First Friday: April 2025 - 2 years in!
Inspiration & Updates from Brian Madden Studio
“If you got a gift, give it.”
― James DeRose, Artist, Detroit
Hi friends,
It’s the second anniversary of the First Friday newsletter! Can’t believe it’s already been 2 years. What started as an experiment to practice writing on a regular cadence has turned into something much more meaningful – an avenue for connection and inspiration that is fueling my creative practice. It’s a privilege to be able to share this process of discovery with you.
There’s a lot cooking right now, so no big theatrics for year 2. Just going to do what I do every month and share:
WHAT I’M SEEING: Heath Ceramics Factory - Sausalito, CA
WHAT I’M HOSTING: On Connection x Brian Madden Dinner
WHAT I’M READING: Ellsworth Kelly, Photographs - Shinola Hotel
WHAT I’M HEARING: Keeping Timezones
You’re receiving First Friday because you’ve supported my creativity, visited the studio, or otherwise signed up to stay in touch.
Thanks for being here.
WHAT I’M SEEING: Heath Ceramics Factory - Sausalito, CA
I’m preparing work for a group exhibition on June 5 at the Heath Ceramics showroom in San Francisco, curated by Heath clay studio director Tung Chiang. I’m a big fan of Tung and Heath, and excited for the chance to show my work in their beautiful space with such an inspiring international group of artists (stay tuned for updates from Heath).
My art practice is curiosity-led, so when I approach an opportunity like this, I focus on observation first, drawing inspiration from the context and characteristics of the moment, and letting it flow from there. I don’t always feel compelled to fit my expression into a specific medium (like marble) because I’m learning that the common thread to my creative practice isn’t so much the medium, but the vision, and as some would say, the message.
When Tung first invited me to participate, he was inspired by my Sonic Monuments series, the stylized soundwave sculptures I’ve been exploring in a range of materials and messages. He invited me to record the sounds of the Heath factory in Sausalito, CA, to see where the inspiration would lead.
Hosted by Heath product development specialist Mel Danico, my studio & project manager Hana and I were lucky enough to meet some team members and capture sounds of the active machinery, infrastructure, and process at the factory to gather inspiration and source material for my piece in the show.
In the Heath cafeteria, I was mesmerized by the beautiful ceramic floor, which all came from broken tiles chosen by the visionary founder Edith Heath herself.
As we neared the finish of the tour, I was struck by the beauty and rhythm of the regimented stacks of plaster molds in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and rhythms, made by mold technician Min in the Sausalito Factory.
One of the most special moments was meeting Winnie at her glazing workbench, where she shared her innovative process, some of the history of Heath (she learned the ropes in 1974 while apprenticing for founder Edith Heath, her aunt), and played one of the Heath bowls like a bell! We all had a good laugh with Ali, a clay maker & fireman who’s been with Heath since 1984.
While the ideas aren’t fully baked yet, there was endless inspiration for the Heath show and future work beyond it. Thanks to the Tung, Mel, and the Heath team for the hospitality. Stay tuned for more updates around the show, happening June 5 at the Heath showroom in San Francisco.
WHAT I’M HOSTING: On Connection x Brian Madden Dinner
Speaking of hospitality, our Moments in Motion dinner with On Connection last week activated the studio like never before. It was a great chance to open up the space and share my work within the context of a dynamic 5-course experiential dinner.
The concept for the evening spoke to the Time in Motion series I’ve been building for the past couple years, which is based on my desire to capture and celebrate time spent in motion. I projected a film featuring drawings and sights captured while crossing Golden Gate Bridge on a bus, driving down to Santa Cruz, riding the Shinkansen train from Tokyo, riding a bus through the Japanese Alps, and a Ferry off the coast of Perth, Australia. I also featured new paintings from the Japan trip, created after my trip there in July 2024.
When OC founder Richelle Stewart mentioned the thought of covering the curvy communal table with newspapers, I had the opportunity to design a broadsheet layout to splay across the tables. It supported the theme and included the menu / beverage list and provided context on the evening, the team, and my practice.
And I love drawing on paper menus and tablecloths, so we invited our guests to do it too. We gave guests on each end of the snaking table a paint marker and invited them to create a continuous, communal drawing traversing the entire table, passing the pens from guest to guest, without lifting them off the paper, until they made their way around the entire table.
