Building quite well

Lots finishing up this week.... But in the back of my mind I am planning a trip to Monticello and Jefferson's
retirement retreat Poplar Forest.....

building change

We will be making some shifts and moves in the next couple of weeks so I might post a little sporadically. In honor of making changes in order to work consistently and powerfully I suggest looking at the work of
Eva Hesse...

Two years of Building.............

Hey its Chairs and Buildings second year birthday this month! I am still having fun, are you? Let me know what your favorite parts are. Remember no woman is a blog Island and feedback keeps us going. What I do know about Chairs and Buildings readers are they are some very wonderful artists and designers that are ready to embrace the world of ideas...thanks for your support! Annie

This is a beautiful shot done by Jennifer Hudson at 305-I sort of feel like its my portrait......

Food Building 3

Bloesem featured the innovative work of House of Origin. More Eindhoven graduates stretching the bounderies of the design world and saying out loud that food, craft and styling are all design disciplines and are "housed" in their studio.

Food Building 2

I wrote about Marije Vogelzang last year on The LBC site and it sure fits these days. Vogelzang's book
Eat Love is a tour de force in the ideas- is food a design medium and where is the line between performance and dinner? Take a look at her work and you see the current progression in the art world.

Food Building

I was feeling a bit tired this morning, like I wanted to take a blog week off- until I spotted the NYT article about a Brooklyn Museum party where Jennifer Rubell held court on all things edible. Performance, design, art, food and "entrepreneurialship" all wrapped into one makes for a smart way of being in the world.

A building of ideas

In the beginning of C&B I wrote about the the really interesting work of Studio Jo Meesters; decorative objects made out of a new concoction of newspaper...a sort of high tech papier mache. Well the studio is back with more development. Entitled Pulp 2.0, the work has evolved into chairs, lamps, and New England Puritanical interiors.....?

Stitch building.................

Its exam week-so there will be no soulful design thoughts coming out of Starkville until next week. I will indulge in the work coming out of Milan then and show this interesting work by Studio Makkink & Bey from the provocative Droog Show "Saved by Droog". Clips of newspaper articles printed and embroidered on to hankys...pretty clever.

Building Modern...............

I just showed the film Helvetica to the history class as the last gasp of Modernism and all its implications. The movie is a great way to illustrate that every design generation rebels against something and even straight-laced graphic designers yearn for "cooler" ways to work in school. Love it or hate it Helvetica is a bench mark.

Building more strange things

No Milan for me this year and I hesitate to comment on things I have not seen in person...unless I am trying to make a point BUT the images coming out of Milan are intriguing especially these bizarre takes on objects and taxidermy by French design house Frederique Morrel. Made from "de-cycled" french tapestry the work is other worldly and a great shock...I see where some retail ideas are coming from.

Building many little houses

This project by MSU Art Department Senior Julia Reyes is charming. Small house shapes hung from the ceiling in the Visual Arts Sun Room. Each house is made from a different material. I love the discipline and delight in this work. Watch for Julia, her work will be on the map.

Building well.

Even though its not Milan, Starkville is hopping in the spring. This Monday the film Citizen Architect will be screened at Giles Hall, Micheal Fazio Jury Room-7:30. This is a film about the power of Samuel Mockbee's work and his legacy. See it when it comes to your town.

Women building

Heads down for the last two weeks of school, but I am planning a mid-May NYC trip. I really would like to see this show, Women Only:Folk Art by Female Hands. First
The American Folk Art Museum is a favorite building in NYC and most shows that I see there I pop with ideas when I walk out...and I do not consider myself a folk art lover, it just that the curation is so smart.

Local building

I really love the process of this ceramic work that has come out of Atelier NL. Principal Nadine Sterk aspires to serving a meal on the earthenware and have the vegetables be from the same local.......Now that's discipline....

Really building chairs.......

