Chelsea van der Meer's silk-scarves come from need to make art

By Mary Lee Pappas / Star correspondent

Posted: January 22, 2010

Chelsea van der Meer has a home studio painted bright pink that's the hub for her silk-scarf business, which was born from her inherent, nonstop need to make art.

"My whole life I've just needed to be making something all the time, whatever it was with whatever I had," said the 23-year-old artist.

Originally from Williamsport, Pa., van der Meer majored in graphic design at Pennsylvania College of Technology. After moving to Indianapolis five years ago, she earned a degree at Ivy Tech Community College, where she thrived in traditional fine-arts courses.

Since then, van der Meer's works have been exhibited at Wug Laku's Studio and Garage on Indianapolis' Eastside and in the Stutz Building at the now-defunct Pivot Gallery. A notable design project of hers is the 2007 CD and Web site art for the band blueprintmusic. She also interned with the design firm Lodge Design.

Van der Meer exhibits through Midwest Emerging Artists, and she created the artwork for the 2009 Broad Ripple Music Fest sampler CD.

But it was a fabric-arts class with Ivy Tech's visual communications department chairwoman Stephanie Lewis Robertson years ago that inspired van der Meer's current path.

"She (Roberts) was amazing," said van der Meer. "She motivated me and taught me the basics with dying silk."

"I was really thinking about why I took to it," she said. "There's just something about the quality of silk that's like water."

Using mostly charmeuse and chiffons, van der Meer applies many dying techniques to her one-of-a-kind scarves that vary in size from 25-by-25-inch squares to 30-by-90-inch wraps.

"The results are very organic and subconscious. Art I've made in the past is very conscious -- I've decided everything. When I'm doing a painting or something, I decide how everything is going to be. But, with this, it's organic," said van der Meer. "You really never know what a dye is going to do when it meets another dye. It's a surprise when the wax comes off sometimes."

She said those surprises are luscious colors and fluid patterns that complement the fabric and look great. Her techniques include stamping, masking off colors, wax batik and multiple layers of color and painting swaths of color in with a brush.

This winter, a cotton scarf series she produced sold out, but more will be available through her Etsy shop soon at www.Etsy.com/shop/chelseaofthesea.

She also produces how-to videos and charming thank-yous for customers across the country while packaging up their orders. "I want people to feel a connection from the time it's made to when they have it, that there's a spirit and energy in it."

Of her videos, she says, "I want to be a very transparent artist. If someone wants to know something, I will share. I wouldn't have any problem with more creators in the world. There is just really nothing like the feeling you have when you are creating."

Chelsea van der Meer, Artist, Ivy Tech Community College, Pennsylvania College of Technology, Broad Ripple Music Fest, Stephanie Robertson, Stutz, fabric art, Indianapolis, Indiana

Artistic process is the story behind exhibit of 12 paintings

 

Artistic process is the story behind exhibit of 12 paintings 

By Mary Lee Pappas / Star correspondent

Posted: December 25, 2009

"Small Paintings," William BurtonLawson's exhibition at the Indianapolis Art Center, reveals all of the artist's artistic quirks.

The 12 little oil paintings in this show are all different. They aren't part of a body of work, but rather glimpses of Lawson's influences, his direction and what makes him tick as a painter.

His process, not subjects, lends the cohesion to the pieces that vary from plein-air vantages of the Oregon coast to a straight-on view of the Fountain Diner.

An Indianapolis native and professional painter for more than a decade, Lawson lists Hoosier Group artists T.C. Steele and William Forsyth, as well as regionalist artists of the Depression era William Kaeser and Cecil Head, as inspirations. But he doesn't imitate.

"There aren't too many artists my age who look up to these guys, but I have always felt a strong connection with their paintings. I chose to go against the grain and honor tradition," said Lawson, 35, who describes his work as "representational with both contemporary and traditional values."

Add his Precisionist tendencies, and the result is comfortable abstractions of what would otherwise be mundane.

Urban landscape scenes of buildings, homes and alleyways have distinguished Lawson from other local artists, particularly those in his generation. Half of the show features these works, which best represent his sensibilities and abilities.

Compositions of nondescript Downtown locales are tightly cropped like segmented studies where rooftops become flat color fields of unnatural hues and get bent in skewed angles.

