sometimes you need a little warning...

from tennessee based yee-haw letterpress - via here and here.

artistic appreciation: daniaelle simonsen

Atonement © Daniaelle Simonsen 2010 (source)

LA-based contemporary artist daniaelle simonsen primarily uses fabric and thread to create multidimensional images that (i think) are truly mystical and engaging!

just because it's so pretty: watercolour feather ring by golden ink.

yes, dreamy and pretty.

golden ink is a "small collaborative porcelain jewelery company from Melbourne Australia comprised of Abby Seymour and Katherine Wheeler. All porcelain wares are bespoke and exclusive."

ahhh...monday

friday fab/5

five fabulous things that are currently making me stop and say...hmmm, yes.

DIY thursday by bri! dyeing with wine!

(my friend bri graciously offered to be the guest DIY-er this week. thanks and take it away...)

For all you clumsy drunkards out there, this project is for you. 

just because it's so cool: metropolis II by chris burden

this kinetic sculpture by chris burden is just mesmerizing! seriously, if you are not convinced skip ahead to 4:44.

makes me wonder what happened to my old train set?

a picture & a poem: winter, etc.

winter love by linda gregg

------------

i would like to decorate this silence,   

but my house grows only cleaner

and more plain. the glass chimes i hung   

over the register ring a little

when the heat goes on.

i waited too long to drink my tea.   

it was not hot. it was only warm.

(image source)
(poem source)

artistic appreciation: steve powers!

source

since valentine's day is right around the corner...let's appreciate the work of artist steve powers (AKA espo) and his recent "love letter" project here in west philly.

total indulgence

so the story of the video above goes like this...i am starting a new design class this week and i need a flash drive for my assignment files. well, i grabbed a couple of the drives languishing in my desk drawer and the first one contained a "movie trailer" that i created for my animation class in 2000 (ouch) which strangely stars images of my brother and basically implies that he had a childhood of woe. i honestly would have never ever remembered that i made this, but watching it flooded me with late night computer lab memories...and had me laughing at/with the early 20s version of myself. i am posting the movie here as a pure indulgence to the younger me. sadly, this probably took me weeks in adobe after effects to create!!

hmmm...i do wish i remembered what i did with all the slides i scanned in to use for this project...maybe they are on another flash drive!?

(this does not seem to play on an iphone...sorry, i am not technical enough to know why??)

ahhh...monday

this is the start of a very busy couple of weeks...om/sigh.

(PS to philly folks: you must make a trip to see a free student recital at curtis. beyond the AMAZING young musicians, being in the curtis space (especially the building next to field hall) was like walking into another world. the cozy rooms, with dark wood walls and creaky floors, were filled with russian and german whispers...and sense of anticipation that made me feel like i could be anywhere but philadelphia.)

WEEKEND DISTRACTIONS: sense appreciation!

the opening night performance for nick cave's exhibition Let's C.
photo: james prinz

1. nick cave: let's C at the fabric workshop and museum!

this art is plainly more fuel for my texture addiction! added bonus: the fabric workshop is right next the AIA philadelphia bookstore and design center (which has very nice bathrooms if i may say so)...double whammy in sense overload.

the fabric workshop says: 

"The exhibition Let’s C highlights recent, prominent sculptural and performative works by Chicago-based artist Nick Cave. The exhibition features Cave’s iconic “Soundsuits”—which function in chorus as dance costumes, sculptures, and extensions of one’s persona—video of recent performance, and, for the first time, Architectural Forest: an ambitious, floor-to-ceiling installation of ornamented bamboo. For over two decades, Nick Cave has constructed Soundsuits out of a litany of unique, found materials, such as crocheted hats, plastic sandwich bags, gleaming buttons, stuffed animals, and other items from thrift stores, flea markets, and estate sales. Their sculptural form functions simultaneously to display and conceal through the visual references to the exuberance of masquerade and the protection of body armor."

DIY thursday: scrap paper pads for kids!

this DIY grew out of the fact that since i made bows for my niece last week, i needed to come up with a project that would round out the care package i'm sending to her and her brother. AND i (of course) seized on another opportunity to use up more of my scrap paper to create these cute little note pads with loose leaf rings.

a picture & a poem: thinking about inequality this week...

civil rights protestors stuck between tanks
and bayonets of the national guard - 1968

I, TOO, SING AMERICA by langston hughes

-------------------------------------

I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.
Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--
I, too, am America. 


