RENDERED Art Medley 4
SPRING 2025
Welcome back to the Art Medley, featuring brand-new artwork and news from the studio. A new RENDERED essay is coming shortly! Now, let me take you on a visual tour of what I’ve been up to over these last weeks.
Spring 2025 Sketchbook
I went back to the US for a sabbatical, and took along a handmade notebook as usual. I made this one using an old potato chip bag, upcycled into a deluxe art journal. (Teaching myself how to hand-bind my own artist notebooks has saved me lots of money in the long run… not to mention, I can make books that are any size/shape I desire, with better quality paper than you generally find in mass-produced art notebooks.)
Check out my Youtube short video with a sketchbook walkthrough:
“Art Alimentaire”
(May 16 - July 18, 2025)
My first solo exposition “Art Alimentaire” is currently ongoing! Select work of mine is on display at the Epicerie de Saint-Sÿ, in the town of Saint-Sigismond, a small commune near Ingrandes-sur-Loire, in the Loire Valley.
Why this space? It’s a local boutique run by an association: 4 couples of neighbors went from grocery sharing during Covid, to creating a nonprofit association to bring the best of local food and wine to the inhabitants of their village. The shop opens twice a week, offering products at the same price as customers would pay directly on the farm: bread, eggs/dairy, produce, flour… and local art! 1 of those couples are my friends, C and A, who invited me to bring my art to the shop. Any sales contribute a modest percentage to the association.
French rural communities like Saint-Sigismond often quietly suffer from social exclusion and inequality, isolation, neglected infrastructure, and so on. This is the France that the average tourist doesn’t get to see, where the local food and wine come from.
Places like this épicerie foster community and solidarity, which is exactly the kind of mission I want to be part of. Thus, it’s a pleasure to collaborate with them!
Fresh Fries 10-Year Anniversary Concert
The same friends mentioned above, C and A, hosted a concert on their property to celebrate 10 years of Fresh Fries: an electro/rock band whose 6 members include my husband and our friends. I was invited to show some work, and I chose textile art this time around! Hand-printed and sewn bunting, fabric potatoes, cyanotypes and tie-dyed art added an appreciated ambiance to the fête. On display were the following pieces, all brand-new!
“All I See is Garlic”
Upon a baby-blue tea towel, I applied a tie-dye effect with garishly fluorescent inks.
I wanted a fun, eye-twisting visual that was all about a noble, ubiquitous ingredient. In addition to my pre-existing linoleum design “Garlicflower,” I created a tiny garlic clove linoleum carving to add interest in-between: I call the design “Clovepetal.” Completing this piece reminded me how much I enjoy textile art, and gave me ideas on pieces to come…
Textile Cyanotype series (As of yet untitled)
I bought fabric from the now-defunct Jo-Ann Fabrics, and created a set of 4 cyanotypes while on my sabbatical back home in the US. Using plants from my mother’s garden, and keys from my late grandmother, I created these compositions as meditations on maternal legacy, grief, impermanence, venerating memory… I plan on adding to these cyanotypes, so I consider them partially-done for now.
Bunting: Buen Provecho, Clovepetal
Upcoming Publication: The Rebis Magazine
For those of you who didn’t know: in addition to food history and art, reading tarot is another interest of mine. Here is a previous linoprint, “The Moon,” the first of my tarot-inspired Larisanjou creations:
I was commissioned by The Rebis, a tarot magazine, to create an illustration for their next issue, “The Devil.” My contribution is provocative, sensual, and playful: a twist on the usual imagery associated with The Devil card. The release date will be later this year… follow The Rebis on Instagram or Substack to be notified when it comes out!
That’s all for Spring 2025! It’s been eventful, and I can’t wait to share more about my upcoming summer/fall 2025; I’ve got some exciting stuff cooking up!
Thanks for reading, and for following along with my art. If you dig what I do, share it and let people know! I am also available for commission, be it visual art/illustration, bookbinding, or textile art!
Check out my previous Art Medleys here: #1 (Spring ‘24), #2 (Summer ‘24), #3 (Fall/Winter ‘24-25).
I’ll be back soon with the next RENDERED essay. Until then, be good and take care.