To support the communal immersive experience for the dinner, and push guests out of their comfort zones, we also employed a few artful techniques like provocative questions on the backs of hand illustrated placecards, which also sparked a surprise musical chairs moment before dessert. We also passed around a Fuji instax camera that helped us fill a photo wall with different views of the night, from each guest.
The real viewfinder was photographer Lindsey Shea, who documented the evening and who I’d like to thank, as she shot our event with Studio Null Wines during SF Art Week and connected the dots that inspired On Connection to reach out in the first place!
It was amazing to see the magic that On Connection’s vendor team crafted, from the beautiful food, to the great refreshments, and the creative flower arrangements. Congrats and thanks again to OC founder, Richelle Stewart!
I love hosting events and experiences at my studio, so if any of you’d like to discuss organizing or hosting an event, please reach out to info@brianbmadden.com and I’d be happy to chat.
WHAT I’M READING: Ellsworth Kelly, Photographs - Shinola Hotel
This week brought me on a last minute trip to Detroit for a special new project, and I was lucky enough to stay at the iconic Shinola Hotel. I couldn’t get enough of the art collection curated by Library Street Collective, Detroit’s premier art gallery.
I was equally excited to explore the books spread around the hotel, as part of the Shinola Hotel Library Program, a collaboration with Detroit-based Source Booksellers.
I happened upon an out-of-print book featuring a curation of photographs by artist Ellsworth Kelly – the first one ever published about his photography.
I’m a big fan of Ellsworth Kelly’s minimalist installations and paintings, and enjoyed coming across this lesser known aspect of his creativity:
Ellsworth Kelly is credited with inventing a new kind of painting, one inspired by nature but also by the chance compositions he encountered in the world. He started taking photographs in 1950, using a borrowed Leica to "make notations of things I had seen and subjects I had been drawing."
Unlike his sketches and collages, these photographs were not part of the process of making a painting or sculpture; they were simply a record of his vision. As such, they convey his enthusiasm for the visible world around him — the compositional possibilities to be found in a barn roof, for example, or a tree branch.
Featuring photographs spanning four decades, this is the first book published on Kelly's photography, and the artist was closely involved in all aspects of its making. In the statement that begins the book, he writes,
"When you look at the world, everything is separate — each thing is in its own space, has its own unique-ness. When I take photographs, I want somehow to capture that."
Aside from his impressive paintings and installations, Ellsworth Kelly’s way of seeing and his ever-present desire to create and share with others is what draws me to his work. The more I learn about him and other artists whose work spans mediums and genres, I realize that this is where I stand as an artist.
Besides my sculptures and paintings, I hope to incorporate more of my own photography into my art exhibitions in the future. Documenting the world around me is a huge part of my life, and as of this writing, I’ve got 191,484 photos in my camera roll. Thank goodness for iCloud.
WHAT I’M HEARING: Keeping Timezones
This month’s sonic inspiration was overheard in San Francisco, Detroit, and London while navigating timezones and jet lag.
The First Friday Playlist can only consist of songs I’ve heard, received, discovered, or rediscovered out in the world, songs overheard at coffee shops, restaurants, bars, gallery exhibits, stores, or received from friends and family, IRL and online.
Take care and talk soon,
Brian
brian@brianbmadden.com
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By the way, if you’re in SF, check out Parallax, an exhibition of new and recent works by Jane Springwater, on view at Municipal Bonds from March 8–April 26, 2025:
Named for the optical phenomenon in which an object appears to shift depending on one's vantage point, Parallax explores how repetition, structure, and variation shape perception. Across Springwater's drawings and prints, precision and fluidity meet as forms expand, contract, and subtly realign.
Working exclusively with ink on paper, she constructs intricate sequences of hand-drawn marks: some bound to geometric systems, others developing through organic motifs. Repetition provides both stability and transformation—grids offer a structural foundation, while shifts in density and placement generate an underlying sense of movement.
As Springwater describes, "I devise rule-based systems to make works that are both highly ordered and free flowing."
As a fan of Agnes Martin, I find Jane’s work reflects the same mesmerizing quality and sense of devotion to the task at hand— bringing a distinct vision to life.