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Meet Sarah Landwehr of Two Sarahs

Here's the latest installment of "Meet....". In this episode I have the pleasure of introducing Sarah Landwehr of Two Sarahs Etsy shop fame.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm Sarah Landwehr of Two Sarahs. I live in Portland, Oregon and the other Sarah lives in Melbourne. She's coming to visit for three weeks in June (Oh god! Get her here already!) so maybe the name Two Sarahs will be more apt come summer. In the meantime, it's mostly me, and I'm a printmaker and collage artist. I studied art at university. SInce then it's been tricky finding meaninfgul and fun work that also leaves me with some time to make art and travel, but it's a fun struggle and mostly I manage it. Currently I work as an aide in a middle school classroom with kids who all have social/emotional/behavioral problems. This is pretty difficult most days, but of course also fascinating and the birthplace of most of my best stories. AND I get to introduce a "creature of the day." Yesterday I taught them about the Tasmanian Tiger and the mystery of its extinction. The days before that we discussed the world's largest rodent--the capybara, and the coelacanth--a "living fossil" of a fish that was rediscovered after dropping off the scene for a hundred million years or so.

I like to imagine myself as well-rounded and in a conversational pinch might claim hiking as a hobby. But the the truth is that between the middle school and making art, I just have a little time left and I like to spend it eating good food while talking to the people I love.

When did you first decide to become an artist?

I never made a conscious decision to become an artist. I just kept after it because I liked it, was pretty good at it, and discovered what a wonderful way it was to get attention without much risk: you can keep all your failures private, and then when you think you have something worthy to reveal, you pick your moment. I grew up pretty shy so this hit the spot. Plus, when I'm able to describe beauty in this way--through a physical act--it really is an altered state, with all the pure vitality of any high. I think most humans need that. That's not to say I come by that feeling totally at will, but it does occur and when it does, well, joy is joy. Luckily I also enjoy the labor and the craft and the little keeping up parts of it all too: tearing paper for an edition, labeling stuff for the post office, sanding wood blocks...I like almost all of it.

Who are your favourite artists at the moment?

I don't look at other artists as much as I used to. When I was a student everyone was "discovering" new artists left and right, hiding out in the stacks at the library and swooning. I miss that. But here is a painfully edited list of some perennial favorites: Leonard Baskin, Kathe Kollewitz, Nathan Oliveira, Kurt Schwitters, Margaret Kilgallen, Edvard Munch, Maurice Sendak, Katsushika Hokusai, and Andy Goldsworthy. I fall hard for raw beauty and hard-won emotion (terrifying stuff, and so tricky to get right.) And rich color and high contrasts. And texture. And text. And maybe a little mental illness.

I see a lot of amazing work on the internet--on people's blogs, on Etsy, wherever. I guess the internet has taken the place of the library stacks, and that's good and bad. Part of my problem is I look at remarkable work and get excited and then forget where I saw it. But I love that artists can get such widespread exposure without having to wait around for a book to be published about them.

What are your top five favourite movies at the moment?

Five movies! Two films by Tom Tykwer that I am crazy for are "Heaven" and "The Princess and the Warrrior." Also, "The Secret Life of Words," and "The Lives of Others," are immaculately gorgeous. I can't get the images from "Let the Right One In" out of my head. On a lighter note, I am every bit as in love with "Singing in the Rain" as I was at age eight. It's perfect.

Where do you see yourself in ten years time?

I don't have a hot plan for ten years time. I'd like to be taking more chances with my art. I'd like to do an artist's residency somewhere beautiful with a different kind of landscape and climate, and be incredibly productive. I'm pretty happy living in Portland, where it's normal to ride your bike and grow your own food and make things by hand. Being a full time artist would be cool, as long as I can find a way to do it without getting too isolated or preoccupied with my own head. I would miss working with the kids but I think I'd continue with "creature of the day," by making little screenprints, and try to bring to people's attention, with love, the horrifyingly long list of threatened, endangered, and extinct species. But I can't get too ahead of myself with a plan. There has to be room to see as you go, and let things take shape as they're meant to.

