The Color Of..

Via the Swiss Miss blog, I found this fantastic site: The Color Of... type in anything that takes your fancy and it generates a beautifully minimal artistic palette of "the color of" it.

I love how this challenges our preconceptions about color. I typed in some words expecting it to generate particular colors but the results were not always what I expected. Go over and check this site out, it is just FUN!

Here are a few of my Color Palettes:

Swings

What is it about the magic of a swing? I don't care what age you are, those two ropes and a board, hold something very special to them. They conjure up memories of being a child, your hair streaming behind you like ribbons, the breeze hitting your face, your palms becoming sweaty from holding on so tight.

Races with each other to see who could go the highest, or who could jump off their swing at the perfect moment and land the farthest. Pumping your legs harder and harder so you were swinging so high, you knew that if you let go, you would sail into the tree tops.

There is a park near my house with a nice little playground and some evenings when we go on walks through the woods, we stop there on our way home and just swing for 5 minutes or so. I find that there is something very therapeutic in that! Just letting go.

This is a very interesting and wonderful project, so I thought I would share it with you:

Danny Brito

Danny Brito is an artist I discovered ages ago, through Danielle Thompson's blog. He is someone whose work I have come to appreciate it. Especially his curly whirly whipped ice-cream beehived hairdo clad women!

This is a little video he made on making a handmade book and I liked his process, so I thought I would share it with you, I can't wait to try making one of my own on my little dollhouse sized machine! Enjoy:


Mini-book from danny brito on Vimeo.

(All images and video copyright Danny Brito)

The Enchanting Lotte Reiniger

Right before Christmas, one of the Art teachers in my department, decided that she would have the students create shadow puppets as a nice little wind down to the week that we were breaking up for the holidays. I love shadow puppets, there is something very magical about them!

She showed the students a video by Lotte Reiniger, so they could get an idea of what kind of final outcome they were aiming for and to see how the process works in actuality. I had never seen these Reiniger videos before and I fell in love with them. They are beautifully crafted and absolutely enchanting.

She was a true visionary, ahead of her time in innovation and even beat out Walt Disney in the designing of and use of a multi-plane camera to achieve distinctive visual effects. She was filmed to show her working through her creative process and it is truly astonishing to see how quickly she sketches and expertly cuts the puppet she is creating.

As a group of digital Art students are now working on a similar shadow puppet project, it made me think of these bewitching videos, so I thought I would share them with you! There is such a sweetness to them and they are without a doubt, timeless interpretations of beloved fairy tales! Enjoy!





(Still images courtesy of the Animation Archive)

Crayola Totem Poles

I was creating a sign today to describe the artwork that was being put on display for a particular class and in searching for a totem pole image, I came across this:

I think these are just amazing, the time that must have gone in to creating these lilliputian sized artifacts. They were sculpted by an artist named, Diem Chau, and I love their rainbow happiness. What a true little piece of art. The personality that they each appear to have for something so minuscule is quite astounding.

The girl reminds me of the soap carving that Boo Radley made of Jem and Scout in "To Kill A Mockingbird". They have that air of vintageness about them with the styling of the girl's hair and dress. Maybe these would be the modern version of what Boo would carve?

The smell while carving them had to be heaven. I love the smell of a fresh pack of crayola crayons, that waxy scent that is distinctive to them. It is not the aroma of a candle or of any other crayon brand.

There was nothing better in the world when you were little, then when you got a new pack of crayons and a coloring book and your entire afternoon was spent lying on your belly deciding which color you would pick for the ballerina's slippers. Oh, to be little again!

(Images found here)

Catherine Campbell

One aspect of  not only being an Art Historian, but also an Artist and appreciator of Art is the opportunity to continually discover new Artists.

I am constantly making suggestions to the Art students to look at this Artist or that Artist and they in turn open my eyes to Artists I am not familiar with.

While flipping through the Illustration Now: Volume 3 book one afternoon in the department, I was inspired to do a little online research on an Artist I had come across. Her name is, Catherine Campbell and her work is hauntingly beautiful, I fell in love with the girl and owl in the teacup. Her work is colourful and imaginative and I like her use of mixed media.

