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Art HERstory: Met Museum Presents <em>Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada: On Fashion</em>

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Art HERstory: Met Museum Presents Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada: On Fashion


High fashion may be pricey to purchase, but it’s free to look at. Window shopping on Rodeo Drive and 5th Avenue is fine and dandy, but these golden blocks won’t have anything on The Metropolitan Museum of Art come spring.  May marks the opening of Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada: On Fashion, an exhibition organized by The Costume Institute of The Met Museum.

This is not your run-of-the-mill, “look - but don’t touch” exhibitions. Curators Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton drew inspiration from Miguel Covarrubias’ “Impossible Interviews” for Vanity Fair in the 1930s and came up with an idea. They thought it would be cool to use the designs from Schiaparelli and Prada to spark a fictitious conversation between the two iconic Italian designers.

Although Prada has become a household name, Elsa Schiaparelli is someone you may not be familiar with. Back in 2009 MISS put you up on game with Elsa Schiaparelli’s Art HERstory feature. She was (and still is) dope and has been noted as giving rival fashion house Chanel a run for their money.

The exhibition will be on view from May 10 through August 19, 2012, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I’ll be in NYC this summer and am definitely putting this exhibit on my must-see list.

Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada: On Fashion is made possible by Amazon.

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Art HERstory: HOLD UP ART Presents Allison Torneros’ Streams of Subconsciousness

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Art HERstory: HOLD UP ART Presents Allison Torneros’ Streams of Subconsciousness


Usually Art HERstory schools you ladies on the amazing female artists of the past that you may not have known about. You’re welcome. This week we’re featuring an LA-based artist who is making much noise in the industry. Allison Torneros is something like an art prodigy. She’s been drawing since age two and designed her first website at age eleven. Now the mixed media painter and graphic designer is prepping for a major exhibition at HOLD UP ART in Los Angeles.

Allison’s creative process is like nothing I’ve ever seen. She begins by splattering paint on a canvas, leaving the paint to dry overnight, and then returns to it later, interpreting the colors and allowing them to inspire what she paints over the swirls of pigment. She lets her work create itself in a sense.

“I attempt to capture the essence and emotions of dreaming, as random, ethereal, sensual, and frightening as they may be. When different elements of the paintings emerge they create their own intriguing storyline left open to interpretation, the same way we try to make sense of a dream moments after waking.”

As a modern artist, Allison even turns to social media and her fans for inspiration. With her “Paint by Word” project, Allison posts her initial paint washes to her Facebook and Twitter. Fans then post two word comments on the post describing what they see in the wash. Allison in turn uses the descriptions to fuel her creative flames and creates a layered work by painting over her washes. She calls this exhibition “The Show That Social Media Built” because of the hand her fans had in the construction of the pieces included.

Don’t get it twisted. Allison is no rookie to the art game. You may not recognize the name, but you probably have laid eyes on some of her work. She’s responsible for the design of the Nom Nom Truck from Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race (I love that show!). Since then, Allison’s list of collaborations includes some industry heavy hitters. Her design company/creative studio, CircleDot, has worked with Disney, Procter & Gamble, and Dreamworks. Most recently, The North Face has summoned Allison’s talents for an art on apparel line. Yes, she’s making moves people!

Ladies out there in La La Land (bka LA), do yourself a favor and stop by HOLD UP ART and check out the dream-inspired exhibition. I’m confident we’ll be seeing a lot more of Allison’s work in the future, so get familiar early.

New Works by Allison Torneros

Streams of Consciousness at HOLD UP ART

Opening Reception on Saturday, December 3

Exhibition runs through December 28

at HOLD UP ART

358 E. 2nd Street, Los Angeles, California 90012

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Art HERstory: Judy Onofrio

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Art HERstory: Judy Onofrio


Challenging the norms placed upon us by society is what creativity is all about. Those who are fearless to the criticism of others are the innovative creators of the world. Judy Onofrio (born 1939) is a creative soul who started her career with one goal in mind: to blur the lines between traditional art categories. She became a master at intertwining the characteristics of fine art, crafts, and kitsch, or cheap decorative objects or souvenirs. Judy’s pieces resemble common household sculptures, but are much more complex than a first glance may lead you to believe. They’re colorful, well-crafted, and extremely innovative.

Initially, jewelry making was Judy’s craft of choice. The restriction of movement caused by back surgery kept her from making larger works, but her imagination was well and active. She started making jewelry from beads, buttons, and other random items. After a while the bracelets, pins, and pendants were not enough to satisfy Judy’s creativity. It thirsted for more.

