Ahh, it seems like just yesterday that I was writing about Cassandra Smith… oh wait a second, that was yesterday! Normally I wouldn’t write about someone two days in a row, but when you’re the co-founder of a beautiful new art magazine, and your personal work looks like this, well then, you leave me no choice. My heart skipped a beat when I opened her site and saw a huge field of animal hide covered in sparkly sequins. Oh Cassandra Smith, you had me at hello.

{The only thing that’s killing me about finding this work , is that I found it a week too late. It would have been perfect for the post I wrote on sfgirlbybay last Tuesday… Damn it.}

Tape. It’s just tape! So simple, yet even if I had thought of it, I’m certain it wouldn’t have been executed this perfectly. These boxes {that are just tape!}, are from a series titled Made In:Side, by Croatian artist Igor Eskinja. He is a master when it comes to tricking the eye, and playing with space, and these perfectly executed boxes are… well… a perfect example!

Oh. my. word. You can almost smell the crisp night air, can’t you?  The fireflies, however, have been replaced with this insanely magical light installation by British lighting designer/artist Bruce Munro. I can’t even imagine how amazing this must have been in person. If I wasn’t two years late writing about this, you can bet I’d be on a plane to England as we speak! Field of Light was displayed at the Eden Project in Cornwall from 1st November 2008 – 31st March 2009. Mind you, it was also exhibited at the V&A museum in London, and “under the shadow of an ancient hill” in southwest England. Hmm, maybe that means he’ll display this piece again… and hopefully this time I’ll know about it just a touch sooner!

Sigh. I love this… and the 10 year old me {who happened to be the co-founder/president of the “Rainbow Girls” ~ an exclusive club for me and my other rainbow/unicorn/candy lovin’ 10 year old friends} really, really loves this! pip & pop {aka Perth based artists Tanya Schultz and Nicole Andrijevic} showed this magical installation piece titled, Under the Crystal Sky at the Japan Foundation in Sydney this past Spring. Ahh, if only the “Rainbow Girls” were still together… we could put our clubhouse smack-dab in the middle of this sugary, fairytale land!

{Thanks to Michelle Lee for sending this my way! xx}

I love these large scale photographs by Nils Nova, and cannot stop staring at that cube.

Wow. Just wow.

I love searching through thrift shops, trying to find that perfect little jacket, or a cute vintage top… but it never would have occurred to me to find hundreds of them to hang as public space art installations! Finnish artist Kaarina Kaikkonen, however, has done this repeatedly all over the world. I was lucky enough to see some of her work in person, and it was magical… but don’t worry, I didn’t take any of the clothes, regardless of how perfect/cute they might have been!

Last year, someone pointed me to The Beholder, an amazing online gallery based in San Francisco… and it was love at first click. So many fantastic artists all in one place! Leigh Wells, Martha Rich, Jennifer Sanchez, Jennifer Davis, Mike Monteiro… shall I go on?  Yep, that’s when I knew I was officially jealous of Suzanne Shade, Director & Curator of The Beholder. About five minutes after finding her site, I was writing a post about it. Not only does she have fabulous taste, but she’s also incredibly nice! Don’t you just love it when that happens?

Anyway, enough about really talented, super nice curators who make me jealous… here’s a curator that makes Suzanne jealous {I’ll let her add the adjectives}:

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I’m jealous of Folkert Gorter

When you think of what a curator does (and I’ve been thinking a lot of that recently) it’s pretty simple: you are drawn by something, and you want to share it with the world. And sometimes, happily, the act of sharing helps you to discover what about that thing made you love it in the first place.

The really hard part about curating is giving your audience not only what you think is good, but giving them a way to see something that they may not have seen on their own. Crafting that moment where a work becomes so vividly clear: Ahhh yes. I GET IT now.

Folkert Gorter is one of those curators who can do that to you every time. That’s where the jealous part comes in. Folkert helps run a blog called “But Does It Float?”  His method is simple. He marries a ‘title’ (pulled quotes from folks like Bertolt Brecht and Jan Tschichold) which often are illuminating in themselves. He pairs that with the work of a selected artist. As the images float onto the screen, you are lifted up… it’s so addicting to scroll down a whole page and have it happen time after time.

