Dane Arts Holiday Pop-up

press release: StartingBlock Madison is committed to supporting local artists, and you can help! Come join us to do some early holiday shopping at the StartingBlock pop-up arts fair.

Artists:

Jennika Bastian

"Much of my work is a personal folklore of motifs and characters that share stories of navigation through the dark and light of my psyche. In the past few years, I have become very interested in creating artwork inspired from studying folklore and mythology in different cultures. One of my favorite quotes is "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths," by Joseph Campbell. I view my artwork as a dance between these public dreams and private myths. My aesthetic is inspired by in-between spaces of my middle world: the connective flow of dreams and waking, growth and decay, the ebb of the ephemeral. I have been self employed since I was 16 years old, selling my personal artwork and creating commissions. My freelance work includes illustrating a young adult fantasy series, installation design for the Burning Man festival, outdoor illuminated sculptures for Madison Olbrich Gardens, live painting and murals. After graduating in 2013 with my Bachelor of Fine Arts from UW Madison, I have also been employed at Madison Children's Museum as an exhibit artist, creating murals, sculptures, and different elements of exhibits. In 2018 I was selected by Dane Arts to participate in the artist residency, EUARKA+ as an oil painter, in tandem with the exhibition Documenta 14, in Kassel Germany (Dane county's sister county). I have exhibited my personal work regionally and internationally."

Angelica Contreras

Angelica Contreras is a Latinx artist interested in exploring the relationships between identity, tradition, and pop culture, through its many layers. She incorporates techniques like acrylic, oil, and collage into her pieces, providing a palette of colors and textures for the subject’s surroundings. The use of materials is both calculated as serendipitous, creating unusual cultural combinations. Her work seeks to act as a bridge between various communities and cultures and thus reflecting on her own.

Visit www.angelicacontreras.net to see additional work.

Rodrigo Carapia: Visual artist/Muralist

Rodrigo Carapia Art is a self-taught artist who originates from Mexico City. He first began with street art, which allowed him to experiment with his art on bigger scales. When he moved to the United States he began to perfect his art on canvas and paper. Once his brush touches the canvas the work he portrays becomes an epitome of his rich Mexa culture.

Now, as an artist Mr. Carapia uses his work as a form of self-expression and resistance through offering art workshops in schools, juvenile correctional centers, which has given the youth a form of expression and a sense of freedom. His work has also been donated to grassroots organizations that help the undocumented community- and workers unions. You might spot his art around Wisconsin in murals, restaurants, and in several showcases.

Issis Macias

Issis Macias is an artist based in Madison, WI. She is self-taught, first generation Mexican-American, born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In 2012, an encounter with a community of avant-garde artists in Los Angeles ignited an exploration of "self", which catapulted her into a journey of artistic expression.

Her paintings are varied in style, reflecting an intuitive process. She primarily works with acrylic and oil pastels on canvas to make abstract paintings of various textures, forms, and shapes. These are derived from her free-form methods of smearing and scraping paint with canvas keys, wedges, and bare hands. For Issis, painting is a meditative process, where the texture of each pigment guides the movement of hands as it soaks into the canvas. The result is a distinctive body of abstract artwork that is vibrant and emotive.