The Purposeful Mayonnaise Volume 1 Issue 1

THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE A LITERARY & ART JOURNAL VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 1 JUNE / JULY 2021

Art • Words • Ideas

The Purposeful Mayonnaise is intended as an online journal that anyone with an internet connection can access from anywhere in the world.

Cover art: Florencia Del Fabbro, Charlando un Sabado a la tarde (Juani, Ambi, Coqui y yo)

@ 2021 The Purposeful Mayonnaise Copyright for all published content is held by the authors/artists. All rights reserved.

WELCOME A short note from the editor

The Purposeful Mayonnaise was founded by two artists and best friends.

We want this journal to be a celebration of art and words. We want it to be a rich space where you can leave everything behind and immerse yourself into the vivid creations of people's minds: images, words, ideas.

We have been asked repeatedly about the name. The name originates in a kitchen incident from a few years ago, that prompted one of us to say, "that's mayo with a purpose," and ended with me declaring, "The Purposeful Mayo will be the name of my future lit & art publication." We wrote it on a magnetic notepad that was stuck to the fridge. It stayed there for a few years, teasing me. This project came to life eventually, and I could not be more grateful.

I want to thank everyone who trusted us with their work for this inaugural issue. We are still blown away and speechless by the number and the quality of submissions we have received. The open theme of this issue allowed for a bit of serendipity and for things to fall into place. Aiming for a diverse and ample collection, this inaugural issue features the works of more than 70 artists, including a full artist interview, an artist Q & A and a few very interesting mixed projects of art and words.

Anda Marcu Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief

CONTENTS Art

Words • Ideas

Artist Interview: Tina Scepanovic 5 Stefan Doru Moscu 14 Chloe Chlumecky (Q&A) 18 Juliet Martin 25 Paul Suciu 28 Martyna Benedyka 38 Florencia Del Fabbro 40 Rayden Lawrence 42 Maya Kachra 50 Beryl Brenner 52 Rinat Tzemach Levy 53 Natalie Bradford 57 Robbii Wessen 61 [ART] The Messdeck 78

Nikki Kriaski 22 Alex Campbell 30 Amy Jasek 32 Jenica Lodde 34 Various Artists 36 Clara Bolle 48 JL Nash 55 L.I. Leulescu 56 Rafaël Barnwell 58 Erica J. Kingdom 63 Cain 65 Shloka Shankar 68 Robert Fleming 75

Art & Words Michelle Phillips 37 Heidi Nielson 45 Rodrigo Canhão 47 Nwajiaku Uche 69

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

TINA SCEPANOVIC Tina uses historical finishes on modern forms to transform everyday objects into art. By honoring methods that date back to the Renaissance, her practice seeks to preserve a dying art form and bring awareness to the human behind our things. Her work is guided by the aspiration to reclaim the intention and integrity of traditional artisanship, and informed through the perspectives of science, music, and design. Each piece is a unique meditation that undergoes up to fifty surface manipulations performed entirely by hand.

Tell us a bit about yourself (Where are you from? Where do you live? How did you become an artist? Did you always want to be one?)

I was born and raised in Silicon Valley, surrounded by apple orchards and the buzz of tech. Growing up, I was always up to something. Whether it was extracting “ink” out of leaves in the backyard or gluing cork board into high heels, I had no trouble entertaining myself with whatever was within my reach. My parents would say endearingly, “ —you are full of ideas.”

你的花样很多

I ended up majoring in Psychobiology at UCLA. While I took school very seriously, I also spent every ounce of free time composing and arranging music and painting.

That should have been a clear sign that I was meant to do something creative with my life. Instead I launched a career in biotech consulting after graduating. It wasn’t until I moved to NYC and had my first child that I surrendered to that creative itch. I initially embarked on a path in music and pursued a Masters in Music Education at Columbia University. I ran a community choir for a few years before encountering a health issue that affected my voice. Unable to express myself using my instrument, I was pretty devastated.

On a whim I decided to enroll in a furniture painting workshop at the Isabel O’Neil Studio, an artisan community dedicated to historical finishes. When I picked up that brush in my first class, time stopped and the memories came flashing back. I remembered those countless hours I spent as a child drawing, coloring, conjuring, and tinkering. That’s when I realized maybe there was an artist in me this entire time.

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What themes or ideas do you pursue in your work?

I often explore extremes or opposites by merging them in a playful way. There is usually an element of bridging old and new. Even in my earlier days as a musician, I would reinterpret Italian arias as jazz tunes, or imagine the latest pop songs in SATB for choir.

My artwork also strives to create a dialogue between modern and traditional. For example, I use techniques that date back to the Renaissance on contemporary forms.

One of my underlying missions is to preserve this dying art form by appealing to a younger audience.

I am also interested in capturing the passing of time visually. I am personally drawn to art that possesses an underlying obsessive quality. I find myself gazing in awe of how one person simply took the time. This concept can be translated in a number of ways — through depth of layers, repetition, scale, or detail.

Finally, I am guided by the principle that you can create something magnificent from nearly nothing. I often attempt to exhaust a tiny concept, motif, shape, or idea—either through repetition or themes and variations—until a new meaning emerges.

Gobstoppers in Limestone Porphyry

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Are your works purely visual or do they also have a symbolic meaning?

Buttons No. 6 - completed in eggshell lacquer

There is usually a story I’m trying to tell and I ask how I might communicate those ideas visually. My Gobstoppers were inspired by the themes of lockdown when the rinse and repeat of daily life led to a blurring of time. I could no longer distinguish one moment from another.

There was also a complete loss of personal space and I found myself craving boundaries. So there was this desire to impose some kind of structure and order in my life.

I started iterating with different “rhythms” of life as I was experiencing them. My 5X6 piece was a play on our concept of one month being approximately 30 days.

However, rather than four weeks of seven days consisting of five weekdays and the weekend, I omitted “weekends” altogether. At the time, we had suddenly lost the typical external references we relied on to make this distinction; no one was leaving home for work or school let alone getting dressed in the morning. I was delighted when someone picked up on this and interpreted my pieces as abstractions of calendars. As a whole, the series is meant to be somewhat humorous because I never get it right. Each composition is ultimately miscalculated, whether you’re thinking in terms of a week or a month. But the effort is clearly there, and I hope that conveys a sense of optimism.

Can you tell us about your process and materials?

My training is rooted in furniture so my base material is often wood. At times people ask if I can just slap two coats on something and call it done. The answer is no, unless I want it to look like I slapped two coats on it and called it done! In fact, depending on what I’m trying to achieve I sometimes need to manipulate an object over fifty times. For me, it’s never about finishing as fast as I can.

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Mapping out spacing in 2-D

Eggshell lacquer technique

I have two separate workflows: oil-based and water-based. The major difference is cure time. No matter what, all surfaces must be prepared. Raw wood is thirsty and behaves in a special way due to humidity and the presence of tannins. So the first steps require controlling absorption and isolating the possibility of distortion that comes with mechanical or chemical changes. I usually start with something that is alcohol or oil-based to seal the surface and prevent further raising of the grain. I then sand smooth. I’ve learned over time that the result is only as good as every layer before. Mistakes are never hidden—only enhanced.

I am then able to start lacquering. I build up colors with multiple thin coats and then wet sand to perfection. Even with a simple solid finish, there is always a bit of adding followed by a bit of taking away. I enjoy this mindful process as it provides windows for me to interact with the piece. So when you look closely, there’s evidence of the human hand. Sometimes I toss the brushes aside altogether and just use my hands. Base finishes can be pulled in an infinite number of ways to build depth and achieve different looks. I experiment with all kinds of materials in this stage — tar, gold, waxes, glazes, eggshells.

Another day's setup in the carport PAGE 8 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Tina inspecting a piece before install PAGE 9 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Tell us about a typical day in the studio.

After my kids are shuttled to school, I always make a cup of tea and do some meditative stretches. Then I come up with a game plan. My days are a puzzle in optimizing the best use of time and space. My square footage is limited, my materials have various cure times, and my pieces require different conditions depending on the stage they are in. Some call for ventilation, others call for a completely dust-free environment. I map this all out and figure out where to set everything up.

I reserve the most brain-intensive activities for the first half of the day. Techniques like gilding or glazing have particularly high stakes and require me to be precise and totally “on.” I spend afternoons prepping, sanding, catching up on administrative duties, and exploring new ideas. But I’m always fighting the clock. When 3PM rolls around, I pick up my kids from school and it is a bit harder to step back into the studio. However, they are pretty independent now so I often sneak back in there to complete a thing or two here and there. For example, if I’m gilding I might prepare the adhesive in the evening so it comes to tack in time for the next morning’s work.

Do you actively search for inspiration or wait for inspiration to find you?

Either I am always looking, or inspiration always seems to find me! It is sort of a channel that is always turned on in my brain. For me, inspiration doesn’t always have to be visual. Sometimes I am inspired by sound, smell, or memory. Other times it can be purely technical. I frequently look at materials in nature and wonder how I might recreate them in my laboratory.

Lacquering in the carport PAGE 10 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Would you say other artists or art genres have influenced your sense of aesthetics? If yes, how?

Music is a huge influence. I often think about rhythm, melody, harmony, and tension in visual terms. As for specific artists, Louise Nevelson comes to mind first. Her use of found wooden objects in massive assemblages resonates with my “trash to treasure” sensibility. I also love that she openly drew from her personal life to bring meaning to her pieces. The other artists that inspire me all seem to have straddled the fine arts and applied arts. Jean Dunand was not only a painter and sculptor but also a metal worker. He traded his metal skills for the expertise of lacquer artist Seizo Sugawara, and started using lacquered wood, eggshell, mother of pearl, and gold leaf in his creations.

Do you find artistic life lonely? What do you do to remedy this?

Buttons No. 5 in Malachite using oil, glazes, and lacquer

At times I do find artist life lonely. I seem to operate on a pendulum between fine art and applied art, and while I believe there is fluidity and crossover between the two, I realize not everyone feels this way.

So there’s a bit of imposter syndrome no matter where in the back and forth I am at any given moment, or who I’m speaking with.

Of course, this could all just be in my head!

The other aspect is my practice borrows from a wide range of specialities, and sometimes I have to go digging to find the right community to bounce ideas off of.

There’s the art and color theory and composition, but there’s also the technical side.

I run into challenges all the time, and sometimes it can be related to woodworking or chemistry.

Thanks to social media I am gradually building a support network. I’ve connected with fellow artists, but also vendors and manufacturers across trades who are just a DM away when I get myself into trouble. Over the course of the past year, I also started scheduling 2-3 video studio meets every month to just get to know people and their practices. That has helped tremendously with the isolation.