Shown here above are three images of work from Sarah's gorgeous must see Etsy shop: The Bride and the Bear, Tall Meerkat and Flower and Ginkgo Cards. Below are some of Sarah's customized ASL letters that she can make upon request! Thank you so much again Sarah for taking the time to answer my questions!

Hi ho!

Hi ho ....well yes, my week of pure bliss and pretending I was a bohemian artist and drawing all day 24/7 is over and I'm back at work being "ordinary" again. Sigh! However, today was actually quite enjoyable because it's nice to see pals and shoot the breeze over cups of tea during class breaks! Which (ahem) ever so nicely leads me to the drawing above "Two Victorian Ladies meet for tea and shoot the breeze". A bit of a long winded title but really I think anything shorter wouldn't do them justice! These two gals are now in my shop as a large A4 print.

And! I was super flattered and bowled over to be awarded a "Your Blog is Deer to Me" award by Gabbi of *Felinofelice.

I cannot stress enough how charming and lovely and utterly delightful Gabbi's blog is so it is truly an honour to have her pick my blog as one of her faves! I urge you all to go visit Gabbi's blog immediately because it really is something special!

The Art of War.

 

Yesterday, as you can imagine, the papers were full of essays, commentaries and reflections on ANZAC Day and what it means in 2009. There was a very interesting article in The Weekend Australian newspaper about the art of war. It was specifically about how Australian artists have never depicted soldiers in battle heroically but rather as ordinary people stoically perservering through "the stuff of nightmares". To illustrate this article they chose two paintings by female artists which I thought were rather lovely despite the melancholy subject matter.

The one above is by Australian artist Stella Bowen. It is called "Bomber Crew" and was painted in 1944. All the subjects were lost in action.  Below is Nora Heyson's "Transport Driver" painted in 1945. Both of them hang in Canberra in the War Memorial.

You can read the article from The Australian here.

ANZAC Day.

Today, 25th April, is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand. ANZAC Day is a spiritual and solemn day that was established in 1915 to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought in Gallipoli, Turkey during World War I. This was Australia's and New Zealand's first major overseas conflict. Today, it is a day to remember all conflicts that the Australian and New Zealand defence forces have been in. It begins with dawn services all over the country and there are also marches of all veterens from all conflicts in most towns and cities in the country.

To mark this day, I thought I'd introduce you to a war memorial not far from where I live: the El Alamein fountain. It is in the heart of Kings Cross at the entrance to the Fitzroy Gardens. Built as a memorial to the soldiers that fought and died in two battles in El Alamein , Egypt in 1942 it is easily one of the loveliest fountains in Sydney.

It was designed by New Zealand architect Bob Woodward and was completed in 1961. It has been described as looking like a "blown thistle" and a "dandelion" and looks positively magical at night when it is illuminated.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! It's a glorious Autumn Day here in Sydney. Hopefully I'll get a small walk in at some stage!

I had another productive day of drawing yesterday and here is one of the results: Little Geisha Girl. She's now up and running and available in my shop.

Have a very lovely weekend one and all!

I Walk the Line : MCA exhibition.

Here are some images from the Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition I went to the other day. The exhibition is called I Walk the Line : New Australian Drawing. It is a celebration of the renewal in popularity of drawing, particularly by young Australian artists.

The first drawing above is a Laith MacGregor drawing called Untitled, 2008.

This drawing is by Cassandra Laing and is called No Time to Waste, 2006. This is one of three or four like this and they are really big. They make quite a staement up there on the wall together. The whole thing has been drawn in graphite. This last image is by Richard Lewer and it is HUGE: 7 metres high!  You can get a bit of an idea about its size by looking at the two people finishing it in the picture above. This drawing is the first one that greats you when you walk into the exhibition. I strongly recommend that you go to this exhibition if you get the chance! Personally, I found it fascinating, motivating and a wonder at all the different and imaginative work being done with pens and pencils out there!

For more information you can go to the Museum of Contemporary Art's site here.

Japan.

