oops, i fell in love.

I fully intended to cover a different creative topic this week, like music, or cooking.

But the recipes I made were horrible. And I was introduced to the work of two amazing, primarily 2-D, visual artists this week. Thank you Facebook and Urban Fashion Network.

First, Christoff Niemann. Is it wrong to blog about a blog? Niemann is an illustrator, whose pieces can stand alone, but his blog brings an added element. He strings several pieces together with captions and commentary, which add up to a whole storytelling-style piece.

One entry that's been floating around Facebook shows various ways you can depict New York trademarks with legos. But everyone, New Yorker or not, can enjoy my favorite of the series: the server with a larger than life peppermill!






Another entry tells a story about the artist's lifelong relationship with coffee by drawing on napkins with, you guessed it, coffee. Poetic.





These entries and more can be found at: http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/

Next week... I'll cover Carla Sonheim, mixed media artist from Washington!

i've seen the light.

(Pardon my missed posting last week - I got swept into the holiday weekend!)

My tiny little apartment had a very dark, tiny little entryway. With no options for floor lamps, or an entry table, and no desire to do electrical work in a rental, I was seeking a rare treasure: a plug-in chandelier.

Budget? $10.

Here's a how-to in 5 simple steps:

1. Visit your neighborhood re-use store and look through their lighting section. I found this fixture, sans globe, at Value Village for $1.99. And lucky me, they were having a 50% off President's Day Sale! Price: $1.

2. Find a "quirky bowl". Depending on your style, and the final size you want, there are several creative options. For a small square pendant lamp, consider a tissue box cover. For a larger fixture, a punch bowl works well. The overall goal is you will need an existing hole in the middle of the bowl, or you will need to be able to drill a hole for the cord to go through. Glass is bad unless you are really talented. A thin plastic works well. Unless you are using a halogen bulb, most materials should be safe. This was a pretty floral bowl from the seasonal section at Target. Price: $5.

3. If the bowl shape you like isn't the color you like, change it! I liked this hammered bronze spray paint. Price: $1 (I already had the spray paint on my shelf.)

4. Drill a hole in said quirky bowl.

4a. If your bowl is tall enough, your hole only needs to be big enough to feed the chain through. The bowl can rest on top of the fixture.

4b. If your bowl is more shallow, your hole will need to be big enough for the lightbulb base to fit through. The bowl will sit between the top of the fixture and the bowl. Use a strong glue or epoxy to affix the fixture to the top of the hole.

5. Hang that pretty fixture from a plant hook in the ceiling. If there is a chain, swag it with flourish. Enjoy your newly lit, no-longer-creepy entryway.

I've come undone!

Scultpure's been on my mind. I've been noticing a significant amount of commercial pieces around Seattle. And not just the Sculpture Garden, but miscellanous pieces scattered thoughout the city, adding just a bit of interest as you are passing by or entering your office building. I was also talking to a co-worker earlier today about my secret wish to one day do some large scale metal lawn sculpture.

With all this on my mind, I started browsing for Seattle sculptors for inspiration. I stumbled upon Diem Chau, a Vietnamese-American artist, who received her training at our very own Cornish.

Now I had originally been thinking large scale, freestanding, metal or stone... I was completely suprised to find this body of miniature 3-D sculpted works. I always love being caught off guard - it gives me a little bit of joy to realize this artist has stumbled on something completely new and original.

First, the crayon figures. Crayola - not just for grade school anymore. I love the play on medium. Rather than using the crayons for their traditional purpose, as a drawing implement, the wax now becomes a sculptural medium. Yet the scale of the piece practically requires the context of the crayons to remain the same. The small scale encourages the adult artist to create a loosely detailed, child-like piece, reminiscent of the very drawings one would create with the crayons if used as drawing tool. It's downright witty.

Second, the miniatures within the dishes... Again, a play on the pieces used, this time with scale, using inverse proportions. How clever to use a plate to frame a table! Perhaps I'm easily amused, but it's this twist on our expectations that makes these pieces stand out.

Beyond amusement, though, I also get a sense of, well, eeriness. How strange would it be to be the little person who lived at that table, trapped in this room of white walls?

Next, Diem Chau has series of pieces that involve string adhered to dishes. The irony I find here is that, while many artists, including myself, try to find ways to make their art functional to appeal to a larger audience, Chau has done the opposite. She has chosen a functional canvas and rendered it disfunctional. Yet that simple choice adds charm to her pieces. I, for one, am drawn to texture of this mixed media, and find interest in the 3-D form created by using an alternate canvas.

The last piece. Does anyone else hear Weezer's Sweater Song?