Paul Nosa is like the Johnny Appleseed of creativity, eco-friendliness and edgy artistry. His national “sewing tour”—soon underway—cuts an ambitious swath that he hopes will inspire people’s creativity, provide a tangible patch for their ideas (literally), and teach them to use alternative energy sources. Nosa seeds ingenuity and delight wherever he sews.

“I’m an artist who draws with a sewing machine. My designs aren’t pre-drawn and I don’t use a computer or template. This is a non-traditional method of using a conventional sewing machine. I’m totally self-taught.”

Nosa, who has been sewing for the past eight years, asks people to think of a scenario in “five words or less,” and sews his interpretation on the spot onto a piece of fabric or “patch.” He’s put people’s ideas in stitches more than 5,000 times.

For the sake of sustainability, the sewing machine is mounted to his Solar Sewing Rover, a portable table powered by a solar panel and a bicycle electric generator (you’ve got to see it to believe it). People ride the bicycle and generate electricity to make their own patch.

With support from friends and well-wishers, Sewing Tour 2012 will begin from Nosa’s hometown of Tucson, Arizona, in May and finish in October. The tour will follow cities along the west coast including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and then head eastward to Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.—with many more cities to be included.

“By supporting the project, you will be helping to cover the cost of my solar-powered drive around the country. As well as receiving a piece of my artwork with your pledge, you will be helping people use their imaginations, understand how to use solar energy, and build a bicycle electric generator.”

Nosa will exhibit his fiber with function at Artexpo New York from March 22-25. He’s currently raising funds for the tour on his Kickstarter page.

Paul Nosa’s previous sewing installations include: San Francisco’s Exploratorium 2010 and 2011, Bay Area and New York Maker Faire 2010 and 2011, Pittsburgh Children’s Museum 2011, Oregon Country Fair 2010 and 2011, Harmony Festival 2010 and 2011, Bumbershoot 2010, Oakland Art MurMur 2010 and 2011, Sustainable Living Roadshow 2011, Treasure Island Music Festival 2010 and 2011, Philadelphia Folk Festival 2011, San Francisco and Chicago Renegade Craft Fair 2010, West Coast Art and Frame 2011, and New York Artexpo 2011.

I’ll close this post with a fun video about Paul’s work. He did the music and photography as well!

The sewing art of Paul Nosa — creative craftsman and Artexpo New York 2012 exhibitor — was just featured in Haute Living magazine! Here’s a link to the full article.

Stay tuned for a complete Artexpo blog post about Paul Nosa today…

Today’s Artwork of the Day is “Miami Magenta” by Artexpo New York 2012 exhibitor Hans Petersen.

"Miami Magenta" by Hans Petersen

Hans Petersen’s vibrant, large-scale paintings show the influence of the CoBrA Movement, a collective of Northern European artists dedicated to complete freedom in color and form. In the bright colors, aggressive brushwork and compositional excitement of “Miami Magenta” — part of Hans’ most recent body of work, ART-I-TECTURE — you can see how the Danish-American painter abstracts his environment into patterns and textures that seem to dance on the canvas.

“I process different aspects of architecture and environment and translate them into abstract, graphic, expressionistic paintings. As the title [ART-I-TECTURE] suggests, I rely on my knowledge of architecture and color to create visions of real and imagined images.”

Trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen, Hans settled into a successful career as a graphic designer. His work brought him to the USA; first New York City, then Charlotte, NC, where he created marketing materials for the American furniture industry. In 2005, Hans took up his brushes again as a full-time painter, yet his graphic design background still informs the visual logic and bold compositional sense of his canvases:

Barbara Koller, Scott Birnbaum, Hans Petersen at Miami SOLO

“Paintings with impact bring me pleasure. I strive to infuse a distinctive energy and character into my work to achieve excitement for myself and for others. If it goes unnoticed, it simply wasn’t worthwhile painting.”

Hans Petersen’s vivid paintings are sought after by discriminating collectors. Represented by galleries in Stamford, CT, Charlotte, NC and Copenhagen, and featured in private collections throughout the United States and Denmark, Hans is also making his work available to a wider audience via museum-quality reproductions as a Charter Member of Artexpo Studio.

Learn more about Hans Petersen at www.hanspetersenart.com — or meet him and view his canvases during Artexpo New York 2012, March 22-25 at Pier 92. And look for his online gallery, launching soon at ArtexpoStudio.com.

"Dogwood Bloom V" by Kristen Ray Naugle

Today’s Artwork of the Day is “Dogwood Bloom V,” a 32″ x 48″ mixed media work by Artexpo New York 2012 exhibitor Kristen Ray Naugle.