When I was about 10 or thereabouts, I was lucky enough to go to Japan for a few weeks with my parents. Gee it was amazing! So different to anywhere I'd ever been before! Tokyo was like a cross between "Blade Runner" and some exotic department store. Kyoto, on the other hand was like a fairy land of pretty red lanterns and trees and Zen Buddhist Temples. I liked the Buddhist temples the best. You'd take your shoes off at the door and then tip toe around stopping and sitting from time to time to contemplate a moss garden or a perfectly raked gravel yard.

I've also read that in Japan there are trillions of radio stations. Of course there are the usual music, news, talk back stations but there are also stations which only have waves crashing against cliffs and other ambient sounds to sooth the soul. I even read that there was a station dedicated to train station and platform noises so the businessman late home from work because of a "meeting" could use this as back ground noise whilst ringing his wife. I don't know how true that is!

So, here is my modern Geisha girl listening to her designer radio station in her pretty kimono. She is now a large print in my shop!

Sydney's Trams.

I'm having a holiday this week. Up until yesterday I had either been drawing or staying out of the gale that's been blowing in Sydney.  Yesterday, though, was nice enough to do some sightseeing in my favourite city: Sydney!

I went to two terrific exhibitions: one at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) on drawing and another at the Museum of Sydney (MOS) on Sydney Trams. I thought I'd post about the Trams first.

This photo above is near where I live. It's a photo of Kings Cross taken by a famous Sydney photographer Max Dupain.  It's called Rush Hour and he took it in 1938. I think it's truly lovely and it makes me yearn for a time machine so I could go back and experience Sydney in those days. Notice the tram whizzing around the bend.

Apparently, Sydney had the largest tramway system in the British Empire after London. They first began operating in 1861 and were horse drawn and in 1879 double-decker steam trams were imported from the States.  In the mid 1800's a couple of cable-drawn trams were introduced for the more hilly of Sydney's streets and in 1899 the first electric trams were running down the big central street in the city: George Street.

Above you can see some commuters crossing the road in front of a tram at Central Station.

I'm a big fan of anything historical and anything about Sydney so this exhibition was a joy for me! The whole exhibition was called "Shooting through" after the most famous tram route in Sydney: the Oxford Street route through Paddington to Bondi which went so fast and was so popular that the colloquial expression "shooting through like a Bondi tram" was coined. We still use this expression today from time to time.

The trams were phased out from 1957 and finally gone completely from the Sydney streets in 1961. Personally, I think it's a shame. Melbourne still has it's trams and I think they are a very convenient way to get around a city. I think Sydney is regretting their passing too as every year someone suggests re-introducing them again to ease traffic congestion and pollution in the city.

Above you can see the Pitt Street trams. All these fabulous photos I have here are from the State Library's archival Flickr site which you can get to here.

Baby Badger Boys.

I have a terrible confession to make: I read "The Daily Mail" on a regular basis! And when I say regular I mean twice a day type of regular. But generally, I don't read it - I don't read all the political stuff I go straight to the scandalous gossip about Royals, Hollywood types and B-grade British celebs and have a good gander at the frocks, style disasters etc. I notice the Sydney "broad sheet" papers must also read it though because they usually pick up on any celeb gossip and re-print it word for word usually about two days after! I always feel very superior at that stage and say: "Oh for goodness sake! We all know that already!"

Anyway, the point to me telling you that is because the second place I go to after drinking in all the latest scandal is the animal photo section. A few weeks ago they had an adorable story about eight or so tiny wee little badger pups only a couple of days old who were found abandoned somewhere in Britain. I think the mother had died actually so the tiny little badger cubs had been taken into care - and they were darling! So, here they are - little badger cubs re-imagined by me on their first birthday or something like that anyway!

They can be found in all their small striped glory here in my shop as a large print!

Sunday Funday!

The weather today in Sydney is wild! It can't make up it's mind whether to be sunny/ torrentially raining or a bit of both!

I've been at home today drawing, playing with the small ginger tom who lives a few doors down the road and debating about whether to go out or not.

In the meantime, here's a little something new: I think I might call it "Now where did that pesky Robin get to"? Actually, if you have any other suggestions about what I should call this drawing, I'd love to here them!