Showing posts with label arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arts. Show all posts
The Australian Ballet for Sideshow Alley
One song. One take. Cinematically captured in the roads and alleyways around Melbourne (and occasionally, a New York City rooftop). With its own spin on raw, honest productions of local and international artists, Sideshow Alley explores a uniquely intimate experience with each unrehearsed performance in a distinctively high quality style. From Kimbra (♥) to the Australian Ballet, the creative collective challenges its mediums and dares to expect the beautifully unexpected.
For similar outfits, check out the London-based Black Cab Sessions and La Blogothèque's Take Away Shows (shot primarily in Paris).
A Work in Progress | Floral Pattern Series
A sneak peek at a simple hand-drawn pattern series that I recently took on. This first set features the flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), a favorite of an aunt who has been on my mind lately.
(Click above to download the individual colors or grab all three, here.)
(Click above to download the individual colors or grab all three, here.)
108 Years of Herman Miller in 108 Seconds
To celebrate 108 years of bringing great ideas into existence, legendary American design firm Herman Miller is getting back to its roots with a behind-the-scenes campaign exploring the why behind the company's extraordinary success and innovation. For the launch, they enlisted the help of Amsterdam-based creative studio Part of a Bigger Plan to create this beautifully minimalistic timeline, illustrating the company's rich history and its most iconic collaborations with designers like Charles & Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, George Nelson, and Isamu Noguchi.
Dig deeper into the world of Herman Miller with exclusive content, including designer interviews and never-before-seen archival collections. In their own words:
At Herman Miller we think, learn, and communicate through design. It is the language through which we share new ideas, address problems, and help people do great things. Before we decide what we do, and how to do it, our conversations about design always begin with the question “why?” It is in this spirit of inquiry that we are proud to introduce WHY, a new digital platform exploring the stories behind what we do at Herman Miller. Check in each week as we turn to a talented roster of writers, artists, illustrators, photographers, and videographers to help bring these stories to life.
Book Pickings at New York Public Library
If there was a list of impossibly cool things that could happen to you at any given moment, being approached by the world's third largest public library to curate a selection of books would have to be near the top of that list. Or is that just me?
For Maria Popova of the highly fascinating (and likewise addicting) Brain Pickings, it's just another perk to being the inimitable "curator of interestingness." Commissioned by the New York Public Library and given carte blanche to do whatever she wished, Popova and her uniquely wonderful brand of research delivered more than the library ever imagined, as a single reading list grew into four, each observing its own significant theme: wisdom on writing, great reads about New York City, heart- and brain-stirring books on pets and animals, and timeless treats for young readers.
For a presentation of equal enthusiasm, Popova collaborated with artist Kelli Anderson (you may have seen her paper record player) to transform the lists into an elaborate papercraft display of three-dimensional book sculptures floating above a meticulous Manhattan skyline.
I especially love this note from Brooklyn-based photographer Youngna Park, who worked on the installation with her husband, director and photographer Jacob Krupnick of Wild Combination:
If you’re in New York, you can visit The Library Shop to see this fantastic exhibit and the incredible work that went into creating it. Wherever you are, please consider joining me in supporting the library (or your favorite local branch) – because libraries are awesome and so are you.
For Maria Popova of the highly fascinating (and likewise addicting) Brain Pickings, it's just another perk to being the inimitable "curator of interestingness." Commissioned by the New York Public Library and given carte blanche to do whatever she wished, Popova and her uniquely wonderful brand of research delivered more than the library ever imagined, as a single reading list grew into four, each observing its own significant theme: wisdom on writing, great reads about New York City, heart- and brain-stirring books on pets and animals, and timeless treats for young readers.
For a presentation of equal enthusiasm, Popova collaborated with artist Kelli Anderson (you may have seen her paper record player) to transform the lists into an elaborate papercraft display of three-dimensional book sculptures floating above a meticulous Manhattan skyline.
I especially love this note from Brooklyn-based photographer Youngna Park, who worked on the installation with her husband, director and photographer Jacob Krupnick of Wild Combination:
Jacob and I were part of the crew that helped construct the books, and last Wednesday night, camped out at the New York Public Library until the wee hours of the morning, hanging, balancing, wiring, and taping this installation into place. There's something magical about being in a world-class public institution at 3 a.m., with only the security guard and a bunch of your friends. The imagination flows, the adrenaline pumps; you're night elves on a mission.
Current Events | Renegade Craft Fair
 |
Image source: The Renegade Craft Fair |
The Renegade Craft Fair is coming to San Francisco for its annual summer marketplace of curated handmade goods. Come out and support your local artisans at Fort Mason, this weekend, Friday (July 26th) and Saturday (July 27th).
