Australia

I've been back from my trip to Australia for just about a week and am only now getting my head together. I think I saved up my jet lag for coming home ;) It was an amazing trip and Ed and I loved everything about it. From the warmth of our hosts (August Clown Gallery) to all the wonderful people that came out to the opening of my Foresta show to the city of Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road. It's hard to put into words what we saw so here's some of my favorite photos.

I hope you enjoy my little slide show! Thanks for looking everyone :D

4 Brand New Paintings for WonderGround Gallery!

Hi everyone!
I am headed back to WonderGround Gallery in Downtown Disney (CA) with 4 brand new paintings. I chose some of my favorite characters -- Stitch (of course!), Dumbo, Gus & Jaq and, get ready...Chewbacca!!! I couldn't be more excited for this batch of pieces. I'll be signing on September 19th from 3-5pm along with Jerrod Maruyama and John Coulter. Hope you can make it - I can't wait to see all of you.

For purchase inquiries, feel free to contact Disney Merchandise Guest Services number at 877-560-6477 on/after September 19th. Simply ask for Kristin Tercek artwork and they will happily tell you what is available. Thanks!

"Ono Hau"

"So This is Love"

"Dumbo the Great"

"Fuzzball"

New Solo "Foresta"

In a month and a half, Ed and I will be heading to Melbourne, Australia for my next solo, Foresta. We are so excited! I will be showing 14 brand new characters including, Bloob that you see above. I can't thank Leigh of Auguste Clown Gallery enough for not only showing my work for several years now, but giving me the opportunity of a larger show and thus, a reason to make the trek down under. It's been a dream of mine to go to Australia since I was little and my Dad used to travel there for business. I'm excited and nervous and we haven't been on a big trip like this for ages!

If anyone is in Melbourne, I'd love to meet you on the night of the opening, October 2nd. I spend most of my days fairly isolated in my studio, so getting to meet new people is always fun.

I also encourage anyone interested in these new paintings to email info@augusteclown.com to be put on the preview list. That way you have first dibs on the artwork :D

Many thanks for reading!

Bad Dads VI

Man, I love Wes Anderson.

And for the sixth straight year, Spoke Art is presenting their Bad Dads show and I'm thrilled to be taking part in it for the fourth straight year! They are doing a NYC pop-up event at Joseph Gross Gallery Aug 7-9 and tickets are competely sold out. Just check out the Facebook events page to see just how many people rsvp'd for this one.

I decided to go back to one of my favorite films, The Royal Tenenbaums, and pay tribute to the iconic dalmation mice and their creator. I present, "Fire Drill" and he measures 6" x 8" and is acrylic on maple. For purchase inquiries, please contact spokeartgallery@gmail.com. There will also be 30 limited edition prints available from the gallery.

"Happy Food" and LA Adventures

I'm back from another jam packed trip to the West Coast and boy am I tired! Ed and I just love it out there and always have the best time. We started with a lovely morning at the LACMA. I was especially excited to see their special exhibition, Nature and the American Vision: The Hudson River School (no photos allowed, but it was amazing and so moving in person). We were also greeted by the genius "Urban Light" by Chris Burden:

And just around through the entrance was the amazing "Levitated Mass" by Michael Heizer. So powerful in person!

By the way, all these photos are by my husband, Ed Mironiuk. He has such a better eye for framing than I do :)

At this point in the trip, the clouds thickened and the wind picked up and it seemed like we were back in Jersey. Just as we were headed to the line of food trucks for some lunch the heavens opened up and we rushed to our car to have some delicious mexican food. It seems that it always rains when we go to the coast and boy, do they need every drop they can get!

We finished up at the museum and met up with friends at a coffee shop nearby. The rain tapered off at that point and the sun even came out. It turned into another beautiful day in Los Angeles.

Later on, we stopped by Gallery 1988 to see my show all hung. It's always such a thrill to see months of work filling up a room as I'm usually worried that it won't fill a closet. The great folks over there always do such a wonderful job, I can't thank them enough for all that they do.

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The morning of the show, we woke up to some more rain and wind. Not a problem! Ed and I wanted to venture out to the ocean, grabbing a sushi burrito from the Jogasaki food truck. We took it over to the beach and once again, the clouds parted and the sun came out. It turned into another perfect California day overlooking the Santa Monica Pier.

We jumped into our car and headed up the PCH, passing all the surfers and beautiful homes along the coast. Then a trip through Malibu Canyon, to head to the Hollywood Hills to try and find the iconic Chemosphere House. Built in 1960 by John Lautner it's an amazing structure.

Now, I must admit, I'm not a fan of driving through the hills. The twisting turns and tiny road (with two way traffic) makes my stomach turn. But the views and the homes more than make up for it! Our gps said that we had arrived at the address but alas, no Chemosphere. We drove a bit further to the end of the street and turned around to head back to the hotel. Then we looked up...

Success!! So gosh darn cool!

Back to the hotel to try and relax for an hour or so before dinner with friends at MudHen Tavern.

It was such a great meal of little tapas style plates. Definitely recommended if you're in the Melrose/Highland area of LA.

Dun dun dun!! The big opening. Jitters, sweating a bit and wondering if anyone would show up. From the moment we walked in around 7:30 till 10pm the gallery was just about full. I met so many wonderful people (a couple from Australia even!), old friends and new, I was overwhelmed by the kind words and smiles. I'm getting choked up a bit just thinking about it again. Thank you so very much. And darn it - we totally forgot/didn't even have a chance to take any photos! You can see the whole show online at Gallery 1988. We ended the evening at the iconic Pink's around the corner for a hot dog.