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How do you relax and recharge?

Believe it or not, I am the most relaxed and recharged when I work. However, being that my processes are generally slow, sometimes I fall into the trap of overthinking.

About two years ago, I started interjecting spontaneous “improvisations” into my practice. Every few weeks, I give myself 20 minutes to complete a project from start to finish. I call this speed making. I’m not allowed to plan nor overthink. It’s sort of like those food competitions where they announce the dish and then the chefs scramble to grab whatever is in sight to accomplish their goal. For me, it means I snatch any materials sitting around me— acrylics, paper, trash, glue, scissors—and start tearing them up and going at it. I find this is the best way to bypass the brain and open a direct channel between the heart and hand.

What is your dream project?

I can currently only speak to the structure and scope of the dream but the details of what I want to explore and express are not yet entirely clear. At the top of my list are either a huge public art commission, or working on an architectural structure that will be standing hundreds of years from now. Maybe it is foolish to be concerned with legacy, but I always marvel at the work of artisans that came before me and feel the need to leave something behind too. I want to create something that just takes up a ton of space!

Freshly shellacked spheres PAGE 12 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Three kinds of metal leaf - copper, gold, and silver

Tell us a bit about the future (any plans, projects, news).

I am currently working on a series that diverges a bit from my recent body of work. It is a modern play on historical motifs. I am toying with the idea of going very large scale, but before I dive in I am testing the concept on smaller prototypes. I am simultaneously using this opportunity to do research and development behind the scenes, as I have been wanting to replace some of my oil-based processes with water-based ones. If all goes well, the project will take me around six months to complete.

I am also collaborating with a couple interior designers to create custom furniture and lighting pieces for their clients. What is really exciting here is there is a shared interest in borrowing historical methods to use on contemporary forms. We will likely use eggshell lacquer on a console and a porphyry finish on the lighting.

Finally, I’m building a personal studio in our home. For years I didn’t feel ready to give myself this gift of a dedicated work space, but now, having outgrown my NYC studio and lined up a number of ongoing projects, there is no reason to hold back. For the first time in my life, I get to build a space around me! I am excited for the opportunity to grow my practice in both the number of projects I take on and the scale of my artwork.

Porphyry gobstopper

More about Tina: Website: www.tinascepanovic.com Instagram: tinascepanovic PAGE 13 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

ART: ȘTEFAN DORU MOSCU

Ștefan Doru Moscu, Dropped in the State of Imaginary Grace, 77 x 63 cm, oil on canvas, 2020

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Ștefan Doru Moscu, I'm Waiting on You Again, 65 x 95 cm, oil on canvas, 2019 PAGE 15 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Ștefan Doru Moscu, Heaven Restores You in Life, 105 x 83 cm, oil on canvas, 2020

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Ștefan Doru Moscu is a visual artist, born in 1982, living and working in Brașov, Romania. He received a B.A. in Art and Restoration from the State University of Sibiu, Romania. He works with both painting and sculpture. Stefan's surreal paintings explore society's transformation from the past to the present. He culls inspiration from decaying objects, old photographs, pop culture, and art history to present a critical view of various social, political, and cultural issues. His works are characterized by a darker colour palette and obscured figures, giving his compositions a more sombre mood. Ștefan held an artist's residency at Glo'Art in Belgium in spring 2015 and 2017 and has exhibited his works in the US and across Europe in countries including United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Poland. Most recently, his works were a part of "The Other Art Fair" in London and "The Sea/Das Meer" international group exhibition at Group Global 3000's Projectspace in Berlin.

As an artist, I have always been interested in special textures like an object degraded, decaying, rusting, or corroded in time, and that is why I am painting with broad brushstrokes of blues, grays, browns and greens. Their complex structure offers a contemporary vision of major political narratives and fundamental, universal topics such as abuse of power, exploitation, oppression and personal, individual human struggle while taking a critical view of social, political, and cultural issues. In my paintings, colour assumes extreme importance, suggesting a sombre mood, as furtive and enigmatic.

In my research, I intend to deconstruct the everyday reality, fairy tales, old photos that are parts of our childhood and adult culture. I like to create a discourse that challenges the existing political, economic, social, and technological paradigms.

For me, the communist era is something more like a tale. I don't feel communism as pressure on my childhood, though I have some interesting and sometimes sad stories of my parents.

Nevertheless, my work goes beyond this kind of reference because of its psychological background. Here, solitude and fear look rather universal. Cinema is somewhat closer than any other approach. I am also focused on the relationship between humans and nature in urban environments. I try to obscure all my historical and political references by fusing them with personal memories, film references, frames from the entertainment industry and elements from art history.

Website: https://stefandorumoscu.wixsite.com/stefanmoscu Instagram: @stefandorumoscu

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ART: CHLOE CHLUMECKY(Q&A)

Chloe Chlumecky, Bathroom Sink, oil on canvas, 32 x 46 inches, 2020

Tell us a bit about yourself (Where are you from? Where do you live? When did you become interested in art? When did you decide to pursue art as a career?)

Hi! My name is Chloe Chlumecky, I am a 21-year-old art student from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I am currently working towards my Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Windsor where I am expected to graduate at the end of 2021. Ever since I was young I’ve been an artistic person, but I didn’t really start considering art as a career until mid-way through my BFA. I know that sounds weird, but I figured I would get my degree in arts and then use that and move on to something else that was a little more ‘stable’. As the semesters went on, I realized I didn’t want to give up the art world once I graduated.

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What is your earliest memory of creating art?

My earliest memory of creating art was when I was really young, maybe 5 or 6, and I would sit in my mom’s craft room and draw pictures on white printer paper. I hated colouring books, I only wanted to draw on blank paper. I remember drawing with one of my childhood friends, and she would always want to copy what I was doing.

So eventually I started giving her little “tutorials” on how to draw what I was drawing, and it became a thing we did. I would teach her whatever I was doing, and we would come out with a duplicate of my drawing.

What themes or ideas are you exploring in your art practice?

In my current practice I am exploring a lot of themes based around domesticity. I am painting a lot of scenes from around my house, my spaces, still lives from objects I use everyday. I love to use the still life as a narrative! Objects can be so fun to paint and when you put the right things together they can create very interesting stories. Although I’ve been exploring these themes for years I definitely think the COVID lockdowns amplified and influenced it even more.

What does it mean to you to be an artist in today’s world?

I think being an artist today is really about being authentic.

You need to be your true self, no matter what you create or what themes you explore in your work. Be open, real, and original, and if you put the work in I truly think anyone can be successful!

Chloe Chlumecky, The Pill, oil on masonite, 8 x 10 inches, 2021

What did you enjoy/are you enjoying the most and what did you find challenging about being an art student?

I love the community of my school. I’ve met some really awesome people and professors that I definitely will keep in contact with after graduation. I love having friends who are also artists!

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Chloe Chlumecky, Self-Portrait in My Bathroom, oil on canvas, 54 x 54 inches, 2021

The most challenging part for me was learning how to talk about my art. I have always been a very quiet person so having to defend myself in critiques was really hard. However challenging, this was also probably one of the most rewarding things I learned as an art student! I remember in first year I had a really bad critique where I was standing in front of the class and the professor was asking me questions I just didn’t know how to answer, and I was so mortified that I couldn’t even speak. Now that I’m in fourth year, I find it so much easier to explain my artwork in a way that’s authentic and true to my practice.

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What are you looking forward to the most after graduating?

Graduating is very bittersweet! I love the community and relationships I’ve made with my professors and fellow students. We all encourage each other in our own practices. I am excited about the possibilities of life after graduation. I used to be so anxious about post-graduation life, and I know it won’t be easy and I’ll have to deal with a lot of rejection, but I’m really excited about all the possibilities. I’d like to start selling some original work and prints, as well as opening up commissions, and I’d like to work with some of my local galleries. I’m also excited to travel and just have the freedom to pursue any opportunity I stumble upon!

Can you tell us about your forthcoming residency?

Yes! I am so excited that I will be an Artist-in-Residence at Chateau Orquevaux in Champagne-Ardenne, France! It is a two to four-week residency, and I will be there sometime in the summer of 2022.

Chateau Orquevaux is located in the small village of Orquevaux, and the residency accommodates 15 artists at a time. The grounds are gorgeous and quiet, perfect for exploring and painting en plein air!

Chloe Chlumecky, Shelfie #1, oil on masonite, 9 x 12 inches, 2021

Chloe Chlumecky Website: www.chloechlumecky.com Instagram: @chlos.artportfolio PAGE 21 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

WORDS • IDEAS: NIKKI KRIASKI

Sunflower Day

by Nikki Kriaski

One unseasonably hot autumn morning when the sun was already super high up in the sky, I stepped outside my door onto the pavement, but the pavement and grey buildings and all of the shimmering, glassy city were gone. Instead, my door opened into a whole field of wild sunflowers six, seven, ten feet tall, bending and bowing majestically, heavy heads nodding in the breeze. I ducked back inside, slipped on my daffodil-yellow sundress—the kind that floats and swings wherever you go, however you move—my wooden sandals, and piled my flower child-long hair upon my head as intricately and tightly as a heap of nesting snakes, then I dashed out the door to meet Val. The sky was crystal clear lapis blue, like the deepest water. I followed a path covered with trampled, dried flower stalks for what could have been minutes or hours that led to a clearing hidden within the sunflower field where marvelous creatures hummed and crept and flitted in the sunlight. The sunflowers themselves beamed with magnificent, grinning faces, unearthly and sublime, and they must have run on for miles and miles before they raced right over the edge of the earth.

Faint barking from faraway dogs drifted between the towering plants, and the sun had now swelled into a great, saffron globe filling up most of the sky and shone so proudly that I swore it planned to settle in and spend the rest of its days way up there.

Val arrived with dozens of other couples who flooded the clearing with shiny ballgowns, silk suits, and busy chatter. We fell into conversation naturally, smiling and chatting ourselves, picking up where we left off, his company so comfortable and familiar it was as though we had never been apart. As we worked our way to to

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the middle of the crowd, I took Val’s hand and this time it was already cold. An eerie yet lively piano tune rang out, and all at once we were waltzing among dazzling streaks of ivory, pink, violet, indigo, sage, and charcoal, crunching dried stems and leaves beneath our feet, swirling amid luminous, misty figures, some with serpentine hairstyles wound as ornately as my own, others with wild and loose locks floating alongside them like ghosts that trailed off into another era.

