Sheron Long's Blog, page 41
August 5, 2013
Nancy Judd’s Clever Ideas Keep Trash In Style
Convertible Trashique
design © Nancy Judd
photo by Eric Swanson
commissioned by Toyota
Recycled Fashion Sends a Message
When I first saw Nancy Judd’s work on display, I rushed over to get a closer look at the beautiful fashions.
But, oh, I see! Judd’s work is not at all what it first appears to be.
Judd makes her work out of trash. Take the piece pictured above. All the materials came from old cars!
That fuzzy-looking jacket collar is curled electrical wire.
The jacket, skirt, and blouse were once the soft tops on convertibles.
The hat was a front-end car mask (and is accented with copper electrical wire).
The purse was woven from electrical wire and metal paper found in electrical cable.
Her Mission
The environmental artist and educator wants her fashionable work to attract people, but then she wants them to walk away...
August 1, 2013
Forty Days of Dating: A Relationship Experiment
Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman face up to issues in a relationship experiment.
© Osvaldo Ponton
Come Face-to-Face and Gain Perspective
Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman had a creative idea. Date for 40 days (long enough to break bad habits) and work on issues that had gotten in the way of prior relationships.
Friends for four years, Jessica and Tim are designers in NYC, people who take creative risks and enjoy collaborative projects. They have a lot in common, but—
Jessica loves the thrill of healthy, romantic relationships, falls into them perhaps too quickly, and is looking for “the one.”
Tim loves the thrill of the chase (often dating several girls at once), has trouble committing, and sometimes leaves relationships for trivial reasons.
With these opposite perspectives, Forty Days of Dating is a relationship experiment with potential for...
July 29, 2013
Touched by Judith Braun’s Finger Drawings
A fingering in progress
© Cesar Delgado Wixan
The Creative Process Behind Braun’s Abstract Symmetry
To put it simply, Judith Braun finger paints.
But her work deserves a much clearer explanation.
Judith Braun finger draws.
And she uses her whole body as she draws. She dips her fingers in ground graphite and reaches to strategically smudge perfect black marks that fade to gray. She nimbly dips and smudges until a blank space is transformed with meaningful symmetrical shapes.
Wiggling the graphite-covered middle digit on her right hand, Braun describes her creative process as she discusses her mural “Graphite”: “This piece is using this finger, obviously. It’s a very specific finger!”
She wiggles her left hand and continues, “I can switch to this hand if I’m on an abrasive wall if I needed to, but I’ll still go to that...
July 25, 2013
Finding Creative Inspiration (Part 2)
Straight from the photographer’s imagination: World 26
© Ruud Van Empel
Diving Headfirst into the Creativity Pool
What exactly is creative inspiration . . . and how can I get some?
A few weeks ago, OIC Moments dove headfirst into the creativity pool to find out more about creative inspiration (“Find Creative Inspiration and Invent the Unknown“).
A diverse group of successful personalities offered insight—photographer Michael Kenna, entrepreneur Elon Musk, writer Mary Pope Osborne, and visual artist Donald Sultan.
Tollman Volcano, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, 2003
© Michael Kenna
While these creators work in different genres, the common threads were clear. Pushing boundaries, taking risks, discovering, staying focused, working hard, persevering, being original, and experiencing the unknown . . . or better still, inventing the unknown. All these themes...
July 22, 2013
The Cat’s Out of the Bag: Some Interesting Cat Facts
You want facts? Whatever it was, I didn’t do it.
© Thinkstock
A Sense of Curiosity About the Facts
Cats. People tend to have a lot of opinions about them.
So my sense of curiosity took over: How do the facts about domestic cats stack up to what we think we know? I tackled some recent cat research to find out, and the interesting cat facts provided many “Oh, I see” moments!
Cats vs. Dogs
Cats are the most popular pets. Or are they?
The U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographic Sourcebook states that there were more than 74 million pet cats in the United States in 2012 and just under 70 million pet dogs.
So the cats win!
[image error]
Kasimir and owner Bettina
© Tobias Lang
BUT 36.5 percent of U.S. households own dogs, while just 30.4 percent own cats.
