ACTIVATE Chicago Loop Alliance/Johalla Projects

Thanks to everyone who came out Thursday May 1st for this event. I was honored to be curating alongside Johalla Projects Anna Cerniglia and am really proud of what the artists contributed to the one night alley installation. The Loop Alliance is planning more of these events over the summer and Johalla as well has plans for more public installations/events slated for this summer. Here is my piece from the show.

I recently found a scrapbook from the 1920's in an attic at an estate sale titled "Pictures of Germany" by Gilbert Johnson. It was mostly empty pages but when coupled with the set of The Illustrated Columbia Encyclopedia from 1969 that I'd also just saved from a future as landfill, it got me thinking about the myriad ways in which time is recorded, compressed, repeated and the relationships we have with that cycling of histories. I started working on a series of visual non linear timelines as a way to explore the very active ways in which we rely on history and an assumed collective understanding of the unstoppable momentum that time has on our existence while simultaneously addressing the power that one has to manipulate and distort something seemingly impossible to penetrate.

Lately...

From the Black Lodge at Sideshow Gallery, Chicago 10/23

So psyched to be a part of this one, so many great artists/designers! Your invited to join us for a unique shopping experience with From The Black Lodge, a traveling pop up shop touring the country from Philly bringing some of the finest small batch artists and designers who mostly sell on the internet. Some of the brands include: Ovate, Bloodmilk, Adelina Mictlan, Guts Glam Glory, Moon Blood Jewels, Death Traitors, Poison Apple Print Shop and many more. Chicago's very own Medusa Make-up will be selling their new lipstick line and other goods too. Heather Gabel, Casey O. and Damarak The Destroyer will adorn the walls with some killer art and Slow and Low Whiskey will get you in the shopping spirit. Sideshow Gallery is at 2219 N Western Ave in Chicago, we'll be there from 7-10 pm. I'll be showing a handful of new collages and some new prints(one is pictured below), and a new t shirt.

Disappear Here

Johalla Projects Presents Disappear Here: New Work by Heather Gabel & Matt Skiba Disappear Here: New Work by Heather Gabel & Matt Skiba October 4 – October 25, 2013 Opening Reception: Friday, October 4th from 7-10pm Johalla Projects is pleased to announce Disappear Here, an exhibition of new work from artist Heather Gabel, in collaboration with longtime friend and Alkaline Trio front man Matt Skiba. The exhibition will feature mixed media collage and painting, as well as a short film produced and directed by Gabel and scored by Skiba. The pair’s work, like their friendship, is divinely cohesive and seemingly created in tandem when, in actuality, the two live thousands of miles apart. Skiba’s contribution to the works on paper is reactionary to the mystical pretense of Gabel’s illusory imagery, while his accompaniment to the film is inspired solely by his internal deconstruction of a single photographic environment that transcends both space and time. In this sense, the resulting works are reflective and serene. Disappear Here endeavors to exile the viewer to a meditative place of solitude that hangs heavy with a duality that is at once alienating and self-affirming. The pieces represent the genesis, completion, and infinite nature of a past, a present, and a future in full command of the power to continually re-manifest itself. The result is deliberate, impenetrable – a fortress of the self, strengthened by the alchemies of birth and death. The exhibition will also feature limited edition prints and apparel available for purchase. A supplementary event – our next iteration of POCKET CHANGE: A PUBLIC ARTS FUNDRAISING SERIES – will be held at at THE EMPTY BOTTLE on Saturday, October 5th.

Fountain Art Fair in Chicago!

At Mana Contemporary 2233 S Throop September 20-22nd I'll be at booth #7 with Johalla Projects. Come say hi and see some art. These are some new prints I'll have available with some original collages as well.

Solo show in Austin, June 29th.

Austin! See you soon at Common House.

CTA installation project opening February 16th!

I am over the moon excited for this project! I'm headed back to Chicago for this opening on February 16th from 7-10 pm at the gorgeous Rational Park gallery at 2557 W North Ave. Come see my five newest works created specifically for the CTA and Damen Blue Line stop, in conjunction with Johalla Projects. These compositions echo the beauty and mystery of the past, while the collage component creates an almost dark or bewitching element. These sacred circles draw heavily upon ancient energies to form a sacred space, providing a meditative form of magical protection, rich with spiritual significance. The reception will feature prints and t-shirts of the original works being exhibited, as well as the original pieces that will be installed at the Blue Line stop available for sale.

