ARTE: MICHELLE JOAN PAPILLION

I have a new website, dedicated to me and all of my projects.  

https://michellejoanpapillion.com

ARTE: KCET SoCal Connected: The Future of Leimert Park

A throwback to 2014, "Garden City" the Noah Davis exhibition was up.  I was interviewed for this story by Nic Cha Kim

Pueblo del Rio: Prelude, oil on canvas 2014 by Noah Davis

ARTE: High on the Hog

Michelle is a part of Netflix's hit show High on the Hog.  She got to hang with Stephen and Dr. J while they explored Louisiana and Creole traditions.   Watch her tell her story and the story of her family and their land on the first episode of season 2.  And be sure to follow Royal Queen Farms @royalqueenfarms on IG

ARTE: ROOTS TILL INFINITY

A project I have been incubating for sometime will make its debut very soon.  Until then you can listen to the soundtrack were listening to while we work. Listen on shuffle. 

You can also listen to previous summers HERE

DJ AFRICA81 · ROOT$$$$$$$$$$$$ 2023

1. Catching my sun in my window   2. Saying my peace   3. Looking my peace   4. Speaking to my fleeting romance   5. Persimmon Sans 7-Up Cake by my Great Aunt Mary Lou and yes it is the businezz  6. Catching my sun on my Troublemakers quilt handmade in Dehradun, India by Project Purkul art by Waldia and Co 

Photographs by Michelle Joan Papillion

ARTE: Ask Julie Ryan

I had a conversation at the end of last year with Julie Ryan.  I'd first come in contact with Julie and her work from another podcast I listen to when she was a guest.  Intrigued by her work as a medical intutive I got in touch with her and booked a session so I could learn more.  During our phone call Julie became very interested in the work that I was doing and the journey I was on.  So she asked me to come on her show and share a little of my story and my inspirations.

One of the things bringing me joy now a days is being able to reemerge in the public space with the work I have always done in private.  My entire career has always been a curation of my intention and aligning my actions and beliefs with that.  With everything I am doing now creatively, artistically and even agriculturally all of the work is centered spirtually.  I have always known that my work is spiritual work.  To be able to speak about my life's work in art, history and culture in this way is a full circle moment I am so happy to be experiencing.

Find it on all podcast platforms Here

ARTE: Fashion Research Library Inaugural Symposium

I have been invited by the Fashion Research Library to have a conversation with two very dear friends, Shala Monroque and Micah Tafari.  The talk is being presented at their inaugural Fashion Research Symposium at the Nasjonalmuseet (National Museum of Norway) in Oslo, Norway on September 2nd & 3rd.

Our talk "WORLDWIDE OUTSIDE" is based on the theme for the symposium Decentralizing Fashion.

Worldwide Outside - a conversation between Shala Monroque, Micah Tafari and Michelle Joan Papillion.

Three creative collaborators operating outside of the centralized fashion zones; creative consultant Shala Monroque, Micah Tafari and Michelle Joan Papillion will share their experiences, point of view and key learnings on how this different perspective could contribute to the world moving forward.  Time is a luxury and impacts the creative process going hand-in hand with solitude and leadership.  How do we harness the elements and our nature in the periphery and alchemy to build bridges around the world?  How can brands step outside the traditional model with the use of integrity and risk-taking?  And in what way does care, attention and having a soul play part of our creative processes?

If you are in Oslo it is free to attend.  Register to attend Fashion Research Symposium 2022, a collaboration between @nasjonalmuseet & @fashionresearchlibrary, via this link!

 

Shala Monroque is a creative consultant, content developer and curator. Her early work includes art advising at The Gagosian Gallery and the position of Editor-at-Large of Pop Magazine. Monroque filled the role as Creative Director of Garage Magazine from 2011 to 2014, working closely with artists such as Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, Anna Craycroft and Hedi Slimane. Monroque also served as a consultant with Prada for three years. Through the years, she has contributed to Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, served as a Co-Chair for the New York Public Library Gala Event and graced magazine covers and Vanity Fair’s International Best Dressed List. Monroque walked in the Chloé Fashion Week 2020 show, alongside other female creatives.

