration is a funny thing… I feel like I am probably more inspired by Pee Wee Herman or something than another artist, but there are a few artists I really enjoy who have probably helped me towards my style. Artists like Giorgio de Chirico and Magritte really did a lot for the weird stillness I use in my paintings. I have got a few others, but I can’t give away all my secrets. Contemporarily though, I really like artists who work graphically, Toki Doki (Simone Legno) comes to mind first.

Do you paint full time? If not, what do you do for a day job?
I don’t actually paint full time. I work for the Post Office and am one of those rare people who really enjoys their job.

Any upcoming shows on the horizon?
I do have a few things lined up for the future – some I can’t talk about yet, but coming up soon I’m going to have a few pieces in a group show in Santa Fe.

What are you working on right now?
It always feels like I am juggling a few things. Right now I am working on some new types of images, but I’ve got a backlog of canvases that I’ve been working on in my studio for a while that I will try and wrap up soon. I also have some private commissions as well as some fun give away plans in the works.

Check out our collection of Ryan’s paintings & drawings
visit his website

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New Artist: Adam Smith

Posted on August 16, 2011 by artstar-artstar

"First American" silkscreen print by Adam Smith

We would like to welcome Adam Smith to our growing list of artists – we are thrilled to be carrying his work!  Adam is a Philadelphia artist, designer, illustrator & silkscreen printer. We learned about his work after he applied to our summer craft bazaar. We now have a good selection of his Men’s T-shirts, prints, & original paintings in the shop.  All of his work is very affordable. It is hard to find an actual silkscreen printer these days – especially one as talented as Adam. What impresses me the most about him is that he designs & hand draws all of his own lettering.

"The Floorboards Hide Secrets" Silkscreen by Adam Smith

Aesthetically, we tend to be a bit on the more feminine side here at Art Star, so we are always trying really hard to look for an artist that will appeal to guys as well.  I think Adam fits that bill, as evidenced by the fact that almost every man in my life purchased an item from him at our last bazaar.   I hope you enjoy his work as much as we do.

"Going Home" acrylic painting on found wood by Adam Smith

Check out this really great interview that Gallery Up did w/ Adam
View his entire collection on our site

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Spotlight on Penelope Rakov of Spot On Designs

Posted on July 26, 2011 by artstar-artstar

Spot on Designs by Penelope Rakov

I met Penny back in the early 2000’s when I was working in the gallery at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. She was a recent Alfred graduate who had studied both ceramics & glass, receiving her BFA in 2000. She was coming to Philly straight from an artist residency at Watershed, which provided her with studio space, a place to live, & covered basic expenses. She was looking to find a shared art community & studio space/time to continue to develop her ceramic & glass work. She volunteered in the gallery for me at The Clay Studio & also assisted our class studio technician in exchange for work space. Rakov states, “At the time, I was interested in making work that you live with. What I really loved about ceramics was how you interacted with it. I loved the simplicity of how something could just be beautiful & part of your daily life.” She worked on her pottery at The Clay Studio & also blew glass at Hot Soup (a glass studio/school in Philly) in exchange for teaching classes there.

ceramic cup by Penelope Rakov

Working in glass soon became too expensive & she felt her glass skills needed to develop further. According to Rakov, “At that point, I had never been as good in glass as I was in ceramics. So I applied to Tyler School of Art as a glass person w/ ceramic slides.” She was accepted in the glass department and paid for her tuition by teaching ceramic classes there. Her work at this time moved from being functional to more sculptural. She was only given 2 hours in the hot shop & the rest of the day she worked in her studio. She says, “I had not pulled cane [long strips of colored glass] before I got there. I loved color & I had intended on making functional glass objects in the same vain as making ceramic objects for the home. But it was just not as fun, or maybe I just was not as good at it. I also felt uncomfortable w/ all the judgment I was getting. When you blow glass, you fail a lot in public. Cane pulling wasn’t as hard for everybody & I could work w/ it. I could work w/ the scraps and build something out of it & make the color worth it. I could cut into it & fuze it back together & it could at least be interesting so [from there] I really just worked w/ pattern & color.”


