About
Noah Gould is an American painter and hat maker living and working in Aptos, California. Noah Grew up in a fairly rural setting on 15 aches, where there was ample room to explore nature and the limits of his imagination. As a child he would often watch the people that surrounded him including his parents create things instead of simply buy things. They were builders of houses, they fixed their own vehicles, they were artists, musicians, they not only created things, but situations, culture. As Noah grew up, he took this sense of the importance of creativity with him to Los Angeles were he received his BFA from Otis College of Art and Design and to New York where he attended to the MFA program at Parsons The New School for Design, during which time and afterward he maintained studios and close ties to those cities and the networks of cultural producers he formed relationships with on each coast. Throughout this period he produced a large body of varied works, ranging from music, sculpture, conceptual art, drawings and paintings. Finally most recently Noah has been creating wearable art, all of the time remembering and intuitively promoting the values he received in his early life; that of creating ones own cultural experience.
Noah's recent venture, Alma Hats are all handmade In Santa Cruz CA. Starting with consciously sourced vintage beaver blend fur felt hat bodies from the 1960's through the 1980's. Each hat starts off by being steamed. This loosens the interlocking fibers and makes the felt pliable. I then block the felt using a wood 'bashing' block to size and form the crown dimensions. Ironing out the brim and crown is next, 'pouncing' the material to smooth and increase the density of the hat. I remove the hat from the block and set to dry in the sun. Finally I hand crease the crown and lightly singe off any stray fibers. The hat is then brushed and ready to sew in the calf leather sweatband and tack glue in the satin liner. The styling stage is next, this is when the hat band is produced to fit the color and aesthetic of the hat or the client in the case of a bespoke commission.
Each hat is one of a kind, made with the greatest care, attention to detail and finest hand chosen materials. Weather you choose ready to wear or commission a bespoke design, with your personal style or loved one in mind, Gould Studios/ALMA HATS has your comfort and satisfaction in mind, and it is my pleasure to produce these exquisite hats for you.
ABOUT THE PAINTINGS:
Noah Gould
American Painter,
Born February 27,1983
Momentism: I start all my works by starting. That is, I just start painting or creating and build upon what I lay down. I don’t like to have too many preconceived ideas about what a given piece or design will become, for doing this I have found destroys the excitement of creating it.
Painting allows the mind to wonder through potentials and create worlds that until the brush is placed on the canvas were never conceived of, let alone made manifest. This excites me, and even within portraiture a single stroke can evoke feelings of wonder and stimulation at the sheer un-likelihood of that particular instance taking place within time, space and the physical/spiritual reality that is one's experience.
To me art is spiritual and evokes a reverence within my psyche, that something special is occurring, and that this moment will continue to unfold long after I am finished painting, and the paint is dry. Each viewing will continue and even amplify that initial moment and create new experiences and feelings, perhaps new inspirations.
I am the kind of artist that seeks the limits of my craft. Never in my professional career have I been satisfied with a single minded approach to creativity.
RESUME:
Summer Placement Program PRATT Institute of Art
BFA Otis College of Art and Design
MFA Studies at Parsons The New School for Design
2000 Paintings and sculpture in private showing in Mill Valley, CA
2001 ArtEnemys exhibition at Castro Computer Services, San Francisco, CA
2001 Solo exhibition at FullSupport Productions and Gallery in Santa Cruz, CA
2002 Solo exhibition at FullSupport Productions and Gallery in Santa Cruz, CA
2003 Praxis Keeping Time, Making Space group exhibition at the Bolsky Gallery Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, CA
2004 Group exhibition at the Question Mark Gallery in Santa Cruz, CA
2004 K-ART show at the Question Mark Gallery in Santa Cruz, CA
2004 Private exhibition at the Metro Newspaper in Santa Cruz, CA
2004 Group show at the Thing Gallery in Venice, CA
2005 Solo show at Cruzio in Santa Cruz, CA
2005 Senior BFA show at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, CA
2006 ArtEnemys show at the Hide Gallery, in Santa Cruz, CA
2006 Group exhibition “Otis Graduates” at Burgamot Station. Santa Monica, CA
2007 Group exhibition at the Maujer St. Collective Brooklyn, NY
2008 Group exhibition Onderdonk Space, Queens, NY
2009 Group exhibition Onderdonk Space, Queens, NY
2010 Group exhibition Onderdonk Space, Queens, NY
2010 Solo exhibition at The Mill Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2011 Solo show at Starr Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2012 Solo exhibition at Art Du Jour, Santa Cruz, CA
2013 Artenemys exhibition, Leeds Family Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2014 Solo show at Iveta, Santa Cruz, CA
2015 Solo show at Iveta, Santa Cruz, CA
2016 Open Studios Santa Cruz
2017 CVAA group exhibition, Carmel, CA
2019 Artenemys Exhibition, R. Blitzer Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA