Watches and wood.

I came across this video when doing some veneer research. I was simply amazed at the craft and scale of this work. Made me feel what I think is "detailed" is about as delicate as a roller-coaster. Enjoy.

Sharpie Boy

Came across this and thought it was enjoyable. . .

Faber Castell from eric yeo on Vimeo.

Now Showing in the LRC

We have three new movies available for check-out at the LRC that may be of interest.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye—This may be of great interest to those in the Portrait and Lighting class, especially for the upcoming portrait report and homage project.

"Heinz Bütler interviews Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) late in life. Cartier-Bresson pulls out photographs, comments briefly, and holds them up to Bütler's camera. A few others share observations, including Isabelle Huppert, Arthur Miller, and Josef Koudelka. Cartier-Bresson talks about his travels, including Mexico in the 1930s, imprisonment during World War II, being with Gandhi moments before his assassination, and returning to sketching late in life. He shows us examples. He talks about becoming and being a photographer, about composition, and about some of his secrets to capture the moment. Written by jhailey@hotmail.com" IMDb

Herb & Dorothy—Perhaps of note for lovers of contemporary art, and art historians in particular.

"He was a postal clerk. She was a librarian. With their modest means, the couple managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history. Meet Herb and Dorothy Vogel, whose shared passion and disciplines and defied stereotypes and redefined what it means to be an art collector. Written by Anonymous" IMDb

Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman—This movie may be interesting to a number of folks, from photographers, lovers of architecture, graphic designers (for the motion graphics utilized in the film), to those who just enjoy the modernist aesthetic.

"Visual Acoustics celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world's greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California's modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images. Written by Owens/Rothschild" IMDb

Who can be called an Artist?

Recently I watched a documentary called "Lives of the Artists". It was a beautiful film well worth the watch. But it brings up a common question of who can be called an Artist? The film tracks a snowboarder, a band, and 3 surfers.  Would you consider any of these positions to be one held by an Artist? I personally get defensive over the term and title.  Often times people say "oh my (so and so, brother/sister/friend etc) is an artist." Most times it is them trying to relate but upon further questioning I usually find that their so and so is expressing themselves artistically and not really an artist.  I remember the big push years ago for Subway restaurants to call their sandwich makers "Sandwich artists", I could never take it seriously and if I was not supposed to I didn't like them using the term as a joke.

But this documentary actually opened me up a bit, I would never have called a snowboarder an artist but Xavier De Le Rue really had some of the most profound things to say about vision, line, and experience. The band Gallows, although not my personal taste in music had some great things to say about the position of the artist and their relationship with emotion. They see their band not as a permanent thing but as a body of work that has to end or else it becomes a mockery of itself. 

So often the term Artist is thrown around when it should not be. I know there are many camps on this issue some seeing it as superfluous while some see it as a person issue of identity.  I think back to a talk I heard as a student where the artist was definitely in the camp of personal identity and pointed out that we do not throw around other professions in the same way maybe since a large amount of the population do not value the position of the artist nor fully understand it. This speaker went on to say "If I made model bridges in my basement out of toothpicks would I call myself an engineer or architect? Then why does the person who paints out of hobby on the weekend get the title Artist?"(loose quote, it was a talk in 1999)

So what do you think? Do you think it is a matter at all?

Space savers and watches

   There has been a real trend in recent years for space saving furniture.  Not just furniture that is smaller however, it has to be able to transform into multiple forms. This used to be the role of people that needed space such as a murphy bed that could go into a wall since your bedroom and living space were the same thing.  There has been less of a need for space rather a trend (as towards all things) to find a balance of economics and efficiency.  The following videos after the jump are just a few of the crazy fun things that are going on inside this trend.  Ironic as is it these items do not come cheap.
   There is another note I would like to hit here and that is the currents generations obsession with multi-functionalism.  There is a great TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson (see it HERE) (and if you enjoy it watch his other ones which are great as well) where he talked about the use of a watch, not as much for fashion but as a tool.  He makes an observation that people under the age of 25 do not wear watches since they have the time on their phones and other mobile devices. His daughter makes fun of him for having a single function device.  I wonder if this drift in technology can also be seen in multi functional objects such as furniture.  I know a number of people will remember last generations first reinvention of this idea (pictured above).  At least those were cheap and did what they said.  But I often wonder if the space savers of today are more for novelty and status vs actual space.
 All the videos that are amazing and worth watching after the jump.

Worth the watch

A great talk about creativity and play from one of the creators of Ideo.