La Napoule
The stars have aligned and the sea has parted… In the company of my mother and my young daughter, I am going to travel to the South of France to spend a week at a chateau-turned-art foundation on the Mediterranean.
The stars have aligned and the sea has parted… In the company of my mother and my young daughter, I am going to travel to the South of France to spend a week at a chateau-turned-art foundation on the Mediterranean. There, we will bask on the beach, play in the gardens, and I will attempt to make some new work. It promises to be a make-your-own-adventure artist’s sojourn.
A bit about La Napoule…
Marie Clews founded La Napoule Art Foundation in 1951 in memory of her husband, a prolific sculptor. It was her dream to create an international center for the arts at the Château that would promote cultural exchange and understanding.
Art is a peaceful and spiritual occupation and must flourish brightly to offset the horrors of war and maintain the balance of the human mind.
- Marie Clews
For over sixty years, LNAF has hosted performances, residencies and exhibitions at the Château de La Napoule by artists the world over. In the last decade, LNAF has expanded its impact by hosting exhibitions and community outreach programs in the United States, as well as in France. La Napoule Art Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Photographer Photographed
Oakland-based photographer Mo Saito has a gift for portraiture. His work is varied and has been published far and wide, but he’s best known for his canine photography. Recently, I got wind that he was doing an artist portraiture project, and I volunteered to serve as a subject.
Oakland-based photographer Mo Saito has a gift for portraiture. His work is varied and has been published far and wide, but he's best known for his canine photography. Recently, I got wind that he was doing an artist portraiture project, and I volunteered to serve as a subject.
We met on a rainy wintery afternoon in my studio. I had my toddler in tow, and the lighting was terrible. But we had a lovely meeting, during which I told him a bit about my work and studio practice. Afterwards, Mo suggested that we do a three generational shoot with my mother-and-often-muse at his place. On a gentle spring morning in the Bay Area sun, we did a breezy photo session. His style was calm, confident, and supportive. I think the photos are beautiful, and I see something new each time I revisit them.
Many thanks to Mo for lending us his skillful gaze and gifting us with these images.
Photographer: Mo Saito
Petty Theft
Shortly after C was born, I took a short leave of our newborn cacoon to photograph friend and poet Nicholas Friedman for his forthcoming collection of poetry. We’re so excited that it is finally out and available. Buy it, read it. Cover to cover. Enjoy.
Shortly after C was born, I took a short leave of our newborn cacoon to photograph friend and poet Nicholas Friedman for his forthcoming collection of poetry. We're so excited that it is finally out and available. Buy it, read it. Cover to cover. Enjoy.
Miami
As the Northern California rainy winter started to settle in, SLATE Art (my day job) dispatched to sun drenched Miami.
As the Northern California rainy winter started to settle in, SLATE Art (my day job) dispatched to sun-drenched Miami.
The trip was the SLATE staff's amazing holiday gift, and it was a stunning whirlwind through the city's annual art fair scene. From Basel to Context to Art Miami to Juxtapose, my eyes and mind quickly became saturated. I felt like a sponge soaking it all in, particularly given the personal timing of the trip on the heels of one year of deeply focused motherhood.
While the rest of the SLATE team was there for almost I week, I only stole away for a few days. I packed light and opted to take Holga along for the ride. Here a few snaps from Miami Beach and the fairs...
Hello, Holga
Early on in my new motherhood, it became clear that the Rolleiflex was not a feasible camera for use while front baby-carrying.
Early on in my new motherhood, it became clear that the Rolleiflex was not a feasible camera for use while front baby-carrying.
First, it's a bit of a tank, adding non-trivial weight when one is already carrying an infant; but, more importantly, it poises a real threat to knocking baby out (or worse...) with its sheer heft and sharp angles. Second, to even get a shot off while one also has a child strapped to the chest, one would need a wider wingspan than I possess. So, we've welcomed Holga into the family.
Holga is a plastic toy camera. Its body is lightweight and fosters unpredictable results. It's known for vignetting and light leaks onto the medium format file it holds. To embrace Holga is to embrace chance. Our first few rounds of images aren't much to write home about, but that is no surprise. We'll keep at it, hopefully getting to know each other better as time goes on.