Micah Tafari is a farmer, artist and sustainable development consultant. At age 17, he co-founded Rastafari Indigenous Village in Montego Bay, a cultural center and sanctuary for artists, musicians, farmers and healers. Micah currently advises a range of initiatives including The Jamaica Social Investment fund, Chronixx Music Group and Renewable Energy Developers. In 2016 working as a farmer and consultant at the University of Technology Jamaica, he created a horticultural model for the Jamaica cannabis industry. He has also trained with Unesco on Intangible Cultural Exchange. Within the arts, he is a publisher at Frontline Books, producing books and newspapers on African culture and spirituality, producing music shows, set creation and construction and as a locations manager scouting for National Geographic, Chronixx and Popcaan, among others.

Update on Monday, September 12, 2022 at 5:00AM by PAPILLION ART

The symposium was a success with the audience enjoying our conversation and finding inspiration with the fluidity and grace with which we live our lives.  World Wide Outside was really about that, being in the natural world, being natural people.  Not going against nature but moving with it.

ARTE: A Studio Visit with Alberry

Let the spirit move you and let the spirit move through you

My dear friend Alberry is a master painter and craftsman. We first met in Leimert Park where he was doing some woodwork for my neighbor Obi at his African Art Imports shop.  I could tell right away how talented Alberry was and I hired him to be our fabricator at the gallery.  He constructed pretty much anything we needed to make an exhibition happen, from walls to pedestals to framing structures and building out exhibition design ideas.  He can build anything with his hands. And he is also an incredible musician.

ARTE: PAPILLION Playlist Summer 2022 WATER MIRROR

Upward and Outward

Bend and Stretch

Move and Expand

Photographs by Michelle Joan Papillion

Sculpture by artist Emma Stern

DJ AFRICA81 · PAPILLION SUMMER 2022 <> WATER MIRROR

 For previous summer playlist listen at this link papillionart.com/dailies/tag/papillion-mixtape 

ARTE: In Conversation with Lynell George

Here is the full talk I had the pleasure of doing with journalist and writer Lynell George for Queensfest 2020.  We discuss her soulful new book on the everyday practices of literary icon Octavia E. Butler.

You can purchase this book online from Octavia's favorite bookstore Esowon Books or at any major book retailer.

Photo credit The Huntington Library and Museum FB

ARTE: PAPILLION SUMMER 2021 1 1 1 1 $PAPILLIONART

CREATOR BLE$$

i know, its no where near summer yet....but 2021 is not holding back, it feels like we should be in summer by now.  To be continued...

MJP NEW YEAR illustration graphic by Peter Mabeo of MABEO Furniture 

Photographs taken by Michelle Joan Papillion

For the previous summer playlist you can listen here PAPILLION MIXTAPE

ARTE: QUEENSFEST 2020

I have been producing digital art content for QUEENSFEST 2020.  I did an amazing talk with author journalist Lynell George who just released the new book "a handful of earth a handful of sky, the world of Octavia E. Butler" Along with a studio visit with Eilen Itzel Mena and a exhibition walk through with Yasmine Naseer Diaz. To catch the full videos and interviews go to queensfest.com to get your tickets. To purchase the new Octavia Butler book, which I highly recommed you can order or pick up a copy from Eso Won Books.

Update on Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 1:11PM by PAPILLION ART

You can now watch the full length interviews on our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/papillionart

ARTE: Barron Claiborne 20 Years

Recently my friend photographer Barron Claiborne sold the crown he made for Notorious B.I.G at Sotheby's. The iconic crown fetched a hefty $600,000 at final sale.  The photos below were taken by Barron 20 years apart.  The moon was taken this year and the crown exactly 20 years ago.

ARTE: Self Isolation

I once said in an interview that I would continue doing what I was doing until it was not fun anymore.  When it stopped being fun that I would stop and do something else.  I kept my word, I just had not realized that the something else would be my bucket list item of being a hermit.  I suppose I should do a post about what I've been up to but that's not what this note is about.  I guess I'm sharing this note to say that as a person who has been self-isolating for several years now I can offer a small bit of my experience.  You will get bored, you will get creative, you will freak out and you will find your composure.  If you allow for all of the things that make up you to be present in real time you'll begin to understand who you are to yourself and others. 

don’t be afraid to let your light glow

  

Photographs taken by Michelle Joan Papillion in Joshua Tree National Park

ARTE: PAPILLION SUMMER 2019 *let me call u back*

the *let me call u back* mixtape // summer '19

*photographs taken by Michelle Joan Papillion in Terre-de-Bas

*previous summer mixtapes

PAPILLION SUMMER 2015, PAPILLION SUMMER 2017, PAPILLION SUMMER 2018 *new phone who dis* 

ARTE: Make Some Noise x Angeleno Mag

Thrilled to be in the April issue of Angeleno Magazine.  Equally excited to announce my next project! Read all about in a preview of the magazine HERE or look for it on newstands now.  More to come soon... 

