"Marriage is a Work of Art"

So what does the average person think of when they think of a married artist? Most of us think of stormy rivalries, deceptions, jealousy, a la Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Or we think of one of the artists (usually the wife) putting away her brushes to raise the kids and do the taxes, so selfless, while her partner works tirelessly on his craft.

I know that when I was in art school back in the olden days, I was terribly allergic to the concept of dating, much less marrying, another artist. I was self-aware enough to know my competitiveness would ultimately thwart the relationship, plus, if you've gone to a classic art school (especially 20+ years back), the odds of getting hooked up with a self-absorbed prig was pretty high. No, a regular Joe was the only option for me, and I did in fact marry 20 years ago to, of all people, a boy from my high school crowd I bumped into while in college and reacquainted myself with. None of my artsy couple friends lasted more than a year or so, much less married.

So, can love and art survive together in wedded bliss? And if so, how?

I've met some lovely couples in the art world, and it apparently seemed that marriage can work, and in many ways, bolster the creative works of both people in the marriage. In talking with many of these couples, it occurred to me that this would make a really interesting exhibit. I invited seven couples and gave each of them free reign to use a wall space however they choose.

A few of these couples are barely out of newlywed status, such as Mark and Sara (nee Betsy) Winters and Justin and Annie Stegg Gerard. A few of them span decades, such as Norman and Tory Taber and Brian and Wendy Froud. But no matter how new or established the relationship, it's abundantly clear that something was worked out between them, and the result is very special.

Take Greg Spalenka and Roxana Villa, for example. This couple married later in life and although Roxana has an art background and can hold her own with illustration, she became enamored of the world of scents and perfume. Sensitive to chemicals, she strove to create all natural, unusual scents first for herself, then to sell as Illuminated Perfumes. Greg and Roxana worked together on her product, with him creating art for her packaging and marketing endeavors. The result is sensuous and reflective of her vision (and his as well). These two enjoy working together despite having very different directions in work (he is a graphic artist and workshop instructor with his Artist as Brand).

 #5 Bois, Banner image for Roxana Illuminated Perfumes, Greg Spalenka

 Vinod Rams and Emily Fiegenschuh tend to work differently on a daily basis, with him working in the video game business and Emily working from home on illustration projects. They met and bonded over drawing, and it's clear that this lively couple enjoy each others company. Although they seem to think their work is totally different, it's pretty easy to see they influence each other heavily in their work. Both enjoy working in gouache (which is a type of opaque watercolor) and one can guess these two probably sit up late at night together eating Emily's delicious brownies (she bakes) and chatting and laughing while painting away at their respective drafting tables.

Children of the Forest, gouache, Emily Fiegenschuh

The Green Man, gouache, Vinod Rams

Norman and Tory Taber have been working together on children's books for ages (see Rufus at Work), and both know how to collaborate together without killing each other. Norm works as an art instructor at SUNY Plattsburgh, and Tory works from home on her illustrations while raising their two daughters. Both of them work in separate studios, and Norm has been developing his assemblage work of found architectural objects as well as antiquated and quirky photography. Tory has stuck to the tradition of illustration, creating art for ballet and theater posters among other things. Despite having very different styles and modes of working, there is a very clear connection between the two, especially in the love of nature, the fairy realms and their children (which feature regularly in both their work).

Are You Still Cold?, Acrylic and gouache, Tory Taber

Cut the Clouds Full, Assemblage, Norman Taber

Omar and Sheila Rayyan have been together a very long time and have worked side by side supporting each other over the years. She's done the "regular job" thing (often artists have to have at least one of the two work a job to make ends meet while they work on their careers) while he's toiled away at his illustrations, creating an impressive body of work in the last few years. Sheila hasn't been too far behind, working in pencil illustrations but also creating lovely stoneware and pyrography pieces (a burning technique to create designs on wood) through her Mother Spoon Studio. They have very different styles of working, but both share a sense of humor in their work and relationship that no doubt keeps the creative fires burning.

Princess' New Pony, Oil, Omar Rayyan

Sun, Stoneware, Sheila Rayyan

Mark and Sara Winters are very recently married, but with Sara's old soul (she's 25 years old) and their clear respect for each other, it's like they've been together much much longer. When they work together at home, they often critique each other's work ("brutally honest" is how Sara puts it) and help each other stick to their deadlines, as both work in the game industry as illustrators. This is a very competitive industry and it's easy to get hung up on how many contracts one pulls in versus the other, but these two can hold their own and more importantly, they see the bigger picture.

