Society6 Studio / Michelle Holley

New Work in Portland

Michelle Holley (michelleholley) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:20:32 -0700

Some of my new work out in Portland at Goodfoot, for the I Am, Therefor I Think show this month!

Pappajohn Sculpture Garden

Michelle Holley (michelleholley) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:07:54 -0700

Wanted to post something about the amazing new sculpture park across from Instinct Gallery in downtown Des Moines, IA. In February 2007, the City of Des Moines and the Des Moines Art Center announced that Des Moines philanthropists John and Mary Pappajohn would be donating major pieces of sculpture to the Art Center, with the proposed location for placement being Western Gateway Park. The Pappajohns are ranked among the world’s top private collectors of art and are the only Iowans, and among only a handful of Midwesterners, included in Art News magazine’s list of the top 200 collectors in the world. Between the two of them, the Pappajohns sit on, or have sat on the boards or committees of the most prestigious museums and cultural organizations in the country, including the National Gallery and the Kennedy Center. Mary Pappajohn is on a committee that acquires pieces at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center, and John Pappajohn is a member of the Collectors Committee for the National Gallery of Art. When it was announced, the collection, which is presently located on the grounds of the Pappajohns’ home in Des Moines, included sixteen major sculptures by fifteen internationally acclaimed Modern and contemporary artists. Since the original announcement, the Pappajohns have purchased an additional piece by yet another artist, which has been placed at the park in a temporary installation, and the couple has indicated the collection will likely include more than twenty works of art. The donation is believed to be the largest single public gift in Des Moines’ history and the largest public gift of art in Iowa history. According to art critics, the Pappajohns’ donation will likely bring Iowa renown as having one of the best public sculpture gardens in the world. The collection is important for all Iowans, even those who are not art enthusiasts. According to Jeff Fleming, Des Moines Art Center Director, “Each of the artists is internationally acclaimed. Without doubt, they are the best of the best." The Pappajohn Sculpture Garden is appraised at $31.5 million dollars. The sculptures themselves have an appraisal value of $27 million dollars. The remaining $4 million dollars accounts for the projected cost for design and implementation of the necessary changes and accommodations. On March 15, 2008, Governor Chet Culver announced a $1 million Vision Iowa grant to support the project. "I'm excited that Vision Iowa is joining forces with John and Mary Pappajohn to beautify Des Moines's downtown area," said Governor Chet Culver. "This public/private partnership demonstrates what can happen when Iowans lock arms and work for the common good. Thanks to the generosity of the Pappajohn's, these world-renowned sculptures in the heart of our Capital City will continue Iowa's transformation into a center for the arts and culture." The Pappajohn Sculpture Garden will be located in the thirteen-acre Western Gateway Park. The park is located from 10th to 15th Streets between Grand Avenue and Locust Street at the west entrance into the city’s downtown district; the specific site is located on the six acres between 13th and 15th Streets. The park presently consists of 8% open space and 20% buildings including Des Moines’ Central Library, Pappajohn Higher Education Center, Arlington-Hallett Apartments, and the Temple for Performing Arts. Opened in 2006, the park has a wide variety of 240 trees; non-visible amenities include an irrigation system as well as a sub-drainage system allowing areas to quickly drain and recoup after rainfall. To best display the art in the proposed location, as well as address important issues of security and maintenance, it will be necessary to make infrastructure alterations to the current design of the park. The grounds of the Pappajohn Sculpture Garden will be sculpted to frame the pieces of artwork. Plenty of open green space will remain to allow viewers to move around. This article was written a while back, and now the fina product is in place! It is fantastic, and the Western Gateway is busier than ever! See images and video of the new park here! http://www.desmoinesregister.com/pappajohn-sculpture-park

I Am, Therefor I Think opening

Michelle Holley (michelleholley) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:27:32 -0700

'I Am, Therefore I Think' opened this past Thursday at Goodfoot in Portland. I wasnt fortunate to make the opening, but saw some great photos of the show and available work, here http://thegoodfoot.com/gallery/ Check it out! I have 6 pieces available for purchase on the website. Or better yet, if you are in the area, some great pieces and artists there to view in person!

Creepy Crawlies

Michelle Holley (michelleholley) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:30:55 -0700

Instinct Gallery Announces Newest Exhibition 'Creepy Crawlies' Creepy Crawlies October 3, 2009 – October 31, 2009 Opening Reception: Saturday, October 10, from 7pm-11pm 1408 Locust Street - Des Moines, IA Come view the latest works from local, national and international artists: Christopher Umana Ant Lucia Buckskull John Stuart Berger Jason Vivona Tyler Coey Bret Miller Amy Putney Koenig Chris Roberts Jeff Bonker Matthew Ryan Sharp Christine Benjamin Jessie Ramey JeffZ Kyle Thye Ron Wagner Erin Bollman Allison Hall and more! Also featuring a full room installation by Monster Master D. Ryan Allen Matthew Ryan Sharp is a painter, vandal and graphic designer with a BA in Visual Communications that resides in the dirty outskirts of Chicago, where he lives and works with his wife and three pug dogs. If you were to ask him what exactly it is that he does you may receive a response similar to “I paint stuff on things.” Even though the above response is not all that in depth, it is fairly accurate. Matthew smears, splatters, drips, draws and sprays his characters, textures and visual stories on paper, wood and any other piece of salvaged material he may have swiped from a local dumpster or construction site in order to create a one of a kind painting. These paintings often serve as a visual narrative as to who or what is surrounding him at that time…but sometimes they are just pretty pictures. Jason Vivona currently resides in Santa Rosa, CA. He concentrates on creating visual art and music as well as serving as Art Director for WE RIDE AT NIGHT, an art/skateboard company that produces collaborative works with other artists in the form of limited edition skateboards and clothing. Also, Vivona currates WE RIDE AT NIGHT's quarterly group exhibition that showcases the artists that the company collaborates with. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries across the United States such as 111 MINNA in SF, The Museum of New Art in Detroit, and Vitale Gallery in Florida to name a few. Although mainly in group exhibitions, his work has been featured solo at Syracuse University and Homestar Modern in Portland, OR. among others Vivona's work has been published in Juxtapoz, Transworld Skateboarding, WARP, DIW, Skyscraper, RELAX, Portland FunBook 3 and many more. His newest work is constructed much like that of the abstract expressionists,where a mark is made, and the following mark is a reaction to the initial mark and so on. Vivona, in a sense, abstractly applies an extensive vocabulary of initially identifiable visual elements to create an ever-evolving narrative within the piece. The end result being a completely cohesive, realized image, often laced with curtural reference and satirism. Christine Benjamin Creating my own universe populated with aliens, robots, monsters, cool and funky people and animals through my paintings and 3D sculptures is what I do best. I grew up watching Godzilla movies, Underdog and Rocky and Bullwinkle on TV, reading comics and eating Pop Tarts. Today my studio is filled with toy robots, bobbleheads, lunch boxes and other goodies from my childhood that inspire my paintings and 3 dimensional sculptures. I also illustrate for many companies such as Yahoo!, Hitatchi, Apple and Hasbro and paint commissioned pieces for people's homes and businesses. My characters can be found on various children's products including books, posters and clothing. Christine currently resides in San Francisco, CA. Christopher Umana is a native of Southern California and now resides in Nevada. He is a graduate from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. His work is influenced by the detritus and textures found in everyday life and he incorporates some of these elements into his work bycollaging them and painting over it. His work is also influenced by animation and animals/insects as representations of people. Animals and insects have personalities and traits that mimic our own. Everyone can be linked to a specific species if they look deep enough. Christopher focuses on this symbiotic relationship in his work with his anthropomorphic figures.