Val swung me so hard that I bumped my hip into the bristly stalks beside me. I twirled back under his arm to find we were no longer in the field, but in a bright, open dance hall with lustrous yellow walls, lacquered blonde wood floors, and no roof so the blazing sun still shone upon us freely all the rest of the morning and all afternoon, washing over everything with a gleaming golden veil that rolled out in every direction.

“Look at what you’ve done!” I shouted, smiling in delight or possibly awe.

“Me? Oh, yes! But I was only trying to show you your death! It’s there, just there over your shoulder… but don’t worry, it’s a long way off.”

We burst out laughing as he again spun me away and I twirled back under his arm while discreetly straining to peak at what lay ahead for me, but the image was gone, replaced or obscured by the magical walls that glowed under the sparkling sky.

Silk taffeta swish-swished all around us, all around the dance hall. Clicking wingtipped shoes tick-ticked softly on the wood floor in time with the rapid rhythms, the gentle footfalls sounding like distant crickets waking up beyond the walls of the radiant yellow room. As we danced, I followed Val’s eyes, his breathing, and his chippery laughter, never missing a step while his feet and posture guided me gracefully across the glossy floor. I floated alongside him without thinking a thought, without any worry of bumping into the couples who swirled near us as we swished by them. The couples who were there but weren’t. The glittering figures who spun around, over, and next to us then vanished again, dissipating into and reforming out of spectral mists with brilliant, living eyes as we waltzed and twirled and swung in the merciless heat of the undying sun.

We danced while wisps and streaks twisted and rose and whirled high above us in the open air like feathery threads of glimmering clouds. We danced until we became wisps shimmering in the air too. We danced until the giant globe sun that hung so faithfully high in the sky finally dipped under its own weight, and the crickets came out to sing fully in the rust-stained twilight. We danced while that vanishing sun finally slipped off the bottom of the sky altogether. We danced until the crickets themselves tired and returned to their cracks and shadows to sleep.

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And as the world of sunflowers below us still swayed, nodded, leaned after the music, I grabbed Val’s hand and we ducked out through the dance hall door back into the field that was for a moment filled instead with rows and rows of dried shriveled dead seed smiles covered in hungry magpies and in another moment I was back on my door step standing on cold grey concrete in the middle of the night in the middle of the city just before dawn and the stark street lights above me flickered and fizzled like sickly neon beacons… and dogs barked from forever away, their howls floating under, around, through piano rifts lost in a meadow lost under a creeping pale mauve sky… and Val was not beside me holding my sunburnt hand and all at once I knew I had finally come closer to bringing him back with me here.

***

Nikki Kriaski lives in Calgary, Canada, where she writes, edits, and walks whenever and wherever she can. Her fiction has appeared in Sooth Swarm Journal. She is online at nikkikriaski.ca and @nikkikriaski.

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ART: JULIET MARTIN

I sculpt fiber memoirs. I combine weaving, writing, and illustration to tell my stories. I use humor as a sling for heavy subjects. Combining my illustration and fabric – sometimes aggressively-- creates my bipolar-influenced mix of aggressive icons with deceptively comforting backgrounds. My process balances satire and sincerity.

During the pandemic, I became so afraid of my partner leaving and never coming back. Fearful that all I would have was household objects, I drew portraits of our furniture. The still life was the only life I might have. I wove backdrops because I could touch them. The loveseat wouldn’t replace you, it is a reminder of you. My fruit bowl looks me in the eyes and I stare back.

Images of objects are sewn into the fabric and journal entries are scrawled onto the background. The drawings and the text are a conformation, a quiet voice, a whisper. The composition made it clear -- I’m alone before you are gone.

This is why Household Objects Remind Me of You.

Juliet Martin, Living Room on Wednesday , 3.5” x 7” x 3.5”, hand-woven and machine-made fabric, inkjet prints, fabric paint, 2020 PAGE 25 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Juliet Martin, Bathroom on Friday, 16” x 15”, hand-woven and machine-made fabric, inkjet prints, fabric paint, 2020

Juliet Martin, Patio Set on Wednesday, 15” x 18”, hand-woven and machine-made fabric, inkjet prints, fabric paint, 2020

Writing: I use either everyday handwriting or something stylized. I always write a few versions of the text, both for content and composition. For “Household Objects” I pulled together the worst thing that could happen to me and then exaggerated it.

Composing: I bring the drawings, writing, and weaving together. They are puzzle pieces that don’t match until they are entirely right.

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My process is a sometimes random mix of steps.

Weaving: When I am weaving, I follow some rules. I start with very calm colors, then spike it with something bright.

Then I go back to the calm. Having a returning path creates a clashing yet unified palette.

Drawing: Before I draw for my sculptures, I do a image search, finding the exact photo I want. I make a line drawing, scan it, and bring it into Photoshop. It is my homemade coloring book.

Juliet Martin, Table Legs, 11” x 10”, hand-woven and machine-made fabric, inkjet prints, fabric paint, 2020

Juliet Martin, Household Objects Remind Me of You.

I have a BA in Visual Arts from Brown University, a MFA in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts, and am a member of the Saori Leadership Committee based in Japan.

For the past 9 years I have been a part of the fiber community, having solo shows including at Ivy Brown Gallery, New York City; Chashama, New York City; Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY; and Saori Kaikan Gallery, Osaka, Japan.

Websiste: julietmartin.com Instagram: @remotelyjuliet PAGE 27 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

ART: PAUL SUCIU

Paul Suciu: How to Photograph the Clouds

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Paul Suciu: Colours of The Night

Paul Suciu: A Memory

Born and raised in Bucharest, I began doing artistic photography about 4 years ago. I won an important prize in 2018, "Romanian Photographer of the Year – Street Section," being judged by an international jury of peers. Since then, I have had several exhibitions in Romania and abroad. I try to capture the Poetry around us, especially from the urban areas, from the streets, and I consider myself a "flâneur." Sometimes, I try to reinterpret the world, and I explore many of the process's possibilities. I experiment with long exposure, textures, multiple exposures, concepts etc.

Instagram: @rain.is.poetry

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WORDS • IDEAS: ALEX CAMPBELL

Just My Type

by Alex Campbell

Henry ran to the next house while the downpour soaked his clothes. His waterlogged shoes squelched as he bounded up the steps to the door and rang the bell.

The door opened to reveal a young woman in a house dress and apron, her hands covered in flour. “Hello…” she began. “Oh—when did it start raining? You poor thing, you must come inside.” In a flash, Henry found himself sitting on a sofa holding a cup of hot coffee, a blanket draped around his shoulders.

“Now,” the woman said as she sat in an armchair across the room, “how can I help you?”

“W-w-w-well,” Henry stammered, “My name’s Henry, I’m with Tremont Typing Supply, and I’m showcasing our newest correction tape.” He bent down and began unbuckling his case. “We’ve got tape to fit all makes and models, Remington, Triumph, Olymp—” As soon as the buckle came loose, the case spilled open, scattering spools of soggy typewriter paraphernalia across the floor.

“Oh dear!” The woman exclaimed. They both jumped from their seats and knelt down to collect the loose items, their heads colliding in the process. “Oh!” they shouted in unison.

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Henry gathered his remaining wares as the woman nursed her head. “I fear I’ve made a mess of things right from the start,” he said. “Can I make it up to you over dinner somewhere in town? That is unless… I mean to say, if there isn’t anyone…” His eyes landed on a small, framed photo on the mantle; a smiling infantryman in uniform stared back at him.

The woman followed his gaze and began to blush. “Oh no, there’s no one. It’s just me left here since my brother got married after the war and moved across town.”

Henry sighed with relief. “Dinner sounds splendid, but you’ll have to come back—I’ve got a pie in the oven.”

“Sure, no problem!” Henry replied, a little too loud. He gathered his things and attempted to make a polite—and graceful—exit. Before stepping back out into the rain, he paused and turned to the woman. “I never got your name…”

“Olympia,” she replied with a smile.

***

Alex Campbell: "Having long been interested in pursuing creative writing, I recently began exploring short fiction through the completion of a 100-day project, writing 100-word stories each day. Since completing that project, I have continued to experiment with different genres and story lengths. I have recently started a literary and art digital magazine--Clover + Bee--with my artist wife, as another outlet for cultivating more creativity in my life. " Website: https://www.cloverandbeemagazine.com/ Social Media: Personal writing: @100wordsbyawc Upcoming magazine: @cloverandbeemag

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WORDS • IDEAS: AMY JASEK

Andromeda In defense of fairness what was chained to that rock was pride, not beauty boastfulness, not innocence.

The offended always require a lamb for slaughter and not just any lamb: a perfect one.

She was a flawless offering, blameless in the matter, sucked into a quarrel as vicious as a whirlpool.

Vengeance spouted the leviathan intent upon annihilation; no amount of anxious hand-wringing on the shore could reverse the damage done, only a victor astride the wings of triumph could loosen those chains and with one curving blow strike up the banquet that would turn them all to stone.

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Poppy

Sleep-bringer down a dark hall where banshees lurk white, not from purity but from the sear of eternity burning behind the eyelids of escaping man Red blood of valiance soldier cloaks soaked in sacrificial glory a field of men sown in battle, marked with the kiss of war Take your last look, Ares, make your last escape

Texas born and raised, Amy Jasek graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in Theatre and Dance in 1999. She then spent a decade in other, colder places, ignoring her passion for writing, before settling back down in the Lone Star State and eventually picking up her pencil again. She is also a dedicated, sometimes-professional, film photographer and cyanotype artist, and mother to one precocious teenage hopeful-author, science-minded daughter.

Website: amywritespoetry.com Instagram: @amyjasek

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WORDS • IDEAS: JENICA LODDE

Unnamed Earth

Heaven will smell like Burnt sage Like the scrubby plants that I pinched between my fingers While walking home from the river, The California cicada Rattling my small ear drums as I walked.

Heaven will smell like The incense my uncle burnt in his bus, Wax candles casting a glow And Cotton Ginny turned down low on the stereo.

I always thought of him As safety And calm Even though He was just another brick In the wall of silence Surrounding my father and the Unspoken things.

My baby sister won’t be looking Up at the sky— She’ll be the one Guiding me.

I won’t be angry That she got there first.

She’ll say, It’s like I’ve been trying to tell you all along.

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In my heaven, My father will be all eyes Like a flower.

He’ll see things and know things And won’t be able to stop them.

I won’t read books Anymore.

I’ll keep my heart Open And words will fly out.