Folkert is a Dutch interaction designer living in Los Angeles, and besides being an amazing curator, he’s also one of the founding creators of Cargo Collective, a web tool that powers a variety of creative communities in the fields of Education, Design, Research, and Conceptual Art. He’s the designer behind a site called Space Collective: The Future of Everything, and also developed a publishing platform for Good Magazine.

Oh, and did I mention that he’s also totally adorable?

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Adorable. Damn, I wish I’d put that in my list of adjectives! I’ll add that to your list Suzanne ; )

Thanks so much for this amazing post!

Um, can you say every little girl’s dream?! Yes, it’s a real-life dollhouse. I really, really, really want to live in this amazing on-site installation by Canadian artist Heather Benning. Granted, that huge plexiglass wall might leave me a little exposed to the local farmers and the odd cow, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for art! Below are images of the transformation… from an old abandoned farmhouse in Manitoba, into, well, my new home:

Sigh… amazing. And, it even comes with a rainbow! Throw in a unicorn grazing on the grass and you’re lookin’ at my childhood dream!

I first happened upon Sydney based interior designer Dana Hughes through a guest post that she did on sfgirlbybay. I was guest blogging that week too, and was quite happy with my contribution… until I read Dana’s. It was good. Really good. I immediately linked through to her lovely blog, and was hooked. If you’re looking for inspirational interiors, beautiful installations or stunning architecture then you owe yourself a visit to yellowtrace. But before you go, take a gander below this little dotted line to get a taste of the kind of amazing work that makes her jealous…

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I am jealous of Tokujin Yoshioka.

I am jealous of Tokujin Yoshioka. Why? First of all, he has a really cool name. And don’t even get me started on his incredible talent and his amazing mind. Tokujin’s work can’t easily be classified into any discipline – more of an artist than a designer, he is true magician of form, materiality and innovation.

His studio, Tokujin Yoshioka Design, was established in 2000 and since then he has done countless projects with Issey Miyake, Hermes, Toyota, BMW, KDDI, Swarowski, Cartier, Camper… ah the list is endless. Some of his most important works are displayed in permanent collections in the world’s best known museums such as Museum of Modern Art in New York, Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and Vitra Design Museum.

I am in complete awe of Tokujin’s mind and the way he talks about his pieces. He creates interiors, installations and architecture where people can feel the light with all their senses. He explores beauty born out of coincidence and beyond human imagination; his work echoes the beauty of nature with its ever-changing expression, giving the idea “that the design doesn’t even exist”.

Oh Mr Yoshioka, how I worship you and envy your talent all the same time.

x dana

{Image Credits: 1. Sensing Nature / Snow / Exhibition
Mori Art Museum / Japan 2010 / www.mori.art.museum;  2. Design Miami / Designer of the Year / Exhibition
USA 2007 / www.designmiami.com; 3. Museum Beyond Museum / Rainbow Church / Exhibition
Korea 2006-2010 / www.beyondmuseum.com;  4. WATERFALL / Museum Beyond Museum / Table
Korea 2010 /www.beyondmuseum.com;  5. Moroso / Tokujin x Moroso / Installation
Italy 2007 / www.moroso.it;  6. MOROSO / MEMORY / Chair
Italy 2010 / www.moroso.it}

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Sigh. So beautiful. Ok, now go to yellowtrace… a tonne of inspirational interiors await!

Thanks so much Dana! xx

Oh sure, I used to draw on the walls and floors all the time… but it made my mom really, really mad. Clearly German artist Heike Weber has a much more understanding mother. Come on, what’s a little permanent marker and acrylic paint on the floor, especially when it ends up looking like this! These stunning, dizzying, installations have been drawn on the walls and floors of galleries all over Europe… and who knows, maybe even in her mom’s living room.

{I just used one of Heike’s floor installations in ‘the house that jealousy built’ over at sfgirlbybay… come and have a look at my super fancy dining room!}