laurachenault.com

Behind the scenes: Pull a Thread

laura — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 22:46:33 +0000

Behind the scenes: Pull a Thread

Behind the scenes: Pull a Thread is a peak into my process. This zine was created for The Monthly Zine Project's (MoZiPro) February 2021 prompt: breathe. The collage on the cover is an artist trading card (ATC) that I made specifically for this cover and prompt.

Inspired by Keith Smith's Text in the Book Format, especially the section on extended texts. I was curious if I could use the pacing and format of the text could be used to slow down the reader's breathing. Get your copy now!

Behind the scenes: Pull a Thread

Like all my projects this zine started in my sketchbook.

I started out by testing my own breathing with 8 counts in and 8 counts out; figuring out how many words per page and how long it would take to read each page. I started doing the text in my sketchbook, but quickly needed to switch to digital with all the editing to conform to the word counts needed.

Before selecting the image I did the text and rough layout. I make many maquettes along the way of most projects.

It definitely ended up blank!

Usually, I will just fold and collate a single signature book one at a time. The similarity of the pages in this case, slowed down that process significantly. Instead I uncollated my prints and folded each page individually.

Ahhhh… that's better!

100 (plus a couple extra) copies ready to be sewn.

Getting jiggy with it! I use a jig for everything. This one is just for punching holes in each pamphlet bound book.

The jig has these lines as a visual reminder to punch holes straight through the signature.

Other than the de-collating and re-collating, this process is how I approach all large projects.

You can get a copy of Pull a Thread here.

laura Tue, 02/01/2022 - 17:46

Isolation Falls selected for One Twelve's Internal Dialogue

laura — Thu, 21 May 2020 01:15:36 +0000

Isolation Falls selected for One Twelve's Internal Dialogue

I'm excited to announce Isolation Falls, one of my DSLR Holga pic of Niagara Falls, was selected as part of One Twelve's Internal Dialogue exhibit.

Isolation Falls

From the jurors:

For all of us, forced social distancing can be accompanied by fear, anger, loneliness - but also a time for self-reflection. None of us has ever experienced a time like this. What are our feelings about this? We artists apply our internal feelings to our creations. How does this manifest in our internal dialogue? We want to see how your inner thoughts are expressed in external ways."

See the entire exhibit here: https://onetwelvepublishing.com/internal-dialogue. I'm honored to be included. I started to list a few of my favorites here on the blog, and the list keeps growing, so click through and check it out.

Niagara Falls State Park

This winter at Niagara Falls State Park was empty and gray. See more photos from my isolation adventures on these blog posts:

The Lens

I truly do love this Holga lens for my DSLR. Mine's the Nikon version, but they make it compatible for most bodies. I like having the dreamy Holga look with the convenience of DSLR.

laura Wed, 05/20/2020 - 21:15

Odd Future: random journal page 194

laura — Wed, 20 May 2020 14:44:51 +0000

Odd Future: random journal page 194

Odd future by Laura Chenault is the inside front cover from one of my sketchbooks. To me it's a glimpse into the future of this particular journal. The hanging fortune is from a fortune teller machine at Museé Méchanique.

laura Wed, 05/20/2020 - 10:44

Open doors into the world: random journal page 193

laura — Wed, 20 May 2020 14:00:26 +0000

Open doors into the world: random journal page 193

Ooops this one should have posted last week.

Open doors into the world is a found poem by Laura Chenault. The complete text for this poem from my sketchbook is below.

among the open doors into the world

Her view

through recent struggle

her identity and vision resonate

Because generations are roots

she and so

My deep being

So the question is

experience and sense

they focus on time

laura Wed, 05/20/2020 - 10:00

Red hills: random journal page 192

laura — Wed, 06 May 2020 16:24:45 +0000

Red hills: random journal page 192

Red hills is a mixed media collage from one of my sketchbooks. I especially like how the watercolor pencils show the random tourist brochure in the background. I'm planning on trying to shoot some video of my sketchbooks so stay tuned!

laura Wed, 05/06/2020 - 12:24

I'm following Tussen Kunst

laura — Tue, 05 May 2020 00:21:58 +0000

I'm following Tussen Kunst

I'm following Tussen Kunst AKA between art and quarantine: a hashtag, a movement, and a creative reflection of our current situation.

Following Tussen Kunst: Between Art and Quarantine

The original brief was to pick a piece of artwork and use 3 items in your home to recreate it. The idea took off and the "Getty Museum Challenge" amplified the participants. As you can see from the examples below, many creators are going all out and throwing that three item suggestion to the wind. To acheive brilliant results.

Woman in Biscuits is a recreation from Gustav Klimt's Woman in Gold by Julia Timoshkova‬. This is the one image that I can't find a source for the original creator. I especially love the sheer volume of snacks that Julia has surrounded herself with.