In a painting titled "Rooftops," his mental method, the way he intellectualizes and dissects space, is fully realized. The works are simple and unemotional, and the everyday subjects seem irrelevant to the task at hand: painting. His gestures are smooth, steady and even; nothing feels forced.

"Carnival" is another such painting -- a garage is central to the fragmented scene, with a bit of a Ferris wheel tucked into the background and a car in the foreground.

"These paintings have a more contemporary feel," he said. "People can identify with the work, and I like to think that it creates a balance between individual expectations and conceptual thinking."

The visually easy balance he strikes with form and his stark palettes, which vary painting to painting, is effortless. It's upon closer inspection that you realize significant architectural details are missing, or that a gutter is disproportioned to create a comfortable, believable illusion. His visual twists are subtle and smart.

Two paintings of lone vintage typewriters also have found their way into this survey of Lawson's work.

"I have an ongoing series of typewriters that are getting pretty good response," Lawson said of this continuum. "I think it's important that people find something in your art that's fun and with which they can easily identify."

William Lawson, painter, Indianapolis Art Center, T.C. Steele, William Forsyth, William Kaeser, Cecil Her, Urban Landscapes, William Burton Lawson, artist, Indiana

Jack C. Hartigan, May 11,1970-January 2, 2006

It saddens me deeply to report that artist Jack Hartigan has passed away. 

Jack exhibited his large photographic works at the IUPUI Cultural Arts Gallery last year (where I am the curator) and was scheduled to do so again this winter. At Jack's request, his show was tentatively rescheduled for this spring because of his struggle with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma which sadly took his life this week. He was at peace. 

Jack had amazing vision with his photographic works that were politically poignant delving into the touchy subjects of contemporary civil rights issues while all the while being very elegant and intelligent. Few artists in this city have had the depth of intellect and the artistic aptitude to not just tackle sensitive topic matter, but to make it approachable and beautiful. 

It was an honor to work with someone so gracious and thorough, and also to host the fruition of his ideas. I'm thrilled IUPUI hosted his challenging work. The angel piece above was on the lighter side and features Erin Elizabeth Finn, a friend, as model. IUPUI had even discussed making Jack the "resident artist" at the Cultural Arts Gallery because of his abilities, his standards, his personality. And, Jack liked the idea too. We had discussed transforming his photos into installations and performance pieces...we discussed a lot of ideas. Jack was always very inspired (thus inspiring me), so ideas were always forthcoming. 

 Jack's funeral will take place this Saturday, January 14, 1 p.m. at St. Matthews Catholic Church. An exhibition of his work (venue to be determined) will be later this spring, with sales benefiting the Damien Center. I wish I could have known him better, but I admired and respected the person I did know. Thank you Loral Tansy for being an angel. May his memory be eternal.

"What's New?" - G.C. Lucas Gallery - Feb. 18, 2004 - 4 stars

Always consistent in presenting quality, G.C. Lucas now delivers work by more homegrown artists up to snuff with his national fare and very much in keeping with his keen aesthetic sense. John Reynold's farm animal paintings are beautiful beyond their subject matter. Using old bed linens, paint and a multitude of other devices, Jen Swearington's works are sophisticated autobiographical narratives. Quilted scenes of powerlines, bears and cars assemble to symbolically conceptualize her life experiences and create unique visual treats. Eric Jacobsen and Angel Mercado join the impressive fold of outstanding artists represented at G.C. Lucas as well as the notable Debra Delbecq. New works by Lorraine Sack are on view also. Through Feb. 26, 2004; 317-255-4000. -Mary Lee Pappas G. C. Lucas Gallery, John Reynold, Jen Swearington, Eric Jacobson, Angel Mercado, Lorraine Sack, Artist, painting, drawing, Indianapolis, Indiana, Debra Delbecq

"Intangible Spirit" An obituary for artist Harry Blomme published in NUVO August 13, 2003

