Ha!

....and they told me an art history degree was useless. Well, who's feeding rice to hungry people now?

I'm sure most of you have heard about FreeRice. But if you haven't, don't fret. Go visit FreeRice. They'll quiz your vocabulary and for each correct answer, their sponsors will donate 20 grains of rice to someone somewhere. It doesn't sound like much, but the game is addicitive. So, start playing and before you know it, you'll have helped feed someone. Keep in mind that 7,000 grains of rice equals 1 cup, which could be done in about half an hour answering 10-12 questions a minute. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

More Exciting News: Recently, FreeRice added different subjects (beyond vocabulary) to choose from. So, now I can choose art and be quizzed on "Famous Paintings." I'm keeping my art history skills sharp and feed people at the same time. Other subjects include, foreign languages, multiplication tables, grammar, chemistry, and geography.

I might be playing FreeRice until they run out of paintings.

Looking for 2009 Calendars?

The other day my friend Danielle mentioned something about 2009 calendars. So, being the good samaritan that I am, I quickly popped over to Poppytalk certain to find the scoop on all the greatest '09 calendar designs and sure enough, there was a beautiful calendar round-up ready and waiting.
The Bubble Calendar is my absolute favorite. A guaranteed burst of happiness each and every day of the year.

Happy Weekend

Have fun! And take a moment to bid farewell to our deciduous friends. 

Image: Untitled by nolomoah.

Curio Leftovers

Here are a few things to munch on over the weekend:

The Daily Aphorism
Conceptualized by The School of Life (<••• Literally) and St. Luke's, a design firm based in the U.K., this site presents you with thirty aphorisms, one per day on rotation, plus the option of subscribing to have the daily aphorism emailed to you (or an unsuspecting friend) each morning for one month. Via automatism, via Ace Jet 170.

Keith Olbermann (of MSNBC): Special Comment on Proposition 8
Alright, here's my soapbox of the week: Thank you Keith Olbermann for making the case. I hope you are heard by many.

Design Freebies
Do I have to say "free" twice or are you already all over that? This site is great. (This is my favorite find).

Elf on the Shelf
Is this "new Christmas tradition" weirding anyone else out? "Elf on the Shelf is watching you, watching you, watching you." How is that not creepy? When I first saw it, I thought it was a twisted, but hilarious spoof. However, that not the case. This is totally for reals. Oh well, here is to new and manipulative Christmas traditions. May your holidays be merry and dark. "The Elf on the Shelf is watching you, watching you, watching you.....watching you....watching you....watching you...."

Poladroid
Never let go! Poladroid is a downloadable robot, er uh, computer program that magically turns your digital photos into Polaroids. Its interactive design mimics a real polaroid in really neat ways, like having to shake the polaroid around on your desktop while waiting for it to develop. Have fun! Via magpie and cake.

Image: "sunny side up," a Poladroid image from irockiroll. See the Poladroid flickr group.

the weekend watch

Solace's Quantum
Is that or is that not a silly name? I can't wait to see it!

Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs
Sponsored by Emory's Carlos Museum and the Atlanta Civic Center, this exhibition features over 130 extraordinarily beautiful (and macabre) objects including many from the reign of Tutankhamun, as well as treasures from the the most significant pharaohs who ruled the Nile throughout 2,000 years of Egyptian history. So, if you're looking for some inspiration for holiday party accessories, check it out - gold is in this season.
p.s. How about that new pyramid someone tripped over and found?

Majestic Hours
Over the past year, Sam and Joe have been meeting at The Majestic Diner, a 24 hour restaurant in Atlanta. Playing off of the Exquisite Corpse exercise made famous by the Surrealists, the two began passing drawings back and forth, integrating and even altering each others styles and influences.
During this time they've completed over 75 collaborative drawings all of which will make their appearance at the November show at Beep Beep Gallery as well as in a book that the two artists have created to chronicle this period of exchange. Watch the short film for Majestic Hours.

Mason Murer
This month's exhibition looks great and who doesn't love a good reception, wine, art, lofty conversation... What more could you want?

Craft Rock Fridays at Magpie & Cake

Fridays at Magpie & Cake are often "Craft Rock Fridays". On Craft Rock Fridays the crafty Canadian duo, Siobhan and Lindsay, post artfully beautiful music videos to their blog. It's definitely worth tuning in. Help yourself to a few samples...

Bjork - Human Behaviour

Deerhoof - Chandelier Searchlight

Feist - 1,2,3,4 (sort of)
Did I tell you that the Center for Puppetry Arts has a fabulous (and interactive) Puppet Museum and that right now they have a Jim Henson exhibition? You can stand next to Big Bird and learn how he moves. It's worth a visit.

Visit Magpie & Cake every Friday (or every day...) for more videos and other great stuff, but def go watch some vids.

