Thomas David Carr
My paintings are energetic abstractions with a concentration on movement and color themes. Making them is what I would think playing jazz would be like or dancing with color.
1stSatArtMarket
Posts by Mitch Cohen:
Bella’s Flowers
My name is Isabella, and I love art. My mother told me she knew art would be my passion when I was in kindergarten. I would always color inside the lines and was very meticulous in what I drew and how I colored it. She said I was always striving for my art to be perfect. She was right. I love how art makes me feel, but what I really love is seeing how my art makes others feel. I especially love painting flowers because to me they are the prettiest to paint. I know as I grow as an artist my art will grow too. I’m looking forward to taking this first step in making art my career.
Novel Arts And Crafts
With decades of hands-on experience, several design skills, and a love of uplifting others, the creator of Novel Arts and Crafts LLC, Jom Kirkland, decided to use them to create meaningful gifts and one-of-a-kind products to ensure that her customers will own one of the unique pieces that are not in mass production. Color and pattern may vary. She designs all handmade jewelry products and combines different elements for your unique style, from genuine freshwater pearls to natural and reconstituted gemstones, healing crystals, and lava rocks, which can be used with essential oils to create a special way of gift-giving for everyone.
Lili’s Sweethearts
My Latin American origins heavily influence my work. I pay homage in all my paintings to the diversity of the women in the world, including indigenous people, artists, and the everyday fighter. My work is colorful and often includes hidden words, messages, and poems I wrote to give each piece a unique feel and a deeper meaning. My goal is that every piece brings color and history to their future forever home.
Hashem Studio
Love of art has always been a major part of my life. Growing up in a remote area in Lebanon, I spent my childhood on hillsides entertaining myself by using natural environment to make art, creating miniature villages using twigs, mud, pebbles, seashells and other flotsam. Bullet casings and exploded shrapnel afforded excellent miniature construction material. I started my career as a molecular biologist, but I never gave up art, filling up any free time creating something. After taking my first class in ceramics 10+ years ago, I fell in love and decided to give it 100% of my attention. Turning mud into a mug involves physics, chemistry, and cognitive constructional abilities, yet is ultimately controlled by the unpredictable whims of the kiln gods, … and playing with clay is cheaper than psychotherapy. I replaced scientific experimentation with experimentation with clay. I am constantly trying new techniques, materials, and glazes, giving rise to my eclectic style. There will always be something new and different in my collection. You can view current works by following me on Instagram or my website.
Jeff Lung
Jeff’s funny Instagram stories came on my radar long before he came to 1st Saturday in 2023. Jeff has turned his obsession with “doodling” into an artform and that in itself makes a great story. Sit back for the rest, Jeff has a fascinating and inspiring backstory!
One could call Jeff Lung’s art figurative abstract art but he often just calls it “doodle art.” “I love to doodle! So I’ve made it my thing!” ~ Jeff Lung
Tell us about yourself outside of the art world.
I am a self-taught artist interested in figurative abstract expression and obsessive doodling. All my life I have been obsessed with filling empty spaces with shapes, and my doodle-scribbled notebooks collected over the years document this quest. I find great satisfaction in finding relationships among forms and expressing them through emotion. In my free time, I enjoys being outdoors: running, hiking and cycling. I also love comic books and live stand-up comedy. Born and raised in Quincy, Illinois, since leaving home at 18 years old I have lived in big cities like Madrid, Beijing, Los Angeles and Chicago. Now I’m a Texan. Texan for life.
How did your art journey begin?
Initially it was a coping mechanism for dealing with the chaos of my early childhood. I found that drawing and doodling helped me escape from the drama that was otherwise holding me down.
What are you doing with your art right now?
I continue to experiment by combining my deep interest in traditional portraiture and figure drawing alongside my incessant need to be doodling all the time. In doing so, I also explore themes that are at the forefront of my mind: dynamic movement, faith, love, hope, peace, calm.
Do you have big plans/goals for the future?
Heck yes! I plan to see the world through my art and subsequent messaging. I’ve overcome a lot of adversity in my life and I want to share that triumph while also helping others get through trials of their own.
What guidance would you offer to a budding or novice artist?
Ask questions, of course, but realize too that we are all an experiment of one. What works for one person may not work for you. I ask a lot of questions and pick a lot of brains and then filter that through my own journey and experience to get the most out of it.
If you didn’t work in your medium, what would you choose?
Probably something similar like gouache.
Tell us a surprising thing or story about yourself!
I have a lot of interesting life experiences. I speak fluent Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. I lived in China for four years. I also did some dumb stuff and got arrested and sent to prison at 24 years old for selling Ecstasy. I served 26 months in prison and while incarcerated started my first successful entrepreneurial endeavor by drawing portraits for my fellow inmates in graphite. I became known as the portrait guy in the joint and made a good living (for being locked up that is). I got out in 2007 and never went back to my stupid days.
I was also a competitive boxer with 13 fights, winning the 2015 Chicago Golden Gloves in the Masters Division lightweight class. I have run hundreds of races: half marathons, marathons, ultramarathons. My crowning achievements are a 3:03 PR in the 2012 Chicago Marathon. I ran the Boston Marathon twice (2013, 2014). I also ran the coveted and highly selective Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run in 2017. While I still do run often, I also enjoy riding my bike for short and long distances.
First Saturday Corner
Has attending 1stSatArtMarket changed you and/or your art?
It has changed me in a positive way in that I know more artists and more collectors than I did before!
What one take away would you like the public to know about 1stSatArtMarket?
It’s a great place to come and see what is going on in the grassroots art community. These are people who are passionate about making and sharing their creations. It’s a place to have discussions and interactions.
It has changed me in a positive way in that I know more artists and more collectors than I did before!
What one take away would you like the public to know about 1stSatArtMarket?
It’s a great place to come and see what is going on in the grassroots art community. These are people who are passionate about making and sharing their creations. It’s a place to have discussions and interactions.
Grifters & Shills
His was hard rock and heavy metal. Hers was the classic sound of the East Texas piney woods. Theirs was a fiery collision, bearing forth a sound that was at once novel and instantly familiar–high lonesome harmonies with a rock and roll soul.
