Wedding ideas...

My best friend (since kindergarten) is getting married very soon and her centerpieces are flowers in a variety of vases on each table. When she said she needed a bunch of vases I knew I would turn into a freak about collecting them. Here are all of the vases I found (she only wanted clear). I have no idea where the image above came from (I'm trying to get better at my archiving). The image above is from Body + Soul Magazine (thank you, anonymous)! The images below are from our house...I think it'll look beautiful once it's all pulled together, don't you? I'll be back tomorrow with EZ E's first birthday goodness.

Nesting doll exchange...

I promised to post the nesting dolls today…and here I finally am. We’re at my parent’s house getting ready for EZ E’s birthday party on Sunday and had a small family emergency. Everyone is fine…my youngest brother was having dizzy spells combined with chest pains and had to go to the emergency room. He’s totally fine. Really. So, this post may be a little late…but here I am. Now on to all things nesting doll:
First, let me thank all of the participants for their extraordinarily hard work. We had twenty-six artists participate in the first ever Aesthetic Outburst Nesting Doll Exchange. The last few months have felt very much like Christmas with little packages rolling in every other day or so. I loved it. Our postal carrier…not so much. The photo above is most of the dolls. Rather than post them all here individually, I’ve posted all of photos here.
Secondly, this was a rather specific exchange and I know a lot of folks wanted to participate but just couldn't. In the spirit of sharing, and after much thought, I decided to do a little give-away. Here’s how it works…leave a comment with your name between today and Wednesday by midnight (Eastern Standard) and I will randomly draw a name to receive my set (pictured below) in the mail...free! Wooo hooo! Thanks again, everyone!

UPDATE: Everyone is eligible to participate in the drawing. Just make sure to leave your name when you comment...and please only one comment per person. Thanks and best of luck!

Collected...

Ever since I saw Lisa Congdon's amazing kitchen on design*sponge I've been obsessed with catherineholm kitchen ware (and wishing that I'd find some while thrifting...yeah right). Today's Collected post features an equally fabulous (and beautifully photographed) collection of vintage Catherineholm kitchen ware that belongs to Nancy, who is also known as Lemon Soup. I'll let her tell you a bit about it:
"I started collecting them from garage & estate sales about 10 years ago. I just simply loved them and really did not know anything about them at the time, other than being Scandinavian. I would pick them up for 50 cents etc. So the rules were only at sales and estate sales. My family and friends know to just get them, if they see them at out & about. I do think collecting is in the genetic makeup of a person. You either get thrills by the hunt and find or not...I have friends who don't get it.
I love colorful bake ware. One reason i find it so great is, I like to think back to all the women slaving in their kitchens. I like to imagine some woman or Mother finally saying way back when "this would be more fun cooking all day in here with colorful beautiful pots and pans" And then they were born..lovely cookware of all kinds.".
Personally, I'll take the colorful pots and pans any day and just leave all of that cooking stuff. I also couldn't resist posting this photo of her tin collection. A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!! If you're interested in seeing more catherineholm take a look at this flickr group called Lovers of Catherineholm Designs. You can see more of Nancy's photostream here. Thanks, Nancy!

Old school...

We're heading to pick up my much-deliberated-about new mom-mobile (a Volvo wagon...not new, just new to me) and going to a BBQ for a friend who's moving away, but I thought I'd pop in quickly and share some drawings that I finished up. Today was only the second solid day I've spent in the studio in about a month. I've been wondering why I've been so anxious and out of sorts lately and finally realized that it's because I haven't been in the studio. Anyways, here are three drawings in preparation for an exhibition called Old School at Uppercase Gallery. There's a pretty amazing list of artists (and I can't believe I'm on that list). I wasn't nervous before, but wow. The man with the mustache is my great-grandfather. I've used this image before, but just can't get enough of that facial hair! Impressive, right?

Behind the scenes...

