i've always loved maira kalman

my dear friend julie gave me her fabulous book, "the principles of uncertainty" last year... and she strikes again with this fabulous post.

it makes me want to be a more contemplative person and spend my days better.

holy.cow.

forserious?iaminlove!

thanksmegan!

what the amazing?

this has to be added to the cute cure archives:

the weapon of creativity

Yesterday I discovered the Human Rights Watch Podcast, and listened to episode #10 Rape in Congo. There actually might not be a more depressing topic ever, but the podcast was amazing in that it talked about two women who have used their creativity to help. "Playwright Lynn Nottage takes on the brutality of rape in Congo and the complexity of modern Africa in her Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined. Lisa Jackson's film "The Greatest Silence" has inspired policymakers to action on the issue. With reporting by Amy Costello and Christina Salerno." Listen to it HERE

I was so inspired by this podcast as well as last night showing a group of my friends here the movie Amandla: Revolution in Four Part Harmony.

Systematic Landscapes

Last night at the Corcoran Gallery I got to walk around, through, under, and on top of great art, so I must share:

One of the featured exhibits at the Corcoran right now is Maya Lin's Systematic Landscapes, a series of installations that blend...you guessed it! Systems and landscapes. It's all about exploring "how people perceive and experience the landscape in a time of heightened technological influence over our perception and environmental awareness of our place in the world" and features several large-scale installations:

Water Line, 2006
(A to-scale representation of an underwater land mass in the South Atlantic Ocean!)

Blue Lake Pass, 2006
(Modeled after a mountain ridge near Lin's home in Colorado.)

2x4 Landscape, 2006
(Made of over 50,000 fir and hemlock boards.)

Upon entering the room where 2x4 Landscape was set up, my friend and I were asked to sign waivers and wear little blue baggies over our shoes so we could walk all over it! And as I stepped gingerly across the uneven surface, a couple of young girls ignored the waiver's plea to please keep only to the mostly flat areas and started climbing the hill and tossing a bouncy ball around, giggling and squealing all the while. It was perfect. Here we were in this carefully constructed, pixelated landscape feeling as though we were strolling by kids playing on a hill in the park outside.

And what I loved most of all was this quote by Maya Lin:

"I feel that I exist on the boundaries. Somewhere between science and art, art and architecture, public and private, east and west. I am always trying to find a balance between these opposing forces, finding the place where opposites meet."

I believe we all share this appreciation of boundaries, intersections, connections, meeting points, through our art, our lives, and this blog!

(Also, just as a teaser: Remember this post? WELL! Turns out that the Corcoran is hosting an exhibit of William Eggleston's stuff (including the very photographs that Lia posted) that opens this Saturday!! So you can expect to read about that very soon!)

dearest friends:

this is not a real post.
by that, i mean that because i hadn't posted in a while, i became increasingly stressed as to what might qualify as a worthy return post, but not stressed enough to really seek one out, and instead left this magical intersecting world of ours slightly dormant, only to realize (duh) how much i love and miss you and your penchant for the loveliest of things, and thus how irrelevant my excuse for absence was, and how consequently necessary it is for me to return. so (with that ridiculously convoluted sentence in tow), this non-real post is my way of sidestepping sharing something actually revelatory or interesting. except for one thing: i really do love you all, sosososososo much. and (as i shall be moving to the east coast in two short days!) i will hopefully have the chance to see more of you as the days progress.

much love,
lia

PS:

I just added a search box so you can look up past entries! Also, this image should be a serious contender for our summer theme

in love with

Also, more LIFE beach photos by Wallace G. Levison.



















A man at the beach in push-up position w. a barrel around his waist, 1897.



















Three fully-clothed women, Gertrude Hubbell, Ruth Peters and Mildred Grimwood, hiking their skirts at the shoreline of the beach in Averne, Queens, 1897.



















Mildred Lord talking to Mrs. Simpson as her son Chester Lord aggressively peers into the camera at Sea Gate Beach. Brooklyn, 1911.

i'd like to marry this man

absolutely!

i could not agree more.

It is rainy season here...

Alfred Stieglitz "Spring Showers"

EFT (especially for thelma)

This is something I cannot watch without crying with joy:

Also: Am I a bad person that I use this video to teach my students about parody?

summer of seabears

if this song doesn't define summer, i don't know what does

(courtesy rachel kester's lovely blog)

sintra stole my heart

So I just got back from maybe the most blissful week in Paris and Portugal. And one of the reasons is because of places like Sintra (could it be more charming?):


AKA, Quinta da Regaleira, this fabulous castle in Sintra with a backyard like you wouldn't believe. Secret passageways, hidden grottoes, towers leading to no where, ponds, and trees heavy with trumpet flowers. Pretty much paradise. Witness the grotto:

It was enough to make me weak in the knees.

patterns of memory

"In my current paintings, I apply store-bought paper sewing patterns directly to the canvas. To represent figurative imagery, I reinterpret the patterns outside their usual functional context as garment templates. In this way, I work to shape a narrative that references fable, myth, and folklore. As a garment is made through the assembly of parts cut from sewing patterns, likewise, myths and fables are a kind of fabric cut from human experience.

Making paintings in the above fashion, I ask three central questions: Is our memory of stories from youth in jeopardy of fading or losing its relation to modern life? Is quickening technological advancement altering the relevance of stories and fables woven through our childhood? Are there therapeutic or harmful effects from these changes?

The story invoked in these paintings allows each viewer to “read” the surface. Patterns and templates are the genesis of assembly; once they are realized, they are tucked away or discarded. These paintings expose and liberate the pattern to become something to keep. It is my hope that the patterns convey a high-tech, engineered language that contradicts the practical or narrowly utilitarian nature of garment making."
- John Westmark