Children of Lir, by Lori Field    Photo courtesy of the artist and Claire Oliver Gallery

I was delighted to interview Lori Field for my latest West of Chelsea installment for the New York Times Local!

I talked with her about her new gallery in Chelsea (Claire Oliver), her background as a textile designer and illustrator, what inspires her creations, and her “Secret Drawer.”

Stop by and read for yourself how this New Jersey artist traversed the Hudson and wound up on the inside, looking out.

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Constructed Drwaing 00401 © Heidi Van Weiren

One of the great pleasures of my gig at the New York Times Local, is having a chance to meet all sorts of interesting artists and art professionals. Heidi Van Weiren is no exception.

Heidi’s work has been on my radar for a while; I’ve been drawn to her dreamy landscapes since first seeing them at Margaret Thatcher Projects in Chelsea a few years back. I imediately felt a kinship with her use of glue as a medium (the very first paintings in my Nowhere Here -2006 series were composed using glue as the layering medium).

Heidi — a native to western Michigan as well — will be joining me and over 1200 other artists in Grand Rapids, Mich. later this month, as we all take part in this very interesting experiment that is ArtPrize. I thought it would be interesting to look at what it takes to break into the New York art market as an outsider.

Read what she has to say…

Badlands 00701 © Heidi Van Weiren

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The man with the plan! Courtesy of Brian Kelly

I was delighted to interview Rick Devos this week, for my usual West of Chelsea feature on The New York Times Local. He’s the brainchild (and bucks) behind ArtPrize.

It’s not uncommon for big money to support art — but what he’s got going really does shake things up. You go Rick!

Check out the interview here!

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I first met Matthew Rothenberg in 1989 when I was living in San Francisco, at the legendary  Nikki’s BBQ on lower Haight street. He was a transplant — like myself and most everyone knew there — from some other place.

In the following years — getting to know him — I heard a lot about the music scene he left behind in San Diego in the early ’80s. I knew he had formed and played in several bands. I was amazed at what seemed like a lifetime of stories he would tell about a scene that lasted two years at the max.

Matthew often played the guitar and sang in that casual way people do when they live close. But I hadn’t heard him play in a more professional performance, until years after our first meeting, at a party his parents threw for us to celebrate our recent marriage.The party was in the beautiful garden of their San Diego home. Matthew reconnected with the band that dissolved when he left to live in San Francisco — Three Guys Called Jesus.

I remember it well, and always will. It was the moment I realized I married a rock star.

Years have  gone by, and bands have come and gone. Life gets busy; kids, house, work. Living in the New York area has taken Matthew further away from the family of friends he had in California. So I was pleased to see him start a blog a few years ago; “The Che Underground”, to reconnect with this part of his life.

Listen: Here's a blast from the past - Matthew's band's The HoHo's desktop video of Infinite Prague circa 1994!

I asked him a few questions about revisiting these old ghosts:

What’s the big idea behind your new blog?

I started it in early 2008 as a way for a small group of musicians I’d played with in San Diego in 1983 and 1984 to share music, pictures, flyers and stories.

Where does the name The Che Underground come from?

I retroactively named our old scene and new blog “The Che Underground” in honor of the Che Cafe at the University of California, San Diego, where we played many of our best shows.

What’s the reception been?

We found people who hadn’t seen each other, much less played together, in 25 years … Then more people started finding us on the Web. Now, we’ve located practically everybody we knew from those days, we’ve attracted San Diego musicians from other scenes, and we’re pulling in 7,000 or 8,000 visitors a month.

Do you see this project taking shapes you hadn’t originally planned?

I thought this was just going to be an online reunion, but it actually inspired a real-world get-together! In late May, we put together a two-night performance event at San Diego’s Casbah club that reunited eight of these bands and brought musicians and fans from all over the country and as far away as Nairobi.

People really seem to like the idea of social networking as an opportunity to revisit social history. We got coverage on Wired.com and all over the San Diego press. And we’re seeing correspondence from other fans, old and new, all around the world.

Seems like this could translate into other “scenes”…

In fact, I’m working now on a new project that extends social-networking concepts to other rock-’n'-roll scenes, wherever they sprang up; I hope to make the magic we’ve experienced available to anyone who ever felt part of a musical scene, past or present.

Swoon!

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Susan Napack's studio is a delight everywhere you look!

This week I visited with artist Susan Napack in my West of Chelsea feature for The New York Times Local.

The first time I ever saw Susan’s work was at an opening for a show she had at The Dancing Goat — local cafe and performance space. The “Goat” is now defunct, but Susan’s work left a lasting impression.

Susan describes her work as “an offbeat examination of found objects and nature culled from these collections — including hundreds of wishbones — which have supplied material for sculpture, digitally enhanced photographs, drawings and paintings.”

I would descibe them as pure magic!

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Looking at Thea Clark’s jewelry in a photo, you may think you’re enjoying a piece of sculpture . Her one-of-a-kind pieces stretch the boundaries of what we think of jewelry. Combining unusual materials such as felt, linen and PVC plastic, she addresses issues such as women’s identity in society.Read more about Thea’s fascinating work and life, in my third installment of The New York Times Local’s West of Chelsea.

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Touch by Jennifer Lewis Takahashi

In my second installment of West of Chelsea for the New York Times Local, I interviewed Jennifer Lewis Takahashi.

Jennifer spins a web with her fascinating still lifes. She talks with me about her work and life; reflecting on how one influences the other.

Still life was the best subject because I could arrange things exactly how I wanted them. That, along with my realistic style, felt like a dot of control in a blaze of chaos! These compositions were busy and crowded and echoed how I was feeling in many ways.

In my own struggles with realism, I admire her ability to express herself in this context, and do it in such an engaging way.

Read it here, then tell me what you think!

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Join me as I peek into the beehive of activity that is New Jersey’s art scene. In my new feature for the New York Times blog I’ll be exploring the vibrant visual art scene on this side of the Hudson- especially its relationship to the centers of gravity just across the river.

My first visit is with Sarah Petruziello and her haunting self portaits. Armed with only graphite and eraser, Sarah weaves a spell, making me wonder, what lies within those darkest blacks?

Nocturne by Sarah Petruziello

I Am the Consumer by Sarah Petruziello

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