A quick shout out for the Visual Studies Workshop Summer Institute! Several of our dearest friends will be teaching courses (or working like hell behind the scenes to make it all happen). PRH and I have taken a ton of workshops there for undergrad and graduate credit...it's a great deal and an amazing place to spend your summer vacation. If you're interested in their course schedule, you can take a look here. And for all you artists out there, they have a residency program too. Go VSW...rah rah rah!!!

In the army...

I know these have made the rounds and it is getting a bit warm for wool (if you don't live in Buffalo that is), but I love the way these vintage swiss army blankets look. The image above is from swissmiss and I think I found the image below on Poppy Talk (again, my sincerest apologies for my bad image archiving).

Here's one more from Arthur's Circus.


Ebay appears to be the least expensive source. I would LOVE to re-cover our couch, but I think PRH would go over the edge if I came home with an armload of swiss blankets. I'm already driving him crazy by tying up all of our blankets like this middle photo. Form over function, baby!

I'd like to know...

Today is Monday, so that means it's time for I'd like to know, a weekly post dedicated to talented artists, designers, musicians, etc...all people I'd like to know and who I thought you may like to know of too. Today I'd like to know...Robert Bechtle, whose work I discovered via flickr of all places. I have two younger brothers (I'm the oldest...surprised?) and both have always been into anything with wheels. My dad would take us to car shows all of the time, so I suppose that's why I love old cars and was so impressed by these photo-realistic paintings. I've never heard of Bechtle, but he was in the 2008 Whitney Biennial and his work is in museum collections all over the world. Where have I been?

Hello...

Just a quick heads up that I added some hand-embroidered birds to the shop. Birds wearing bling...hello! More later.

Before and after (sort of)...

As promised, here are our most recent projects from around the Aesthetic Outburst house. Our favorite neighbor, Jen, was throwing away this old table. I snagged it off the curb and it's been sitting in our attic for several months. After much nagging, poor (very patient) PRH sawed the table in half and pieced back together a much narrower table. Then he added wheels and a butcher block-ish top and passed it off for me to paint. I'm not crazy about the color (maybe a bit too country for me)...I wanted it to be super glossy orange, but couldn't find any orange enamel in Erie County and finally went with fire engine red.

Bad Abbey didn't take a decent side photo, so the true beauty of this before and after is kind of lost. But that's OK because for my second before and after I forgot to take the damn before picture! You'll just have to close your eyes and imagine this bentwood rocker covered in grimy disgusting itchy cream-colored fabric. PRH ripped off all of that grossness and I re-covered it in a heavy duty chambray denim.  (What is with my taste for all things "country" lately?  Anyone else having this issue???) Doesn't the color combo remind you of Levi's though? Gotta love those Levi's!




The arms are a little scratched, but I'm going to wait to do anything about it until after EZ E stops banging his toys on it. That'll give PRH a bit of a break. Actually, my mom and I were talking today about how much we like to do projects all of the time. I'm convinced that it'll keep our minds young. So, PRH should think of it that way...the busier he is, the better his mind. Ha! Works for me!

Seen and felt...

I've had the photo above saved in my House Ideas folder for while now and have absolutely no idea where I found it or who made this chair. I've searched and searched and searched...nothing. So, I decided to turn my lesson in remembering where I found photos that I've saved to my desk top into today's post. All of these chairs use industrial felt (something I'm obsessed with). The chair below is the Glove chair by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby...

The Nobody Chair by komplot...



and Bookhu's gorgeous felt chair (grown-up size coming soon)...


By the way, if you know who made that first chair or where the photo came from, please let me know. Thanks! I'll be back tomorrow with a couple of recent before and after projects from around the house. Woo hooo!

(UPDATE: Thanks to an anonymous comment, we now know who made the amazing chair on top: it's the Nube chair by Stua, designed by Jesus Gasca, Jon Gasca. Thanks, anonymous!) :)

Collected...

