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Thursday, November 7, 2013

The Art of Roleplaying Games

So here we are, a year since the last Art of Roleplaying Games show, which proved to be a resounding success. Chris Pramas and I decided it would be fun to do another one - just not during the height of Convention Season. So we chose the relatively quiet month of November.

The Art of Roleplaying Games II got off to a shaky start in part to Chris developing a bulging disk in his cervical spine and needing surgery in September. Despite a very successful surgery and recovery, Chris was AWOL for most of September, recouping at home. Meanwhile, while holding the fort, I had a wicked cold that knocked me down hard (I have no immune system to speak of). To add, my family suffered the loss of my grandfather, and Gabe Marquez announced his plans to leave Krab Jab Studio the following month. My fort-holding was hanging by a thread, to say the least.
Vinod Rams, Red Dragon Codex
The good thing was that most of the artists from last year were open to contributing to this year, with a strong show of local talent. We have our "regulars" - RK Post, Heather Hudson, Terese Nielsen, and Echo Chernik - along with Samuel Araya, Liz Danforth, Anthony S Waters and Drew Tucker from last year. New to Krab Jab is Franz Vohwinkel, Vinod Rams, Pierre Carles, Chuck Lukacs and David Nash. Resident Krab Jabber Mark Tedin rounds out the list.
Heather Hudson, Out of the Closet
From Green Ronin's collection, we have three modified skulls by Jason Soles, and from Harebrained Schemes collection we have the Larry Elmore Shadowrun cover from 1989, and a Shadowrun Returns "Stuffer Shack" concept piece.

The games represented are a variety, from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, to Shadowrun. Star Wars, Battletech, Mage Knight, Dragonlance, Heresy, Earthdawn, Unhallowed Metropolis and Wheel of Time are some of the other names of games, with a few publication pieces from Eldritch Entertainment, Onyx Path, and Pagan Publishing.
Raven Mimura, Combat Mage
But let's say you don't play these games. You don't even know what roleplaying is, what those clunky dice are used for or why there is a need for character sheets. Can you really enjoy a show like this? The answer is yes, and here's why:

Roleplaying games allow people to create fantastical characters and run them through "campaigns". The artwork created for these games are meant to get our own creative, fantastical juices flowing. They paint a picture of the future, of the past, of alien worlds filled with mythical creatures. It's pure fantasy in its basic form, giving the viewer a glimpse of a world that is filled with potential to manipulate and experience. You can't tell me that people who don't game have no fantasy life, no "other place/other time" their imaginations vacation to from time to time.
Samuel Araya, Teloch Vovin
This collection of 32 pieces of art is worth the time to absorb, to enjoy, and for gamers, to reminisce and connect. Even if you don't game (and I don't) its a really great collection of pieces to check out. These are top notch artists - you don't have to be into fantasy to see that.

This show runs through December 5th, 2013. - Julie Baroh

Friday, October 11, 2013

DIVINITY: The Art of Divination

Every October, Krab Jab Studio has a Halloween show. Last year we had a Halloween show called OUIJA, devoted to the Ouija board, which was a great success (at least we thought so).  I wasn't sure how to top that - it was a pretty sweet show, complete with vintage Ouija boards - so in an effort to be fair to all the ways one would call the spirits of Beyond, I decided on the broad spectrum of DIVINITY.

Divination has been an art since the dawn of Man. Communities often had one specific member whose task it was to communicate to the spirits, to the gods and goddesses, to the earth and nature, to the ancestors. This person - shaman, prophet, witch, seer, priest or priestess, or divine ruler - was meant to heal the sick, placate the unseen forces of nature, seek the will of the gods/goddesses and otherwise keep their community safe, strong and healthy. Prayer, meditation, and offering was usually the simplest form of divination (and still is) but over thousands of years Man has employed many unique methods of divination, some beautiful, some ghastly and bizarre.

My curatorial challenge to the artists of this show was to create a piece of work based on a form of divination. I was a little worried that I would, in return, get an entire show full of tarot cards, not that there's anything wrong with those, but honestly, tarot reading is actually a newer form of divination and we're pretty saturated in tarot images in our current western culture. A couple cards is one thing, but a show of them is, well, a TAROT show. I like tarot cards, mind you - I even used to do readings for people long ago - but, eh, as a curator I'd be a little bored being surrounded by twenty versions of the Death card. There's a whole world out there!!!