The average number of dogs per owner is 1.6; the average number of cats per owner is 2.1.
I think we can...
July 18, 2013
Personal Growth Inspired by Ramadan
Boys in Saudi Arabia read the Quran during Ramadan.
© Abdullah Alshathri
Learning From Cultural Traditions
The month-long observation of Ramadan began earlier in July, when the thin crescent of the new moon was spotted. This celebration is particularly important to Muslims because it is believed that the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. This month, known as “Ramadan,” lent its name to the holy celebration.
No matter your beliefs, there are opportunities for personal growth within the cultural traditions practiced during this holiday.
Take Time for Self-Reflection
The focus of Ramadan is spiritual strengthening and self-improvement.
One important way Muslims do this is through prayer, which is done at specific times throughout a day. For an idea of the schedule, this electronic guide gives the...
July 15, 2013
Paris Expo: Bravos and Bouquets for Urban Gardens
A bouquet of roses brightens a rainy day at Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries, annual Paris garden show.
© Sheron Long
Creative Ideas Find Fertile Ground
Plenty of creative ideas grew in the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein (early 1900s), including her famous quote:
A rose is a rose is a rose.
Though generally interpreted to mean that “things are what they say they are,” I’m not so sure that’s the case when it comes to the term “garden show.”
A garden show is a garden show is not just a garden show when it’s in Paris.
This year, the Paris garden show known as Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries staged its magic in the Tuileries Garden—a stunning display of beauty (superbe, as the French say) and fertile ground for creative ideas in urban gardening.
Can’t Go Out? Go Up!—The Beauty of Vertical Gardens
I bought...
July 11, 2013
Arles Photo Festival: Inspired by Black and White
Labyrinth + Monochrome
Installation at Rencontres d’Arles by Daido Moriyama
Creative Inspiration—It’s Back in Black (and White)
Black-and-white photography is alive and well . . . and living in Arles this summer.*
The annual photo festival, Rencontres d’Arles (Conference in Arles), proclaims loudly and clearly in this year’s program that black-and-white photography is not dead.
But, how does B&W live in this world of creative inspiration? As nostalgia, poetry, humanism, a graceful simplification of form and light, abstraction, raw power, sentimentality, or timeless truth.
Le Caire
© Michel Vanden Eeckhoudt 1993/Agence VU‘
The Rencontres d’Arles
Every summer, the town of Arles in southern France is transformed into a world center for photography.
The theme for the 2013 festival is “Arles in Black”—a tribute...
July 8, 2013
Housing Innovations: The Tiny Mushroom House
The house that mushrooms built
© Ecovative Design
The Assignment
Last April, Sam Harrington was given an assignment: grow a house.
Mycelium, shown under an electron microscope
© Ecovative Design
Harrington works at Ecovative Design, where they create innovative and environmentally friendly products ranging from packaging to construction materials.
But grow a house?
Yes, like other Ecovative Design products, this house would be built—and grown—with the help of fungus fibers called mycelium.
Ecovative Design has discovered a process that uses mycelium to tightly bond things, like wooden boards, together. They would now apply the process in housing innovations.
The Plan
Harrington decided to build a “tiny house,” a home under 500 square feet. The tiny house movement has been growing in popularity since Sarah Susanka published The Not...
July 4, 2013
American Freedoms at Your Dinner Table
Eat a little, talk a little this Fourth of July
© Thinkstock/iStockphoto
Gain Perspective, Not Weight, on the Fourth of July
Today, the Fourth of July, OIC Moments sends insights to share when your dinner table conversation turns to American freedoms.
There’s sure to be dissent—One guest speaks; not everyone agrees. Could it be, as Lady Bird Johnson said, “The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom”?
Hoping you will gain perspective from the raucous sounds of freedom around your table, we offer three questions and some conversation starters. Try them out and see where the conversation goes.
1. What Does Freedom Feel Like?
Conversation starters:
The truth is I love being alive. And I love feeling free. So, if I can’t have those things, then I feel like a caged animal and I’d rather not be in a cage. I’d rather be dead. And...