It's no secret that I love vintage rubber ducks. In my mad quest for ducks I often find other fantastic squeak toys that I have absolutely forbidden myself from collecting because...well, our house is already full of stuff. (Hello, Clutter? Abbey called. She wants her house back.) However, today's Collected post features some squeak toy collections that are making me want to reconsider my strict collecting rules. The collection (just below) belongs to Natalie of Arthur's Circus. Natalie has an amazing eye...if you haven't seen her shop you need to run over and check it out...

Next is One Sweet Peach who also makes lovely sparkly jewelry...


doublewinky who has an entire set dedicated to squeak toys...


and last, but not least, a very obsessive collection of Edward Mobley squeak toys that belongs to jacquiscloset...


Love them! Oh, and if you want to see a few of my vintage ducks, they're mixed in here. See you tomorrow!

A sign of the times...

As a child my family spent a considerable amount of time visiting Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Perhaps that's the reason why I really like hex signs. Here are several that I found. The necklace (above) is by etsy seller HModine. I found all of the signs below on ebay. The name Jacob Zook came up a lot...he seems to be the master of hex signs. I also found a site that has a downloadable PDF list of the most popular hex signs, which is kind of interesting. I'd love to see more contemporary hex signs. Hmmmm...something to think about.

Shop update...

I added some summery vintage finds to the shop today. Take a look!

Color love...

I think our dining room (where the majority of our books live) looks cluttered and came to the conclusion that the books are what's making it look cluttered. So, today my ridiculously obsessive side took over and I started covering all of the books with newsprint. I thought it would be a quick task...it's not.  Apparently I forgot about those years of covering text books with brown paper bags in school.  I am, however, forcing myself to finish one shelf in order to get an accurate idea of how it'll look. So far I really like how it looks, but I kept thinking about color wheels as I was covering. Take a look at some that I found on flickr...most from the color wheel love! group. The photo above is from my purple crayon. Below are photos from the purl bee...


reya....


knautia...


little birds...


and Miss Fumi...


I'm not sure that I'll continue. Hmmmmmm.

I'd like to know...

Today is Monday, so that means it's time for I'd like to know, a weekly post dedicated to talented artists, designers, musicians, etc...all people I'd like to know and who I thought you may like to know of too. Today I'd like to know...Misato Suzuki whose artwork I found via Little Paper Planes. I especially love Misato Suzuki's paintings, but I could really look at any of her work all day long. I've been avoiding the studio for the last week or so and these totally make me want to get back to work. Hooray!

Snarky...

I've been a complete flake lately. Not being in school has messed up my sense of time. Last night I fell asleep at an ungodly early hour and now here I am writing a post at 4 am. I need to get into a routine...quick! I saw this armoire from Anna James's Verona collection over at Apartment Therapy San Francisco yesterday. It was a Hot or Not post, which ignited a flurry of comments including:

ha, another white hipster doing "graffiti" on furniture, expecting big bucks and thinking they are so radical. it will be perfect in the apartments that look like they are from the 70's and owned by kids that dress like they are from the early 80's."
and..."Just when I thought new furniture couldn't get any crappier...I would say HIDEOUS plus...just take it to the landfill now."
I'm always surprised by the comments people leave on blogs. The AT post was a Hot or Not, so it was certainly an invitation for critical comments, however (and perhaps this will ignite a flurry of critical comments here), what I don't get is why people leave negative comments seemingly just to leave negative comments. Case in point, here are some recent comments about our house on Apartment Therapy:


"OK, I'm not a fan of this. If a piece of art is really art, it deserves to be hung so that it can be appreciated. Clustering, like this, works best with pieces that can't stand on their own. And, in my opinion, this kind of arrangement needs to relate to something in its general vicinity and I'm afraid relating to ceiling just doesn't do it for me. Weird for weird's sake isn't good design. That said -- whatever floats your boat."

"Don't like it. It's too high, and REALLY jammed together unattractively. Besides, from what I can see of the artwork, there's nothing that unifies these pictures (nor do they look very interesting, given the limited view of the actual art). What's the point of having a mob of pictures attack the upper corner of your wall?"

and..."The reason "it's not often we see..." is that thankfully most people have sufficient taste not to plaster their art in a corner at ceiling height. So not a fan of this."

