I’ve been jealous a lot in the last two years, so this wish list could easily go on forever, however, I’ve managed to control myself as much as humanly possible. Here are a few things that I would love to see under my Christmas tree this year… Santa, are you listening?

Ok, now this last one isn’t art {technically}, but it’s been on my wish list every year since I was a kid:

Mmmm, chips… no, no – not a huge, sculptural installation that looks like a pile of chips {although that would be pretty cool}… I just want plain old potato chips. Preferably with dip.

I hope that all of you get what you’re wishing for too… Happy Holidays everyone! xo

{1. Laura McKellar 2. Martha Rich 3. Wayne White 4. Rachel Denny 5. Abigail Ahern 6. The Exquisite Book 7. Suitcase Series Volume 2 ~ Dottie Angel 8. Su Blackwell 9. Tanja Ufer 10. miki and nora 11. EmersonMade 12. delicious chips}

Can you imagine coming across either of these underwater installations while out for a swim?! I know. Insanely beautiful, kinda spooky, and environmentally friendly all in one shot. I am totally mesmerized by these life-size concrete sculptures by Cancun based artist Jason deCaires Taylor… oh sure, they may have started out as statues, but given a little time, and some amazing sea creatures, they have literally come to life. Stunning.

{Thanks to Briony Evans, Creative Director at the Honfleur Gallery, for sending this work my way.}

Dishware or art? I’m going with ‘art’, because even though it would be hilarious to serve a piece of chocolate cake on that guy’s forehead, I just don’t think I could bring myself to do something like that to the beautiful work of Pretoria based artist Ruan Hoffmann. No – I think I’ll just hang these on the wall, and skip dessert tonight thank you very much.

{Thanks to Louis for sending Ruan’s work my way!}

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.}

Is it weird that I’m totally jealous of the dolls who get to live in this house? No, I didn’t think so either. These super cool, damn I wish I’d thought of it, dollhouse interiors are by Georgia Smith, and were featured in the latest issue of frankie magazine. Unfortunately I don’t know anything about Georgia {i don’t even have a link for you}, so let me know if you have any info… oh, and if you could get me some of that amazing teeny-tiny wallpaper while you’re at it, that would be fantastic!

{via cream coloured ponies}

ps. continuing with the dollhouse theme… if you missed the post about Heather Benning a few weeks ago, you must go and take a look!

These lovely slip cast sculptures by Robin Van Valkenburgh look like a ceramic ode to a very bizarre dream… a dream that I’m assuming was the result of getting cozy with a tub of marshmallow fluff ice cream and a copy of Alice in Wonderland moments before falling asleep. Hm, maybe I’ll give that a try and see what happens… let’s just hope that I don’t hear “Danny the baby lamb” whisper my name in a tiny little voice *shudder*

Sweet jiminy… my student work did not look like this! But then again, I didn’t attend Beckmans College of Design in Sweden. Maybe if I had, I would be sitting in my cozy/crazy knit chair {Anni Arnefjord}, a stylish donkey head mounted on my wall {Hanna Billqvist}, while I read by the light of either my very sweet tent table lamp {Fredrik Andersson}, or my insanely cool pendant slide lamp {Joel Sandelius}. Alas, Beckmans was not my alma mater, so the only Swedish design that I own is from a little shop down the street. It’s called IKEA… have you heard of it?

{Thanks to Design for Mankind for featuring Anni Arnefjord’s chair… which led me straight to Beckmans’ site, and all of this other amazing work! Thanks Erin!}

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!

Sigh. Oh my word. I love these intricate, amazingly beautiful wooden textiles… wait… what?! Yep, that’s right, wooden textiles. German artist/designer Elisa Strozyk has figured out a way to make wooden fabric, and I could not be more jealous. So smart, and so stunningly beautiful. Um, Santa, if you’re reading this, I really, really want that lamp for Christmas. Thank you!

So, American artist Jason Clay Lewis either really loves Buddha, or he really hates rats… hmm, or maybe both? The lovely green Buddha has been covered in rat poison and a few decorative faux pearls. The second Buddha has been plastered in rat poison labels, and the third is supposedly wrapped in rabbit fur but I’m thinkin’ it might be a few left over rat pelts… very soft, clean, fluffy, white rat pelts.