Happy Halloween!

La Cabeza

The Garfield Park Conservatory here in Chicago is currently playing host to Niki In The Garden.

Who is Niki you ask? Niki is Niki de Saint Phalle, an artist, sculptor that creates wonderous mosaic sculptures of animals, mythical figures, sports and music heroes, and of course, Nanas, larger than life female figures, all bejeweled with stones, glass, mirrors and semi-precious materials.

The exhibition features over 30 extraordinarily colorful and whimsical outdoor sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle, this spectacular exhibition will grace the breathtaking Garfield Park Conservatory inside and out.

The textural look and feel of these imaginative artworks from afar or close-up invite you to interact and touch the art. Many pieces such as the Nikigator, Guardian Lion and Seal are perfect for climbing and crawling, while others, including La Cabeza and Chair invite you inside the piece to actually have a seat and look at the world from within the sculpture.

La Cabeza is also a perfect for Halloween Eve!

Life as usual

And the news is. . .?

What is going on?!

Today, as the Education Chair of AIGA Chicago, I was at Robert Morris College's Design Symposium spreading the gospel of AIGA to the masses.

As an incentive to sign up, I offered students the opportunity to be entered into a drawing for an autographed (the large signature) copy of Milton Glaser's book Art is Work if they signed up for a membership. It was not the best incentive! To my dismay, many students had no idea who Milton Glaser was. Actually, dismay is a little soft, to my horror, very few knew who Milton Glaser was. Hello students! I Love (Heart) New York?

Have they not been taught this at all? Never seen his work? I am not sure where this omission has happened as students are not always the best at recall. I know Milton is a bit old, but not knowing who he is? At least in a historical context!

Needless to say, no one won the book or signed up. But they all went away with boxes of matches, a premium AIGA National has created.

Letterpress Workshop

I just signed up for a letterpress workshop at Hamilton Wood Type. Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum is located in Two Rivers, WI. I first visited it several years ago when visiting a friend of mine in Denmark, WI.

Hamilton is currently operated by volunteers of the Two Rivers Historical Society, the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum is the only museum dedicated to the preservation, study, production and printing of wood type. With 1.5 million pieces of wood type and more than 1,000 styles and sizes of patterns, Hamilton's collection is one of the premier wood type collections in the world.

Wintuk

I just relaized that in just over three weeks, I will be in New York seeing Corque Du Soleil's latest creation, Wintuk! Just look at the icy blue cold stage!

Wintuk will be a "permanent" show in New York. I say "permanent" because it will only be done in New York. It will only be performed for 10 weeks each of the next seven years, at least that is what they say!

DSL Crack

It seems as though I am seriously addicted. Addicted to DSL. See, my upstairs neighbor is my DSL pusher. I, his DSL junkie. He encouraged me to get a wireless card so I could jump onto his wireless. So I did. I have never looked back to, dare I say, dial-up. Until yesterday.

The cable went down. They could not do the fix remotely. They had to actually come out and make a repair. I could not get online at all other than to dial up. All that squeeking and whistling! The humming and buzzing of the modem. I would sign on, check for important email, answer them and sign off as quick as I could.

I swear I even got the shakes of DSL withdrawal. I needed my email fix! I needed to check in with my blogosphere.

This afternoon, after being out of touch with the e-world, the cable is back up. No more modem and dial up at 45333 bauds!

Today, I am thankful for generous neighbors and technology.

Gray

Jonathan Borofsky "Dancers" 2003

I like gray. I like seeing between black and white, it is more interesting. I do not find it dull at all, there are so many shades and colors of gray.

Denver has lots of great public art and this was one outside the convention center. The Sunday I stayed hoping for a great day to see some sights ended up being a gray, cloud filled, rainy day. But that did not keep me from walking the town. These figures are tall, and a wee bit alien like but they danced none the less in the rain.

The two figures are actually white. I love this cropping and all the many shades of gray.

Conference highlight - Janine Benyus

Janine Benyus is a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature." Her favorite role these days is “biologist-at-the-design table,” helping innovators consult life’s genius in the creation of well-adapted products and processes. Some recent innovations include: self-cleaning paints based on the lotus leaf, dye-based solar cells, boxfish shaped cars, gecko style adhesives, non-combatant antibacterial agents inspired by seaweed, spiral shell formed exhaust fan, antibacterial wallaby milk, and spinal disc repair from flea’s knees.

Her company, the Biomimicry Guild, offers biological consulting, research, workshops and field excursions to clients such as Arup Engineers, General Electric, Gensler Architects, Herman Miller, HOK Architects, IDEO, Interface, Kohler, Nike, Seventh Generation and Procter & Gamble. Benyus is currently creating a “Google of Nature’s Solutions”—a digital library of biological literature organized by design function and a “biology-taught-functionally” course for architects, engineers and designers.

To help naturalize Biomimicry in the culture, she founded the nonprofit Biomimicry Institute whose programs include an open-research Biomimicry Challenge and an Innovation for Conservation program that uses proceeds from bio-inspired products to conserve the habitat of the mentor organisms.

