Studio Update- Art in Public Spaces

Hi all,

         I just wanted to take a moment to discuss an exciting project I've been working on for quite some time now that's just been completed. Recently I became connected with an amazing art advisor, Patti Gilford. She helps to acquire art for private homes, and for designers and architects who are looking to build creative, inspiring, and soothing environments. Patti explained to me that she was looking to obtain pieces for a shared space on the 12th floor of a new hi-rise residency on Lake Shore Drive. This specific space is pretty open and needed a nice flow and a central focus. She had seen the work on my website and thought I'd be a good fit for this project. Immediately, Chelsea and I started looking through my body of work, which is no small feat. We narrowed the our sample images down to pieces that contained people, moving across a landscape. Below is an image of the two pictures that Patti chose, in their final destination.

                                  

          It was fun for Chelsea and I to be a part of this building's design process. I think it's important for people to be surrounded by art in their living spaces. The places we call home are our sanctuaries, where we can unwind, reflect, and recharge. Sometimes we need aid in doing so and art can play a major part in this process. My pictures were placed in an open space where people pass by to get to the main amenities of the building such as a gym, pool, party rooms, and computer labs; places meant to make you feel at home. The space needed images that would make an impact on its inhabitants, which is why they were printed so large, as most of my pieces are. My hope is that my work has become a staple of this shared space, that people pass by it with intrigue and comfort. I have included an image of another piece of work, a panorama, that is intended to make a similar impact. 

           Larger than life-sized images like these are the reason why I think studio visits are so important. We love showing work to visitors here at the studio. If you are interested in a studio visit, please contact either me or my assistant Chelsea at the following e-mails:

darryll@schiff-art.com

chelsea@schiff-art.com

Also, check out Patti's website at www.pattigilford.com to see what her and her excellent firm are all about. 

-Darryll

Artist of the Month- July- Zoe Keating

                               

This month's artist is a musician. I was trying to think of an artist that inspires both Darryll and I, not just in our artwork but also when we're working in the studio. We are always listening to music in the studio and sharing with each other musical artists that we dig.

One day I showed up to work and Darryll had burned two CDs for me. One was Feist's latest album and the other was Zoe Keating, an artist I hadn't heard of before. All he explained to me was that she plays the cello and that it's kind of different but I might like it. Done! I put the CD in my car on the way home and instantly was transported to somewhere new. The sound coming from my speakers was intricate, dramatic, and soothing. I knew right away that this would not be kept in the CD graveyard within my car instead would make it to my laptop's music library to be listened to while I work.

I think what I love most about Zoe's music is that my mind can wander within it. I'm not distracted by words and choruses, but instead lulled into a space where I can create and think alongside her music. I also think that Darryll likes her music for similar reasons but mostly because her music is so layered. She plays with just her cello and laptop, which she uses to record samples as she plays, and layers them on top of each other. If you take a look at Darryll's photography, he is using a similar technique. They both have a sense of controlled chaos in their work, that evolves and expands as you begin to notice the small details that make up the bigger picture.

Give her music a listen and see what you find within it, and within yourself!


-Chelsea

Art/Design Find- Tree Chandelier

How wonderful is this?

Chandelier Casts Tree Shadows On Wall | Incredible Things

I'm not sure if this is something that will eventually be sold to the public or will just remain as an art installation. Either way, I'm loving the minds of artist collaboration, Hilded & Diaz.

Check out some more of their work here.

-Chelsea

Arts Club of Chicago

The Arts Club of Chicago is an institution, located in the Near North side of Chicago, that was established in 1916. The aim of this organization is to build and maintain a bigger public interest in the arts and their related activities. The Club opened its doors to artists of all kinds in order to provide a place to display their talents and inspire the city of Chicago. While local art is important to them, the Arts Club has also been home to international art. A large amount of the 20th century's most celebrated artists had their first American, or Midwestern, solo exhibits here. Some of these artists, including Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, and Georges Braque, are a part of the Club's permanent collection, which is open to the public by appointment. They also have exhibits that rotate three to four times a year.

                                           The Front of the Arts Club of Chicago

At one of these exhibits, an Arts Club members' show, Darryll decided to visit. While looking around he was approached by the director of the Arts Club, Janine Mileaf. They chatted for a minute and Darryll explained the work that he does. After hearing about the Darryll's work in the permanent collections of the MCA, the Met, the Art Institute, and others, Janine suggested to Darryll that he applied for membership of this prestigious club. Inspired by the work that the Club does and the way they hold their members to a high importance, Darryll decided to go through the application process. He was accepted and is now a member of the Arts Club of Chicago. It's important to him to stay active in the art community in Chicago, to maintain friendships, new and old, and to be a part of the great history that the Arts Club of Chicago holds for art.

                                         Calder's Work at the Arts Club of Chicago

Artist of the Month - June - The Masters

When I received my BFA, I thought for sure that I had said goodbye to Art History forever. Little did I know that, like social history, art history is bound to repeat itself. Art recycles itself through our creative subconscious the way ideas and behaviors do. We take it in and we spit it out, whether we know where it came from or not. So when there's an artist that you can really connect with, it's important to hang on to them, to absorb what makes them special, and to store it within your mind's canvas to draw from later. Even the most unlikely artists can be cause for inspiration, that force that enters into our minds and drives us to create. So this week we will visit one of Darryll's favorite artists, Flemish painter, Peter Paul Rubens.

