Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Artist's Tribute to 'Beauty and the Beast' Starts March 11 at Gallery Nucleus

The Enchanted Love - Joey Chou
With the release of Disney's live action Beauty and the Beast fast approaching, it's time for more fairy tale movie inspired art! Although the art is specifically 'fan' art (done by professionals) so doesn't explore the fairy tale origins very much, it's still interesting to see the aspects of the story that inspire artists to create images.
Belle - Alina Chau

From the press release and Oh My Disney:
Are you ready for something magical? In anticipation of the release of Beauty and the Beast, Oh My Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Gallery Nucleus, and Cyclops Print Works have come together once again, this time for “Be Our Guest: An Art Tribute to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.” This enchanting limited-time show will be on display at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, Saturday, March 11, 2017 – Sunday, April 2, 2017, with an opening reception on Saturday, March 11 from 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. 
Taking inspiration from the new live-action film, the artists involved have brought this tale as old as time to life in beautiful detail. Here are all the talented artists participating: 
Abigail L. Dela Cruz, Alex Ross, Alexander Lee, Alina Chau, Alison Strom, Amei Zhao, Andrea Fernandez, Annie Stegg, Benson Shum, Carrie Liao, Cécile Carre, Celine Kim, Corinne Reid, Craig Drake, Eliza Ivanova, Ellen Surrey, Eri Kamijo, Grace Kum, Ha Gyung Lee, Heather Theurer, Jackie Huang, Janice Chu, Jisoo Kim, Joe Dunn, Joey Chou, Jon Lau, Julieta Colás, Justin Gerard, Katie Huon, Keiko Murayama, Kristy Kay, Megan Woods, Milsae Kim, Pernille Ørum, Phillip Light, Sara Kipin, Sophie Li, Tara Nicole Whitaker, Tiffany Le, Trevor Spencer, Trungles, William Robinson, Xinwei Huang, Zoe Persico
OPENING RECEPTION HIGHLIGHTS:
  • Doors open @ 7PM
  • Over 40 new works of art featured
  • Select artists in attendance
  • New Gallery Nucleus exclusive prints released
  • Complimentary themed refreshments & hors d'oeuvres served
  • Cosplay & themed costumes are highly encouraged!
  • more to be announced ...!
*Open to the Public, All Ages Welcome, No RSVP needed.
*Be sure to not miss "Tale as Old as Time," our Artist Panel with the director, editor, animator and more from the original animated film on March 25th 
Tickets for our Tale As Old As Time panel are now online!
Meet some of the original creators as they discuss the behind-the-scenes and process of developing one of Disney's most cherished animated features.
Guests include Don Hahn (producer), Gary Trousdale (director), Roger Allers (story supervisor), James Baxter (supervising animator), Charles Solomon (Author) and John Carnochan (Editor).
Reserve your seats here:
There are quite a few well known artists in that list! A lovely array of styles should be displayed too, beyond what's shown here. From the previews released to date, this show promises to inspire Disney Beauty and the Beast fans everywhere.
And Love Is Born (愛の芽生え) by Eri Kamijo
Beauty and the Beast - Alison Strom
Beauty Is Found Within - Benson Shum
Bonjour - Celine Kim
Enchanted - Janice Chu
New Friends - Ellen Surrey
To the Castle - Zoe Persico
Wolves in the Winter - Sara Kipin
Psst! For those hungry for more, there are some sneak peeks on the Cyclops Print Works Facebook page HERE.

Monday, March 6, 2017

'Make Fairyland Great Again' by N.T.O. Zamboni

We've had eras of fractured fairy tales rising in popularity, and it would appear that this is one of them.

This volume of fractured retellings was written in response to the results of the election last November and have proved even more popular than the author, N.T.O. Zamboni, expected.

Here's the blurb:
Normally, fairytales and fables teach important lessons:
    Build a house to fend off deplorable wolves.
    Don’t be tempted by candied false promises.
    Beware of golden-haired thieves stealing your porridge.
But this is not normal. Trump is not normal. We need updated, 21st-century fairytales to warn against new threats. Tremendous threats. Crude, demented, racist, misogynistic threats. 
Make Fairyland Great Again is a collection of twenty-one revised folk stories and parables: Sleeping Beauty, the Frog Prince, Ali Baba, Rapunzel, the Pied Piper, the Three Little Pigs, and many more! 
(However, just like Trump himself, this book is not appropriate for children.)
There are quite a number available online to read for free HERE and HERE.
Your (free) choices are:
  • The Ant and the Grasshopper
  • The Emperor's New Clothes (an incredibly popular fairy tale right now!)
  • Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
  • The Frog Prince
  • Sleeping Beauty
Should you feel like reading even more or adding this book to your library (or supporting the author), you can find it HERE.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Mika Hirasa's Appliquéd Aesop

Mika Hirasa, also known as MICAO, 'draws' pictures using fabric and free motion machine embroidering techniques*, along with appliqué, fabric paint and other techniques as inspired. She regularly uses antique fabrics, lace, different types of thread and kimono fabrics and her use of space and color makes for some striking scenes. Cutting out bold shapes and stitching them as she goes, there's a certain inspired spontaneity and whimsy in her work, something free, unlike much embroidery which feels controlled and stiff. Her techniques mark her as a master, and one who is clearly so confident in her techniques that she can create as she goes. As a result her appliquéd illustrations for Aesop's fables bring a whole new way of thinking about the tales. 

Take a look. Can you tell which fables have been depicted?
You can see many more of her fabric illustrations HERE. It's also worth looking at her Red Riding Hood set HERE. So unique, yet recognizably LRRH. (Red Riding Hood is a featured character in much of her work.) And there was a limited line of clothing for kinder and preschool teachers, with a fairy tale theme you an see HERE.