Pablo Picasso was one of my earliest favorites. His powerful, gigantic mural Guernica about the horrors of war is recreated by Enfants autour du monde. For some reason this versoin looks like. a family battle, while still staying faithful to the composition and feeling of the original.

Marina Abramović's Imponderabilia by Chris Steiner

Another Picasso favorite is Girl with Mandolin recreated by Stephanie Williams creativly using toilet paper squares to emulate the cubist look.

Frieda Khalo's painting Tea and Smokes redone with the cigarette and cup being replaced by toilet paper. and grain. A clever take by KSU Colorist.

And the image that inspired this post, this rendition of The Garden of Earthly Delights by HieronymusBosch. This photograph by Ksenia Krondo makes me ridiculously happy with their commitment to the surrealist masterpiece. Seriously though the commitment her is outstanding. The birds on the wall. The cat replacing the odd long legged furry creature.

I think you should join me in following Tussen Kunst's Instagram account, or follow along on most social media platforms with these hashtags: #betweenartandquarantine #tussenkunstenquarantaine #gettychallenge #gettymuseumchallenge #covidclassics #museumchallenge #mettwinning #gettymuseum #tussenkunstenquarataine #museumathome #metanywhere

laura Mon, 05/04/2020 - 20:21

I'm inspired by Jaymee Laws

laura — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:57:52 +0000

I'm inspired by Jaymee Laws

I am inspired by Jaymee Laws. I just discovered her through a reddit friend and I'm in love with her work. Thanks Bethany! Pop culture references, lovely portraits, and powerful quotes combine in her work.

I'm inspired by Jaymee Laws

Her Instagram is filled with bright, colorful, original illustrations like this lovely cloudy day woman. She has a distinct style, is LGBT+ friendly, and is an all around good human being.

And her rainbow sister.

I love that she draws diverse women; celebrating the differences. She has a series of illustrated women combined with quotes that available on all kinds of products.

I love this curvy girl reminding reminding you to value yourself.

Anglea Davis' words are a call to action which has stayed true over time.

Another, softer series of paintings include inspirational quotes. I always love Frida Kahlo and her romantic side. See her letters to Georgia O'Keefe for some prime examples.

Being up in Niagara Falls means spring still seems far, but I can only hope it'll be here soon.

I think her portrait paintings are my very favorite. This one is called Meghan. She could be the goddess of transformation.

And as a bookbinder and book lover, I had to share Kaitlin. The books become flapping, cacooning companions.

Her pop culture girls are quirky and cute. Check out Josie -- of Josie and the Pussycats…

… and Velma from Scooby Doo. These were two of my favorite cartoons as a kid, and her rendering of them are perfect.

She's prolific, creative, and smart with a huge range of femnist, body postivie, and inspirational

Go check out her Etsy store for prints, stickers, mugs, postcards, and more.

laura Fri, 04/24/2020 - 18:57

100 Days of Photos

laura — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 17:55:03 +0000

100 Days of Photos

If you keep up with the blog or follow me on social media, you'll know I'm doing two projects for The 100 Day Project: 100 Days of Photos and 100 Days of Collage. The 100 Day Project "a free art project that takes place online". My first project is a repeat of last year's -- a daily collage in my sketchbook. My second, is a series of photos that have come out of my collage practice.

The pieces of 100 Days of Photos project

This project started out as a goal of "shooting something I'm working on or something in my environment everyday." according to my own Instagram caption. What started out as a couple pics of my collage fodder has definitely evolved into a project of it's own.

Here's today's photo. I consider this an Instagram project, because I am definitely shooting these on my cell phone with the thought that they will end up the default square format. I do think that I'm going to push it even further and do some DSLR photos using a lightbox. That said, I'm really pleased with the way this project is coming along.

A dear friend asked for a behind the scenes, so I decided to share my process. But first, I'm going to rewind a bit.

Dave, Romana and I are in Niagara Falls and most of my stuff -- especially my studio stuff -- is in storage in New Jersey. Yikes. I have more cameras that most people own; a good amount of book binding tooks; and for some reason almost every marker, colored pencil, and sharpie that I own.

My dear roommate gave me stacks of magazines so I could do my 100 Days of Collage project -- YAY! Old Vogues, Architectural Digest, and Wired magazine are the bulk of it. Some of my favorites. You should also know that as I'm thumbimg through magazines, there are always pages that are hard to choose which side gets glued down. Still here? The last variable in this serendipitous new project is that my little desk is at a lovely window so I have a built in light box.

Shooting the 100 Days of Photos project

Alright now you all the bits are in place so this project should make sense.

First of I liked this girl. I'm thinking, "I'll probably cut her out" so I rip this page out of the magazine.

