Miss Moniker

Tower Classic Tattooing, Selected Scenes

2011-11-26T22:06:00.001-06:00

Our buddy (and gifted tattooer) Sean Baltzell recently opened a fantastic shop in St. Louis called Tower Classic Tattooing. Boyfriend Rob Brooks is working on a video for Sean and the shop, and I went along today to chit chat and take some shots with my Canon AE-1. The shop is full of amazing eclectic items, incredible hand-painted signage, taxidermy, traditional tattoo art, and all sorts of neat trinkets and whatnot, everything lending itself to the antique character of photos captured with my manual film camera. Every detail of this awesome shop is so well planned and perfect, from the tile floor to the custom-made barber chairs to the ceiling, with most of the work done by Sean, his apprentice John Schaberg, and some other local talent. Anyways, it is awesome and I took pictures of a few things that I find to be rad and/or cute. Here is a slide show yaaaaay. Weeeeeeeeee.

A Very Henry Darger Arm

2011-11-25T00:29:00.001-06:00

One summer, a very long time ago, I gave birth to a blog.

Then some life things happened, bad and good, and I neglected my precious blog.

Now I am back. Hello blog. Hello nerds. Hello artists and cool people. And my dad.

I am using my recent tattoo (a thing about which I am happy and smiling, despite the almost daily attempt to explain to strangers the cute/weird art on my body when I generally don't like talking to people) as a point of inspiration and a reason to revive this once very special blog. I want to share this arm of mine with fellow Darger/tattoo/Darger tattoo fans.

Years of online research seeking other folks with Darger tattoos have led me to the conclusion that there are only a few other gals out there who are also very passionate about the work of Henry Darger to the extent that they want to see representation of his art every day for the rest of their lives or at least until the loss of the Darger limb (Heaven forbid. Unless it is lost while saving a baby bunny. Or I guess an actual human baby. The first heroic act I could imagine involved a baby bunny instead of a human baby. Some people understand why I am this way. Some people like babies for some reason.) The thought that there may be neat Darger tattoos existing in the world that are not properly documented makes me sad, and I refuse to be some jerk who doesn't exploit myself and my body on the internet.

Anyways, I was going to write a whole thing about Henry Darger, but then I thought, "Whoa whoa whoa. Wikipedia exists." TA DA. Read all about it. There is also a documentary, and we all love a good documentary, even if it IS narrated by Dakota Fanning and she sounds like she has Skittles shoved up her nostrils.

Here are a bunch of photos of the art on my arm, applied by a viking named Luke of All Star Tattoo, and photographed by my best friend and lover Rob Brooks (who inspired me to get inspired to create this post, and who will encourage me to create more posts to make this blog current, share where my life is now compared to where it was in 2009, and to show all of the rad things happening these days concerning my art, photography, work, and chihuahua fashions).

I am obviously a huge fan of this outsider artist, not only because of the imagery he creates, but also because I am intrigued by the story of his life and death, not to mention amazed, bewildered, and dumbfounded by the degree to which he was completely consumed in such a complex and complicated imaginary world of his own creation.

To be reminded of this fascinating individual every day keeps me humble and inspired, and the opportunity to share pieces of his story or a summery of his work ("... He traced illustrations of little girls from advertisements. Yes, sometimes they had penises. Yes, he also drew these weird beasts, including a kitty cat dragon with a mustache...) with other art lovers and confused strangers is a usually a challenge and occasionally extremely rewarding.

Stu Stu Studio!

2009-07-11T16:28:00.007-05:00

We have a new art studio! My friends Matt Grant and Ariel threw down with me on this totally sweet studio space. After many ideas, I think we've settled on the name "Stu Stu Studio" (Phil Collins? Yeah, it's real funny). The best part is that it is in my back yard! That makes it sooo easy to go outside and focus only on art things!

