Happy Holidays!

For the holiday season this year, Zach and I received the best gift ever. 

Our baby girl, Sage, arrived safe and sound on December 16 after a challenging third trimester. Our hearts are filled with more love than we thought capable. Our time, on the other hand, is filled with feeding schedules, dirty diapers, and just about everything besides sleep. We're taking the rest of the year off to get further acquainted with our new bundle of joy. See you in the new year! :)

from the studio: 12.10.15

Zach is spending a little time in the studio experimenting with shapes, colors, and patterns while we wait for this baby to arrive.

Custom Order Assemblages

The holiday season is upon us! If you're wanting to gift something personal and handmade, consider commissioning a one of a kind assemblage made from your own unique collection of stuff. Zach uses anything from pages off of old magazines, newspapers, photographs, broken instruments, fabric odds and ends, empty containers, kitchen utensils, furniture parts, etc. Make an appointment to meet with him and discuss different options. Prices are negotiable and the turnaround time is typically around a week. See more examples of Zach's assemblages on Facebook, or Instagram. You can also send him a message on either site, or find him at his studio at 210B N. 6th Street in downtown Lafayette.

View on Flipagram

bunch of bunny buttons

In addition to the Christmas collage buttons, I also made a bunch of bunny buttons ...

because who doesn't like jumping bunnies and confetti? :)

Huggie Monster!!!

Zach brought home a huggie monster (by Heather Vanderkleed @ Artists' Own) yesterday ... 

p.s. If you'd like one too, these one of a kind stuffies by Heather Vanderkleed can be found at Artists' Own!

Christmas Tree Collage Buttons

To celebrate the festive season, I made a whole bunch of one of a kind collaged Christmas tree buttons!

These will work great as stocking stuffers, or as gift tags. Stop in Zach's studio to pick up some during Dickens of a Christmas today! :)

Dickens of a Christmas!

We will be open during Dickens of a Christmas. If you are going to be downtown tomorrow for the festivities, stop in and say hi! This will be a great time to pick up handmade gifts at a discounted price. In addition, Zach is also taking orders for custom assemblages. So you know all those knick knacks, odds and ends that you have laying around the house? Box them up and bring them with you! He will be happy to make you a personalized painting at an affordable price.

Thanksgiving 2015

For the first time ever, Zach is skipping Thanksgiving with his extended family to spend it at home with just me (and the baby!)

The midwives and doctors have all ordered for me to be on strict bed rest this week. We are unable to travel to be with family, but Zach is still taking the time to cook up a big holiday meal. He is roasting a beautiful turkey breast, pickling beets, making me some iron-rich sautéed spinach, and some fried polenta. I made butternut squash soup with cranberry beans and baked us two pumpkin custards with homemade whipped cream. We also have some yummy oyster dressing my father-in-law made us. I hate that we don't get to be with the rest of the family today, but I am happy we'll not have to miss out on a delicious home cooked meal.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates!

Piano Hands

#piano key hands #assemblage #foundobjects #recycled #streetart

A photo posted by Zach Medler (@zmedstudios) on Nov 12, 2015 at 9:09am PST

Autumn

Nothing beats this autumn glow.

Absolutely nothing.

Pictures from the Dedication

The nice weather held up, and a good size crowd showed up for the dedication of the mural and the painted crosswalk on N. 10th St. Here are some pictures I snapped from the event:

And this was the clip from WLFI:

Lafayette Arts Center Stage Dedication and Tour

We've been enjoying some great weather this week but it seems like this streak is coming to an end on Friday. Today is probably the last nice day for a while. So if you're looking to be outside, please consider coming to the Lafayette Arts Center Stage Dedication and Tour. We'd love to see you!

Here's more information:

{harvest} Aji Amarillo Peppers

These are the bright and beautiful aji amarillo peppers we've waited for all summer! :) These unusual peppers are notoriously hard to grow in our northern Indiana climate, but Zach wanted to give them a try since we had the space for it in our garden (and we love to grow peppers!). I want to taste the fruits of our labor! Can't wait for him to use them for dinner this week!

'Relic 27 (Grace [after Eric Enstrom])'

'Relic 27 (Grace [after Eric Enstrom])'...this photo/painting used to hang in our kitchen when I was a kid #streetart #graffiti #assemblage #foundobjects #recycled #socialabstraction #grace #ericenstrom #montanacans

WLFI's coverage on the new Bauer mural

Lots of thanks to everyone who braved the cold and wet weather to come to the unveiling of the new Bauer Family Resources mural. Here's a clip of the event from WLFI ...

You're Invited!

Bauer Family Resources Mural: "PLAY"

i went out and finished up the mural at Bauer Family Resources yesterday. all i had to do was add in some shadows to give a little bit of depth to the space. this ASAP class did really well. the process was the same for this class, as it has been for many previous classes. i get the kids talking about art, then i get them sketching, then we develop a plan out of their sketches and conversations. during one of the sketch sessions, one of the girls in the class had created all these little scenes of stick figures with kind of a manga-style look to their faces. so we turned them into stick emojis and had them doing things that they would do in the park (the wall sits behind a newly renovated neighborhood park). the stick figures were something i thought the class could handle installing on the wall in large scale. we produced a sketch for approval, got it approved and got to work. i had 12 kids in the class, so this piece went quite quickly. we got it complete in just 3 hours across 2 different class sessions.

it's always fun to paint in neighborhoods, because the people who live there tend to stop by and chat. everyone wants to know how, why and what you are doing to that wall. it is nearly always positive, save for a few random jerks that can holler from their car windows. but i love when people stop to talk. yesterday was no different. i had intended to get out there early and get the shadows down in most likely less than an hour, then get back to the studio to get some new work started. i ended up staying out there until almost 2 o'clock in the afternoon talking with people who came through the alley. it was great fun to learn about people's lives and the tangible impact the artwork has on their quality of life. positivity can change perceptions, even if under all the happy smiling emojis, there is a quite serious message about the intersection of tech use and childhood, which some will see, and some will not, the point though is to give everyone the opportunity to think for themselves about it.

the mural is entitled, 'play,' which one of the figures is writing in graf bubbles on the wall. the title plays off of the park across the alley, but also off of the idea of understanding 'play' in the context of today's tech driven existence. the word contrasts the idea of the idleness of smart phone with the tangible playground.

