artist spotlight: Andrew Myers

Have a gander at these amazing 3D portraits made out of screws by German artist, Andrew Myers! I wonder why Myers chose screws as his art medium? Why not nails, pencils, or cotton swabs? ;)
Any symbolic importance? I'm curious to know...

I love love love the one with the fan blowing parts of the man's face away! Very playful!

[ all images via Andrew Myers ]

artist spotlight: Katsumi Hayakawa

Adding green in the corner to symbolize a tree is a lovely touch to the rather overbuilt city. To me, this piece is reminiscent of an urban neighborhood lacking nature. Sad, but very very true.   

Japanese-born, New York-based artist Katsumi Hayakawa constructs densely layered sculptures that resemble, rather than replicate, overbuilt cityscapes. Hayakawa erects boxes of varying heights along a grid, leaving voids in the volumes that create another level of complexity. Instead of reading as individual 

buildings, the structures form an abstract composition.

I absolutely love the precision of his cuts as well as the way each purposely placed piece comes together to 

create the big picture - a complex, geometric world. 

all images via Katsumi Hayakawa

artist spotlight: patterns from above

Found these incredibly beautiful images on because i'm addicted today. Few things are as beautiful as the Earth from above. Agreed? Images via Patterns From Above

Eureka, CA

Salt Lake City, UT

Grand Prismatic Springs Yellowstone, WY

San Antonio, TX

San Antonio, TX

Caveman Ranch, UT

You can scoop up their 18″ x 18″ prints for $100/each on their site. 

artist spotlight: laurent laveder

I love the moon balloon one!

images via Pinterest

Pure creativity by French artist Laurent Laveder. His moon game photographs are beautiful, playful, and makes me wonder why I never thought of that! See more images by Laveder here.

artist spotlight: harriet heyman and acey harper

[Lauren J. Herley. Tiburon, California, 2009]

[Eve Diamond Feldman. Dogtown, Marin County, California, 2010]

[Lauren J. Herley. Sausalito, California, 2010]

[Breonna Noack. San Francisco, California, 2008]

[Kari Podgorski. Bolians, California, 2010]

[Alvin Tam (l) and Emmanuel Kizayilawoko (r). Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, 2009]

[Eve Diamond Feldman (l), Valerie Koechlin (c), and Stephanie Koechlin (r). San Francisco, California, 2009] 

all images via Private Acts: The Acrobat Sublime

Private Acts: The Acrobat Sublime is a multimedia project created by San Francisco based author Harriet Heyman and photographer Acey Harper that embraces and exposes in a new light - through photographs, essays, and video - acrobats and the acrobatic arts. 

Their collection, in a way, is visual poetry. It's raw, mysterious, unusual, seductive, explosive and it fires our imaginations! I'm intrigued by the way these images defy age, gender, and gravity and I absolutely love the way the acrobats pose outside their usual zones such as in playgrounds, cow pastures, light posts, and tunnels. 

The book Private Acts: The Acrobat Sublime is published by Rizzoli New York. This exquisitely produced, 224-page hardcover fine-art book includes 100 photographs and four essays. Learn more about the book here. 

This book would be a perfect coffee table addition!

this and that

[image via cstar events]

I'm storing this idea in the "fun party ideas" section of my brain. These would be perfect for Easter, birthdays, and even New Years!

Tuesday night was spent chasing Santa Claus through the neighborhoods so the kids (and I) could sit on his lap (I refrained from doing this) to tell him what we want for Christmas. We also made beautiful gingerbread houses using gumdrops, peppermint pinwheels, m&m's, smarties, jelly beans, and sugary frosting for snow... all while listening and singing to the Christmas genre station on Pandora. Love me some Pandora! Oh, and I bet our gingerbread houses are more personalized than yours! Geneva built a mailbox on her house and Christian and Nicolas built dandelions (they are fascinated by dandelions ever since I showed them one the other day) and candy bushes and trees.  

Sneak peak at one of the many handmade or hand painted gifts I'm giving friends and family this Christmas! I used Pebeo Porcelaine 150 outliner paint on porcelain mugs from CB2. 

Do it!: 

1. make sure your mug is clean and dry.

2. paint whatever design you want! (i'm personalizing each mug based on the person I'm giving it to).

3. once you've finished painting, let it dry for 24 hours.

4. bake your mug for 35 minutes at 300 to 325 degrees F. 

5. after baking, turn off the oven and leave the mug inside until it has gradually cooled to room temp.

6. mug is now dishwasher safe with a rad design! drink up folks!