Great Milky Way!

That's Gorgeous! Milky Way leather headband - $50 at Preen Yourself

Via so sweet & so cold (I love this blog...I've added it to the blog roll).

do a little good...yeah?

Real Simple online offers beaucoups et beaucoups of advice for making life a little easier from parties to filing cabinets and from grocery shopping to your soul's content, they will give you the helpful how-tos.

This is one of my favorites...
48 Ways to Be Nice and Improve the World Around You
(remember, you don't have to do all of them all at once. in fact, don't even read them all at once. baby steps...)

Image: Peony Portrait by Danske of My Polaroid Blog.

me + this pillow = love

I get kinda mushy when it comes to metallic linen. Silver on Linen cushion cover - £45 at Toast U.K.

"Your Blood Money is Enclosed"

I owe my beautiful friend Caroline money. If I weren't so broke to begin with, I'd send it to her in style. With blood red ink on darling mint paper. Pretty much everything at 16 Sparrows is this covet-worthy.
6 sheets of writing paper and envelopes for $12.

too much?

Looking for the perfect outfit for that holiday office party? Well, I think you just found it. Oh yeah!

Iconic 50s Jumpsuit - $425 at Dorothea's Closet

tea towels

You just can't have enough of them.

Atelier Lzc Crane Tea Towel - $22.00 at Rose and Radish


But if you're not ready to bid adieu to Mr. Jackson for each and every one or if you're just feeling a little crafty, here is a great DIY option from Rosy Little Things.

Push Me Pull You Wallpapers

Great new desktop wallpapers from Eleanor Grosch of Push Me Pull You, ready to fill you with Thanksgiving cheer! Click here to download (for free!).

Wishlist: New House Edition

A few of my hopes and dreams for the upcoming months...

Kitchen Table
IKEA- Vika Gruvan/Vika Artur Table & Legs - $149.00
For the kitchen workspace. To be accompanied by an old church pew painted garden green. With two inspiration boards and a beautiful calendar hanging above.


Dining Table
Ideally, this table from Wisteria (that can seat up to 18 people!) - $1,499.00
But realistically, something as close as I can get to this style and as big as I can get from Craigslist for $100 or less. Painted White.


Dining Chairs
A combination of mismatched dining chairs. These are all from IKEA, but I'd love to mix them up with some antique finds.
From top left: Linus - $39.99, Nordmyra - $39.99, Jakob - $139.99, Terje - $14.99,Lanni - $59.99 and Gilbert - $49.99.

AUSTRALIA

I just saw the new trailer for Austrailia. It looks gorgeous! (of, course it does...) I'm so excited to see it with my family.

Want to see more? Baz Lurhman has created a series of podcasts entitled "Set to Screen" taking you behind the scenes and through the creative process of making Australia. Imagine exploring locations and on-set still photography; learning about costuming, scoring, editing and more with Baz Luhrmann as your guide. Oh wait, you don't have to imagine. It's actual. Click here.

I'm just going to say for the second time today: I love the internet. I love the internet's capacity to share the world (Beware, I think the internet has some socialist tendencies.). And things like this convince me that the internet must love me back.

Obama Family on Election Night

Candid photos of the President Elect and his family on election night. See the entire flickr set.












Things I love: flickr, the internet, sharing, our country.

Thanks Jud.
Via Life Hacker.

On Sale at Velocity

A few things currently on sale at Velocity Art & Design that I would like to purchase were I not the tragically/artistically impoverished soul that I am.


Boym Partners Babel Blocks - $60


Artecnica Xmas Light - $57.75


Boym Brother's O.J. Car Chase Miniature Replica - $88
I am fascinated by this entire series and would love to own a few of the pieces.


Roost Brushy Barnyard Animals - $26.60
I have a thing for little critters and figurines that bring their own personalities to my home.


Thomas Paul Artifacts Dessert Plate Set - $22.40


Thomas Paul Gothic Tray - $14.40


Great stuff, right? Bummer I'm broke. Fortunately, that never stops me from window shopping. Check out Velocity for more beautiful things to covet.

Victories All Around!

Yay for America!!! Today has been a beautiful day in the great, albeit red, state of Georgia.

And yay for Me! Check out the Craigslist find we picked up for the new house...(a steal, right?)


I've been trying to get ahold of this chair since we moved into the house a month ago and all thanks to Kelsey, we finally got it! Our house has amazing windows. I can't wait to hang it in the living room and unwind each day swinging, sipping tea, and gazing into our backyard. Glorious!


P.S. The downsides to fabulously huge windows:
1) It's always cold.
2) I think the bird body count is up to six since we've moved in (and those are only the ones we've witnessed). We're thinking of building a memorial.

Today's the Day

Polls are open. Are you ready?

headed for the homelands

Driving home to vote and visit my grandmothers.


