SheWalksSoftly

Ship Ahoy!

May 23rd, 2009

This post is not for the weak. I confess that I had trouble getting through the whole thing, but it’s something you might want to experience just once.

Yes Folks, it’s Captain Hook and his band of Christian pirates, storming the high seas to spread the word of Jesus. It’s entertaining, if not mildly terrifying, to see “the captain” use this theme to manipulate young minds and bastardize your favorite fairy tales.

Little Red Riding Hood becomes an allegory of Satan, with classic Big Bad Wolf lines such as “Hey Little Red Riding Hood…let’s you and me go take some dope!” Don’t believe me? Go ahead and download for yourself, but do so at your own risk…

SHIP AHOY!

(This post makes me think I need to have a “worst thing ever” tag)

Courtesy of Schadenfreudian Therapy.
Jon Reinfurt

May 23rd, 2009

Jon Reinfurt has a wonderful portfolio of contorted figures and collage work (some have a kind of “Picasso for the new millennium” feeling), but I’m partial to his robots.

Especially his robots with food! Look at this one enjoying the Chipwich harvest:

Check out the rest of his work here.
Chichicastenango

May 22nd, 2009

This post on Neatorama featured a photo of an amazing cemetery in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

We certainly do not handle death quite so colorfully in this country. The photo prompted me to fire up google images. Chichicastenango does indeed seem to be a place of wondrously bright colors.

Masks…

Textiles…

Even the discarded remains of handcrafted artifacts (look at the eyelashes on Jesus!)…

Not surprisingly, the area contains what has been called the most colorful market in the Americas.
Michael Hiep

May 22nd, 2009

Michael Hiep appropriately calls himself a “fine art symbolist.” Hiep gathered inspiration training for the priesthood as he assisted in baptisms, weddings and funeral rites (he later left the seminary to pursue art).

His paintings are elaborate, richly detailed depictions of nature and symbolism.

See more on his website.
Rubber Re-fabs Galore

May 21st, 2009

You have GOT to go browse through this amazing post of rubber tires turned into sculpture.

I don’t even know how to change a tire, no less sculpt exotic creatures, but it appears to be a tough medium. I give much respect to the sculptors who can even emulate musculature with these rubber fragments.

I’m a bit partial to this three legged spider. It took guts (or a shortage at the tire yard) to say “My arachnid is going to have three legs and that’s THAT!”

See more here.
Gift Exchange

May 21st, 2009

I was floored when I received an amazing package in the mail from my kindred spirit Sarah. I had made her a plushie last month; a jellyfish named Princess Squishy (an incarnation of a nickname/drawing conjured up in the delightful minds of children Sarah worked with).

In return, she sent me the most amazing collection of trinkets: classic Bigelow Rose Salve (it’s delightful), a Liz McGrath limited edition tin, and a phrenology head pocket mirror!

But the most incredible gift was this handmade necklace. An anatomical heart seasoned with tiny gears, axe in a glass case, black flower and a locket filled with meaningful symbols. Does this girl know me, or what?

All of this for a plush invertebrate! What a talented and beautiful soul she is. I’m so grateful.
Cinema Redux

May 20th, 2009

I’m always intrigued by “meta media” experiments in which artists find unconventional ways to display traditional media. For example, Cinema Redux.

SERPICO, Sydney Lumet, 1973:

This project by Brendan Dawes distills an entire film down to a single image, using a Java program that captures a sample every second and generates an 8X6 pixel image of the frame. Each row represents one minute of the film.

VERTIGO, Alfred Hitchcock, 1958:

Dawes states:

The end result is a kind of unique fingerprint for that film. A sort of movie DNA showing the colour hues as well as the rhythm of the editing process. Compare Serpico to The Conversation. You can see there’s far more edits in Lumet’s classic compared to the more gentle slower pace of Coppola’s Conversation. This is also down to the editing style of Walter Murch who prefers to only make cuts when absolutely necessary. Have a look through the eight movies and make your own mind up.

You can have a look here.
Record Time

May 19th, 2009

I’m not sure if any of my readers are in Australia, or would have access to the Record Time exhibit at Palmer Projects in Sydney.

24 renowned typographers, designers and artists come together as a tribute to the vinyl record. In an age when tapes, CDs, and records are becoming increasingly obsolete, the Record Time show pays homage to the one and only vinyl record.

With the increasing consumption of digital music, disused vinyl records now gather dust the world over, many of which lie in scratched piles at book exchanges, permanently abandoned. Relics of bygone eras, old records were often emblazoned with beautiful typography and logos unique to a moment in time and genre specific.

The inspiration behind the exhibition concept is to focus on the record as a medium and create a renewed functionality. Turning the records into laser etched time pieces (clocks), added purpose to objects, which had otherwise become obsolete. –Source
Chocolate Phonograph

May 18th, 2009

I can’t decide whether the Chocolate Phonograph (a rare artifact made by the German chocolate company Stollwerk in 1903) was genius, or a mad bastardization of my favorite things.

This little treasure, with a mere 3 inch turntable, was designed to play chocolate records. The craftsmanship is rather beautiful:

Though touted as a solid device that could rival other quality phonographs

In reality they were extremely delicate little machines with noisy, underpowered motors and mediocre sound quality. They were far too fragile to withstand rough handling by children, who were (not surprisingly) the main market for chocolate records. Most phonographs were likely broken beyond repair in a matter of days. The big advantage was the records themselves. As explained in La Nature, “when a song no longer pleases, oh well! just savor the disc like you would a simple snack, and eat it.”

I think I would have eaten all my music before I even got to play it. I prefer my music inedible, to avoid temptation.

Source
Gone Neurosciencin’!

May 16th, 2009

I’m currently in Pittsburgh at the most incredible neuroscience and integrative medicine symposium. I’ll be blogging again on Monday or Tuesday (at the latest) with much fun stuff. Please come back!