My first day in the studio was super productive. I was able to make some paintings, spray paint frames, frame the paintings, and take photos of them all in the same room! Also, with my wireless Internet, I was able to upload the photos and list the items on Etsy right there. This is a real breakthrough. Before the studio, this process was pretty daunting: draw and paint in living room, disassemble frames in front room, go outside to spray paint frames, bring them back inside to reassemble them, frame the art, go back outside to take photos, come back inside to upload photos and list the items....

I realize it doesn't sound so bad, but I'm REALLY easily distracted. And all those walks from the front room to the back yard and vice-versa leave a lot of potential for me to forget what I'm doing. I had to walk past the TV and the kitchen, for crying out loud! I didn't stand a chance...

but now, I can just post up in the studio for hours and actually accomplish things. Go me.

This is the window in my corner of the space. What's that right outside? Why it's just some honeysuckle, of course! Those honeysuckle breezes are sooo niiice.

Oh, but guess who else loves honeysuckle? GIANT BEES. Guess who DOES NOT like giant bees?

Correct. It's Mon Mon.

YAY MY CORNER!

Noodle, whatchu lookin' at?!

"Oh, I was just admiring this AWESOME BAMBOO AND KOI POND!"

However, the fishies did not survive the winter, which is real sad because they have lived here longer than me. Ariel and I talked about putting some new fishies up in there, but Matt Grant wants a squid. So we're still deciding.

Here is what she looks like on the outside. Such a cool building. My friend/landlord/band mate, Kris, is the most excellent dude at any and all projects, and he made this puppy what she is today... including all that neat stained glass on all those doors. It looks SO PRETTY inside with the sun shining in. Also, it looks even prettier at night with the lights shining out.

Good job Kris!

Oh plus he put an air conditioner in this baby for us.

Good job cold air!

GOOD JOB BLOG!

Oh, let's go ahead and throw a few more photos on here. For good measure.

Matt Grant came over to work on some art a couple nights ago. I worked on drinking beer (we have a mini-fridge, compliments of Ariel) and looking at things on my computer. I also took photos of Matt and battled a june bug. We HATE june bugs!

Here's Matt working outside of the studio. (because it's a bad idea to experiment with spray paint and fire inside the studio.) Hopefully I'll get some awesome photos of Ariel making art things soon.

This is me, dressed as Matt Grant, snuggling with his girlfriend Courtney. She says I was a more attentive Matt Grant than the regular Matt Grant.

This is one of the masterpieces I created on Studio Marathon Day. There are more on my Etsy if you would like to buy them all!

Thank you in advance!

No, I am not dead.

2009-04-28T22:30:00.020-05:00

So, I was MIA for a while there.... sorry about that. I was sick, and then I forgot how to be a regular functioning person. It's okay now. NORMAL!

Here's what happened...
First, I had an art show. It was very fun and successful. There was quite a turnout, mostly friends and friends of friends, but everybody had an awesome time. I even sold a few things, which was wonderfully great. I felt like a totally rad lady.
Here's a little sampler of some things that were there...

This is one of the pieces that I sold. The green background is acrylic on canvas. On top of that, I layered several colors of a grid-pattern silk screen. The bird is and illustration on layers of parchment paper and origami paper. Once I figured out this technique, I fell in love with the process (and the result) so I went buck-wild with it and made four more similar pieces. Get ready, here they come...

I sold the above piece on Etsy after the show.

This little baby is still available on Etsy!

I also sold these little guys at the show.

This little chick is still on Etsy.

I sold this octopus at the show. It was definitely my most popular thing there. Apparently I need to do more octopi.

This Sea Dragon is still on Etsy awaiting its new home.

Let's go ahead and put a couple of my friends' things on here, even though it IS my blog, darn it.

These are Matt Grant's awesome giant doors. There were four of them total, and they are really cool (as you can see). I think at least three of them are still available. Let me know if you love them and I'll talk to Matt. He's totally my best friend. Well, one of them. :)

Matt's lady friend, Courtney Hartmann, is my other buddy. She made these really beautiful collages and shadow boxes, but I did a terrible job taking photos of them. A lot of the photos have reflections or are not real clear. Annoying.
If you could see them, you would know that they have neat images from old books and things. They also have text from old books and different other neat trinkets. The shadow boxes have tiny skulls that she found. Once again, if you are interested in any of her things, let me know.

