3 Kokeshi Artists Interviews

The amazing and lovely Stella Im Hultberg has been interviewed numerous times in the past and one of the most recent ones is from Sour Harvest for her show "Momento Mori", which opened last Friday night (July 10, 2009) at Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angeles.

Stella also writes on her personal blog the influence the Kokeshi project had on her latest work:

"i've been painting a wooden figure for the kokeshi show (in july), and for fear of ruining the one & only kokeshi blank i received, i ended up making an army of studies with little wooden forms i'd had...  this lead me to other ideas of painting some mini paintings on wood i'd cut up of black figures:  black shapes are so interesting & fascinating to me. especially when it's a living figure (i love black cats). unexpected, interesting shapes with mysterious implication & abstraction...  i plan on painting some more as i've cut up quite a few pieces of wood, i'm enjoying the process of simplicity of the graphic imagery  and the immediacy of acrylic paint (which i'm really bad with).  hopefully this will land me somewhere interesting with my larger works as well. ^__^"

"Alone in the Dark" by Stella Im Hultberg. Oil, acrylic and graphite on wood, 8" tall.

Poketo has an interview with the mysterious "Busc" who designed their custom kokeshi, which are freakin' adorable... really! Cute interview and great photos.

"Sebastien and Chloe" by Poketo x Busc. Mixed media  on wood, 8" tall. 2 kokeshi plus mini forest.

Poketo also did a little interview with me, shortly before the show opened, you can find my wordy answers here and also a peak into the artwork I create outside of paid design projects. Some people were surprised to learn that the curator of the custom section, i.e. me, has a piece in the show. The Custom Kokeshi show back in 2007 (at Subtext Gallery in San Diego) was sprouted from an invitation by another artist to create multiple custom Munnys for a duo show, but I wanted to explore a new shape and invite a wider array of artists too... so Custom Kokeshi was born :)

"Cc73" my first and only custom Munny was created for The Summer of Munny show in Denver, Colorado in 2006. Acrylic on vinyl.

"Mix & Match, Collect & Play" by Christina Conway. Acrylic on wood, 8" tall. 3 kokeshi that are interchangeable.

P.S. As of this post, all of the above JANM Custom Kokeshi are available, check them out in-person and buy from the gift shop or purchase online here.

Thank you for reading and be sure to check out all the highlighted links, you'll find more amazing discoveries. Oh the tangled web of the internet... :)