\u201cIf at first you don\u2019t succeed, failure may be your style.\u201d<\/p>\n
-Quentin Crisp,\u00a0The Naked Civil Servant<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n I mean, failure is really a big part of life, don\u2019t you think? We celebrate our successes, in part because they are inherently joyful and worth celebrating, but also, when we are really honest, do we not celebrate them because they are rare relative to their more negative kin? Maybe we don\u2019t fail on a daily basis, at least not in the big ways, but life is full to the brim with setbacks, large and small. And you know what? That\u2019s OK.\u00a0<\/em>If you\u2019ve heard it once, you\u2019ve heard it 1,000 times (more!). Failure is how we learn and grow. Nothing is gained from a life lived free of friction. Nothing.<\/p>\n Sara Garden Armstrong<\/a> chatted with us about her show,\u00a0Layered Scapes<\/em><\/a>, which ran from February 11 to March 11 as the final exhibition of the ONWARD\u00a0<\/em>series presented by Steffany Martz. One thing to note about the works is that they are not exactly paintings. Armstrong uses banana fiber and acrylic, staining and pouring on the fibers, letting them dry \u2013 which yields different colors every time, peeling off some and putting fibers back in. She achieves what she refers to as \u201cghost layers\u201d to create each work. To hear more, listen to the complete interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kathy Osborn<\/a> spoke to us about\u00a0Posturing<\/em><\/a>, her recent two-person show at Susan Eley Fine Art which exhibited her works on paper mounted on board. For the work, she takes about 75 to 100 photos of a set-up doll house and selects one as the reference for the painting. The scenes then depict the interior of the dollhouse with usually a few \u201cpeople\u201d standing a little bit apart (showing that they aren\u2019t getting along) while out the window are scenes that are difficult to make out. To learn more about this interesting practice, listen to the complete interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n A few words to keep in your pocket<\/p>\n Go on, fail.<\/p>\n Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android, please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Books to Read<\/p>\n What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here<\/a>. When we spoke to Kathy Osborn, she had just started\u00a0Made in America<\/em><\/a> by Bill Bryson.<\/p>\n Deadlines:<\/p>\n In their own words: \u201cThe Hopper Prize<\/a> is a grant-making institution and digital archiving platform offering a series of individual artist grants on a bi-annual basis totaling $22,000.00 USD.<\/em> For more information and to apply, visit the website<\/a>. International deadline is\u00a0May 16<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\nWe provide unrestricted cash grants in the amount of $3,500 and $1,000 to artists around the globe.<\/span><\/em>\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n