What Wood you Say

If you could carve a phrase or sentence into one continuous strip out of wood, what would you say? What Wood You Say is a project developed by artist Sighn who has made it his life's mission to handcut one million limited edition pieces. More of his work can be found here and purchased here.

Domestic Vacations

Captivating photography by Julie Blackmom. I particularly like her work entitled "Domestic Vacations" (seen below).

The Dutch proverb “a Jan Steen household” originated in the 17th century and is used today to refer to a home in disarray, full of rowdy children and boisterous family gatherings. The paintings of Steen, along with those of other Dutch and Flemish genre painters, helped inspire Julie's work.

Julie is the oldest of nine children and now the mother of three. The stress, the chaos, and the need to simultaneously escape and connect are issues that Julie explores in "Domestic Vacations".

"We live in a culture where we are both “child centered” and “self-obsessed.” The struggle between living in the moment versus escaping to another reality is intense since these two opposites strive to dominate. Caught in the swirl of soccer practices, play dates, work, and trying to find our way in our “make-over” culture, we must still create the space to find ourselves. The expectations of family life have never been more at odds with each other. These issues, as well as the relationship between the domestic landscape of the past and present, are issues I have explored in these photographs. I believe there are moments that can be found throughout any given day that bring sanctuary. It is in finding these moments amidst the stress of the everyday that my life as a mother parallels my work as an artist, and where the dynamics of family life throughout time seem remarkably unchanged. As an artist and as a mother, I believe life’s most poignant moments come from the ability to fuse fantasy and reality: to see the mythic amidst the chaos."

Toilet paper tubes sculptures

Amazing sculptures made from toilet paper tubes by French Artist, Anastassia Elias

Shoe Box Art

A wonderful and meaning project that involves leading artists recreating a room from their childhood in a shoe box. The money raised from the auction of these boxes goes to vulnerable children supported by The Bryan Adams Foundation.

Martin Cooper

I chanced upon the work of clothing designer, fine artist and costumer Martin Cooper and was absolutely blown away by his work. A large part of Martin's work revolves round the female pelvis, which Martin find is the most fascinating and controversial bone in the human body.

I was particularly drawn to a series of conceptual sketches he did for ballet costumes. The costumes are designed around 3 chief elements: the corset, ruched tulle, and the mutation of the leotard. Inspired by the classical corseted tutu and fashion from the 15th Century (based on the paintings of Lucas Cranach the Elder), the corsets are boned and laced but is done with a modern sensibility.

Screen Prints by Claire Nereim

This Seasonal Fruits poster by Claire Nereim featured in The Kitchn, an Apartment Therapy sister site, is a one page poster/forever calendar (no dates) with a fruit drawing for each month. Hand screenprinted in 10 colors on roughly recycled cream cover-stock paper. Each print is unique. A lovely way to brighten up any kitchen space.

I also love the print above composed of seasonally blooming native California wildflowers.

Everything I have

"Everything I have" by Simon Evans. I will never be able to fit all my things into a sheet of paper like this. (via Debi Van Zyl via Black Eiffel)

Claerwen James

I have to admit that I am not a fan of portraits as I find them too literal and direct. But I couldn't help gasping at the beauty of these artwork by Claerwen James when I saw them at Layer's of Meaning. Claerwen has a doctorate in Cell Biology from the University of London. While Science was her first love, she enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Arts after realising that painting was the centre of her life.

The colours, mystery and beauty of the expressions captured by these still portraits are beyond words. More of her work can be seen here.

Mister Rob Ryan

Gorgeous papercuts by paper artist Rob Ryan. Do check out his blogs here and here! (Thanks meefedtothemax for the links!)

Corner Forest

I really love it when designers turn the most common objects one would usually not bat an eyelid to into beautiful objects. Such as these paper toilet rolls above by yuken teruya.

Yuken Teruya is a artist whose work involve manipulating everyday objects and transforming their meanings to reflect on contemporary society and culture, such as the growing consumerism of contemporary society, depleting natural resources and other problems associated with globalism.