[images via society 6]

If you're an art enthusiast, into creative designs and juxtapositions, or want a cool sight to browse through on your lunch break, check out Society6! They have really sweet artwork created by thousands of artists from around the world! Find a print you like? Get it framed, put on an iPhone case, laptop skin, t-shirt, or sweatshirt! The possibilities are endless. I personally LOVE the "Scales" iPhone cover designed by Steven Womack and the "Whimsical Balloons" laptop skin designed by Laura Ruth!

[image via pinterest]

Made some the other day except I used shelled pumpkin seeds from the bulk bins at Whole Foods. 

Do it!: 

1. put about a cup of shelled pumpkin seeds in a ziploc bag and pour 1 tbsp. of olive oil and 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce into the bag. 

2. shake the bag until the seeds are covered with oil and soy sauce.

3. line a baking sheet with parchment paper and evenly spread the seeds on the sheet.

4. bake the seeds at 400 degrees F for 5 to 6 minutes. Don't overcook because the seeds brown easily!!

5. Let cool for 5 minutes.

6. Enjoy as a snack on its own, on salads, fish, greens, and rice!

nom nom nom!

artist spotlight: nathalie boutte

[any idea as to what this is? it looks like an ear to me...]

[all photographs via Nathalie Boutte]

French artist Nathalie Boutte creates stunning paper collages using thousands of strips of different paper materials such as recycled tissue paper, pages from discarded novels, and most recently translucent tracing paper. Boutte layers the strips on top of each other like wood thatched panels on a roof or side of a house, exposing just the tips that act like pixels to form larger images. (via colossal)

Her work is pretty darn sweet if you ask me! She's must have a lot of patience and not mind continually stepping back to look at the larger image to ensure the larger image is forming correctly.

I think my favorite are the wings. Boutte should design a pair of tissue paper angel wings for the Victorias Secret Fashion Show!

artist spotlight: vik muniz + documentary: waste land

Brazilian artist Vik Muniz incorporates everyday objects into his photographic process to create witty, bold, and often deceiving, images. Often working in series, the New York-based artist makes pictures from unlikely materials including dirt, diamonds, sugar, wire, string, chocolate syrup, peanut butter, and pigment. 

[Valentine, The Fastest from "The Sugar Children Series"
materials: gelatin]

[Brando, 1999 from "Pictures of Chocolate Series"
materials: chocolate]

[Rebus Series: Self portrait as a Drowned Man, after Hippolyte Bayard]

[Newsboy, after Lewis Hine, from Rebus]

[After Gauguin]

[Daisies in a Jam Jar from "Pictures of Wire"materials: wire]

[Black Marilyn from "Pictures of Diamond Dust"
materials: diamonds]

[Dollar Bill from "Rebus Series"
materials: coins]

[A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, after Georges Seurat (Gordian Puzzles)]

I have vivid memories looking at the original Georges Seurat oil painting of this in art books when I was a younger girl. I was, and still am, fascinated by how much activity is going on in Seurat's painting. When I was younger, I remember looking at this painting and imagining myself there in the park. 

all images via artnet 

Muniz is most famous for being followed in the 2010 award winning documentary, "Waste Land." In this compelling film, Muniz travels to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, his native country and world's largest trash city, to photograph an eclectic group of "catadores," or self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. He then recreates the photographic images of the catadores out of garbage. He doesn't know this at the time of filming, but the result of this artistic process reveals both "dignity and despair of the catadores as they re-imagine their lives" AND  "evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit."

Along with spotlighting Muniz's portraits of the pickers, this film also helps raise awareness about the 2,500 pickers of Jardim Gramacho and all the good they are doing for their city. Pride emanates from the pickers because their job of removing kilo after kilo of recyclable material from the landfill that could have otherwise been recycled prevents that material from polluting their rivers, oceans, and lakes. Without the pickers, recyclable material would be buried in the landfill and clog the sewers creating extreme harm to nature and their environment! Whoa...

[Vik Muniz takes a photo of Tiao Santos (President of the Association of Pickers at Jardim Gramacho)]

Muniz takes a photograph before recreating it using...you guessed it...garbage...

[Vik Muniz uses trash from Jardim Gramacho to recreate the photographic image before selling it at auction
and giving the money back to the pickers (this photograph sold for $50,000 at auction)]

How freaking sweet is that?! Talk about making something out of nothing!! Check out more images from Vik Muniz's "Portraits of Garbage" here! and watch the trailer for "Waste Land" below!

Side note: Waste Land has won countless awards including the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and Berlin Film Festival Panorama Audience Award for Best Film. Check out the other awards here!

There were a few moments in the film that gave me goosebumps and built tears in my eyes. All around beautiful film. Do yourself a favor and watch it!