Whose line is it?

We're talking pictoral calligraphy.
I've always enjoyed it. I just never knew it had a name.



Taken from the nearly lost art of ornate pictorial calligraphy, or “flourishing”, Thomas Paul makes these dinner plates 11' diam (set of four $36) and coasters 4 1/2" diam. (set of four $14) http://www.velocityartanddesign.com



Okay even this rug's got modern geometry meeting organic shapes. It looks a bit like ornate challigraphy to me! Pretty nice in it's subtlety. Guess where it's from? Hint: one of my favorite stores. Target (pronounced tar-shjay). Zurich Rug - Twilight (10'9"x13'2") $1,139.99 Perhaps this "Lost Art" is not so lost anymore.

For the space saver

A very cool idea-especially for us short-on-space. A chandelier made of wine glasses. So simple and practical, yet elegant. It's designed by two architects in Sweden view their site at www.nasielsky.se


Rather make one yourself? This one's from another blogger www.swiss-miss.com
3 bicycle braking cables
2 circles made out of plexiglass
1 efficiency bulb
+
Lots of wine glasses
=
Koope, a chandelier designed by Phillipe, a swiss architecture student.

Maybe try it with champagne flutes as well.

Look around and smell the roses

The Bayard-Condict Building built in 1897-1899 by Architect, Louis Sullivan. His only building in New York City. I had to do research on this-it's just gorgeous, restored in 2000. Sullivan coined the phrase "Form ever follows function" and Mies van der Rohe later said "form IS function". I love how the organic ornamentation is so integral to the building design. It was certainly not a decorative afterthought. Interestingly, Frank Lloyd Wright worked up to becoming Sullivan's chief draftsman. (And later, was asked to design Sullivan's home.)

Happenstance

This is a wood fired piece fresh out of the kiln. Wood firing is known as a high firing process the temperature gets up to cone 10. The kiln needs round the clock stoking of wood to reach the final temperature. The firing goes on for 3-5 days with a cooling down period of 5 days. This piece is made of white stoneware that was put in the kiln naked, no glaze. I'm pretty stoked about this piece. It measures about 6 inches high. It's retro seventies looking with the earthy colors and groovy design. The even cooler thing is, I didn't have much to do with it-it's all in the firing.

For my own education, I looked up artists working with wood firing and discovered John Benn and Colleen Gallagher. Of course, they're already discovered, but it's my first time with them. I was curious to see what others results are for wood firing.




According to their webpage, " John and Colleen fire in two wood burning kilns: a salt kiln with a Bourry-style firebox and a 25 foot long Noborigama/train kiln. John and Colleen have been professional studio potters for 27 years. John (MFA, Art Institute of Chicago) has been a Studio Potter in Washington since 1979. Colleen studied ceramics with Ka Kwong Hui at Rutgers University and studio art in the MFA Program at Pratt Institute in New York (MFA, University of Puget Sound). Their work has won awards in the United States and internationally and can be seen in private collections, museums and public art projects. Their commitment to woodfiring is obsessive."

Maybe when I'm in Seattle, I'll have to look them up. They also show work at the Island Gallery on Bainbridge Island, WA.
And that's the end of our lesson for today ;-).

Bird Day Collage

I made this for a dear friend turning 50--I mean 30. I had a lot of fun putting it together and coming up with materials. I used the New Yorker for sections of words. Her birthday was a dinner- thus "Dinner with Relatives" on the birds wing. There are also the words "birthday cake" and "I love you, man". It's been a long time since I've made one of these. I'll have to remember to do one more often!

In memory of Dave

Another inspiration, our cat, Dave who lived to a ripe old age of 14. He had a terrific demeanor, very chill, mellow and loved to be the cat rug in the middle of the kitchen. Particularly when you were in the midst of cooking dinner or trying to get breakfast and lunch together in the mornings.

At his heaviest he was 25 pounds-so we put him on a diet in 2004. Then he trimmed down to a svelte 18 lbs. My favorite (one day I'll find the photo) was when he'd go to sleep on his back with all four legs hanging in the air. He was Kaleo's best buddy, was great with kids. Just purred away. We will miss him.

Dim Sum Sunday

Took a trip to China town and got some great Dim Sum at Red Egg. The first thing I noticed was the ceiling fixtures. Very simple slatted beams with long lightbulbs interspersed through the slats. Nice idea. In the alcove area, on my way to the restroom, a stunning spectacle. This time the ceiling was studded with round mirrors like giant thumbtacks, half reflective coated light bulbs hung (see?). Soo cool - even at 12 on Sunday.

There are no carts here. You place an order marking up your on order card, hand it to the waitstaff and your dim sum arrives sans the cart search. The food was delish! Excellent roast pork buns.....yummmm. And the decor was really great too. So I did alittle research and discovered that Red Egg has gotten quite a bit of press. It was designed by Openshop Studio, cool website too. www.openshopstudio.com/