We are proud to announce at Little Building the opening of an exhibition of chairs by architecture students entitled "Take a Seat". Come one come all to LBC on Saturday April 17 2pm.

building experience

Mad and I had a very nice Shopping experience this weekend. We loved looking at all the ideas at Anthropologie. The web site has always underwhelmed me but actually shopping there was a fun time. Lots of ideas that could not be bought - happily. Felt vines and leaves over a princess bed(Mad really went for that), loved the paper mache animal heads mount on the wall-probably could steal that idea. And the upholstery is awesome, nice Again IDEAS-like this chair covered in Men'swear fabric..... I suppose I am happiest about the parts of being in the store that I get to keep in my head rather than consume.....

building the glory...............

I will work through some turn of the century stuff this week, since its the last week of history class or so.....I have a rollicking Bauhaus lecture planned in the morning. This has been in my folder for ages though- the newly restored John Singer Sargent Murals at the Boston Library. The information on the site tells of Sargent trying traditional painting methods as well as modern methods to get a particular "quality" in the narrative. Very Gilded Age, not very Bostonian?? Interesting architecturally.

Building glamour

This is where I spent the weekend; on a "mom O' dancer" jaunt. This building is the Alabama Theater in downtown Birmingham. A glorious example of 1920's eclecticism, this building highlights the Moorish AND Oriental style. Its a very interesting building after the spending time in the Fox in Atlanta. This is three stories and dense with motifs. Small southern cities are so lucky to have these still around.

Building strange-in the best way........

I came around this image of Vincent Darre's shop in Paris on The Selby. Darre's work is intriguing in that there is no effort to make the participant comfortable in a furniture piece. I suppose that is why they are good?

Beautiful

I had something nice happen in class this morning that I wanted to share. During the Book Report week in History a student was discussing Mies Van der Rohe and the IIT Crown Hall-he earnestly added "and its quite a beautiful building". I had not studied very much before this and I quite agree with his assessment. Now I want to go see the work of Mies because of Robert's recommendation.

Building image

I can not say I ever really warmed to the work of Gaetano Pesce. Purposely ugly, purposely ill-crafted, the work has huge fan base in the design community. So when I was completely taken by this image in the New York Times, I was surprised to learn the author. This is new work from Milan-but check out his web site for a body of work that is all about the Idea.

Building escapes

Part of my escape fantasy is a long road trip to Ernest Hemingway's Key West home. Mostly because of this image....what a clever bath Mr. Hemingway?

Building adventure

Its the end of the term, I have a tremendous work load and I am itching for a road trip......So I spot the wonderful work of Nancy Marshall on
The Southern Spaces journal. This is an image of Flannery O' Connor's house at Andalusia Farm. This is on my list for after spring term.......

Building words

Peter Nencini's blog post about the embroidered stool held some amazing artifacts that are very inspiring. As I stitch through the battles of the late Civil War. There is something very definitive about stitching the truth. This is a sampler stitched by Elizabeth Parker in Ashburnham, England during the early 19th century. Full of trials of her time as a young house servant, she poured her soul into the sampler. Also see The Day Joyce Sheet-more fortitude of women, stitched into cloth.

Building meaning in upholstery....

Graphic designer Peter Nencini completed this project with his wife Sally. Excepts from Bachelard's Poetics of Space make up the image. C&B reader Sara Krohn turned me on to Nencini's blog-a great example of a "working" blog. He walks you through all of his current projects with research and techniques.

Building work ethic....

I am putting this image up to inspire me to WORK this weekend. I have this week to finish the General Grant furniture and Ms. Lee Bontecou will show me the way.....

Building memories

The work of Roman and Williams is really the look of our time in New York. The dark moody, "worked" quality I think talks about the seriousness of the last few years. Watch this great video about the work.

Blue patterns

Now to round out my pattern week-here are the careful paintings by Maria Foladori Weiss. Inspired by epic Iznik wall tiles from the 16th century this work has a calming effect.