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Saturday, December 31, 2011

CREEP OF THE WEEK 5: ARTIST STATEMENTS!

Hey y'all!
Usually I show you a place that has been abandoned and shows no sign of life.
I find the old ruins FASCINATING!!!!
I am not sure what it is about it!
BUT
This week I wanna show you 3 art projects centred around abandoned places...check it out:









In 2008, artist Jennifer Marsh revealed her covered gas station, part of her World Reclamation Art Project. Marsh accepted submissions of 3x3 foot squares from fiber artists all around the world then stitches them together to cover a gas station in Syracuse, NY. The project was meant to bringing attention to the world's dependence on oil. She sees this project as a way to get the community involved in both fiber arts and in a movement towards positive change.


Here is a video of the installation and an interview with Jennifer Marsh:




You can also view images of the individual panels submitted for the project right here.



Cool HUH????
Here is another site specific installation:


Dutch artist Marjan Teeuwen creates eerie, unsettling spaces by reclaiming the wreckage of destroyed abandoned buildings and re-assembling it in studios or museums for aesthetic and artistic effect. She also occasionally creates these installations within the abandoned spaces themselves, at one point hacking down an entire exterior wall and bringing the pieces inside to arrange.
The detritus of life is categorized according to function, texture and color. Holes are cut through walls and floors and rooms are no longer recognizable for what they once were. In one installation entitled ‘Destroyed House’, Teeuwen cut out the walls from a post-war apartment block in Amsterdam and crafted sawed fragments of the building’s doors into partitions.










And Finally....



New York-based photographer Gregory Holm returned to his hometown of Detroit to draw attention to the nation’s housing crisis by coating an abandoned house with a sheet of ice.  Called the Detroit Ice House, the project was designed to inspire residents of a city with thousands of vacant homes and a foreclosure rate that is among the nation’s highest.
Working with Brooklyn-based architect Matthew Radune, Holm covered the two-story house – its windows broken and boarded-up — with ice that reflects the sunlight and icicles that reach from the roof almost to the ground.  At first, the men used rooftop sprinklers, but those froze in the cold mid-teen temperatures.  Eventually, they sprayed the house from fire hydrants via hoses.
Holm and Radune picked the house, which was about to be torn down, from Michigan’s land bank.  Additionally, they agreed to pay back taxes on another foreclosed house so a Detroit woman can move into it.  The Detroit Ice House will be torn down in spring and the building materials recycled.
“This gives them an opportunity to see something different in their neighborhood,” Holm said.  “It’s not saying it’s going to change afterward.  But it’s a gift.  This has been a real test of will.”








So there you go.
The last Creep of the Week of 2011.
I hope you enjoyed it!!!
Happy New Years All!!!!!



Wednesday, December 28, 2011

WW41: A YEAR IN REVIEW

Hello all.
As you may know, at the beginning of each new year, I try to take stock of everything that I was happy with and accomplished in the year.
One of the best things I started last year, was my "Wonderful Wednesday" posts.
This is the 41st entry!!!
So, to commemorate the year in WW's, I give you my 5 most favourite-ist favourite things!!!
(in no particular order)

1.) Muppets. Or more specifically - The Muppet Movie. No surprise there, huh? It seems every week had something that I just loved!! Be it the posters or the trailers or the songs OR THE MERCH!!!!
I mean how can you not love this:


Or how about this:

Or this:
cake pops from www.bakerella.com
Or this....
 Or this:
 or this:

Or these:
Adidas SuperStars !!!!!!
OOOOR THIIIIIS:


OR THEEEESE...OMG SOMEONE STOP ME!!!
 

ok.....another FAVOURITE - BEST OF THE BEST Was....

2.) JUNK CULTURE - Every couple of days, this website helps me find GREAT stuff to blog about!!!
Thanks to them for great stuff like this:

or this:

or this:
OR THIS:
or this....oh...you get the idea:

3.) NEW YORK CITY. I talked about the City that never sleeps a lot over the weeks!!!! BECAUSE I LOVE IT!!!!!! HERE IS WHY:



 
     Read about the foods I ate there HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE

     Read all about the billboards of times square here

     Read about the unused subway here

So my final recommendation. GO. GO THERE OFTEN. 
BE A PART OF IT. NEW YORK NEW YORK!!!!

4.) The Civil Wars. I have told you about them ice this year......so I am not gonna tell you again.
      You will have to read about this SUUUUUUPER band that opened for Adele on tour this year!!
       I can tell you that they have a indie/folky/singer songwriter kinda vibe and the members are Joy 
      Williams and John Paul. They are not married...but they have great chemistry and a good backstory!!


and here are a couple of songs I haven't featured before:


This one is Taylor Swift FEATURING them:



(thanks again Dale!)

5.) Finally.......this style of poster art I LOVED a lot this year. Thanks to Eric Tan!!!!
     You can see his Disney posters on my blog:
     HERE
     HERE 
     and HERE







   Aldo check out his work on his BLOG!!

Ok....so that is my year end wrap up of WW.
What did you think of this years posts?
Is there a favourite that I forgot??
PLEASE SHARE!!!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

THE GREAT CIRCUS MURAL

Happy ALMOST Christmas y'all!
I wanted to share what I have been doing for the last 3 weeks!!!
I have been painting an EPIC mural in a baby nursery.
Some have called it the Sistine Chapel of baby rooms.
Thanks to my good friend Cindy (please check out her other works HERE
WE just completed a terrific and super fun mural themed around a vintage circus. She is super talented, and I was very lucky to have her!!!
SO.....about the mural......the client didn't want it too pink or too babyish.......I think the final work is some of the best I have ever done!
Here is the progress of the FOUR WALLS of murals in pictures....enjoy:

In the beginning....

...there is reference up on white walls......
I liked this as reference for the mural...

I also liked this perspective....and the colours....


SOMEONE ELSE'S MURAL.....that I liked the idea of.....

Another mural that inspired me......mostly.....
Thankfully Cindy is  MASTER illustrator...and all the animals are from her!!!!

The rough computer rendering of one of the walls

The line drawing of the opposite wall


First all the drapery and bunting went in.......

Then we began to work down the walls


I LOVE how the drapery turned out....
it is a bit more subtle than traditional circus tenting!

Fast forward to near the end......I was UNHAPPY with this - the colours were just  too hot.....

So I added blues and pinks and beiges on top......

The final wall. (click on it to make it larger and see all the details!!)
 AMAZING......NO???

The opposite wall......i couldn't get it all in....I hope to have a better picture for you soon!!!

I love how the little girl welcomes you to the room!!!!
The key to this mural was all the little special details....like the posters on the fence...

I love this poster.....it took a bunch of time to design!!!

Close up of Cindy's characters.....

The flying pig....LOVE HIM!!

Bear on stilts 

Little 'Stella'
So there you have it.
Was it worth 3 weeks? YOU BETCHA!
It just goes to show you that a nursery doesn't need to be AWFUL and pink....
What do you think??