During a trip to Madrid about two years ago, Darryll found himself wandering the halls of the Museo Nacional del Prado, home to some of the greatest, canonical art pieces of our world's history. What had initially attracted him to the museum was Goya's Black Paintings, but what kept him there was the work of Rubens. He became entranced by the mythological drama and the religious history behind the seventeenth century paintings. Since then, Rubens's work has found a place in the back, right side of Darryll's brain, where it will remain as a source of inspiration. Adding Rubens to the pool of artists that exist in Darryll's creative mind has helped him create work that is subtly evolving with time and in turn, breathing new life into what was once history.

-Chelsea

Three Years in the Art World…and Counting.

How does an Illustrator come to work with Darryll Schiff, the fine art photographer? During my career at Columbia College Chicago, I didn't know what direction my art career was heading. I thought that I'd get a low paying (ahem, unpaid) internship at some design firm until I gathered enough experience to deem me fit for some low rung position until I worked my way up the ladder. Not really the idea I had in my head of a free-sprited artist, living on her own terms. Thankfully, I constantly reminded myself that the art world can be blissfully serendipitous…you just have to keep your eyes open. Never did I think that I'd meet my future employer whilst working at a coffee shop. This was the kind of cafe where people were in and out, without even looking up. However, "artist types"…we tend to find each other. Darryll was a regular customer at the cafe who actually paid attention. He knew immediately that I was an artist because of my visible tattoos and called me out on it. We chatted about his work and mine, and eventually he then shared with me a book, called Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton. I look at that book now as sort of a symbol of our working relationship, as I would soon be thrown into the art world, trying to figure out how to thrive.

                           


Darryll mentioned that he could use some more help around his studio and although I was apparently content to be a barista for the rest of my life, I decided to leave that job and hop into the unknown, just because I made a promise to myself to take every opportunity that came my way. So, Darryll took me on as an employee. He needed help with various tasks around the studio and understandably so since his pieces are larger than life.  As he entrusted me with more responsibility, I gained confidence and we began to vibe off each other's creativity. I learned from this that it's important for artists to find each other and stick together. Although Darryll has about 30 more years of experience than I do and our artistic disciplines are very different, we often find common ground because we are both navigating this hectic and, quite honestly, counter-intuitive, art world. I've found that it's important not to work in a vacuum. Sometimes you need someone to bounce ideas off of in order to remain confident in your work. Darryll is, and always will be creating, but I like to think that we inspire each other to keep at it. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to drive to the West Loop several times a week and work in an artist's studio and, most of all, be even just a small part of his success. As I watch Darryll's art business grow, I feel more and more fulfilled and glad that I listened to my inner voice, that constantly urges me to surround myself with good people and do what I love.

-Chelsea

                                  2010

                                 2011

2012

2013

A Brief Report On My Trip to NY and the AIPAD Show

On April 5^th I flew to New York to see the AIPAD show, which is a yearly event featuring many of the top photography galleries nationwide, including a few from other countries. I wanted to get to this recap of the event sooner, but upon returning to Chicago I had a confirmation and check waiting for me for two 5’x9’ prints.  Suffice it to say, I needed to do the finishing touches and get them printed as soon as possible.

Anyhow, back to AIPAD: I started attending the event last year, mostly to see who was there, both gallery- and artist-wise. It is always good to get out and see art, and it never hurts to gauge how the work that I am doing functions alongside that of other artists. 

By the time I got into NYC on Friday and up to my room at the London Hotel, I decided I would give myself a break, meet my son for dinner, and give myself plenty of time to explore the show come Saturday.

I arrived at AIPAD just a few minutes after the doors opened, which turned out to be quite a good thing; within an hour or so the show was completely packed.  My sister Lesley, an impressive artist herself, met me there.  Overall, I have to say that the show itself was quite good.  One was immersed within an epic range of photographs dating from the 1800’s up to to very modern, innovative, contemporary work.   As expected, there were galleries that specialized in classical photographs, others in modern photos, and some who contributed a mix of everything.  

As a part of my background, I thoroughly studied the history of photography, and also taught seminars about fine art photography that incorporated pictures from the early 1800’s and onward.  Perhaps because I feel that current day photo artists bring something new and exciting to the table, they have tended to spark my curiosity a bit more than the traditional artists.  And at AIPAD, there was a lot of them to be seen, some with work that was just ok, but some of it quite fantastic.  

Two of my favorite galleries showed some excellent work.  Catherine Edelman, the best photo gallery in Chicago, displayed, among other pieces, some of John Cyr’s pictures of renowned photographers’ developer trays.  These could be very mundane pieces if handled by any other artist, but the way John works so directly with the pieces allows them to become much more than that.  Cathy sold me one of his prints of the tray that Aaron Siskind, one of my former teachers, used. I feel honored to own a little piece of artistic history.

Next was Kim Bourus’ Higher Pictures from New York.  I met Kim last year, and within minutes knew she and her gallery were important entities in the photo art world.  Higher Pictures was showing just one artist’s work, K8 Hardy, which is a series of wonderful self-portraits.

I always wonder when I go to galleries if I’m going to see work like mine.  I find that I am more of an artist than a photographer in my recent years; I use the camera like a paint brush, and just about never take a ‘straight’ picture anymore.  An artist, I feel, should have a unique vision which is apparent in my work. I have yet to encounter someone who is doing what I do, the way I do it. 

I won’t get in to more specifics than this; there is just much too much to talk about!  But I will say this, if you love photography and you love art, go to AIPAD – you won’t regret it.