Jenica Lodde is a writer and jewelry maker based in Scranton, PA. Her poems have been published in Gravel, Third Wednesday, io, Word Fountain, River and South Review and others. She has one poetry chapbook, Emotional States (Finishing Line Press, 2020), and a verse memoir scheduled for publication through City Limits sometime this year.

Twitter and Instagram @JenicaLodde.

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WORDS • IDEAS: VARIOUS ARTISTS

Various Artists are a Brussels-based art collective with 24 fictional members. They research the sustainability of the artist as a brand. This long-term practice-based research includes opening up their modus operandi to other artists/collectives and experimenting with autogenerative art production. While challenging the limits of the art market, Various Artists explore the boundaries of shared authorship, even the imaginary. www.various-artists.be various.artists@me.com https://www.instagram.com/paolnsudo https://www.instagram.com/er0sies/ PAGE 36 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

ART & WORDS: MICHELLE PHILLIPS Push time, forward and back.

10 lbs in a 5 lb bag.

If you are scared, I am here.

It's all going to be okay I say.

Is it?

The complications of life.

Deep, deep within.

The surface covers.

Change is the only constant.

A pool of water still at the surface Water crashing within.

Internal Tsunami.

1952, 113. I'm at war within, as are you.

Internal tsunami I run to you. I'm here. I'm here.

I say as I brush the hair from your face.

Am I? Am I here? Life is surreal.

I hold onto the thread of myself.

Michelle Phillips Contemporary, conceptually concerned human, in companionship with multiple mediums of making, photography and painting often interchanging, abstraction and often bordering absurdity and surrealism of our human life.

Medical RN BSN and lifelong artist now combining them as a map to wellness, what I once thought was separates are actually just two sides of a coin.

Website:Sbpart113.com Instagram: @sbp.art.113 PAGE 37 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

A realization that the worse moments Will be, my best and those before you are a shadow now.

I am yours. You are mine.

Take all of me.

I am not me, I am you.

Your mother, my mother.

We are one.

Without you I am nothing.

For you - my love, Are my thread.

ART: MARTYNA BENEDYKA

From the project "Rest Here | Rămâi aici"

List of Considerations, 2020, drawing Next page: La Pensée, 2020, drawing PAGE 38 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Martyna Benedyka is a vocalist and visual artist working in several different media including painting, photography, collage, video and sound art. She studied Art and Design in Scotland, UK and graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art Painting in 2014. She has exhibited in the UK, Poland, Ireland, Romania, Canada and the USA, among others. She is represented by Albe Art Gallery.

Web: www.martynabenedyka.com Instagram: @peacefulillustration_studio Facebook: peaceful.illustration Twitter: MBenedyka PAGE 39 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

ART: FLORENCIA DEL FABBRO

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Florencia Del Fabbro is an artist born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1988.

Her paintings, most of them acrylic, deal with subjects such as everyday life and the existential problems that afflict human beings.

Her first contacts with art were from childhood because her grandmother is an artist. In 2006 she started her studies at the UNA (National University of Art) in the Bachelor's degree in Visual Arts with painting orientation.

In 2013 she studied the theoretical production workshop given by Pablo Siquier and Agustín Fernández. Currently she has pending her graduation thesis.

"All these works are part of a series about the bonds and encounters with very close people during this period of pandemic. It portrays some moments of daily life in which we share our time with others, doing common things, such as laughing, playing, talking. Things we weren't be able to do during the extrict quarantine due to COVID-19.

I like the world that is behind a certain scene, or a certain moment. I think our lives are constructions of moments. And those moments are constructions of who we are. I like the idea of capturing and eternalizing them to be able to pay attention to details that go unnoticed and that tell a lot about ourselves."

Works: Sale puerta cuando busco las mandarinas (Mauro y yo), acrylic on paper, 105 x 75 cm.

Puerta y mates en lo de Maurito (Tin y Mauro), acrylic on paper, 108 x 80 cm.

Jugando al "Caigan chicos", un Domingo a la noche (Tin, Coqui y yo), acrylic on paper, 81 x 83 cm.

Instagram: @florencia.delfabbro

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ART: RAYDEN LAWRENCE

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Rayden Lawrence is an lgbt+, 21 year old emerging artist. Rayden is from Canso, Nova Scotia and he graduated with a BFA in Visual Arts from Memorial University in May 2021. Rayden periodically addresses lgbt+ identity and racism in his work, inspired by challenges he has faced in his interracial same-sex relationship.

Artist Statement - Rio 2016: Unranked, Oil on Paper, 135” x 51”, 2021 Rio 2016: Unranked is a series of 306 paintings of Olympic athletes who competed in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. One athlete was randomly selected from each event via a random number generator. I spent 30 to 40 minutes on each portrait, avoiding giving extra attention or special treatment. This series removes the competition and creates an unbiased representation of a selection of participants. In doing this we see a passionate and hard-working group of individuals who are seen as a whole, not a ranked system of bodies separated by race and sport. Rio 2016: Unranked has been an opportunity for significant growth; I am thankful to have acquired more skill in representing people from different racial backgrounds. This work encourages the viewer to think about why representation matters, and reminds the viewer that someone notices your hard work. You deserve to have your efforts recognized. https://raydenlawrence99.wixsite.com/website Instagram: @rayden_lawrence PAGE 44 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

ART & WORDS: HEIDI NIELSON is it a metaphor or something? my brain says: shouldn’t this be deeper? shouldn’t this be better? shouldn’t this be more commercial? shouldn’t this be more abstract? should this be my most important work? my intuition whispers (and sometimes I hear it): shh, shh, shh… just enjoy.

our actions are all entangled sometimes I feel like the world is a giant ball of yarn that we’ll never be able to untangle. i've realized though that all I can do is keep starting with an end and following it to the tangle, trying to unwind my little corner of the world.

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Heidi Nielson is a mixed media artist creating a body of work that is a meditation on the things we carry from generation to generation. A fourth-generation Japanese-American, bi-racial, queer, ex-Mormon American artist, she has lots of history that she is still unpacking and exploring. Using found and discarded materials, she seeks to promote healing, repair, and sustainability through her art.

She resides in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two cats and, in addition to creating mixed media fine artwork, is a full-time lawyer and owner of a small illustration business.

Website: heidinielson.com Instagram: @heidinielson.art

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ART & WORDS: RODRIGO CANHÃO

These works are the result of a partnership between Sofía Requeijo (poetry writer lives in Madrid-Spain) and Rodrigo Canhão (visual artist, lives in CoimbraPortugal).

Sofia sends me phrases that I interpret, I ask her to write whatever she wants.

They work for me as raw material, a challenge that possibly leads to paths that were not initially designed.

I, Rodrigo Canhão, was born and live in Coimbra, Portugal-EU. I started my artistic work in 1983 at the "Círculo Artes Plásticas de Coimbra" (Coimbra's Plastic Arts Circle). I dedicate myself to various forms of artistic creation and have held exhibitions in different parts of the world. I have a degree in Multimedia and Master in Contemporary Artistic Creation by the University of Aveiro-Portugal.

I am interested in dealing with issues that are at the heart of the human condition, such as individuality, personality and their idiosyncrasies.

IG: Sofia Requeijo @_cocachina_ ; Rodrigo Canhão @loveletters_and_newideas PAGE 47 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

WORDS • IDEAS: CLARA BOLLE

How to start over?

Renewing my artist vows Clara Bolle How to start over? This is a love letter from me to you—a mini-guide to starting over in life and art.

This year I got a divorce after 14 years. I got myself a management job in education and moved to the city. For the first time in my life, I live by myself, for myself. In only half a year, I learned so much about myself. What I want out of life and moreover how I see myself as an artist. Change is uneasy, especially if you’re used to having a comfortable, privileged life. Change was also necessary to find myself. Making art, creating has given me the strength to rebuild a life for myself. From creating art to creating a life on my own. Art has given me ownership. Going to my studio every week was a form of emancipation. Emancipation from certain beliefs I had about myself as a wife, as a woman, as an artist.

Finding a balance after a life event such as divorce or losing a loved one is a form of grief. It’s saying goodbye to the old and welcoming in the new. Rebirthing yourself is gradual, takes time and needs support from yourself and your support system. I want to share three tips that helped me to reinvent myself. Art is a way of life, but there’s also the art of living well. First of all, take it slow. Change doesn’t come overnight. The buildup to my divorce was two years of therapy, heart-to-heart talks, and also a lot of painting and drawing. Painting is not limited to making sense of my feelings; painting itself, the smell of the paint, and the movement of the brush are also very therapeutic. It’s a great way to get centred in your body. Also, spending time alone by myself in the studio was a great way to get to know myself better.

The second one is to work smaller. Unfortunately, I had to hand in the keys to my studio with pain in my heart. I had just started to work bigger, and now I had to let go of that dream. However, when a door closes, another door opens, as they say.

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An old artist friend contacted me and asked if I wanted to create postcards.

Another local project asked me to make mini-artworks. Also, my ex-husband and I are still good friends, and he was so kind to offer me one of his rooms to use as a studio. I’m a total control freak, and I even wanted to be in control of my change.

The beauty of change is that it sets a thing in motion that is beyond your control.

You have to be flexible with it.

Having faith in yourself, others and the greater good is my third tip. My support system made my metamorphosis so much easier. As an artist, writer and philosopher, I’m used to working independently, but suddenly I couldn’t do it all by myself, and that’s fine. It really restored my faith in humans. Together we are much stronger.

Having faith that everything will turn out fine, in the end, has become my mantra.

Everything has a reason. I trust that I walk the path that had been laid out for me.

Despite major life events, my values stay strong: loyalty, duty, courage and above all, love.

Love is the antithesis of anxiety. It’s because of love for my ex-husband that I divorced him. It’s because of love that I create. It’s because of love that I like to help others out. If you love something, you set it free, so I set myself free. I renew my vows to myself, to my art, to whatever comes my way. This is my love letter from me to you.

***

Clara Bolle As a philosopher I view my writings and art as tools to do research. My main question in relation to thinking and making is: What does it mean to be your body instead of having a body?

Website: clarabolle.com Instagram: @clarabolle PAGE 49 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

ART: MAYA KACHRA

From the series: Disfigurement Year of completion: 2021 Medium: photography, variety of chemicals Size: 4 x 6 inches

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Maya Kachra is a student majoring in Contemporary Art at Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, Ontario. Her work has been in multiple publications and exhibited in places such as Arts Etobicoke and Us Gallery Contemporary. Maya currently works in sculpture, photography, and mixed media, focusing on the process of art-making.