Listening to Spiraling by Keane.

Ghastly Dreadfuls II

What a ghoulish evening at the Center for Puppetry Art! For two years I've been obsessively raving to family and friends about the Ghastly Dreadfuls. This year, I finally had the chance to show them what the fuss was all about at the new spooktacular Ghastly Dreadfuls' II: A Compendium of Graveyard Tales and Other Curiosities. We all had a blast. Puppet shows are such naturally macabre little things which make it a great way to spend Halloween night, totally immersed in the spirit of the occasion.

The adults only show, told in song, dance, and marionette, is as humorous as it is horrific. Partly inspired by the morbid wit of Edward Gorey, The Ghastly Dreadfuls features both original tales and adaptations of works from W.W. Jacobs (author of "The Monkey's Paw") and others. The Halloween performance featured some undead guests from Project Zombie Attack, strategically stationed to give you the creeps and to serve as judges for an intermission costume contest.

And for dessert, Blake and I dashed off to a midnight performance of Dracula at the Aurora Theater starring one of Blake's close friends as the title role. It was fantastic and I enjoyed it very much, in spite of the great efforts required to keep my eyes open. We ended up not getting home until 4 in the morning. Hungry and exhausted, I think I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow.


p.s. I was a unicorn.

Find more beautifully crafted masks by Tom Banwell at his Etsy store.

it was a graveyard smash!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween, their All Saint's Day, and are now making the most of All Soul's Day. 

Speaking of the souls of the departed, I've been watching the first season of Pushing Daisies today and I'm completely enchanted. It's the best forensic fairytale I've seen in ages. Watch Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Not quite got your fill of the Halloween spirit yet? Click here for suggested listening. Click here for suggested looking.

Carlos, mi amor

I don't know much about that Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie or chihuahuas in general, for that matter, but I do know that this night light is adorable. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a dog in a medical cone (it makes them look like little space aliens!)


How cute would that be lighting up your hallway at night?

Carlos Night Light by Kathleen Walsh for Walteria Living

Andrea Wedig

After I posted about Fraternal Instincts last week, I had the chance to catch up with photographer Andrea Wedig, K. Allyson Petty's collaborator and partner in crime. She was kind enough to indulge our lingering curiosities by answering a few more questions.


(Above: Loc Finn. See more... )

Curios: What do you think has been the biggest benefit of collaborating on a project? How has it strengthened the work? And what were the challenges?

Andrea: Collaborating with a partner on a project like this has been such a great experience. Having someone else to work with brings in new ideas and inspirations from a different perspective. Certainly not all partnerships go this well, but Allyson and I have very similar taste and I think that really adds a cohesive element to the show. We actually didn't even see the bulk of each other's work until we were printing and that's when we realized how well our work compliments each other's. I think the only challenge with working with Allyson was to make sure that I stayed on track so that I didn't let her down. We are really good friends and have a lot of respect for each other which was a strong foundation for our project and was key to its success.

Curios: Both you and Allyson chose to shoot this work with lo-fi cameras. Was there a particular reason for that decision? Why did you choose to shoot with a Polaroid?

Andrea: I don't think Allyson and I ever sat down and officially decided to go lo-fi for this show. It just came about really as we went through the process of putting things together. For me, the appeal of the SX-70 camera is the freedom of limited control. Most of my other work is done digitally and involves a lot of preparation and setup, so this was a way to bring everything back to a much more simplified process. All of the images were found rather than planned out. I am also attracted to the juxtaposition of capturing spontaneous moments with a disappearing medium. Instant gratification helps too :)

Curios: What's the future for Fraternal Instincts? Will it be showing again?

Andrea: Currently, Fraternal Instincts is looking for new places to visit. Allyson and I would really love to take it to other cities and show it off a bit. We're looking at LA and New York, maybe even Berlin. We'll see!

Curios: What projects are you working on now or do you have planned for the future? After the success of Fraternal Instincts, will you and Allyson be teaming up again soon?

Andrea: I have quite a few images that were taken while shooting for Fraternal Instincts that I love but just weren't the right images for the words Allyson and I choose. So, I am finishing up those and will have them online soon. I am also working on a photo project that is more of a personal narrative and somewhat autobiographical. For the future, I would love to get into adding a video element to my work, but its still in the research phases right now.
I would absolutely work with Allyson again! I couldn't have asked for a better person to work with. We've discussed making Fraternal Instincts an annual project which I think would be awesome.


(Above: China Dam. See more of Andrea's photos ... )

Thank you so much Andrea. It has been wonderful getting to know a little about you guys and your work.

So, that's it for our reporting on these two wonderfully talented photographers (not to mention fabulous human beings). I'll stay in touch with them and keep everyone updated on any new projects, as well as, what's new at Youngblood and the progress of Fraternal Instincts.