(poem source)

artistic appreciation: phoebe washburn!

i present to you...installation artist phoebe washburn.

Phoebe Washburn in her studio - photo by Ashkan Sahihi

phoebe is after my own heart by "producing large-scale installations: assemblages of garbage, detritus, cardboard, scrap wood, and, more recently, organic matter such as sod or plants."

WEEKEND REVIEW: burrrrrrrr!

WEEKEND DISTRACTIONS: wendy has rhythm!

Daddy Tattoo, Philadelphia, 2004 - zoe strauss

1. zoe strauss dance party at the philadelphia museum of art!
this event celebrates the opening of the mid-career retrospective (zoe strauss: ten years) by the acclaimed local photographer zoe strauss. from the PMA website: strauss states that her ambition is “to create an epic narrative that reflects the beauty and struggle of everyday life.”

my gal pal wendy is the best dancer in these parts and i cannot wait to get my groove on with her and see this amazing show!

DIY thursday: BOW-tastic!

i wanted to make something this week to send to my adorable little niece who lives in wisconsin. it had to be an object that i could also wear...so we could match from afar. these little fabric bows were just the ticket!

a picture & a poem: sometimes laughter is the best medicine!

instances of wasted ingenuity by dara wier

--------

falling off a triangle.

putting two fighting fish in one bowl.

talking yourself into a headcold.

falling off a rectangle.

putting insects in ice cubes.

talking yourself out of doorways.

falling off a parallelogram.

talking into a microphone.

falling off a footstool.

putting earplugs in acorns.

looking into a teacup for trouble.

talking yourself out of breathing.

taking a nap on a drum set.

eating a peach with an air filter.

wearing a dress made of hand grenades.

talking a mudslide back up a mountain.

lighting a camp fire in a taxi stand.

launching a boat on a horse trail.

hiking in an elevator.

falling into an envelope.

discussing smuggling with customs officers.

taking a cat to a dog show.

falling in love with a toothache,

questioning your thumbprint.

looking for milk in a gas tank.

kissing hydraulic acid.

blindfolding a parking meter.

falling over a water tower.

reasoning with a baby.

(image source: sarah spurlock/pinterest)

(poem from the wonderful website poetryfoundation.org)

artistic appreciation! margaret kilgallen!

i present to you...work by margaret kilgallen.

please appreciate this contemporary artist who was inspired by folk art and the imperfections of the handmade/hand-drawn. i especially love how she incorporated typography and found paper into her work. 

WEEKEND REVIEW: sun time = fun time!

WEEKEND DISTRACTIONS: ahhh chilly january!

1. cocktail with my gal pal at the new restaurant down the street: lemon hill!
i have walked/biked by this place for the last few months...hoping (with crossed fingers) that something good was happening behind the closed doors. they finally reopened the space last week and although the menu is not entirely "sara-friendly", the buzz is good and the drink list/location/atmosphere make it visit worthy.

DIY thursday: random stuff collage magnets!

i was trying to figure out a fancy name for these...but really, to be honest, they are collages of random stuff made into magnets! i came up with this project because i have been ridding myself of the "random stuff" AKA the "i will use this small thing later stuff" and the "one day i will need this thingy." basically all the objects i used in this DIY were one step away from the rubbish bin!

a picture & a poem: looking ahead/looking back

burning the old year by naomi shihab nye

-----

letters swallow themselves in seconds.   

notes friends tied to the doorknob,   

transparent scarlet paper,

sizzle like moth wings,

marry the air.

so much of any year is flammable,   

lists of vegetables, partial poems.   

orange swirling flame of days,   

so little is a stone.

where there was something and suddenly isn’t,   

an absence shouts, celebrates, leaves a space.   

i begin again with the smallest numbers.

quick dance, shuffle of losses and leaves,   

only the things i didn’t do   

crackle after the blazing dies. 

(image by me)

(poem from the wonderful website poetryfoundation.org)

books i read last month

didn't realize that i read all these books until i looked for the pictures to create this post. i have a (bad?) habit of reading books back to back...with literally minutes between ending one and starting another. sadly, sometimes the stories run together and become a larger jumbled narrative!