today's inspiration

Gertrud Goldschmidt

Alexander MacQueen

Yayoi Kusama

Nieuwhoff, C 1974, Contemporary Lace Making, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, pg 63

Cy Twombly

not sure how they will figure into the final work but that is the fun.

more drawings getting closer I think

I always have a pit in my stomach when I work.

The stress spurs me on when I think that I can't do it, make it, finish it and my pride keeps me on track.
Here are some drawings from yesterday. I think the actual pink that I will use is a bit lighter but no less offensive. I am going for a colour that I heard about on a Science Friday interview with Adam Alter author of Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave called affectionately "drunk tank pink" because it is supposed to have a (short term) calming effect on people and was used in jails and locker rooms to calm prisoners and football players.

Although it seems as if it wouldn't work with the wood, I think that it does.

I am madly working on my drawings for my entry in GrowOp:Exploring Landscape and Place at the Gladstone Hotel. My work will be on the historic glass elevator in the hotel entrance from April 25-28. I had planned to run the work up to the 4th floor but may only focus on the ground to the second floor where the show will mostly take place.

Colours: White and Drunk Tank Pink

title: tensile

subject: spider webs the ultimate drawing.


thinking about: strings, chaos, trapping beauty, scratchitti, strong and fragile at once, calming

modern florals

Black Olive Studio

by jo rutter

Just found these on Pinterest and thought it would be interesting to follow on a historic floral post with a contemporary floral post. Jo Rutter's design reminds me of Josef Frank:

300 Years of Floral Patterns

I check twitter infrequently but when I do, I always discover something that makes me think. For some reason, I cannot get this particular article about a BBC newsreader, John Nicholson who renovated his home in Spitalfields. He removed each layer of wallpaper, leaf by leaf until he had a historical collection of the house in wallpaper from 1690 to 1960. The layers of the wallpaper were described in the Spitalfields Life article as fragile as butterfly wings and the pictures are amazing. I am not sure whether I am more touched by the care of house, the fragility of the layers of wallpaper, or that floral patterns have been universally popular since the 1690's.

Here is the link and some photos. Enjoy:

The tape rides again! The remaining rolls of my limited edition Colouring Tape from DesignBoom MartToronto at IDS are now available at distill gallery in Toronto!

Both are boxed sets. The Minimalist includes one black Sharpie marker and the Creative Sweet includes 2 rolls of tape, 3 Sharpie Markers, and a tube cap to make a Pen Holder (or iPhone speaker stand!). If you are in Toronto, pop into Distill.

For more ideas on how to use the tape, make sure to check out my tumblr on tape art and the world of adhesive papers.

oblique strategies

Phantom Traps.

"All external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.

"You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."   Steve Jobs via macuser

Steve Jobs has always followed this mantra. It is so simple and so wise and yet so difficult to embrace. I admire his spirit of experimentation and drive.

To those...

What can you say about September 11, 2001 that doesn't sound trite. I never really liked the slogan "Never Forget" because it is the kind of tragedy that is impossible to forget. It just becomes a part of our collective psyche that we take along wrapped up in everything else we encounter in our cities and in our lives. I remember so much about that day, and we were very lucky not to have lost anyone in the attacks, but every year I find the hype and re-living moment of the attacks stomach-wrenching. The terrorist attacks were horrible, and at the time inconceivable, but I am happy to celebrate the city as it is now in all of its wonder in the spirit of Walt Whitman: "A million people--manners free and superb--open voices--    hospitality--the most courageous and friendly young    men, City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts! City nested in bays! my city!" What do you think?

11 September 2011

via poets.org Mannahatta by Walt Whitman I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city, Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name. Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane,    unruly, musical, self-sufficient, I see that the word of my city is that word from of old, Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays,    superb, Rich, hemm'd thick all around with sailships and    steamships, an island sixteen miles long, solid-founded, Numberless crowded streets, high growths of iron, slender,    strong, light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies, Tides swift and ample, well-loved by me, toward sundown, The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining    islands, the heights, the villas, The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters,    the ferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-model'd, The down-town streets, the jobbers' houses of business, the    houses of business of the ship-merchants and money-    brokers, the river-streets, Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week, The carts hauling goods, the manly race of drivers of horses,    the brown-faced sailors, The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing    clouds aloft, The winter snows, the sleigh-bells, the broken ice in the    river, passing along up or down with the flood-tide or    ebb-tide, The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form'd,    beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes, Trottoirs throng'd, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the    shops and shows, A million people—manners free and superb—open voices—    hospitality—the most courageous and friendly young    men, City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts! City nested in bays! my city!

Ooooh Swish!

This ephemeral film (via ecoterre) from the 1930's is funny but not that far fetched. Clothes that can be adapted for day and night and the disappearance of the skirt seem fairly typical in 2011. And despite the slightly unfortunate wizardly look of the male "spacesuit",  we are all carrying our phones, coins, keys, and 'candies for cuties' in multi-functional pieces that go from day to night. Wonder what is up for the 80's and 90's--the 2090's that is?

its been a while...

...since I have posted. I think it is mainly because I have discovered Pinterest. I have been pinning up a storm. 


What have I been working on, seen, done?