Medusa, canvas print of oil painting, Mark Winters

Serra, Digital painting with gold leaf on canvas, Sara Winters

Justin Gerard and Annie Stegg Gerard are another newlywed couple, and easily the darlings in the imaginative realism circuit. Funny, bubbly, attractive and incredibly friendly, it's hard to not like this current Power Couple, as they both have been burning up the publication industry as of late, winning awards and accolades all over the continental US. But they keep it real: Annie just wants to raise chickens in the backyard of their Georgia home, and both love painting together. Iconic and mythic imagery arises from their brushes and pencils: Justin's work has a strong nod to classic illustration, while Annie is clearly following the path of the PreRaphaelite. I have a feeling this relationship has a long, successful road: they simply adore each other.

Limnaee of the Lake, Oil, Annie Stegg Gerard

The Last of His Kind, Oil, Justin Gerard

And finally, we have Brian and Wendy Froud, married 35 years and counting. They met while "The Dark Crystal" was in production (she worked for Jim Henson, he was the concept designer for the movie). Both collaborated for "Labyrinth" (including using their own baby Toby for "baby Toby" in the movie) and she's popped up as his fairy model from time to time over the years. While they both have very clear, defined styles (she's stayed true to her sculptural roots, and he continues to draw and paint the fairy world) they have collaborated together many times, producing several books together. Brian has his head in the clouds and Wendy has her feet planted in the ground, making for a balance that has fueled their relationship all these years.

Kneeling Faery, Watercolor, pencil, color pencil, Brian Froud

Faery Woman, Mixed media polymer clay, Wendy Froud

So okay, you can have it all: a career in the arts and a partner to share it with who understands your passion and drive without it blowing up all over the place. Things don't need to smash, mad screaming doesn't need to occur, and nobody needs to be left behind in the dust. Kids can be raised successfully, families are fed and shod, and you can even have egg laying chickens (if your husband agrees to it). These couples prove that marriage really is a work of art and love can mold and enhance each person to reach his or her greatest potential. I'm definitely sold, and I think anyone visiting this exhibit will surely agree.

"Marriage is a Work of Art" will open April 11th and runs through May 2nd. Online catalog goes live April 12th.

~Julie Baroh, April 2015

FAERIE II

I'm going to need to backtrack a little over a year, when fellow Krab Jabber, painter Kyle Abernethy, introduced me to the woman who ran TLC Workshops, an illustrator named Tara Larsen Chang. I myself ran a couple of workshops at Krab Jab Studio and marveled at the success of this relatively new workshop machine that booked talent such as Greg Spalenka, Brom, and Terese Nielsen, among others. Honestly, I was a bit irked; I mean, she was making my job of putting "butts in seats" fifty times harder! Plus, Kyle had gotten into her Brom workshop and couldn't stop blathering over how great the facility and experience was. He insisted we meet.

The woman he introduced me to was truly magical. Smiling, warm, talking a mile a minute, Tara was instantly likeable. She was a Doer, a Seeker, and a Dreamer. All my envious feelings melted away when I realized that much like me she worked hard in the background of her workshop machine, and much like me, she was a huge fan of the artists (and students) she supported. And... she was a faerie artist.

Tara Larsen Chang

Not only was Tara a faerie artist, but she was connected to many of the faerie artists I admired and had worked with in the past. I mentioned my idea of a Faerie show, and she enthusiastically offered to help me cull together one of the most interesting and beautiful group shows we've done, which debuted with glowing reviews in February 2013. Not only were the "old favorites" of Amy Brown and the Frouds (including Toby Froud), but newer talent such as Emily Fiegenschuh, Yoann Lossel and David Thierree were introduced to Seattle. Without Tara's help I would not have gotten in touch with Robert Gould, the mastermind behind Faerieworlds and another enthusiastic backer of the FAERIE show. Before the show even closed, Tara and I were already concocting plans for FAERIE II.

Amy Brown

So here we are, a year later, and FAERIE II will be opening in just a few days. I asked Tara to be guest curator this time, and she eagerly accepted and went to work on her list of invites. The list was long - too long, actually. There are a lot of great faerie artists out there, but the gallery can only stuff so much into it. We had to cut a few people out (many of which are highly talented, by the way. I was also cut, so this wasn't necessarily biased). Tara came up with a stunning list of artists, and happily, nearly all of them accepted the invitation to show. As Tara states: "When considering who to invite to participate in this assemblage, I thought of those artists whose fairy art I was familiar with and admired. Many of them are well known and the others should be! It's a striking assortment of talent."

