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When I first met Cynthia von Buhler, I was topless and covered in white paint. As a cash strapped nineteen-year-old, I stumbled upon her ad on Craigslist hunting for human statues, and soon I was posing as Pauline Borghese at the most debauched absinthe ball of my life. In many ways, Cynthia von Buhler could be credited as setting me down the road of Professional Naked.

Raven haired von Buhler has had a career so broad, and glamorous, as to defy description. While von Buhler is best known as an award winning fine artist and illustrator, she has also danced in music videos as Bettie Page, ran experimental record labels, run galleries, and sold pieces of herself (literally) in a fine art vending machine that has toured the globe. Most recently, she’s been hard at work doing the art for Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley’s “Evelyn Evelyn” book project, as well as focusing on her own children’s book series “Who Will Bell the Cats?”

Von Buhler was kind enough to share insights on technique, career diversity, and how she came to live in a castle.

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Titmouse Inc., The animation studio behind the [adult swim] hit series “Metalocalypse,” T-Pain’s “Freaknik: The Musical,” “Black Panther” and a slew of other cartoons, has assembled a team of weirdo artist types to create a 100-page anthology of art, comics, and interviews for a truly unique and innovative brand of media call a “book.”

The quarterly hardcover publication printed on fancy paper and in full color features comic strips, paintings, and interviews from some of the art world’s most interesting individuals.  “Metalocalypse” and “Venture Brothers” director Jon Schnepp; cartoonist and painter Dave Cooper; “Metalocalpyse” co-creator Tommy Blacha; comic book artist Dave Johnson; Emmy Award winning character designer Andy Suriano, and a homeless dude from Hollywood are just a few of the 17 artists featured in this first issue.  Drawing inspiration from past publications such as Mad Magazine and Heavy Metal, Titmouse Vol. 1 is like a Ralph Bakshi film on paper.  Fancy paper.

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On June 26th, girlthings and art monkeys were let lose over Amsterdam.  They climbed trees, jumped from buildings.  The little bastards even bit.

Unleashing evil art imps was my part in the Urban Art Festival.  Produced by the sprawling American Book Center and sponsored by Red Bull, the UAF is a celebration of craft, street, DIY and underground art.  Creators gathered from as far afield as Greece and the US to transform the Spui into a guerilla art playground.  The Ladies Fancywork Society crocheted elaborate cozies for bikes.  Autobahn carved tweets in stone.  The stunning Lotta from Utrecht rocked a pirate hat at a free, sun-drenched Dr. Sketchy’s.

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Imagine a city after it snows.  Imagine the white blanket softening all the sharp edges, hiding the filth.  Now, imagine that blanket is real.

This is something of what yarn bombing strives to do.  Yarn bombers do knitting as street art- creating cozies for chain link fence – throwing lace and flowers over the harsh contours of urban life.  Yarn bombers mix the illegal daring of graffiti writers with a traditionally female craft-form, making something both joyous and subversive.

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It’s always a little sad when good things come to an end, even when that end signals new beginnings.

Last weekend, Salt Lake City’s Dark Arts Festival celebrated a decade of operation with its final installment, the three-day Alumni Festival that featured performers who’ve appeared at the event over the past ten years. Clint Catalyst, a good friend and man of many hats, hosted the DAF back in 2002 and was invited to join the party. He recruited goth-rock veteran Paris Sadonis [Premature Ejaculation, EXP, etc.] and me along for the ride. We cooked up a very special, butoh-inspired performance piece, piled into Clint’s hatchback, and set out for the land of goths and mormons to help The Dark Arts festival commemorate ten years of all things dark and arty.

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