can you believe your eyes? yes, yes you can. an incredible still-life photo created by arthur s. mole using 18,000 soldiers and a open iowa field by camp dodge on a hot day in 1918...read the full story here. the details will amaze you.

many thanks to bunny with an art blog for the link!

months and months ago some kind person left me a comment with a nudge to go check this out. finally i've stumbled upon the link in my bookmarks! doesn't tuesday just call out for some whimsy? and what better use could there be for old rotary phones than these clever sculptures? i love the feet in particular. if you've ever spent much time around sheep, as i have (oh to be nineteen and roaming the highlands of scotland again.) you'll appreciate how eerily life like those phone-feet really are! and where oh where did i find this? i'll add the link when i figure that out (comments, please if you know the original artist)

can you believe that today begins the month of july? it seems we've just finally slipped into consistent summer weather here in the pacific northwest. it's lovely. any readers that are local to the portland area, just a little reminder, 1st thursday in the pearl, the monthly art stroll is this week. i'll be on the street with my portable boutique and most of my jewelry for you to come try on, chat with me and maybe even go home with a new treasure. so please come one, come all. it's always a fun event with great people watching... 

Enclosure

check out installation fiber artist janet morton. quirky, surprising and obviously not afraid to think big, she is my kind of artist! i love that she uses surfaces we readily associate with grandmothers and applies them to objects large and small to shift our awareness. she has a massive and interesting portfolio right here. it's really fun to pour over, so please do.

a thoughtful comment left on this blog by jane ponsford prompted me to go check out her work and what a lovely surprise! she's been working on a year-long project papertrails, as an artist-in-residence in england and blogging about it as well.

in a former life i spent years as a paper maker myself and loved the labor of it all, the history, the yummy feel of pulp and finally, a finished page under your hand. jane also loves the irregular deckle edge as i do, shown beautifully in the coiled pieces at the top. i also adore her white shapes floating on piano wire in the snow.

what a magical gift to get all this on a monday morning in my email box! 

all materials tell a story, of course. but paper traditionally tells it two ways, from the source and making to the marks or words written upon it's surface. isn't this tree piece is just wonderful?

i plucked just a few striking images from her site and blog to share with you, but do take a few minutes to click over and check out the whole story. jane's blogging here and her site is right here.

when i first came upon these images of installations by chiharu shiota, i gasped! can you believe it? miles and miles of black thread must have been used in the top piece. she is japanese, living in berlin. the 600 old windows were all salavaged from houses being demolished in that city. and i couldn't resist showing an earlier piece as well, this room of long, long dresses coated in mud. i love the use of repeated shapes, of objects in mass. shiota's work occupies significant emotionl space - quiet, yet so powerful you can't not be impacted. i would dearly love to see even one of these in person someday.

please do click the link, you'll surely be as amazed as i was at her extensive portfolio, right here.