reminder: play in the sand (it’s an art material)

As though wanting to pack in every ounce of summer, Coney Island has been host to a number of sand sculpture contests. Last Friday, arts instigator Creative Time headed back to Far Rockaway to host its second annual Artist Sandcastle Competition.  And this Friday’s competition is open to experienced artists and amateurs alike. Artist’s sand creations can be…

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design love: bauhausian bicycle

We look at this Bauhausian bicycle and feel a visceral WANT. We love the way it looks and its moderne hecho-a-mano rusticity. Apparently it follows the principle of the golden section.  Beautiful. … though you’d have to be pretty agile to get on and off. More images and specifics on the Bau Bike: It It’s Hip It’s…

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summer collecting: improvisations for shells, stones…

Summer vacations in the great outdoors can result in some ferocious souvenir fallout: gazillions of shells, kilos of stones, and fistfuls of feathers from unidentified birds. We hoard this memorabilia like The Hobbit’s Gollum hovering over Sauron’s Ring, unable to part with our “precious”, be it a single sand-filled shell or random feather. Truth be…

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annals of tiny: elevator shaft museum

Somewhere in downtown New York City, in an inconspicuous urban alleyway, an abandoned elevator shaft has been transformed into a tiny museum, a one-room exhibition space displaying an assemblage of unconventional artifacts and found objects. The museum documents everyday human history, a quiet reminder that art is everywhere…and the human ingenuity can transform even the most lowly and…

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best of il: diy plant watering globes

www.sha.org/bottle/wine In tandem with Anthony Giglio’s summer sparkling wine recommendations, it seems fitting to reprise the idea we published a couple of years ago: using water or wine bottles as plant watering globes. These are simply inverted bottles that you fill with water and slam into the moist soil of a containered plant; they will slowly trickle…

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diy or buy: stylish frayed-edge linen pillows

Flipping through the new Crate & Barrel catalogue, we came across what seems like a bargain: “eyelash pillows”— big square two-tone linen pillows whose edges are sewn inside-out, to show their frayed edges. It’s a lovely play on a trend we’ve reported on quite a bit, most recently in Paola Navone’s frayed-seam slipcovers. It appeals…

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make art with your cup of coffee

(Video link here.) This little video just goes to show that just about ANYTHING can be an art material and a vehicle for expression. We don’t think we’re gonna do this with our morning coffee but love the possibility, the shift of view of what a coffee ring can be (and one degree father ‘out…

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graffiti artist’s custom tool coat for making art on-the-fly

Dig this brilliantly-devised graffiti artists coat, lined with cans of colored spray paint: genius! It is the perfect example of devising/hacking/creating tools for your own unique needs and vision. It reminds us this principle from Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth: Make your own tools. Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even…

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