CasaSugar

Chatting With Artist Yvette Molina

CasaSugar — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:00:23 -0800

Remember last week's post about artist Yvette Molina? Her gorgeous botanical paintings seemed to be a hit with all of you, so I thought you might like to get a little more information on this talented lady. Yvette was kind enough to sit down and answer a few of our questions about her art and influences.

CasaSugar: What neighborhood of Oakland, Ca, do you live in?
Yvette Molina: I live in the Grand Lake neighborhood near the Oakland Rose Garden.

To see a gallery of work and find out more about Yvette's work, just read more
CasaSugar: Do you feel that this area’s botanical and gardening tradition affects the way you paint its plants?
Yvette Molina: I grew up in the midwest where everyone had cement patios surrounded by lawns and hedges for a yard. No one I knew had a garden with flowers or any large variety of plants let alone a vegetable patch. Coming to live in the Bay Area as an adult was a complete inspiration. Having a garden to tend in an environment that allows for so many planting possibilities became an absolute infatuation that is very strong in me today.

CasaSugar: What other parts of California inspire your art?
Yvette Molina: I am always moved by the redwoods and by the fog. The Bay Area fog always seems to seep into my paintings.

CasaSugar: How did you stumble upon painting on aluminum?
Yvette Molina: I owe my introduction to aluminum to a wonderful Oakland artist and good friend named Chris Loomis. At his suggestion five years ago I began to work on aluminum and I have worked on nothing else since then. I love the reflective quality and the sharpness of it. Before I begin to paint, the raw aluminum looks like a slice of the sky resting on my easel.

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Artist of the Day: Yvette Molina

CasaSugar — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:30:44 -0800

Oakland, Calif.-based painter Yvette Molina creates lushly layered paintings on sheets of aluminum. These paintings celebrate the beauty of nature while simultaneously exploring its fragility. She is inspired by her observations of flora that she finds in her backyard and her surrounding neighborhood of Oakland.

Yvette's “portraits” of plants and flowers have been garnering steady praise since she began exhibiting in 1997. She has been recognized with an Artist-in-Residence Fellowship at both the Legion of Honor and de Young Art Center in San Francisco, and in the spring of 2005, she was chosen for inclusion in ArtSpan's biennial Selections exhibition.

To read what Yvette has to say about painting on aluminum, and to see a gallery of her stunning paintings, just read more

Yvette explains that:

My paintings are rendered on aluminum for two reasons. The metal surface mounted on an inset wooden frame allows the image to float between the wall and viewer. In this way the panels are an analogue to painting itself as a physical link between the actual world and the perceived world. The metal also has a reflective quality, imbuing the surface with a luminosity. To achieve the desired depth, each painting has 20 to 30 layers of oil paint and tinted glazes. Objects and forms are painted at intervals within the layers, allowing them to occupy various spaces in foreground or background. In making my work, I take inspiration from traditional Chinese landscape paintings and specifically from the reverence expressed in the use of perspective, detail, and compressed range of color. Shrouded layers of cloud, mist, and sky create an indeterminate space in each of my paintings, all of which are open to imagination.

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Celebrate International Women's Day With CasaSugar

CasaSugar — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 05:00:59 -0800

Today is International Women's Day. Annually on this day, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. Definitely look in your local paper to see if there are any events in your community celebrating this day, and for now, take a look at some of my favorite posts celebrating creative women here on CasaSugar.

Designer Natalie Chanin creates beautiful and innovative repurposed designs for your home.
Architect Zaha Hadid was the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize in its 26-year history.
Artist Yvette Molina paints dreamy flora on aluminum.
Photographer Tria Giovan has established a successful career shooting for a number of coveted shelter magazines.
Designer Sheila Bridges makes inspiring interiors for livable and lovely homes.
Architect Julia Morgan was the first woman allowed in Paris's Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
Artist Cal Lane brings an unexpected feminine twist to traditionally male-dominated objects.
Designer Eva Zeisel has not only lived an incredible and dramatic life, she's also making beautiful designs well into her 90s.

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Best of 2007: Artists of the Day

CasaSugar — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 07:54:41 -0800

This year we introduced our Artist of the Day posts. While these didn't actually run every day, we sure did rack up a lot of them! There's no way that I can include all of them in this best-of post, so please follow the link back to check out all of the posts. You might find a new favorite artist somewhere in the archives - I know I have.

Here are some of my favorite Artist of the Day posts this year:

Whitney Smith makes beautiful pottery evocative of the early twentieth century.
Forget boring, old stretched canvas - painter Yvette Molina prefers aluminum.
Karen Ondracek makes art out of tiny scraps of paper.
Yellena James's art is a beautiful hybrid of Dr. Seuss, Jill Bliss, and Barbarella.
Speaking of Jill Bliss, you loved her delicate, flora sketches and paintings.

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Chairs That Became Art

CasaSugar — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:05:46 -0800

Earlier this year, I went to an exhibit at Johansson Projects called Excavations. This gallery show featured an exhibition of landscapes that attempted to blur the typical boundaries between nature and artifice. Eight artists participated in the show, including artist Yvette Molina, and displayed everything from nature-based paintings to ceramic branches that sprouted out of walls. One of the pieces I was most drawn to though was Scott Oliver's "The Valley," a piece made from a chair (I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise, given my interior-design obsession).

Scott found an overstuffed chair at a garbage dump, and deconstructed it into a wall sculpture of Hetch Hetchy. Using just the stuffing, threading, and other innards of the chair, the artist formed trees, cliffs, and hillsides.

To see another chair that intrigued me, just read more

"Portrait of George" by artist Elyse Hochstadt was another favorite of mine from this exhibit. The formal armchair was completely reupholstered with black feathers, and one large wing is draped against the chair's side. Apparently I wasn't the only one who loved the piece: I more recently spotted the chair at Oakland's uber-hip design studio/gallery/store FiveTen Studios.

What's your take on these reimagined chairs? I find them inspiring, but I'd love to hear what you think, too.

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