She's Arrived
Our beautiful daughter, Cecilia Mae, has arrived. Early and with drama.
But she is healthy, and we are over-the-moon happy.
Pictured here with her maternal grandmother, Mormor, with the trusty ole Rolleiflex.
Our beautiful daughter, Cecilia Mae, has arrived. Early and with drama.
But she is healthy, and we are over-the-moon happy.
Pictured here with her maternal grandmother, Mormor, with the trusty ole Rolleiflex.
Montreal
My mother (and often muse) and I have each visited Montreal in the company of others, but never together. So, we made plans to leave our opposite coasts and reunited in this Canadian metropolis, humming with French and teeming with beauty.
My mother (and often muse) and I have each visited Montreal in the company of others, but never together. So, we made plans to leave our opposite coasts and reunited in this Canadian metropolis, humming with French and teeming with beauty.
With my Rolleiflex in tow and a good stock of film, I was excited to photograph the city with this special camera. However, in the first trimester of pregnancy, I found my energy was failing me as I doggedly tried to keep up with my energetic mom as we crisscrossed town on foot. The Rolleiflex grew heavier and heavier, and my psychic energy was too crowded to see my potential shots properly. So, I opted to leave the beast at our hotel for most of our wanderings and just focus on being present in this special moment.
The two spots that I did determinedly drag it along for was a visit to McGill University's Redpath Museum of natural history and the Mont-Royal Cemetery, where we paid our respects to Leonard Cohen.
Above image: courtesy of my mom, documenting me peering through the Rolleiflex.
Spring Desert Camping
With the Rollioflex in hand, we struck out this spring on a camping excursion to Picacho State Recreation Area on the Colorado River. Photographs taken with Kodak TMax 400 B&W film.
With the Rollioflex in hand, we struck out this spring on a camping excursion to Picacho State Recreation Area on the Colorado River.
Photographs taken with Kodak TMax 400 B&W film.
Women's March Oakland
The Women’s March is a national movement to unify and empower everyone who stands for human rights, civil liberties, and social justice for all. We stand together in solidarity for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families — recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.
The Women's March is a national movement to unify and empower everyone who stands for human rights, civil liberties, and social justice for all. We stand together in solidarity for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families -- recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.
Full statement of the Women's March Bay Area available here >
Photographs taken on January 21, 2017, at the Women's March Oakland with a twin lens reflex camera.
Isabella
Shortly after the new year began, we went back in time with a visit to the Isabella Steward Gardener Museum.
Shortly after the new year began, we went back in time with a visit to the Isabella Steward Gardener Museum.
Founded by Bostonian art collector and patron Isabella Steward Gardner in 1900, the museum operates under a mandate by Gardener that her collection be open to the public according to her "aesthetic vision and intent." The museum is housed in a villa she fashioned after a fifteenth century Venetian palace that wraps around a central courtyard. The notorious lighting varies from flooding skylights to dim interior rooms in a nod to authenticity and a bow to conservation concerns.
With an old twin lens reflex camera and slow Kodak Portra 160 film, I photographed select spaces that felt especially charged in their interplay of her objets d'art and the day's winter light.
Found Forgotten Film
Over the last few months, I have been turning back to film…
My studio practice has been so consumed with archaic photography printing processes, that it only seems fitting to now turn my sights back on the medium of film for image capture. With this turn, I have once again begun taking out my inherited Canon SLR, the camera that I first learned on in art school. The SLR was housing a half shot roll of four-year forgotten film, and so I took it to Stanford’s cactus garden to become re-acquainted. The space has the feeling of existing outside of time, so it seemed like an appropriate locale for such an activity. The results were rather satisfyingly strange.
Over the last few months, I have been turning back to film...
My studio practice has been so consumed with archaic photography printing processes, that it only seems fitting to now turn my sights back on the medium of film for image capture. With this turn, I have once again begun taking out my inherited Canon SLR, the camera that I first learned on in art school. The SLR was housing a half shot roll of four-year forgotten film, and so I took it to Stanford's cactus garden to become re-acquainted. The space has the feeling of existing outside of time, so it seemed like an appropriate locale for such an activity. The results were rather satisfyingly strange.
