more stimulus!

Want to see more Stimulus? Arthur Hash took some great shots at the opening that shows a lot of the work, all priced to make you look fabulous despite the economy. I particularly love Sienna's brilliant display, substituting tool storage units for the usual flat-file display you see in many jewelry galleries.

Click here to see Mr. Hash's Flickr Stimulus photostream, or pop over to see his blog post with a short video starring Doug Bucci. (If I were there, I'd be buying this Melanie Bilenker piece!)

more Maira!

Another installment of Maira Kalman's charming series "And the Pursuit of Happiness" came out in a recent New York Times. This one especially grabbed my attention, since I'm still thinking about the best series I've seen on dvd in the past year: "John Adams." Even though the focus is on Adams, there's also a great character sketch of Thomas Jefferson and it reminded me fondly of my visit to Monticello when I was in college. Kalman's NYT piece illustrates her fascination with this same historical landmark. Click here to read it.

Hidden Portland

I'm pleased to announce that the small museums bike tour, previously mentioned right here, has now expanded into a limited edition book, self-published by the author Carye Bye. The book is called "Hidden Portland: The Museums" and costs less than 20 smackers. There's a show right now at Reading Frenzy, where the book is being sold, as well as a show of original illustrations and card racks of take-now original illustrations, all of which are also at very affordable prices. Carye is, in my humble opinion, one of Portland's gems, so I highly recommend you grab your piece of it! (FYI: The Reading Frenzy show only runs through the weekend.)

Click here to read the article in today's Oregonian. The books are selling fast, so grab yours today! (As of this publishing, there are none at Reading Frenzy, but the last batch will arrive tomorrow. I just bought my copy online at her Hidden Portland website.)

stimulus

Okay, so there are a TON of artists, businesses and otherwise using the phrase "stimulus package" or some variation on that theme in order to drum up sales during these rough economic times. I'm really excited to be part of this one called simply "Stimulus" at Sienna Gallery. The show has an impressive roster of artists, all of whom have made one of a kind wearable work priced at $500 or less.

Begins June 26, Available online July 1. Opening Party, June 27, 6-9pm

Included in this show is one of my favorites, Arthur Hash, (whose necklace I wore during my Natural Selection show at Velvet da Vinci--remember, loyal readers?) He's showing us how to make a ring his way. Mr. Hash has been doing some very interesting cad-cam work, which you can read about on his blog The Art Escape Plan.






Participating artists: Efharis Alepedis Jon Anzalone Suzanne Beautyman Jamie Bennett Harriet Estelle Berman Thyra Bessette Danika Bevirt Melanie Bilenker Kristin Bolhuis Allyson Bone Melissa Borrell Jana Brevick Lola Brooks Doug Bucci Raissa Bump Sarah Kate Burgess Tzu-Ju Chen Sharon Church Petra Class Alexia Cohen Erin Daily Leslie Dickerson Noam Elyashiv Ashley Ernest Pat Flynn Steven Ford David Forlano Susie Ganch Erin Gardner Grace Gerfen Caroline Gore Rebecca Hannon Arthur Hash Amy Haskins Anna Hinkes Reiko Ishiyama Dan Jocz Yevgeniya Kaganovich Lauren Kalman Anya Kivarkis Shoko Kozu Seung-Hea Lee Anna Lorich Sharon Massey Paul McClure Bruce Metcalf Myra Mimlitsch-Gray Seth Papac Joan Parcher Mary Pearse Hilary Pfeifer Maria Phillips Natalya Pinchuk Robin Quigley Tina Rath Alexandra Rivera Shella Robinson Vera Rust Biba Schutz Barbara Seidenath Sondra Sherman Leslie Shershow Sakurako Shimizu Marjorie Simon Kiff Slemmons Barbara Smith Tracy Steepy Rebecca Strzelec Kristin Sword Hisano Takei Islay Taylor Amelia Toelke Jenn Trask Sarah Troper Julia Turner Johan Van Aswegen Veleta Vancza Jonathan Wahl Stacey Webber Brian Weissman Heather White Joe Wood Sayumi Yokouchi

new craft blogs alert!