As for us, Curios is working on a new direction. Inspired, in part, by Anna, Allyson, and Andrea. So, we'll keep you posted on that. In the meantime, I'm going to get everyone caught up on what I've been up to. Did I tell you I had a photo exhibition back in August? No? Well, word. I've transitioned into a new, but temporary job at Emory. And I sold my embroidery piece from my senior show. More about all that to come ... stay tuned.

sick mama

My mom has been sick and having to stay in the hospital for the last few days. It seems she has a staff infection in her lungs. (Eeek!, right?) But she'll be better and heading home in a few more days. So, all is well and I'll try to let you know sooner when something like that is going to take me away for a few days. Now, back to business.

Youngblood Gallery and Fraternal Instincts

Today, I'm really excited to be showcasing Youngblood Gallery and Boutique, their current exhibition Fraternal Instincts, and photographers K. Allyson Petty and Andrea Wedig.  But before we get into all that, let me explain why Youngblood is my favorite art gallery in the great city of Atlanta.  Youngblood got it's start in 1997 inside the shared home of its founders Maggie White and Kelly Teasley.  Having grown tired of the Atlanta art gallery establishment’s refusal to exhibit incredibly talented, yet unknown local artists, the two decided to begin curating exhibitions in their own living room.  The response was enormous...

In 1999, Youngblood open it's first gallery space in Grant Park.  Since then, they have become a leader for Atlanta's burgeoning underground and independent art communities.  In 2003, they expanded their space by converting studio space beside the gallery into a shop featuring items handmade or designed by artists.  

For a decade now, Youngblood has been recognized for it's support of the indie-craft and graffiti art movements, not to mention helping to launch careers of hundreds of Atlanta-based artists and artisans.  They have been featured in numerous publications such as Creative Loafing, Atlanta-Journal Constitution, and Lucky Magazine.  Their current show, Fraternal Instincts, is part of the Atlanta Celebrates Photography festival and features a series of photographic diptychs by Allyson Petty and Andrea Wedig.  

I had the chance to talk to Allyson, one-half of the Fraternal Instincts duo, and asked her to tell me a little more about the show.

Current show: Fraternal Instincts  (through October 26)

Curios: How did you and Andrea Wedig end up partnering for this show?

Allyson: Andrea and I met 3 years ago when we worked together briefly(there's even more of a "6 degrees" story there, but I will spare you) and we almost instantly had a connection. We started hanging out more regularly outside of work. So, I guess sometime in the Spring we decided we wanted to try to do a show together and that was that.

Curios: What was your collaboration process?

Allyson: We collaborated over a few weeks about what to do and then we basically sat down and created a list of words which would become the titles of each piece. We would both photograph with our own interpretation of those words and present the works side by side as diptychs.

Curios: What's the meaning behind the title of the show, Fraternal Instincts?

Allyson: The title of the show was more or less a play on our technique, like, we were making a piece of art based on a word, so our "instinct" was whatever resulted. "Fraternal" was in reference to fraternal twins, and that our photographs, although using different techniques are very similar.

Isolation, diptych. Allyson Petty & Andrea Wedig, 2008. 24x24, $250 each. 

Curios:What kind of cameras or techniques did you use?

Allyson: As far as the techniques go...
I used a variety of cameras(Holga, Diana, Hasselblad) and shot film, then I scan them to color correct and clean up in Photoshop. Andrea shot Polaroid(sx70) film then scanned them and added to textures to them in Photoshop. We made all the frames ourselves, with the help of Andrea's husband Tim.


Both Allyson and Andrea share their work on flickr and their respective blogs. Check them out.
K. Allyson Petty :  blog and flickr.
Andrea Wedig : blog and flickr.

Learn more about upcoming shows, the shop, and lots of other great stuff by visiting Youngblood's blog. Opening receptions are held the first Saturday of each month. 
November: Tweet Design's 1st Annual Day of the Dead Show. Tweet Design is an Atlanta-based graphic design studio owned by Buffi Aguero and Tracy Wagner. The show features custom works on miniature coffins from over 50 talented artists from Atlanta and around the country. The series will open Saturday, November 1st from 7-10 pm and remain on view through November 30th.
December: A group show featuring works united in the theme of “home” by 40 Atlanta-based artists. The series opens Saturday, December 6 and remains on view through December 28, 2008. Each small work is affordably priced under $200.

Thanks Anna, Allyson, and Andrea for inspiring this post.  You guys are amazing and Curios will definitely be keeping up with all of you as your work continues.

Obama love

C'mon, who's feelin' it?

1. Design for Obama. Free pdfs for printing.
2. Freddy & Ma Tote Bag. $25.
3. Shepard Fairey installation in L.A. Via The Obama Art Report.
4. Vote for Change prints. Demo Design.