Product Placement | Field Notes at the National Portrait Gallery in London
I find myself in the unexpected position of having brought Field Notes to London’s National Portrait Gallery. My friend Humphrey Ocean has painted me several times, and one of my sittings (clean-shaven, post-Guatemala) is on display through September 1st at his NPG show “A Handbook of Modern Life.”
On seeing the painting several friends have said, “That’s a Field Notes in your shirt pocket!” They’re right. I thought the detail was too subtle to mention but they've made me promise to let you know.
I love knowing little details like this, don't you?
In 3 Scenes | Mad Men's "In Care Of"
 |
| Roger slips into a little nihilism during a therapy session in the sixth season's premiere episode. With finale in hand, are the times finally a-changin' for Don and SC&P? |
The following contains spoilers if you have not yet seen the season six finale, "In Care Of."
At the close of its sixth and penultimate season that spanned perhaps the darkest and most turbulent year in recent American history, Mad Men did the unexpected.
It left us feeling a little hopeful.
As Judy Collins played us out, we were left to wonder just how Don's "both sides, now" will reconcile. Self-destruction aside, how does one come back from the heartrending chaos of 1968? A watershed year in American history, it was a time of vivid colors, startling sounds, and searing images that forever changed a nation. As a relentless cascade of events pummeled the world around them, people were left to find their own sense of solace (or distraction, at best). And when the haze cleared, many came out knowing that things would never be quite the same.
For all that it rendered, "In Care Of" could have been a series finale. The departures from New York and gravity of Don's exit from the agency, along with numerous callbacks to the first season (and even the pilot), all carried a strong sense of finality for many story arcs, as a number of characters charted out into the great unknown. Not to even mention, the figurative death of the show's protagonist, as Don sacrificed himself in the most inappropriate of places.
Of course, we can't trust any of it. Not yet, at least. The landscape has been rocked by great change in the past, only to have its impact neatly reversed in the end. And yet, this time feels different. As bound in their ways as many of its characters appear, the series has always been about looking forward. How the world carries on, while its players remain the same. If its final season rounds out the Sixties, Mad Men will have captured a decade of incredible upheaval and transformation for a nation and its people. A decade that saw its youth grab hold with both hands and venture out into a bold frontier that would never be quite like what came before it. To have a future in this brave new world, one has little choice but to evolve – or resume the downward spiral into obscurity (at best).
It could really be different this time. We may yet see a different Don, a different Roger, a different Peggy, or a different Pete (if it matters). For many, there's no turning back. Though directed at Pete, it's clear there are much further-reaching implications for Trudy's assertion that her estranged husband is finally "free" from all of the burden and responsibility he once had in his life. Even more clear, however, is how dissatisfied he is in this realization.
After all, isn't freedom just another word for nothing left to lose?
It left us feeling a little hopeful.
As Judy Collins played us out, we were left to wonder just how Don's "both sides, now" will reconcile. Self-destruction aside, how does one come back from the heartrending chaos of 1968? A watershed year in American history, it was a time of vivid colors, startling sounds, and searing images that forever changed a nation. As a relentless cascade of events pummeled the world around them, people were left to find their own sense of solace (or distraction, at best). And when the haze cleared, many came out knowing that things would never be quite the same.
For all that it rendered, "In Care Of" could have been a series finale. The departures from New York and gravity of Don's exit from the agency, along with numerous callbacks to the first season (and even the pilot), all carried a strong sense of finality for many story arcs, as a number of characters charted out into the great unknown. Not to even mention, the figurative death of the show's protagonist, as Don sacrificed himself in the most inappropriate of places.
Of course, we can't trust any of it. Not yet, at least. The landscape has been rocked by great change in the past, only to have its impact neatly reversed in the end. And yet, this time feels different. As bound in their ways as many of its characters appear, the series has always been about looking forward. How the world carries on, while its players remain the same. If its final season rounds out the Sixties, Mad Men will have captured a decade of incredible upheaval and transformation for a nation and its people. A decade that saw its youth grab hold with both hands and venture out into a bold frontier that would never be quite like what came before it. To have a future in this brave new world, one has little choice but to evolve – or resume the downward spiral into obscurity (at best).
It could really be different this time. We may yet see a different Don, a different Roger, a different Peggy, or a different Pete (if it matters). For many, there's no turning back. Though directed at Pete, it's clear there are much further-reaching implications for Trudy's assertion that her estranged husband is finally "free" from all of the burden and responsibility he once had in his life. Even more clear, however, is how dissatisfied he is in this realization.
After all, isn't freedom just another word for nothing left to lose?
As a courtesy, this is not my full review of the finale. Instead, here's a closer look into three scenes* which, at the expense of all others, would have been enough.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)