The next day we spent with one of our favorite people, walking around Los Angeles which we had never done before. We went to the Bradbury Building (think "Blade Runner"):

Past some really spectacular buildings like the Grand Central Square Apartments:

Look at the fascade! Never saw cow skulls with horns on a building before.

Had some lunch at the Grand Central Market which has been there since 1917! We even went to the Los Angeles Public Library and saw the most amazing lobby:

Surrounded by murals depicting the history of California it was truly breathtaking.

Whew! Back in the car and then off to the airport for our red eye to NJ.

I hope that you enjoyed my tale as much as we enjoyed experiencing it. Coming back home is lovely, but it doesn't beat the excitement and love of friends + art + architecture.

Thank you.

-Kris



Going Down Under

I can't believe it, but Ed and I are going to Australia! The great folks at Auguste Clown Gallery have invited me to do a larger solo with them October 2nd and we decided to go for the opening! It's quite the trip and believe me, not an easy decision due to the cost of getting there (not only money-wise, but physically and emotionally as well - 24 hrs in an airplane is a LONG TIME), but the pluses far outweighed the minuses. We will be in the Melbourne area for a week and hope to get a good overview of the city as well as a day trip or two outside (Great Ocean Road, anyone?). If anyone has any tips or hints or must-see places or might even want to meet up for a coffee let me know!

I'm not set on a theme just yet, but have started sketching and having fun coming up with some new characters. So stay tuned and I hope to see some of you in October!

WonderGround Gallery Signing Event!

I am so happy to be heading back to WonderGround Gallery this Saturday to sign prints for three brand new pieces! I was asked to created paintings based on Chip and Dale (wonderful), angry Donald Duck (brilliant) and of course, what's becoming my go-to character of choice, Stitch (yayyyy!).

The most difficult part of creating these is coming up with a fresh, yet familiar situation for these iconic characters. As usual, this began by brainstorming with Ed for a few days, throwing ideas at each other in hopes that it will spark something fun. I also started to think of all the fun trips we used to take to Walt Disney World in Orlando and our favorite resorts there.

Then it hit me! Why not base each painting on a resort we've stayed at over the years? Brilliant!

So I started at The Wilderness Lodge for Chip and Dale and thought about the amazing breakfasts we used to eat before heading into the parks. Thus, "Chip and Dale's Balanced Breakfast" was born.

Then I moved onto Disney's Boardwalk Inn and how lovely it was to walk along the boardwalk during midday, listening to the waves lapping against the shoreline and the toot toot from the boats heading into Epcot. Then I imagined how Donald Duck would react to a walk along the beach and who he might encounter. Thus, "Crabby Donald" was born.

And last, but not least, was the Polynesian. Heading back home to this resort after a 'tough' day at the parks was always so comforting. Warm, tropical breezes, the soft strumming of a ukelele and a cozy bed to rest your head on. "Stitch Serenade" was born.

I will be signing alongside Joey Chou, Brian Crosby, Eunjung June Kim and Lyla Warren

from 11am till 1pm on November 15th at WonderGround Gallery, Downtown Disney® District, Ananheim, CA. For more information you can click here.

For purchase inquiries, feel free to contact Disney Merchandise Guest Services number at 877-560-6477 on/after November 15th.

I'm a Monster!

***Update: the original is available for purchase online at Hero Complex as well as limited edition prints. Proceeds go to benefit Grateful Arts***

I am happy to announce that I will have a painting in Pop 2 Action presented by Gratitude Collaborative and Hero Complex Gallery opening November 7 and running through November 9th (yes! that's one weekend only). The show is a collection of artwork inspired by pop culture (with a somewhat hidden reference to 'grateful') to help support Grateful Arts. For more information please visit Gratitude Collaborative.

For my painting I wanted to do something related to Arrested Development as it's given me so much joy over the years. After wracking my brain for an idea, I woke up one night and the phrase, "I'm a Monster" was going through my head. Anyone familiar with the show will know that was Buster's key phrase after losing his hand to a seal with a bowtie. He was also a big fan of grape juice :)

I really hope that you all love this square, fuzzy monster shape because I had such a fun time doing Buster, I decided to use it for a bunch of other upcoming shows. I'll post about those very shortly.

I also hope that you all take a moment to reflect on what makes you grateful. It could be anything from your family to the gal that made your coffee this morning and gave you a smile. It doesn't have to be much - just as long as we all remember that there's always something to be grateful for, no matter how small or insignificant we think it may be. Like painting silly monsters with big smiles.

 

Bad Dads V at Spoke Art

I am so happy to once again be participating in Spoke Art's latest Wes Anderson inspired show, Bad Dads V. This year, like many others, I'm sure, I was thoroughly inspired by his latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel. More specifically, that lovely Courtesan au Chocolat. I present, "Serve Fresh."

She is acrylic on maple and measures 9.75" x 9.75". For purchase inquiries, please contact spokeartgallery@gmail.com. There will also be 30 limited edition prints available from the gallery.

The show has a two day opening with a costume party on Friday, October 31st and then continuing again on Saturday, November 1st. To find out more you can visit their event page on facebook here.