Disfigurement – Artist Statement My work expresses my mental health and explores a lack of control through the chemical distortion of photography prints. This series mirrors both the emotional and physical side to mental health, as seen through the silhouette figure and chaotic colours, as well as the physical reactions in my brain through the usage of chemicals as a material. This process of creation and distortion deeply explores control and letting go, as well as seeks to understand mental health and the unique effects it can have on everyone.

Instagram: @mayakachra

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ART: BERYL BRENNER

Beryl Brenner obtained her BA in fine arts and her MA in art-ed. from Brooklyn College. She has worked with a variety of materials and techniques. She has been granted 8 one-woman shows throughout the United States, including one with the National Park Service, the National Landmark Bok Tower Gardens and the prestigious Williamsburg Art and Historical Center. Her art has been shown in numerous American museums and galleries, including Ann Marie Gardens, a SMITHSONIAN AFFILIATE. Artist Statement for Hot Planet It’s a scientific fact. The Earth is warming up. We have let it go for too long. I am not a scientist but I am an artist. I can do my little part by helping to raise awareness.

Maybe this will help ordinary people to recycle more or scientists to raise money.

My series of artworks addresses some of the issues associated with climate change.

I explore the topic from a variety of subjects such as melting glaciers, fossil fuel and forest fires amongst others. I try to add recycled materials to the artworks because this reflects the spirit of the project. Normally, I am not a particularly political person but I don’t see this as a political issue. We are all in this together.

Works: Plastic Oceans: cardboard, markers, glue, plastic, 11" W x 11" H, 2019 Dirty Water: cardboard, paper, markers, 11" w x11" h, 2019 PAGE 52 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

ART: RINAT TZEMACH LEVY

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Rinat Tzemach Levy As a multidisciplinary artist and art therapist I move between two worlds and seek the combination between them through art that has no rules and that seeks to touch the heart, convey a social message and express the voice of those who are not heard and not seen. Through various mediums: photography, mixed media, recycled materials and readymade combined with colour I give visual expression to female characters who bring a feminist and activist message and tell the story of modern women in the present era. I like to combine contrasts through different materials and give a new meaning to an object in order to reinvent its meaning. My way of working creates absurd characters and situations that tell the absurdity of existence and how within reality there are several realities at once.

Works: Woman with a Sand Helmet and Three-Dimensional Soldiers Eyes Covered Wools Website: www.art-of-spirit.net Instagram: @zemachrinat PAGE 54 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

WORDS • IDEAS: JL NASH EACH TIME YOU SPIT Such outward sorrow as clads your smile Betrays the secret you hold.

Far too long from haunting, It acts with substance and you, Racked with self-stains Have left it too late to lighten.

And each time you spit, you will see it.

The weight upon the back of your neck Leaves you hunched over words A thickening pad between your shoulders Deforms your expectations for living.

It is in death you seek forgiveness But you fail as it has rendered you Helpless. Intention vomits over All your thoughts and actions And each time you spit, you will see it.

Such inward regret as darkens your heart Remains testament to you abject Cowardice every day you Refuse to clear your thought.

If you believe it is really too late For laundry, for water, it is And each time you spit, you will see it.

JL Nash: Poet, Author, Columnist and Ghost Writer. Everything and anything from Haiku to Essays and all in-between. My newest books are: Paper Dolls, an art/short story collaboration with the artist Gianluca Bernardini and a Chap book entitled Memoir.

Website: www.janenash.com Instagram: @amjlnash PAGE 55 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

WORDS • IDEAS: L.I. LEULESCU

L.I. Leulescu "Born in Romania, where a poet once told me I should write. I stopped writing and started again in Canada two decades later, when Time began to accelerate."

Instagram: @aquariangreen

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ART: NATALIE BRADFORD

Works: Reverie (above left) Hold On (above right) Sandy (left)

Natalie Bradford I'm a mixed media artist based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan with a focus in alternative printmaking methods and collage. In my work, I explore memory, temporality, and the passage of time through personal family photos and other vintage/collaged elements.

Website: linktr.ee/natalie.bradford Instagram: @natalie.bradford PAGE 57 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

WORDS • IDEAS: RAFAËL BARNWELL

A Green Suitcase

by Rafaël Barnwell

The loud music playing in the café across the yard pulls me out of sleep. It’s still dark inside but sun rays from the outside world are beaming.

Like when I’m tucked under water, heart beats keep me afloat, voices above get louder.

Light tries to make its way to me, through the hideous blind. It’s thick, grey and made out of plastic. I didn’t choose it. It comes in handy to move into a fully furnished place when you’re new in town. With only a green suitcase. It’s priceless not to own much. I inherited the few plants from the previous tenant. And her blanket too.

Remnants of paths crossing. The plants are by the window, breaths of life for my humble abode. The blanket embraces the couch now. Color for the charm. I will be here for awhile.

As wet sheets get thinner, I burst the surface like a new-born child.

I roll to the other end of the bed to check my phone waiting on the bedside table. It’s the large green suitcase actually. I use it as a table. It found a perfect place. The time shows. And a few messages. My window to the other side. Canada.

It’s my little brother. They got the house. Is he more adult than me now? I look at my green vessel. The dark stains on the corner from conveyor belts. My eyes shift to the tired blind. I tug on the string and it rolls up, singing loud screeching sounds. Sun pours in.

Like when I’m whispered to myself, mind shapes more parts of me, visions ahead get clearer.

Five steps and I’m in the kitchen. I make myself a bowl of cereal. I miss baking banana bread. The warm smell spreading throughout the house on a Sunday afternoon… Blueberry muffins too. This apartment doesn’t have an oven. My sister tells me I should get one of those toaster oven things. And have it out on the counter.

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I’ve been making it out just fine without one. I don’t know why I’d buy something if I’ve been able to survive without it. But maybe I should buy a house. Fifteen years ago, I thought I’d have kids and a house by now. My love for the unknown is insatiable. It still takes me by surprise at times. How far I swim. Or maybe I'm just scared to walk the line. How did he do it? I love cereal though. Especially when the milk is super cold. I don’t need an oven.

As hot air rises from the road, I cross oceans like a snake in the sand.

I get ready for work and hop on my second hand bike. The wide roads like highways leading to great plains of discovery. The cityscape; home to growing greens taking over impressive cement boxes and imposing asymmetric structures standing against time. My sister dancing on the world’s biggest stage. That’s why I moved to Berlin. To breathe. I cross West to East to work shifts at a pizza restaurant.

I cycle through visual archeology. Still the words from my phone imprint my mind: We got the house! Somewhat overwhelming. Too bright, it pains the back of my eyes. I get to the restaurant and there’s already a line up of hungry people, like curious animals approaching a roadkill carrion ready to consume. How can one buy a house and live? Bank loans and mortgages. A plan for the future.

Like when I’m shown the stars, voice grows to colour my real, shades of my skin get thicker.

Is moving to another country any different? I don’t want to own a house. When I’m forty-five perhaps. It could also be nice. The fine line between inner dreams and social expectations like eyes of a cat dawning through the dark night curtain. It’s hard to tell. I wouldn’t trade my bike for a new one. Who would want to steal this one?

As life wrinkles upon me, I’m more real like words in a book.

Riding home. The wind curls my hair. I’m a speck from the other end of the world making its way. I’m surfing. The setting sun washes pink everywhere. I have dinner for one in my basket. Margarita. People place an order and forget to pick it up. This remains a mystery to me. I get free food and waste less. I know there’s going to be that sweet spot of sunlight in the corner of my apartment. I want to get there before it disappears.

Like when I'm erased from before, body breathes to live the change.

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I make it right on the dot. I warm the pizza in the frying pan. A cheap beer in hand.

Picnic in my tiny pad. I’m lavish. My mind is at ease. I pick up the phone and send little brother a message. I’m proud of him. So much pride it is blinding. I’m also proud of my green suitcase. This is what I own. Sweet breeze flows in. The sky gets darker and I hear the black birds sing.

Thoughts only get truer, as senses awake themselves, I create my own like water carving drops.

***

Rafaël Barnwell is an emerging poet, writer and artist. She is a French Canadian from Montreal and writes in both English and French. World traveler and people lover, she strongly believes that sharing stories is an essential part in inspiring others and ourselves. Today, Rafaël lives and writes in Berlin.

Website: www.rafaelhbarnwell.com Instagram: @rafhart

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ART: ROBBII WESSEN

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Robbii Wessen Wessen’s family was influential in his decision to pursue art. His father was a commercial artist, and by the age of six, Wessen was drawing, using an airbrush, and trying his hand at lettering. At an early age, he and his twin brother chose not to compete. His brother became a rocket scientist, and Wessen credits his brother’s insights as integral to his own development, as he went on to become a successful graphic designer.

In 2002, Wessen went to Burning Man, a bohemian arts festival in the Nevada desert, culminating in the burning of a human effigy. It proved to be a life-changing experience for the artist. Inspired by the abundance and intensity of creative energy, Wessen created his first assemblage: an homage to the event in the form of a shrine.

Wessen’s development as an artist was also informed by concepts of Eastern Mysticism, such as the inevitability of the life cycle, and Taoist contemplations of contrast and duality, which he has harnessed to heighten the sense of beauty and the passage of time in his work.

Artist Statement: I take a very methodical approach to creating my assemblages. Found objects are arranged in a formal style: balance, composition and texture are integral elements of my work that act as a means to explore the redemptive qualities of discarded material. My limited color palette comes from the materials used, such as: aged, dark wood; brass, silver and gold leaf; machine parts; rusted metal; glass and natural elements. With artificial mechanisms, parts of unknown objects and bits of nature, each assemblage speaks of some unknown purpose or history. Ultimately, in contrast to their humble origins, these assemblages transcend the found quality of their individual parts to become objects of beauty.

I have no illusions of wanting to be “new”. I only want to put forward work that is original. My goal is to have clarity of vision that when I put a piece together, it is unique and stands by itself as a work of art and as a body of work. My assemblages become little shrines to unknown deities or reminders of memories familiar but long past. They speak not only of some unknown history but they speak of my history as well. I call them “Foundlings”.

Work: Broken Zeus | 2018 | 20” x 54” x 13” | Broken Bust, Upright Piano Parts, Brass Plate, Furniture Clamp, Porcelain Flower, Frame Parts Webiste: www.foundlings.us Instagram: @robbiifoundlings PAGE 62 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

WORDS • IDEAS: ERICA J. KINGDOM

THE DEVIL WEARS A SUIT

The devil dies the death of a thousand qualifications; The wardrobes are filled with suits which stench with copper. They are green, like the signs. Of wealth and protesperty. And like those, they fail their weight in gold.

