ArtUs Co presents a group exhibition entitled Flowers for Mothers. Flowers have been a part of the Mother’s Day tradition for over 100 years and represent the beauty and delicate strength of motherhood. The artists in this show depict unique and colorful botanicals in a variety of mediums to showcase for Mother’s Day.
Featured Artists:
Amanda Witucki, Katie Chance, Landry McMeans, Shanny Lott, Yasmin Yousseff
(Scroll down for artist info.)
About the Artists
Amanda Witucki
I’ve been a creator my whole life, but found my voice through the medium of paper. I love how approachable this medium is. It’s inexpensive, easy to manipulate, but with the right skill can create truly intricate and massive design. My work plays heavily on color, texture, and repetition. I think some of the most impressive art can be created from simple objects/techniques but multiplied hundredfold. I have a background in design, so I’m always looking to create larger installations that can transform a space and envelope the viewer.
As a kid I was fascinated by origami, but found it impossibly difficult and quickly gave up. Now, my focus is primarily with origami. Using one specific folded shape, I’ve created works on canvas, large installations, decorative garlands and hanging decor. Origami is simple, but requires intense precision to really master it.
Katie Chance
Katie Chance completed her Bachelor of Fine Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design. As a painter and illustrator, inspiration for her Wildflower Series came from a seventeen month adventure traveling all across America in a mobile, solar-powered tiny house. During this time she completed The State Flower Coloring Book which consists of fifty hand-drawn designs of each official state flower.
Many of her floral illustrations were inspired by in-field observation often spotted at National Parks during her journey. As her studio traveled from coast to coast and the plains between, she created these crisp, vibrant renderings which you now see on display.
Katie is still an avid traveler and explorer of all kinds, and views her work as a bond between nature and mindfulness. She’s currently inspired by her backyard garden in South Austin and the delicate details of individual wildflowers found in native Texas habitats. Katie works with watercolor, ink and gouache.
Available on kdunkle.com you can find and purchase originals, print reproductions, and custom commissions.
Austin, TX
Landry McMeans
Landry McMeans is a full time artist based in Austin, TX with a passion for color. She designs vibrant hand-cut stencil prints depicting scenes of the Southwest and its native flora and fauna. McMeans layers colors and shapes to create a simplified yet dimensional and serene pop aesthetic. Each stencil print is a limited edition original work of art with its own unique characteristics and evolving color palette.
In addition to her visual art, McMeans is a songwriter and steel guitar player. She spent the last decade touring nationally and internationally with the Brooklyn, NY based band, Gangstagrass (Emmy nominees for the theme song to the FX TV series Justified), and her former group, The Lonesome Heroes (Austin, TX). She claims that her travels touring throughout the United States, specifically the Southwest, significantly influenced the direction of her work and is still a notable source of inspiration.
Shanny Lott
I remember my first box of Crayons . I opened the box and saw all of those perfect points of color and smelled that waxy smell and thought, “God, I wish I could just eat all of these Crayons.!” I really understand why children do that,(eat crayons)...it makes perfect sense to me. So for me art is about color and light and showing evidence of the divine in the material world. I attended the University of Texas the first time in the 60’s and studied sculpture under Charles Umlauf. He was a fabulous teacher and an exciting presence to be around. My painting teachers were less than enthusiastic about my abilities, so I just assumed that I was not a painter. Now, in the sixties, those times being what they were, I became somewhat distracted and it was not until 1989 that I found myself back at UT, once more pursuing that Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and in the Sculpture Department once again. Older, wiser, and much less energetic, I became aware of how labor intensive sculpture actually is. I was afraid to go upstairs and paint, because I already knew I couldn’t do that from my first go-around. I still had a painting requirement for graduation and I wanted that degree, so up the stairs I went . I found a kinder, more gentle world in the painting department, and basically just never went back downstairs. I got my BFA from UT on May 19, 1990 on my birthday. That degree is the greatest gift I ever gave myself. I began to paint in earnest in 1992. My work has been shipped all over the country; from Boulder City, Nevada to Littleton, Colorado, Malibu, California and Destin, Florida. They hang in the homes of friends, family, and strangers. The greatest joy for me is to get to meet the people who buy my work. It is such fun to discover what connection we have, and we always do. My work brings me together with my worldly kin. How much fun to meet my unknown tribesmen. In the Art Department at the University of Texas, it has been said, “The painters are closer to God”. Maybe that is because the painters are on the top floor, I don’t know. I do know that my paintings have brought me closer to the earthly angels who appreciate fine art, and for that I am grateful.
I have recently added glass and metal to my chosen mediums and have found a new and exciting way to expand my means of artistic expression. These two new mediums have allowed me to develop new opportunities in the commercial sector.
I have returned to my love of graphite, charcoal and pastels on paper for this exhibit. It was so good to get back to basics and exercise those drawing muscles. Enjoy!
Yasmin Youssef
Yasmin Youssef is a mixed media artist, dancer, and user experience designer. She grew up in a multi-ethnic blended family, which has informed her journey through her creative careers. Her work using collage, cyanotypes, paint, plaster, vintage ephemera, and metal leaf offers quiet connection to the natural world around us.