I endeavour to always make new discoveries and continue to explore, that is what life is about, just keeping yourself open to something new.

(All images copyright Catherine Campbell)

PES Films

I recently came across this highly amusing animation sight all created by PES. I have been given a few animation lessons from Mr. Michie. My first attempt was making a plastic ballerina cake topper dance. I did it the old fashioned way, by taking a series of pictures one by one as we slowly turned her in a dance and then loaded it into Adobe Premier to create my film.

I have also been lucky enough to get to work with the wonderfully kind and talented, Kim Noce on an animation project and learn a few lessons from her. I used a web-cam as my "camera", on my small part of the project, which made the film making process a whole lot easier.  As that "film" can be loaded up as one piece, instead of the individual photos. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of time it took to create these videos. They are wonderfully sweet and brought a smile to my face, I hope they bring one to yours as well!






I think the addition of the Peeps makes it feel like Eastery fireworks!

Penguin Threads

The Art blogging world has been all a buzz the past few weeks with the news that Jillian Tamaki has been commissioned by Penguin books to create stitched covers for their Classics series that will be released this Fall.

This was such exciting news. I too, love to embroider things and there is not always a rhyme or reason to my pattern and I appreciate that in Jillian's work, the beautiful flow. Not only that, but her extraordinary use of such vivid colours for this series just makes them pop out at you. I think I shall now, forever see Emma, dressed like this, with pastel rainbow hair whipping around her face, as she waits for Mr. Darcy.

I can't wait to see what they look like in person! To learn more about this project click here.

YIPPEE!

YIPEEEE! School is out for Easter Break and I am very excited!

(Image by Kelly Reemtsen, I'm Not Falling For You, "Yippee" added by Jennifer Michie)

*Kelly Reemtsen is an artist I have only recently discovered and I really enjoy her work. This series in particular where surreal headless 1950's/60's clad women, holding everyday household and gardening objects fill the canvas before you. I love the differing shades of yellow used in the above image, it is so simple, yet so complex.

Hear Me Roarrrr....

I am roaring into the week. We put our clocks forward this weekend and suddenly everything and everyone seems to be "springing" into action.

There are exams and meetings and yoga classes to attend this week, cleaning and laundry that has to be done and somewhere in there, time to just sit and be with Mr. Michie; because that is more important than anything else on my "To-Do" list. So, I am just going to keep on roaring and go with it!

(Image by Christine Hale, "Roarrr" added by Jennifer Michie)

Art-O-Mat

When I was in College, they installed one of these in our Art Department. It was there on a trial basis to see if something like this would work! Well, we all loved it! What is it? It is a refurbished cigarette machine that sells art instead of cigarettes. I adored the fact that in keeping with the style the design was still very much the "old cigarette case" look, that very 1960's-esque edge to it.

I don't know if they have changed this part or not, but we had to use a special "token" to get the art out. You handed in your money to the Art office and received a chip that you would use to collect your chosen piece.

You really had no idea what was going to be in the boxes. The images used to "describe" it, was either just the Artist's name or a very brief line, like, "man in a box". You didn't know what was going to pop out and that was half the fun. There was all sorts of things from mini oil paintings, to a book of photographs that told a story, to miniature statues, sometimes it was just typed text that had been pasted down and decorated.

I love the idea of "Art for the Masses", and I mean this in the best possible sense. Not mass produced cheap art, but the Andy Warhol idea of mass production, in the sense that you were creating 20 or 30 of the same thing and quite possibly something to never be created again, but for $5, everyone had a chance to own a little piece of Art. It made it accessible and Art should be accessible. (I know I stray here a bit, in that Andy Warhol was mass producing to make a point about Art, but I think you get my point as well.)

I have the very lovely Sherry to thank for tweeting out this pic to me, it made me smile!

If you don't already follow this gal through twitter, you certainly should, she is a sweetheart! Thanks for sending me this image, Sherry!

