Japanese Wind Chimes

PingMag has a lovely summery story about the Kawasaki Taishi Wind Bell Market, in the Kanagawa prefecture in Japan. Dedicated to Japanese wind bells, the "...market grounds echo with the delicate, soothing sounds of the 2,500 artful bells in over 800 different shapes and colours - intermingling with the cheered up folks who have come from all over the country." Read Ryoko's article (and do a video tour of the market) here. Shown here are “Ruri” wind bells from Nara.

Globe and Mail Illustration

I have an illustration in today's Globe and Mail. It's in the Facts and Arguments section (that is, it's scheduled to appear there, but the Globe has moved stories to other sections before) accompanying an article on neighborhood noise pollution. One of the most challenging pieces I've done, in that I had to create eyelids from scratch for the man in the illo, which took forever to get right.

Update: It's been switched for a Harry Potter story today, so it'll be running in Monday's paper (July 30) instead.

Jenny Holzer

The brilliant conceptual artist Jenny Holzer is on Twitter! You can go here for regular Holzer Truisms updates.

Where People Feast

Brian Wood, a pal from bookstore days, is now working as a literary agent in B.C., and recently shared his delight at seeing one of his first clients make a huge splash with their first book, published by Arsenal Pulp Press. Called Where People Feast: An Indigenous Cookbook, it's by mother and daughter team Dolly (Watts) McRae and Annie Watts, who for the last twelve years have run their award-winning restaurant Liliget (a Gitksan word meaning where people feast) in B.C. They've drawn rave reviews from all over North America (The New York Times gave Liliget a four star recommendation), plus Dolly recently participated in the BC Gold Komochi Konbu Iron Chef Challenge, cooking alongside Japanese Iron Chefs ... and won! Where People Feast can be ordered online through Amazon. More info can be found here.

Kate Spade Book Covers

Hip designer Kate Spade has created downloadable book covers, to make even the most dreary novel effortlessly chic. The three designs on offer are free and available here (click on downloads). Via happy mundane.

Robot of the Day

The Robot of the Day. Shown here, a lovely photo of Yasutaro Mitsui with his own steel humanoid, sometime in the early 1930s. I think it's the frivolous eyebrows perched on the robot's sternly utilitarian form that I find particularly enchanting. Via we make money not art.

Booklist: Vinyl, Records and Covers by Artists

Another one for the booklist: Vinyl, Records and Covers by Artists, by Guy Schraenen. Judging from the index (you can view excerpts from the book on the Amazon order page), it's an impressively wide range of work. Via Design Observer.

Forget the Film...

Forget the Film and Watch the Titles is an offshoot of SubmarineChannel, devoted to main title sequences in films, animation, 3D and mixed media. Lots of great stuff, to which they're adding all the time (you can subscribe to be notified of the newest additions). Right now they're playing The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on the home page, which will have you walking around the house whistling the theme song for hours afterward (much to the annoyance of everyone else).

Mobile

This great mobile is by Bookhou Design, founded in 2003 by Canadians John Booth and Arounna Khounnoraj to "showcase their individual and collaborative works emphasizing handmade natural materials and small production pieces." The mobile was designed for their new baby collection, but I think it's sophisticated enough (with its nod to Calder) for bigger people, too. Via poppytalk.