Thursday, October 27, 2011

Meeting with Wynter Whiteside



Just recently I had the opportunity to meet with one of our 2012 second round judges, Wynter Whiteside. Talking with Wynter felt like I was catching up with an old friend. She is really personable, passionate, fun, and really excited to be involved with the AICUO Excellence in the Visual Arts Awards.

Wynter is from central Ohio, attended Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School in Columbus, Ohio and is an alumnus from the Columbus College of Art & Design. She told me that while she was at CCAD, she spent a semester studying abroad in Ireland.  She described her experience to be wonderful and beautiful and gave me the advice to bite at any opportunity I have to study abroad. So, readers, I pass that along to you as well. “Rolling hills…countryside…castles…” the imagery she was talking about sounded unreal. Any artist would be silly to not be inspired by being in such an environment.

Wynter was a fine art major. She is a painter and embroiderer who also happens to love curating. I asked how, after 8 years of being a curator, she would describe it. She said, “it’s more about producing a visual idea, an organic project, and seeing things come together”. The curated shows are “a process of thought”, she explained, “they are like a piece of artwork within itself”. She loves the instillation and “constellation of ideas” that are all brought together in one place. Just from sitting across from her and talking I could just tell how much she loves curating. “[Curating] is very fulfilling to me” she went on to say. I truly believe her.

I asked her what I thought would be a hard question to answer, “what has been your favorite show that you have curated?” Without missing a beat, her face lit up with a huge smile and she answered “Sugarcraft”. Sugarcraft was a show in 2008 hosted by Kasia Kay Art Projects in Chicago, IL. She showed me pictures and it was everything I had ever wanted to see in a gallery. I really love girly, fun, cute, silly artwork and this was exactly it. The show was filled with cute artworks from around the world. Sugary subject matter included cupcakes, cakes, and candies. It was her favorite show because it had artists from all around the globe, the gallery space was great, the woman she worked with was amazing, and she networked a ton. She told me all of the artwork was sent to her house, here in Columbus, so she had to rent a U-Haul and drive all the work to Chicago. Can you imagine?

I remember when I was in high school I saw one of her shows at the Mahan Gallery (which isn’t open anymore) in the Short North in Columbus. I was blown away. I was even more blown away that there were real tiny cupcakes sitting on little shelves as part of her artwork. From then on I have always remembered her work and was really grateful she accepted the opportunity to be one of our judges.

I asked if she was currently making work, and music to my ears the answer was “yes, for the past 4 years”. She said there is even more embroidery and the paintings are very large. I cannot wait to see them!

Along with Sugarcraft she said another one of her favorite shows she curated was “Genuine Bunny Lovers” which had bunnies in a pin in the middle of the gallery and bunny artwork on all the walls. We started talking about bunnies, my scary bunny run-ins and that I only like to pet them from far away distances. She is a bunny lover and owner and assures me that they’re harmless. We got on the subject of cats and I knew the meeting went great!

Personal Pieces





Below are images from Sugarcraft! How fun!
(The embroidered circles, painting with pink selves in photo 3 are Wynter's!)










Monday, October 3, 2011

"Through to Our Bones" - Daniel Ferlan, a show curated by Wynter Whiteside


"And Then Came the Sparkles" by Daniel Ferlan

Friday night I had the pleasure of meeting another 2012 Second Round Judge, Wynter Whiteside. Like I’ve said before I have been e-mailing back and forth with all of the second round judges, but it is always great to meet face to face.

Wynter Whisteside is a grad from the Columbus College of Art & Design, she is a fine artist and also a curator.

I met Wynter at the Sharon Weiss Gallery in the Short North in Columbus for the opening night of “Through to Our Bones” an exhibition of work by Daniel Ferlan, curated by Wynter.

I went to the exhibit not knowing what kind of artwork I was going to see, I didn’t know what to expect. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Ferlan’s work was pretty cool. His paintings have  a sense of humor and a sort of dark undertone. But he uses a lot of playful colors and imagery to evoke the sense of romance and love, which is what this show was about.

The pieces were on the smaller scale, nothing taking up a huge part of the wall, but I think that kind of scale would have taken away from the pieces. Ferlan’s pieces are painted so smoothly and with care that when looking at them you have such an appreciation for the craftsmanship. Along with the painted pieces there was a film looping on a TV in the gallery as well. My favorite pieces were two little paintings by the TV incased in a plastic frame with flowers and decorations inside the frame with the painting. This is definitely a show worth stopping in to see! Not to mention, Columbus Alive named this show one of the top 3 exhibitions to see this fall!

“Through to Our Bones” – Daniel Ferlan will be at the Sharon Weiss Gallery until October 31st, 2011.

Look out for the next blog post! I’ll be interviewing and meeting with Wynter very soon!

Until then, get out there before it gets too cold and enjoy some artwork!


"My Little Darlings" by Daniel Ferlan