I saw a really inspiring lecture on June 29th by an artist/landscape designer named Thilo Folkerts. He is based in Berlin and was speaking at Toronto's Design Exchange about his work in general and about a project at the Jardin de la Connaissance in Metis, Quebec (recreated in the Design Exchange gallery).
 

Jardin de la Connaissance

Festival International de jardins
Métis (Quebec/CA), 2010
with Rodney Latourelle, Berlin

I clipped the image from Folkerts website where we read that the project is meant to invoke "the mythic relation between knowledge and nature integral to the concept of ‘paradise’" He and Latourelle also cultivate mushrooms on the piece to aid in the decomposition. 

 The work is really beautiful and poignant. I hope to be able to visit the Jardin de la Connaissance while the project is on view. 


He showed slides of influences such as Peter Walker's Minimalist's Gardens Without Walls, Robert Smithson, Jackson Pollack, Roberto Burle Marx, Dieter Kienast, and Tobias Rehberger and images of his own projects which lie somewhere between art and design.

Folkerts' work is surprising, poignant, and joyful. Take a look at his website where you will find more beautiful works as the drawing below.

Correspondences

It's National Poetry Month in the US

Another awesome poster.

See the poets.org site for deets.

thoughts...from the "bluebird in my heart"...

This quote is more elegantly displayed by Erin Loechner on her blog Design for Mankind but the words resound...

"This is very important -- to take leisure time. Pace is the essence. Without stopping entirely and doing nothing at all for great periods, you're gonna lose everything...just to do nothing at all, very, very important. And how many people do this in modern society? Very few. That's why they're all totally mad, frustrated, angry and hateful."
— Charles Bukowski

I also have to say that it is also a good practice for creativity. I think that you need periods away from your work to regenerate--to enjoy that time rather than worry it away.

and via Good Reads...

"unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, don't do it"
— Charles Bukowski

annual Holi post from the Big Picture

via the Big Picture 

How Indians celebrate the change from winter to spring. The celebration is said to represent the triumph

of good over evil. As the tale goes, a demoness Holika tries to kill the son, Prahlad of the demon god, Hiranyakashyap, for not worshipping his father. Instead Holika, the demoness goes up in flames and here on Hindus celebrate each year. Bonfires and effigies lead off the celebrations with the color wars to follow. 

Evidently you can make natural holi color at home...

RIP Elizabeth Taylor via letterheady

International Women's Day and Education

via Good and the Delaware online...

Here is an awesome teacher introducing his students to a task that could change their lives and maybe the lives of many people in the future. They are building seven robots called the SeaPerch after the teacher received a grant from the SeaPerch Foundation (an innovative foundation that trains teachers to teach their students how to build ROVs--remotely operated vehicles). The robots are based on the one that helped to cap last year's Gulf oil spill. The models that the students are building will have a camera attached to it to take underwater photos. The project is headed for a competition at Drexel University where the girls will navigate their robots through a maze and grab objects in a swimming pool.

I really like the teacher's comment in the video that the more challenging a project, the more engaged his students are--this is also one of the goals of the SeaPerch Foundation. I think innovative teaching is asking students to do more and enter the shaky ground where they might make a mistake but have to try to fix it and make it work (there is a stipulation of an extra $20.00 per ROV for changes though students must follow the general blueprint)...there is just no reason to think about gender in this project--but instead it is a really interesting problem for students to solve. I also like that the teacher says that he is learning with his students on the project. We need more teachers like Mitchell Greenberg and more schools like Delaware's Reach Academy.

What could be better--a SoulTrain break and Int'l Women's Day

 

Equals--is a consortium of charities and arts partners in the UK brought together by Annie Lennox-- united to raise awareness of the rights of women and girls around the world and to celebrate the centenary of International Women's Day (we still need one....).

Equals asks you to celebrate but also raise a civil debate (download their Start a Debate pdf book here or think of your own questions to ask your child, co-worker, sibling, boss, teacher, friend, mom, or partner...)

They are also shaking it down in equal lines at the London Eye tonight. IF you can't be in London for the Soul Train, at least you can check out Soul Train and the mighty Don Cornelius *on the Equals web page or on youtube.



* I have to mention a sad fact that I read about Don Cornelius when I was working on this post. While the Soul Train showcased super talented performers like James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Michael Jackson and the line dance symbolizes equality on the dance floor in addition to being wildly fun--Mr. Cornelius did not feel the same in his own life and was arrested in 2008 on several domestic violence charges-- three counts of spousal battery, one count of dissuading his wife from making a police report and one count of assault with a deadly weapon...)

Related articles

• Annie Lennox: 'Women need to wake up. There's so much to do' (independent.co.uk)
• HOW TO: Support International Women's Day Using Social Media (mashable.com)
• International Women's Day reminds us why feminism must not lose its bite | Natasha Walter (guardian.co.uk)

"Think of a creative way to get around your problem..."--Richard Rodriguez

 

via Good


Thanks for this post Good...I am not a filmmaker but I really love the freedom of limitations and this little video is a great example. It was made by Richard Rodriguez to explain how he made "El Mariachi" for $7000.00. I really like that he has so much fun making the movie and that he encourages film makers to come up with creative solutions to a filmmaking/prop/etc challenge and not to forget to have fun. I guess there is also efficiency to doing everything yourself. It is in three parts. Enjoy.

 

This reminds me of Olafur Eliasson

but it is actually an image of the NASA space shuttle in solar transit via PopSci