Boston in Winter

I love love LOVE this print.
I rarely miss Boston in the winter (who would miss their eyeballs frozen inside their head?!)

But I do miss Boston a bit.

Some snow would be nice.
And the quiet snow brings.

Link to the shop at Jessica Hishe's shop here.
(it's only $40!)

via design work life

Weekend Plans

Ahh, this weekend I'm looking forward to working on the Save the Dates, beginning to think about Christmas gifts (i know my brother is just DYING for a powerbook), more house projects, and (I never thought I would say this...) painting the ceiling in the studio! I'm still up in the air over a wall color for the studio, but I want something inspirational... The one thing about living in a house in Fishtown is that I'm never at a loss for weekend projects.

I'll leave you with this work by Alex Lukas at Glowlab (via My Love for You...). It reminds me of one of my all-time favorite songs, "Nothing but Flowers" by the Talking Heads.

Listen to it here.

Today I Love

Ghosts VI, Sam Taylor-Wood (2008) via White Cube

this photo. 

From Art Observed:

Sam Taylor-Wood first read Wuthering Heights only months before embarking on her series. One night while at her second-home in North Yorkshire, prior to her break-upwith gallery-owner Jay Jopling, she felt compelled to experience a novel she hoped to be “fantastically romantic.” After reading, Taylor-Wood felt it necessary to experience the wild landscape and the turbulent emotional weather that had inspired Brontë and so she set off on a trek across the moors with an assistant and camera equipment in the middle of February- a time of year Taylor-Wood described as prefect; “freezing cold.” Taylor-Wood and her assistant walked for hours in the unremitting sleet and winds. A moment of relief came when the pair finally reached Top Withins – the site of the action in Wuthering Heights – when the clouds parted and the sun appeared as captured in Ghosts IV.

 The resulting photos are up now (but only for a few more days) at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Yorkshire.  Wuthering Heights wasn't my favorite on my high school summer reading list, but Wood completely captures the epic scenery in her photos. Seeing them in the context of post-breakup adds a sense of futility to the hopeless romanticism.

(via)

Today I Love

"Workspace" photos by Joseph Holmes

shown at the new Rag & Bone Soho store

(link to the portfolio here, via ACL)

p.s. Rag & Bone is up there on my favorite-to-daydream-about list of clothing items

Van Gogh's sunny cake

Found this great recipe for  

Vincent Van Gogh's Sunny Sunflower Cake 

via kitchen scraps

Vincent Van Gogh's Sunny Sunflower Cake 

INGREDIENTS

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup butter, melted

plus more butter for greasing

1/4 cup runny honey

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup sunflower seeds, shelled

zest of 2 lemons (save lemon juice for icing)

100 ml cream or milk

For icing:

1/2 cup butter, soft at room temperature

pinch of saffron

4 cups icing sugar

juice of 2 lemons

pinch of salt

PROCEDURE

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Butter up a 9-inch round cake pan.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Tip in the melted butter, honey, sugar, egg, cream and lemon zest. Mix thoroughly until smooth, then stir in the sunflower seeds.

Pour the batter into the baking pan and blap the whole thing in the oven for 45-50 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the lemon icing. Cream the butter (and optional saffron) using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment until it is light and fluffy. Alternate by adding a quarter of the icing sugar and a quarter of the lemon juice until it is all thoroughly incorporated. Keep in the fridge for later.

Set the cake aside to cool for 20 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack. Allow it to cool completely before icing. Cut the cake in half horizontally to and put some icing between the layers before covering the whole thing in the remaining icing. Keep in the fridge until ready to eat.

Serves 8 people and goes nicely with a cup of tea or some absinthe.

Fin

I'm loving this "Fin" print on Keep Calm Gallery.

I absolutely want this on my wall asap.

Save Arts in Philadelphia!

Please take a moment and send this Action Letter to our State Decision Makers about the dire situation of Arts funding in Pennsylvania. 

The Pennsylvania State Senate is calling for ZERO funding for arts and culture in the FY 09-10 state budget.. If the Senate version (SB 850) prevails, there will be no arts and culture grants in the state of Pennsylvania starting on July 1 of this year (PCA and PHMC).

