Dolan Geiman: Contemporary Art with a Southern Accent
Urban Country * Red Dirt Style * Modern Barn Living * Industrial Chic * Desperado Design * Contemporary Frontier * SOUTHERN ART
For a year or more I have been feeling a shiftin my taste for home decor. This is rather huge for a gal who has spent the last twelve years designing, selling and sourcing a niche style like the Western * Rustic Marketplace. I’m not sure if the shift is because of, or in spite of, launching CactusCreekDaily.com.
Since Cactus Creek’s premiere last April I have become chained to my computer and every magazine I can get my hands on, many of them not a part of the “industry”. From Country Living, to Western Interiors, Architectural Digest, LUXE’s Colorado edition, and even the famous blog, Design*Sponge, I am constantly inundated by this new style that has yet to settle into a coined term, but instead is referenced as any of the following: Urban Country * Red Dirt Style * Modern Barn Living * Industrial Chic * Desperado Design * Contemporary Frontier * SOUTHERN ART
Old timers refer to this shift as buying “out of market”, but I find the designs offered from unexpected sources are the EDGE that defines a home or retail store as unusually FABULOUS.
All of this rambling leads me to an unexpected source that you may eventually know as a household name:
DOLAN GEIMAN.
I saw his art first on Design*Sponge, and since then I have spent quite a bit of time going to his website and etsy store ~ dreaming and designing rooms based on his work. I think it’s high time that we go “out of market” and check out Dolan Geiman, a Southern-rooted artist whose work probably won’t show up in your next issue of C&I.
Geiman is an artist who doesn’t fit into any one category.
His URBAN EDGE and SOUTHERN ROOTS result in
a fantastical display of contemporary whimsy.
Growing up in Virginia Dolan Geiman’s family encouraged the pursuit of education, art, and independence. As a child Geiman roamed through fields and cabins, fanning his intrinsic passion for transforming nature, and society’s cast offs, into raw art. After studying print making and sculpture at James Madison University in Virginia, Geiman eventually made it to Chicago which is where he met his lady-love, Ali Walsh. Together this couple works tirelessly to share Dolan Geiman’s Contemporary/Southern ART with the world.
Dolan Geiman’s passionate commitment to re-using, re-vamping and re-cycling is the core of his art, and it expands throughout his entire process from creating the art, to sending the art to its new home. Dolan’s process typically begins in his studio which is located in the Chicago Sustainable Manufacturing Center. It is here that he surrounds himself with remnants of life past and present. From old coins to used books and rodeo posters, Dolan uses his collection of ephemera as both inspiration, and materials, to create mixed media art that is described as having the effect of “driving down a dirt road deep in the county and experiencing the colors, textures, and imagery of each passing roadside billboard”.
Using salvaged wood as his typical palette, recycled paint as his color, re-vamped treasures as a muse, and pre-used packaging materials, Dolan’s discipleship to a GREEN life results in
CONTEMPORARY FOLK ART that defines all that Americana art will be known for in the 21st Century.
I couldn’t help but ask Dolan about his stock-piled studio {ABOVE}. Does he bring the collections home? Or is he more inspired by simplicity when he is in his own space?
The answer is that the line between work and home is faint…Says Dolan, “Well, considering our ‘house’ is merely an apartment, and since we spend every waking hour at the studio working, I tend to keep all of my inspirational evidence around me. I think if I could afford a house I would buy a riverboat and park it in a different section of the river every day. Actually, I should look into that….. Honestly though, I have never tried to force a separation of art and life, because for me, there is no real division. All day long I am working on a handful of ideas, and so it’s hard to go home and not drag things with me, to keep those ideas flowing. The funny thing is, I feel like an old hermit sometimes, because there are days when I drag the same bag of junk back and forth, and I don’t even open it and go through it. Yes, it makes me very human!”
Click on READ MORE Below for the rest of the story!!
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Dolan’s partner, Ali Walsh, is a study in professional art marketing and administration. She and Dolan’s seven year relationship is both personal and professional, and I get the feeling that they wouldn’t have it any other way!! Here is a snippet of Ali’s humble response when I asked about her role in the Dolan Geiman enterprise…
“While my job role spans all the administrative, marketing, and financial aspects of a small business, I always like to emphasize that Dolan is actively involved in these parts of our business as well. People seem to think that Dolan just sits around in the studio, sipping coffee, and making art while I take care of everything else. With the exception of a few tasks like bookkeeping and web updates, Dolan is involved in all these tasks as well. In many ways, I have it easy as compared to Dolan—I stay in my office all day and never have to chip in with the production of artwork. However, Dolan has to constantly think of new ideas for artwork, maintain a steady output of these ideas, and all the while be able to switch gears and co-author an e-mail newsletter, website section, or client presentation or spend the afternoon doing sales calls. I would go nuts!!”
I am smitten with Dolan Geiman’s art and I look forward to owning my first piece. 
You, too, can have these fresh images gracing your walls. In addition to the Dolan Geiman WEBSITE and ETSY shop, he and Ali attend Art shows across the US… According to Dolan, “Ali usually brings a few books and reads, while I drive the van and sing to myself, which seems weird, but I think it’s the only way we can be in a car for 10 hours together at a time. I still have trouble convincing her to sing with me. Occasionally, I will make her work on a crossword with me, but only if I bribe her with chocolate first. As far as seeing the country, I think Ali would be content to curl up in a ball and sleep through it all, whereas I have trouble focusing on the road because I want to see everything! Last year I did a few shows by myself, which was fine, but I definitely had trouble finishing that crossword.”
Here is a list of where to find Dolan & Ali in your neck of the woods:
- March 7-8 ~ Tampa, FL ~ Raymond James Gasparilla Festival
- April 18-19 ~ Chattanooga, TN ~ 4 Bridges Arts Festival
- April 30-May 3 ~ New Orleans, LA ~ New Orleans Jazz & Festival
- June 7-8 ~ Hyde Park, Chicago, IL ~ 57th Street Art Fair
- June 13-14 ~ Chicago, IL ~ Old Town Art Fair
- July 3-5 ~ Denver, CO ~ Cherry Creek Arts Festival
- July 11-12 ~ Madison, WI ~ Art Fair on the Square
- August 7-9 ~ Minneapolis, MN ~ Uptown Art Fair
- August 29-30 ~ Chicago, IL ~ Bucktown Arts Fest
- Dec 10-13 ~ New York City, NY ~ One of a Kind Show NYC
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