69°S


I really hate asking people for money, but, it is definitely easier asking for money for someone else. So, I am appealing to you all to head on over to Kickstarter and help fund 69°S.: The Final Stage. 69°S. is the latest production from Phantom Limb—founded and directed by the super talented Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko. For 69°S., they are collaborating with an amazing group of artists, including the Kronos Quartet. It looks like it will be really fantastic, but they need some help making it as great as possible, and as they say, “every little bit helps.”

A few more reasons you should help:
Jessica and Eric are awesome, their work is awesome and their puppets are awesome. You can even see their place over on The Selby, if you need more proof of how cool they are. And, as even further proof that this is a worthwhile project, Kickstarter has made them the Project of the Day, which is really saying something considering all of the great projects they have to choose from. So, if you can, please help them realize this amazing artwork.

A Wheatfield with Cypresses

I love this living painting — a “cover version” of Van Gogh’s A Wheatfield, with Cypresses from 1889 — composed using plants rather than paint. Created by ans, using over 8,000 plants, the wall was built with sponsorship from GE as part of  The National Gallery’s greening campaign. The painted masterpiece can be seen at The National Gallery and the living masterpiece can be seen outside in Trafalgar Square until October 2011. More images can bee seen here — so pretty.


via TreeHugger

Michelle Forsyth

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I just discovered Michelle Forsyth‘s work over on The Jealous Curator, and I love it. What from a distance appears to appears to be a mosaic or pointillist painting is actually a grid of cut paper, felt and beads. Her methods remind me of a crafty mixed-media Chuck Close. I think the detail shots are great and would love to see this work in person.

… Each piece documents a site of disaster re-photographed by me years after the event has occurred. Part requiem and part obsession, these pieces are a testament to those who have suffered there in the past. Each piece made in Ostinatos has a counterpart that exists as part of One Hundred Drawings and although both series are drawn from images of the same site, each piece has been generated from a different photograph and bears a different vantage point. Throughout my travels to each site, I have noticed many flowers. While cut flowers have been placed on the sites to mark a loss and secure a memory, others have grown on the sites simultaneously hiding and healing the scars of each disastrous event.

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David Fullarton

We Experts are always on the lookout for new (or at least new-to-us) artists over whose work we can swoon. This time it’s David Fullarton.

Fullarton’s art celebrates the banality of daily life, interpersonal communication and modern culture with obsessive humor and observational wit. He plays with context and gives simple phrases new meaning through their juxtaposition with unexpected imagery.

Charts and graphs that embody uncomfortable silences and compulsive criticism? Passive-aggressive faux bulletin-board messages? Notebooks filled with intimate trivialities and ephemera? Miscellany, words and understated colors? Count me in.

Originally from Scotland, Fullarton lives in San Francisco (!) with his wife and kids.

I love so much of Fullarton’s work that it’s difficult for me to pare it down to fit in a post, so enjoy more pieces after the jump.

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Intrigued? Here’s LOTS more! Continue reading David Fullarton

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We’ve just wrapped up our last holiday sale of the year, whew! It was the RISD Alumni sale, which has somewhat of a different crowd (and vendors) than our usual craft fair. A snippet of dialogue overheard in the morning: “What’s RISD?” / “It’s the Rhode Island School of Design, the best art school in the country” / “Oh… Like, the street!” Non-SF readers please note that Rhode Island is a street in the Potrero Hill neighborhood. SF readers, please note that it also is a state. Oh and that’s where the best art school in the country is, y’all.

Here’s some of our fellow alumni who were there with stellar work.

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hk designs | Hiroko Kurihara
I got Sam one of her scarves a few years back: for every one of her items purchased she donates a polarfleece blanket to the homeless, which is a fantastically inspiring programs. Also, the felted wool scarves/blankets etc are superb and beautiful.

Pie Bird Press | Hannah Berman
We’re not in the habit of talking up other cardmakers but Hannah’s cards are really pretty special. You may have seen her work at Paper Source, on etsy (where you didn’t believe it could really be letterpress) or in magazines. Most letterpress work shies away from this sort of ink coverage, but she has giant swaths of bold color down.