Now that I'm heavy into this project, I'm pretty much checking every sheet for interesting juxtopositions. I especially like the way the buildings frame the figure.

The studio. Ha ha ha. I like this window best because the screen adds a nice layer and there's some neighborhood I can include if I want.

If I wasn't doing pictures for this blog post, I probably would have just stopped at this first shot.

I took this picture mostly to show how the shot can be combined with the window and the background.

The reverse shot. I often do check both sides to figure out which I like better. I don't really usually take either of these photos. It's often a one and done, or if I'm including the background, there might be a couple.

Oh and here's the building that keeps showing up in the backgrounds.

VIola! Now you've seen all the pieces, and how it's shot.

To be honest, it's so easy, it doesn't quite feel fair calling it Art. You know the capital Art I was taught to make as an undergrad.

laura Wed, 04/15/2020 - 13:55

Exploring Terrapin Point

laura — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 22:48:06 +0000

Exploring Terrapin Point

I finally made exploring Terrapin Point with Dave -- the closest you can be to the crest of the horseshoe falls. At least on the American side

Exploring Terrapin Point

It's still gray and wintery here in Niagara Falls, but deep winter was over before we arrived. And signs of spring are all around.

I believe these are shelf mushrooms, but I'm definitely not a mycologist.

Signs of NIagara Falls industrial past.

My new favorite subject, the coin operated binocular hanging out with my long-time, reluctant subject, Dave.

Niagara Falls State Park is empty on this sixty degree day. I mean there were a dozen or so of us, socially distancing, but it is definitely eerie.

I don't think a photo can ever do Niagara Falls justice. It's truly a journey for all the senses. One the crest of the fall the water is loud, the air is wet, and the water rushing past is mesmerizing.

The urge to dive in is strong.

It's a long way down.

Dave is often called in to do a final photo sort with me. He said meh to this photo because you can't tell what it is. I kept it because I like the mystery.

The crest of the falls looking over the river. It's so wet. The air is thick.

Amazing how peaceful and serene and empty state park becomes.

The Skylon Tower, or as Dave calls it, Canada's Seattle Space Needle. Gotta love that groovy sixties vibe.

The falls are enormous. I promise I'll go exploring Terrapin Point with a non-plastic lens soon!

Emtpy walkways make for pretty photos. [shrug]

I tried to pick just one photo of the coin operated binoculars for this post, but I failed. This one just has so much… personality that I couldn't resist.

The lens

I truly do love this Holga lens for my DSLR. Mine's the Nikon version, but they make it compatible for most bodies. I like having the dreamy Holga look with the convenience of DSLR.

laura Tue, 04/07/2020 - 18:48

I'm following Anna Gensler NSFW

laura — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 01:58:46 +0000

I'm following Anna Gensler NSFW

Anna Gensler is a talented illustrator with a wicked sharp sense of humor.

Anna Gensler AKA Grannypants

Her description of the Grannypants projects sums up perfectly why I'm following Anna Gensler.

Objectifying men who objectify women in 3 easy steps:

Man sends crude line via internet.

Draw him naked.

Send portrait to lucky man, enjoy results.

Her illustrations are deliberately unflattering. The men are not well endowed. They're awkward looking and also awkwardly drawn. Browsing through Anna's political cartoons on Instagram or her website prove this is a stylistic choice.

Like everyone else I watched Tiger King, so I couldn't pass up Juan, 27 and his tiger. She says as she waggles her eyebrows suggestively.

I still don't get the whole insulting women to get them to talk to you. Obviously it's working well (not).

I feel like I've met some of these guys.

Who says stuff like this?!

OK. This one is kind of sweet, to be honest. Go explore your butt stuff dude. I'm sex positive.

G20 Puppet Leaders by Anna Gensler

I'll be honest, I had no idea about this amazing body of work before I went to write this post. Boy was I pleasantly surprised. I'm laughing and at the same time truly inspired by the puppets. They're brilliantly made and portray thought-provoking images of power and control.

Who is actually responsible for pulling the strings within our governments has become an inescapable question that consumes the current media landscape in the age of Donald Trump. 195 puppets, which chronicles the adventures of hand made clay marionette versions of G20 world leaders, is a satirical take on this question.

Trump with his little, itty bitty golf club. The robe and MAGA hat really make the scene for me.

Kim Jon-un looking menacing and adorable.

I seriously can't get enough of these. Look at Putin on the broomstick toy horse. He's so serious while playing with his toy.

I did mention that I think this body of work is brilliant. Guess what? There's a whole lot more of the puppets in action -- both out and about, and staying home and keeping busy.

You should Follow Anna Gensler

Find Anna on her website, Instagram, Tumblr, or Twitter

laura Mon, 04/06/2020 - 21:58