Love in a Void

I'm doing a show with my friend forever Matt Skiba. We've done this before but never quite like this. For "Love in a Void" Matt created these beautiful color scapes in gauche that I have collaged. It's a one night only event and the amazing January Hunt will be our special guest DJ. 1/26/13 from 7-10 pm The HiFi bar 169 Ave A NYC

I'm really excited to announce this! Hope to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones in a couple weeks at Anchor Boutique in St.Augustine.

Solo show coming up soon!

Heatwave

Summer. Hmph. Whatever, I've been seeing lots of black snakes in the garden and that's a sign of good luck.

I have three collages in Augment, a group show by Catalyst Arts in Belfast, Ireland which runs the better part of this August. I'm working on a new series of mixed media pieces for a solo show this October with The Johalla Project which I'm so excited for! The Snake Faced Woman, above, is a work in progress.

Here is a freshly laundered shirty...

...it's better to be clean than dirty! Or is it? Well it won't exactly matter since you'll look so cool either way that no one is going to notice much else. The two undebatable theories at work here are that A. pentagrams make the most wonderful letter O's and B. magic happens when a couple of babes get into it with some triangles.

Pink Noise

Here's the flyer and the pieces I'm exhibiting at this group show opening February 4th in Asbury Park at Parlor Gallery (which I love). It's the gallery's Anniversary/music show and it promises to be a blast so if that's your neck o' the woods stop by and offer your warmest congratulations and dance moves!

In other news...

...you guys totally cleaned me out! The store is practically empty which is great since I am a clean slate kind of gal. You've all helped pave the way for some new digs coming soon. I'm making a sick shirt from the piece "Our Temple, Your Tomb" (see above image) which I originally made for the "Supernatural? Perhaps" show w/Steak Mtn this last summer in Los Angeles. I've also got some prints in the works that'll be done by the inimitable Rick Leech in Chicago. Also, I got my hands on some more of those darling ruffled saucers so expect some more of them in my Etsy store next week. I'm currently jacked on caffeine, finishing some pieces for a group show that will be opening in a couple wks, I'll post the details when I finish the work.

I've been making these the past couple of days...

I'm still making more with different designs. they'll be in my etsy store. They are hand painted with India ink on vintage milk glass plates.

So, what's new?

Well, I'm about to start working on a new website. I just put almost everything in the store on sale (like 50% off on sale) and added my latest pieces to it as well. I've got a big project in the works, I'll share more when it's a sure thing. I just took down the Halloween decorations. So sad. Oh well, have to make way for the Satanic manger scene. AH ha hahaha ha (evile laughter) hahaha ha!

Alkaline Trio design retrospect looms near on the horizon!

So, one of the best things that ever happened to me was falling in with a few fellows way back when. It led me around the world many times, to a career in design, to countless awesome friends and to my husband. If someone told me that any of those things would have happened when I was selling their demo tape at the Fireside Bowl in 1997 I'd most likely not have believed it. Anyways, it's been 15 years of working with them, although it's not been like work, hanging with my best friends all over the place on tour for 10 years was by far the best way to spend my 20's. The only thing that makes the 15 years seem like a plausible timeframe are the heaps of designs I'm staring down in front of me. Over 100 xeroxed, sharpie, glue sticked monsters! Anyhow, I'm finally doing something with them, they've been in a folder forever but come October 7th they're going up in an installation at Johalla Projects in Chicago. The show includes a book of all the designs, prints of 10 of the most favorite designs of the band and I and the installation of the originals. Hope everyone enjoys it as much as I have!

Supernatural? Perhaps!

This is happening whether you're ready or not...and chances you can't ever really be, but don't let it stop you from treating yourself to the brutalizing visuals we've cooked up for you in our respective underground lairs. xo

New shirts coming soon my pretties!

WORK

I have been burning the midnight oil in preparation for the LA show w/Steak Mtn. Behold the fruits of my sleeplessness!