Kimberly Kincaid

We worked alongside Robert Gould, as he loved the idea of a Faerie exhibition in his February convention, aptly called FaerieCon West (located in the Seattle-Tacoma area - see website for details, it's a pretty wonderful event). FAERIE II will exhibit in it's own room at the convention February 21-23, with many of the attending guest artists on the exhibit roster.

Linda Ravenscroft

Okay, fairies... what's the big deal? For me, Disney kind of ruined them. Disney and all those well-meaning "house fairy" sculptures and badly painted watercolor greeting cards, the cutesy little kid fairies with impossibly tiny insect wings. Faerie and the Fae was reduced to kitschy, cutesy and completely harmless. Scared of a fairy? Really???

Annie Stegg

Really. The Realm of Faerie was not always filled with tiny butterfly children and impish smiling elves hiding under mushrooms. It was a spiritual world of Nature, an otherworld that was both marvelous and tempestuous. It wasn't hard to accidentally piss a fairy off, and they often stole milk, cows, or children from their human neighbors. While there were faerie folk of small stature, depending on the region where one lived, they could be human sized or larger, or simply blinking balls of light. Sometimes they married and lived alongside humans, but mostly they kept to themselves, dancing in the moonlight, always enjoying what Nature offered in their magical realm. Until they were squelched from everyday life (thanks to the Church) and reduced to children's stories, they were feared, loved, and most of all, respected. Many believed the Fae were the spirits of our Natural world, and often one would see a dearly loved one, passed on, dancing alongside the Fae in the tall grasses and sacred groves, smiling and laughing, young and vibrant.

Fred Fields

I believe that thanks to Brian Froud and his friend Alan Lee, the world of Faerie began to take on it's original face with the general public. They published the now-iconic book, Faeries, igniting a new interest in the old beliefs of the Celtic regions of Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales and Brittany. Their beautiful illustrations of the world of Fae opened the door to many similar artists, and once again did the Faerie demand her rightful respect. The fairy was now the Faery, both beautiful and terrifying, generous and mischievous, mysterious and strangely familiar.

Greg Manchess

The Fae take on many shapes and forms. Terra-bound and aquatic, tiny and huge, red-capped and finely dressed or completely nude, wings or simply radiating, faeries and their ilk run the imaginary gamut of form and function. Many faerie artists find a form they enjoy working with, and some of them like to push the envelope into pure weirdness. Allen Williams, for example, works smokey, ghostly forms into his graphite masterpieces, with bony, spurred horns emerging from the tops of heads and tree trunks. The Fae manifest through the artist's hand in the forms they choose. Allen may think he has a handle on them, but truly it's the other way around.

Allen Williams

When speaking with Tara about the lure of Faerie, she puts it this way: "I think there is more 'out there' than what generally meets the eye. What *is* however, is harder to define or quantify. I believe things like fascination-with-the-fae begin to attempt to give form to the mystery of the unknown."

Justin Gerard

From the point of the artist, Tara adds: "To me, a large aspect of Faery is Nature and her forces personified. Something that can be both intensely appealing and deeply perilous to interact with. As part of the unseen natural world, their mien reflects the many facets of organic beauty and wild unpredictability. To depict them effectively, I believe one must portray these paradoxical elements that make them enigmatic and ultimately unknowable."

Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

Faeries can also be humorous; who better to depict this than Brian Froud? His 1994 book, Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book, exemplifies this to a T. The squashed fairies in this album are often in silly positions, smiling, tongues sticking out. (no real faeries were harmed in the making of this book)

Brian Froud

 With 24 stellar artists in this exhibit, I can't realistically show every one of them in this blog post; you'll have to visit the show itself or view the full catalog, available online February 9th until show ends February 27th. When I asked Tara what she hoped the viewer would take away from this show, she stated: "I hope the viewers of this collection get a glimpse into the realm just beyond the senses, and go home with an increased sense of wonder and mystery."

Reception is February 8th, 6 - 9 pm, show runs through February 27th. All works are original and for purchase. Select prints also for sale. Exhibition will travel to FaerieCon West February 21-23rd. We'd also like to thank our NYC support, the AFA Gallery, who represent the Froud family and exclusively consign their art to Krab Jab Studio.

If you'd like to read what the artists have to say about their work, make sure to check out the online catalog!

Gary Lippincott

-Julie Baroh, February 2014