I was not disappointed. My artists came through, from the unique to the hilarious. I'll touch on the various forms of divination you can see in this collection of work.

TAROT
Laura Cameron

Erick Lingbloom

Echo Chernik

Javier S Ortega

Stephanie Law

 
Probably the most well known of the arcane divination tools is the tarot deck. Comprised of Major and Minor Arcana, a deck is made of four suits (Cups, Wands, Swords, Pentacles of the Minor Arcana) and 22 iconic trump cards (the Major Arcana). Played out in a variety of layouts, one can use the cards to query the future or decide on a directive in life. Not surprisingly, most of the illustrators in our show (Stephanie Law, Echo Chernik of Echo-X, and Erick Lingbloom) chose tarot as their subject.

In a way, the tarot deck is less of a divination tool and more of an allegorical pathfinder. But since it often allows the reader to key into their natural abilities to see beyond the here and now, it sits nicely within DIVINITY. Plus, the decks are often beautiful and thought provoking, touching the psyche on multiple levels.

On the Artists: Laura Cameron is a Seattle artist with a focus on the esoteric in her work. Her tarot card is based on a deck with an LGBT theme. Erick Lingbloom is an up and coming Seattle illustrator we discovered through Brian Snoddy (Erick was one of his students) who has a bright future ahead. Echo Chernik's piece in this show is unusual: known for her digital masterpieces in the Art Nouveau style, this tiny oil painting is an example of the handiwork she has accomplished. Stephanie Law is an illustrator well known in the faerie genre; this piece is from her Shadowscape Tarot deck and book. Javier S Ortega, Spanish-born Seattle artist, is known for his large-eyed, emotionally tense surreal paintings and portraits, so it's apropos he choose an optic reflection for a subject.

DIVINING ROD
Kelly Lyles
Dowsing is a form of divination with nature, or more specifically, searching for ground water, gold, or other earth elements underground. It is also a relatively newer form of divination, first recorded in about the late medieval period in Europe. Using a Y-shaped stick or two metal rods, the dowser would locate the element when the stick would "magnetically" point to the ground, or the two metal rods would cross each other. Unlike other forms of divination, the dowser need not be especially "sensitive" to psychical or spiritual phenomena, though possibly magnetically sensitive to the earth.

On the Artist: Longtime old school Seattle artist Kelly Lyles is mostly known for her pet portraits and modified art cars, but she has no fear treading into the mystical.

RUNES
Lazarus Chernik
Runes are a Scandinavian alphabet, and rune stones have been used for magical and divinatory readings for well over a thousand years. The likelihood of them used by the mundane level of society is slim; it is more reasonable to believe that they were read by an elite level of the Scandinavian community, such as an Elder trained in mysticism. The rune stones would reveal omens and signs. Runes could also charge objects with power (such as a sword). Much like the Hebrew alphabet, runes are a form of word and letter divination.

On the Artist: Lazarus Chernik has been researching runes and their meanings for many years. In this show he displays not only an alphabet (depicting the flow of the runes, as one would show the cyclical path of water) but his own personal collection of rune stones he created for casting and reading. Check out his Kickstarter here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lazarusblack/runabok-the-origin-of-the-runes-and-mysteries-reve

ONEIROMANCY and ORACLES

faceOdd


Heather Hudson
 Oneiromancy is the divination within dreams. This has been a realm commonly used by prophets and shamans for thousands of years. In fact, shamans often work within the world of dreams, whether interpreting the dreams of those who seek them, or themselves working within the landscape of the divine dream, most often treating those who have lost bits of their souls (in psychology this is known as disassociation) in an effort to return those lost parts to the Greater Self.

Oneiromancy was also a popular form of divination with the Greek and Roman cultures, although in Greece the most famous form of divination was the Oracle of Delphi, known as Pythia. Pythia would only speak her utterances on the 7th day of the month, chewing bits of the laurel leaf while inhaling noxious volcanic fumes through a crack in the floor of the inner sanctum of the Delphic temple. In a trance she would reveal the prophecies delivered to her through the powers of Apollo.

On the Artists: faceOdd is the artistic name of Tamara Clammer, a Seattle mask maker and leather sculptor who sculpted this piece directly off her own face purely by intuition. Heather Hudson is a publication illustrator we've been showing since day 1, and never ceases to come up with interesting takes on a host of subjects, often touching into the beautifully bizarre of a well researched subject matter.

