by Anastasia on July 27, 2009
By Anastasia Smith
WHEN TSP RECEIVED AN EMAIL from Shelley Kommers with the subject line “Sister Artwork,” we were startled: Had Shelley, known in the Etsy world as Oiseaux (meaning bird in French), seen us lurking in her shops and sites somehow? Magic! Shelley had attached two mixed-media pieces about sisters, Strawberry Park (above) and Sí, Alguna Vez Fue Un Ave (“Yes, She Once Was a Bird” in Spanish), the former, she explained, created as a representation of herself with her own sister, Carrie (and look whose little arm is around whose bigger waist). No wonder Shelley defines “sister” as “someone you’re stuck with in the best way.” Those original images were just a glimpse into a portfolio, and a world, rich with sisterhood imagery, one we are excited to share here. [click to continue…]
by margaret on July 18, 2009
Black lemurs
I KNEW RIGHT AWAY I’D FEEL A KINSHIP with Jennifer Rae Atkins when I found her blog, The Daily Mammal, and saw in the faces of the animals she draws that she feels a kinship with all of nature, a siblinghood that crosses species boundaries. In that “takes one to know one” way (to use an expression that biological sisters or “best” friends might have spit at each other growing up), Jennifer seemed familiar, because each of her animals was depicted with its soul shining through (not just its nose and eyes and fur). I knew she took time to learn about them—not just copying old drawings but channeling the animals, through her own hand, and heart. And so (in this wonderful era) I just said a digital hello. Come get to know this very special sister better. [click to continue…]
by Anastasia on May 19, 2009
WHEN WE READ HER POEM ‘SHEDDING’ not long ago, The Sister Project invited documentarian Anna Clarke (above), a sister-friend to our own Anastasia Smith, to curate a small show of poems, including hers. Let Anna Clarke take it from here:
Since I am an only child, my real sense of feminine connection stems from my bond with both my mother and grandmother and thusly, an understanding and fascination of my female lineage. These selected poems speak to that alternate understanding of sisterhood, the ongoing quest to make connection with women outside of one’s given siblinghood. These poems, a tribute to mothers, grandmothers, and the historical and spiritual notion of womanhood, seek to identify and celebrate several ways in which one can feel like a sister.
[click to continue…]
by Anastasia on May 5, 2009
By Paige Smith Orloff
"The Chorus and Creating"
ONE OF THE GREATEST JOYS in discovering a new artist is stepping out of your world and into another. We loved crossing that threshold into the land of Portland, Oregon-based artist Julianna Bright. In her folkloric, fairy-tale realm, images of sisterhood and kinship abound—though the ethereal women she paints are as likely to be paired up with a giant bird or a princely frog as with another human. “The pictures I make have became for me a way to circle back to that wonder I felt as a child,” says Julianna, “that time before I was even able to read when I could fashion a whole universe in my mind around an illustration.” [click to continue…]
by Anastasia on April 28, 2009
By Anastasia Smith
'The Queen and I'
LINDSEY CARR, THE IMAGINATION AND HEART behind the fanciful Etsy Shop, Little Robot, readily admits that her sibling-hood of six has come with responsibilities and heartache. “I think really that the misfortunes are the things which bind you,” she says, but then also offers this punchline, about the delight of her sister-and-brother relationships: “A story is nothing without someone to share it with.” [click to continue…]
by paige on April 9, 2009
Shauna, right, with lifetime sister-friend Sharon, who's "family."
FROM A SISTER-FRIEND she’s known since age 15 and others adopted along the way, Shauna James Ahern says she has learned to be herself, and unafraid. Those traits, combined with Shauna’s exceptional culinary creativity, have put the Gluten Free Girl at the center of a sisterhood (and a brotherhood, too) of passionate cooks who follow a gluten-free diet but don’t compromise their palates to keep their health. [click to continue…]
by Anastasia on March 26, 2009
CLAUDINE HELLMUTH MIGHT BE an only child, but she knows a thing or two about a woman’s innate connection to sisterhood. Her artwork—a mix of photos, paint, fabric and ink—transplants familiar faces to whimsical worlds, reminiscent of storybook illustrations or even retro advertisements: a woman’s grayscale profile gives way to a drawn-on yellow floral dress and little yellow high heels perched delicately on the floor of a red Vespa, her red scarf flapping in the wind behind her; two women with comforting family resemblance—it’s in their eyes, or maybe their smiles—stand close, so close their A-line floral skirts overlap, clasping one another’s hands before a backdrop of fluffy clouds and rolling hills. [click to continue…]
by margaretroach on March 5, 2009
WHEN ARTIST SLOANE TANEN’S jpg-stuffed email arrived in TSP’s inbox late last year, bringing new meaning to the concept of pecking order, we shared some of her crazy creations right away…to introduce her to the rest of the sister flock. Now we’ve rounded up more of Sloane’s special sister art into a slideshow, including several you haven’t seen before. [click to continue…]
by margaretroach on February 10, 2009
THEY SHARE KNITTING, AUTHORSHIP OF TWO BOOKS—and oh, yes, they also share “the hairdo luv” with anyone who can stop laughing long enough to open their eyes and watch their entire “Pardon Me (I Didn’t Knit That for You)” country-music video. Such is the creative and crazy chemistry between “sisters” (our word) Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne, known to knitters everywhere as Mason-Dixon Knitting. They are knit together (sorry) as tightly these days as DNA, but no genetic material is actually shared: The two met on a knitting chat board on the internet. Hallelujah that they did. [click to continue…]
WHEN TSP RECEIVED AN EMAIL from Shelley Kommers with the subject line “Sister Artwork,” we were startled: Had Shelley, known in the Etsy world as Oiseaux (meaning bird in French), seen us lurking in her shops and sites somehow? Magic! Shelley had attached two mixed-media pieces about sisters, Strawberry Park (above) and Sí, Alguna Vez Fue Un Ave (“Yes, She Once Was a Bird” in Spanish), the former, she explained, created as a representation of herself with her own sister, Carrie (and look whose little arm is around whose bigger waist). No wonder Shelley defines “sister” as “someone you’re stuck with in the best way.” Those original images were just a glimpse into a portfolio, and a world, rich with sisterhood imagery, one we are excited to share here. [click to continue…]
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