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!

Italian born, London based artist Maurizio Anzeri transforms found photographs of perfectly cute kids into spooky, tribal, baboon-ish looking creatures using only a needle and thread. I’m totally in awe… and just a little bit scared.

{via The Art Monitor}

So, summer is officially over {and then some!}, and so my lovely weekend guests have gone back home to blog, curate, and make amazing art. I absolutely loved having every single one of them here, and am so grateful to all of them for being my guests.  But don’t worry… it’s not over! The winter holidays will be here soon and I’ll have a warm fire burning, hot chocolate on the stove, and a whole bunch of “holiday guests” to make sure you stay jealous all winter long. Stay tuned…

If a drawing a day keeps the doctor away, then I’m pretty sure that Berlin based artist Tina Berning will never even get the sniffles! This is the third time I’ve written about her… and I didn’t even mean to! I was pulling some work together for another post and thought I’d quickly pop by her online “drawing a day” diary… and ended up being there for over an hour. Her work is amazing and always leaves me feeling inspired… with just a small case of “crushed-soul syndrome”. Hm, maybe I should give my doctor a quick call.

I’m not sure how to begin writing about the beautiful and powerful work of New York based artist Ain Cocke. Maybe I’ll let him do it…

“Gender theorists and historians have posited that the first half of the 20th century was the end of a period where male intimacy was allowed without the burden of specific identities like “homosexual,” which imposed restrictions on behavior between men as much as clarified and codified it.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself! I love how he’s taken these images of soldiers, and blended them with flowery, almost Rococo detailing. If the backgrounds were different, say a manly Navy boat, or a bloody battlefield, homosexuality wouldn’t even be inferred, but swap those out for lush gardens and some rosy cheeks and suddenly the closeness of the men seems sexual. Amazing really. Ah, the power of gold leaf and ceramic flowers!

{via Booooooom}

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!

I’m in the middle of redecorating my office… literally {there is a drop cloth on the floor as we speak}. You’d think that would mean that I have a clear plan, but since I’m starting with a pretty clean slate, the possibilities are endless! Enter Lonny. The newest issue of this lovely online magazine just hit the virtual stands, and it’s full of great ideas. So, I started clicking, and clicking, and clicking, until I wound up on the “work spaces” and “book shelves” sections of their site. Perfect. I’m redecorating a work space, with book shelves ~ this will be great. Ooh, I love the first one with that Warhol print, and what appears to be a Rachel Denny trophy in the fireplace… oh, but that black wall in number five is gorgeous… and don’t even get me started on that chair in number four. You see? This is my problem. Too many amazing / inspiring things out there to confuse me! Help me Lonny. Help me. I can’t look at this drop cloth much longer.

{…well, I may be a little lost on my office plans, but at least I know what I’m doing in the basement! That’s right, spin the bottle and a whole bunch of wood paneling in the house that jealousy built over at sfgirlbybay today!}

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.

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!