We found this startling image on Roy Arden’s blog...as usual, no provenance. Oh, but the beauty you can create with some mud and a (Coke) bottle…like this curiously chic, modernist pattern stenciled right on.
(We love the idea of our bodies as a canvas).
Related posts: body as artist’s canvas
“why doesn’t everybody paint their own shoes?”
role model: lucien freud, 82, painting
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focus!!!! (an instant tattoo)
body as artist’s canvas
(Video link here.) It’s been an eerily snow-less winter in New York City. With the exception of a single January snowfall there has been nothing—and we kind of miss it. This post is in honor of the snow we think may be on its way…and the possibilities it brings with it.
We wrote a couple of summers ago about artist Jim Denevan and his large-scale sand drawings which totally transformed how we think about playing in the sand. Now our attention has been called to his work with snow and ice. In 2010, Denevan made the largest piece of artwork in the world on the surface of Lake Baikal in Siberia. This nine-mile spiral of circles over the ice is stunning and allows us to once again completely re-imagine the possibilities of using snow as/in art. read more…
We discovered RydeSafe Reflective Bike Decals via Better Living Through Design and quickly pledged to the RydeSafe Kickstarter project. These great-looking decals were designed by Tonky, an artist from Brooklyn who was hit by car and set out to make something that would keep him and other bikers safe while riding at night. The stickers are made from a film that reflects light (called conspicuity film), and are made to fit bike rims and frames, as well as helmets and accessories. The effect is quite striking, and makes you impossible to miss.
We love the mix of design and safety, but also think that these would make a great gifts for kids. We’re imagining walls and toys and clothes read more…
nicole dextras
We really love artist Nicole Dextras ice texts series, especially this 6 foot high “VIEW” made out of ice and set out in the landscape and left to melt – a lovely, ephemeral artwork that changes our….view. You’ll find other potent ice texts and installations at her website, along with what amounts to “how-to’s” for making ice words. Dextras builds molds of individual letters out of wood, fills them with water, sometimes coloring them with food colors, and then waits for them to freeze before removing the molds…curiously similar to making a popsicle. read more…
(Video link here.) This inspiring TED Talk by Britta Riley recently introduced us to the world of Windowfarms. These vertical hydroponic gardens allow city-dwellers to grow vegetables, herbs and fruits in the windows of their otherwise cramped apartments, all year long. Think ‘strawberries’!
But what’s most intriguing about Windowfarms is the community behind them, constantly refining the product and experimenting with new possibilities. This isn’t a community of traditional scientists or farmers–it’s just a bunch of folks who are passionate about an idea.
Riley describes the process of what goes on at our.Windowfarms–the Windowfarms open source community platform–as “R&D-I-Y” (research-and-develop-it-yourself). read more…
(Video link.) A longtime reader of ‘the improvised life’ sent us this swell video as a New Year’s greeting:
“3 girls singing at a kitchen table, with empty cottage cheese containers providing the rhythm section”
It seems to us like a perfect, charming New Year’s reminder of just what we can do with the most ordinary of things, of the possibilities that lie in every moment.
(The three girls are members of Erato, a Swedish student vocal group.)
Related posts: found instruments and seaweed scarves, via fast forward
fast forward’s rain music
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music sometimes opens the way
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(Video link here.) Last year around this time, we wondered “WHY NOT make a modernist gingerbread house, rather than the usual Victorian style?” Making gingerbread houses and structures allows you to act out your architectural and sweet-tooth fantasies, and are a perfect holiday activity to do with friends or kids; they invite collaboration and the pushing of limits.
We have never seen anything that nailed gingerbread-building better than this video of the making of a geodesic dome gingerbread house: from the creation of a structure to the baking of walls to the final, wild, decorating with sugary delights of all kinds. It’s a way to vicariously experience the magical process…but…
…if you want to build your own geodesic dome and feel you need a little help, you can order a kit from Scout Regalia, with a template and complete instructions. (We’re thinking you could make a six-sided template to cut out gingerbread “tiles” and then use an inverted bowl to give the dome structure…)
Buckminster Fuller would have loved it. read more…
photo: sally schneider
We recently came across a compelling blog post about letters sent home by Russian soldiers during World War II. Without access to envelopes and postcards, the soldiers folded up triangular letters that were their own package–”letter and envelope in one.” The folded format was necessary since mail needed to be reviewed by censors and couldn’t be sealed.
Although the letters are a great example of historical improvisation, we love the simple little how-to that accompanies the story – an origami-ish illustration for folding up your own triangular letter. It’s a fun, out-of-the-ordinary way to send a gift or holiday card, or just pass along a note to a friend. There’s something really satisfying about unfolding the paper and finding the letter inside; like having a friend in grade-school passing you a folded-up secret in the hallways between classes. read more…
With the holidays fast approaching, everyone we know is starting their annual scramble to find great gifts. We’ve always felt that books make the best children’s presents. Over the years we’ve posted some of our favorites, all of which encourage creative thinking. From surprising cookbooks to clever craft projects, we highly recommend these six books to inspire your child’s inner artist. Click through the links below to read our posts about each one and order from Amazon, starting with The Donut Chef by Bob Staake ( buy it here)… read more…
"patch", by walter whittel, 1975
A clear sign of our economic times, the Wall Street Journal recently published an article about the growing trend of folks who attempt home repairs before throwing out a broken appliance. The article cites notable increases in customer service calls for help with do-it-yourself home repairs, and increases in the sales of replacement parts.
We love that “fixing” is trend now, since we’re advocates for creative home repairs (you might recall our taped-up headphones, or the floss-mended sneakers). It also cools out the part of us that cringes at waste and the endless buying of more and more things.
But we also know that home fixes can be overwhelming, read more…
photo: lauren malkasian
Film Maker/ProducerLauren Malkasian recently sent us this email:
“We love your daily inspirations and have very much been taken, moved and forever changed by ‘the improvised life’; it’s like a magic tonic everyday. So here is a little something from us, all the way from LA, that we thought you might enjoy.
We live on a street just out side Griffith Park. Our house is set on a hill and our daughter along with most of the kids in our neighborhood have little or no yard space to play in so she came up with this… read more…
myeongbeom kim
We’re back, our space stacked with drawings and notes of new projects (almost ready to get off the ground), books to tell you about and give away, and ideas to start flanging again. We feel like artist Myeongbeom Kim did us a fab balloon hairdo: seriously uplifted.
Thanks for bearing with us!
Related posts: myeongbeom kim’s forest bed
christopher rehage’s time machine
hair as apparel, identity, art (man ray)
how to see what’s there
We’ve got so many ‘improvised life’ projects on the burners that we need to take the week off to focus on them. While we’re on our tiny hiatus, we recommend poking around our attic/archive of past posts (type a word into the search box and see what appears)….
OR check out this illuminating anagram-maker that Editor-at-Large David Saltman got lost in recently. Just type in a name or phrase and see the thousands of anagrams it yields. Like the New York Post’s daily horoscope, it’s amazing how curiously apt many are, as though revealing hidden identities… read more…
If you’re a kid, one of the pleasures of trick-or-treating is AFTERWARDS, when you’ve got a big stash of candy. Maria Robledo sent us this photo of her daughte Isabel’s haul: “she organizes her Halloween catch & stashes it conveniently under the couch for easy access while reading…”
We envy that very cagey strategy…
Related posts: posters on the ceiling!
playing, dreaming, improvising
a cool way to free up the creative process
