As a daily feature, I am selecting one handmade image from the Captain Art Walk timeline to feature as my image of the day. I was arrested by this image by Krystal Gardner because it represents a quantum leap in her progression as a visual artist. Gardner first came to my attention as a musician first and a visual artist second. She plays covers and she transforms them into rich and strange renditions, working with the freedom of the mixmaster or electronica composer. I have written more than once that her rendition of "Moves Like Jagger" hooks me every performance. Thus, her strength lies in experimentation and even appropriation of cultural objects. It is my hope she continues transforming pop music and attends John Lamb's Singer Songwriter workshops in Harbor Springs, November. We see her bold experimentation in her portrait of two women, taken from an actual paragraph. With pleasure I have followed her process photographs, documenting as great artists must. We see an emergence of, for lack of a better word, sigils, and I wonder if she's fallen under influence of Frieda Kahlo. I have always watched with excitement as aestheticians and makeup artists have progressed into fine arts because the education and sensibility transitions quite well. Amy Armstrong, the painter whose career has prospered after connecting with talented artists who have coached and nurtured her, stands as another favourite example of "hair stylist" as artistic force. I am wondering if Aveda has picked up this trend? As for Gardner, it is my hope she rides this newly discovered potential and takes her easel into the great West Michigan outdoors.
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