I don't mean to single anyone out (these were the snarkiest comments) and I'm not being totally fair because there were positive comments too. Everyone certainly has a right to their own opinion, but wow!!! When I'm bothered by something I try really hard to ask myself, What should I be learning from this?.  My conclusion in this instance: maybe I just need to develop thicker skin...and better taste.  :)  BTW, I love this armoire. I think this lack of sleep is making me a bit snarky.

Exchange...

A few folks have been asking, so here's a nesting doll exchange update: I'm still waiting for a few stragglers, but will be shipping out the dolls on May 30th. Thank you all for being so patient...I promise it'll totally be worth the wait. They're all really lovely. I'll be posting all of the photos on that day and also have a special surprise lined up, so be sure to check back on May 30th!

Biggest fan...

Sorry for missing yesterday. EZ E and I are traveling about again this weekend...my best friend is getting married so we're helping with shower plans. I thought I'd share the rest of the photos from our trip to MASS MOcA. This top piece is by Jenny Holzer. This was in a huge room with giant bean bags on the floor and you could lay on the bean bags and watch the text move around the walls and ceiling. In the past I haven't been a huge fan of Holzer's work (although I do think she's a very important artist), but this completely won me over. It was so beautiful! This bottom piece was in the Kidspace at MASS MOcA and is by artist Devorah Sperber. These pieces are made using spools of thread! I'd never heard of Sperber before and loved this exhibition. The folks at MASS MOcA consistently choose amazing contemporary artists and create inspiring exhibitions. I wonder if they could create a position for me as their biggest fan?!

Collected...

Often what I admire about collections isn't what they actually are, but how they're arranged. Such is the case with these vintage brooches. Don't get me wrong...I like me some vintage brooches (yet another damn collection that I have squirreled away). Today's Collected post features beautifully arranged brooches from loves me not (above), Amy Artisan...


Design_Ski...



and suzanneduda...



These have inspired me to do something with my hidden enamel pins. I especially like the idea of collecting just one color...perhaps yellow. Can you tell I'm obsessed with yellow lately? Maybe it's because I can't wear yellow. It makes me look sick. I'd love to see an entire wall covered in yellow (or maybe even green) enamel pins. Uh oh...new obsession!!!

Stupid budget...

Oh man. Tonight PRH and I hashed out a new budget (perhaps one we'll actually follow) and I'm now in freak out mode. That inexpensive cabin solution...not looking so inexpensive today. As a result of my freak attack and my ridiculously stubborn dedication to building a cabin (it doesn't even have to have electricity!!!), I'm filling up the shop with vintage finds and will be releasing five new prints this Friday. I'm also resisting the urge to buy these that I found via ohdeedoh today. Friends With You has a lot of great things, including a book that's been on my wish list forever. Some of you may even remember the toy that I wanted to buy "for EZ E" a while back. New budget=no more new toys (unless it's a special occasion). Blast! Stupid budget.

Remembering Robert...

Yesterday was a very sad day in art land. Robert Rauschenberg, one of my favorite artists of all time, died at the age of 82. Rauschenberg was a huge influence on my work and I have long admired his brilliant use of everyday materials. What I loved most about Rauschenberg was the fact that he pushed the boundaries of the definition of art. He also seemed like such a genuinely nice person. Here are a few of his pieces, including a car that he painted.

Shop update...

Just a quick hello to let you know that I've updated the shop!

I'd like to know...