SPIKEOMANCY

Terese Nielsen and Sindy Todo

This is a concept developed by illustrator Terese Nielsen and Sindy Todo. Sindy is a sensitive who developed a passion for rail road ties (spikes) of which she collects and embellishes. Together, Terese and Sindy developed Spikeomancy. They write:

In the early 1800s steam engines criss-crossed their way across an infant nation. The newly built railroads rapidly expanded the country westward giving its citizens the freedom to grow their lives as they discovered endless plains, golden riches and, in the end, themselves.
 
Spikeomancy echoes these pioneer roots. Just as the railroads twisted, turned, and meandered, so do our lives. What direction will your future go? How do you change paths? Do you feel stuck or maybe just cautious? Are you starting something new or clearing away the past? Let your spirit point the way.

On the Artist: Normally Terese Nielsen works as an illustrator in the game industry, but this project intrigued her, and I think she faired well into this sculptural challenge. Ultimately Terese and Sindy hope to turn this prototype into a marketable divining tool.

HARUSPICY
Drew Tucker

Kree Arvanitas

Haruspicy is the divination art that is probably one of the more unusual and gruesome. After an animal is sacrificed, it's entrails or liver (or sometimes other bits) are examined by a haruspex (a person trained in reading the signs in the goop) for omens.

Etruscans used the entrails of an animal (usually a sheep) to read the omens.  Moroccans would throw a live iguana onto a fire, and would read into the popping and exploding trajectory of the corpse as they burst forth from the sizzling flames.

About the Artists: Drew Tucker is a game illustrator and furniture maker who enjoys the absurd and can see the humor in just about anything, we've found. Kree Arvanitas is a Seattle painter and henna artist whose work is often heavily influenced by Eastern lore and mysticism.

AUSPICY
Tara Larsen Chang
Auspicy is the art of reading into the nature of birds, usually of crows and ravens. An auspice or augur will take note of the time of day, the number of the birds, and the behavior of the birds to indicate a good or bad omen. Tibetan Buddhism has used auspicy for hundreds of years.

Counting crows is the most well known type of auspicy, particularly in England. There are several versions of a children's chant based off of this divination, which goes like this:

One for sorrow, two for mirth,
Three for a wedding, four for a birth,
Five for silver, six for gold,
Seven for a secret not to be told.
Eight for heaven, nine for hell,
And ten for the devil's own sel'.

About the Artist: Tara Larsen Chang has illustrated children's books for years, and children are often incorporated into her work. This piece is part of a series she is working on in regards to the unfortunate pet choices of children.

IN CONCLUSION

We have several other pieces in this show that describe the artist's take on those who have abilities to divinate and even a fantasy of divination in motion (make sure to check out Yvette Endrijautzki's Bosch-like sculpture). Margaret Organ-Kean chose childlike whimsy in her Cooty Catcher, and Ellen Miffitt touches on the self-divine of meditation with her six tiny pieces of mixed media.
David Thierree

ShirrStone Shelter Dolls

Yvette Endrijautzki
Michael Kimble
One the Artists: David Thierree is a French painter with a focus on fantasy and faerie lore, which is not surprising considering his roots in Celtic Brittany. ShirrStone Shelter Dolls is the Russian duo of Olga and Nikolay, creators of delicate, porcelain dolls with a hint of low brow to them. They are a new addition to the Krab Jab showcase. Yvette Endrijautzki is a German-born Seattle assemblage artist who has a knack for constructing three dimensional fantasies of the bizarre (but optically pleasing). Michael Kimble, known for his game illustrations, often takes a gritty approach to his subject matter that tips its hat to his classical and graphical roots. Ellen Miffitt is a Pacific Northwest artist with a feel of deep meditation and self awareness to her work, being the calm within the show's storm. Margaret Organ-Kean is known in the book arts world as a watercolor illustrator, and her piece (an obvious bow to the Dream Catcher) brings whimsy and childlike humor to round out the mix.

As a group, the show is fun, thoughtful, morbidly silly and well executed. I couldn't have conjured up a better show myself!
-Julie Baroh, October 10th 2013

Ellen Miffitt
POST SCRIPT
After receiving the art and working on the display, I was so uplifted and inspired that I came up with an idea for a piece of my own, based on the Ouija board but using a crow's skull as the planchette, guided by a magnetic rod that two people would maneuver under the board with their fingers. The crow's beak would point to letters to spell out messages from beyond. As I write this, I have been putting this board together and I sincerely hope I can display it for this show.


