Established in January 2020, Sub Rosa began as a digital journal dedicated to highlighting points of inspiration—a reflection of the systematic groundwork behind one’s practice. Within these pages, you’ll find the people, objects, moments, locations, and histories that have motivated me.
All views are my own.
Chronicles | Midyear 2022
My intent for Sub Rosa is to provide access to curated information centered on art and activism. Valuing my time as an artist, I’ve been thinking of a way to offer readers the choice to pay for my chronicles. Below is an option to support my project for as little as $1 one time or however you’re comfortable.
All images by Alexandra Hulsey / embedded with source links.
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Favorites So Far
It's been a while, and I thought reconnecting via another chronicle made sense in the middle of the year. Maybe Sub Rosa is a bi-yearly thing now. Anyways, I'd like to share some of the art I've enjoyed seeing so far. Found in New Orleans Museum of Art this July, Dallas Art Fair in April, and Latino Cultural Center in May.
Some commonalities in these artworks below are that they're fantastical, colorful, shapely, entertaining, and offered me a much-needed pause.
Larry Bell, Pacific Red (VI), 2016-2017. New Orleans Museum of Art.
Gert & Uwe Tobais, I don’t Want Love, 2022. Cassina Projects at Dallas Art Fair.
Joan Miró, The Red Disk, 1960. New Orleans Museum of Art
Stefanie Popp, Obelism (Skilos), 2020. Keijsers Koning at Dallas Art Fair.
Michael Henry Hayden, Internal Clock, 2020. Moskowitz Bayse at Dallas Art Fair.
Vladimir Waone, Melody of Unkown Moments, 2021. Sapar Contemporary at Dallas Art Fair.
Areum Yang, Until I Find My Home, 2022. Derek Eller Gallery at Dallas Art Fair.
Carol Bove, Mood, 2017. New Orleans Museum of Art.
Kapoor, Anish, Untitled, 1997. New Orleans Museum of Art.
Elizabeth Osborne, Zinnias With Chair, 2017. Barry Campbell Gallery at Dallas Art Fair.
Raymond Yeboah, New Beginnings. Latino Cultural Center, Dallas, TX.
Fabian Treiber, This Place, 2022. Anat Ebgi Gallery at Dallas Art Fair.
100 W Corsicana
Located in Downtown Corsicana, 100 W Corsicana serves as a prestigious creative residency for rigorously working artists from visual to literary. I visited for the first time in May for 100W x 10YRS, a celebration of the conception of 100 W Corsicana. The building and its surroundings are hauntingly beautiful. It inspired me to continue a project I explored in college, where you ink up a portion of a textured surface, place paper on top, and press into it to make a monoprint.
The application for 2023 residencies closed on September 1st, and I’m eager to see the next cycle of artists.
100 W Corsicana
Downtown Corsicana
Downtown Corsicana
STOREFRONT
100 W Corsicana
100 W Corsicana
100 W Corsicana
100 W Corsicana
The residency also has a bookstore called STOREFRONT, where you’ll find literature and artwork by resident participants. I picked up Tatiana Ryckman’s I Don’t Think of You (Until I Do) and, more recently, Seven Samurai Swept Away in a River by Jung Young Moon.
Corsicana reminded me how much I appreciate old buildings and old things, which in a way brings me to our road trip to New Orleans.
New Orleans
I've been to NOLA a lot, in fact, twice this year already, but I visited the New Orleans Museum of Art for the first time in July. It's relatively small, and its curation is one of my favorites I've ever seen! The vibrant modern art galleries displayed household named heartthrobs from Warhol, Modigliani, Kasner, and Miró with many others to have a unique conversation I felt like I was a part of. At the same time, the contemporary gallery focused on new acquisitions of work by BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and female-identifying artists, which was badass in concept and execution. Outside was a massive sculpture garden that placed artwork complementary to the native swampy environment that felt otherworldly.
New Orleans has a lot of dualities to note, like placement/displacement, authenticity/facade, beauty/dismay, and stillness/chaos. I'm glad to have reflected on these this January and July, which felt especially meaningful in the context of 2022, if that makes sense. Some things feel new, some old, and there’s some new/old feelings, plus everything in between.
L O C A L
Dallas Artist Resources
Texas froze again in February, flooding circulated through the city in August, and temperatures reached as high as 109°F. throughout the summer, while the Dallas Climate Action seems over-ambitious for a city with 62 desert infrastructures.
One of the most significant ways individuals can make a change is to stop or cut down on meat and dairy in whatever way they can—also, taking agency on your own money. Consider alternative options for how much plastic accompanies what you're buying, what excess looks like for you, donating instead of throwing away, and research if the companies you shop at show actions against their role in climate change.
M U S I C
Something to listen to post-storm
Chronicles | April 2021
Remoteness leads to freedom and vastness lends introspection, placemaking in South Dallas, earth every day, Joan Miro, and Joan Mitchell.
A R T
New Mexico’s Influence on Artists
I found the article, Why So Many Artists Have Been Drawn to New Mexico, just in time for my road trip. According to the artists who found purpose there, remoteness leads to freedom, and vastness lends introspection. I’m looking forward to what the landscape presents me.
L O C A L
Placemaking in South Dallas
The Better Block Foundation organized the MLK pop-up food park in South Dallas from April 9th - May 2nd, located in the Forest District. The event was an exploration of ways to activate the neighborhood with resources for the community and city. I was pleased to read that community members were involved in making decisions on what the project entails, resulting in the food park occupied by South Dallas entrepreneurs. Perhaps this is a way to sustain communities instead of gentrifying them. The Better Block Foundation is a Dallas-based non-profit that describes its ethos as placemaking, a public planning approach coined in the sixties that focuses on highlighting and fostering assists of a neighborhood.
