Podcast: Talking With Amy Ng, Founder of Pikaland

The SMART opening has come and gone, but the work is still in the gallery until June 7th! This week we talk to the curator Amy Ng, founder of Pikaland. Amy was nice enough to deal with the 13 hour time difference between Minneapolis and Singapore and chat with us about the show, her practice, and her thoughts on... everything! We've been fans of Pikaland and all of Amy's adventures since way back, so it was amazing to finally put a voice to the site. Hope you enjoy!

Download the MP3 or Subscribe via iTunes!

Talking With Amy Ng, Founder of Pikaland
Length: 01:09:12
Synopsis: On this week's podcast, Lindsay talks to Amy Ng, founder of Pikaland and curator of the SMART show. Lindsay and Amy talk about Amy's background, expanding creative boundaries, teaching, new projects and more. After the interview Jenny, Chris and Lindsay discuss what was said.

Show Notes:
• Pikaland - Amy's site. All about design, illustration and life.
  
• 1000 Things to Draw - Amy's new project, which give your thousands of fun and silly things to draw.
  
• Brain Pickings - Interesting writing on... interesting things!
  
• Boing Boing - A site for tech, books, music, games and more.

Thanks once again to Amy for taking the time to talk to us and curate the amazing SMART show! If you're in the area, stop by and see it in person! If you're not, check out the online gallery or online store (in the store until June 7th)!

SMART Exhibition Artists Announced!

Cake Ramp by Brock Davis

Thanks to everyone that got a chance to submit their names for the Smart Exhibition call for art curated by Amy NG, founder of Pikaland!

We're gearing up for a month of sharp, witty, and clever artwork following next month's scientific exhibition: Macro & Micro (Official Facebook Invitation here, put it on your calendars!).

As we start to get ready for it, we'll also be reaching out to various artists (yourself included!) to talk with us about how you consider topics for your work and what you do to challenge yourself to create interesting and innovative pieces!

We're super excited to announce that ultra clever, multi-disciplinary artist, art director and creative, Brock Davis, will be joining us as our Featured Artist for the duration of the Smart Exhibition! I had the chance to meet Brock a couple years ago after stumbling upon a t-shirt design he had created for Design By Humans, and found out that he lived and worked in Minneapolis (and is a really nice guy, too). After talking with him, it was apparent that he is extremely passionate about creating work that asks us to look at the world in new, clever and inspiring ways. There was no doubt that he was my top pick for this month's feature. We're extremely excited to have him join us.

If you haven't had a chance to take a peek at some of his work, please do. His Make Something Cool Everyday project allowed a glimpse into his stream of consciousness. It's amazing to watch, on a daily basis, each new idea gave way new ideas and a more complex network of concepts, juxtapositions, compositions and statements.

He's done countless amazing pieces and participated in countless projects -- including work for the New York Times, Wired, Esquire, Fast Company and O Magazine, along with his work as a creative director at Carmichael Lynch. It's hard to give Brock full credit in couple paragraphs, so please, take a peek at his work and you'll see what I mean. He is truly a master creating work to surprise and delight.

***

Without further ado!
Here are our participating artists for the Smart Exhibition!
Opening night for the Smart show will be opening May 17 and running through June 7th.

Sally Welchman (Oswald Flump)
Joana Rosa Braganca
Sarah McNeil
Jenn Smith
Nelleke Verhoeff
Lie Dirkx
Kim Welling
Daniela Witzel
Gee Fan (Minifanfan)
Marja Ines Gul
Meera Lee Patel
Pablo Ientile
Natasha Durley
Naomi Elliott
Jess Smart Smiley
Soeun Lee
Marloes de Vries
Charlotte Mao
Teressa Ong
Marisa Seguin
Joe Lillington
Kayla Wasil
Caroline Hadilaksono
Rebekka Dunlap
Melissa Duffy
danamarie hosler
Katy Tanis
Yinfan Huang
Faye Moorhouse
Cameron Asao
Frances Alvarez
Elisabeth McNair
Marina Aizen
Richie Pope

Thanks again to everyone that submitted work and congratulations to everyone that is joining us for the Smart Exhibition! Keep an eye out for out next couple calls for art! They should be dropping within the next couple weeks!

CALL FOR ART! Smart, an exhibition of wit, ingenuity and guile

Time to show us just how clever you can be!

EDIT: Thanks again to everyone that submitted to the call for art! We've posted the final list for all of the participants here!

We have another call for art! But you'll have to be quick because we don't have a ton of time for the open call! Take a peek at all of the details below and submit your name, email and website links in the comments by Wednesday, March 27th to be considered!

SMART, an exhibition of wit, ingenuity and guile
will be featured May 17 - June 7th at Light Grey Art Lab
and is being curated by Amy Ng, the fantastic founder of Pikaland.com!

Amy has always been a huge advocate of illustrators and the creative process and she's teamed up with us to put together an exceptionally fun and clever show! We are so excited to be collaborating with her and we can't wait to see how this show comes together! If you haven't had a chance to peek at her awesome blog, check it out, here! You can see she's no stranger to clever work! Amy will be hand-picking the artists that will join us for this show and we're super excited about it!

Have you ever looked at a piece of work and said "I wish I thought of that!" or at second glance said "I see what you did there?" Well, this show is all about the surprise and delight we receive from really crafty, clever pieces of work! The theme of the month is all about intentionality and content. It's all that extra time we put into thinking about how we surprise ourselves as artists!

We're looking for ideas that will have us going "aha!" Might you juxtapose several opposing themes in an interesting way? Maybe you've got an idea that uses a hilarious double entendre? Are you reinventing how we see an otherwise everyday topic? Or are you creating a narrative image that is just.... well.... smart.

We're looking for some great artists that are up for the challenge.

Since we don't have a ton of time for this call, we want you to know that if you are interested in joining us that we would need final artwork from our participants by Friday, April 26th. If you are up for it, please post a comment below with you name, email and website.
We will respond to all participating artists on Thursday, March 28th and we will post a blog shortly after.

Do you have any questions? Please let me know!
Send me an email at hello@lightgreyartlab.com and I'll get back to you asap.
Hope you can join us!

---Lindsay