First I was jealous of Camilla Engman’s studio… now I’m jealous of her book. It’s the first in a project called The Suitcase Series put together by Uppercase Gallery. In each one they will feature an artist or designer, both at work and in life. The book about Camilla is so beautifully done, and what an amazing little gem for her to show her grandchildren one day… or grandpuppies, if Morran ever decides to start a family.

{There are 192 pages in this book, and all of them are gorgeous. Really, you have to go and see it.}

Brushes, erasers and clips, oh my!

Lisa Congdon is a very successful artist/illustrator and her work can be found on pretty much every art blog out there. This however, is her new blog that she just started ten days ago… and I really wish I thought of it. It’s called A Collection a Day, 2010, and it is exactly that. Every day, from January 1st to December 31st she will document one collection. ‘Most of the collections are real and exist in my home or studio; those I will photograph. Some are imagined; those I will draw or (occasionally) paint.’  The first ten days have been filled with some pretty great stuff. I can’t wait to see what else she has stashed away in her cupboards… and in her head for that matter.

Stunningly beautiful and an overwhelmingly important message? Usually I don’t expect so much from my lamps, but I do now! British artist/designer Stuart Haygarth has shown me the light… too cheesy? Sorry, but it’s true! These spectacular chandeliers are breathtaking, and they are made from found/discarded man-made debris that is polluting our planet.

The first one is titled Tide. This huge sphere is made up clear and translucent objects (mainly plastics), that the tide washed up on a specific stretch of Kent coastline. The sphere of the chandelier ‘is an analogy for the moon which effects the tides, which in turn wash up the debris.’

The second piece is shaped like a drop of water. What could it be made from? 1800 plastic water bottles that were collected at Stansted Airport in England. Haygarth cut off the bottom of each bottle and tossed them in a cement mixer filled with sand and water giving them the look of frosted glass. Gorgeous.

The third one is my favourite. Nope, not your traditional, run of the mill disco ball. This one is made up of 4500 prescription eyeglass lenses, and instead of reflecting the light, ‘the light is refracted through the many layers of glass lenses. A magical explosion of light is created.’ I want this so badly it hurts a tiny bit.

This is awesome… literally. They are from a series titled 1000 Awesome Things by British artist/illustrator Monsieur Cabinet {aka Dave}. Of the 1000 awesome things, these are my favourite 5… especially the Scrabble tiles. I love getting a Q and a U at the same time! {FYI: I’m a tiny bit competitive when it comes to board games.}

If you’re a fan of flickr you might already be jealous of Cari Wayman… although you probably know her as yyellowbird. She is a young photographer from the Chicago area who has made quite a name for herself online. Her work can be found on blogs and favorite lists all over the web, and until last spring that’s pretty much the only place you could see it. So what happened last spring you ask? Aritzia, a very hip & trendy clothing company, were the first to take her photographs offline when she was chosen as their featured artist for Spring 09. Just a wild guess, but I’m gonna say that was just the beginning of a long and successful career for Cari… I mean ‘yyellowbird’.

I’m  not sure what it is about me and my love for suburban homes? For Carrie Christian, it all started with her first doll house, and has resulted in these lovely, but sort of lonely watercolors. She says that ‘the Barbie Dream House appeared grand, thanks to the fancy scenes printed on the thick card stock; but once I started playing, I found I could only play in front of the rooms, never in them.’ Ah, so true. She puts beautiful detail into each painting, but I also love that the image is left incomplete. I want to know what’s going on in that white space… although maybe Barbie & Ken don’t want us to see what they’re up to?

Sadly, my living room is a far cry from an architectural space large enough to house one of these monumental, beautifully painted murals by Taipei/Paris based artist Michael Lin. His work is inspired by traditional Taiwanese textile patterns, but he hugely exaggerates the scale, truly transforming the spaces they’ve been placed into. Since my living room clearly won’t work out as a site for one of these murals, here’s quick list of where you can find a few of them: Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center Cafe, New York; the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; the Palais de Tokyo in Paris; the Atrium, Stadhuis City Hall, Den Haag… Jealous yet? Yep, me too.

{The Vancouver Art Gallery has a Michael Lin show, titled A Modest Veil, opening on January 23rd, 2010. He will be creating a mural that covers the entire Georgia Street façade. And if that’s not enough for you, in his exploration of ‘veiling’ the gallery, he’ll also be wrapping the publications on the shelves of the VAG store in custom designed paper… hey – now that could fit into my house!}

I would love to have any of these brunettes, by LA based artist/illustrator Andrew Hem, hanging on my wall looking back at me. Penetrating stares, and faces that seem to be lit from within… so beautiful. Throw in that blue panda and I’m far more jealous than a person should be first thing on a Monday morning.

{Another artistic gem found via Eric Cator’s paintblog}

Wondering what to do with all of those Barbie dolls you have left over from childhood? No problem. Send them to Brooklyn NY, Attn: Margaux Lange… she’ll take care of them for you. Well, she won’t ‘take care of them’, but she will chop them up and turn them into very cool wearable art. These amazing, and hilarious, pieces are from her series called My Plastic Body. It is “the result of [her] life-long fascination with the icon, and a desire to re-purpose mass produced materials into handmade, wearable art”. My favourite piece is the necklace directly above, titled Mounds. Yes… they are what you think they are!

{If you’re in  Pittsburgh, she has a solo show called ‘Wearable Nostalgia: Deconstructing Barbie & Ken’ on at the Luke and Eloy Gallery until January 16, 2010.}

It’s like a biology text book and a ball of yarn fell madly in love, got married and had a few babies.  And the matchmaker that got these two crazy kids together? New York artist Emily Barletta. I have to admit… I might be a little bit in love too. I have a soft spot in my heart for work that blurs the line between art and craft, and she has definitely done that with these stunning, organic sculptures. Crochet, embroidery, clay, bead work and a very interesting concept behind it all. Yep, a match made in heaven.