poetic gesture

In light of the season, this post caught my attention about mysterious paper sculptures magically appearing in the city of Edinburgh's public libraries. Earlier in the year, exquisitely crafted small works of art were discovered with notes attached supporting public libraries & the written word, & no one knows whence they came.

It started with your name @byleaveswelive and became a tree.… ... We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books… a book is so much more than pages full of words.… This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas….. a gesture (poetic maybe?)

My favorite piece is the wing made from book pages. Incredible.

Here's to public art & anonymous gifts! Inspires me to hatch a little plan myself...

more here

thanks, desha!

diy details

After of a sweet little flower shop renovation. Love the contrast of the wood & white laminate flooring, & the vein of mirrored tile that seams them together. The dark, rough-hewn molding juxtaposed against bright white & the pendant lights made from exhaust fans are simply wonderful.

from here

sticks and bricks

Pioneer Valley shop sticks and bricks, run by a talented duo who rescues old furniture & gives pieces new life by reupholstering & refinishing them, adding their unique artistic touches: poems hammered onto tabletops with letterpress tiles; flowers & designs etched into surfaces, then left raw when the rest of the piece is painted or stained; shelves & cupboards re-imagined into quirky & comely different functional pieces.

I always make a point of stopping in when in Northampton, Massachusetts, to see the latest projects they've dreamed up, as well as browse their wonderful collection of jewelry, housewares & art made by local artists & artisans.

The sticks and bricks team also did the interior design along with a team of local artisans for local café roost - worth checking out for its beautiful farmhouse-industrial chic.

from here

lit up

A simple & dramatic DIY project that requires glue, scrap paper cut into long strips, an old paper lantern, & nothing more. I love how in the topmost photo the lady in the small portrait appears to be gazing up at it with admiration.

from here

forts for grown-ups

I need one of these for my back yard. 

 

Suzanne Husky's Sleeper Cells blend beautifully into the outdoors, like cozy little hedgehogs or beehives, providing a small space of one's own in which to get away. Recently chosen to be one of the artists in this year's Bay Area Now at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Suzanne is an inspiring mult-disciplinary artist who talks about her thought-provoking & environmentally responsible approach to art in an interview here.

from here

illuminated upholstery

I love the idea of re-using fabric such as burlap grain sacks to reupholster furniture, what with the fantastic images & fonts that are often imprinted on them advertising coffee & flour companies from around the world. However, I have always wondered, having some first-hand experience lounging on bags of green coffee beans from the days when my husband roasted coffee, how comfortable that would actually be, especially on a hot, humid summer day. A new printing technology developed by a couple of members of the Los Angeles artist collective The Brewery have made printing bright & clear images on more lounge-friendly fabrics possible. Even better, the technology creates vivid images without any chemical treatment or process. Using the process on recycled fabrics - now that's a match made in heaven. 

I do still plan on making a stack of floor pillows from coffee bags for extra indoor & outdoor seating - bean bag chairs, anyone?

check out LUMI CO here

from here

transformative

We were very fortunate to catch an exhibition by Brian Jungen, an artist from British Columbia with Dunne-za ancestry, at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal a few years ago, a show whose inspiration stays with me to this day. Brian's playful wit & outstanding craftsmanship combine to create thought-provoking pieces which comment on the juncture between First Nations culture & contemporary consumerism by working everyday objects into traditional designs & natural objects. Plastic lawn chairs were transformed into an enormous whale skeleton that floated across the gallery, & sneakers were transmogrified into masks which, when suspended from the ceiling, recalled a ghostly ritual. Baseball skins reconfigured & stitched into a skull-like mask made for a melancholy sentinel between the two worlds.

photos from here

staple city

It took Peter Root 40 hours to assemble his work, Ephemicropolis, transforming the lowly inhabitant of the office supply cabinet to a perfectly steely gothic cityscape.

be sure to check out the making of film

from here

handmade for the holidays

I love these sweet handmade ornaments made by Abbey Hendrickson, artist & creative force behind Aesthetic Outburst, a fantastic & inspirational blog you should check out if you haven't discovered & fallen in love with it already. Part of her 20 in 20 challenge, Abbey is making one multi-purpose non-denominational ornament a day, charming little assemblages that would look lovely hanging up all year round, or as fabulous party or wedding favors, etc.

Abbey will be posting a new creation every day, so be sure to check into her blog daily to see what she's come up with, & consider joining in on the challenge yourself...

cut it out

Pavel Sidorenko

Andy Singleton

I love these deep black cutouts, made from very different materials for equally different applications. The rich depth of detail & the shadows cast stand out so nicely against the high contrast of a white wall.