Forget hanging out longer… I just wish I could hang out a little bit! I’m so totally and completely jealous of the people who will actually get to go to this weekend’s Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco! It’s a weekend chock-full of fantastic work, and amazing artists. Speaking of which, whoever takes that ceramic/thread brooch home… please, please, take good care of it. It deserves a soft and loving lapel. Sigh… I wish it could have hung out on my lapel, at least for a little while.

{The artists shown above will be there this weekend. They are 1) heyday design [jewellery] 2) heyday design [ceramics] 3) Mama’s Little Babies 4) The Mincing Mockingbird 5) molly m designs 6) The Heated 7) miki and nora 8 ) miki and nora 9) Raw Toast Design}

I’ve said this before {many, many, many times actually}, and I’ll say it again… I love pretty much anything that gets rescued from a thrift shop, and is then repurposed into something amazing, and in this case, something absolutely hilarious! After British artist Barnaby Barford finds these lonely ceramics, he cuts them up, exchanges pieces, repaints, and then arranges them into some of the funniest, laugh out loud, narratives I’ve seen in a long time. But you know what made me stop laughing? He’s younger than me… ooh, I just hate it when that happens.

{via junkculture}

It’s been over a year since I wrote about Adam Wallacavage, and I’m still oh so jealous. Some of his chandeliers are going to be included in a show that opens on June 26th in Italy, so I figured that was enough of an excuse to write about him again. He has so much stunning work to choose from, but after hours of debate, I decided on these as my top picks… and of course, I had to include the shot of Adam deep sea diving in his living room. Honestly, if I had all of these amazingly strange and beautiful octopus chandeliers in my house, I’d buy a wetsuit and harpoon too… let’s face it, it’s a good look.

One of my favourite ways to spend a Saturday afternoon is poking around a thrift shop. It’s like looking for a treasure… buried deeply in a whole bunch of other crap. But, every now and then you find something special, and in the case of American artist Amy Santoferraro, a whole truck load of special somethings. Her solo exhibition titled Just Visit is an homage to all of these weird and wonderful orphans. She has created a lovely 5 minute stop-motion animation that features all of her finds {and has great music}. But don’t go home yet! Head over to the Adopt-a-Surprise shelf and buy one of the stars from the film {very sweetly wrapped I might add}. Hm, maybe next time I’ll just skip the thrift shop, and head straight to Amy’s show!

‘Keeping true to catch and release practices, it’s time to let go. Some of these objects have been with me forever, some just a couple of weeks, but all of them have boasted some degree of promise or beauty to me. I ask that you blindly take them on, not knowing, but trusting that they will do something for you too. They were just visiting.’

~ Amy Santoferraro

I don’t know about you, but a speedo-clad man doing leg lifts on my dessert plate might just inspire me not to eat that last bite of cake. Dutch artist Esther Derkx’s screen printed dancers and athletes are such a creative, hilarious, and beautiful way to breathe new life into abandoned, mismatched crockery… and will probably help all of us shed a pound or two. I’m putting my fork down and starting on a few leg lifts as we speak. 1, 2, 3, 4…

{Thanks for letting me steal this gem Brian! via Art, Design and Home}

Julie Moon is a Toronto born artist, currently working on her MFA at The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. I would love to do my MFA {eventually}, so that alone makes me jealous of her… the army of very cool lamps and that flowery goose are really just the icing on the cake.

Awwww! Aren’t they sweet? Don’t you want to give them a good home? These poor little ceramic orphans were left all alone, badly painted and nameless, at charity shops all over South East England. Luckily, London based artist Emma Harding showed up on a rescue mission! She dusted them off, painted them in fabulously vibrant colours, and then lovingly named each one. Now they are shiny, beautiful and ready to find new homes. Yes, that’s right, all of these little thrift store orphans are up for adoption. You can take one home today if you like… but I call dibs on Pat & Una Thorpe!

{Thanks to the always inspiring and lovely frankie magazine for this find.}

I truly love every piece of art that I write about, so it’s really hard to pick a ‘Top 10’… so I’m doing a ‘Top 15’. It has literally taken me hours to decide on only 15. Maybe I should do a ‘Top 100’ next year? Anyway, these are the chosen few {in no particular order}. Some of them have inspired my own artwork, others represent major milestones for The Jealous Curator, and the rest just make me really, really jealous.  Here’s to the year ahead… may it be filled with cheek-flushing inspiration & soul-crushing jealousy for all! Cheers and Happy 2010!

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Martha Rich (Sketchbook)

Trey Speegle

Alyson Fox

The Hot One Inch Action Show 2009

Margaret Kilgallen

Dave Barnes

Mikael Kennedy

Anthony Zinonos

Julien Pacaud

Diane Arbus

Tina Berning

Yellena James

Sarah Applebaum

Vivian Maier

Wendy Walgate

Two words: Jack. Pot.

A whole bunch of other words: Gorgeous colour, rich textures, unique style, bizarre narratives, beautiful illustration.

I really need to get paid for this somehow because I really want to buy pretty much everything that I show. These glazed ceramics, by American artist Amanda Smith, are definitely on my wish list… hint, hint.

I wrote about Wendy Walgate a few months ago, and then this past weekend I turned a corner at the Toronto Outdoor Art Show and came face to face with her amazing work. I was so thrilled to actually see it in person, but the best part of it all was getting to meet her. Not only is her work lovely, but so is she. Sadly, that’s not always the case with super talented people!