By cutting trees out of paper bags and cardboard toilet paper rolls, he creates meticulous and intricate art works which relate to broader concerns. In each bag and roll, the shape of a tree is created without adding or removing anything, just by cutting out and folding the paper from the bag itself. (via Oh Joy)

Bang-bags sale

The very talented Argentinian illustrator Ana Laura Perez, designer of bang-bags recently emailed me to let me know about a big sale she is currently having. Most of the art, accessories in her etsy shop are one of a kind item and all has to go to make way for a new line she is currently working on. Do check it out and don't miss this chance to get one of her incredibly beautiful artwork!

(above) collage on paper

Heather Smith Jone's pinhole art

Can you believe that this amazing design was created by painstakingly poking each hole with a sewing needle through paper??!? Inspired by Australian Aboriginal art and their use of dots, Artist Heather translated that by coming up with this technique of creating art with a needle and cotton paper as a medium. For more amazing work, click here.

Alison Foshee

Alison Foshee is an artist that explores the artistic potential of everyday materials in her work. Lately, she has been working with assorted labels, seals and stickers to create new meaning through patterns.

Catherine Ledner

I find these images by photgrapher Catherine Ledner quite facinating...Love the vibrant colours and wallpaper! Do check out Catherine's book, Animal House, featuring her fantastic animal photography.

Mary Emma Howthorne

I really love these mixed media collages by artist Mary Emma Howthorne. Mary uses her paintings as metaphors for concerns and inspirations in her life. The nolstalgic, aesthetic and emotional elements in her work really intriques me. (via Freshly Blended)

Marian Bantjes

I have always loved unique typography so it is no surprise that I am drawn to the work of Marian Bantjes. The work featured here is her recent project for Stefan Sagmeister's “Things I have learned in my life so far” series.

Similar to the piece she made from sugar (“Indestructible”) for the Fox River Paper booklet, Marian uses sugar to script the phrase "If I want to explore a new direction professionally, it is helpful to try it out for myself first." She wrote the phrase five times, photographed it, and then destroyed it and photographed the destroyed version. Do check out her website for more images of the project. Sweet! (via Sub-studio)

Kylie Stillman

I found out about the work of Melbourne-based artist, Kylie Stillman, through a new lovely blog called mein-inspiration today.

Kylie Stillman’s sculptural art pieces form an interplay between presence and absence. She carefully carves through the pages of books with a scalpel to create hollowed spaces that give form to intriging renderings of birds and plant species. Simply breathtaking and enchanting!

above: Paper carving, 200 sheets of cartridge paper each 76 x 52 cm

Tokujin Yoshioka's straw installation at Design Miami

This is what I would call absolute beauty, simplicity and madness! It is Tokujin Yoshioka’s recent installation for Design Miami and is made from two million plastic drinking straws!

Yoshioka is Design Miami’s 2007 Designer of the Year. Born and based in Japan, Tokujin is well known for distinguishing himself in the design field by transforming everyday materials — glass, plastics, fabrics, paper, even tissues (such as his Honey "Pop" chair) — into magical objects and spaces.

For more images from this breathtaking installation, click here.

Chris Natrop

I really love these beautiful hand-cut paper pieces and installations created by a very talented LA-based artist Chris Natrop. Inspired by his environment and visions of creating an urban utopia, his work reminds me of a fictional landscape of a mystical fairytale weaved by a magic spider! Read more about him and his work at his interview with art.blogging.la. (via casasugar)

The Shiny Squirrel

Jessica recently emailed me to tell me about The Shiny Squirrel. Featuring a select group of young artist such as Lisa Congdon, Nicole Poko and Ashley Goldberg, The Shiny Squirrel is a wonderful platform for emerging talents to showcase their work in limited edition pieces. New artists and products are updated every 1st and 15th of every month. Lovely site to browse and purchase the exclusive work of really talented people. Do check them out!