Sunday, September 15, 2013

Building on a Golden Age: Creating a Dream

About eight months ago, as I was working on wrapping up the 2013 schedule for the gallery at Krab Jab Studio, I had a few blank months to fill, September being one of them. At the time, I was corresponding with Jeff Menges, who was working on the collaborative book project celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the game Magic: the Gathering, of which both of us were contributors (and he the publisher). He knows I am a huge Golden Age of Illustration fanatic, and has indulged me over the years by sending me books on the subject that he's edited with Dover Publishing. Jeff is an expert on the subject, so he is always an easy earbend when I babble over great illustrators such as Arthur Rackham or Howard Pyle.

 Captain Keitt by Howard Pyle
I don't remember if he suggested it or I did, but the idea of a show celebrating The Golden Age of Illustration (a period of time between 1895 and 1925) came up. He mentioned that he knew several illustrators whose work was directly affected by the art of that time: names like James Gurney, Gregory Manchess and Donato Giancola popped up. I locked on like a heat-seeking missile, and the idea of the show was born.

Why is this period of time so special? There are a few answers, some more technical than others, but basically the technology of printing in color had advanced, allowing printers to reproduce subtle values and colors like never before. Coupled with the beautiful, sumptuous influences of the Art Nouveau movement, the publishing industry began to produce books of stunning beauty and decadence. The public ate it up, and the precursor to the Coffee Table Book was born.

The most illustrated books in our current modern age is that of the child's book. Read, reread, and cherished, the children's book was something that both adults and children could love and read together. A race to produce the most beautiful of these books was set in motion in the late 19th Century, and thus arose the Golden Age. Whimsy, fantasy, drama and excitement were elements that dressed the pages of these books, and artists such as NC Wyeth (student of the great Howard Pyle and father to Andrew Wyeth), Maxfield Parrish, and of course Arthur Rackham rose to the challenge. Never in any other time were illustrators revered and so handsomely paid - not even today.
Blind Pew by NC Wyeth
The Golden Age was not just for children's books, but the world of advertising and home decoration as well. Lithography was being perfected, allowing artists to create the precursor to the Ikea Poster, with images by Maxfield Parrish being the most popular to decorate the middle class parlor. Advertising, whether for theater, alcohol, or bicycles, was elevated to the stylish art poster, using both Art Nouveau greats as well as the Golden Age illustrators to sell their wares. Alphonse Mucha rose to the heights of greatness in the advertising industry, with rabid collectors from Europe to America.
Job Cigarette ad by Mucha
Although the rise of color reproduction was in full swing, black and white work (in the form of woodblocks, engravings and ink drawings) were always in high demand. Color printing was still expensive, so the bulk of most books contained black and white work. Artists such as Willy Pogany, E.H. Shepard and Harry Clarke took the art of ink to a whole new level, thus dismissing the idea that Color is Better. In fact, these artists were actually better at their inkings than painting. I can't imagine The Wind in the Willows without E.H. Shepard's organic, comical inkings of Mr. Toad.

Mr Toad, E.H. Shepard
And that's the thing: the art of this time embedded itself in the psyche of many of us who grew up exposed to these books (many still in reprint). As a kid, I received a copy of Hans Christian Andersen illustrated by Arthur Rackham, and fell into his work, mesmerized by the beauty. I would stare at his paintings and little ink vignettes for hours - screw reading - tracing the lines with my eyes, over and over. I loved the oversized limbs and hands of his characters, the flow of line in the fabric, the prettiness of his heroines, the ghastliness of his villains.

Arthur Rackham
My Rackham-inspired work for Ars Magica RPG, 1994
There are so many great illustrators of that time (including women illustrators such as Jessie Willcox-Smith, Kate Greenaway and Beatrix Potter) this entry would be a nonstop freight train of names and references. I encourage you to research the period and the illustrators on your own, there are many good books on the subject (Richard Dalby and Susan Meyers both produced excellent books on the subject). Calla Editions reproduced gorgeous new editions of many of the classics for reasonable prices.

So, back to our show...