(Image Copyright: MerrieSherrie "Art dispensing vintage cigarette machine, Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas")

To learn more about Art-o-mat, click here

A Trip to the Tate

I had the great fortune of leaving the cupboard for a little while on Wednesday and I got to accompany an Art trip to the Tate. It was a treat walking around with the students, getting to sketch some things in my sketchbook and taking as many photographs as I could.

I haven't been to the Tate in quite awhile. Mr. Michie went on a school trip before Christmas and he inspired me to want to go again after such a long absence. However, they were hanging so many things that a lot of the rooms were closed, so I didn't get a chance to see as much as I had hoped.

One piece I did see was by the conceptual artist Cerith Wyn Evans. Who had a stunning, ballroom size Venetian chandelier hanging in a room; that lit up very slowly and once warmed up the lights would flash on and off. It was so beautiful and yet surreal to see in white this room, the bold colours of the chandelier's droplets and flowers were all that stood out, against the blinding light when the bulbs reached their highest power.

My minor in College,was Arts Management and one of the courses I took was a gallery class. One area we focused on, was how do people use the space they are in and interact with the space they are in.  I always think back to that class as I watch people in a gallery/museum.

There was no way around this chandelier it was so wide and hung so low it almost touched the floor. You couldn't miss it. Yet, I stood against a wall and watched people breeze past it, give it a wide berth, as if there was nothing of importance to see, or, they would quickly glance at it and move along. Maybe its sheer size unnerved people, they felt it was too big to interact with, it isn't as "simple" as standing in front of a painting on a wall. Who knows? It was just something that fascinated me.

I had a lovely day out and I think the students did as well, a lot of good ideas for their exam theme of "Similarities & Differences". I just thought I would share a few of my favourite images from the day with you:

Theodore Von Holst, The Fairy Lovers, about 1840
Michael Ayrton, The Temptation of St. Anthony, 1942-3
Henry Fuseli, Titania and Bottom, about 1790
William Blake, The Book of Thel pl. 7, probably 1796
John Linnell, The Last Load, 1853
Cerith Wyn Evans, Chandelier

I picked up these two postcards as my treat. I thought they offered an interesting perspective on "Similarities & Differences", so I am just going to pocket them away as an idea for a student in need:
 

{Self Portrait with Fried Eggs, Sarah Lucas, 1996 (left) Honeymoon Nude, John Currin, 1998 (right)}

Matchboxes

I have been meaning to post about this little piece I saw on Youtube for ages! It is composed of 178 matchboxes, designed by Prague based designer Pavel Fuksa.  I think it is pretty neat! You can watch the video below:

A Book

One of my colleagues in the Art Department is a wonderfully delightful woman. She usually marches into my cupboard in the morning, singing "Hello" to me, like my own personal Ethel Merman.

She was commissioned by a county museum to create a piece about books. She used a vintage book and then began to take it apart. Drilling through it, slicing out interesting text and images, putting it back together in an accordion fold, that when opened creates the most fascinating scenes as you peer through the "tunnel" into the book. One of my favourite bits of text is the one used in the image above, "A constant source of surprise, was the joy of doing it".

A resourceful artist and one who does not waste, she stacked the circles that were drilled out of the book on top of each other and screwed in a acrylic holder to make a resting spot for the book when it is closed.

It is a truly charming piece of work and is something that I will be photographing and documenting over on In the Art Cupboard this week, so please come over and take a look!

Gauguin

I went to see the Gauguin exhibit today at the Tate Modern, it was a wonderful day! When we first entered the Tate we headed off to see Ai Weiwei's Sunflower commission. It is composed of millions of porcelain sunflower seeds that are all spread out on the floor, it was unbelievable how real they all looked. I was saddened though, that you can no longer walk on them.

The Gauguin exhibit was interesting, I saw pieces of his work that I was never aware that he created. For instance, a series of wood carved statues that were so intricately designed, their Tahitian influence so apparent in their almost totem pole shape, they were beautiful.

There was a lot of people there, a little too much for my liking, all pushing and shoving, which is something that I have never understood. I felt they were there to simply say they had been, not to actually take it in and enjoy it.