She manipulated the pulled cane to create large color fields in a variety of forms.  She states, “Color has a huge amount of information.  If we look at red & green we think of Christmas; red and yellow -McDonalds. There are certain color combinations that have so much information, so I was thinking a lot about color combinations & what kind of information they conveyed. Conceptually I was thinking about things like lobster buoys, pharmaceuticals, etc. and how all those things are color coded so that they are instantly recognizable. I was playing w/ color combos & what I thought this combo would mean to me personally. So I made different fields of color, different forms of fields of color: some were flat, some were huge bundles, some were long troughs w/ scattered cane. Mostly what that was about for me was just having lots and lots of cane & being able to reassemble it and make something else out of it.” We asked if she was even thinking of making jewelry at the time.  According to Penny, “I got requests for jewelry but I thought ‘how many crafts should I be making’.  I was coming from an anti selling point at school & at the time, I bristled at the requests I got.”

Early Slice Necklace by Penelope Rakov

After graduating w/ her MFA, her thinking began to shift. In early 2004 we opened Art Star & Penny had recently finished up at Tyler & was beginning to sell her work.  We consigned some small, brightly colored “pocket sculptures”, which were small circles of glass.  Each piece was visually striking & unique. Each one was layered with circles & dots of different colored glass, some raised & bubbling from the surface.  They were reminiscent of sea creatures or something you’d view under a microscope or find in a Petri dish.  Customers were mesmerized by them & began to ask if the artist would make them into brooches or necklaces.  We approached Penny about this & the seed for her soon to be small business, Spot On Designs, a production glass jewelry company, was planted.  She recalls, “You said, ‘Penny, we’ll actually sell this & sell it for more money if you’d put a pin back on it.’ We watched as Penny’s glass pieces evolved from a chain passed through a hole in the glass sculpture to being professionally set in sterling silver.  Today Spot On Designs creates not only necklaces, but also rings, earrings, & cuff links in a variety of styles, colors, patterns & settings.  Because each piece is handmade, no two are alike.

Corey Dangle Earrings by Penelope Rakov

Penny’s studio is in the Crane building, an old plumbing warehouse that has been renovated to provide artist studio space & also houses the Icebox gallery space amongst others.  Her walls & work tables are lined w/ hundreds of glass tubes in a vast array of colors.  Her studio is where she starts to get creative with the glass canes that she has pulled & begins to play around w/ the colors to create patterns. She does this by bundling the glass strips together to see how they look.  She says, “I will think of the colored canes that I’ve made & meditate on that, reacting to the stock that I have.  I’ll mess around w/ the canes together & then bundle them.  I’ll work w/ a specific color scheme that has been haunting me or that I think that I am missing from my collection or that I think will be popular with my customers”.

bundles of glass cane in Penny’s studio

click here to read how each pieces is made, step by step

We were both amazed at how many steps were involved in the making of one piece (at least 7 steps) & were curious how she keeps her pricing so affordable.  Penny reassured us that though it is a long, complicated process, she doesn’t make each piece one at a time. The canes that she pulls in the hot shop will be used for many finished pieces.  She might not use them all right away, but she stores them in her studio until she can find a piece that they work w/.  None of her materials are wasted.  She states, “I couldn’t retail them for a price people couldn’t pay.  If these prices get me to the next level [in my business] then it is okay – I can always raise them later.  I love my customers, I really do & I want them to think that they bought something very special that will not disappoint them.”  Plus, it will keep her customers coming back.  Seeing her jewelry on a happy customer is her favorite part. She recalls,“There was this woman last year at Artstcape that purchased a piece that honestly, I didn’t like very much. Once she put it on I was like, that’s gorgeous!” This is when Penny feels her work is finally finished.

Penny Candy Necklace, glass & sterling silver

You can find Penny’s work in galleries & shops across the country.  Visit her website for a complete list of shops that stock her work.  Penny also does around 12 craft shows each year, including our own Art Star Craft Bazaar. And of course, you can find her work at Art Star year round!

Penny & her dog

by Megan Brewster

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Amy Rice “Rooted” Exhibition

Posted on July 16, 2011 by artstar-artstar

We are pleased to announce Amy Rice’s 3rd solo exhibition at Art Star, Rooted, which will be on display from October 7th through November 20th of this year. We don’t host too many exhibitions these days but we are huge fans of Amy’s work, so when she came to us w/ her exhibition proposal, we accepted immediately. We love working w/ Amy – she is so professional & immensly talented. Her work is always evolving, so I am excited to see what new directions she will be exploring in Rooted. We will have an opening reception on First Friday, October 7th, from 5-8pm. The artist plans to be in attendence, so mark your calendars!