Jeff was a shoe-in as guest curator, being an expert on the subject and all. He composed a list of artists he knew to be heavily inspired by the Golden Age, originally a list of 15 artists. The great James Gurney (also a Golden Age fanatic) was on top of the list but he is a busy, wanted man (and he's signed with another gallery). Greg Manchess was being honored by the Society of Illustrators (incidentally organized by many of the Golden Age greats) and all his work was sequestered for that show, also in September. A few others were detained (thank you, Illuxcon, hehe) but our final number was the respectable following: Donato Giancola, Tom Kidd, Gary Lippincott, Tony DiTerlizzi, Terese Nielsen, Echo Chernik, Socar Myles, Yoann Lossel, and Michael Hague. How can you not be over the moon with this group? Wait, you don't know who some of them are? Okay, I will educate you.

Donato Giancola: Well, he's a god. Okay, maybe that's a little extreme, but he is a legend in the fantasy world, with so many book covers to his name it's boggling. His merit list is so long it rivals Charles Manson's rap sheet. And he's not even 50! He was trained in classical realism and has managed to bridge that world and fantasy marvelously. His two drawings in our show are delicate, fluid, and natural.

Rangers of Arnor by Donato Giancola
Tom Kidd: Tom is very old school in so many ways (we like that). He gave us two very evilly sweet illustrations for our show from the Words Like Coins book. He is very good at bringing an element of comedy to otherwise strictly violent or fantastical images, making you smirk when you know you shouldn't. I linked him to his imaginary world he's been creating, that of his world of Gnemo, because the art is damned fine.
Words Like Coins by Tom Kidd
Gary Lippincott: Gary has a long list of children's books to his name, delicately painted in watercolor washes. The Vampire's Beautiful Daughter cover was sent to us, as well as his Hermit piece. I have to say, his work is so delicate I don't think digital reproduction does it justice. Seriously, his work is a total experience in person (which is why I insist people get off their butts and see this stuff live!!).
The Vampire's Beautiful Daughter by Gary Lippincott
Tony DiTerlizzi: I am embarrassed to say I didn't make the connection between Tony and The Spiderwick Chronicles (which he co-created with Holly Black) until recently. Oh, I know The Spiderwick Chronicles, I just had seen other works of his and didn't make the full connection. Dumb? Maybe, but it also allowed me to enjoy his other whimsical works of their own merit. I've been told to "study Tony" if I wanted to structure my own work into children's books. Trust me, I am a willing student! He sent us some rarely-seen giclees for our show, adding additional comedy and whimsy alongside Tom's work.
Imagine by Tony DiTerlizzi
Terese Nielsen: Terese has been a favorite artist of mine for nearly 20 years; her nod to the Golden Age is apparent in her beautiful use of the ellipse, as well as her delicate palette. Well known for her work with Magic: the Gathering and the Stars Wars Saga (I love her Queen Amidala pieces, one of which we have a prints!), Terese has been working in the game and comic industry for years. I am always in awe of the perfect beauty in her work - she does no wrong.
Hanna, Ship's Navigator by Terese Nielsen
Echo Chernik: Echo clearly loves Mucha. She doesn't just emulate him though, she still has her own stamp to her work that makes her clearly unique. She is the only digital artist in our group, although you would never know it when you look at her work, and she prints her work big. Really big. Thank God; there are so many little nuances in her work, you miss them in small reproductions, which is a good thing she's been doing giant murals and advertising posters for so long (although she does have several books under her belt). Her work emits the feel of decadence, with her elliptical lines and deep rich palette and her super hot female figures. You just want to pop a bon bon in their mouths.
Burlesque Belly Dancer by Echo Chernik
Socar Myles: My friend, illustrator Samuel Araya, turned me onto Socar, and in turn I turned Jeff onto her as well. He said she was funny. He's right. But even more so, she holds the honors for the most "Jesus Christ!" exclamations over the work in this show. Her ink drawings are insanely detailed, to the point of hurting your eyes. And they're funny too, in a sort of twisted way. She put out the book called Fantasy Drawing Skills - it's quite good, my new student brought it in to show me the other day. Her inspiration is clearly Harry Clarke, although one can see an Aubrey Beardsley-Shel Silverstein mashup going on as well.

I DO NOT LIKE THIS MANHOLE by Socar Myles

Yoann Lossel: Yoann and I came into contact last year when I stumbled upon him on Facebook and invited him to our FAERIE show. We haven't looked back. He is not known here (yet) but has a strong following in his native France, with good reason. Jeff was apprehensive with my suggestion of Yoann until I sent him images - he's now a believer like me. He is currently a fine artist with a few publications in France, and you can see the Howard Pyle influence quite clearly, I think. We will see more of his work at Krab Jab in the upcoming year!