ARTE: TALK STORY - How do you know when you meet a genius?

My first interview of the year! I spoke with Nishat Kurwa at Talk Story about my inspirations, influences and opened up about my recent 6 month sabbatical. You can read the full interview at this link bit.ly/2lW2JOt

Michelle Papillion's eponymous art business, Papillion Art, began around seven years ago as a pop-up experience in downtown LA. These days, the hub for her work is her gallery in the black cultural district of Leimert Park. But her mission is also manifested in projects like the magnificent float she commissioned for LA's Martin Luther King Day parade last year: experiments in community-driven, place-based art. Papillion curates sculpture, painting, video and other forms of installation, and has garnered attention in the art world for presenting innovative emerging artists with an eye for the spectacular. Sometimes, though, art critics have lazily oversimplified her work, a problem she pondered while on a recent six-month sabbatical.

Is there a specific gap in the industry that you were hoping to address by opening Papillion?

When I started I wasn’t trying to address anything. The thing that I didn’t imagine happening is, my voice and my identity was kind of hijacked because I’m black and I’m a woman, and I’m young. I look at my contemporaries that are white, and they’re able to do what they want to do without the objectiveness of it being a “liberating” or “special” thing. They’re doing what they want.

I noticed that when I embarked on doing what I wanted to do, in art and in my space, there was always this thing like, “Do you know that you’re black, and you’re female, and that you’re showing artists who are black, and women artists?” And in my mind, I’m like, “I’m just participating in the art world, talking about things I want to talk about.” I felt like the Other once the rest of the world started putting those boxes around it. 

I went on this break in the summer of 2016 because I didn’t realize how burned out I was, and a lot of things were happening in our country and the world. I like to refer to it as a transitional moment, not just for myself but the entire world. And I needed a break from all of those boxes of being black, being a woman. You carry a lot on you day to day, running a business, trying to stay true to the agenda, which for me, is always like, “Art is for everyone.” 

What are some of the strategies you used to navigate the expectations imposed on you by the art world or the press? 

I think about that a great deal, and I don’t know if have an answer for that. But I’m still leaning towards the perspective of, “Do I feel like I’m contributing in a way that is more important than being in these boxes?” Obviously I have a way that I perceive myself and my work. Do I feel that the work that I’m doing is more important than the perception of what others may think about it? I love that I can work with artists, support artists, work with community, support community, and give platform, voice, opportunity to things that are not represented in art worlds or in media or anywhere. I guess I’m sort of like, “Whatever boxes we may be existing in, I’m not sure if we’ll ever not be in.” But…I think the work that I’m doing is more important than thinking about the boxes.

Describe a specific show or initiative that’s aligned with the mission you set out with. 

I was flash backing to a project we did last year, where we participated in the (Martin Luther King Day) parade with an artist named Lauren Halsey, and she built a float for us. I was looking at all these photos and video from that day, and that was the moment I realized that we’re really throwing grains in the life of this community that we’re in, which is South Central, South LA, Leimert Park. That felt like a 100 percent collaboration between us, the artists, and the neighborhood. All three of those things came together and made something really beautiful and special. And I think when I’m working in that way, that’s when it feels right, and works itself out in a way that can be successful, even if it’s not how we planned it. 

The one “aha!” moment during the sabbatical was: my business is really people. Art is the vehicle that drives the ideas of it, but what I enjoy and love the most is servicing people. It was a big breakthrough for me, because it allowed me to think about the business going forward, and how can we be more experimental, how can we broaden the spectrum for people who can’t visit the physical gallery, how do we expand outside the space, do more. 

What are the cues that help you recognize the “genius factor” in an artist? 