I’m looking forward to the evolution of South Dallas if done correctly. As such, I’m excited to follow the reclaiming of The Forest Theater. On a drive a couple of years ago, I stopped and read some of the text written in chalk on the theater’s exterior, not fully understanding what it was. It turned out to be an open invitation for neighbors of the theater to express their desires for its revived purpose.
More about The Forest Theater’s History here.
M O R E
Earth Day
It’s not something to celebrate once every year. The intentions of Earth Day require life style changes and the date is just a time to highlight resources. This is a reminder to ask yourself, when and if you’re doing the work. There’s a massive archive on the education resource library of earthday.org. Here are some of my favorite simple ways to make an impact on a individual level; plant pollinator friendly plants, keep your garden chemical free, invest in reusable materials and sustainable clothes.
P E O P L E
Joan Mirό
Joan Mirό Maquette pour la page 52 de À toute épreuve de Paul Éluard, en vue de la publication aux Éditions Gérald Cramer 1949 33,1 x 25 cm Fundació Joan Mirό, Barcelone. Image Source: Foundation Jan Michalski
Mirό was my first favorite artist because of his work’s vibrancy and symbolism. He was born on April 20th, 1893. His family was Spanish goldsmiths which, makes sense when noticing the mechanical aspects of his work. He eventually situated himself within the realm of automatism, a surrealist process of accessing the subconscious to make art. Often sourcing from the repressed parts of one’s mind, Mirό used art to confront viewers with a representation of transcendence in times of turmoil. It feels particularly relevant to celebrate his work these days.
Joan Mitchell
This month I came across opportunities listed on the Joan Mitchell Foundation. If you’re also an artist, there are a lot of great resources to save on the site. Mitchell was born in Chicago on February 12th, 1925, and quickly established herself as a leading young Abstract Expressionist painter. In her biography, she's quoted stating, "I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me—and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed. I could certainly never mirror nature. I would like more to paint what it leaves me with."
One of the Artist Programs include the Professional Development and Resources for Artists. This section is filled with helpful documents for artists in all stages of their careers. The Time Management for Creatives article is a good content example.
My intent for Sub Rosa is to provide access to curated information centered on art and activism. Valuing my time as an artist, I’ve been thinking of a way to offer readers the choice to pay for my chronicles. Below is an option to support my project for as little as $1 one time or however you’re comfortable.
Images by Alexandra Hulsey unless credited otherwise
Chronicles | April 2020
Access the documentary Beyond the Visible Hima af Klint, learn about the unveiling of a 15-year-old Dallas Mural, and more.
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Time Traveler Hilma af Klint
Serendipity led me to attend the Guggenheim's exhibition Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future last year. Klint's abilities left me in awe to the extent that it felt indescribable to those who didn’t get to see in person. Luckily, a Hilma af Klint documentary came out this month. It’s not on big-name screening services but, I found a list of theaters from Zeitgeist Films that were intending on screening Beyond the Visible - Hilma af Klint, and for now, offer online showings. I chose to purchase my ticket from Cinema 21, a small theater located in Portland, OR. You can stream it here. The documentary is directed by Halina Dyrschka and shines a light on the concepts behind Klint’s work and her life trajectory while confronting the male-dominated art world.
L O C A L
Remember This?
Lately, I’ve been driving through the city, taking in the scenery I’ve grown accustomed to overlooking. This month, Robert Wyland’s mural Whaling Wall was unveiled after being covered by large scale advertisements sense 2005. I found it funny that although the last time I saw the artwork was 15 years ago, it was engaged in my mind so well, that I didn’t notice it was ever gone. I encourage those who are able, to take a look. Read PaperCity’s reporting on Whaling Wall for further information on the mural’s history.
M U S I C
Aries Energy
Aries are known for their radical ideas and call to action. I’ve always felt it was special that Al Green and Marvin Gaye were Aries because their music ignites such energy and intent. This month Bill Whether passed away and rightfully so, he finds himself on my roster of influential Aries too. I thought about who else can be added and created a playlist.
Although Thundercat had to cancel his tour, that didn’t stop the release of his newest album It Is What It Is. James Lawson’s album review from Stereoboard describes Thundercat’s intent more sufficiently than I can, as music reviews are not my forte. Lawson writes; “Throughout, the LP is punctuated by unexpected bursts of humour. It soon becomes clear that rather than investigating grief in isolation, Bruner has written about living with grief as an omnipresent but secondary character. This is achieved with a level of candor that manages to take the Thundercat alter ego, as over-the-top and cartoonish as it is, and portray it delicately, honestly and believably”. Thundercat’s music exists in various realms but, if I had to narrow it down for those unfamiliar, I’d define his work as funk, soul, jazz, and electronic-influenced.
After seven years, The Strokes released their most recent album The New Abnormal. This comes at an opportune moment. I’ve been reminiscing on the last time I felt unrestrained with what I do, it was in middle school when I was obsessively teaching myself how to play songs from Is This It, Room on Fire, and First Impressions Of Earth.
P L A C E S
New York & New Orleans
A year ago I spent the first week of April in New Orleans and the last two weeks of April in New York City for work, it was my first time there. I’ve always loved New Orleans and although it took time and reflection to admit it, I love New York too. These cities have been affected by so much throughout history and now COVID-19 takes its jab. I look on at these images I took fondly in the hopes to revisit one day.
Carmo will be my first stop in New Orleans, the restaurant that fed me so well, and offered sweet hospitality after a long mishap filled road trip. Somehow, I’m eager to go on another time-warped, 17-mile walk, through Manhattan and Brooklyn to find solace in dollar slices and Italian restaurants like Fiore at the end of my day.