Eros et Thanatos by Yoann Lossel
Michael Hague: the master... Michael Hague is clearly influenced by the Golden Age, and in turn has influenced many more with his gorgeous watercolors. His credits include The Wind in the Willows, and Michael Hague's Magical World of Unicorns, along with several fairy books and one graphic novel. Michael sent us one of his magical unicorns, and I have to fight like the dickens not to buy it myself. Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham would doff their hats in his direction.
The Unicorn by Michael Hague
 I wish our guest curator, Jeff Menges, could have been in town for this show. He did a fantastic job building up our catalog of artists and art, but the call of Illuxcon (an illustrator's convention on the east coast) beckoned him and since I made the terrible mistake of opening the show the same weekend as the convention, he was unable to attend. But his stamp of excellence is everywhere, and I thank him.

This was a dream show for me. I love both the original period works as well as the contemporary work inspired from it. I hope some of this has rubbed off on any of you originally unfamiliar with the Golden Age, and I wouldn't be surprised if these contemporary artists inspired the artists of tomorrow. In that respect, the Golden Age is eternal.

Good night! - Julie Baroh, Sept 15th 2013


Saturday, August 24, 2013

Fabled Earth: The Art of Emily Fiegenschuh

It wasn't terribly difficult in choosing Emily for our August 2013 slot, despite the fact that she only had about six months to prepare for her show. Six months may seem like a long while, but for a busy illustrator, balancing a gallery show with commissioned work can be a daunting task. But Emily is upbeat and was willing to take it on, although she confessed she was worried about how to present herself.

She didn't need to worry.

We first met Emily last summer, when we hosted our Art of Roleplaying Games show. I had never heard of her, much less pronounce her name (it's Fee-gun-shoo), but she was referred to me by senior art director Jon Schindehette as a local illustrator to contact. Emily responded to my query with a link to her site, and I was floored by her talent. Chris Pramas and I immediately accepted her submission.

With her bubbly personality and Tank Girl coif, it's hard not to like her. She is a Midwest native, married to fellow illustrator Vinod Rams and both recently bought a home in the quaint area of Edmonds just north of Seattle. What else do we know about her? She bakes damn fine cookies.

But really, she produces incredibly smooth, detailed works in the difficult medium of gouache (which is an opaque waterbased paint). She has worked with Wizards of the Coast, Cricket magazine, and covers for the popular Practical Guides books (Mirrorstone), still available on Amazon. Recently she released the beautiful hardcover The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures, which displays in full color her techniques for rendering her various creatures from beginning to end. (available at Krab Jab)
The Faerie Locket

After meeting Emily at the RPG show, I invited her back to display her Faerie Locket painting for our February FAERIE group show. Her work was a nice, sweet note to the otherwise slightly dark display of the Fae, and her prints (which she produces herself) were a hit with the visitors. Our August slot was open and I proposed she show a collection with us. She quickly agreed despite her worry, which seemed to mount as her move from Seattle to Edmonds manifested soon after the FAERIE show.

The Sun and the Moon

I understand her worry: she doesn't work digitally. Emily paints traditionally, and her washy, layered paintings are quite large (the average size of her work is 11 x 14"). She works in gouache, which can be forgiving if you paint it opaquely (in thick layers), but she paints "the wrong way" (her term), very wet on wet, much like watercolor. The effect is translucent and luminous, and she has mastered her technique in the last ten years. Yet even as a master, working in this fashion takes time and patience. Time wasn't on her side, she lamented.

However, she still managed to pull together a cohesive collection of over a dozen originals for her show, doll herself up for the opening AND bake some mean chocolate cookies to boot. August is a traditionally slow month for us, but she received a good sized audience for the evening, including newcomers to her work. The collection consists of originals from her Explorer's book as well as several book covers, and all the work has been published. The work will be up and available for viewing (including private viewings) at Krab Jab Studio until September 5th.

The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures cover

Want to see more Emily? She will be joining us in upcoming shows through 2014! Until then, visit us or our Exhibition page (up until Sept 6th), her website (www.e-figart.com) or our Books and Prints page. -Julie Baroh