Progress on the Bauer Center Mural

Zach met the After School Arts Program kids on Tuesday evening for their final painting session. The kids finished out faces, painted in the clothes, and used stencils to spray some fancy patterns on t-shirts and dresses.

Today, we went back to the wall so Zach and I could clean up some of the drips and blowouts. Zach just has some little additions left to make before the official unveil next week. We'll share more details about the event on a later date so if you'd like to, you can come support and meet the kids and the staff of Bauer Center and TAF who made this mural happen!

New Bauer Family Resource Center Mural in Progress

For the last couple of months, Zach has been working with kids from the Tippecanoe Arts Federation's (TAF) After School Arts Program to design and paint a new mural on the side of the Bauer Family Resource Center.

Zach took me out to check out the work in progress after the first painting session. Here are some pictures if you'd like to see ...

I love that the all the characters on the wall have emojis for faces. The intersection of the influence and prevalance of technology and the innocence of childhood paints such a sincere portrait of life in 2015. The second painting session will take place this evening. Stay tuned for updates!

Our Blog Turns 4 ... and a very special announcement!

Our blog turns four today!

We realize we haven't updated quite as frequently as we used to, so thank you for following along if you're still reading. To our loyal readers, we have a very special announcement to make. After holding our tongues for months, Zach and I are overjoyed to share that we are expecting a baby!

I'm happy to report that the pregnancy has been smooth-sailing thus far. Everything regarding growing a baby has felt so incredibly magical to me. I'm a chronic worrier, but that doesn't seem to faze this baby. This tiny one is an easy-going camper who jumps for joy over ice-cream, loves belly rubs, warm showers, long rides in the car, kicking Zach in the head, and stomping on my bladder.

And while we are already head over heels in love with this little one, we're honestly still trying to figure out how much of baby we'll be sharing on the blog. We don't want to turn this space into a mommy blog, but we'll definitely let you know when baby gets here! :)

Saturday Cookie Date Night

Zach's favorite home baked treats are chocolate chip cookies. Since the forecast was for a very cold Saturday night, we decided to stay in and have a cookie date night!

ready for the oven! :)

The whole house was warm and smelt so delicious afterwards! If you are looking for a consistently awesome recipe, this one is my all-time favorite :)

More of the "Relic" Series

I stopped by Zach's studio after school today. He's been working on his "Relic" series for a while now, and I've still only seen pictures of the works. So I thought it was time to go see the pieces in person.

Zach showed me four new assemblages:

Relic 22 (Fire)

Relic 19 (Buffman Brown)

Relic 20 (Found on eBay)

Relic 21 (Off Main)

I wish the camera could capture more than just the shapes and colors of each of these pieces. They may appear simple, but the rich textures, the honesty of the materials, as well as the size of these pieces, all contribute to the intricacies of the compositions. This latest "Relic" series presents a more developed concept of the dialectic of wo/man in nature. It relates also to larger ideas of materialism, consumerism, mass culture, and our understanding of stewardship. It brings up questions of our constructed environment and growing synthetic culture. These paintings beg to be seen in person. Just be warned that if and when you do see them, you'll leave with this urgent want for more dialogue. Your brains might hurt.

Relic Series

i'm not working on anything that i haven't made before, i guess i'm just kind of looking at it differently. assemblage work is nearly always built from junk or found objects, and obviously, the first step is laying out the pieces. in the past, it was simply a step to what i was working on, but now i'm finding interest in the puzzles before the paint.

'relic 13 (guarantee)'

                                    

in looking at older work, i've done this type of thing before. i made a series of 4 square assemblages a few years ago, using mostly pattern stencils, as-they-were pieces, and a few found images. it's a series that has never been ripped up, because i really like what they are. and now i'm taking a similar approach, with new angles and understanding. so far, i'm intrigued with what i'm doing. i hope it can continue, and it can help get me out the creative funk i've been lingering around in this year.

i've been referring to this series as 'relics.' and they are relics. the parts and pieces that i use to build these assemblages, themselves are relics of my studio and of my community. the pieces are discards either by me or by people in my neighborhood or near my studio. my year of frustration is evident in the many of the pieces that have been a part of other assemblages that i've painted and torn apart only to rebuild and repaint and tear a part again. they end up simply as abstracts, some looking a bit like a landscape or cityscape, others simply looking like color studies. but for me, they are abstract social studies. the pieces that i build with have a history of their own, sometimes that history is known, most times it is not, but history is evident in each collected item that i build with. many of my previous series of assemblage work has been focused on a social message, like the poetry of rap music. this series is still focused on a social message, but the poetry is more understated and layered like a buddhist koan.

these works are an obvious response to my overuse of imagery. in these pieces, i'm eliminating the meaning of the image all together and focusing much more on using the cropped, cut, and broken pieces to create a visually balanced psychological narrative based in the understood history of the parts and pieces of each assemblage.

'relic 14 (seed mill)'

'relic 15 (x x x x x)'

'relic 17 (twilight in the alley)'

'relic 16 (one cent sale)'

'relic 18 (original cut rate)'