When we heard the news that a dear one had entered hospice, we booked a flight, packed our bags, and started on the long journey to her, not knowing what the path ahead might bring.
Read MoreSpring Delight: Parsnip Fries
Spring is parsnip season, the spicy-sweet root vegetable that looks like a plump pale yellow carrot. My favorite way to cook them is to cut them into sticks, slick them with olive oil or melted butter and roasted them to make Parsnip Fries. I learned the dead-simple technique from Anne Disrude, one of the best cooks…
Read MoreExpand Your Emoji + Emoticon Vocabulary …and make ART
Emoticons and emojis are being so widely used that we’ve been hearing news reports that they might possible become a new language: a sort of modern day hieroglyphics. Artists like Cindy Sherman have devised her own set of emojis which she’s offering as a free download. Although we love possibilities in the realm of emojis (see more below), we like the constraints of making emoticons using just keyboard symbols…
Read MoreThe Reinvention of Normal (Dominic Wilcox)
(Video link here.) Over the years, we’ve published quite a few of artist/inventor/designer Domnic Wilcox‘s brilliant rethinking of ordinary objects, documented on his site Variations on Normal. We love that Wilcox constantly challenges “normal” because “normal” is often so terribly limiting. And as Wilcox shows, its FUN and illuminating to think outside the normal box.…
Read MoreLook At the ‘Do’ a Field of Sunflowers Inspired
Annals of Misleading Design: Chilewich Dahlia Coasters
Chilewich, maker of now-iconic, minimalist woven polypropylene floor mats we’ve admired, recently introduced their Dahlia Coasters. Their website shows icy drinks resting on the coaster (one with an ice bucket in the background), calls them “coasters” and claims “these functional designs will enhance and elevate your dining experience“. But at the end of the enticing copy is…
Read MoreCommunity Starts with One, Saying YES
These three surprising examples of communities reminds us that community starts with one person reaching out, taking action…and then another, and another….
Read MoreA Tree’s Energy of Strength, Beauty and Balance
Need some? Here you go! via One Big Photo with thanks to Christopher Eldredge?
Read MoreA Hidden Pocket Door Surprises with Color
Pocket doors largely lay hidden UNTIL they are pulled closed. We love the surprise of this yellow-painted door: an instant volume of color to shift a space. Pink perhaps or dark dark gray? The effect works best with a simple flat panel door. And then, of course, there are many possibilities for patterns and signs…
Read MoreChris Burden: “”Limits’ is a Relative Term”
(Video link here. We recommend watching with the sound OFF.) We were stunned to hear that artist Chris Burden died last week at the age of 69. Known for pushing limits, Burden used his own body as art material in extraordinarily violent and shocking ways, until he moved into other forms of sculpture. Just two months ago, when we…
Read MoreHolly Soloman’s Kitchen: “A Painting I Can Walk Into”
In the annals of kitchen design, art collector/dealer Holly Soloman‘s has to be one of the most out-there. The dazzling, mind-boggling riot of colored mosaic was created artist Dorren Gallo as an on-site installation in the eighties. Solomon said to the New York Times in 1984, “I don’t know how to find an egg in it. But for me…
Read MoreEmerge into a New Week
Spring Quickie: Asparagus with a Fried Egg + Parmigiano-Reggiano
On nights alone, one of my favorite meals is pan-steamed asparagus, tossed with Parmigiano Reggiano and a soft-yolk fried egg, a dish I first had in Italy. When broken, the runny egg and cheese combine to make a creamy sauce for the asparagus. The dish is fast, healthful and supremely satisfying; it exemplifies the ingenious simplicity…
Read MoreWondrous Spinning Gif + Anne Herbert’s Inimitable Wisdom
We love this beauty of a gif from the great intepid gif-artist DVDP. It reminds us of the very wise words of the mysterious Anne Herbert:
Read MoreThe Lunar Magic of Solar Lanterns + Solar Cell Stars
On the heels of our post about Staging a Summer Party with Modest Means, frequent contributor Susan Dworski sent this email about Shoji Solar Lanterns, an essential, inexpensive, mood-enhancing element that are, in her words “Pretty damned lunar at night”: Ironically, I just replaced my tattered red Shoji solars yesterday with the familiar bluebird ones. They are…
Read MoreFrida Kahlo’s Artful Wardrobe, Painted Casts and All
Frida Kahlo, confined in terrible casts most of life, painted them, transformed them into something beautiful, expressive; she turned them into art. Recently, we found a trove of powerful images by photograher Ishiuchi Miyako of Kahlo’s wardrobe, in remarkable detail. Each item is evidence of her powerful drive to self expression, despite wounds, setbacks and handicaps.
Read MoreDIY? Room Screen of Colored Slats
While checking out the work of designer Meike Hardeeike Harde, we were intrigued by her wooden aquarelle room screen. We’re always looking for clever, mutable ways to divide our space or hide an in-process project. We were pleased to see that, like Max Lamb, Harde SHARES her process, allowing us to take her ideas and RUN.
Read MoreHair as Personal, Cultural, Historical Artform
Nigerian photographer J. D. ’Okhai Ojeikere spent more than thirty years traveling across Nigeria documenting hundreds of braided “Tall House” styles that appeared after Lagos gained independence from Britain in 1960. He took close to 1,000 portraits of different braids, twists, plaits and buns, each carrying a distinct meaning. For us, they are examples of personal expression taken to wondrous heights with the most elemental of materials.
Read MoreA Minature Tabletop Pond of Floating Blossoms
At Maria Robledo‘s house the other evening, a huge glass bowl of floating blossoms and petals replaced the usual flowers on the dining table: a charming and surprising “pond” made from three simple elements: a bowl + water + blossoms or flower petals.
Read MoreCharles Ray: “The Difference Between Making and Discovering”
We were stunned by a number of passages in “Meaning Machines“, the New Yorker’s recent profile of sculptor Charles Ray. The first has to do with “making”, something we do a lot of, but we’d never thought about it quite this way. Like Ray, we are haunted by it:
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