Lots and Lots of Dots

Today's inspiration: artist Tamar Cohen. From her well-put artist's statement:

"Two life-long passions that drive my work are my love of polka dots and my ongoing enthusiasm for vintage paper ephemera and books. I use collage and silkscreen to combine and juxtapose the two, creating a dynamic visual world of layered contrasts. This palette of visual obsessions inspires me in many ways, as I explore the relationship between high and low, order and chaos, the abstracted and the everyday. I also strive to push and challenge the boundaries of conventional printmaking: I paint with paper."

New Items

I've added two new card designs to my etsy shop. More coming soon!

Cut-Paper Coolness

Love these graphic pieces by artist Matthew Rich.

Love.

Yes, it's true, I have a penchant for all things kitty. Or owl-y. Or bunn-y. And I DO generally try to restrain myself from oohing and ahhing too much over all things cute. But these... who could possibly resist these friendly egg-shaped kitty crayons?!? Look at them, just look at them, sitting there all polite and patient in their little egg carton pods, waiting to create art with you! It's futile to resist their charms. I give in.

Handmade by KittyBabyLove.

Fun and Colorful Monday

Paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Misaki Kawai. Kawai is currently part of a show at Freight + Volume.

Hurray!

My new website is up and ready for viewing! Yep.
It's Friday, it's hot, and that's all I got today folks.
Bon week-end!

Brooklyn in Transition

I was on my way to meet friends at Tom's in Prospect Heights yesterday, when, due to the staggering heat, I decided to take a moment's respite inside the Brooklyn Public Library just off Grand Army Plaza. I'm so glad I did, initially for the giant hurricane-strength fan in the Grand Lobby, but mainly because it led me to Jose Gaytan's amazing photographic essay on the Gowanus canal area, industrial wasteland turned up-and-coming neighborhood. His work finds the beauty in otherwise destructed landscapes. I also found much, much more stunning work on his website.

There is also a New York Times article on the show here.

These photos make me appreciate the Gowanus as it is now - as the area is cleaned up and gentrified, will it lose its magic?

All images © Jose Gaytan

Sneak Peek!

I have been super busy this week with lots of projects. I am excited about some t-shirt designs that will soon be available in my etsy store. Here's a sneak peek of the 2 designs that will be screenprinted:

Colors!

Social Designer has a new program called 500 Pencils. It works like this: you pay a subscription fee, just like you would for a magazine, and you receive 25 pencils every month. Loads of amazing colors with fun names, like mint jelly and little red wagon. Also offered are some very cool ways of storing/displaying the pencils.

Saloukee

Saloukee, also known as artist Sarah Louise Kelly, creates these structurally complex, beautifully stark jewelry pieces out of laser-cut paper, rivets, and ribbon. Trained in metalwork, she eventually became more fascinated with the preciousness of her paper models. One of these bracelets would look amazing with a simple black dress. You can check out more pieces on her website or online shop.

Ladies Who Surf.. and Sail.. and Create...

Being at Kiawah reminded me of how much I love swimming in the ocean (not the freezing cold ocean of Long Island, ahem.) and wish I could do it more often. Just the feeling of being in the water, floating; there is nothing like it. It also reminded me that I would love to take surfing lessons someday.

Dear and Yonder is a film about women surfers and the amazing things that they do, like designing surfboards out of soy-based material and exploring the world by sailboat. You can see the trailer on their site. I hope they have an NYC screening so I can check it out! Particularly like the graphics/animation work by artist Nathaniel Russell.

Relaxation

Back from a nice trip down south for an all-girls celebration of my grandmother's 82nd birthday. Lots of wine and laughs with family. Plus, she lives on a gorgeous island, with lots of big old oak trees, palms, deer, alligators, egrets, bobcats and miles of sandy beaches.

Photos above from christies.com

Wilkintie

Rounding up this week's all-letterpress posts with some beautiful artist's prints. Wilkintie is an Melbourne, Australia-based couple, Carly Hargreaves and Niels Oeltjen, who collaborate with their favorite artists to create gorgeous limited-edition pieces.

From top, John Copeland for Wilkintie, Rabbit by Klaus Haapaniemi, and Forest Harvest by Apak. You can learn more about the artists and their work at their etsy shop.

Pressing On

Way back in my pre-blogging days (April, to be exact), I shot some photos of our workshop at The Arm in Brooklyn, so I thought I would share those today. For anyone interested in trying letterpress, it's a fantastic introduction. Dan has an amazing shop with tons of vintage equipment he's collected over the years. He reviews the basics of running the press with polymer plates, and then everyone gets to play around with wood type and metal type.

Super Saturated

Pie Bird Press, aka Hannah Berman, makes bright, fun, retro letterpressed cards. I love the use of rich, saturated inks combined with both nostalgic and everyday objects. A truly unique voice in the world of letterpress stationery.

Oh, and DesignSponge did a recent sneak peek of Hannah's vintage-filled home in California - check it out here. Love the turquoise kitchen and beautiful backyard with fairytale-esque fig tree. Ah, to have a backyard...

Letterpress, Part 2

I just recently learned about the work of Amos Kennedy, through wnyc's Culture blog. A computer programmer turned old-school printer, Kennedy runs a print shop in Gordo, Alabama, using wood type and turning out amazing broadsides that feel like a piece of American history. Sometimes political, sometimes community-focused, always lively.

As anyone who has worked with wood type on a press knows, creating a lock-up is an endeavor of patience and love. In this digital age, we have come to expect everything instantly, but this type of process takes you back to a time when the pace of life was a bit slower. As his website states, his print shop is "on the cutting edge of 19th century technology!"

For my fellow NYC-ers, Amos Kennedy has guest-curated the current show at the Center for Book Arts, together with Alexander Campos, entitled Racism: An American Family Value, up through September 12. Also, TOMORROW NIGHT, Wednesday August 5th at 6:30, the Center for Book Arts will be showing Proceed and Be Bold!, a documentary on Amos' life and work. Cool!

Letterpress, Part 1

This week's posts are all about letterpress and stationery-related items. Kicking things off with this really fun Visual poster from Minneapolis-based Studio on Fire, who also happened to print our wedding invitations. They are a really amazing bunch of talented designers and printers.

The image here was created using wood type, ink, solvent, and alcohol combined to result in cool, random textures. A really unique way of utilizing the press!