Denver Capital

When I visit a new state, as I just did to Colorado, I try like the dickens to visit its capital. I am not a huge history buff, but I like seeing the different buildings, the architecture, the art they typically hold and such.

One of the most strinking features of the Denver capital building is the pink stone used throught. The pink stone is native to Colorado and discovered near Beulah. This is a unique color of onyx and has never been found anywhere else in the world. They know this as when they were looking to acquire additional stone, they were unable to find any anywhere. There are several shades of the pink stone which was meticulaously sorted for various aspects of the building.

The markers found on the steps leading up to the capital are proof of the state's motto of "Mile High City." The original marker was installed in 1909 on the 15th step, one mile above sea level. It was stolen, many times. They finally carved into the step the words "ONE MILE ABOVE SEA LEVEL." After all, who could steal a whole granite step.

In 1969, Colorado State University engineering students surveyed the capital and found that the mile high step was actually the 18th, and the marker on the left was installed.

Finally, using the new national vetical datum, it was found that the 13th step is the at 5,280 feet and in 2003 the marker on the right was installed.

Head is a reelin'!

Lawrence Argent, 2005

My first impression of Denver was this huge blue bear, which is nearly the same blue as the blue bridge in Grand Rapids (see April 10, 2007 post), looking into the conference center. Design is big amongst the ursine!

So much seen and done in Denver at the AIGA National Conference, not really sure where to start.

A quick reflection back over the last five days leaves me the impression of the up and coming talent. Two of the best conference highlights was Command X, a live design competition, and 20/20, 20 one minute presentations of what young designers nominated by big ass design players n what they see is next.

Will share over the next few days!

What's next?

Denver is playing host to the AIGA National Design Conference and that is what is bringing me to Denver!

Most likely no new posts while I am gone, but I am sure I will have plenty to share when I get back.

Colorado. . . Check!

That's right! I am heading to another state to check of my list, Colorado.

Here are some facts about our 38th state!

Capital: Denver
Flower: Rocky Mountain Columbine
Tree: Blue Spruce
Animal: Big Horn Sheep
Fish: Greenback Cut-throat Trout
Insect: Colorado hairstreak butterfly
Bird: Lark Bunting
Dance: Square Dancing
Dinosaur: Stegosaurus
Gemstone: Aquamarine
Rock: Yule Marble
Mineral: Rhodochrosite
Nickname: The Centennial State
Motto: "Nothing without Providence"
Area: 104,247 square miles
Governor: Bill Ritter, Jr.

Pick a card, any card. . .then design it!

Custom52 is an online design community using playing cards as our canvas. Entries are graded by your peers and the strong will survive. The top design for each playing card will be chosen to go to print and a deck of the top submissions will be produced. The deck will then go on sale for the world to enjoy.

See the current submissions for round two and find out how to submit a design of your own here.

Exquisite Corpse

Remember when you were a kid and you would accordion fold up a piece of paper then one person would draw the head, the next the shoulders and arms all the way until the feet were drawn? When finished, you would unfold it and have this wonderfully imagined creature!

Christian Marclay does that in his own unique way with album covers as his medium! In these. Marclay explore the way music functions socially. Notions of nostalgia and sexual stereotypes are revealed in the visually powerful album-cover collages from his Body Mix series. He kind of Frankenstein sews the album covers together to create these new visages. Several of these are a part of the Sympathy For The Devil show at the MCA Chicago.

Marclay is also known for his surreal musical instrument sculptures and spaces filled with albums.

Bravia Part 3

First there was Balls. Then we had Paint. Now color reproducing like, well, rabbits!

Here is a teaser.


The third tv commercial for Bravia is the most ambitious piece of stop-motion animation ever undertaken. Devised by Fallon and shot over three weeks in New York, the commercial employed 40 animators from Passion and used 2.5 tons of clay.

Sympathy For The Devil: The Art of Rock & Roll since 1967

A new show at the MCA Chicago shows how music has influenced art and art has influenced music. I saw the show this past Saturday and remembered how much I really like Robert Longo's work, especially his "Men in the Cities" series. As I have recently discovered looking back at many of the artists whose work I am drawn to, they all have a very graphic feel and aesthetic to them.

Longo studied sculpture, but drawing remained his favorite form of self-expression. His sculptural influence invades his drawing technique, as his "portraits" have a distinctive chiseled line that seems to give the drawings a three-dimensional quality. Longo uses graphite like clay, molding it to create images like the writhing, dancing figures in his seminal "Men in the Cities" series.

It is a pretty interesting show and if in Chicago, worth seeing. The MCA is celebrating it's 40th anniversary with 40 days of free admission!

One last Manic Monday

I typically do not do the weekly "theme" posts. I like my blog being a little more irregular and organic.

But for the second week in a row I am participating in this Manic Monday thing (thanks Lisa!). And only because it is near and dear to my heart!

i enthusiastically introduce you all to Arngee! His legal name is Otto. He is the mascot of Syracuse University where I went to grad school. He even has his own blog at blog. His blog documents all the people he has met, Ann Curry, Eleen Degeneres, and many more, and the many places he has been, London to Amsterdam, Miami to San Francisco.