Artist Profile
In conjunction with the pop-up show of Robinwood, Move Loot has published an artist's profile on their blog.
In conjunction with the pop-up show of Robinwood, Move Loot has published an artist's profile on their blog. Available here >
The exhibition will be on view through the end of November 2014.
Local Artist Profile: Jillian Piccirilli
1. Can you share with our readers a bit about the concept and history behind your Robinwood collection?
Robinwood is an ode to my grandparents’ home in the wake of their deaths and its sale. My own life has been marked by a degree of transience, and their handmade home had been a constant for me. Inspired by blueprints lifted from the December 1946 issue of Better Homes & Gardens, Robinwood was the house that Mae, an amateur photographer, and Jim, a carpenter, built together with sweat, luck, and modest means on northern Michigan cow pasture land; and it was the locus of their lives for sixty years. My Robinwood series echoes their blueprint source through the alternative cyanotype printing process and reflects how they made this template their own with the added warm color layers of gum bichromate printing and hand painting. Creating the series was an effort to both keep the home and also share it.
2. How were these pieces made?
The full Robinwood series is made up of 41 works that chronicle the homestead inside and out. My source material is a combination of photographs that I took, photographs that my grandmother took (she was an amateur photographer who kept a full darkroom in an upstairs closet), as well as snapshots by other family members from our archives. Each piece was first printed as a cyanotype, aka a “sun print” / “blue print,” on the roof outside my West Oakland studio. After the cyanotype was fully developed, I then added a gum bichromate layer, which uses watercolor pigment for the color and the sun again for exposure. Then I hand painted and mounted each image onto a wooden panel. The gum bichromate and hand work was all color coded according to which part of the house the image depicted.
3. How can artwork alter a space?
Art gives a space character and personality. It says something about not only about the occupants’ aesthetics, but their past and their values: Where have they been? Who have they loved? What have they lost? And having the work of a living artist speaks to a support of the visual arts as part of our contemporary culture. From screen prints to oil paintings, there is an staggering diversity of work and price points available in the Bay Area by artists at all career points.
4. How do you select artwork for your own home?
The artwork in our home tends to be rather personal tokens and momentos, alongside works that make us think and make us laugh. In our little kitchen is a teapot print we got while on our honeymoon in Ireland. There are a couple of concert posters that we bought from the amazing publishing house Drawn and Quarterly during a trip to Montreal. There is a tiny nest painting by a friend and colleague. There is a prized photograph of my great aunt (who was the first in the family to attend college) shaking hands with LBJ when she was a part of his administration. We recently moved, and it has been interesting to reflect upon how the art we surround ourselves with has changed over the years as our lives, tastes, and values have evolved. There is one or two token holdovers from the college dorm days; but, for the most part, our artwork selections have grown and matured along with us.
The Coastal Post
On the heels of my departure to install Robinwood at Denver's Hinterland Art Space, Leah Thomason Bromberg paid me a studio visit to discuss the new work.
On the heels of my departure to install Robinwood at Denver's Hinterland Art Space, Leah Thomason Bromberg paid me a studio visit to discuss the new work. Read Leah's piece for the Coastal Post here >
Carpenter, Photographer
Leah Thomason Bromberg visits the studio of Jillian Piccirilli
There is a sea of blue in Jillian Piccirilli’s studio from quiet grey-blues to deep indigos. Cyanotype after cyanotype on hardy paper covers every surface of her small studio in the loft of a larger studio in Oakland. I arrived at Jillian’s studio in the evening in her last days before she traveled to Denver for her solo show,Robinwood at Hinterland Art Space. I was very excited to be meeting her in the final stretch before her show—I’d be getting a special glimpse of the work right on the edge between “in progress” and being polished.
Denver Westword | Exhibition Review
The Denver Westword’s Michael Paglia reviews our Pirate exhibition ITHACA.
The Denver Westword's Michael Paglia reviews our Pirate exhibition ITHACA.Paglia writes: "A smart looking show on display at Pirate combines pieces by three artists who first met in 2006 at Cornell University... Though each is doing something clearly different, they work in compatible styles, so the show is a seamless whole."
On my work:
The west wall, given over to Piccirilli, is tiled with dozens of small cyanotypes altered with wax and gouache. These oneoff prints are collectively entitled "Hemland," with some presented as single panels and others being diptychs or triptychs. These photobased montages combine travel pictures from her visits to the ancestral home of her mother's family in Sweden with images of letters and artifacts. Stylistically, there's a neodada aspect to them, although the chastity of the imagery also gives them a sort of hightech look.
Press for The Art and Life of Alison Mason Kingsbury
“You’ve seen her murals around campus — now she’s rediscovered in a new book…” - Published in the Cornell Chronicle
You’ve seen her murals around campus — now she’s rediscovered in a new book
Published in the Cornell Chronicle
By Gwen Glazer
Jillian Piccirilli ’08 formed a close relationship with a woman she’ll never meet: Alison Mason Kingsbury, an accomplished artist, dedicated Ithacan and wife of Cornell historian and professor Morris Bishop.Alison Jolly, the artist’s daughter, began working with Piccirilli in 2008 to create a complete catalog of her mother’s work. The catalog grew into a book, “The Art and Life of Alison Mason Kingsbury,” published in 2010 by Cornell University Library.
Rag Mag {Occasionally}:See the Cat? See the Cradle?
Rag Mag {Occasionally} Vol II, Issue I: is live!
Works inspired by a communal reading of Kurt Vonnegut's anthropology thesis. Please enjoy.
Rag Mag {Occasionally} is an online publication based out of Ithaca, NY, that gives voice to the work of emerging writers, artist, and other so-inclined creative folk. Occasionally.
Rag Mag {Occasionally}: Postcards
Rag Mag {Occasionally} has released its second issue, themed: Postcards.
Rag Mag {Occasionally} is an online publication based out of Ithaca, NY, that gives voice to the work of emerging writers, artist, and other so-inclined creative folk. Occasionally.
Co-founded / edited by Jillian Piccirilli
Works Featured in "Jack Magazine"
New and past works featured in the latest and last issue of "Jack Magazine," an e-zine that features writing and art in honor of the Beat Generation and others who liked to experiment.
Rag Mag {Occasionally}: Spring
Rag Mag {Occasionally} has released its first issue, themed Spring.
Rag Mag {Occasionally} is an online publication based out of Ithaca, NY, that gives voice to the work of emerging writers, artist, and other so-inclined creative folk. Occasionally.
Co-founded / edited by Jillian Piccirilli
The Washington Post takes notice of the Paws
After a recent trip to Providence, the Washington Post's Impulsive Traveler wrote:"...several storefronts were decorated as part of Providence Art Windows, a rotating installation that brightens up empty retail spaces. I was partial to Jillian Piccirilli's 'The Paws Family,' which features an exhibit of artifacts and historical accounts of the soap opera-worthy story of a clan of rabbits."
Looking up, and back, at Providence architecture
By Becky Krystal
Sunday, January 31, 2010