pods and leaves and sunlight

(taken at the Botanical Museum in Montreal)

handmade cloth as interactive art

A friend and artist, Tali Weinberg uses dye, cloth, and art in order to champion to social causes and connect people from all over the world through craft. Her newest art piece based upon carmine dye from cochineal bugs will be showing on One Washington Place from Sept. 10 - 23.

I'm so glad she's doing what she loves while using her art for good. From the website:

I would like to invite you to participate in an artwork that will be part of a show to raise awareness about violence in Juarez, Mexico. This particular piece refers to the maquiladoras (sweatshops), the violence against women they have fueled, and existing alternatives – and it relies on your participation to be complete.

Over the months leading up to the show I have been dyeing tens of thousands of yards of organic cotton, silk, and wool with cochineal—a tiny insect from Oaxaca that produces a powerful red dye. I’m using this yarn to weave a number of blankets, pillows, and scarves for an installation that will take place in September. I am documenting this process of dyeing and weaving and will share this with you as I go. The gallery installation itself includes a space in which you can interact with the pillows and blankets handwoven from the dyed yarn as well as an area where I will be weaving a blanket out of the dyed yarn over the two-week period.

...

So what is the meaning of this piece and why cochineal?:

The installation's title: "The males have wings while it is the females whose bodies are crushed to extract their red dye. But red is also the color of the sun."

The cochineal insect has been used for its red dye for at least 1000 years in Mexico, Central and South America. It produces what is considered to be the best natural red dye in the world, used in everything from textile dyes and paint pigments to food coloring and cosmetics. The female insects contain carminic acid, which acts to protect her from certain predators while she is fertile. It is the carminic acid that also produces such a powerful red dye.

In the 1500s the dye became an important trade good under Colonialism, first exported from Mexico by the Spanish. It is one part of the history of colonial and capitalist exploitation of resources, people, and knowledge from the region.

This process of making contains a dual metaphor. It is a visualization of the violence that often lies behind the products we consume (even objects made for our own comfort and security). It is simultaneously a visualization of an alternative: a hand production process that brings together producer and consumer and that has thoughtfully considered the network of people and materials that make up the production of this particular object of comfort and intimacy (The materials I use in this case are organic or natural and come from small-scale producers and through personal relationships wherever possible).

The color red itself offers the potential of multiple meanings for the viewer. Throughout history it has symbolized power and strength; sin; anger; courage; warning; and love and intimacy. And for Aztecs, red is the color of the sun.

Go to the website to watch time-lapse videos on the dyeing and weaving processes.

And once you pledge to this cause, Tali will you send you handmade, hand-dyed yarn and other great pieces. Beautiful!

a very happy birthday to a friend

you know who you are.

lulled by the sounds of lullatone

My friend idrawsometimes recently posted about making your own ringtones, and I'm in the process of trying it out with songs by lullatone.

What do they sound like, you wonder?
They sound like light raindrops, crayons, children's sweaters, tiny robots, and bathtime bubbles. Have a listen, you'll see what I mean.

Wife and husband duo Yoshimi Tomida and Shawn James Seymour met when she was an exchange student in the states. When her visa expired, he decided to move back to Japan with her. At night, he would make music but since she was sleeping and he didn't want to disturb her, he made lullaby sounding songs, hence lullatone. Now they have a cute toddler named Niko, and live happily ever in a small but playful apartment in Nagoya. Cute!

misadventures of a disappointed book

A very sweet, very somber short film by Studio Canoe. 

"The Diary of a Disappointed Book tells a disappointing year in the life of a book. Though they might often be our most treasured possessions, it is remarkable how easily books can be neglected, mistreated and sometimes even lost."

[marketplace] your tush on a dandelion

I love modern design inspired by the natural world, and these fun, dandelion stools by london-based DesignK are a perfect example. They look so relaxing!

last days of a glorious summer

by Thayer Allyson Gowdy.

I'll show you my city if you show me yours

A stunning panorama sketch of Toledo, Spain. The labels let you pick out an old cathedrals and a mosque.

This is just one example of the many sketches from Urban Sketchers, a blog which encourages artists to sketch and share their cities.  