They are layed on the spires, melted in the essence of gold and prosperity.

All whilst the man in the dark grins, As he watches the others below starve and beg for their weight bread and water.

And all his friends sit, dine and drink freshly made wine from the golden taps.

They request more. More. more. And even more.

They drink until they are unable to form sentences, until the effort of thinking causes them pain, splitting their skulls. And they repeat the same. And the next nigh.

As soon as dusk greets them, they eat their weight in gold; All whilst the ones below watch as they wither away.

Slowly becoming skeletons.

And then dust, which is whipped away by the copper tainted wind.

As the green leaves fly away, tainted by the dust of the poor.

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SHEDS AND DEATH

The sky is fading into the darkness, Where the beast sleeps for the night.

The dark overshadows the shed, blood red in colour.

Dad said it scares the men away - but I think it brings them closer.

Closer still, are plants, lovingly planted and kept alive.

At least they will never die - right?

The sun is fading away, escaping its responsibilities for another day.

At least these can escape human responsibility - never having to pay, To be kept alive, to dine, and drink shitty, admittedly gone-off wine. To survive, with a beating heart, a sign of the start, Of new life, around the corner, I hope we are not kept in the cycle, Of Samsara, Going around like a hamster wheel.

Tell me, dad: What is it like to die?

Always having a book to hand, Erica J. Kingdom is convinced that she is from a fantasy realm. She started writing when studying for her GCSEs, in addition to being an English teacher in training. Her works can be found in journals such as The Paper Crane and Honeyfire Lit. When she embarks on a larger project, she loves writing about challenging topics such as revenge and the importance of responsibility within society. When she isn't writing, they love to take walks through the local forests and casually plays the piano.

Her favourite books are those which present adventure, explore the complexities of the human condition and let her delve into the millions of worlds that stories have to offer.

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WORDS • IDEAS: CAIN

Fishing Lessons

by Cain

“Again.”

The boy sighed heavily and looked up at him from under his brow.

“Seriously?”

His grandfather looked down, his expression unwavering, until the boy sighed again and set to untangling his line.

“I thought fishing was supposed to be fun…” the youngster grumbled. He fumbled with a bird nest for a moment or two and then cut the line right near the reel and cast it aside, starting from scratch.

“It’s fun, if you know what you’re doin’.” The eldest turned a few cranks on his old Zebco, shifted in his chair a bit and sighed contentedly. It was a good night; the sun was setting behind them and there was a soft breeze blowing a warm roasted aroma across the fields from the Brown’s tobacco barn. The only sound were the crickets and frogs celebrating the dusk around them.

“Well, how come you got the good pole and you gave me this janky one?” the boy complained. It was a Zebco too, but it was an open-faced reel. He had been struggling with it begrudgingly for almost an hour after his grandfather had given him a brief tutorial on the two-part casting.

“You already know how to use this one, bud. Always good to learn something new.” he pulled his bait from the pond and flicked his wrist to the left casting into the corner with a short “ztt!” followed by a satisfying “ploop!”

The boy looked at the reel in his hand distastefully.

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“Seems an awful lot like work to me…”

There are moments in ones’ life when it seems like time has indeed stopped for an instant. Hearing his father’s words from his grandson’s mouth, the elder could swear the twilight clouds had a moment of sobriety in their drug addled march into the night, freezing in the sky as if the world had simply stopped moving.

“Give it here, boy,” the grandfather said softly, but instead of trading him reels he sat his down and took his grandson’s into his lap. The boy started to protest, thought better of it, and muttered his thanks. The elder went to work on the line with worn yet nimble fingers as he scanned the tree line across the field.

“This is a test son. You take tests in school yeah?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is a test supposed to be easy?” “…No, sir.”

The eldest pulled the knot tight around the hook and then bit the end of the line off with his teeth. He passed the rod back to the youngest and handed him a bucket of night crawlers as well.

“Here’s the thing; life ain’t always gonna’ give you the tools you’re familiar with.

Sometimes you’ve got to deal with shit with the tools you have available, so you have to learn to adapt. So do I, so does Mamaw and Mom and Dad...it’s just a part of life, buddy.”

The youngest stood by the edge of the bank, looking out at the water and pretended to cast his line. The eldest noticed his hand positioned on the rod so that he could hold the line in place and smiled.

“Adapt…” the boy muttered to himself. He practiced his cast again once, twice, three times, smiled proudly to himself and confidently approached the edge of the dock. The eldest watched as he precisely positioned his hands, pinned the line, flipped the release over and then drew the rod up, up, up above his head with the tip pointing directly behind him towards the ground. He hesitated for just a second and then all at once he lurched forward, releasing with one hand while hanging on with the other, sending the line running away from the reel with a melodic “Zzzzzzzzzzz” followed by…

Nothing.

One looked at the other, the other looked back, and they both looked out over the pond.

Nothing.

Then the boy looked up and reached over excitedly to tap the eldest on the knee.

“Papaw!! Papaw!!” Up there! Look!”

Sure enough, up above them suspended between the darkening sky and the still waters of the pond was the boys tackle, wrapped around the power lines that ran directly over the middle of the pond and then in front of the barn.

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“Hmph...welp…” started the eldest.

“Shit,” the youngest finished, avoiding the glare of his grandfather and wondering at his lost bait.

“What part of the lesson is this, papaw?”

“Well, bud...this is called bad luck right here aaaaaaannnnnnnddddd……” he drew it out as he reached over for his trusty closed face Zebco 33 “we ain’t got time for all that this evening.” He passed over the old pole, much to the delight of his grandson. “Meeeow, go fish over there in that corner, buddy, while Papaw sits here and reads for a bit. Let’s listen for the whippoorwills and the owls, huh?”

He didn’t get an answer, which was fine of course.

The boy was fishing.

***

Cain is a creative soul hailing from Southern Kentucky where he lives on a peaceful dead end street with his wife, their wonderful boy and adorable smallish dog. He's been writing for almost twenty years in many different forms. His poetry has been published by Between Shadows Press, and he has had creative non-fiction published in Bone and Ink Press' online Literary Magazine.

Instagram: @x_wacwords_x

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WORDS • IDEAS: SHLOKA SHANKAR

silence is my currency

sit on the electric wire of patience desecrated by time; read eternity in a three-dimensioned prayer, the breath of words growing obscure

Source: A remix/cut-up from How to Be a Poet by Wendell Berry.

Shloka Shankar is a poet, editor, publisher, and self-taught visual artist from Bangalore, India. A Best of the Net nominee and award-winning haiku poet, her poems and artwork have appeared in over 200 online and print venues of repute.

Shloka is the Founding Editor of the literary & arts journal Sonic Boom and its imprint Yavanika Press.

Website: www.shlokashankar.com Instagram: @shloks23 PAGE 68 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

ART & WORDS: NWAJIAKU UCHE Nwajiaku Uche, also known as Nwaje, is an indigene of Umuoji, Idemili North, Anambra State, South Eastern Nigeria. A prolific visual artist, a researcher and a writer, he is a graduate of the University of Lagos, where he obtained his B.A. in Visual Arts specializing in Painting. Nwajiaku has had several group displays, including the Talent for Charity held at Lagos Business School, The Orientation, The Igbo-Made Experience held at Landmark Event Center.

Nwajiaku emerged as one of the finalists at the Union Bank Centenary Art Challenge 2017; he is also an art ambassador of Goge Africa, a tourist and cultural institution. His works are characterized by the prevalent use of Nsibidi symbols and surrealistic compositions (painting).

Nwajiaku's work focuses more on highlighting the unique socio-cultural trajectories of the Igbos. He alternates between history and modernism while he educates, communicates and enlightens his audience with intriguing works.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT I have, over time, directed the trajectory of my works towards interrogating history, as I have observed that history has a unique way of repeating itself and has a profound impact on contemporary lives and cultures today. In the present times, when many believe traditional cultural practices have no relevance, I find myself continually returning to those aspects that are often not pronounced and perhaps are seen as insignificant by the present generation of youths. In my varied and diverse approaches to making art, I attempt to portray contexts that the viewer can relate with and can perhaps come up with or extemporize some form of interpretation.

In the light of the above, the themes of my works feature narratives that depict socio-cultural sceneries and elements depicting the identities of the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria. Using an admixture of Nsibidi symbols and surrealism, I engage various forms and themes to involve the viewers of my works as participants in my creative processes, thereby creating new cycles of thoughts. I employ experimental juxtapositioning of composition and media to provide, even to me, the artist, a challenge for my creative self and perceptions. My art is an embodiment of sincerity of purpose, which is a creative perpetuation of the ideology which I stand for.

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In essence, with my works, I argue that tradition remains the bedrock of our social existence despite the changing times and realities, and I am of the opinion that it should be held in high esteem. I believe each culture has its own peculiarities, and that of the Igbo's is indeed a unique one. As an artist, I believe that the ability to reconcile and fashion out ideas, facts, relics, secrets, documents and other cultural elements speaks volumes of one's ingenious consciousness.

Watercolour is my chosen medium of expression as I find its transparency and wet 'n' wet techniques coherent in the expressions of my themes. Moreover, as a medium, I find it very comfortable and fascinating. My inspirations emanate from historical and intellectual books, articles, Igbo high life music, personal experiences, and trajectories of my environment.

"Nke Anyi" (Ours), 2020, Watercolour on paper, 26 x 40 cm

"Anara" (Garden egg), a recurrent snack of the Igbos, predominantly found in meetings, gatherings, traditional marriage (Igba nkwu), events, family reunions and funerals. In most cases, after the "Iwa Oji" (breaking of the kolanut), a tray is passed around containing "Anara" and "Ose Oji" (groundnut paste) as its complement; a cultural exercise that signifies hospitableness, peace, respect and unity. Aside from its traditional relevance to the Igbos, it also contributes positively to the overall health of humans.

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"Ikenga", 2020, Watercolor on paper, 30 x 40 cm

A ritual enactment of achievement and a prominent symbol, a reminiscent object often carved in wood with a unique artistic dexterity. "Ikenga" (strength of movement) is an Alusi that is prevalent among the Igbos of south-eastern Nigerian, possessed by men of high integrity and class, the components of ikenga includes someone's Chi (personal god), his Ndichie (ancestors), Aka Ikenga (right hand) as well as Ike (power). "Ikenga" is a personal incarnation of success, victory and accomplishment. It depicts a typical young Igbo man: agile, evincing strength, wearing the warrior's grass skirt, holding a knife and severed human head, a synonymous pose seen in warrior groups when they performed dances. The symbolism of "Ikenga" continues to be held in high esteem even in contemporary times despite the changing realities of the modern day. In that light, people often associate the name "Ikenga" with individuals who display outstanding brilliance in their endeavours.