After stopping for a spot of cake and tea, we headed over to St. Martin's crypt to see next year's contenders for the plinth in Trafalgar Square.  You can vote on your favourite, these were my two:

It was a wonderful day out, in the pleasure of good company and an absolute luxury to be in 1/2 term, spending a usual working day, walking around and soaking up the Tate.

Into the Woods

A little while ago, I came across an article from last year, on "designvagabond" and thought I would share it. I appreciate contemporary architecture and design, but it is not always for me.

I do not like the cold,sterile feeling that some designs leave you with. But, I do love the use of lighting, windows and the idea of bringing nature into your indoor environment.

Having no window in my little cupboard, this is an office I would gladly call my own. The architect's plans are beautifully executed. This is a little office nestled in the woods and I love the fact that as you work, you can watch the birds, see a leaf fall, see a branch burst into bloom, watch night slowly close in on you... You get to see life unfold before your eyes, you get to see one season slip into the next.

You become part of something more. More than just someone cooped up in an office, you can live vicariously through your windows and as a girl who doesn't have one at the moment, I really like that!

The Tate

This week, Mr. Michie visited the Tate Britain with his media students. The museum lover that I am, I have to admit, sacrilege as this is to say, that the Tate just doesn't seem to really do it for me, and maybe that is because I always seemed to end up in the Turner room with my classmates studying his pieces and I slowly came to hate going there, being stuck in that room.

And maybe, because the John Singer Sargent that I love and used to visit often, "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose", suddenly, never seemed to be up when I went, it started to become this elusive painting, I was always hunting for.

I do love going to the Tate Modern however. I love that an old power station instead of being torn down was used to create a space in which people can walk around, interact with art, or sit in a chair, look at an art book and watch the Thames float by.

But, after Mr. Michie's adventure out on Thursday, I am starting to slowly love the Tate again, if only for this:

I will be going to visit the Gauguin exhibition at the Tate Modern in a few weeks and I am going to try to squeeze in the going to the Tate as well and I will be looking around it again with fresh eyes, as Humphrey Bogart once said, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

(Image taken by Mr. Michie, Artwork by Bob & Roberta Smith, I was Hansel in the School Play, 2008)

Paper Delights

I am always amazed by the power of paper. Something so thin it can be crumpled and tossed away, yet so sharp it can easily cut you like a knife. Something that words can be written on, inked into a page to declare love or war, joy or sadness. Something that can be folded into an intricate design of origami styled folds, yet easily shredded to bits.

On a walk down Carnaby Street yesterday we wandered into one of my favorite stores, Liberty's. Downstairs in the Carnaby room there was a Roger La Borde display with pieces by Rob Ryan and 3 other artist.

All artist who use paper as their means of artistic interpretation. One of the artist was Su Blackwell. I could not stop staring at her pieces, the intricacies and delicate nature of her work was beautiful. One piece on display was a flurry of butterflies coming out of a book, the beautiful colors of some of them against the written words were like little beams of light shooting through a black night.

Another piece of hers existed with trees popping out of an open book, I wanted to jump into those pages, there was a fairytale magic to it. Other artists included Elise Hurst who created two "Mondoodles" for the show and Nelly Dimitranova who doodled all over paint chip leaflets. Rob Ryan had two huge images there, one of a lovely little house with angels on the roof and the words spoke of them watching over the house and everything around it, I really liked that.

All the pieces were made of paper. It is something that is so simple, just paper. But, it wasn't "just paper", no, it held in its fibres so much more.

(Alas, I forgot my lovely camera in the rush to catch a train and our phones decided not to help us take lovely pictures, so these images were taken from Roger la Borde's & Rob Ryan's site.)

Come In...

Knock, Knock, Knock! Come in, the Cupboard door is now OPEN!

Come one, Come All...

Step right up! Step right up! Come one! Come all to In the Art Cupboard.

Enter through the magical cupboard door  October 1st and see what awaits you!

I'm getting ready for the "grand opening". Entry is FREE, grab your popcorn, get your peanuts....Step right up! Step right up!

(Image: Flicker Sabine&cats')