Buy More Art: new album releases from Raising Jane and Ordinary Neighbors, You Are Awesome: 21 Crafts to Make You Happy by Abbey Hendrickson

Introducing Buy More Art, a subtly-titled weekly collection of art and art events I'm recommending to the world. A close runner up name for the new series:  Love your Artist Neighbor, Buy More Art! (borrowing language from Lauren Winner's advice for art patrons in this book)

After writing 101 Monday Mixtape posts, I'm throwing a farewell party and welcoming in the new guy. You'll notice the mixtape lives on in spirit.  We're just hanging up the jersey on the metaphor.

In case you're wondering, a couple of things I consider when I'm putting together my collection:

• Is this an emerging artist who could use a shout-out?
• Is this an emerging artist I've met, friend of a friend, reminds me of someone I know?
• Do I enjoy the painting/print/tunes/exhibit/piece/pages so much I want to own it for myself?
• Does this artist have a risk-taking story I'm cheering?
• Does this work feature the banjo? Move it straight to the top of the list.

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-- 1 --

With Light Intention from Raising Jane

If you like exceptional, vocally driven Folk & Celtic music, you'll be glad you met Raising Jane.  We've enjoyed hearing the group perform live a couple of times since moving to Austin, most recently Saturday night for the With Light Intention release party at Foodheads.  Nothing better than a crisp night in Austin with beer from band member Adam Blumenshein's brewery (Strange Land Brewery), Foodheads' savory turkey noodle soup, good friends and flying fiddles.  

By the way, if you happen to be on my Christmas list and love Celtic music you should hold off buying this album for yourself (wink).

Sample track for your enjoyment.

Raising Jane website

Raising Jane on Facebook

With Light Intention at CD Baby

With Light Intention at Amazon.com

CD release party at Foodheads, Austin --
we're grateful for our friendship with Mark and Terri Fisher!

-- 2 --

You Are Awesome: 21 Crafts to Make You Happy by Abbey Hendrickson

via Cicada Books: Abbey Hendrickson writes a blog called Aesthetic Outburst documenting her life in an old farmhouse in rural New York. In between DIY disasters, childcare catastrophes and cultural consumption, Abbey makes some fantastic and funky craft projects, which she sells through her Etsy shop. You Are Awesome is a collection of 21 clearly explained step-by-step craft ideas by Abbey Hendrickson. They range from a cross-stitched screendoor to a laptop toy made from a cardboard box. The projects are deceptively simple to make, but have a contemporary freshness that will appeal to seasoned crafters and novices alike. Each one captures the warmth and humour that Abbey herself radiates and which makes her blog so popular. There is nothing more rewarding than making things yourself. Things to live with and things to give to people you love. Let’s revel in the joy of handmade. Crafting is awesome!

You Are Awesome: 21 Crafts to Make You Happy by Abbey Hendrickson, illustrated by Fiona Biddington and published by Cicada Books.

You Are Awesome at Amazon.com

Abbey Hendrickson at her blog: Aesthetic Outburst & on Pinterest

Book review at Poppytalk

It wasn't until after I was a long-time Aesthetic Outburst blog fan that I discovered Abbey Hendrickson and her family live in Owego, NY -- as in one town away from our previous home in Endicott.  I think I figured it out when she created a relief fund for the devastated little town after the 2011 flood.  Then I realized her parents live a half a mile away from my parents' former house after she promoted their annual barn sale. Gosh, I wish I'd known Abbey when we lived less than 1,700 miles apart.

No matter where you live I recommend her new book.  And for any of you near Rochester, NY next weekend, check out details for Abbey's book signing at second storie indie market 2012.

-- 3 --

The Necessary Dark from Ordinary Neighbors

via bandcamp page:  The songs began as simple folk tunes, many of which are based on Susanna's poetry and short fiction. The music slowly morphed into ambient soundscapes in the studio with the help of Dustin Ragland (Utopian Accident ) and DM Stith (Asthmatic Kitty Records, Revival Hour). The result is a mountain of noises and beats that create a space chock-full of feeling.

Ordinary Neighbors online

Susanna Childress online

My response to Jagged With Love by Susanna Childress

Another great album hot off the presses!  I've never met Joshua Banner or Susanna Childress but I've followed his blog and her poetry for several years now.  I'm excited to dig into this collaboration of lyric and tune.  

-- bonus --

What I See When I Run botanical prints

Last Dance
Francis Ooi

What I See When I Run botanical portraits blog

What I See When I Run online store

I'm in love with this concept and with these prints.  I put together a collage of November-ish leaves but that's just a tiny selection of the variety of flora and fauna listed on the site.  Check them all out.  Looks like you need to order quickly (by 11/20) if you want any for Christmas gifts.

