Vol. 24 — August 14, 2020
WHAT’S NEW
This week we’re debuting a new charity zine with ROAR.NY, sharing our favorite fruity clothing, and introducing you to a cool new friend: Yuko Nishikawa.
CULTURE CORNER
Today is the day! Our zine in collaboration with ROAR.NY is for sale on our site here. We’ve donated all the supplies so 100% of every purchase ($12) goes directly to supporting ROAR’s mission and into the pockets of restaurant workers in New York. Each copy is filled with touching stories, beautiful illustrations, and a poster to put up in your neighborhood. Get your copy now → → →
SUPPORT
If officials won’t save the USPS, the people will. We’ve been trying to do our part to help keep the postal service running (every ROAR zine is shipped with stamps!) and one fun way you can too is to get a sheet of these beautiful Ruth Asawa stamps before they’re gone and write a letter to a friend you haven’t seen since March!
WEAR
What Anna B. is wearing (& wanting to wear) right now.
- For summer Saturdays with a heat index of 95 degrees: this Uniqlo X Marimekko cotton sleeveless fruit dress.
- For trips to the farmer’s market (during a heat wave) in search of in-season tomatoes & corn for Roasted Tomato and Corn Pie With Cheddar Crust: these iconic (and comfortable )strawberry crocs.
- For carrying your in-season tomatoes & corn back home: a standard Baggu in blue papaya.
- For your ears: these strawberry earrings from Jennifer Loiselle.
COOL FRIENDS
Yuko Nishikawa
Meet Yuko, a local artist best known for her colorful, quirky work with clay — you might have even seen her work on our “Best Affordable Local Ceramics Artists” feature a few months ago. We’ve been following along with Yuko’s daily painting practice and caught up with her to learn more.
How did your career as an artist begin?
While working for interior design studios and designing furniture and lighting pieces for a home furnishing company for about a decade, I explored different materials like glass, wood and metal. I then rented a shelf in a communal ceramic studio to play with clay next. I opened my own ceramic studio and gradually started putting in more time for making my own work while still working full-time. I finally decided to allocate all my time for my own work and took a sabbatical year in 2017. The following year, I did not return to my day job and continued working in my studio. My projects have evolved from functional ceramic tableware in the first years, to now, sculptures, lighting and installations. This year, in addition to ceramics, I am also working with paints, paper clay and wire.
What's your favorite part about the New York creative community?
I meet people with diverse creative backgrounds who are generous in sharing their thoughts and experiences and are open to learning new things from others. Before the virus I organized a monthly gathering in my studio inviting people to share their creative projects. I enjoyed making friends and hearing about what they were working on and passionate about in a casual and fun environment. They are dancers, poets, chefs, neuroscientists, curators, game designers, painters, glass artists, ceramicists, photographers, an ikebana artist, a lady who is passionate about tea, another lady who is passionate about coffee, another about packaging materials etc. We were in our fourth year hosting these events when the pandemic started. When it becomes safe to gather I would like to plan events like that again.
Can you talk about your recent daily painting practice?
On my first day of quarantine I started a painting project called My Worker Is Working from Home and She Is a Painter, where I would make one painting a day. The night before my quarantine I had made a list of things I wished to do if I had more time. I picked painting. I used watercolor, acrylics and ink and posted everyday on my Instagram account and on my website for sale. Now I’m taking a break after completing a hundred paintings and plan on starting another painting project this fall. I enjoy the sense of excitement and freedom painting gives me that is quite different from working in ceramics.
Follow along:
www.yukonishikawa.com
@yuko_nishikawa on Instagram
PALETTE
Bodega Flowers, Brooklyn, NY