Today is Monday, so that means it's time for I'd like to know, a weekly post dedicated to talented artists, designers, musicians, etc...all people I'd like to know and who I thought you may like to know of too. My parents live three and a half hours away and PRH's parents live four and a half hours away (their houses are 45 min from each other). We've been thinking about building a cabin somewhere between our parents' houses not only so we have a place to truly relax when visiting, but also a place that acts as neutral ground where both families will feel welcome to hang out when we're in town. I've started doing some research and found an amazing (and inexpensive) solution. So, this week I'd like to know...architect Paul Stankey and his brother Scott Stankey. Their shipping container cabin was featured in the April/May 2008 issue of ReadyMade magazine and I think it's awesome! It cost $15,000.00 to build (not including land and labor) and is such an inventive structure. A quick search on ebay revealed that used shipping containers are only about $1600.00! Cabin, here we come!

Glowing like coals...

We're home...we actually just walked in the door at 11:30 pm. We're all exhausted, but I had to post the photos from the exhibition we saw this weekend at MASS MoCA, an installation called Being Here is Better than Wishing We’d Stayed by The Miss Rockaway Armada. I absolutely love the poetic way they've described what they do:
"We are floating down the Mississippi River on a raft we built from trash. The catch is that we don’t know much about boats or rivers, and we don’t have any money. We know we are blowing crazy hot air, but if the idea makes your eyes glow like coals then you understand what we’re doing."
My eyes were definitely glowing like coals when I saw this installation. According to the MASS MoCA website:
At MASS MoCA the Miss Rockaway Armada will transform the Hunter Center Mezzanine — a place where students and other visitors gather to eat lunch and discuss their museum experiences — into a dynamic, interactive space. Using wood and other materials salvaged from MASS MoCA’s campus, the group will craft an environment that exudes the aesthetic, vision, and essence of The Miss Rockaway Armada’s experiences on the Mississippi River. The idea is to build a new, fantastical environment that inspires a sense of possibility and wonder.
My photos don't do this project any justice, but I'm sure you can tell from the descriptions (and my glowing recommendation to run and see this) that it most certainly was a fantastical space. For more information about their project at MASS MoCA, take a look here. For more information about The Miss Rockaway Armada, click here. Enjoy!

Small school...

PRH, EZ E, and I went to MASS MoCA and the Williams College Museum of Art today. Julie Mehretu (top) and William Kentridge (bottom) had work at Williams and both exhibitions were just gorgeous. We've been fans of Mehretu and Kentridge for a while and we couldn't believe that their work was at a small school tucked into the hills of Western Massachusetts. MASS MoCA is my favorite museum and we saw one of the best exhibitions that I've EVER seen there. I took a ton of pictures and will share them tomorrow. This is one of the images by artist Edward Burtynsky (below) that I really liked though...

Vay kay...

In all of the craziness of this week I forgot to mention that PRH, EZ E, and I are away on a mini-vacation. We're picking up artwork (ok, so maybe a little business related) and visiting friends in Massachusetts. Today we went for a lovely visit to The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (I worked there before we moved) and then we're meeting up with friends for dinner. I have to admit that it's been absolutely wonderful to be back in the Amherst/Northampton area...it's so beautiful and clean and progressive. It was a great coincidence to see Studio Cochineal mentioned on Design Sponge today because they're based in Holyoke, Massachusetts (not far from where we are now). I love this piece in particular and even have a perfect spot in our house for it. Studio Cochineal will be showing at icff next week (booth #2172). I'll be back tomorrow (and back next week with my usual Collected post). See you tomorrow!

Last call...

Getting the mail has been so fun lately because each day brings more and more nesting dolls for the nesting doll exchange! Here are two teaser sets: the left photo is from Kathleen of Cake + Pie and the right photo is from Sandra (aka Sosser) of bricolagelife. Beauties! I inventoried all of the dolls today and sent out reminder emails. I've already started photographing and shuffling and will start re-packaging and shipping out the dolls very soon (within the next two weeks). So, if you haven't sent your dolls out yet...this is a friendly reminder to get on it! For more info on the swap, take a look here and stay tuned because I'll also be posting photos of all of the nesting dolls here and on my flickr page. I think you're all going to love what folks have done. They're all so interesting and different!

Color scheme...

I'm incredibly sentimental (just ask my best friend whose eraser collection from fifth grade I still have). EZ E's first birthday