Alexander Calder

The Bathroom As Incubator of Ideas

The bathroom is the one place where I find mindfulness overrated. It is a lovely place to read, write, draw. Look at all the way it can be an incubator of ideas.

Chandelier from 1980’s Berlin and Alexander Calder “On the Cutting Edge of Architectural Experimentation”

We found this divine, completely original and inspired chandelier buried in MondoBlogo’s riff on 1980’s interiors. It’s right up there with this ceiling light Alexander Calder fashioned for his friend Miro.

How to Make Friends with a Work of Art

I must have been eight or so when my father took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to give me a seminal lesson about art that resonates more than ever.

Sandra Calder Davidson’s Brilliant Lesson in Self-Correction (+ Bo Diddley)

A big part of what Improvised Life does is challenge assumptions, whether it be how our space is supposed to look, or what we are supposed to be doing, or HOW WE ARE THINKING. So we love and appreciate Sandra Davidson’s Pink Fluff…

Spirals that Focus a Distracted Mind

Just about every creative person we know has something of a “monkey brain” that can run off in too many directions to get much done. So they figure out personal ways to corral and focus their minds to get their priority work done. Mira Keras’ recently came up with a compelling practice, that is also fun:…

A Reminder to Always Look UP

In the midst of our recent hospital siege, we received a number of very cool emails from friends and readers. This one from Ellen Silverman: So often we forget to look up, especially in a congested public space. This afternoon as we were saying goodbye to Luca in terminal 4 at JFK, Josh happened to…

Use the Right Tools for the Job and Hack Them If Necessary

This image exemplifies the great sculptor Alexander Calder; we feel the tactile sense of the massive tin snips that he customized with little bands of wire afixed with string to make them more powerful. The guy was fearless in his use of materials and tools; he just went AT them and made things. His output was immense,…

the unexpected beauty of tin can vessels (labels off!)

This image from Elle Decoration reminded us of the wonderful design of the ubiquitous tin can once it’s label is torn off. They really do make great vessels. Tin cans must be in the wind. Yesterday, we came across these zinc chic-ed up can vessels for sale at Anthropolgie.

divine inspiration: calder.org

(Video link here.) You could say that the renowned artist Alexander Calder, the creator of the mobile, was a major influence on ‘the improvised life’. When I was 13 or so, I babysat his grandkids, and first saw his work around their house: a mobile casually placed on a dining table, household objects made of wire…

red brick floors in a restored farmhouse

dig this swell red brick floor (like alexander calder’s)

This lovely brick floor spotted at Style Files reminded us of the floor Alexander Calder installed in the huge windowed studio he added on to his Connecticut farmhouse. It was made of the most ordinary of materials – sans mortar or cement.

bedtime reading: ‘calder at home’

Sleep doctors say that it’s important to wind down before going to sleep: no TV or computer that activates the brain, no magazines full of dire ‘reality’. Read fiction to get your mind in a quieter zone… My solution is, often, to look at picture books of interiors, houses, furniture design: an adult version of…

alexander calder’s inspired bathroom improvisations

…a bit of inspiration from one of our favorite books, Calder at Home: The Joyous Environment of Alexander Calder, by Pedro Guerrero. The book documents the artist’s amazing way with the most ordinary household objects, including le toilet. Who else would think to paint the underside of a toilet seat and make a visual SURPRISE, or a…

calder’s improvised life: iron garden chair barbeque grill

Of all the brilliant artists we feature on ‘the improvised life’, Alexander Calder holds a special place in our hearts. In addition to his monumental artworks and legendary mobiles, he was a prolific creator of household objects for everyday use. If he or his wife Louisa or a friend needed something utilitarian, he would devise…

cinder block houses + studios (via alexander calder)

For the past few years, we’ve been learning about how beautiful concrete blocks can be as a building material. The latest “lesson” came with a visit to the late Alexander Calder’s home in Connecticut for a birthday party for his daughter, who is a friend of ours. An artist who worked in a wide variety of…

calder via ‘world of interiors’ + ‘the improvised life’

The other day we got an email from our friend A.S.C. Rower, President of the Calder Foundation (we know him as Sandy). It’s subject line read: “More Noise Please!” The title of a poem by the late Steven J. Bernstein, a mutual friend, was the go-ahead for ‘the improvised life’ to feature posts about Rower’s grandfather,…

a better version of calder’s amazing ad + our thanks

After we published A New Year’s Wish Spirals On, with our not-great scan of a copy of the crumbling 45-year-old page from the New York Times, Laura Scott, a reader we have never met, wrote us. A librarian with access to the Historical New York Times Database, she hunted down the original astonishing ad that…