We have exactly two weeks to Christmas! Are you ready? My oldest sister is hosting an ugly Christmas sweater party. Isn’t this Hotline Bling one a hoot? (It’s fun to use that word…hoot.) I’m headed to Lake Arrowhead tonight with the kids. Meeting up with some family there for a quick weekend trip. Hooray, the snow came in last night! Have a good weekend, everyone.
Last night, one of Rome’s defining icons, St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, became home to a light show designed to inspire action against climate change. The three hour event, called Fiat Lux: Illuminating Our Common Home, was an unprecedented live contemporary public art video projection that showed off images of our beautiful earth and all of its living creatures. It was designed to coincide with the climate talks in Paris and included images taken by such famed photographers as Joel Sartore and Steve McCurry. This was the very first time a light show has ever taken place on the church’s facade. Spectacular!
Above: Panda event photo taken by David Doubilet. Image by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark.
Butterflies event photo taken by David Doubilet. Image by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark.
Fiat Lux event photo taken by David Doubilet. Image by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark.
Image by David Doubilet.
Image by Steve McCurry. Projection by Obscura Digital.
Image by Fabrice DallAnese. Projection by Obscura Digital.
Image by Riccardo Savi. Projection by Obscura Digital.
Image by Steve McCurry. Projection by Obscura Digital.
Now that Christmas is right around the corner, it’s time to put together a list of presents we’d all love to have. Mostly for modern lovers, this list shows products that have all been inspired by something, be it an animal or space! To plug my buddy’s site, you can’t go wrong with something from Christopher Jobson’s Colossal Shop. In fact, I’ve included two of his goods in my list. (No money was exchanged for that mention. I just love his taste.) Happy shopping!
Above: Transform your room into a magical world with this moon lantern. Comes in seven sizes.
This cloud shelf is a cute place to put your kid’s favorite books.
Birdhouse key ring is a sweet way to keep your keys handy. The product is made of 100% recycled material.
Take your scotch on the rocks. Designed for adventurous spirits, these crystal tumblers are modeled after the Matterhorn, one of the Alps’ highest and most picturesque peaks.
Photo, called “You are Scary!,” is by Evgeny Tchebotarev. “I’ve met this cute child in a Tibetan monastery. The woman came to the temple to pray, usually for the health and wealth of herself, her children or her family. The prayers involve walking around spiritual places in a temple in many circles, sometimes for many hours throughout the day, while saying prayers, either aloud or silently. Her child was looking from his top position on her back, scared of strange people, like yours truly.”
Street artist Ernest Zacharevic is back, and this time he’s teamed up with photographer Martha Cooper to bring her photos of children to life. Though generations apart and working in different mediums, Ernest and Martha decided together that they’d capture the playfulness of kids frolicking around New York City. Over the course of six weeks, the pair selected seven different images from Martha’s collection of work, which spans three decades. It’s fun to see how each of Martha’s original photos spring to life through the eyes of an up and coming street photographer like Ernest Zacharevic.
I personally love “Fence Climbers” which shows a gang of children scaling a concrete wall and a black fence all in the name of fun. Like he does so well, Ernest finds the perfect spot to create his works, as they blend with the environment in a seamless yet eye-popping way.
I also love how Ernest incorporates real life objects into his pieces. Can you spot them? I see a boom box and spray paint, a paintbrush, a part of a stroller, and a toy gun. Do you see any more?
With gobble gobble day coming up, it’s a short week so I decided to wrap it up with some fun links from around the web. I’m excited about my double Thanksgiving this year, we’re feasting on Thursday and Friday. (Time to bust out the stretchy pants.)
We finally got our brining recipe. Thank God for the Pioneer Woman.
One of my lifelong dreams is to travel the world and report at art events like museum and gallery openings or art festivals . During my time at My Modern Met, a few of the events that I really enjoyed were Art of the Streets at LA’s MOCA, Vivid Sydney in Australia, Tim Burton’s retrospective at the LACMA, and Art Basel in Miami. A few of the installations that I reported on but that I wished I had seen in person are Jaume Plensa at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Leandro Erlich’s building illusion in Paris, and Tomas Saraceno mesh orbit in Dusseldorf, Germany.
One of the art festivals that I would love to attend is Sculpture by the Sea at Australia’s Bondi Beach. There’s just something about seeing artworks sit right on the beach, with water and light as their backdrop. I can only imagine experiencing them with the wonderfully refreshing smell of the beach all around them.
