Weekly Inspiration: Saying thanks, but no tanks

Stretched across the front lawn of the Wellington County Museum and Archives are hundreds of plaques serving as a tasteful memorial. Started in 2013 317 plaques were placed honouring those who fell in the First World War: http://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/4193186-war-memorial-unveiled-in-wellington-county/ This year there are 475 memorial markers in tribute to the fallen from the First World War […]

Weekly Inspiration – Bulk Yarn

Remember 3 years ago when Clr. Gaertner was unwilling to welcome Canada’s largest bulk food retailer to town because she thought that there was a better use of the 22 acres of employment lands that Bulk Barn’s headquarters now occupies? I do: https://wattstrending.wordpress.com/2012/06/02/closing-the-bulk-barn-door-before-business-even-arrives/ Clr. Gaertner, being the quintessential hipster she is, will be pleased to […]

Weekly Inspiration : get bent

Erwin Wurm is an Austrian artist known for his bent car sculptures which you can see here:http://publicdelivery.org/erwin-wurm-fat-cars/ The photo above shows how Wurm’s sense of humor is lost on the German city of Karlsruhe which just issued a parking ticket to one of his sculptures. If you’re interested in checking out more of Wurm’s work […]

Weekly Inspiration : in the link of an eye

Street artist duo Hyde & Seek bring art to the streets of Adelaide, Australia using everyday items like colored plastic cups to create large-scale images in an unexpected way. Their wonderfully playful public art featured on East Street Brompton, Adelaide SA proves Bruce Lee’s point that the usefulness of the cup, is its emptiness: If […]

Weekly Inspiration : seeing the trees through a forest

Ellie Davies, a UK based multimedia artist has spent seven years transforming forest landscapes into ghostly works of art. Davies work explores the ways in which identity is formed by the landscapes we live and grow up in and for her the forest represents the confluence of nature, culture, and human activity. It is a […]

Weekly Inspiration : Through Thicket and Thin

This sculpture was originally installed at Shambellie House in New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland in 2012. Unfortunately, the rate of visitors to the Shambellie House did not match the costs of keeping it open, so it had to be closed in 2013. It is the work of Trevor Leat whose love for nature and […]

Weekly Inspiration : And the Grammy Goes to..

Though an accomplished musician, PAZ seen featured above on the Grammy Museum’s Wall of Fame is perhaps best known for eating large quantities of Hot Pockets. It is rumored he once ate 36 servings, as stated in one caption exhibited at the museum: The museum in Los Angeles features lots of photographs of musicians, very […]

Weekly Inspiration : Wiggly Things

Track #12 on Waylon Jennings album “Losers, Kings, and Things We Don’t Understand” is the instantly recognizable Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard. Among the lyrics is the line: “straightening the curves flattening the hills” It is this human need that Rogier van der Zwaag’s short film explores with great effect here: If you like […]

Weekly Inspiration: Ziggy Starbucks

#slevebucks is a collection of Pop Culture icons doodled over-top Starbuck coffee sleeves. The StarWars scene is well represented featuring R2-Decalf & Café au Leia, you can check them out on this tumblr site: http://sleevebucks.tumblr.com/ I’m inspired.

Weekly Inspiration : free strange eggs

Barak Hardley picked up right where he left off last Easter and has delivered another series of hand painted eggs featuring pop culture icons. There’s something for everyone, and you can view the bulk of these creations in this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sZQ5zK6RCE Last year’s series along with Barak’s other creations can be found on his […]

Weekly Inspiration : Beak Meter

Where in Aurora a mediocre and innovative stricken club cling to an unsustainable Center as the only way to experience culture Jarbas Agnelli turns to nature. As a professional advertising film director Agnelli used professional sound editing and video effects software to produce “Birds on The Wires” a piece that features nature read as music […]

Weekly Inspiration : in your face

Canadian artist and novelist Douglas Coupland needs your gum. As part of his "everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything” exhibition Coupland is inviting the public to stick their chewing gum to a large sculpture of his head, a piece he has titled "Gumhead". I’m a huge Coupland fan, his approach to writing, art, culture […]

Weekly Inspiration : Machine Tran-slate-ion

With the recent Oscar buzz surrounding The Imitation Game, a movie on the life of Alan Turing this life-size sculpture of the man himself made of stacked Welsh slate certainly deserves some attention as well. When he’s not busy as both a rower and human catapult artist Stephen Kettle turns his attention to stacking slate. […]

Weekly Inspiration : environmental footprint on the moon

Last year Canadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett unveiled "New Moon" to the public at the Lexington Art League’s Luminosity Art Ball. New Moon is their fourth installation that features re-purposed incandescent bulbs, 5,500 to be exact. The bulbs are arranged in a globe that hangs over a wooden circle and the public […]

Weekly Inspiration : Motion is Tranquility

Opening up a dusty paper Oxford Dictionary, or even trying to search using the online version for the term "cinemagraphs" and you’ll come up empty handed: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/spellcheck/all/?q=cinemagraphs Luckily Wikipedia knows what’s what and explains that "Cinemagraphs are still photographs in which a minor and repeated movement occurs. Cinemagraphs, which are usually published in an animated […]

