Proof of Purchase

I'm pleased to be participating in Proof of Purchase, a show to benefit the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. You can purchase "Above and Below," one of my pieces from the Pages series (above).

How could I resist a show of postcards?

Hunt through hundreds of original works by artists and Boston personalities, each for sale at the bargain price of $50. The twist? You don't know the identity of the artist until you make the purchase. With all the art priced ($50) and sized (4x6 inches) the same, the piece you fall in love with might be by a current student or by a famous artist. 
 
Proof of Purchase: 
A School of the Museum of Fine Arts Benefit 
@ Samsøn Gallery

Thursday, May 3 (7–8:30 pm)
Friday, May 4 (11 am–6 pm)
Saturday, May 5 (11 am–6 pm)
Sunday, May 6 (12–5 pm)  

450 Harrison Avenue &/@ 29 Thayer Street, Boston, MA 02118

To the bone

 

The Defeated

Beyond surprise, my ribs start up from the ground.

After I had sunk, the waters went down.

The horizon I was making for runs through my eyes.

It has woven its simple nest among my bones.

{W.S. Merwin, from The Moving Target, Atheneum 1963}

:::::::::

I became enamored with W.S. Merwin when I found a poem of his on the London Underground a couple of years ago. I admired the brevity and haunting confidence of his verse. His work is direct, but it lingers with you. That is how The Defeated remained with me, and Separation before it.

Simple Nest
ink on vintage end-page with handstitching
4.25 x 5"

copyright Kate Castelli 2010

Assume

Assume that This has always been
sumi ink wash on vintage paper with hand-stitching
8.75 x 6.625"

copyright Kate Castelli 2010

Luna

Luna 424
accordion structure with hardcovers
sumi ink, and ephemera with hand-stitching
6.5 x 19" opened

This book came together rather unexpectedly. I was enamored with the color of the old letter and the rest of the pieces quite literally fell into place. Why is the moon so fascinating?





The exquisite handwriting and blue grey paper belong to the outer envelope of a letter from March of 1861. It was postmarked in Florence and arrived in Bordeaux 5 days later. I happened upon the letter at the stamp market in Paris. For a few Euro I bought a packet of 20 letters from France and Italy spanning from the early 1820-1860s. I was elated with the find. Ephemeral indeed. They seem almost too beautiful to use.






Luna 424 opened (top) and detail of the cover (below).



copyright Kate Castelli 2010

No longer there

Two chairs that are no longer there.

Iteration No. 9
ink on vintage end-page
3.75 x 7"

copyright Kate Castelli 2010

Ghost

Using Poussiere de Lune (moon dust) colored ink from J.Herbin of Paris. A delightfully imaginative name for purple.

Ghost
ink on vintage end-page
5.75 x 8.125"

copyright Kate Castelli 2010

Shortest day of the year.

I can see you.

I can See You
watercolor, block-printing, and photocopy on graph paper
5.125 x 8.25"
copyright Kate Castelli 2009

10,000

I can't sleep.


Tall Chair (Greene and Greene)
block printing on graph paper with hand-stitching
6 x 9.25

My submission for the 10,000 People Project @ Art House Gallery

copyright Kate Castelli 2009

Junko Revival

Glovebox goes Green with Junko Revival...

Unheard of

Orecchio
hand-stitching on vintage Japanese book cover
5.25 x 7"


copyright Kate Castelli 2009

Perhaps

As a diptych?

They weren't intentionally a pair. They were actually created in tangent. But they have been sitting next to each other on my work table and it seems natural.

I'm conscious of the fact that my work has been focusing on anatomy, specifically bones. I am intrigued by the structural forms of the skeleton. And I have always been drawn to fragments and pieces rather than the whole. I tend to break things down in my mind when I look at them. I find the pieces more interesting. More elemental.

Vanitas

Agatha (I)
photocopy on graph paper (of brush and ink original) with ephemera
8 x 10"

copyright Kate Castelli 2009

Agatha Christie

Agatha (Inside)
gouache and ephemera with hand-stitching
6.5 x 7"

copyright Kate Castelli 2009

This side up

Alto
hand-stitching and ephemera.
4.375 x 6.75"


copyright K.Castelli 2009

Pelvis

(Untitled)
hand-stitching and ephemera.
4.25 x 6.25"

copyright Kate Castelli 2009

Blue

The Shape of Things (Blue)
silkscreen and monotype on vintage paper with hand-stitching
4.75 x 6.5"

copyright Kate Castelli 2009

Birthday

Concerning Time-keepers
monotype and vintage paper with hand-stitching
(sketchbook page)
4 x 7"

copyright Kate Castelli 2009

Some old friends

Revisiting chairs on a rainy night.

Elektra Records

Elektra Records (Asylum)
Polaroid transfer and rice paper on vintage 45 record sleeve with hand-stitching.
7.25 x 7.25"

copyright Kate Castelli 2009

Escape

Polaroid transfer on graph paper, 3 x 3.75"