So then, after the art show, I became ill and then I didn't do anything for a while after that. I did, however, make a couple neat things for design class. I'll take my camera to class tomorrow night so I can provide some evidence of this.

Finally, I marked down some of my older things on Etsy. There are too many of them sitting around my studio, waiting for their new homes. I hoped a sale would help. So far, I think it has. What I've really been bummed out about is the lack of new things on my Etsy. So tonight, after a thousand years, I listed six new things on Etsy. I'm pretty excited about them, I hope other people are as well.

Oh my gosh. It just occurred to me that I have stopped placing two spaces between a period and the first letter of the following sentence. I do not like this. Not. At. All.

Here is one of the things I listed tonight.

Everything I listed tonight is a small animal with big eyes. They are all really cute.

Sometimes, I miss making more serious art things, like the drawings I used to make at school. And I think, "Why can't I still make more serious art? Why do I only want to make cute things? Will I be taken more seriously as an artist if I stop producing little animals and start making giant, impressive paintings?"

And then I go, "Aw, F--- it."

Flashback...

2009-04-10T18:37:00.001-05:00

Well, seeing as I haven't really been very productive this past week (I don't remember what I've been doing instead...) I am going to go ahead and throw a few older things up here. This will be a mini-portfolio. Let' start with some printmaking things. I plan to continue studying printmaking, but right now I'm not sure when or where. I'm not really one for planning. Hopefully a good school will seek me out and beg me to study printmaking with them. And then they'll guarantee me a position teaching printmaking at their college. Some beachfront property would really sweeten the deal. I'll be sure to mention it when this happens.

Anyways, while printmaking is my passion, I have exhausted all my printmaking credits and no longer work in the studio at school. This means that right now I'm pretty much limited to silkscreen at home. I'm really enjoying it, but I do miss the processes that I cannot do without a press. So let's take it back to the old school (think 2006-2008), and I'll make you relive with me my fond memories of printmakings past...

This piece is a waterless litho/monoprint. It is 11" by 15". It currently resides in my bathroom.

This is a series of silkscreens. I really like the original image, but I'm even more stoked about the pattern created by the repeated image. Each is 8" by 8". These are in a pile in my basement :(

These are kittens. Everybody loves kittens. They are also bookmarks.
I think I'll put them on Etsy.

These are three of a series of five waterless litho/monoprints that I made for a show at school in April of 2007. Each is 30" by 22". I wish I had photos of the others, I have no idea where they went. I have given three of the prints away. The others live with me.

I'll add a couple of figure drawings, too, just to mix it up a little.

Again, these are from over a year ago, but they are examples of some of the latest portraits I created. They're each about 25" by 35". Yes, I am aware that the second guy resembles skinny Kevin Costner.

It's difficult to continue figure drawing outside of school. I think everyone agrees that it's nearly impossible to draw those closest to you. Unfortunately, these people are the also the most likely to be willing to model. Jerks.

Okay, so either I'll make some new artwork soon, or I'll come back and post some other older stuff. I do have a few urban landscape-type drawings that I'd like to slap up here at some point. So, as soon as it's not 50 degrees and raining, maybe I'll wake up and make some new things. I think that's what artists are supposed to do...

The Third Dimension

2009-04-03T13:01:00.000-05:00

I'm in the middle of Design IV right, and I'm loving it. The class is small and pretty laid back. It really has sparked my interest in working in 3-D. Our professor is great, and each project is interesting and challenging. We're usually working on two or three things at a time, but we have plenty of time to finish the assignments. As she develops ideas for our projects, our teacher always considers our portfolios. Therefore, she has us creating interesting projects in different mediums so we can really have a solid body of work to help us get into an awesome art school. Another thing I'm enjoying about this class is that some of the assignments are designs for functional things. I'm really interested in art-meets-real-life problem solving situations. I'm thinking that I might pursue a career in design, seeing as I'm too socially awkward to teach. So far, I've only photographed three of my finished projects, but there are more on the way.