Institutions (like our beloved ICA) depend on these to-be-cut grants for their  exhibitions. I'm not usually one to send out dire-situation action letter requests...

But this one is important to me.

Please take a few clicks. And send the letter.

Many thanks,

Darcey

Apologies!

My apologies... things are hectic around here lately. 

My mind feels like this Doris Salcedo installation . 

I promise. I will get back to writing soon.

How to Steal a Million

I saw this very entertaining movie the other night, "How to Steal a Million" (1966) with Peter O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn.

The basic plot of the movie was that A.H. played the daughter of an art forger. One of their forged sculptures was in a big museum show in France (and insured for a million dollars!). P.O.T is a charming burglar who works with A.H. to steal the statue and presumably, collect the insurance money.

There were the portly, bumbling french guards (who stay at the museum all night and eat & drink wine). I secretly want some of those. The paddy wagon of french guards who show up and file through the museum at a moment's notice of trouble. The monopoly man of a Registrar who unfolded a map of loan conditions which contained "the work will be covered in the case of earthquake, thunderbolt & larceny..." and the cleaning ladies, who dressed in rags, and wiped the floors, marble walls, pedestals, and works of art with the same dirty rags & dirty water (ugh!). 

Overall, it was an entertaining movie. I am a sucker for art-heist movies.

Mona Lisa

A very interesting Vanity Fair article about a new book detailing the 1911 heist of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Perhaps it was covering up a larger crime? I'm surprised how easy it was to actually steal the painting and I'm shocked to hear how insecurely the work was hung on the wall. Apparently paintings were hung only with simple hooks to ensure that they could be easily taken down in case of a fire!

ICA Opening

This Thursday (4/23) two new shows are opening here at ICA:

"Pathways To Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn & Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954-1968"

Jazz pioneer, bandleader, mystic, philosopher, and consummate Afro-Futurist, Sun Ra (b. 1914 Birmingham, Alabama, d. 1993) and his personal mythology have grown increasingly relevant to a broad range of artists and communities. This exhibition presents paintings, drawings, prints, manuscripts, ephemera, and video produced by and about Ra and his associates—much of it previously unseen. Pathways to Unknown Worlds examines how Ra and his dynamic, continually-evolving ensemble, the Philadelphia-based Arkestra, crafted both their otherworldly image and fiercely independent approach to self-production.

"Tavares Strachan: Orthostatic Tolerance"

 

The surf surrounding Tavares Strachan's (b. 1979, lives New York) hometown of Nassau, Bahamas is the site of an experimental rocket launch. Made of glass from island sand, and powered by sugarcane, the rockets mark a primary phase of the artist'sOrthostatic Tolerance project: to explore the heights of space and the depths of the ocean. Video, drawings, photography, and sculpture document the launch and allow a glimpse into the future. Through the rubric of scientific exploration, Strachan engages both the resources and community of his home country, and investigates environmental, cultural, historical, and postcolonial issues. 

I don't have images yet for the shows yet, but from what I've seen in unpacking and installation, the work is captivating. The opening reception is open to the public Thursday at 6:00; DJ Hiding Place will be performing. 

UPDATE: images!

Space is the place. 

Friday links

Oh no! Alexander Calder Garden no more @ Philly Inquirer

Obama surfing Pipeline installation @ Tiger Strikes Asteroid

Current Obsession: all things Julia Rothman @ Julia Rothman

I need one of these tree prints! @ A Cup of Jo

I'm really considering doing this for a Videographer at my wedding @ A Cup of Jo

LOVE this house, especially the chalkboard kitchen @ Design*Sponge

My new favorite online store @ Velocity Art & Design

164 Days of TMI on a Save the Date @ NY Mag Weddings

Jordan is inspiring me to make Parisian Macarons @ Oh Happy Day

My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses

This blog is one of my new favorite discoveries for contemporary art. 

Love the studio visits they do.

A few of my favorites:

Alex Lukas, NYC

Suzy Q and the Owls

Tod Kapke, Slippers