When asked what inspired this particular work, Kristen offered the following:

“The Dogwood is one of the first signs of Spring in Missouri. When you see it blooming, it’s hard not to be excited from the Dogwood’s promise of color. In the studio, the depth of color came alive with a Mixed Media treatment.”

Kristen’s luminous, vintage-inspired florals have been attracting media attention across the country. Her work was recently featured in a St. Louis Magazine spread, and she was named “One of 50 Artists to Watch” in the Nov/Dec issue of Art Business News Magazine. She’s also a Charter Member at Artexpo Studio, where you can find museum-quality reproductions of her original work. You’ll find her online gallery here: www.artexpostudio.com/kristen-ray-naugle

Based in Nixa, Missouri, Kristen grew up in a household of photographers and went on to obtain a BFA in graphic design from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. Today, she gains inspiration for her work through her surroundings, often focusing on “the simplest and most basic objects.” Florals and nature are strong themes for Kristen, and she says her work is “a search for poetry in nature.”

Like good poetry, her mixed media works feature varying layers and subtleties. She carefully crafts each piece through layering color, texture, artistically influenced photography and hand embellishments.

In Nov/Dec of last year, Kristen showed her work at Miami [SOLO], where it was very well received. Here’s a photo of her booth:

Kristen Ray Naugle's booth at Miami SOLO last Nov/Dec.

We’re certain Kristen’s elegant florals will be a big hit in NYC as well, during Artexpo New York 2012, March 22-25 at Pier 92. Get your tickets online now, if you haven’t yet!

Meanwhile, find Kristen online at her website www.kristenraynaugle.com and at Artexpo Studio: www.artexpostudio.com/kristen-ray-naugle

Click here to purchase giclee reproductions of Kristen's work.

"The Special Flower #36" by Artexpo New York 2012 exhibitor Tahline Toranian

Today’s Artwork of the Day is “The Special Flower #36″ by Artexpo New York 2012 Exhibitor Tahline Toranian. Tahline is also a Charter Member at ArtexpoStudio.com, where you can find museum-quality reproductions of her original artwork. Here’s a link to her profile page: www.artexpostudio.com/artists/tahline-toranian

Tahline will be joining us this year all the way from Sidney, Australia. We’re looking forward to welcoming her to the Big Apple and seeing her contemporary floral art in the gallery-style exhibition space of Pier 92!

Tahline’s striking florals—part of her signature “Special Flower” series—are at once abstract and representational. With their stylized shapes and arcing, artful lines, they invite interpretation. In this particular piece, the viewer might at first glance see a flower, then perhaps an exotic bird, and then perhaps an emotive exploration with color and form.

Art and color are “like air and water” for the artist, who says she does not feel fully present unless she is exploring both. As for her process, she says:

“I focus mainly on abstract[ions], heavy color and texture-based styles. I love unique color schemes, striking light features, and delicious, touchable textures. I am inspired foremost by flowers, and anything organic found in the most surprising and unconventional locations: the gutter, someone’s plate, underneath a tree. I love anything unconventional, the history of old-style pieces, elements positioned to defy the norm, fresh, gloriously traditional pattern, and luscious textures that make me want to enter into and merge as one with the medium.”

It is this marriage of both traditional “old-style” elements and bold, modern strokes that makes Tahline’s artwork an ideal choice for the contemporary collector. We’re confident her work will be a big hit in the New York market and beyond.

As for how Tahline was led to pursue a career in the arts, she says:

“Drawing and coloring were as natural to me as breathing, back to my earliest memories. I obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design, plus a Diploma in Design Fundamentals from both The University of Western Sydney and Enmore Design Centre. But something never felt right until, one day, I took a random glance at a box I had in the corner of my apartment. It contained drawings I had completed years earlier. I pulled the works out and said to myself, ‘There is no way I can make a career out of this.’ And then, within seconds, I thought again: ‘I am going to make a career out of this.’ I haven’t looked back since.”

While drawing and painting flowers is Tahline’s current passion, she’s not interested in just the average still life with daisies!

“I want to push and redefine this subject matter in ways no one has ever thought or dared to do so before, creating pieces that make the viewer question logic and convention from that point onward.”

If you’re interested in seeing more of Tahline’s contemporary florals, you can find her online at tahline.blogspot.com Also,be sure to click the image below and visit her online gallery at Artexpo Studio!

"Secrets" by Artexpo New York 2012 exhibitor Jeanne Bessette

Today’s Artwork of the Day is “Secrets,” a 60×60 mixed media by Artexpo New York 2012 exhibitor Jeanne Bessette.