This was the "found objects" project. I found some busted drum sticks in the basement (I play viola in The Bonobos. The basement was our old practice space. That website will be functioning soon, I hope...) I also found some aluminum wire, a bouncy ball, some twine, and some rocks. We found an abandoned bird's nest in a shrub. I really like the way that this project tied together. I hadn't originally set out to do the bird's nest thing, but after it all came together I was very intrigued by the similitude of my creation and the bird's nest, each composed of found objects.(Although I must say that my feeble
attempt to weave a "bird's nest" out of twine proved very frustrating and nerve wracking. Much respect to birds for their patience and beautiful craftsmanship. You win again.)

The idea behind this project was to create (out of clay) a finger pushing through fabric. I realize that mine happens to be slightly phallic, and I can live with that. This is basically a 3-D version of the style of hands I like to draw on paper. Hopefully I can find some photos of my figure drawings soon. They're missing :( Definitely my favorite figure artist and biggest influence is Egon Schiele. His paintings are amazing, but I'm particularly interested in his line drawings. I love the exaggeration of the lines, and how the figures, though often very tragic, are always so beautiful.

Let's see, where do I start...
Okay, this assignment was to find an image from a contemporary artist, make copies of it, cut them apart and rework them into a totally different piece. I have an amazing M.C. Escher Book, and I chose a piece entitled Doric Columns. I made a couple of 11" by 17" copies on card stock and cut them into triangles. Then, I took and old foam head I had lying around (???) and painted it black. (I see a foam head and I want to paint it black...) Finally, I painstakingly pinned all the little triangles onto the head, focusing on placing the yellow pieces on the highlighted parts of the face (and giving her golden blond hair.) Overall, I think it turned out to look like something from some bad video from the 80's. Which I think is totally great.

Baby's First Blog

2009-04-02T18:21:00.000-05:00

So, I guess the idea here is to create a little place where I can share all things art that are taking place in my life. First of all, some background...

After spending several years floundering around at different colleges pursuing different majors, I am currently studying art (focusing on printmaking) at Forest Park Community College in St. Louis. However, I been doing this for years now and will be graduating this fall. I guess I have mixed emotions about this fact. The thought of finishing school and working full time at a non-art-related job terrifies me. Ideally, I would love to be able to support myself as a working artist. However, I realize I am not alone in this dream, so I'm trying to take steps to ensure that this idea becomes something more than a pipe dream. Please?

Outside of school, I work on art at home. I'm really into silk screen, but have discovered that painting is pretty great also. I make a ton of little things (mostly watercolored illustrations of strange animals, also some acrylic paintings, silkscreen apparel and other things) that I sell at http://missmoniker.etsy.com

I'm also trying to focus more on showing my art. I'm having an art show (along with Matt Grant and Courtney Hartmann) on Saturday, April 11. More details on that to come...

Reading back over that was terribly boring.
I'll try to work on that.

This is an acrylic painting I sold on Etsy. I've got a real bad baby bird thing going on right now (bird flu?) that makes me want to paint a thousand birds all the time. I'm sure it will pass.

This is a French person. Collage. With googley eyes.

This is not art, this is Noodle. She's a little chihuahua that will be on my lap every time I do this...

This little guy is a small example of my Etsy world. There are many more mythological creatures to be found there...

This is one of a series of six Huskies that I made for my dear friend, Sara. She is also my "freakin' press agent." And I shall return the favor.

And another bird. Acrylic and collage. It's screaming.

And now for something entirely different... a baby bunny! He's all acrylic and adorable.

Soon I will be posting a lot more images, some newer Etsy things, awesome 3-D design projects, drawings/figure drawings, and a few things that will be in my upcoming show.