From the Sculpture by the Sea website:
Staged on the spectacular Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi is one of Sydney’s most popular events, with 520,000 visitors viewing over 100 sculptures by artists from around the world. Held since 1997, this free to the public exhibition captures the imagination of Sydney and its visitors for three weeks each spring and is the largest annual sculpture exhibition in the world. The exhibition generates an almost unprecedented level of goodwill among the public as they enjoy one of the most unique events in the world.
The 2015 show just wrapped up, it ran from October 22 to November 9. Here are some of the highlights from this year as well as from years’ past.
Above: Norton Flavell, Dust, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2015. Photo by Jessica Wyld Photography.
Sandra Cross, Dissolution III, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2015. Photo Clyde Yee.
Zilvinas Kempinas, Kakashi (2012), Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2015. Photo Clyde Yee.
Wang Shugang, Man on Ball, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2015. Photo Clyde Yee.
Barbara Licha, Listen Time Passes, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2015. Photo Clyde Yee.
Kim Perrier, Ashes to Ashes, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2015. Photo Clyde Yee.
Kathleen Berney, Minden Jó Lesz 1953 (All Shall Be Well), Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2015. Photo Clyde Yee.
TaeGeun Yang, Pig of Fortune #2, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2015. Photo Clyde Yee.
Michael Van Dam, Intervention (2014), Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2015. Photo Clyde Yee.
Elaine Miles, Tidal Pools, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2014. Photo Meredith Schofield.
Carla Gottgens, The Guardians, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2014. Photo Meredith Schofield.
Linton Meagher, Glamarama, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2014. Photo Clyde Yee.
Matt Calvert, Girl Pointing, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2013. Photo Samantha Burns.
David McCracken, Diminish and Ascend, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2013. Photo William Patino.
I’m hoping to keep attending art events around the world. Can’t wait to share them with you! How about you? Which art events have you been to? Which ones will you remember forever?
When French-born, London-based graphic designer Jean Jullien heard about the horrible terrorist attacks on Paris, he knew right away what he had to do. As he told Fast Company, “I was deeply shocked, saddened, and confused. Because I’m an illustrator, drawing is my first natural reaction to communicate things in general.” On his lap, taking a loose sketchbook, a brush and ink, he painting a black and white peace sign while incorporating the iconic Eiffel Tower. There was no initial sketching. Simple, straightforward but incredibly powerful, his “Peace for Paris” image quickly went viral. It has now been retweeted over 59,000 times, liked 160,000 times on Instagram and liked over 24,000 times on Facebook.
It was a reaction. The first thing that came to me was the idea of peace, that we needed peace. I was trying to look for a symbol of Paris, and obviously the Eiffel Tower was the first thing that sprang to my mind. I just connected both of them. You know, there wasn’t much work process behind that. It was more an instinctive, human reaction than an illustrator’s reaction.
Photograph: Roger Tooth/for the Guardian
What’s even more powerful than seeing it online is seeing the work offline at vigils, on t-shirts, on posters, on flags or drawn on people’s faces. It’s rare when a symbol can spark up a feeling of solidarity, especially in the wake of such tragic events. Our thoughts are with you, Paris.
It’s been a great first week! It feels a little bit weird being back in the saddle after my brief hiatus from My Modern Met but I’m happy to be writing again.
What are your plans for the weekend? Tomorrow, my friend’s daughter is being baptized in a beautiful cathedral up in Los Angeles. I’m looking forward to catching up with some old friends.
Here are some of my favorite links this week.
Derek Zoolander and Hansel are back with two new movies posters promoting the upcoming “Zoolander” sequel. One includes some selfie-taking!
A color lovers delight! (Bonus if you like books and movies.)
Hello, I’m Alice Yoo! I’m founder and CEO of Skylar Yoo, a company dedicated to inspiring and empowering women to be bold. We sell apparel, art prints and accessories to the modern feminist.
In my former life, I was editor-in-chief of the art and culture blog My Modern Met, which I founded back in 2007. I curated and wrote about art, design and photography for more than seven years. (In fact, I published over 7,000 articles which were seen by millions of people worldwide.) I’m also co-author of a book called For Love: 25 Heartwarming Celebrations of Humanity, which is on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
I live in southern California along with my husband and my two toddler boys.
This blog is about what I love, the tough experiences that I’ve learned from, and my journey as a second time entrepreneur. Right now, I’m in the midst of a 365 day challenge, to read one book a day. If you share my passions or want to learn some cool new facts, come along for the ride. I hope to inspire, educate and entertain you!