Weekly Inspiration : Woah Canada

As Canada approaches it’s 150th birthday we look forward to the year long celebration of ways we stand apart as a nation. Some ways are more obvious, like say comparing our currency to that of our neighbors to the south. But here’s something exceptional that has been hiding in plain sight; our passports. When held […]

Weekly Inspiration : kiss and tell

January 12, 2015, is the 7th International Kiss A Ginger Day. Created by Derek Forgie, you can view the facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/NKAGD/ Redheads account for one percent of the population on the entire planet and redheads with blue eyes, like myself, are the rarest. Contrary to what you’ve read in the media ( http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/10/redheads-die-out-extinction-ginger-gene-bad-science-red-hair?CMP=fb_gu […]

Weekly Inspiration : Straightenin’ the curves, flattenin’ the hills

Artist David Irvine saves neglected pictures from thrift stores, yard sales and even from the curb to serve as his canvas. He then paints pop culture icons into the idyllic landscapes so that people can enjoy them all over again in what he calls Re-Directed Art. You can check out more examples and even purchase […]

Weekly Inspiration : Snowfall’s chance in hall

Snowfall is a public art piece erected in Brookfield Place Toronto comprising of 3 phases : Gust, Frost and Flurry. Gust is a series of 60 suspended and illuminated sculptures of sizes ranging from three to six feet. Frost is a 21-foot high abstract snowflake. Internal sensors respond to touch by producing a visual effect […]

Weekly Inspiration : Rocky and Bullwrinkle

This fake trophy Moose is one of Wolfram Kampffmeyer geometric paper sculptures. You can find more designs on his website: http://de.dawanda.com/shop/paperwolf where he goes under the name Paperwolf. Wolfram’s designs cover a wide range of animals and he makes sells detailed instructions on how to fold and assemble yourself on his etsy store here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/paperwolfsshop […]

Weekly Inspiration : Mobius Trip

Moscow’s Circle of Light Festival ran early last month and to say Aristarkh Chernyshev’s video sculpture threw viewers for a loop would be an understatement. His piece titled Userpic ran interpretation software allowing it to cycle through some of history’s most famous paintings and sculptures shown here: Designboom has a fantastic piece here that delves […]

Weekly Inspiration : Yes We Canstruction

With Thanksgiving in the rear-view mirror I thought it appropriate to do a quick post on Canstruction. Canstruction is a unique charity recognized for their commitment to innovation, hunger relief and collaboration, helping to raise over 25 million pounds of food since 1992. Cansculptures, as they are known, are made entirely out of full cans […]

Weekly Inspiration : Spine Art Appreciation

Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer Los Angeles-based artist Mike Stilkey uses the covers of books reclaimed from library trash heaps as a canvas for his whimsical paintings. You can discover more of his work on his website here: http://www.mikestilkey.com/ as well as watch him at work in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4i-e2y8PXI […]

Weekly Inspiration : art-eological artifacts

The image above is actually a carved and painted wood sculpture from artist Tom Pfannerstill’s series "From the Street". Pfannerstill sculpts and paints hyper realistic sculptures of discarded everyday objects which he considers to be a soild, 3-D reminder of the past in a world that is increasingly electronic and virtual. To see more in […]

Weekly Inspiration : Less is More

Muriel is both my new favorite 96 year old and twitter feed ( @QuiltingMuriel ) Here is yesterday’s tweet: You can find out more about Muriel at her website here: http://www.tailsofjoy.net/shopping/muriel/ I’m inspired.

Weekly Inspiration: Duck Recoy

Maskull Lasserre re-carves discarded sculptures subtracting more layers transforming one object into another. Here’s a duck decoy: In David Behringe’s review of three of his pieces that are on exhibit ( http://design-milk.com/maskull-lasserre-re-carving-sculpture/ ) he explains the impact on Lasserre’s art: "I saw a broken yard gnome on the sidewalk… and I paused. Thanks to […]

Weekly Inspiration : Post-it Ghosts

Described as a cross between Edward Gorey and Maurice Sendak, John Kenn Mortensen creates what appear to be storybook illustrations in his spare time as a director of kids’ TV programming. Upon closer inspection one comes to learn the canvas for Mortensen’s black and yellow world is actually Post-it notes. You can check out more […]

Weekly Inspiration : Feels on Wheels

The tracks of the trolley system in Bratislava, Slovakia are narrower than those in Europe and North America. Czech artist Tomáš Moravec picked up on this transforming a mere wooden pallet into a skateboard that rides the rails. Check out a short video here: http://vimeo.com/86508660 The elegance is the simplicity of the design: four […]

Weekly Inspiration : Temporary towers soar

With fireworks exploding in the distance at the recent July 1st and July 4th festivities this video shot in West Palm Beach Florida lets you get closer than ever before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9KZ3jgbbmI#t=20 Jos Stiglingh captured this footage with a GoPro 3 Silver rig riding atop a DJI Phantom 2 drone. Creativity is soaring to new height. […]

Weekly Inspiration : prix-packaged art

Originally from Australia Ben Frost has been living and working in Canada for the last couple years pumping out some impactful paintings using packaging as his canvas. Everything from fast food containers to pharmaceutical boxes are mashed up in a vast array of iconography. ‘Know Your Product’ is an exhibition of his work on […]

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