We’re thrilled to welcome Jeanne to her first Artexpo this March! An extraordinary mixed media artist, she has been featured in media ranging from Artsy Shark to Art Marketing Resources and was recently designated one of Top 50 Emerging Artists to Watch by Art Business News Magazine. She was also selected as a Charter Member for Artexpo Studio—the online fine art marketplace powered by Artexpo. Here’s why Jeanne has chosen to market her work through ArtexpoStudio.com:

“In an effort to make enjoying art ownership possible for a wider range of people, I have decided to team up with Artexpo Studio and offer some of my most popular pieces for sale as museum-quality archival giclee prints. A giclee is a digital ink jet print made to reproduce artwork and photography. The process employs a highly refined ink jet print head that has thousands of tiny nozzles that sprays very fine, overlapping layers of pigmented ink onto paper or canvas to create stunning prints with superior clarity and color.”

We invite you to peruse Jeanne’s Artexpo Studio gallery. Jeanne also exhibited at Miami [SOLO] last November, where her colorful array of innovative work garnered much acclaim. Here’s a photo from the show:

Jeanne in her booth at Miami SOLO last November.

Aside from being a wonderfully talented artist, Jeanne has a vibrant, poetic way with words. I just love the way she describes her creative process. Here’s an excerpt from her website, bessetteart.com:

“I interact with the canvas on a deep, intuitive level. I don’t plan composition or color; I just open myself to my inner sanctum: sponges, rags, fingers, colored pencils, ink, graphite, charcoal, spraying through stencils, palette knives to scratch through a layer of paint to the source underneath, a few brushes, crayons, pastels, chalk—whatever jumps into my hand!”

“Corrugated cardboard and burlap add texture, squashed right into the gesso.
 Acrylic dries fast—I’m so impatient—and it lets me move quickly. As each canvas comes alive with color, I crank up the music, layer paint with scraps and medium, then varnish, then paint, then varnish… Up to 10 layers of my own secret glazing formula gives me the depth and translucency I’m looking for.

“Each wash of varnish becomes a windowpane so the light can come inside the heart of the painting. The whole process is a meditative, jazzy madness with controlled surprises and big body movement and lots of out loud conversation between the paintings and me.”

Jeanne says she’s learned that her job is “to show up and then get out of the way. That’s where the magic is.” She also says she’s a storyteller at heart. Right you are, Jeanne! Both on the canvas and on the page.

We’re all looking forward to seeing Jeanne and her work at Artexpo New York 2012.

"Protection" by Artexpo New York 2012 exhibitor Ahni Kruger

Today’s Artwork of the Day is a 28″ x 34″ oil on panel painting by Artexpo New York 2012 exhibitor Ahni Kruger.

In the artist’s words:

“This painting plays with imagery derived from chain mail armor exhibited in France, and a pattern I often borrow from the St. Francis Cycle in Assisi to acknowledge the patron saint of the environment.”

Ahni Kruger is a painter/printmaker whose images form a provocative blend of conceptual and perceptual approaches. Her practice of addressing formal visual challenges on location in the landscape informs her studio work. Ahni dips into Nature as source or muse—but not dictator—to fortify her allegories about global consciousness and political misadventure.

Recent paintings and prints focus on themes of protection and vulnerability, questioning the results of repetitive patterns of behavior, both aggressive and seemingly benign. Medieval armor and aquatic defense mechanisms assume allegorical significance, as does the juxtaposition of conceptual patterns with realistic forms. Water itself becomes a catalyst, symbolic of the ongoing fight over precious resources. Stylistically, loose vibrant brushstrokes collide with precisely focused intervals of structured color, accentuating the point of contact between distinctly different approaches to the medium. The graphic work teeters on the verge of abstraction, with a rich variety of textures dancing in and around the forms.

We warmly welcome Ahni to Artexpo New York 2012. See you in March, Ahni!

"Sfera Conchiglia" (Sphere Shell) by Gianfranco Meggiato

Today’s Artwork of the Day is “Sfera Conchiglia,” a 60cm-diameter lost-wax casting in bronze by Italian sculptor Gianfranco Meggiato. Gianfranco is represented by Energenesi Art Gallery, which will be exhibiting at Artexpo New York 2012 this coming March.

The sculptor says that air/space plays a very important role in his sculptures, merging with the bronze and creating an overall visual effect of lacework. Beyond form and structure, he feels his works express a deeper message:

“… that man is energy in physical bodies, and everything that surrounds us is made of energy. The space is energy. That space-energy enters into the work. This gives life and breath to the sculpture.”