[marketplace] sale at IC

My dear dear friends at Invisible Children are having a "back to school" sale!
Stock up on hip IC swag and help former child soldiers & Northern Ugandan students get an awesome education.

(messenger bag, bracelet of your choice, and tee at the store)

I wear my Sunday (black) bracelet all the time, and it reminds me of the people in Uganda who worked to make it, their children, and so many others in Africa and in the states inspiring and pushing for change. 

Truly such a great organization with amazing people. 

I'll leave you with some amazing shots of the Brooklyn Bridge when we participated in IC's worldwide event, The Rescue.

(photo by Eric Min)

coral gardening

I'm currently watching Wild Pacific on the Discovery Channel. One inspiring clip highlights a project in Fiji that has local Fijians (?) transplanting coral. Reminding me of my last post on vegetable gardening, this is gardening on a whole new scale. Helping the reefs grow not only helps to preserve these beautiful specimens, it also increases the wildlife and fish populations, which benefits local fishing communities in the South Pacific islands who still rely on subsistence fishing to survive.

We know how we're damaging our beautiful oceans. Hopefully, it's not irreparable.

Coral nurseries (screenshots from the show).

don't mistake carrot leaves for weeds

I think I'm taking up gardening. It's such a joyous activity, and you really feel productive after a long day in the fields, well gardens...patches really. 

RCCC, a church I attend in New Jersey, has volunteers out about every other week to tend to a vegetable patch. Called Giving Gardens, this project provides fresh veggies to food banks in Somerset county and fruitful exercise for us. We've recently harvested cabbage and broccoli, planted pea and bean seeds, and we're still waiting for those carrots. 

See? Easily mistaken.

[marketplace] mr. and mrs. panda enjoy recreational sports

Something cute for a bon weekend!

Whimsical! Find this sporty couple as well as other creatures at papersparrow.

Also, let me introduce you to a not so sweet panda, Herman, by my friend idrawsometimes. At least he's talking about fair trade.

watercolor people

By Swedish artist and designer Stina Persson. And she has a show coming out in New York next month!
---
Edit: Whoa so pleased that I posted this before Oh Joy! It's nice knowing that the things I like are also the forefront of trendiness...maybe?

creole gingerbread voodoo

(from Time)

Colonial shutters, tropical colors, and decay.  Victorian architecture in the hands of a voodoo priestess. 

The old "gingerbread" houses of Haiti, featured throughout Port-au-Prince, are creaky, worn, but enduring. All in all they've survived. Many of its residents have lived there since the 20s and 30s, infusing these fairy tale houses with even more character and history. 

Now when considering the rebuilding of Haiti after the earthquake, Haitians are turning to the original blueprints for these houses because they are so sturdy--not only would they be investing in solid structural homes but they would preserve this unique, national heritage. I'd love to see more of this French, Victorian architecture with a touch of dark magic that is truly Haiti, wouldn't you?

let's paint rio

Just saw this on the Oh Joy! blog, led by artists Haas &Hahn, a project called Favela Painting is transforming the favelas (the notoriously violent hillside slums) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil into a giant, rainbow lollipop--bringing happiness as well as jobs, youth involvement, craftsmenship training, and income into the region.

(before picture)

(and, I love this part, after!)

Visit the site, or better yet, donate!

if I was President

A few years ago, I had the opportunity of hearing musical stars like Shakira and Alicia Keys perform at a Clinton Global Initiative concert event at the Apollo Theater. Watching Miss Shakira shake her belly in front of Former President Clinton was really something. One of the performers, Wyclef Jean crooned, "If I was President..." Creepy foresight.

Due to Wyclef's recent announcement that he's running for Haiti's presidential elections, Haiti's been on my mind recently--thoughts about foreign intervention and salvation, idealism in particular. What does it say about a country when one of its leading candidates is a musical celebrity? I feel like you can't even talk about any political, social, international humanitarian issue anymore without celebrity name dropping--when did actors and singers take over the world? I'm considering my future in this industry, possibly working for future "acclaimed humanitarian philanthropist" Justin Bieber, truly depressing.

