louie spagnola

NIAD Annex Gallery Exhibition // “The Way We Are, Now: NIAD Fashion Illustrations”

“The love for fashion spreads, and now the whole studio is thriving off of it,” exhibition curator Shantanice Swain explains.

“For me, fashion is about what you’re comfortable with. It can shift, and it can be anything — clothes, earrings, shoes, drawings. It’s a bold and courageous way of saying, ‘I am who I am today.’” Fashion has the power to affirm and transform: what we wear tells a story about who we are and who we might one day hope to become. Over the past year, artists were encouraged to experiment with materials and draw inspiration from personal histories, pop culture, and future fantasies. Presented here is a selection of works on paper that showcase vibrant and innovative adornments.  Read More …

A graphic promoting an exhibition. Below a row of black cutout star shapes, centered at the top of the image, in exuberant black text that has a hand-cut feel, are the words “Feeling Language” in all caps. Below that in a smaller size, the words “organized by Kate Laster”. In the left half of the graphic, a page from a book with swirling patterns is covered with ten rows of the handwritten phrase “You Are Here,” hand written in a beige cursive font in all caps. The name “Mitsuko Brooks” appears to the left. In the same font, a column on the right lists the artists participating in the exhibition. Each word is separated by a diamond or a star shape

NIAD Gallery Exhibition // “Feeling Language,” organized by Kate Laster

This show is all about comfort text: resilience in everyday words, writing and reading. Expression can also be wordless, the use of line and color as new vocabulary, pushing a thought out onto a surface, making marks and continuously trying to communicate with the world.

We tell stories to sustain ourselves and find each other. These messages embedded in art become an emotional telegram– a signal flare with a flame of memory trailing behind it. “Feeling Language” is about books, lists, slogans, language, gesture, touch and the trust given in sharing. Read More …

A graphic of a collection of artworks included in the holiday gift guide. arranged in a grid.

NIAD Holiday Gift Guide #4: “SISTER SISTER” collected by Amanda and Sarah Eicher

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

About “SISTER SISTER” Some people think we look alike; others think our voices sound the same, and still others mistake us for each other – but do we have the same taste?  We definitely swapped clothes, jewelry, sneakers, and a few items we argued over as tiny pups in the world.In this selection, I tried to choose for my sister a few of the things I think she might have borrowed from my childhood bedroom – or that I’d want to borrow from hers. (Unsurprisingly, we chose a few of the same items the first time around!) As the younger sibling, I Read More …