The Buddy Logo Project
As a team-building exercise at work, we were paired with one of our colleagues and instructed to design a mark that represents them. My partner is an amazing designer at Nick Jr., Jasmine Wilson. If there is one word that captures Jasmine, it's beauty. But not only is she a beautiful person—she also wears beautiful clothes, does beautiful work, has a beautiful taste in design, and runs a beautiful blog. So it was this multifaceted beauty that I wanted to convey, and I thought a peacock was a great symbol of that. Jasmine is really into tactile illustration and paper manipulation, so it only made sense to cut it out of paper. Above is what it looked like with light shining through it—one of my favorite elements of cut-paper pieces.
Here's the finished piece; I really love this beautiful blue-green paper {Jasmine's favorite color}:
She took a cool little picture of it with her phone:
Here's the finished piece; I really love this beautiful blue-green paper {Jasmine's favorite color}:
She took a cool little picture of it with her phone:
Notes: Soggy Cupcakes
We just had the most adorable little cupcakes at our department meeting. Also, is it ever going to stop raining?
Particularly in Manhattan...
Part one of a new investigative series!{I would also like to note that "not as organized as they would like it to be" is a truer description of the occasional state of said apartment, but I went with messy 'cause it's a much cuter word.}
Wedding Type Adventure
Recently my pals Darbie and Jon tied the knot. I took a stab at some fun hand done type for their invites. Above is the whole pile together {you can click to enlarge}, below are the detail shots:
They didn't want to go quite so informal, so Darbie picked a few elements and designed a classy version:
They also used my hugging ampersands as their cake topper:
Fuzzy Pictures
I will never get tired of taking pictures of kitties. Some recent photos of my many furry friends:
My childhood pal, Tony
Oscar, my mom's fat cat
Herbie, also my mom's kitty
My moo-kitty, Milton
And my lovely Seymour, enjoying the Saturday sun
My childhood pal, Tony
Oscar, my mom's fat cat
Herbie, also my mom's kitty
My moo-kitty, Milton
And my lovely Seymour, enjoying the Saturday sunBehind the Scenes at MOMA
Last night I was super excited to get to go on a tour of the conservation department at MOMA. This was the first time that common-folk have been allowed inside, a special treat a-la AIGA's current "Unique New York" event series. Their lab, on the 15th floor above MOMA's galleries, is bright, open, and evocative of a pristine hospital operating room. Our guide, a sculpture conservator, explained that they consider themselves more like doctors and scientists than anything else.
{a portable set of microscopes}He had a ton of fun stories to tell us about the challenges of working in the preservation and repair of modern art, which is particularly difficult because, unlike traditional art, there is no common technique, medium, or substrate. They can spend years examining and treating a piece, learn a ton about how it was made and how to fix it, and then likely will never encounter anything made like it again. Conservators are trained both in science {mostly chemistry} and fine art, and have a ton of cool equipment hanging around. We got to see a crazy-super high powered x-ray, an assortment of microscopes, images of microscopic cross-sections, and their high tech photo lab.
{a little packing crate that I though was really cute}
{our host Roger, explaining why Jeff Koons' piece Three Ball 50/50 Tank is a conservator's worst nightmare}
A few fun tidbits from the talk:
• A long time ago, when a piece got damaged, they'd contact the artist to see if the artist was interested in fixing it. They stopped doing that because often the artist would go back and change things about the piece they had never been happy with—like completely redoing the composition.
• When they ship stuff in convoys of trucks, there's a $125 million dollar value limit per truck. So sometimes there will be a gigantic truck cruising along with only one painting in it.
• Charles and Ray Eames went through 16 coats of paint before they finally settled on white for their prototype of La Chaise. {We got to see the digitally enlarged microscopic cross-section—nifty technology-times.}
• Even the building's maintenance people have extremely limited access to the lab. If they're needed—say a light bulb burns out—a work order is submitted and an appointment is set up. Everything in the studio is moved out, and then, under supervision of a conservator, they can come at the appointed time and change the light bulb. And after they've left, the whole studio can be reassembled. The space is also constantly monitored by video surveillance, and patrolled by guard once an hour.
• A long time ago, when a piece got damaged, they'd contact the artist to see if the artist was interested in fixing it. They stopped doing that because often the artist would go back and change things about the piece they had never been happy with—like completely redoing the composition.
• When they ship stuff in convoys of trucks, there's a $125 million dollar value limit per truck. So sometimes there will be a gigantic truck cruising along with only one painting in it.
• Charles and Ray Eames went through 16 coats of paint before they finally settled on white for their prototype of La Chaise. {We got to see the digitally enlarged microscopic cross-section—nifty technology-times.}
• Even the building's maintenance people have extremely limited access to the lab. If they're needed—say a light bulb burns out—a work order is submitted and an appointment is set up. Everything in the studio is moved out, and then, under supervision of a conservator, they can come at the appointed time and change the light bulb. And after they've left, the whole studio can be reassembled. The space is also constantly monitored by video surveillance, and patrolled by guard once an hour.
Amanda Makes the BEST THING EVER.
The best thing ever?Yes. THE. BEST. THING. EVER.
OK, Let me explain.
I LOVE these things:
LOOOOVE. LOVE, I tell you.
They're steam stacks—you see them all over Manhattan. When water seeps down into a manhole and comes in contact with hot pipes under the street, it causes a steam leak. This is a visibility hazard to drivers, so the orange and white striped chimneys are placed over the offending manhole to funnel the steam up above traffic.
And I think the are the most ADORABLE thing ever.
I want one.
Unfortunately, they are quite large. And not for sale.
Soooo...I proceeded to make one.
An almost life-size one.
Are you ready for this?
OK, here's the before shot. I have this white floor lamp with a rice paper shade that was just begging {oh, you should have heard it begging} to be transformed:
And I happened to have some orange tissue paper that was the perfect shade. And some giant sheets of corrugated plastic left over from a college project. And some white paint left over from my loft bed.Clearly this was meant to be.
In all of its glory:
:)
times a million.
Also, I would like to thank my fuzzy assistants who contributed to this project by not eating the orange stripes or walking in the clouds while the paint was wet.
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