Monday, February 28, 2011



(All photos courtesy of http://deyoung.famsf.org/)

OLMEC: COLOSSAL MASTERWORKS
OF ANCIENT MEXICO @ DE YOUNG

This past Saturday, I was able to take a trip to the de Young Museum (which deserves a post of its own by the way. The building itself is beautiful!) to see the Olmec show. The Olmec civilization was the oldest of the Americas, dating back to about 1500–400 BC and was situated in and around modern-day Veracruz and Tabasco, Mexico.

Out of stone boulders, they carved enormous heads (like the one above) that weigh up to a whopping 24 tons (48,000 lbs!) The heads that are included in the show are in pristine shape....every curve of the eyelids, lips and cheeks is simply breathtaking. To counter this, there are other sculptures/masks not more than an inch tall, with the most detailed features. There's one carved out of jade that I unfortunately wasn't allowed to take a photo of...but is embedded in my memory. Gorgeous!

Read more about the show here.


Thursday, February 24, 2011


SO HERE'S THE THING...

Sometimes when I find stuff on the web that inspires me, I copy it to my desktop, and then somehow it ends up in some random folder. This is the story behind this gorgeous thing...and unfortunately I have no memory of where I saw this or who created it.

But rather than keep this beauty to myself, I'm deciding to share it with the world. It's so lovely, I want to cry!

If anyone out there knows where this came from, please leave a comment!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011


OH MY....

How I love these so. These were created by the one and only Paul Rand. The first is a poster for the Poster for Aspen Design Conference in 1966. The second was created for Pastore Depamphilis, Rampone in 1985 and just makes me feel swell.


Thursday, February 17, 2011


PARRA

I love getting a peek into artists' homes and studios. Check out this piece about Amsterdam-based illustrator, Parra.

I used to have some of his pieces tacked to my office wall, so watching this makes me reminisce a bit...

See more of his work here.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

  Image courtesy of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (photo by Marion Brenner)
Image courtesy of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (photo by Marion Brenner)



 
Block cutting instructions. Original Thom Faulders image appears on dwell.com.


THOM FAULDERS / BAMscape

I don't know what it is, but I've been somewhat obsessed with orange lately. So naturally, I had to crack a smile when I came across this.

Faulders Studio, headed by architect Thom Faulders created this group of undulating orange waves to fit in with the new vision for Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive's central atrium gallery. Its purpose is to serve as a space to convene for lounging, watching live performances and film screenings. And it doesn't just look playful and light. The sculptures are 93% air, made of rigid foam structural substrate and laminated with painted plywood.

The result is a sea of orange happiness. Like Tang!



Monday, February 14, 2011



...So this seemed appropriate today for various reasons. The image at top is supposed to represent "Scorpio."

These appeared as part of a "Zodiac" story for Vogue UK, photographed by Tim Gutt. Set designs by Shona Heath. Check it out (thanks Yellowtrace!) 

Thursday, February 10, 2011






GREETINGS FROM
THE TWILIGHT ZONE

I stopped by a pretty great magazine/book shop in Piedmont today with a pretty great name: Issues. Picked up the latest issue of Elephant, and discovered Julien Pacaud, digital collage extraordinaire. Using vintage photos taken between 1900–1960, Julien layers them with bold color and modern shapes. The result? Surreal and otherworldly environments that keep me looking over my shoulder for Rod Serling.

See more from the Le Mans, France-based artist ici.


Tuesday, February 8, 2011



  


SAIL AWAY WITH ME...

I just love this.

I know I'm late and all, but I've recently become somewhat enamored with Etsy. I purchased a couple of things on there in the last few weeks, and today, I found this.

Based in the UK, Cotton Bird Designs create some of the cutest things ever out of vintage fabrics, maps, old books etc.

I mean, just take a look at this one. A bird fastened out of a flour sack. A FLOUR SACK.

The little boat above was made using recycled books and maps. My favorite part is the red hull, made from a book cover.

Buy it here!