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"Let's Pray", 2020, Watercolour on paper, 30 x 40 cm

When it comes to assimilating the local dialect, parenting, background, and environment play an imperative role. From a personal perspective, growing up in a Catholic household where, more often than not, prayers are said in the Igbo language, I saw it as a tall order to participate in the entire exercise. Another considerable task was having a full grasp of church activities at the village where mass is celebrated in the core Igbo language from start to finish.

However, these series of struggles have yielded a positive outcome on how fluent I am when speaking the Igbo language. In a nutshell, it has significantly aided my thought process.

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"Unmasked", 2020, Watercolour on paper, 30 x 40 cm

Before the spread of the Christian religion, the Igbo community believed in the system of spirits and ancestors. More often than not, these spirits have been associated with masquerades; hence masquerades have remained an indelible symbol of the Igbo culture. As the world continues to evolve, and due to changing realities, the concept of masquerades has been unfairly stereotyped by many as evil or devilish.

In this piece, I use the prestigious Ugo masquerade of the Uzoiyi festival of Umuoji, Idemili North in Anambra State, as a case study to address this mindset as I do not subscribe to it.

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‘’Three Years’’ 2020, Watercolour on paper, 30 x 40 cm

It's been fifty years now since the devastating civil war that killed more than one million people in Nigeria came to an end. Most of those who lost their lives in the Biafra war died from fighting, disease and starvation during the two-and-a-halfyear conflict.

In 1967, Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the military governor of Nigeria's then-Eastern Region, accused the federal government of marginalizing and killing thousands of Igbos living in the north. On May 30 of that year, Odumegwu-Ojukwu declared the Eastern Region a sovereign and independent republic under the name of Biafra - a unilateral move rejected by the federal government. A bloody civil war ensued, with federal troops deployed to stop the secessionist movement.

The Nigerian forces cut off aid and access to the area throughout the war, which ended with the surrender of Biafra in January 1970. Yakubu Gowon, the federal government leader, declared that there was "no victor, no vanquished" in the war.

After all was said and done, the war was irrelevant because it caused more retrogression than progress, taking into cognizance its impact on the economy.

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WORDS • IDEAS: ROBERT FLEMING

Jupiter and Minerva’s understudies

a raven releases a republic a monarch butterfly releases a monarchy Augustus emperors jovial justice the monarch rests on a prune tree a monarch releases a monarchy Livia and Augustus marry a butterfly rests on a prune tree Livia’s son Tiberius learns the army Livia and Augustus marry Augustus rules, youth high spirits, not treason!

Tiberius legions the army Augustus executes only with reason Augustus rules, spirits, not treason!

Livia self-claims Tiberius will be emperor Augustus still has reason Tiberius his way is war Livia must be mother of the emperor Julius Cesar’s spirit revenges the senate Tiberius mother’s boy is war Julius Cesar the menace Bacchus’ spirits imbibes the senate Augustus’ proclaims laughter Julius Cesar understudies Dennis Livia prepares poison disaster

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Augustus’ is laughter the players are tainted Livia pantry’s poison disaster figs are poison painted the marriage is fated Livia pyrrhics a poison jig figs are poison painted Augustus picks garden figs Livia pyrrhics a poison jig Rome’s republic is conqueror Augustus eats garden figs Tiberius is emperor Rome’s monarch is conqueror Livia wears blue olives Tiberius is emperor Livia must replace Minerva goddess Livia’s skin is olive Jupiter center-stages the public Livia replaces Minerva goddess a raven butterfly releases Rome’s monarch republic

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one pig pound pays for one pint of beer every part of a pig has a purpose pigs live in the field fattened at the farm slaughtered in the slaughter house butchered in the factory sold at the market fried in the frying pan deposited in human fat

Robert Fleming lives in Lewes, DE, USA. Published in United States, Canada, and Australia.

Follow Robert at https://www.facebook.com/robert.fleming.5030

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ART: THE MESSDECK

William Fillmore, Entrance, reclaimed wood, graphite, and charcoal, 15ft x 30ft x 15ft

Tilly Strauss, Miami Beach Ice Cream, acrylic on paper, 9 x 12 inches PAGE 78 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Zachari Winters, Bike, film photography

Zachari Winters, Antarctic Tent, film photography PAGE 79 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Besjana Kryeziu Pregnancy Sensitivity, 30 x 40cm, acrylic on paper, 2021

Feelings in My Body, 30 x 40cm, acrylic on paper, 2021

Hannah (Hani) Rosenbaum “Synesthesia” (2021), acrylic paint on canvas, 16” x 12” “Absence and Desire” (2021), acrylic paint and synthetic resin on panel, 30” x 20” PAGE 80 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Vincenzo Cohen "Epimetheus", oil on canvas, 50 x 100 cm (left) "Rocky Ravine", mixed media (oil, plaster, sand and seashells mixture) on canvas, 80 x 50 cm (above)

Hope Jordan Abstract Floral, 2020, Acrylic on Canvas, 11" x 14" Painting with Fire as an Architect of Hope, 2020, Acrylic on Canvas, 16" x 20" Passage to the Other Side, 2021, Acrylic on Canvas, 16" x 20"

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Rigatoni Garrido, Love Birds, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in., 2018

Emel Çevikcan, Enthusiasm in Colours

Maricarmen Smith, We Are All Connected

Jing Kong, Attachment, 8 x 53 cm, gouache on paper, 2020

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Madisun Ramirez, Thicc, acrylic on cavas

Gunjan Solanki, Waiting, 2020

Margot Dermody, Paris 2, 2021, acrylic on yupo paper, 12” x 9”

Henni Pfeiffer, Portrait of an Inner Battle, 41 x 31 cm, oil on paper, 2021

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Fleur Thesmar, Abstract I

Fleur Thesmar, Secret Garden

Steffani Grondin Calmer Waters. 2020. Medium – Kodak Ektar 100 (35mm film); Canon AE-1 (camera) Lost in Time, 2021. Medium – Kodak Gold 200 (35mm film); Canon AE-1 (camera).

Mountains Beyond Mountains, 2021. Medium – Kodak Portra 400 (35mm film); Canon AE-1 (camera).

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Gina Ariko: All Lined Up Two Cups Color Study Yellow Spring Quarantine

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Kristen DiSano, DON'T BOTHER ME I'M HAVING FUN, 6"x10", ink on paper, 2021

Kristen DiSano, Pick This Card..., 5"x7", ink on bristol board, 2021

Jennifer Lange Depression. 50×65cm. Ink and charcoal on paper, 2020 (left) Dandelion Flyers. 42×30cm. Ink and ink pens on paper, 2020 (above) PAGE 86 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Mary Bobson (Mariia Boborenko) The Roof of the World, 2021, Acrylic, cotton, gesso, plaster, wax on eco MDF panel, 80 x 60 х 1.5 cm (31.5" x 23.6" x 0.6")

Aaron Benjamin Cohen, Clash, ink on paper 84" x 84", 2020

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Aaron Benjamin Cohen, Soldier 1, ink on paper 36" x 48", 2020

Emily Suñez, Golden Barrel Sea, 20x24"

Emily Suñez, Golden Desert Glow, 8x10" PAGE 88 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Emily Suñez, Desert Magic Hour, 14x18"

Hyunsun Yoo, Untitled, 50 x 260cm, acrylic marker on canvas, 2019

Brut Carniollus, Power Plant,

Jovanitha Le Long, Lemons, oil on paper

Christian Amaya, Imposter Syndrome, 2021, 20" x 20", acrylic on canvas

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Jessica TheNudistPainter, Belladonna body stamp, acrylic, 36 x 36 x 1.5 inches, 2021

Jessica TheNudistPainter, Texas Bluebonnets body stamp, acrylic, 36 x 36 x 1.5 inches, 2021

Geraldina Khatchikian, New Beginning, Acrylic on Terry Dugger, Misty Petals., 2020, 16x20, acrylic canvas, 90cm x 90cm , 2021 on canvas

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Maja Wiebler, Notes from the Black Sea, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 80×60 cm, 32×24 inches

Tiffany Heng Hui Lee Harvest V, mixed media collage (above) Autumn Leave, mixed media collage (right)

Sophie Bosselut, Fin de Soirée, la Nuit Maquillée, dry pastel, graphite and color pencil on Ingres paper A4, 2021 PAGE 91 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Francisca Brunet Portrait in the Nowhere Lands, 2021, gouache and watercolour on paper, 30.5 x 45.5 cm (left) Parallels, 2021, gouache on paper, 70x50 cm (above)

Kateryna Bortsova Hunger, 2017 (above) Vulgarity, 2019 (left)

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Steven Labadessa damnatio memoriae v, 2019, oil on aluminum, 18" x 12" (above left) yeti Warhol, 2018, oil on copper, 10.5” x 8.5” (above right) Fascha, 2014, oil on birch , 8.5” x 8” (left) PAGE 93 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Matina Vossou, Hobo Don Quixote (and Sancho Panza), 2021, acrylic on canvas

Matina Vossou, Separation, 2019, acrylic on canvas board

Anna Stark Lollipops, oil painting (left) Gummy Worms No. 2, oil painting (above) PAGE 94 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE

Tuyet Truster Sparkles, 2020 polaroid (above left) Not Today, 2020, polaroid (above right) Autumn Bath, 2020, polaroid (left)

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Momo PARK Unconscious 5, oil painting, 97 x 103.3 cm, 2020 (previous page left) Unconscious 3, oil painting, 97 x 103.3 cm, 2019 (previous page centre) Unconscious 1, oil painting, 97 x 103.3 cm, 2019 (previous page right) Love Addiction, oil painting, 100 x 70 cm, 2017 (left)

Mellisa Gile, Fruit of the Womb, 2021: 16 x 20 inches (41 x 51 cm), gallery profile, Acrylic on gesso board

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I Just Cantaloupe, 2021: 4 x 12 inches (10.2 x 30.5 cm), acrylic on canvas

MESSDECK ARTISTS Aaron Benjamin Cohen Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where I grew up, I focus on human-centric interaction through energetic and expressive mark-making that currently uses themes of conflict and war to engage in core human emotions such as life, death, love and community. I work with mixed media applications ranging from oil paints and acrylics to roof tar and found materials.

IG: @aaronbenjamincohen Anna Stark Anna is an emerging, self-taught artist based in the Twin Cities.