Artist Statement for Rooted
“Rooted” was inspired by a scrapbook I discovered at an antique store. It documents the activities of a rural American 4-H club in the 1940’s. I belonged to 4-H as a child, the same club as my Mom and my Grandpa Ed (Go Hubbleton Hustlers!).

Each winter 4-H kids choose their projects for the year from a catalogue listing all the things you can enter at the County fair. Of course there are the farm animal projects but also all sorts of arts and crafts, small engine repair, gardening and crops, baking, sciences, sewing, music, butterfly collecting and more (my Mom would never let me do the butterfly project). Then, kids meet with adult mentors and kids from other clubs throughout the county working on the same project. My parents wanted us to be excited and fully committed to our projects and so we were limited to 3 per year. I settled into sheep, rabbits, and art.

For a contemporary urban woman, I know a lot about small animal husbandry. I don’t think the art part of 4-H really shaped me much as an artist. What was formative for me was the year long commitment to a specific area of study and a corresponding project with an end goal.

The antique scrapbook was aesthetically and nostalgically compelling to me, certainly. But the reason I choose to make art inspired by the scrapbook came from comparing photos of individuals posing proudly with their ongoing projects and the fall group photo, which is labeled in handwritten ink “100% Completion, 20 members, 28 projects”.

In this body of work, I have used artifacts; found items and uncommon mediums: prints on antique handwritten letters of love and loss, feed sack bags from my family farm, antique atlas pages, and the string from last year’s morning glories among other things. Rooted celebrates 100% completion, hard work paying off, fall festivals, and earnest endeavors.-Amy Rice 2011

Biography
Beginning with not-so-traditional print making methods (hand cut stencils and a Japanese Gocco printmaking toy) Minneapolis based mixed-media artist Amy Rice makes original, one-of-kind pieces by additionally employing acrylic, gouache, ink and collage. Her “canvases” range from weathered wood panels and discarded objects to antique envelopes, age-worn love letters, and found journal pages yellowed with time.

Amy’s imagery, nostalgic and wistful, is largely biographical and reflective of her pensive nature. She draws inspiration from childhood memories growing up on a Midwestern farm, the urban community in which she live now, bicycles, street art, gardening, collective endeavors that challenge hierarchy, acts of compassion, downright silliness and things with wings.

Amy has exhibited her work in galleries throughout the United States, Canada and the U.K.

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Candy Depew Fabric Printing Demo @ Art Star

Posted on June 28, 2011 by artstar-artstar

We are excited to announce that the inspiring Candy Depew will be joining us for our July 14th “Thirsty Thursday”!

For those of you who don’t know, Candy is an incredibly talented Philadelphia artist & master printer.  She has set up a silk screen printing school in Olde City called The Studio School of the Decorative Arts. She teaches a variety of silk screen classes there from basic beginner/refresher courses to wallpaper & fabric design/printing.  Many of her students have gone on to create fashion collections, small business start-ups, limited edition archival prints, T-shirts, textiles for interiors, and unique artist editions.

Candy will be demonstrating fabric yardage printing at Art Star from 5-8pm during  our July 14th “Thirsty Thursday”.  She will also be debuting her new line of  silkscreen textiles known as “Fat Quarters”.  Stop in for a complimentary frosty beverage (non-alcoholic this week b/c Girls Rock Philly will be visiting), get a glimpse of the art of fabric printing & snag a Candy Depew Fat Quarter for a weekend DIY project!  This event is free & no registration is required.  Just bring your beautiful selves & some friends for a fun night at Art Star!

BTW, Candy is still accepting students for her July & August classes.  Go here for a complete class list & prices: http://www.candycoated.org/school.html

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Indie Boutique Shopper Card

Posted on June 22, 2011 by artstar-artstar

We are all about supporting our local economy, so we’ve teamed up with a group of like-minded Philly businesses to help you do the same.  Introducing the Indie Boutique Shopper Card!

Here’s how it works:  Get a stamp for every $50 you spend at any of the participating shops.  After you’ve collected 10 stamps on your card, you will receive a $10 gift certificate to each shop – that’s $100 worth of gift certificates!