'A Pair of Hares'

Eventually Judy dedicated her time to creating shrines that depicted scenes from her life. These sculptures included traits from some of Judy’s inspirations, like Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers, but still reflected Judy’s personal style. Constructed of bits and pieces of other objects, Judy had conquered her goal of category bending.

Of course keeping her shrines small wouldn’t last long. By 1991 Judy was building architectural works decorated with remnants of everyday items like broken dishes, seashells, mirror shards, and buttons. She’s even started her own JudyLand in her backyard. This sculpture garden was started in the 1980s and extends beyond her Rochester, Minnesota studio and into the area surrounding the space.

Today, Judy still patrols garage sales and thrift stores to find material for her art. She’s still sculpting despite her many works on exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota.

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Art HERstory: Paula Rego

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Art HERstory: Paula Rego


Change is inevitable. The key to withstanding the test of time is being able to roll with the punches and adapt to the change that is sure to come. Portuguese painter Paula Rego (1935-) has prevailed in the art industry thanks to her ability to adjust. Artists like Paula are a gem. She accepted the changes and allowed them to expand her reach as an artist. Now a master of multiple art mediums, Paula Rego is one of the top figurative artists of our time.

Dancing Ostriches (1995)

At the age of 27, Paula dove head first into the professional art world. She began showing her work with The London Group, an established artists’ organization. Within the next two years, her work was included in a group show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and her first solo exhibition was held at the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes (SNBA) in Lisbon. Paula’s rapid rise to fame even earned her the honor of representing Portugal at the 1969 São Paulo Art Biennial, the second oldest biennial in the world. Art galleries still continue to summon her and display her work to this day.

The Fitting (1989)

Initially, the bulk of the work she put out was collages, but Paula later turned to using elements of Surrealism in her paintings and print work. The shift from clean, solid forms to free-form, abstract outlines happened in the 1960s. Paula hoped to illustrate two things with her change in style: the rise of abstraction in avant garde art and a rebellion against formal art training. While at the Slade School of Fine Art, Paula was confined to anatomical figure drawing. Every person had to be symmetrical, proportionate, and cleanly drawn. To maintain her creative voice, she kept a secret sketchbook of free form drawings that she knew would disappoint her instructors. The 1990s is when pastels became Paula’s tool of choice. She still uses them today.

Since the 1960s Paula Rego has steadily earned fame through her breathtaking collages, print work, paintings and pastel art. Today, she is regarded as one of the leading figurative artists alive. With honorary doctorates from institutions such as the University of Oxford, and undeniable talents in various art areas, I plan to see much more from her.

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Art HERstory: Nancy Holt

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Art HERstory: Nancy Holt


Art HERstory: Nancy Holt

Since the beginning of time man and nature have been interconnected. In our industrialized societies it may sometimes slip our minds, but whether we like it or not we affect each other. Nancy Holt (1938 -) devised a way to illustrate this inevitable connection. Her art is man-made, yet it relies on the environment to convey its entire message. Nancy extended her creative hand into sculpture, film, photography and writing. All outlets were used to expose the beauty flourishing around the chaotic modern city.

'Annual Ring' (1981)

Nancy began her art career behind the camera as a photographer and video artist. It was her interest in camera optics that led to the type of land art that gained her worldwide recognition. In Nancy’s opinion, her earthworks are “literally seeing devices, fixed points for tracking the positions of the sun, earth, and stars.” Her art is functional in that sense. She constructed sculptures with a specific environmental function in mind. It was an innovative way to take people from the cushy art galleries and out into the elements, out into the world without walls.

'Solar Rotary' (1995)

Solar Rotary is a prime example of Nancy’s art with purpose. The installation stands proudly on the University of South Florida campus and is comprised of eight 20-foot aluminum poles that converge at the sculpture’s highest point into a circle. Underneath the piece sits a circular bench. On the bench is the following: “On the day of summer solstice at solar noon between 1:31 and 1:32 PM a circle of sunlight will be cast around this circular seat.” On one day a year for one minute, the sun will fit perfectly into the centralized circular point on the sculpture.

'Sun Tunnels' (1973-6)

Not only has Nancy’s art allowed humans and nature to interact creatively, but it also has earned Nancy worldwide recognition. As a result of her sculptures and writing, she’s earned five National Endowment for the Arts scholarships, New York Creative Artist Fellowships and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Despite her hiatus from art, Nancy’s pieces were featured in a retrospective exhibition held by Columbia University’s Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery.

Nancy now lives and works in New Mexico.

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'Star Crossed' (1979-81)

'Up and Under' (1998)

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