Books

I'm not much of a reader, but I'm great at flipping through magazines and 'picture' books for inspiration.  By picture books I mean architectural, scenic, fashion, etc. subject books.  Interior design books are my favorite.  As an artist you must be creative, but who says that has to stop in your work, you need to blend it into your surroundings to thrive.  I love Kelly Wearstler's (www.kellywearstler.com) interior design books, here rooms are like mini-museums in themselves.  I've been collecting various books sporadically here and there.  Anthropologie is like a library for me, I know that every time I go in that store I will walk out with a book, among other things. Some great book companies:

www.hatjecantz.de  (I own Pink, and I really want the Las Vegas book)

www.taschen.com (if you can think of it, its probably there! Great 'destination/travel' books)

www.anthropologie.com 

www.assouline.com (great fashion books, art, design, and jewelry!  most are about $20, not too horrible, I own a few)

just looking at theses websites again I've compiled a new birthday list.

Diamond Crazy

I really wanted to incorporate some raw diamond stones into my blood diamonds piece, originally I wanted to set and cast them, but I came across these drilled diamond beads and figured that these would be great instead of the beads I originally bought for my bracelets.  Here's what I found on eBay below, my only hope is that they get here from Thailand in time to put my pieces together!!!

I know some people bought the industrial diamonds that Jenn had from Lauren Schott, but here are some links to other rough diamond suppliers if anyone was interested in them.

www.diamondrough.com

http://artgemsinc.com/Content/SearchResults.asp?Category=34&subcateg=1172

www.jewelrysupply.com/beads/gemstone_beads/diamond_beads.html

Murakami Exhibit

Takashi Murakami

© MURAKAMI: Presented by the Brooklyn Museum of Art

If I was loaded...this painting would so be on one of my mansions walls!

Takashi Murakami is one of the great Contemporary Japanese artists.  He is by far one of my favorite artists.  The Brooklyn Museum is going to feature over 90 of his works over 18,000 square feet.  The works showcased span from 1992 - 2000. Murakami is known for paintings, sculptures, and more recently for creating the artwork for Kanye West's latest CD artwork and in the fashion world as a major staple in Louis Vuittons creative process.  He created the Multicolore line as well as doing many limited edition lines.  In conjunction with this exhibit, his latest collaboration with Louis Vuitton will be revealed, showcasing camouflage and butterflies.  A "pop-up" store will be created to sell this limited quantity line.  This exhibit was recently in Los Angeles at MoCA, similarly there was a Louis Vuitton collaborative to go along as well, the products produced with the exhibit in mind can only be found at the museum, not in any other stores nationwide.  Of course you can find the things on eBay for 2 -3 times the face value of the pieces.  Along with the Louis Vuitton store, other exclusively Murakami items will be sold such as stuffed animals, pins, jewelry, stickers, stationary, books and more.  I did order the book for this on eBay for Christmas and it is GREAT, full of pictures and a retrospective look.  I was trying to plan a trip to see it then and missed out, luckily this is just a drive up 95, not hundreds of dollars in plane tickets.  The exhibit costs $10 for adults and $8 for students with a valid ID.  The exhibit opens Saturday April 5th and runs through July 13th.  I would really love to make it up the day it opens, which may be a possibility, but nevertheless I will definitely be making a trip to New York just to go to this exhibit.  Check it out!

Awesome Earrings

So here's my new favorite earrings in action, check out the website www.theopulentproject.com, they're awesome people based out of Portland Oregon and make some pretty great stuff!  We saw these earrings at Jewelerswerk Gallerie and I fell in love with them.  I didn't get a chance to buy them at that time.  Luckily, when flipping through the Cooper-Hewitt book I saw an ad for their online store and the earrings pictured.  The earrings did not have a proper nameplate at Jewelerswerk, they were in the case along with Polly Wales' work.  The Opulent Project (www.theopulentproject.com) creates these earrings and a few other styles. I love the Chandelier 'chandelier' earrings, they are just great!  At Jewelerswerk I was told they were made from a recycled material, but she was unsure of what.  These are actually made out of fluorescent light covers.  I thought this was great and hysterical because at work I order these for us to install in stores.  The packaging was awesome!  Very ingenious too, plastic sheet scored and wrapped with a mirrored sheet inside with the earrings showcased on either side.  Then it was held together with tape printed with the logo.