Big Umbrella Studios Art Opening Friday

Communion by Beja Tinsley

Founded in November of 2007  Big Umbrella Studios is a place for art and artists in San Francisco’s Western Addition.  Member Artists work in and share their work the workspace/gallery.  I am very excited to have been invited to be a guest artist for the month of February!   The show will  feature work by new and old artists as well as a friend or two, and brand new work from my studio:

MIM WEISBURD, NATALIE VEGA HASS,  CHAD KIPFER, THERESE AGNEW, BRONWYN DEXTER, KADENCE BAUXEITER, KAT HORN, MATT NASAL, REBECCA TABER, ANNAMARIE PABST, and BEJA TINSLEY

Big Umbrella Studios

906 1/2 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA

Friday February 5, 2010  7 - 11 pm  Come enjoy free music, wine, and conversation with an amazing crew of local artists!

Deeply Superficial People Mail Art Project

"Why Not?" ---- Mixed Media Mail Art Piece

“One day over beers, we decided to combine our arts and crafts talents into this project; because we love arts, we love crafts, and we love to share them with the world” and Deeply Superficial People was born.  These folks do all kinds of wonderful outside the box art projects, including craft graffiti and mail art.  I’m excited to be a part of their latest endeavor, DSP mailed images to a number of artists who incorporated them into art pieces and mailed them back.   For close to two decades I have been exchanging mail art across the country.  I love the process of using the postal service as a both an artistic medium and a collaborator.  For me mail art is cathartic and raw, I create things without worrying about perfection.  The anarchistic quality of the exchange instills a sense of freedom.  How far can I push the boundaries of an envelope?  Will the pieces arrive at their destination unharmed?  If so how may they be changed by their trip?  It’s been a while since I’ve created mail art and it’s exciting to be part of an exchange again! I look forward to seeing the entire collection on display in Sacramento come March.

Rose Series

Gravedigger – $85.00

Holding Hands

Hands Detail

Handsome – $85.00

Heart and Roses Detail – $85.00

Heart and Roses – $85.00

Ribcage – $85.00

Ribcage Detail – $85.00

Skull and Roses – $85.00

As a mixed media artist I am often inspired by the materials that come into my life.  I came into possestion of a huge amount of wooden roses and just fell in love, this series was born out of that romance.  These works were originally intended for a Halloween exhibition, but as many of you know art takes it’s own time.  They are constructed out of reclaimed Halloween and Christmas decorations, pine cone roses, thrift store frames,  recylced wood, wood glue, and acrylic paint.  The textural surfaces were created with iron oxide and granular magnitite, traditionally used in ceramic glazes.   The Rose Series is earmarked for an exhibit in January at Sideshow Studios entitled “Recycling and other Resolutions.”  Since so many of my works have already found new homes I thought I would give folks a chance to  collect them now before the holidays are over.  Each of these pieces is available for only $85.00 please contact me if you are interested  mim.arts@yahoo.com

Give the gift of Mimart this year!

Magick Mary Altar - $150.00

There are three ways you can give Mimart this year!!!

The art on the site is for sale!  I offer free gift wrap & ship worldwide.

Check out http://www.zazzle.com/mimart for apparel, calendars, mugs and gifts featuring Mimart designs.  Customize your purchase and choose your own colors, fabrics, and styles.

December Art Show: “Same Sh!t, Different Day” featuring art under $100.00  from Dec 12th to Jan 4th 2010
Side Show Studios 5635 Freeport Blvd. Suite 6, Sacramento, CA 95822, 916-391-6400 Open 10-10 Mon-Sat & 10-8 Sun

Collaboration with the Dead?

Is it possible to collaborate with an artist who died 33 years ago this month? 

I am blessed with generous friends and patrons who support my creativity by contributing interesting and exciting finds to make art with.  One such person travels the world on business and often brings me exotic and wonderful treasures.  Two years ago she presented me with a georgeous Eurpean magazine filled with the avant-garde photography of ManRay the 20th century American Modernist.  I have always loved Man Ray’s photographs, their exquisitly sensuality, the way his subjects both live and inanimate have a languid quality, and the way he developed technique’s that enabled him to not only document the world around him, but to capture and bring forth images from his imagination. 

Inspired by these wonderful images I decided to hand paint several of them with watercolors, changing their quality and adding a new dimention to the works.  I consider this project a collaboration because I want to give full credit to the artist who created the images and inspired my aesthetic response.  These are works in progress and I am not sure what I will ultimately do with them.