Letterpress Video

Great little video about the art of the letterpress––you can almost smell the ink. Have a look here. Via the Kottke blog.

Paris Pied à Terre

Who wouldn't love to have a little pied à terre in Paris? This one is located in the tony 7th arrondissement, and, besides this window view (plus another one of the Eiffel Tower) has a boulangerie on every corner, too. Sigh. Be sure to check out the slide show. Via apartment therapy.

Clocky

Clocky is an alarm clock that offers you two options when the alarm goes off in the morning: (a) roll over and turn it off, or (b) scramble out of bed and hunt it down to turn it off, as it's designed to roll off your nightstand, alarm sounding, and run across the floor. A fun option for those who can't get moving in the morning, though pets might find it a little, um, alarming. Via Swiss Miss.

Surrealism is Back

This Thursday sees the opening of Surreal Things at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The exhibition explores the Surrealist movement from its origins in the 1920s right up to its (usually more commercial) interpretations in the present day. Read more about it here. On the left is Salvador Dali's Mae West Lips Sofa from 1938.

Treats and Treasures

Treats and Treasures is a blog by the Amsterdam-based graphic design student Marieke Berghuis. It's lively, creative and bursting with interesting ideas. Marieke also creates prints, and is planning on opening her own online printshop in spring/summer 2007. For more info email her at marieke [at] treatsandtreasures [dot] com.

Loop

There's been a lot of craftiness in the air lately. Friends of mine, energized by the onset of spring, were talking recently about some of the projects they're getting started on, which has in turn got me thinking about doing something crafty myself. I'd like to get some more knitting going––I only wish that there was a branch of Loop, a fantastic London yarn store, in the neighborhood...

Booklist: The Pineapple

I recently read the excellent Times Literary Supplement review by Bee Wilson of the book The Pineapple: King of Fruits by Fran Beauman, and have added it to the book list. Beauman's book is a history of the pineapple from its introduction to European society up to the present day. A tantalizing quote from Wilson's review: "When (John Evelyn, the courtier and salad expert) tasted chunks of pineapple cut up by the King himself in 1668, he felt the flavour fell short of the “ravishing” descriptions he had read, having a “grateful acidity” but tasting more of “the Quince and the Melon” than anything more delicious. This illustrates Locke’s argument. The earliest European tasters of pineapple could only describe it by reference to other fruits. They could not summon up its full flavour either in words, or in the mouths of others."

Book By Its Cover Blog

Julia Rothman's new blog, Book By Its Cover, each day features an illustrated book. The blog itself is set up with categories for children's, comics, design, fine art, and handmade books, and has some wonderful finds. Julia herself is a fantastic illustrator and pattern designer based in Brooklyn, New York. Check out her personal website here. The book on the left is Bonheur by Keiko Minami, a Japanese artist born in 1911 who was named official artist of the United Nations in 1959. Via Irene Hoofs' wonderful Bloesem blog.

Helvetica Haiku Contest

Manage This, the Extensis community blog, is hosting a Helvetica haiku contest in honour of the world premiere of the Helvetica documentary film by Gary Hustwit (March 13) at SXSW. The award is one of the limited edition fine art posters from the movie (left). Entries must be in by 3:00 PST, Friday March 23. More info on the film (including a screening schedule, trailers, blogs and other interesting stuff) can be found at its website. So far there's only one Canadian date (Toronto, April 19-29, with a director Q&A afterwards), but more cities are on the horizon...

Here, incidentally, is my own haiku contribution:

Like Audrey Hepburn,
Helvetica’s slim lines have
Timeless elegance.

Update: The contest winners were announced today (March 28). Check them out (not including mine, alas) here. Lots of fun and clever haikus.

Artists Look Different

"These two pictures represent the eye motions of two viewers as they scan a work of art with the goal of remembering it later. One of them is a trained artist, and the other is a trained psychologist. Can you tell which is which?" Read the rest of this intriguing article by Dave Munger on the Cognitive Daily blog. Via the Kottke blog.

Clutch Show

Clutch has a show next month at Timothy's Coffee Shop at 541 Sussex Drive. The theme is Spring, and it runs for the entire month of April. I won't be showing this time around, but the lovely and talented Jan Soetermans will be filling in as guest artist, joining regulars Clare Brennan, Alain Brunet, Jim Kohan and Michael Zavacky. A vernissage is in the works--I'll post details once I find out.

The Design Encyclopedia

The Design Encyclopedia describes itself as "(a) growing, collaborative resource that describes, tracks and explains culture, commerce, politics, media, sports, brands – everything possible, really – through design." Endlessly fascinating browsing as well as being a brilliant resource. Shown here is a work from the section on Bauhaus design.

Rauschenberg Show

There's an amazing Robert Rauschenberg show on until March 17 at the Jonathan O'Hara Gallery in New York, featuring 44 of Rauschenberg's transfer drawings from the '60's. Read the New York Times review of the show by Roberta Smith here. Wish I could see it...hope there's a catalog available outside the exhibition. The drawing on the left, from 1969, references the U.S. space program.

Update: I emailed the Jonathan O'Hara Gallery on Wednesday night for more info on the catalog. I got a friendly email first thing Thursday morning with the details: it's a hard cover with 71 pages, features 42 out of the 44 drawings in the show reproduced in color, and it's still available. It costs $20 US (with an additional $11.50 charge for shipping and handling to Canada), payable by cash or cheque. I've just ordered a copy! If you're interested in getting one too, email the gallery at info@johg.com.

March 23, 2007 Update: Received the catalog today, delivered by Canada Post. It's great.

Art Mystery Solved

"In a brilliant piece of art historical detective work, two Dutch academics have solved the puzzle of Jan Steen’s 1655 painting The Burgomaster of Delft and His Daughter. The work does not depict a burgomaster, but the merchant who supplied grain for the artist’s brewery. We also now know about a bitter marital row which lay behind the apparently placid figures of the father and his daughter." Read the rest of Martin Bailey's The Art Newspaper article here.

Here, But Still Missing

A little late for International Women's Day (hope you had a good day), but an intriguing article by Ana Finel Honigman on the Guardian Arts blog: Why is feminism out of fashion in contemporary art? On the left is one of my favourite Guerrilla Girls posters.

Danish Modern to Dream of

Design*Sponge reported today on this particularly elegant mid-century Danish modern day bed sofa, now up for bids through the Phoenix Metro Retro shop on Ebay. Sigh. It would look truly lovely with my Danish modern table and chairs...

Les Deux Magots Café

This week's Haiku Club theme is Paris, which for the last few days has made me nostalgic for my visit there three years ago. One of my haiku contributions was a memory of an hour or two spent with Andrew at a little table by the window at Les Deux Magots, sipping an unbelievably rich, thick and wonderful cup of chocolat chaud while watching Paris go by...

Thai Chicken Soup

It's a cold day here today, and I've been enduring a cold for the last few days, too, so right now the prospect of a big warming bowl of Thai chicken soup is the best thing ever. The one shown here is Martha's version of this classic dish.

Collage a Day

Shiso Mama creates a collage a day, and posts the results on her Flickr page, called (appropriately enough) Collage a Day. Lovely work, and a fun idea, too. Via favorite choses.

Eugene de Salignac

The New Yorker site has a short history and slide show about Eugene de Salignac, who photographed New York's bridges from 1903 to 1934 when he worked for the Department of Bridges (later the Department of Plant and Structures). Michael Lorenzini, of the Municipal Archives of the City of New York, has now collected the best of de Salignac’s photos in his book “New York Rises” (Aperture; $40); the exhibition opens May 4th at the Museum of the City of New York. Fascinating glimpse of turn of the century New York.