The bright red bookends we saw at FIT’s library totally transform the common bookend into something both graphic and stylish…and practical. We wondered if we could find them.
Read MoreFour Ways to Withstand Chaos in 2017 and Beyond
Recently, we got a New Year’s card that provided a welcome strategies for this anxious time. As soon as we think about doing them, we calm down.
Read MoreRise with Poetry of the American Earth (Paul Auster)
When the New York Times asked novelist Paul Auster What’s your favorite book that no one else has heard of? his answer is full of unexpected spirit-lifting poetry.
Read MoreSerious Comfort: Cream Biscuits (3 Minutes to Assemble, 12 to Bake)
Cream biscuits are really really easy to make, and SERIOUSLY divine. We figure they are the perfect weekend pleasure and will provide serious comfort during this challenging time.
Read MoreCanvas Floor Mats, Inspired by Marisol
The jazzy black-and-white checkerboard “rug” that defines the living room of artist Marisol’s Tribeca loft reminded us a painted canvas floor cloth: practical, stylish and easy-to-make.
Read MorePDF to Print or Share: ‘I Am More Than______’
Here’s The Westport Arts Center and Pamela Hovland’s truly transformative ‘More Than Words’ postcard to print or share. See what happens when you or friends or family FILL IN THE BLANK.
Read MoreDancer, Singer and Cellist Collaborate the Blues Away (w Isadora Duncan)
Legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones, cellist Joshua Roman and vocalist Somi didn’t know exactly what was going to happen when they took the stage at TED on morning in 2015. They improvised five energizing minutes that totally dispel the blues. What art can do!
Read MoreStrategy: Turn Stuff Inside Out
A really useful but painfully ugly shopping bag pushed us to feel our way to an instant makeover. In the process, we were reminded of an essential principle for finding solutions to vexing problems.
Read More‘I Am More Than_______’ Illuminates the Richness of Our Identities
If someone asked you to finish the statement “I AM MORE THAN_______”, what would you write? What is the identity or cliche that you feel limits you? How are you MORE than that? That is the question that Pamela Hovland asks in a startling exhibition at the Westport Arts Center.
Read MoreA River’s Natural Ice Circle (Mandala)
Photographer Kaylyn Messer’s wondrous, tiny video of an ice circle on a near Seattle is a divine 20 second meditation: you hear the sound of the river and watch the circle slowly spin. Mandala.
Read MoreAnti-Anxiety Cookies: Chocolate Planets + Wonders
For the many people I know who feel that they are living in a sea of relentless anxiety, I offer two of my best chocolate cookie recipes: thin, chewy disks of intense chocolate AND fist-size hunks of chewy/moist chocolate cake loaded with chocolate chips, nuts and whatever else you can think of.
Read MoreA Wondrous Dragon in A Single 2-Minute Stroke w Haiku
This truly astonishing tiny video is a perfect morning mediation with a inbuilt lesson: The ease of this miraculous single stroke-that-became-a-dragon is the result of intense practice and many failures.
Read MoreAnn Hamilton: ‘How Can Words be Acts of Making?’
At artist Ann Hamilton’s website, we found an extraordinary meditation on words, and the question: “how can words be acts of making?”
Read MorePractical Optical Illusions: Doors Hidden in Plain Sight
It isn’t necessary to be an artist to disguise a door; there are all sorts of ways to achieve the affect.
Read MoreMartino Gamper’s Chairs are in Our Head
When we stopped to ponder the legless back and seat of a ubiquitous faux Eames polycarbomate chair we found on the street, we suddenly realized the influence designer Martino Gamper had on our thinking, whose clever 100 Chairs in 100 Days inspire completely novel iterations.
Read MoreMartin Luther King Jr via Sharase DeBouse and John Lewis
Martin Luther King Jr’s words spoken decades ago resonant more strongly today than ever.
Read MoreThe Simple Pantry: Spaghetti with Spicy Garlic Oil and Anchovies
It takes five simple ingredients and about 10 minutes to transform spaghetti into an elemental, poor-man’s pasta that tastes like Italy. (Put your anchovy prejudice aside.)
Read MoreBrian Eno’s Oblique Strategies via David Bowie
Judging from his worn and taped together set of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies, David Bowie really made use of the cards designed to SHIFT your head when you’ve hit a creative block or impasse. Now long out of print, we found a digital version…
Read MoreTrompe l’Oeil and Conceptual Art Necklaces DIY
This trompe l’oeil, conceptual art necklace takes the classic, waspy pearl necklace to a whole new level. It inspired us to search out doable, actually wearable trompe l’oeil jewelry.
Read MoreSize Matters: Jumbo Paperclip as Liberating, Minimalist “Purse”
My collection of under- and over-sized things often yields surprising improvisations and pleasures.
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