Kathryn Downing

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Illustration Friday: Ahead

This is my poster design for Artcrank Des Moines, and I thought it fit this week’s IF topic as well. If you’re in or around Des Moines, stop by and buy some posters.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Baby Tattooville 2009: What Happened

So back in October I attended this little art event called Baby Tattooville. Never heard of it? It’s a weekend organized by Baby Tattoo Books. 45 lucky people get to spend the weekend in the fabulous Mission Inn with 11+ amazing artists. If you’re into the lowbrow/pop surrealism/whatever-you-want- to-call-it movement, this is definitely cool. I had heard of the event in the past and wanted to go, but this year I decided at the last minute to just shell out the money and go. It’s one of the gutsiest things I’ve done recently. If you know me, you know how uncomfortable I am socializing in large groups of people. So going to California alone without knowing anyone or without really knowing what to expect was both scary and exciting. I’ve bet you’ve never seen me excited, have you? That should tell you something.

First up, was checking in and going to the welcome panel. My flight was late getting in and I was having a hard time figuring out exactly where I needed to go, but James Gurney was drawing in the chapel courtyard and was kind enough to point me in the right direction. The Mission Inn is an amazing place, but there’s a reason they give you a map when you check in. You definitely need it! Each attendee received some free stuff and a Miss Mindy token that would be used in a drawing later. At the welcome panel, the artists were introduced and Bob Self (the man with the plan) shared what would be going on during the next couple of days. We were told one lucky person would get to take home a huge painting by Johnny Rodriguez which kind of blew everyone away. Then he revealed a print that combined 11 different paintings into one and the artists got to signing while everyone socialized.

For dinner, we walked a couple blocks to Tios Tacos. The “yard” behind the restaurant is filled with the owner’s junk sculptures which were really unique and had a sense of humor. The weather was great. The food was okay. The surroundings were inspirational. After eating and socializing, the artists started the 24 hour Art Jam collaborative painting.

After watching everyone paint for a while, we headed to the Riverside Art Museum to take in “Son of Baby Tattooville”, an art exhibition featuring work of the eleven artists. Art Jam paintings from previous Baby Tattovilles were also on display. This was followed by a Dr. Sketchy’s life drawing session. I’ve always wanted to do Dr. Sketchy’s and have actually thought about starting a group here in Des Moines, but I was an idiot and didn’t bring a sketchbook. Doh! It’s not much fun standing around watching a sexy model without anything to draw on (maybe some guys would argue with that) so I hung around for a while and then headed back to the hotel for the Curious Art Store. Too bad, I hear I missed the male model!

The rest of the evening was checking out the items in the store, watching the Art Jam, and just hanging out. The art store contained original paintings, prints, sculptures, toys, books, t-shirts, masks, drawings and more. I ended up buying a set of Tim Biskup prints, an Audrey Kawasaki print and pin and some Tara McPherson prints. I would have loved to buy more, but I’ve still got to pay the bills.

I woke up early Saturday and had a chance to hang out with Travis Louie and Bob Self while most people were sleeping. The day was filled with more Art Jam action and reverse studio visits by Yoskay Yamamoto, Audrey Kawasaki reverse studio visit, Miss Mindy, and Liz McGrath. What’s a reverse studio visit? Basically, each artist brought their tools from the studio to the hotel, showed us their process and answered questions.

Miss Mindy drew a winner, and then it was time for the Johnny Rodriguez painting giveaway. We had all been talking about what we would do if we won the painting. We hoped that whoever won it had room for it and a way to get it home. We each drew an envelope and were told to all open our cards at the same time. Lo and behold, we were all winners. What? People were a little confused until they turned the painting around and we saw that it was actually multiple panels bolted together. We would each get to take home a panel which was cool.  In the evening, attendees had the opportunity to buy paintings by the 11 artists. Each artist had one painting in the store. Attendees were each assigned a number and the lowest number got first pick. I had one of the highest numbers, but there were several paintings still for sale. If only I had the money. The evening really started to ramp up in the final minutes of the Art Jam.

I had heard people talking about finding doll parts in their hotel room along with a hand-written letter from Alice. For whatever reason, I didn’t get one but the letter basically said to meet in the catacombs at 9pm. In order to do that we had to figure out where the hotel catacombs were and who Alice was. The hotel catacombs are off-limits to visitors but they made an exception for us. Once in the catacombs we watched a little video that led into groups of us following clues to figure out what Alice’s secret was. A cameraman from Nightline was following our group around which was a little embarrassing because we felt like we had no idea what we were doing. The funny thing was, we followed the clues correctly but another group had taken our final clue which totally threw us off. After the big reveal, complete with a projected Alice on the Chapel stained glass everyone gravitated to rooms for either partying or in my case food and sleep. You know I’m not the partying type. I just don’t know what I would do in Michael Hussar’s room with naked women except sit around and look awkward

The next morning we gathered for the largest and most diverse brunch buffet I’ve ever seen, complete with sushi and a chocolate fountain. There was more hanging out and sketching while we waited our turn to get our goodie bags. I didn’t take photos of every item, but there are some of the things I took home on Flickr. We made a final run to the buffet for “lunch” and I had to figure out what I was going to do the rest of the day because, unlike most attendees, my flight wouldn’t leave until the next morning. I ended up hanging out with a new friend exploring the hotel and surrounding shops, eating fish tacos for dinner, and then trying to figure out how to pack all my stuff without ruining it. There was a shipping company I could have payed to have pack up my stuff, but I didn’t trust them and I did have room for everything in my bags.

You can read more about Baby Tattooville here.