She is a proud alumna of Perpich Center for Arts Education where she studied film and photography. She went on to graduate from Columbia College Chicago where she studied writing, drawing and marketing.

IG:@anna_stark_art Besjana Kryeziu Besjana Kryeziu is a visual artist from Kosovo, living in Belgium.

She earned her BFA and Master’s degree from University of Prishtina and took part in more than 50 exhibitions: Italy, London, Germany, New York, Washington D.C, Turkey, Hungary, Czech Republic, France, etc.

IG: @artworkbesjana Brut Carniollus Brut Carniollus is a visual artist and photographer specialized in photography based digital collage and digital graphics executed as original digital UV prints. His approach tends to be reductional, deconstructional and minimalist. His work is exhibited and awarded worldwide.

Website: carniollus.com IG: @carniollus Christian Amaya Christian Amaya is an abstract painter and first-generation immigrant born and raised in Harlem, New York. Amaya speaks thoroughly through his art to signify the lost words, silence and disassociation he held as a youth. www.christianamaya.com Emel Çevikcan By observing the details of everyday surroundings, I find endless ideas from Nature. Working with watercolor has always been the choice for me because it flows from the brush and is never the same application.

IG: @emelcevikcanpaintart Emily Suñez Is a nature and landscape oil painter who works out of her home studio in Pasadena, CA. She has used art as a tool for healing and coping with chronic illness. www.emilysunez.com IG: @emily_the_painter Fleur Thesmar Fleur Thesmar worked 20 years in France in the high-tech industry. Her arrival in the United States in 2015 triggered an ancient passion of hers: painting.

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As an emerging artist, she pursues her wish to share her intense emotions and change of perspective due to her migration in the USA. www.FleurTdeFrance.com IG: @FleurTdeFrance

Francisca Brunet Francisca Brunet, living and working in Santiago, Chile.

Expressionist and naive characteristics are frequent in her paintings, the imagery reminds of where she comes from and its natural and human diversity, colors, forms and subjects. www.vimeo.com/franciscabrunet IG:@_le_ba_si Geraldina Khatchikian Geraldina Khatchikian is an Italian abstract painter living in Milan, Italy. She exhibited her work around different cities across Europe. www.geraldinakhatchikian.com IG: @g.khatchikian.art Gina Ariko Growing up biracial and a first-generation American, I often felt caught in the in-between, sometimes feeling "too American to be Japanese" and other times "too Japanese to be American." Painting gave me a sense of ownership over my identity and helped me express the feelings I didn't have words for. website: https://ginaariko.com/ IG: @ginaariko Gunjan Solanki Gunjan Solanki is a Delhi-based street and landscape photographer.

IG: @gunjan.solanki Hannah (Hani) Rosenbaum Hannah (Hani) Rosenbaum (she/they) is a self-taught artist and musician living on occupied Nipmuc land, also known as "Western Massachusetts." Hani's artwork has been exhibited locally and internationally. www.hannahrosenbaumartwork.com IG: @hani.rosenbaum Henni Pfeiffer Henni Pfeiffer, born in Romania, is a self-taught artist by night and a CFO by day. She grew up and currently lives in Germany, where she went to a business school. Working on this painting has taught me to be brave, to take risks and to recognize when to stop. I was afraid to ruin it with every new brush stroke. www.fraupfeiffer.art IG: @fraupfeiffer.art Hope Jordan I graduated in 1995 with my BFA from Western Carolina University. My passion for intuitive two-dimensional art has me painting almost daily on almost any durable surface within reach. I embrace the element of surprise with spontaneous, intuitive art. www.hopejordanart.com IG: @hopejordanart

Hyunsun Yoo Hyunsun Yoo (1981) was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1981. She majored from the Duksung Woman University in Seoul with a bachelor of visual arts specializing in painting. She also minored in art history. After that she studied fine art/painting at the Applied Art University in Vienna, Austria in 2013 with Professor Emma Rendl denk. Now she lives and works in Vienna IG: @hyunsunyoo_artist Jennifer Lange Jennifer S. Lange is a self-taught artist working mostly in the games industry. Besides painting, she loves creating worlds by writing tiny snippets of stories for her personal works. She lives in Germany with her partner, and three cats of which only one isn't black.

Website: http://jsl-art.de IG: @ranarh.draws Jessica TheNudistPainter My name is Jessica, and I am a self-taught artist in Nevada. I love painting with my body. My art is a reflection of my perception and an outsider view of the female body. I view my body as beautiful mixture of colors. www.thenudistpainter.com IG: @thenudistpainter Jing Kong I love life, nature and animals. I think painting is a way to explore human and animal souls. I try to discover the inner world of animals and humans from paintings. www.artwanted.com/cat8080 IG: @cat8080juan Jovanitha LeLong I'm Jovanitha, mom and full-time artist. I'm both Mauritian and French and living in France. I paint mainly in oil, and my work can be described as pop art. www.jovanitha.com IG: @jovanitha_oilartist Kateryna Bortsova Painter – graphic artist with BFA in graphic arts and MFA who participated in many international exhibitions. She won the silver medal in the "Realism" category at "Factory of visual art", New York, USA and 2015 Emirates Skywards Art of Travel competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

IG: @katerynabortsova http://bortsova6.wix.com/bortsova .

Kristen DiSano I love creatures and bizarre things. There's always some kind of fantastical imagery running through my head and I feel the need to record it. I find birds to be particularly fascinating and they are often the subjects of my work, albeit in a twisted form.

IG: @k_disano Madisun Ramirez I'm 21 and currently living in Los Angeles. I’ve wanted to be an artist since I was in preschool and later discovered my true calling is art therapy. I use a-lot of figurative painting for express along with a strong color pallet. All of my pieces have strong intent and are full of life, emotion, and healing.

IG: @madawgydawg Art IG: @madisunheals

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Maja Wiebler Born in Belgrade, Serbia (Yugoslavia at the time) in 1973, Maja has lived overseas since her early twenties. Maja has been exploring abstract geometry, shapes and color palettes, inspired by nature and all the beauty around us. www.majawiebler.com IG: @majawieblerstudio Margot Dermody Margot Dermody is an artist currently living in Pittsburgh, PA. Margot has been exploring and making art for more than 30 years, and for the past 4 years, she has had a fulltime studio practice. www.margotdermody.com IG:@margotdermodyart Maricarmen Smith Maricarmen (born in Peru, currently living in the UK) is an Intuitive happy artist, mum, shamanic healer and happy soul. She studied illustration in Liverpool John Moore's University. Colour is her language to express the joy in life. www.maricarmensmiththejoyfulartistthatspeaksthroughcol our.com/ IG: @maricarmensmithcolorhappyart Mary Bobson (Mariia Boborenko) I was born and live in Stavropol, Russia.

My real passion and focus in my work is abstract art. I give preference to complex textured surfaces, subtle and harmonious color schemes with the message of the vitality of the drawing. www.marybobson.com IG: @mary_bobson_art Matina Vossou I am a self-taught artist living in Athens, Greece.

IG: @matinavossou https://www.saatchiart.com/account/artworks/1398719 Melissa Gile Melissa Gile is a self-taught acrylic artist and expat based out of Hamburg, Germany. My current work is inspired by the concept of "oneness" – in which I explore, befriend and find sanctuary in the interwoven relationship between feminine spirits, bodies and nature. www.melissagile.studio/; IG: @melissa.gile.fineart Momo PARK I am a visual artist who studied in South Korea and France. I participated in numerous exhibitions in France: Art en capital (Grand Palais, Paris), Salon d'automne (Champs Elysées, Paris), Paris Artistes (Paris), Salon ART'M, Salon des petits formats, Artalents-Visual art contest (France). https://momoparkart.editorx.io/portfolio Rigatoni Garrido I am a Venezuelan-American artist/animator who currently runs a very small business called "Pipapeep!" I typically work with digital art, but I also have a passion for making collages and paintings. I am currently working towards getting my foot into the animation industry as a potential character designer/2D animator! www.rigatonigarrido.com IG: @pipapeep

Sophie Bosselut Visual Artist www.sophiebosselut.com Steffani Grondin I'm an astrophysics PhD student and film photography enthusiast. Growing up in British Columbia, Canada has caused my heart to forever lie in and among the mountains, forests and ocean. My work centres around a common theme of "sea to sky" and mostly features landscapes of my excursions and the amazing people that accompany me on them.

IG: @steffscapes Steven Labadessa Steven Labadessa, a native New Yorker (Brooklynite), has taught and exhibited throughout the US. He received an MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior studies included studying at SAIC, SMFA Boston, NYAA, SVA, the Arts Students League and Brooklyn College CUNY with such notable instructors & critics including Lee Bontecou, Lois Dodd, William T. Williams, Lennart Anderson, Susanna Coffey, Kurt Kauper, Anne Harris, William Beckman, and John Moore. https://stevenlabadessa.com/ Terry Dugger Terry Dugger is an abstract artist who resides in Waco, Texas. She focuses on florals that are whimsical and lively in movement and form.

IG: @terrylynnbythesea Tiffany Heng Hui Lee Tiffany Heng Hui Lee is a visual artist specializing in abstract, mixed media collages and paintings. At eighteen, she immigrated to the United States from Taipei, Taiwan. She graduated from the University of Houston with a Master of Fine Arts. Her studio and home are located in Sugar Land, Texas. https://tinyurl.com/tiffanylee944 IG: @tiffanylee944 Tilly Strauss Tilly is an artist and teacher from rural New York. She paints almost every day to capture memories and fortify herself against loss. Time is her obsession. www.TillyStudio.com IG: @Tillystrauss Tuyet Truster Tuyet is French-Vietnamese instant film photographer currently based in Jersey City, USA. IG: @polinstanoid Vincenzo Cohen Vincenzo Cohen is an Italian painter and photographer with a classical background. He graduated in Fine Arts and Archaeology. His work consists in reworking of life experiences through an expressionist language and by means of photography or through the combination of both artistic techniques. www.vincenzocohen.com IG:@vincenzocohen

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William Fillmore I am a sculptor living and working in Upstate New York. My work coasts on the edge of reverence for the tradition of object making and the temporality of experiential performance as it provides a sarcastic personal vision of both my surreal static present, and the dark mystical future. www.williamfillmoresculpture.com IG: @williamlfillmore Zachari Winters Zachari is a photographer who primarily shoots film on a 1980's point-and-shoot Olympus Infinity AF-1; currently living in San Marcos, Texas.

IG: @kodakzac