I have a little formula. I guess the first thing that I’m looking for is that they have something important to add to humanity. I think of my work in terms of the future, like: legacy. When I visit an artist for the first time, I’m thinking, “Where will this artist be in 5, 10, 25 years from now?” I always say if I do two studio visits,  the first visit is like, “Let’s see this art, what it’s about, is it good, is it not?” But the second visit, if I’m there, I already believe in the art — I need to now believe in the artist. I just spend the time really investigating who the individual is, the moral compass that they built upon. What are they saying, what do they think about the world that we live in now? When I start investigating in that way, it allows me to figure out if they have that thing that I call the “genius factor.” And if I feel that, then, yes this person does have the genius factor, maybe they’re not at that point today, but they’ll get there eventually. Maybe I can help develop that, or introduce them to the art world, or give them a platform for visibility for their career.

I’m looking for artists that, when we’re all gone and someone opens a textbook, and they’re like, “What was 2016 like?” — these are artists that are documenting the times, but also looking for ways to confront the abnormal things about the world, the beautiful things about the world, all the nuances that are happening on a daily basis, artists who are critically talking about those things.

Tell me about a moment of transition in your career and a piece of advice you received that helped you navigate it. 

When I first started in 2010, I didn’t really have the plan or focus to start anything. I had an idea for an exhibition that I thought was just going to be a pop-up shop, or a pop-up show. That first show was really successful, surprisingly. I was shocked and I decided to do another thing, and that worked out, and then another — and then a year had passed, and this pop-up idea was still around.

But I think around there was a transition moment around year three where I was like, “Wait, we have something here, and I should be more serious, and more focused, and more together about what the mission of the space really is, and where it can go.” At the time, we were at the outskirts of downtown LA, and there was really nothing else around. I decided to go to Leimert Park, and at the time, all of the businesses were longstanding mom and pop, family-owned shops that had been there a really long time. The Leimert space was my attempt at thinking more seriously about what I wanted to do, not just with my business, but also with my life, and be devoted to something that is my passion in a way that I could do until I die. 

I had one of the greatest individuals in art as my mentor, someone who’s sort of a living legend and an icon, and that was Jeffrey Deitch. Jeffrey moved to Los Angeles the same year that I started my business, and he got to see it literally from the beginning and saw the changes. And he saw me changing as well.

He was very instrumental in mentoring me at that time of transition, and he was planting the seeds of “You could do something special if you really buckled down, applied yourself, and got serious with it.” I felt like, well, if Jeffrey Deitch feels like this little thing that I have on the outskirts of downtown could be something, then maybe I should try. He was very encouraging during that time, giving advice, and being very practical too. I could run things by him, and he was able to give next steps on, “This is a good idea, this is something “ — he was very hands-on with me during that time. The things that I learned from him were invaluable.

ARTE: PERRIER ARTXTRA

Very happy to serve on the advisory board for Perrier's new art initivative ARTXTRA

"At Perrier, extraordinary art has always been a part of who we are. That’s why throughout the years, we’ve partnered with extraordinary artists in a variety of ways. This year we introduced ARTXTRA, an art program which took our partnership with art even further. Through the ARTXTRA Advisory Board, a panel of experts from across the art world, we selected three artists to showcase their art, one of whom would reimagine and design our new limited edition bottles and cans based on your votes. You voted and we’re proud to announce our Artist of the Year."

The ARTXTRA program will also support the selected emerging artist with a stipend for a year as the new label is commissioned and completed.  Saya Woolfalk, HOTTEA and Hayal Pozanti are the artists nominated that the audience (you) get to vote for! Visit perrier.tumblr.com/artxtra to find out more.

The other board members include Beau Basse founder of LeBasse Projects, Naomi Beckwith a Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Job Piston an Artist and Special Projects at Performa, and Helen Toomer the Director of PULSE Contemporary Art Fair 

ARTE: INSECURE

So excited to see the new HBO comedy series "Insecure" by Issa Rae.  We've been fans of Issa since the early days of Awkward Black Girl.  The director Melina Matsoukas brought me in to consult on art for the show.  The show premieres on HBO October 9th, but if your an HBO GO or HBO Now subscriber than you can catch the first episode now. I've seen it and its soooooooo good.

ARTE: SMASHD/ She Made It

Smashd presents “She Made It” a new original series which gives you an inside look at the authentic and inspiring stories of female entrepreneurs.

ARTE: NEWSMAKER

Featured in Modern Painters magazine April issue. Read the article online at Artinfo