Gianfranco says he creates his works inspired by biomorphic tissue. In his own words:

“The biomorphic tissue symbolizes the path of man to find himself, to find the golden sphere at the center of the work that is inside. It is not an easy path—often the roads are dark and intricate as the moments of life. All these experiences are reflected in the golden sphere, which represents our essence. But usually only with overcoming difficulties do you grow, you change, you become stronger.”

At its essence the work of Gianfranco Meggiato is positivist, hearkening back to the Italian Renaissance, where man was placed at the center of the space and history.

Born in Venice in 1963, Gianfranco attended the Art Institute of Venice for five years, studying sculpture in stone, bronze, wood and ceramics. At a very young age, he exhibited his stone and fire clay sculptures in two collective exhibitions at the Municipal Gallery Bevilacqua La Masa in Piazza San Marco, Venice. Since then, he has shown his work in a continuous series of exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including Monaco Art, Dubai Air, Shanghai Art Fair, Strasbourg St’Art and more. In the last year Gianfranco was invited to exhibit in the 54 Venice Biennale.

We are pleased to welcome this talented sculptor to our March 2012 show! You can see his work up close at Artexpo New York 2012, March 22-25, Pier 92. For now, explore his art online at www.gianfrancomeggiato.com.

Today’s Artwork of the Day is a disarming wildlife portrait by an artist with an incredible story. “Perception” is a 48 x 32 oil on panel painting by Artexpo New York 2012 exhibitor Michael Bedoian—and as you’ll come to see, perception plays a very key role in Michael’s artistic journey.

Michael lives with his family in a small town located in the mountains of Western North Carolina. An entirely self-taught artist, he began painting black bears after a series of events that lead him to thoughts of suicide in 2006. In desperation, he fell to his knees begging God for help. According to Michael, these paintings and their messages are the result of that prayer.

Each painting is a spiritual lesson I thought was only for me. As the images and lessons started to grow in number, healing occurred within me, then my family, and now in others I do not even know. I now realize, these works are to be shared with everyone who is hurting on this planet.

As an artist, Michael says he question what he sees. That’s why the eyes are the central focus in this painting. In Michael’s words:

The law of perception is thus: what you perceive in others, you are strengthening in yourself. Everyone on the face of the planet has the ability within them to choose how they see the world. Perceive fear in others and you will strengthen fear in yourself. Perceive love in others and you are strengthening love in yourself.

Speaking of fearless, here’s a shot of Michael photographing a black bear!

Michael Bedoian photographing a bear in North Carolina.

Black Bears are the symbols I use in my work because black represents the absence of fear. My paintings are about the spiritiual awakening taking place on this planet. They represent visions of a new way of seeing the world that transcends fear and replaces it with peace.

We welcome Michael Bedoian to Artexpo New York 2012 and look forward to seeing his work at our show this coming March! In the meantime, you can find Michael online at: www.peacefulcoexistence.net

"Cry Your Heart Out When You Feel Like Crying" by Ko-hey! Arikawa

Today’s Artwork of the Day is “Cry Your Heart Out When You Feel Like Crying,” by Japanese artist and Artexpo New York 2012 exhibitor Ko-Hey! Arikawa.

Ko-Hey! is one of Japan’s most well-known contemporary artists. His annual exhibitions in Okinawa draw more than 10,000 visitors every year, and his newly produced works typically sell out as quickly as he produces them. Department stores throughout Japan also offer reproduction of his originals—he’s quite the household name!

Born in Japan in 1978, Ko-Hey! spent his childhood devoted to playing baseball. Things changed when he came of age, however, and he lost interest and became somewhat pessimistic about his future. At the age of 24, Ko-Hey! came to an epiphany: he started to become aware of his heightened sensitivity to color sensation and fine art form. While working on-staff in his town’s office, he began to paint and sell his artwork on the street. The fine art world was unchartered territory for Ko-Hey! but his work was extremely well-received. Within a year, he set up a professional artist studio; the rest is history.

Today, Ko-Hey!’s studio is located at the foot of Mt.Fuji in Yamanakako Village. He is celebrated throughout Japan and is making a name for himself in the U.S. and abroad. His “Happy Fantasia” exhibitions are colorful, Fantasyland affairs, and they are always well attended by his many fans.

We’ll be hosting Ko-Hey and his bright, whimsical canvases at Artexpo New York 2012, March 22-25 at Pier 92 in New York City. We’re all looking forward to seeing these pieces up close!

Find Ko-Hey! online at www.okinawahands.com