JoelCaracas The Animal Spirits Within: Black and White Tribal Totem Animal Art | Ink Stab @InkStab.Com Posted on March 13, 2011 by Ink Stab in Blog, Design, Image, Tattoo Animal illustrations by Iain Macarthur Tags: blackwork, totem, tribal Robin Wood :: wooden bowls & plates :: traditional turning :: spoon carving :: countryside furniture When George Lailey died in 1958 a craft going back more than 2000 years died with him. He was the last person in England to make a living turning wooden bowls on a foot powered pole lathe. In medieval times nearly everybody in Britain ate from wooden bowls every day. They were beautiful, functional bowls that linger on in memories of Goldilocks but were killed off by the industrial revolution and cheap pottery. I became fascinated by the craft whilst working in woodland conservation and set about reviving the lost technique, first learning the blacksmithing skills I needed to forge the specialised turning tools. Like the old turners I use no sandpaper relying entirely on the sharpness of my tools to get a clean cut finish. December 15th 2008 was exactly fifty years since the ‘last bowlturner’ George Lailey died aged 89. These are cut from one block of wood, one from inside the next, using special curved tools which I forge myself. This video shows how this unique set of bowls was made.
James Charles – Pop Cultured Currency Repurposing existing objects for other uses is always cool. Repurposing them for pop culture references though is even better. James Charles has been doing just that with United States currency for the last year or so. Many more after the jump.
My Modern Metropolis Van Gogh Painting is a Vertical Green Wall Photo: B. Alter It's the first living painting in London's Trafalgar Square, and maybe the first anywhere. A Van Gogh picture has been turned into a green living vertical wall. Depicting Van Gogh's painting, A Wheatfield with Cypresses, it's a new way to draw people into the National Gallery to see the real thing. Photo: National Gallery: A Wheatfield, with Cypresses 1889 The living painting has been constructed by a horticulture and design company which specialises in green walls and roofs. They used over 8,000 plants of 25 different varieties. It took 3 days to install the wall which forms part of a hoarding outside the gallery. 'A Wheatfield, with Cypresses' was painted in September 1889, when Van Gogh was in the St-Rémy mental asylum, near Arles, where he was a patient from May 1889 until May 1890. The painting has been brought to life with the sponsorship of GE (General Electric) as part of the Gallery's long-term plan to reduce its carbon footprint.
Amy Casey New work from Cleveland-based artist Amy Casey who paints delicate networks of roped and towering cityscapes. Casey currently has a show at Zg Gallery in Chicago through August 6. I definitely intend on stopping by. The Wondrous Design Magazine Julie Heffernan from Julie Heffernan’s Constructions of Self Julie Heffernan creates sensuous figurative painting, like co-Yale MFAS, John Currin and Linda Yuskavage, but her luminous oils are patently unique among them and most working artists today. A Victorian impetus to conjoin, edging toward pastiche, creates artfully staged Surrealist environments. They avoid the mawkish or macabre by virtue of an evocative 17th century Baroque styling and the dignity with which she handles her primary subject, herself. Julie Heffernan at P.P.O.W Gallery Julie Heffernan at Catherine Clark Gallery Thanks to Modern Art Obsession for finding this artist!