Fun, Affordable Art

All from another one of those cool, fun, affordable art websites: www.society6.com

"STRIPES" by Brandon Neher.

"Seafoam bokeh" by Laura Ruth

"Bokeh-ful" by Bethany Helzer

"le snack" by Paris vs New York

AOTD: books & dollhouses

AH-mazing topographical-looking sculptures carved from books by Guy Laramee. {via HonestlyWTF}

This dollhouse is ridiculously fun. One time I turned a Lucky Charms cereal box into a troll house (with elevator, thankyouverymuch), but I never accomplished anything quite like this house by Nicole from Making It Lovely. {via Decor8}

AOTD

Just stumbled upon this great "Wall of Doors" by none other than Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek (who also designed the log cabin in the previous post).

"Eek adorned the lofty foyer walls entirely with old timber doors, bathroom doors, office doors, front doors and back doors to preserve the memory of the buildings that were torn down, to make way for a residential development. The result is a jaw-dropping foyer installation and a visual reminder of what once was." --->I love that!
{via Poppytalk}

Fun project by Suzy Lelièvre - "Dés-gravité" {via thisiscolossal}

AOTD: "Free Art"

Yay! A Seattle artist! Zoe Williams created this piece, "Free Art" for the First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square. {via Jealous Curator}

AOTD: Money Trees

These are amazing and so much classier that that disgusting gum wall!

"In several wooded areas around the UK, passersby have been stopping for decades (if not centuries), meticulously hammering small denomination coins intro trees. The practice might date back to the early 1700s in Scotland where ill people stuck florins into trees with the idea that the tree would take away their sickness." - more on the trees in this BBC article.

{via Colossal}

AOTD: One Question

"Fifty People, One Question" is a short film by social media firm Brand Nua where fifty Chicagoans are asked what their favorite memory is. Some awesome spontaneous answers from lots of people! Made me think of my 2009 and 2010 Year-End Fave Memories re-caps. Who doesn't love reminiscing on great times? It's funny how it's not even the "big" moments necessarily that are our happiest.

Pitt: Chapter Two

Y'all ready for Part Two and the Final Chapter of my Pitt visit? Ok, it starts out at our trip to The Mattress Factory, a museum that hosts mainly installation art with the slogan "art you can get into". I loved it because so often you have to stay such a distance away from art, and that 's just not as fun!

There was a pretty awesome view from their balcony. Time to pose!

I'm not sure exactly what these little paper thingies were, but I liked them.

Yay installation art! Time for more photos. I made Shannon do a pose.

Reminiscent of my Bahamas posing. I unfortunately can't tell you which installation this was from, but it was in a room made to look like a high school wrestling lockeroom and there was a political theme as well.

This is in a room by Yayoi Kusama, called "Infinity Dots Mirrored Room". As you can see, it was rad.

Infinity....!

And the second room, "Repetitive Vision". Awesome.

I got a little obsessed with making the installation my own photo booth.

But this quote about the art sortof makes me think that was the reaction the artist wanted: "Her work explores the obliteration of the self, as the viewer becomes part of the work, reflected in mirrors, obstructed by organic forms, almost as if being sucked into the walls."

Ok, and then there was this entire floor by James Turrell that was 2 rooms that were mostly dark, and a third room that was COMPLETELY dark, that is, unless you sat for 15 minutes until the art was "revealed". Shannon and I didn't have the balls to wait the 15 minutes for our eyes to adjust. Wimps! In researching Turrell, I also realized he is the artist who created "Light Reign", that lives at The Henry (y'all know the one). Cool!

And up next: going up in the Dusquane Incline! It's like an old time trolley but SCARY! Not really but kindof.

Never miss an opportunity to ham it up for the blog.

WOAH.

It's steep. We also saw a fawn down below!

Check out the view. It was soooo fantastic to be able to see the city from up high like this. Thank you for taking me here, Shannon!

You could see a ton of their bridges and stadiums from up here.

The city is pretty cool looking. Apparently they have 300+ bridges?!

One last pic for the blog.

Such good times, Y'all! I highly recommend a visit to Pittsburgh. It's even better if you have a great friend living there like I do :)

Art of the Day

"Satellite Collections" by Jenny Odell {via DesignSponge}

"We are all here to do what we are all here to do" — Costume Sculpture by Fabio Lattanzi Antinori (collaboration with Alicja Pytlewska) via {ShareSomeCandy}

Enormous Cow Sculptures made from recycles car parts by Miina Äkkijyrkkä {via Colossal}

Paintings on Plates from the Altered Perspectives Series, a collaboration by Bruce Wayland and Marcello De Simone of Little Owl and Leslie Oschmann of Swarm {via Decor8}

You must look at the full series of these "Paper Reefs" by Amy Eisenfeld Genser. I've seen this technique before but never in such an artful way. These are definitely going on the "when we have extra money to buy art" list. {via Colossal}

AOTD: Good Times

Time for another Art of the Day!

Can't get enough Yarn Bombin'? Check out this slideshow for more...{via AptTherapy}

Omg, this is one of THE NERDIEST things I've ever seen: Graphic Design temporary tattoos. {via DesignSponge}

This portrait series of the "stars" of The Hills by Karin Bubas is freakin' awesome. And omg she has a Dynasty series! {via JealousCurator and more here}

Ha! "Places I Haven't Been" by Evan Drolet Cook, photo taken by Cameron Wittig. {via Colossal}

Ok what IS it about Ballerinas? Dance is just so beautiful. Check out The Ballerina Project: "The Ballerina Project grew from the idea of New York City as a magnet for creativity; each photograph is a collaborative work of dance, fashion design and photography played out against the city's landscape." Gorgeous!

Not so square, Pioneer Square!

My loyal blog-material-provider and friend Josiane sent me this awesome post - since I haven't been down to Pioneer Square in a while, I didn't even know about these!

She says: "They are these trees in Pioneer Square that look like they are wearing knitted sweaters, or mittens or socks, depending on how you look at them. They usually look like sweaters or socks to me. Anyway, it’s totally cute and I see them every day on my way to work."

I would love to see these every day on my way to work! I mean, if I went to work! BAH. Ok, every day on my way to school...I do still leave the house, on occasion ;) {Knitted by Susan Tidwell, full post on UrbanResearch}

AOTD: chalk art by our neighbors

It is such a joy to come home to a sidewalk (and I mean, the entire sidewalk!) literally filled with a world of imagination. Did I just type that? Yep. I'm officially in my thirties because I care more about dog parks and wholesome neighbors than being able to walk home from the bars.

What a contrast to our uber cool neighborhood in DC where no one would even make eye contact. Granted, I loved living in "The Capitol Hill Historic District", and I miss seeing all that red, white and blue bunting and hill rats walking home in their suits. But in the end it's really no match for having "Smile Land" or "Snake Land" or "Ocean City" on our front walk.

The "Museam"