*Free motion machine embroidery is becoming a more and more popular tool for fabric artists, each resulting in an individual style that is unique and not dissimilar to freehand line drawing. You can see an example of free machine embroidery HERE, by performance textile artist Harriet Riddell. (Start at the 3 minute mark to get right to it.)

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Amanda Allen Niday's 'Protesting Princesses'

Inspired by the recent Women's March around the nation and the globe, artist Amanda Allen Niday, created a 'Protesting Princesses's series, reimagining Disney heroines in the Women's March series. It quickly went viral and caught the eye of Teen Vogue.

Teen Vogue, once considered a fluffy distraction for teens into fashion, is a magazine that's quickly gained respect for recognizing that young people can - and should be - as politically aware as their parents, and that having a penchant for gorgeous shoes and lipstick isn't at odds with that. Teen Vogue, with their finger firmly on the social pulse these days, didn't waste any time getting an interview with Ms. Niday.
Here's an excerpt:
Would Disney Princesses want to be a part of the revolution? Illustrator Amanda Allen Niday thinks so, and thanks to her, we have an idea of what they’d say.
“I felt inspired by the way women expressed themselves on their signs, from the witty and charming to the downright scathing. Women coming together from all backgrounds to say "we are HERE and we MATTER’.” she said. “I wanted to hold onto that message as my newsfeeds dissolved back into squabbling and finding faults in our difference, rather than understanding.” 
...Niday designed a sketch of each major Disney princess holding a protest sign that incorporated a quote the princess actually said in their movie. 
“I didn't want to put words into their mouths. I believed their narratives of overcoming struggles was powerful enough without me trying to force something else on them,” she said.

... She told Teen Vogue she used Disney Princesses for the project because she feels Disney has been making an effort to use the cartoons to remind girls that they’re brave, strong and valuable and wants to pay homage to that. To her, the princesses’ stories of resilience symbolize what girls or women can or should do.

But she also recognizes that women can protest in their own way.
 
“Being strong when you are being told you are weak is a form of protest. Being yourself when you are being told that isn't acceptable is a form of protest. Never giving up hope is a form of protest. I wanted to show that we can control the narrative,” Niday said.
You can read the whole interview HERE.

Want a copy of those posters for yourself? You can get that HERE at Society 6. They also have the options of t-shirts, totes, bedding... and much more.

Friday, March 3, 2017

Architales by Frederico Babina

For many people - and characters in tales and books - their home reflects their personality and often, their story too. Designers for movies research this extensively and those paying close attention can learn more about characters by observing the places the various characters make their home. Fantasy movies tend to show this a little more elaborately and obviously but most designers do this to an extent, whether it's for the stage or the screen.

One architect and illustrator, Frederico Babina, is so fascinated by the concept that he combined his two skills and passions, to create dwelling designs on a particular theme - be they by zoo animals or film directors (the latter is definitely worth a look! Check Charlie Chaplin versus Stanley Kubrick for example).

We were delighted to discover he has also created designs based on fairy tale characters, their stories and other well known tales that many link to fairy tales.
"Beautiful fairy tales — like good architecture — are adorned with magic and mystery and supported by a solid structure,’"Babina says. "Like any great work of art, they encapsulate the maximum depth and the maximum simplicity."
‘Architale’ uses the built form, its shapes and innate geometries to convey key aspects of the story, transforming the buildings into ‘narrative objects’. For example, the long nose of Pinocchio becomes an extruded wooden window; Hansel and Gretel’s need for sweets is illustrated as a gingerbread façade; and the princess and the pea’s obsession with perfection is reflected in a carefully stacked structure — with a pea-shaped void. (source)
You can see the fairy tale specific ones (along with Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz) in detail below:
Note: The ones not shown full size from the poster are: Robin Hood, Mary Poppins, The Sword in the Stone.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Fairy Tale Review's Charcoal Issue To Focus on Fairy Tales as Forms of Resistance & Protest (Submissions Open)

Artwork by Erika Rier

We feel this is possibly the only way to return to reporting regular fairy tale news at this time: standing with those who refuse to sit down. 

Thank you Fairy Tale Review. 

"Wands up!"
In a time when the shifting political and cultural landscapes of our world are becoming increasingly authoritarian, restrictive, intolerant, and frightening, we have decided to dedicate The Charcoal Issue to fairy tales as forms of resistance and protest. 
A remnant material left behind after a fire, charcoal is also a source with which new fires are created. So, too, is the way of resistance—born from the heat of difficulty and tragedy, but also the fuel we use to light the way forward. 
For the coming issue, we are most interested in fairy tales that challenge the current political climate, fairy tales that resist outdated norms or binaries, fairy tales that reconfigure the faults of older stories, and fairy tales that expose abuses of power. Fairy tales with, as Kate Bernheimer has suggested, “radical strategies of survival. Ways to get out alive.”  (Emphasis by FTNH)
Fairy tales that resist domination. Fairy tales that protest annihilation. 
Submissions will be open from January 1, 2017 to March 31, 2017. The Charcoal Issue will be published in early 2018.
Also, a comment from Fairy Tale Review's Instagram feed, posted with the image at the head of the post:
Sometimes, we feel as though we lack the words to explain what "fairy tales as forms of resistance and protest" mean to us. Sometimes, we need others to help us find the words. 
To that end, we feel very honored to have published "Suddenly," a short piece of nonfiction from Carmen Giménez Smith, earlier this week. 
If you are wondering how fairy tales or folklore could possible be resistance, we recommend reading Suddenly. It will also be very helpful to anyone wishing to submit to the Charcoal Issue.

We wish all those writers and artists looking to contribute, much inspiration, hope, bravery and the knowledge that you are not alone.

Very much looking forward to this issue, Fairy Tale Review!