One of my favorite This American Life's podcast stories, Haiti is Destiny, by Ben Fountain poignantly captures the turmoil, confusion, and frustration. An excerpt: 

"You know what I've noticed?" he (a Haitian eye doctor) told me at his house, "God gives you 205 years to do something with Haiti, and if you fail he passes it on to someone else. The Spanish had it from 1492 to 1697, 205 years. Then the French from 1698 to 1803, 205 years (sic). Then Haitians from 1804 to 2009, 205 years." So what was coming next? "Maybe a revolution," he answered cryptically, "Or maybe Haiti would survive as a sprawling industrial park for the international aid complex..."

"Poor Haiti," people say, "so primitive, so backward, so far behind the times." I've been hearing about how backward Haiti is for as long as I've been going. But how about this? What if Haiti is ahead of the times? It seems to be on the leading edge of so many current trends--environmental degradation, serial ecological disasters, crumbling infrastructure, a population that exceeds resources, plus a skewed economic water that channels vast wealth to a privileged few while the great majority of people stagnate and struggle. By any objective measure Haiti appears well advanced on the track that the rest of the world seems hellbent on following.

 So how do you feel about Wyclef's candidacy?
---

I'll leave you with this. Thanks to my cousin (and avid reader), I was able to attend the amazing Arcade Fire concert at Madison Square Garden. Win Butler came out into the crowd, and his wife Regine was beautiful.

Lyrics from my favorite song, one that Regine always sings with such fervor, Haiti:
Haïti, mon pays,
wounded mother I'll never see.
Ma famille set me free.
Throw my ashes into the sea.

Mes cousins jamais nés
hantent les nuits de Duvalier.
Rien n'arrete nos esprits.
Guns can't kill what soldiers can't see.

In the forest we lie hiding,
unmarked graves where flowers grow.
Hear the soldiers angry yelling,
in the river we will go.

Tous les morts-nés forment une armée,
soon we will reclaim the earth.
All the tears and all the bodies
bring about our second birth.

Haïti, never free,
n'aie pas peur de sonner l'alarme.
Tes enfants sont partis,
In those days their blood was still warm

black gold

(from Black Gold promo)

Sorry, been busy this week attending weddings! It's amazing how many of my friend just out of college are tying the knot, very sweet.

So awhile ago, I did this long post on fair trade, and a portion of it focused on coffee, especially how volatile the market is. A very good documentary that shows you just how that Starbucks grande macchiato got from the farm into your hands is Black Gold.

Global Goods Partners is presenting it tonight, for free and open to the public. Here are the deets:

Tuesday, August 10, 7-9pm
Black Gold
A riveting inside look at the multi-billion dollar coffee industry. 
Location: Birch Coffee, 5 East 27th St, btwn 5th and Madison, in the Gershwin Hotel

[marketplace] color palettes

Blocks we played with as kids, a drawer knob, and a plate to hold eggs. All from Anthropologie Home.

New York to Pokuase

Still no plans this Friday night?

A friend of mine is hosting this fun event at one of my favorite bars, the Red Lion (151 Bleecker St. NY, NY). It features West African dancing, drumming, and other great musical performers.

Money raised will go to the Ghana Sustainable Aid Project, working toward literacy and career training for girls. Please go support them and have an awesome time!

Event details below, 21+ to attend.

Friday, August 6th! Come out to Red Lion Bar on Bleecker Street to hear some great bands, spoken word artists, and other acts, and to learn about the Ghana Sustainable Aid Project! Along with Kofi and Sankofa, performers include Genesis Be, Face Crimes, Ishmael, and many more. Come have a drink and listen to some great music, all for a great cause.

SPECIAL GUEST HEADLINER: Internationally known drum and dance troupe KOFI AND SANKOFA ENSEMBLE will be playing with us. Check them out at www.bak2roots.com

$4 draft beer
$3 shots
$3 PBRs
$13 for a burger and a beer (the burgers are really good!)

$10 donation at the door. Tickets can be bought ahead of time athttps://ghanasustainableaidproject.ticketleap.com/

[marketplace] animals and metal gears

A gladiator bird from Anthropologie, a steampunk trilobite with project instructions (more on steampunk at a later post), and a ram from Burrow Burrow.