By Mary Lee Pappas Published in NUVO August 13, 2003 Harry Blomme knows what God looks like. “It’s supposed to be a surprise,” he once told me. Blomme, a local artist, passed away suddenly the weekend of July 12. He was 69. “He lived his life in preparation for this,” Bill Bickel, director of Holy Family Shelter, said. In 1997, Bill became Harry’s caseworker at the Homeless Initiative. A former Southern Indiana farmer, a Flemish Canadian export, Harry was homeless and epileptic. “Health was always a concern,” Bill said. I first met Harry six years ago when he and Bill visited a Massachusetts Avenue gallery where I worked to check out the art. I can’t recall whose art was hanging on the walls, but Harry I remember vividly. He gave me a deftly drawn charcoal portrait of a girl as a token of his visit. This was typical Harry. “It always amazed him when someone would take an interest in him,” Bill recalled. “He was spiritual and approachable. He looked at situations so optimistically and held by his convictions. He was much, much more than a homeless artist. That doesn’t begin to explain who he was. He broke stereotypes and boundaries about homelessness without knowing it. He looked at himself as being one of us and folks treated him that way. That’s what we want. No one should be labeled.” When U.S. Rep. Julia Carson was presented with two of Harry’s paintings, “She was, I think, very humbled,” Bill said. One was of Carson and the other was of Rosa Parks, who Harry had read was an inspiration to Carson. Harry sold some of his paintings at Utrillo’s Art, owned by Greg Brown. “He intelligently approached his work. His method was fascinating and impressive. It’s stuck with me and affected my own work,” Greg said of his friend Harry. Three years ago, just before Harry got settled into his apartment (called “studio-studio”), he lived with David Hittle, of Lutheran Child and Family Services. The annual April Show, an art show inspired by Harry’s talent, started from their close friendship. “Very intangible” is the only way David could explain the impact Harry has had on him. “Harry had a clear and profound effect on people he may have only met once or twice.” Harry’s passing was sudden. “He was doing very, very well,” Bill said. “I saw him the day before and he was having a blast,” Greg recalled. “He’s kind of a gad-about. He was full of life and having fun.” Harry’s funeral was July 19 in his hometown of Rockport, Ind. “It was packed. It seems that the people of Rockport knew Harry as we knew him here. He was known for pulling out his sketchbook,” David said. “The music was awesome. Southern Indiana shoutin’ Pentecostal music. Very bluegrassy. Real good stuff.” “I would put Harry up there as one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever had,” Bill said. David had difficulty putting the effect Harry has had on his life into words. “Gargantuan is the only word to describe it.” A memorial service for Harry will be held at Roberts Park Church on Aug. 14, 6:30 p.m. If you own a piece of Harry’s work, please bring it for a display after the service. For more information on Harry’s art visit www.aprilshow.org. The Web page for an interview with Harry July 3, 2002, can be found at www.nuvo.net/news/archive/002660.html. Harry Blomme, Julia Carson, Bill Bickel, David Hittle, Roberts Park Church, Greg Brown, Utrillo's Art Gallery, Indianapolis, Indiana, The April Show

Oreho tehkhnee/beautiful art - Christos Koutouras - May 15 - 22, 2002

 

Christos Koutouras, paintings, drawings, Samos, Greece, Greek, Harrison Art Center, Harrison Centre for the Arts, Indianapolis, Indiana, artist

Bizarre and all true: Greg Brown

Greg Brown of Utrillo's Art is an intellectual social historian wild man. Two-D specimens of mundane popular “art" pieces of the 20th century - every man’s art – fill the crotchety confines of his rather unarchivally sound gallery space. Fashionable wall art of the middle classes, and then some, is staggered about. Kitsch. Campy. Bizarre and all true. Once upon a 1963 suburb, someone’s Aunt Lula displayed a self-generated paint-by-numbers of kittens on black velvet. These cheaply framed relics are again appreciated, salvaged from salvage stores, shedding a new dim and dusty light on how our culture has perceived art and the length (Mother, may I take one giant step to the craft aisle at Walmart?) we’ve gone to do it ourselves in our instant coffee worlds. Greg knows this. He is a cultural historian. A thinker.

Brown is also an apt painter, a good one at that, putting his pop collections to shame. A series of monumental wood panels (15 major groupings, containing a total of 126 panels) inspired by “The Secret Kingdom,“ a pamphlet written by Brown, the thinker, will open Friday, September 1 with a reception beginning at 7 p.m. The body of work is called The Kingdom of Heaven is like the Psychological Realm. Pieces have a religious orientation. They resemble stained glass windows with deep cobalt hues and geometric patterns. Arches of light look like doorways to heaven and or entries into a lion filled arena. The exhibit will run through September 4 in the Legion Hall directly across from Utrillo's Art, 3318 E. 10th St. Call (317) 684-3883 for info. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

*Artist, Utrillo's Art, Greg Brown, Visual artist, Indiana, The Secret Kingdom, Painter, Indianapolis gallery