pothole gardens and other great things...

There are so many amazing social projects and movements going on these days - - guerrilla gardening, urban farming, etc...

Recently I had a conversation with a fella attempting an experimental writing project in which he left a number of journals around his city with a request that finders write a page in the journal continuing the story, leave the journal somewhere other than where they found it, and send a little line to a site he created to track the movement of the journal. So. Cool.

It sort of reminded me of Kacie Kinzer's "tweenbots" experiment in Central Park.



Read more about it {here}.

Today I heard about Pete Dungey's "pothole gardening" project in Britain. The idea is to bring attention to "the problem of surface imperfections on Britain's roads". After our recent visit, Luke and I could probably both agree that this project would be incredible in Durham, North Carolina where the roads are sporting numerous llama-sized potholes.


Explaining the project Pete Dungey has said, "If we planted one of those in every hole, it would be like a forest in the road." I'm tempted to find a pothole near my own home and participate in expanding the project... you should too. ;)

Yulia Brodskaya.

Yulia Brodskaya is Ahh-mazing!
{click here to check out her other stuff!}

Derelict Chic

What a cool exhibit! "Rethinking Trash Into Inspired Art". I dig it.

And yes, that is a bubblewrap-plastic dress.
Check out the details:

Like whoa.
Even better is the shovel guitar....
it actually plays well too!

I especially like the seat belt strap.

Wow. Cool. Now that really is turning trash into functional art.
Better than tossing the phones into a landfill I suppose.
Even though I'm not sure I'd want them in my house,
wouldn't these look awesome in a museum display?
Or an anthropologie window display?
{I'm not totally sure why but they remind me
of that movie - - "Honey I Shrunk the Kids"}

Ohhhh, collllllaaaggggeeee.
I like colorful collages.
Especially ones like this
where you'll find something new
each time you look.

Sweet speaker housing.
Supposedly the artist found all of these suitcases
along the side of the highway.
Can you believe it?
They don't seem all that junky to me
but maybe that's just how good the artist is.

Umm... so as cool as I think some of the trash art is.....
some things are not art.
They are, as far as I can tell, irretrievably and undeniably trash.

Case in point: the tea bag quilt.

That is nasty.

Here is what the artist had to say about the work:

"This unusual quilt is created with used tea bags. Artist Ruth Tabancay has used them to "represent a geature of warmth, an article of clothing, a barrier, cells of the human body, organelles within cells." Who would have thought used tea bags could be so versatile. Tabancay uses tea bags daily, so making them a medium for her art is a great way for her to reduce waste and consumption."

Am I sickeningly cynical or does that just sound like bollocks?
1) tea bags are biodegradable, right?
2) the artist is still drinking tea....
so unless she's sleeping under the quilt
I can't tell how she's reducing her consumption
aside from refusing to buy other art supplies.
But then again, as this exhibit shows, art supplies can be free.
3) maybe tea bags are nice and warm when they're freshly dipped
but when I see a pile or "quilt" of tea bags
"warmth" does not fit within my immediate associations.
In fact, quite the opposite. I think of cold, limp, disgusting tea bags.

Ick. Just looking at the photo gives me chills!
But, then again, that is just me.

booksbooksbeautifulbooks

It is obvious, I'm sure, that my philosopher and I love books.
In a lot of ways, he probably loves them more than me
but at a certain point the minute differences are irrelevant.

Our home will always be brimming with bookshelves and piles of books
and we'll continue building a library for as long as we can.

I come by it honestly for sure.
Growing up I thought everyone had a living room
decorated with floor to ceiling bookshelves
stacked two or three rows thick.

As I got older I came to realize
that, in fact, not everyone loves to be surrounded by books.
Weird. To each her own, I suppose but I can never escape the feeling
that a spine-less home is cold and empty.

It is just so strange to see bookshelves with huge gaps of open space
a paperweight here, maybe a coffee table book there, a couple of picture frames...

However, despite my love of books - particularly beautiful hardcovers -
I have been trying to reconcile my desire to emulate this (with a twist)
with the guilt and sadness I feel in taking a razor to a masterpiece.

I suppose it is about artistic endeavors...
you have to break an egg to make an omelet...
and so on and so forth...

We'll see if I really have it in me to follow through with my plans
for these lovely, dusty hardcovers I found at the Still Waters book sale this year.

sending sunshine to an unsuspecting stranger...

How amazing is this?
Just imagine:
one special day in which everyone gets a handwritten note, just because.
I found out about this grâce à Cara.
Check out her blog for a clip from the BBC about these mysterious letters.

The mail man came to visit today...

...and he brought me something really special.

They're even prettier in person.
Talk to Meg to get some of your very own.

cakespy!

{click to enlarge the cuppie goodness!}

One of the great things about living in Seattle is getting to see Jessie Oleson's art around town. Cute watercolor paintings of cuppies in action, robots, ice cream cones and so forth just make my day. I know what you're thinking. "Didn't you just get through raving about all the sweet treats you like more than cupcakes??" Yes. It is true. There are things I like to eat more than cupcakes. But it is tough to pull off a painting of tiramisu visiting the space needle (unless you count the tiramisu riding around in my love handles). I think my favorite cakespy image is the spoof of Andy Warhol and his tomato soup piece. The hair just kills me! But they're all pretty awesome.