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Cool things, unique art, inspirational creations, ART

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Big Beautiful Books by Wendy Wahl

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Branches Unbound, Wendy Wahl’s work at the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Photo by: Jim West

It’s not news that the world of printed text on paper is challenged in the 21st century by digital media and the reorganization of how information is created, distributed and accessed. Knowledge saving and sharing continues to be reinvented – 5000 years ago the Incans used a device called a quipu made of string and knots for communication, 3000 years ago the Sumerians had libraries containing clay tablets while the Egyptians used papyrus and parchment scrolls.

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Kansas City Public Library, Missouri. photo by Mike Sinclair

During the Han Dynasty the Chinese invented paper to write on and in the 15th century Europeans began printing with movable type to create a codex. In the 1970s computers were incorporated into the printing process.Social and environmental conditions along with technological developments influence the structure of books that are produced. These objects evolve to fit the needs of the cultures that use them. Today there are e-readers with names like kindle, nook and ibook. For nearly a decade my response to the current transformation has been to use discarded encyclopedias as a material to create art works and large scaled installations as an expression of the significance and potency of the printed word on paper. Read More

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Amazing Life Cycle of Monarch Butterfly

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Last month, many butterflies hatched on my lime trees. I have been looking through some of the You Tube videos to see how Butterflies transform – well, I have seen hundreds but they are still very interesting. The ones that grew on my two lime trees are now flying about in the yard which is wonderful to see. In this YouTube video, the complete life-cycle of the Monarch butterfly is shown from a tiny caterpillar hatching from an egg on a Milkweed leaf through metamorphosis to become a glorious adult butterfly. Filmed utilizing high-powered microscopic cameras and time-lapse photography. Produced for the Chicago Nature Museum in Chicago, IL.

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Rhythm of Life – Water Drumming

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Art, blogging, Cool stuff, Life, Living, People, Stories, writing

Marrying Words With Images in Stephen Doyle’s Style

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“I make these things as an escape from the world of problem-solving.” Stephen Doyle said. His paper sculptures are exquisite.

I make things from paper myself and I am obsessed with paper. I was fascinated when recently I found this article about Stephen Doyle’s work. I wanted to share it in Cool Stuff.

TheTrial
The Trial

Stephen Doyle’s vision unites words and images in unforgettable ways. The design firm of which he is a principal, Doyle Partners in New York, creates acclaimed identities and all means of conveying them (and he always gets the colors right). He’s also recognized for his visual contributions to the Op-Ed page of The New York Times. Here he talks about another artistic pursuit: creating astonishing paper sculptures. Read More on Impressions from the paper-obsessed

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The Trouble With Geniuses

Doyle Partners

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Re-constructing a Face From the Past

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3D facial reconstruction of a young male dated -2500 years from “iberic” period (Spain). The skull was pierced with an iron nail as part of a ceremonial practice. The views were done working on a 2mm cut CTscan, Zbrush, Cinema4D and VrayforC4D. Due to the amount of hair strands each frame had a 45mn render time on a Mac Pro 12 cores with 24GB Ram in HD 1080p format. (This Vimeo video is only in 720p).
Reconstruction done for the MAC Ullastret/Catalonia/Spain (Archeological Museum of Catalonia).

 

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Words You Can Touch

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An artist transforms written words on paper into work of art you can touch.

Jennifer’s practice focuses on creating work from paper; by bonding, waxing, trapping and stitching she produces unusual paper ‘fabrics’, which are used to explore the ‘remaking’ of household objects. The papers are treated as if cloth, with the main technique employed being stitch; a contemporary twist on traditional textiles. The papers themselves serve as both the inspiration and the media for my work, with the narrative of the books and papers suggesting the forms. Jennifer tends to find items then investigate a way in which they can be reused and transformed; giving new life to things that would otherwise go unloved or be thrown away.

jennifercollier.co.uk

Art, blogging, Cool stuff, Life, Living

The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

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An exhibition of images taken of the ordinary day-to-day things we use and see. It is best to watch this show on a full screen with the sound.

Tomorrow: Short-story, final part of Swamp.

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Reuben’s Poetry in Kinetic Art

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I really enjoyed this video and as one of the viewers, Bob Bobowiz commented, “Let’s face it. He’s a poet. He found another form than words but it still is poetry.”

Reuben is a very talented kinetic artist, who transforms solid mechanical parts into beautiful organic and fluid kinetic movements. In this PopTech presentation he shows his fascinating process with beautiful insight.

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Cool Stuff – Glow in the Dark

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“I thought of this project after browsing the aisles at a lumber store and seeing Pecky Cypress,” Mike Warren told Bored Panda. “I’ve never seen anything like it and knew I wanted to make something with it”

For his year 12 school project for his Technology class, my son Chris and his friends are making a piece of furniture for the school and the school pays for the materials. Chris has suggested a large drawing and planning table for the technology room.  The classroom only has a work area so the table would be an asset to the programme. Chris’s group decided to go with a glow in the dark table which also looks just as pretty in normal lights. That was how, I learnt about the glow in the dark table. This short story shows you what they look like.

Our Cool Stuff for the week is the Glow in the Dark table by Mike Warren. You can use the same technic for chairs and other furniture but I think the resin is more effective on a larger piece.

Mike Warren is a furniture designer and enthusiast. He created this table that illuminates at night after being exposed to light during the day. The illumination comes from mixing the photoluminescent powder with the resin and using it to fill the holes that form naturally in Pecky cypress wood.

“The type of wood I used for this table is known as ‘pecky cypress’, which is regular cypress that has been naturally damaged with a fungal growth inside causing sections to rot” Warren said.

Warren removes the damaged pockets and leaves cavities in the wood  for the resin and glow powder filling. The pockets of damaged (rotten) cypress are soft and can easily be removed with compressed air and some light digging with a hand tool as shown in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeskG-bFG9o#t=19

 

 

Art, blogging, Cool stuff, Living, writing

Cool Stuff: Art Made from Lottery Tickets

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Dream ride 5,6,7 2010 discarded chinese and us lottery tickets, wood and plexiglass 44″ x 78″ x 190″

Ghost of a Dream

A sculpture and installation dream car

If only I had kept all my lottery tickets that did not win, I could have made myself a car or a piece of art. Please don’t laugh, I’m serious. Look at these babies. They made it into the Cool Stuff on my blog. For those of you that are new to the blog, every now and then, I post something I think is really cool. It can be a piece of furniture or art. These exquisite sculpture and installations were created by Adam Eckstrom and Lauren Was. For more of their work, click on the link at the end of the post.

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Rear view of Dream Car
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Dream Car 2008 $39,000 worth of discarded lottery tickets, cardboard, cast plastic, wood, steel, and mirror

http://www.ghostofadream.com/info.html