So amazing! These are beginning to make me see everything with gears.

And if my dear friend Kat is still reading my blog, I think she (and hopefully you) will enjoy this.

(Wolf skull by Miss Monster) 

modern-slavery museum at the arch

(from Gourmet Magazine)

The price of tomatoes. 

An hour outside Naples, Florida is Immokalee Farms. It produces many of the tomatoes in our supermarkets. It is also a site for modern-day slavery in the United States. The majority of farmers are Latino, one third live under the poverty line. Farmers are lured by the promise of a steady income, but like similar schemes in Southeast Asia, everything--from hose showers ($5 each) to two meager meals a day--costs more than they are being paid. Lucas was supposed to earn $200 a week, but soon his "employer" docked his pay, and after all the "expenses," he was $300 in debt. 

$300 in debt in exchange for a month of ten-hour work days. If Lucas tried to leave, he would be severely beaten. Over the years, Lucas was deprived of $55,000 that he rightfully earned.

This is involuntary servitude, slavery.

When asked if it is reasonable to assume that the tomatoes found in our supermarkets in the winter were picked by slaves, the chief assistant US attorney replied: "It is not an assumption, it is a fact."

(photo by David Albers)

Learn & see more at the Modern-Slavery Museum.

On its nationwide tour, it is making its way to New York City today. For NYU-ers, it'll be at Washington Sq. Park tomorrow. Dates and locations below, see website for locations in other states:

Monday, August 2 
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Ave.
10am - 9pm

Tuesday, August 3 
Judson Memorial Church, 
55 Washington Square South
10am - 9pm

Wednesday, August 4 
Middle Collegiate Church 
50 E. 7th Street
10am - 9pm

light is like water

Strange yet wonderful cover art by gali erez for Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story, La Luz es como el Agua or Light is Like Water. (Excerpt below)

Pues habían abierto tantas luces al mismo tiempo que la casa se había rebosado, y todo el cuarto año elemental de la escuela de San Julián el Hospitalario se había ahogado en el piso quinto del número 47 del Paseo de la Castellana. En Madrid de España, una ciudad remota de veranos ardientes y vientos helados, sin mar ni río, y cuyos aborígenes de tierra firme nunca fueron maestros en la ciencia de navegar en la luz.

For they had turned on so many lights at the same time that the apartment had flooded, and two entire classes at the elementary school of Saint Julian the Hospitaler drowned on the fifth floor of 47 Paseo de la Castellana. In Madrid, Spain, a remote city of burning summers and icy winds, with no ocean or river, whose land-bound indigenous population had never mastered the science of navigating on light. 

Read the whole story here.

[marketplace] painted wood, sticks and slices

Painted sticks from Ginette Lapalme, and acrylic elm slices from reclaimed wood for sale at focuslineart.

[marketplace] sierra and bianca, together cocorosie

The last of my contemporary American Indian series, featuring musical duo Cocorosie:

(screenshots from Cocorosie's Lemonade)

From a Cherokee background, sisters Sierra and Bianca Casady as children were nomads. They moved around almost every year, living in Hawaii, California, New Mexico, and Arizona. Without formal education, they grew up learning art in the "real world." During summers, they would join their now estranged father on vision quests on various American Indian reservations--these experiences continue to inform their music. Now they are both based in France.

Their music has been characterized as "freak folk" experimental (think Devendra Banhart meets the childish voice of Joanna Newsom), mixed with hip hop, opera, electronic, the blues, and misc. sounds like owls cooing and children's toys. Basically, it's very unique and not for everyone.

For me, sometimes it's discordant and even difficult to listen to. But the moments of delicate melodies and Sierra's opera trained voice cut through the mess, and you suddenly learn that you're tearing up and you can't stop listening to it. My favorite: the album version of Werewolf, one of the few songs I have on continuous repeat. 

They recently came out with their fourth album, Grey Oceans (2010). When asked about the inspiration for this album, Sierra spoke about the earth returning to its primeval, natural elemental beings--which are reflected in the androgynous/mystical/fantastical look of Lemonade and Smokey Taboo. 

They will be playing in Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg September 15.