Here’s a sample of the card below.  Pick one up at any participating shop.

Participating Shops Include:
Arcadia (NoLibs)
819 N. 2nd Street
Arcadia (Rittenhouse)
265 S. 20th Street
Art Star Gallery & Boutique
623 N. 2nd Street
Bus Stop Boutique
750 S. 4th Street
Once Worn Consignment
910 N. 2nd Street
Omoi
1608 Pine Street
Loop
1914 South Street
Spool
1912 South Street
Jinxed
1050 N. Hancock (in the Piazza)
Wilbur Vintage
716 S. 4th Street

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Father’s Day Gift Guide

Posted on June 16, 2011 by artstar-artstar

I put together a list of Father’s Day gift ideas for all of you last minute shoppers!  Not all of these items are up on the website yet, so this list is mostly for those of you that can stop in.  Stop by the shop in the next couple of days & I can help you pick out the perfect gift for dad.  If you aren’t close by & would like anything you see here, please contact us.

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there!

 

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Thirsty Thursdays at Art Star!

Posted on June 6, 2011 by artstar-artstar

Art Star will be hosting “Thirsy Thursdays” through the summer. Each week we will feature a new complimentary summer beverage. This week we will be mixing up some ice cold mojitos. So come in for a frosty drink to cool off while you shop! Take 15% off regular priced items & an additional 10% off of sale items during the event. Receive an additional punch on your Frequent Buyer Card for each valid purchase.

6/9/2011, 5-8pm, @ Art Star
visit our facebook invite & let us know you are coming or forward along to friends.  See you there!

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In Loving Memory

Posted on May 26, 2011 by artstar-artstar

The week before the bazaar, we lost a dear friend, Lara Long.  Lara was the owner of plaidponyvintage.com. Art Star hosted several Plaid Pony Vintage pop-up shops in our brick-n-mortar over the years.  Lara lived over in Fishtown & used to come in Art Star when we first opened over on the Liberties Walk.  We became instant friends.  Its always nice to chat w/ a fellow Philly business owner, especially over drinks.  We became closer over the years & Lara used to watch the shop for us whenever we needed.  She never hesitated to lend a helping hand. She literally saved our butts during the early years of the ASCB by carting around heavy tables for us in her truck!

We loved it when Lara would watch the shop b/c the next day everything would be completely organized.  All the T-shirts would be neatly folded & she would come up w/ clever ways to organize our space without us even asking.  Lara had a talent for organization.  She also had a real eye for vintage & I used to love going on long thrifting trips w/ her.  She would quickly scan each thrift store aisle and was able to find the perfect pieces in what seemed like minutes.  I would still be on the first rack & she would already have her hands on all the gems the place had to offer.  I used to help her pack orders for her company as well & used to love it!  She had racks of clothing, piles of sweaters & t-shirts, boxes of jewelry, shelves lined w/ retro ceramics… and it was all organized by type/style/color of course.  She would leave me w/ a map of the space & I felt like I was hunting for treasures in her home.

Lara really impressed me after her brother passed away in August of 2009.  She was devastated by the loss, but she got right to work organizing a memorial fund in his name.  Lara’s brother, Adam Goldstein (aka DJ AM) was a recovering drug addict who had amassed a giant collection of sneakers.  Lara took time off from running her business to devote herself full time to spearhead a massive auction of his entire collection.  100% of the auction profits went to his memorial fund, which aims to help other drug addicts recover – an effort he began & was extremely passionate about during his lifetime.  Lara was one of the strongest people I have ever met & her strength will continue to inspire me.

I will never forget our fun dinners out, our girls’ nights, & our epic rockband sessions.  She was so much fun to be around & was one of the few friends I could talk on the phone w/ for hours.  One of my fondest memories w/ Lara was a beach trip that we took last summer.  My husband & I, along w/ Lara & her husband Ben, spent hours in the water.  We both remembered that day as being one of the best times we had & resolved to go many times this summer.  We remembered that day together, on a particularly difficult one & it brought us both comfort.  I am sad to go to the beach without her now, but she will always be with me.  So here’s to you Lara!  I will never forget you – especially your laugh.  Thank you for being such an incredible friend to me personally & to Art Star.

Megan

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