Robinwood Zine
Printed in conjunction with the Robinsong exhibition, a Robinwood Zine is now available.
Printed in conjunction with the Robinsong exhibition, a Robinwood Zine is now available.
The plans for Robinwood, my maternal grandparents' hand-built Michigan home were lifted from the December 1946 issue of Better Homes & Gardens. With this origin in print, the Robinwood series now includes a special zine that tells the story of the house and the relationship of its residents to it, illustrated with the artworks that make up this series.
The zine is available for purchase for $18 + shipping. To order, please use the contact page here >
Jillian Piccirilli, Robinwood Zine, cover (2016)
Jillian Piccirilli, Robinwood Zine, interior spread (2016)
ROBINSONG
Installation images, press release, and details for the 2016 exhibition of Robinwood.
ROBINSONG
Classic Cars West | 411 26th Street, Oakland, CA
August 4 - September 25, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday, August 5, 6-10pm
Second Reception: Friday, September 2, 6-10pm
Oakland, CA Classic Cars West is pleased to present Robinsong, a solo exhibition by Jillian Piccirilli. This special installation explores one family’s notions of home and the American Dream. Robinsong features archaic mixed media photography, text, sound, familial artifacts, and site-specific installations that immerse visitors in the story of the artist’s family’s bygone home Robinwood. While it is a deeply personal story, the triumphs and tragedies of this clan offer wider resonance through a tale of love, loss, searching, and belonging.
Robinwood was the home of Jim King, a carpenter, and Mae (Carlson) King, an amateaur photographer. With blueprints lifted from the 1946 issue of Better Homes & Gardens, the Kings built Robinwood on Michigan cow pasture land with sweat, luck, and their modest means. And it was the locus of their lives for sixty years. Piccirilli’s mourning after her grandparents’ passings led to this swan song series for these makers and their homestead. Drawing upon Mae’s photographs and the artist’s own, Robinwood lives on in over fifty cyanotypes, each cast with gum bichromate color and handpainted. This special installation of the series at Classic Cars West’s gallery space also features furniture pieces built by Jim and arranged in a special site-specific installation, subtle sound works that hark back to Robinwood’s soundscapes, as well as new prints to the series.
About the Artist : Jillian Piccirilli creates series-driven art grounded in narrative, histories, and collaboration. Often born of a preoccupation with nostalgia and loss, her work seeks to give these personal aches tangible form through imagery that draws upon play and whimsy. She studied art and anthropology at Cornell University, where she was the recipient of the University’s Faculty Medal of Art and Charles Goodwin Sands Memorial Medal of Art. She has exhibited in California, Colorado, New York, and Rhode Island, where her Providence Art Windows public art installation garnered praise in the Washington Post. In 2012, she moved to Oakland, CA, where she maintains a rigorous studio practice. Currently, her work focuses on archaic photographic printing methods that operate at the intersection of photography, painting, and printmaking.
About the Gallery : Alongside their selection of classic vehicles, Classic Cars West hosts locally and internationally known artists in their spacious garage-cum-gallery. Largely installation-based, Classic Cars West’s exhibitions are expansive and experimental in their approach to space and the role of the viewer in the act of creation.
About the Curator : Dasha Matsuura is an Oakland-based independent curator and assistant director of Spoke Art (San Francisco). Matsuura curates three exhibitions a year at Classic Cars West, in addition to serving on the Board of Directors of Oakland Art Murmur.
Classic Cars West
411 26th Street, Oakland, CA
classiccarswest.com
Hours : Wednesday - Friday 5-10 pm, Saturday 11-10 pm, Sunday 11-3 pm
Free & open to the public
Open Studios
We’re opening our studio door for East Bay Open Studios 2016: Saturday 6.4 + Sunday 6.5! Read more…
OPEN STUDIO
Sat 6.4 + Sun 6.5.16 / 10a - 7p3246 Ettie Street, Studio 15, Oakland, CA
Jillian Piccirilli showing archaically printed photographs
Carol Ladewig showing paintings, drawings, prints
The Process
Having worked in archives and history being a central crux to my art, I thought it worthwhile to arrange to have my ongoing archaic printing process documented. Here is a selection of images following me through the cyanotype process from studio, to dark room, to rooftop sunlight exposure, and back to the darkroom again.