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Hillary Bird
While we’re on other cardmakers… we’re proud to welcome Ms. Bird, whose indie-quirky sensibilities and hybrid of analog and digital techniques makes charmingly cute cards and prints.

Sarah Richardson Jewelry
Sarah’s had a ton of really beautiful jewelry, but her pod series in sterling silver is gorgeous (look for Sam to be sportin’ one soon), and she was super friendly with advice for us on making a living from our art.

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Lian Ng for PubliQue
His lasercut PopMats are so elegant and clever it’s hard to imagine throwing the fête that would be their match; this year there were votive holders as well that fold into a really interesting shape.

Mediums to Masses | Sarah Hirneisen
Sarah makes screenprinted glass jewelry, dishes and coasters under the name Mediums to Masses. But she’s definitely a consummate artist: not content to just have a successful product line, she’s produced a lot of thoughtful installation and gallery pieces too.

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Eieio | Jean Orlebeck
We saw Eieio papers first like 8 years ago at Flax. They are some of the most elegant modern giftwraps (and endpapers) around, and the original design from way back then remains fresh and charming.

Aaron Silverstein
I think the photo-guided laser-cut ornaments and votive holders he was selling (and selling out of) at the show were slightly different than these, which he designed for Roost, but no less beautiful. Poking around his website for images of them, I found a range of remarkable work that I would love to see (and own); a fantastically talented industrial designer with elegant lines and a special attunement to nature’s forms.

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James Cogbill
James had tshirts of this painting based on Midwestern fields for sale that I totally was coveting. His thoughtful abstractions wouldn’t seem out of place on my favorite blog but does it float

Daniel Oakley | Oliblock
Oliblock: Like Lego Technics met Frank Gehry, magnetic and interlocking and awesome.

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I’ve been admiring Australian artist, Nicholas Jones’ work from afar for years. It’s amazing what shapes and textures he creates with each book.

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Tracciamenti’s dresses

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I first saw Tracciamenti’s work a few months ago on but does it float, and I haven’t really stopped thinking about it since. I’m totally into the synthesis of geometry and art, and think her drawings and collages are beautifully executed.

You can view a ton of her work at flickr, and a few prints and drawings are available for purchase here.

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Continue reading Tracciamenti’s dresses

Marc Johns — Serious Drawings

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I am really enjoying Marc Johns’ drawings. He has so many that are so awesome that it’s very difficult to choose a favorite, but here are some that I thought are pretty great. Check out a ton more of his work, or just go ahead and buy his book.

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Continue reading Marc Johns — Serious Drawings

Lauris Paulus – Rewind

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A series of stunning photographs of statuary with videoesque distortion by Swiss artist Lauris Paulus. Three questions:

  • Would we have looked at these differently 20 years ago, when horizontal bands of video distortion weren’t a sort of artifact themselves? I think yes.
  • What do you want to bet we’ll see a trade paperback book cover (matte stock of course) using that last one in the next half year? It’d make a lovely reprint of Brave New World. For that matter the first one could serve to update Chip Kidd’s original cover for The Secret History, and if I were tasked with covering a book on celebrity culture, I’d definitely make one comp using the David one.
  • Is Lauris a man’s or woman’s name? Good question. Man. Here’s a picture of him with his cat.

via the incomparable But Does It Float

Dois Tempos

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A while back we posted about the Vai Com Deus, the amazing typographic facade done by R2 Design in Portugal. Well, it looks like R2 has done it again, but this time it’s newspaper headlines set in Neutra Slab with the addition of photo-luminescent ink. I think prefer the white-on-white color scheme of Vai Com Deus, but Dois Tempos looks pretty rad too. View more images of Dois Tempos here, or go to Portugal and see it for yourself before January 31, 2010.

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Photos by Fernando Guerra

Continue reading Dois Tempos

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