-- add your art --

Now it's your turn!  What art are you making, selling, buying?  Tell us about it in the  comments below.  If you've written your own post, share the link.

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"The God who impoverished himself is also the God of abundance, and somehow, perhaps at times nonsensically, Christians are called to live out of an ethic not of scarcity but of abundance—an abundance that extends both to the homeless neighbor and to the artist neighbor. . . "  -- Lauren Winner, from her chapter THE ART PATRON: Someone Who Can't Draw a Straight Line Tries to Defend her Art-Buying Habit  in For the Beauty of the Church

Austin Music, Nice To Meet You: Bon Iver

[guest post by Andrew Murphy]

What can I say about the music scene in Austin? It’s booming like business, blooming like bloomers, and thriving like the Thriver, a sector of the human  heart located somewhere between the right atrium and tricuspid valve.  Actually, this is not the best terminology for the scene because it indicates that at some point, the live music circuit here was under the radar, even though part of this city's rich history is the triumphant weight it’s had on live music culture across America and the world at large. 

The Murphs have been thrown into this eclectic environment with little poise or previous knowledge, which has made for some great discoveries in the way of local gigs and attractions since we made our trek to the Alamo state. I’ve gotten to witness a diverse array of style, genre, and status through the shows I’ve attended. With each musical outing opening my eyes to something new, I can honestly say that no act has left me hungry.

 The first real glimpse of this vibrant culture was the night me and my bro caught last second ticks to a Bon Iver performance at the Long Center. And what an introduction! 

For those who are familiar with Justin Vernon's work as the leader of this Indie-cred troupe only  through his  the group's debut LP (the self-titled Bon Iver), let me tell you that his new album has upped the stakes for any mop-headed, emotional girlie-man writing heart-wrenching lullabies for downtown yoga classes and backwoods cabin soul searching. 

While all of those words may sound like backhanded barbs, they’re actually highlights of his sound. He may make the ladies swoon, but behind every glassy-eyed hipster girl is an eager and intimidated guy, secretly wishing he had such skills. Hence, me and my bro sat in the nosebleed section of the expansive auditorium--which held the atmosphere of an evening at the opera—and enjoyed every minute of it, including the insanely talented opening act, Kathleen Edwards. 

I know her name sounds like one of your mom’s church bake sale rivals, but she’s actually a steadily-rising singer-songwriter who can churn out some kick-ass heartland melodies (that is, if Ottawa can be considered the heartland). In between songs, both she and Vernon would demonstrate their charismatic stage presence, which consisted of stream-of-consciousness asides and likeable humor, all complemented by their unanimous claims that Austin is, indeed, one of the best places for an artist to make their footing in the live music pantheon.

What else--oh right! The music. It was alright, and by "alright" I mean mind-blowingly spectatuloid. "Spectuloid," of course, being a word I just made up to serve as a synonym for really, really...really...awesome. Again, Kathleen Edwards is still a rookie in the bizarro world of ironic indie super stardom, so she and her fellow musicians played it safe and just delivered the goods. The goods, thankfully, were pretty dang good. She doesn't write and perform songs so much as feelings. Each song representing a different mood inside the human spectrum. It wasn't ambient chillwave so much as pop music with moxie and mystery. Think Feist on an existential road trip across the midwest (slash Ottawa). It was the kind of set you could close your eyes to and get lost in.

 Bon Iver, on the other hand, had nothing but eye-opening material in store for their audience. For an outfit that originally made music for the contemporary folk medium, this set reached Bono-in-space levels of spectacle. I'm not even quite sure if I merely watched the show or got punched in the face by it repeatedly, only to be coaxed and befriended by it afterwords. 

The set opened with the first four tracks off of Bon Iver, and while rather anti-climactic in concept, still served the audience a heaping dose of style and swagger. The new album is full of left-field ideas, and Vernon's meticulously-crafted live act only expanded them to more unpredictable terrain. I won't go into all the detail, but there was a dimly-lit alto-sax-bludgeoning solo, a Bjork cover (off her a cappella release!) and a flawless impression of a Wisconsin native, from a Wisconsin native. But for all the beauty and bombast demonstrated throughout, the highlight of the night came with the encore, as Vernon sat on a stool, surrounded by his loyal bandmates providing gang vocals, and the opening strums of "Skinny Love" filled the open room. Easily the quietest moment of the night, but also the most real. The crowd was in adoration from the band's walk on stage to their final bow, and I got the feeling even the begrudging avant-garde naysayers joined in on the closing standing O. 

to read more from Andrew:

• on Austin's record stores
• on the 10 best movies to watch on a rainy day