Just found out about this blog from Australia called "CLOG" (craft+blog....get it?)
Looks great. Just wanted to share. Click here and carry on.

this link came via Susan Lomuto, who writes her own craft blog, updated daily! Click here to read the Daily Art Muse

Hello San Francisco!

If you're in the Bay Area tonight or in the next month, pop on over to Velvet da Vinci for a long-awaited showing of new sculptural work by Tom Hill whose statement reads: "The starting point, as always for me, was drawing. Usually drawing is something I do in sketchbooks, which I then go on to use as information to make sculptural pieces. I have occasionally shown framed study drawings with my work but for this exhibition I decided to make a series of cut-out, freestanding images that would form a kind of "stage set" in which a group of three-dimensional pieces could be placed like actors in a play. The drawings are made on thick mount board. I make a multi-piece stencil and spray with enamel paint to form the initial surface. These pieces are then worked into with Indian ink … both the ink and the enamel paint have a luminous kind of finish … I wanted clean bright colours , like a children's illustrated book ; think "Where the Wild Things Are" . Also showing is some amazing anodized jewelry by Jane Adam. I am sad I won't be able to be there to see this work, but if you go, please tell them I sent you!

posthumously yours....

If you wanted to choose one icon to be remembered by, what would it be? I have thought about this ever since being exposed to the fantastic tradition of creative "fantasy" coffins that are commonplace in Ghana. In this culture, people (I assume it's the people who can afford it) are buried in a handmade coffin that reflects something important to them in their life. Here--I'll take you through a little photo gallery of some of these functional artworks:





The other day, a friend of mine emailed to say that he's off to Ghana to work as an apprentice to Eric Adjetey Anang who makes Fantasy Coffins. Anang and his coffins were profiled in a commercial for a soft drink company--even though it's an ad, it tells a nice story about what's going on:


Here's a link to my friend Michael DeForest's blog, if you want to follow along with me on the fantastical journey he's sure to have. He's still en route as I write this, but it should be rolling in a few days. (Click here to read it)

it's that time of year...

Every June, I wipe a wee tear from the corner of my eye, thinking back on the best summer of my life: the summer residency at the Wood Turning Center in Philadelphia. They're at it again, and this year, the residents are all participating in a blog to keep us up on the nitty gritty details. (I hope we'll get some juicy gossip this time!!) Click here to read the blog.


And here's a video on the super project that the Wood Turning Center is working on--to purchase the historic John Grass building in Olde City section of Philadelphia and move their center over there. What is John Grass, you ask? The John Grass Wood Turning Company is a fully-functional wood shop, founded in 1863 in Philadelphia, when the city was known as The Workshop of the World. The John Grass Task Force, formed in 2006, is seeking assistance from individuals, corporations, institutions, and governments to help save this unique, historic time-capsule which contains working machinery and ephemera from 150+ years of operation as a production wood turning shop. Items produced at the John Grass shop includes replacement ballustrades for Philadelphia's Independance Hall and Christ Church, and night sticks for the Philadelphia Police Department. To make a donation to support this effort, contact the Wood Turning Center, whose information is at the end of the video.

curso verso

I'm going to have to have my sweetie explain how this works to me later...

click here and move your mouse across the screen to see what I mean.

via swissmiss

great business card design

In these rough economic times, this seems like a really smart way to have a beautiful and memorable design work for multiple people under one organizational umbrella.

Ffffound here via ffffound

tan the man

Finnish artist Janine Rewell has found a neat and tidy way to block off parts of the human body with vinyl adhesive stickers and has her subjects sit in a tanning booth. The project is called Tan the Man.

I tried my own version of this at age 14, using vinyl letters of my then boyfriend's name and baby oil. My results were not successful, as the sun caused my skin to sweat and the letters slowly slid off my shoulder over the course of the tanning session. I'm so glad that modern technology (and a little more tecnical prowess) has allowed this idea to finally be realized!


via How

felty deliciousness

Click here to see a stunning panorama shot of a Kentucky man's basement, which he decorated with ivory paint and $10 worth of Sharpie pens! I love all the art history references, not to mention the continuity/follow-through it obviously took to make this happen.