This is a very special, and exciting exhibition for Kalamazoo. I hope you are able to see it.
Kalamazoo folks, I’m finally doing it! I am opening my doors to the public! Come visit and see what I have been up to! Bonus, I live down the street from Texas Corners and it is opening day of the Farmers Market. Sign up for my newsletter for a reminder and more info about the day!
“Alexa Karabin doesn’t buy tubes of paint at the art store for her unique paintings. She makes her own pigments – and not out of the usual materials...”
Photo By Jordan Green
I had so much fun at Kalamazoo’s Art Hop on April 2nd, 2021! The first in-person event in over a year! I cannot believe it. I felt the Arts Council of Kalamazoo did a wonderful job, safely introducing us back to the world! I want to thank them for their kindness, and for thinking of me to be included in the show. It feels good to be back!
I had a really hard time getting it together this year! But this is what is happening in the shop. Starting with a small Moon and Firefly release (TOMORROW) November 21st at 7:00. Anything that’s left will be 15% off next week during the Black Friday madness. And then I will FINALLY have a print release for the Deer and the Nest on December 4th!!
Erica and I have joined forces to do a Giveaway on Instagram and Facebook. Check out my page and look for this image to see the instructions in how to join!
I feel so incredibly honored to introduce you to my apprentice, Erica Bradshaw! Erica is an illustrator, a watercolorist and mixed-media artist, a nature lover, and so much more. She wrote and illustrated a children’s book about our relationship with the environment called Their Home, Our Landfill. She is a beautiful painter and truly makes thoughtful work. I highly suggest you follow her journey, she is going to do great things!
Erica and I will be collaborating on several projects throughout the next year. I am teaching her to make paint, frame artwork, mixed-media technique, and various print processes like screenprinting, making cyanotypes, and digital printing. We spend time discussing concepts, techniques, and exhibition strategies. I am so excited to see the work she makes throughout the year! Read Erica’s Artist Statement
I had hoped she would travel around to exhibitions, but now I can only hope she finds a home where she can be enjoyed and reflected upon. Read about the Deer…
The Deer/ Original Painting on Wood Panel
$5,000.00
Now that my large originals are home, I am able to drop the price a bit! When they are in a gallery I have to share between 40%-60% with the gallery! I spent 3 months making this piece and several months before that conceiving and planning for it! It is made with a LOT of 24k gold and a variety of other materials. Read the story about the Deer, below!
I so believe in omens, whatever name you want to give them. For me, they usually involve animals. And sometimes they come at me in quite dramatic ways, unfortunately. This one happened when I was standing outside my studio in the spring taking a smoke break and enjoying the sun, when a gunshot came out of nowhere. I live in what I would call residential-country. I have an acre and 1/2 of land. There are houses all around and my kids play outside (they were at grandma’s at the time). A police officer then rolls up my driveway to inform me he had just shot and deer on my property. I was taken aback and still in shock. He caught me smoking pot, something that had just become legal in Michigan. So, let’s just put it this way—I didn’t ask questions. The officer left without saying more, and I was left with a body ( I assume the deer had been hit by a car first). I knew I was meant to watch over this deer. This piece was inspired by what I saw over the next few months. I collected fur when that was all that was left, and a few days later an old oak tree fell on where the body was. When I made this piece, I mostly thought about how humans interact with nature. How we impact it with our actions. And how the cycle still wants to happen, even though our impact created a ripple. How fragile nature is. How beautiful and perfect it is. How broken we are.
The deer is made out of the handmade watercolors that I make out of my grandmother’s antique jewelry. It has embedded crystals, moonstones, beads, glass, and a lot of 24k gold. The piece is 3 dimensional. A real cicada husk was embedded and gilded with 24k gold leaf, and the fur of the deer that inspired this piece was used in it, as well. The piece is sealed to protect the organic components. I include a non-static brush for occasional dusting (once or twice a year).
It is 30’’x30’’ on a 3 inch thick, cradled birch panel. I had a white, wood custom frame made for it. The frame is included in the price. The price also includes shipping within the United States. Please allow for a couple of weeks, because I will have to make a custom box for shipping.