Special thanks to my talented and prolific photographer, Aaron Piccirilli.
Ocean / Ocean
Strong sunlight suitable for printing my cyanotype, gum dichromate, and Van Dyke prints has become a rarity over these winter months. So, I have been plotting out new projects while I await the sunshine’s return.
Strong sunlight suitable for printing my cyanotype, gum dichromate, and Van Dyke prints has become a rarity over these winter months. So, I have been plotting out new projects while I await the sunshine's return.One such gestating project takes the oceans as its subject. These are obviously deep entities with storied pasts and uncertain futures with geopolitical implications. But growing up along the Atlantic and now living by the Pacific has allowed them to be familiar fellow bodies. As I begin taking my initial studies, though, I do not yet know what direction my own inquiry might take.But there is perhaps something poetic about turning to the ocean while awaiting the sun.
Late Summer Exhibition
Opening First Friday, August 5, a very special installation of my Robinwood series will be on view at Classic Cars West.
Opening First Friday, August 5, a very special installation of my Robinwood series will be on view at Classic Cars West.
ROBINSONG
Classic Cars West
411 26th Street, Oakland, CA
Aug 4 – Sept 17, 2016
Opening: Oakland Art Murmur’s First Friday, Aug 5
Featuring new additions to the series and a special site-specific installation. Curated by Dasha Matsuura.
Alongside their selection of classic vehicles, Classic Cars West hosts locally and internationally known artists in their spacious garage-cum-gallery. Largely installation-based, Class Car West’s exhibition are expansive and experimental in their approach to space and the role of the viewer in the act of creation.
Mamas
For the past year+, I have had my head down working on my third alternative photography project. Following the Hemland and Robinwood series, I decided to tackle my Mama series through the fresh lens of archaic printing.
For the past year+, I have had my head down working on my third alternative photography project. Following the Hemland and Robinwood series, I decided to tackle my Mama series through the fresh lens of archaic printing.It's really been more like three projects than one, and it's been slow going with seemingly endless months of experimentation and testing of various approaches and color combinations. With our fantastically long and hot summer, I was able to accumulate an obscene pile of test prints...for better or for worse.
Now, in the midst of winter, I am pleased to have the Mama Brolly series down pretty well pat, though it's through a terribly labor intensive printing process that allows for ruining your print at ever turn. Mama Vinter is finally resolved and ready to go full speed ahead. And Mama Yaga is just at the cusp of resolution.It's terribly exciting and all I want to do it print! But, again, it's winter. The sun is scarce. Clouds are plentiful. Much needed rain is perpetually lurking. So, I quietly and selfishly mutter to myself...Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun...
From the Dark Room
It’s been a busy time in the dark room running test after test, screwing with negative color profiles, experimenting with different pigment combinations. Many of the results should be burned. But some mysterious surprises have also emerged.
It's been a busy time in the dark room running test after test, screwing with negative color profiles, experimenting with different pigment combinations. Many of the results should be burned. But some mysterious surprises have also emerged.This print is an unexpected pleasure: base print of cyanotype with a sketchy layer of Van Dyke Brown on top. It is spurring more new ideas and, of course, more experiments. The idea of incorporating some more painterly, gestural work into this series is an exciting and intimidating one for me... Stay tuned.
Murmur Art Auction
On October 10th, Oakland Art Murmur will be hosting its annual Benefit + Art Auction extravaganza. And a piece from my Robinwood series will in attendance and on the preverbal auction block.
Post-Event UPDATE
I am happy to report that the Benefit was a wonderfully successful event! And am so flattered that there was a very civil bidding war over my piece. Video of the event, with cameos of myself at the check-in table + my piece hanging on the wall. Enjoy!