It's a little late, but here is my annual favorites post... You may notice this time many of my favorites are about home, which stems from the body of work I created for my solo show, "I Live Here Now" last year. These are the things I was reading, listening to, and studying while I made that work, along with a few other things that just fascinated me.
"The artist’s memory is a dangerous, necessary thing. Never disavow what you see and remember—it’s your brilliant stock-in-trade: remembering, and making something out of it. Artists remember the world as it is, first, because you have to know what it is you’re reinventing; that’s a rule, perhaps the only one: being cognizant of your source material." - Hilton Als
Here it is: my list of 2013 favorites! This year it's exclusive to the internet and it's a long list. I must say, 2013 was the year I completely fell in love with the internet. I liked it a whole, whole lot before, but this year, wow, I saw and read so many interesting things every single day. This post covers only a fraction...
Jewelry
David Choi'swork (top image) is my absolute favorite jewelry of the year. Those fabricated forms are pretty wonderful. I also love the work of Begoña Prats and Helena Lehtinen.
Berndnaut Smildecreates cloud installations in beautiful spaces…while Share Your Sun, a project by Ólafur Elíasson, gives everyone a chance to participate by posting images of the sun where they live. Light Echoes(video below) by Aaron Koblin and Ben Tricklebank is a fantastic video of digital imagery projected by a moving train on the ground below. After watching the video I became very interested in the work of Aaron Koblin, too.
I also love this video of the first encounter after years of separation of once partners/artistic collaborators, Marina Abramovic and Ulay. It happens at her MOMA retrospective and it moves me every time I see it.
Street Art and Graffiti
Ian Strange(above image) has roots in street art and graffiti and also creates incredible installations, photography and video. I am especially drawn to his "Suburban" project. I also discovered the graphic, large-scale installations and paintings of L'Atlas(below image) and the graphic yet fluid illustration and wall work of Cannon Dill.
Abandoned Spaces
I became interested in ghost buildings when I was living in Antwerp, Belgium and since then have been collecting images of them. I was really happy to see this post on Hyperallergic that features the phenomena that "remain as an unintentional texture of memory..."
Zola Jesus, whose music isintelligent and emotional, has an incredible voice and really knows how to use it. (I was also lucky to see her live this past fall and it was a thrilling show.) And, I'm always happy to read about my absolute favorite musician ever, Björk. This post in particular describes a concise "History and Style of a Music Maverick."
Maps and Information
"Where You Are" is a collection of maps by a variety of artists, writers and thinkers, each inspired by personal experience. I've not seen the book in person but I've spent lots of time on the website where you can examine each map.
I became a little obsessed with the US Wind Map (above image) which shows live wind patterns. I was also a little obsessed with all the wonderful diagrams and charts on Information is Beautiful, a website that features information in all sorts of beautiful ways. Finally, I was impressed with "The Beauty of Mathematics" which shows lovely depictions of math as found in our every day lives.
Writing
How to Write: A Year in Advice from Franzen, King, Hosseini, and Moreis an inspiring article about process and creation from different writers' points of view, but the information can be applied to any discipline, in my opinion. I've been taking notice of poetry recently and really enjoyed "What is Poem?", an article that explains poetry and how to appreciate it better in simple terms. My favorite part comes right at the end and centers on a one-word poem.
I can't remember if I've shared this on the blog before because I've talked about it with so many friends...it feels like maybe I wrote about it here, too. I read Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (above image) when I was in Iceland. I spent a lovely morning in the library in Skagaströnd reading these letters and as soon as I was done, I read them again. Then I read them a few more times over the course of my residency and since returning to the US. They don't take long to read and are simply beautiful and inspiring.
The above video is a mesmerizing time-lapse of a container ship delivering cargo in Rotterdam. I saw it on NOTCOTat the beginning of the year and was transfixed. The accompanying music is also really good.
I don't remember how I found Brene Brown's "The Power of Vulnerability" TED talk, but I am so happy I did. I've listened to it several times and find it inspiring every time. Vulnerability is always the right choice… "You Are Here","The Soul Patch"and"Letting Go"are all Radiolabpodcasts I listened to while I was embroidering my "Island." They are fascinating and brought tears to my eyes.
Nature
Last, but certainly not least, I really hope to see total cloud inversion one day as shown in "A Sea of Clouds Fills the Grand Cayon." (above image)
That's a long list and I see I've used the word "inspiring" a lot. These links were truly inspiring for me and continue to be. I hope you visit each one and enjoy them as much as I do. Tomorrow I will post my Icelandic favorites!
Here is a list of my favorite jewelry and art websites and online articles that I discovered in 2011. I really do love sharing this kind of stuff...if you have a favorite you think I might like, please email me (amy@amytavern.com) the link or leave as a comment.
Lianna Sheppard,architectural fashion and accessories, the homepage video shows the work and time-elapse images of Lianna making paper models for the featured garments Alexander McQueen, see inside the exhibition "Savage Beauty"
Studio Fludd, a design collective from Italy Kontor Kontur,another design house, the website features images of carefully arranged monochrome objects
an image by Duane Rapp on Scaffoldage
Scaffoldage, fantastic pictures of scaffolding Aichinger House, an apartment complex draped in soft gray curtains Gary, Indiana,a set of images by David Tribby on Flickr showing the beauty in the ruins of a once thriving city
Pflegschaften @ Mueum de Rdinge, a collection of objects The Burning House,a blog that asks the question "what would you take if your house was on fire?" Participants list what they would grab and an image of the items is included
Graph Paper, download all sorts of graph and gridded paper for free Arrowhead Tacks, a vintage stitch how-to on Burda
As I did the other week with my 2010 favorite websites and blogs, I thought I would share a few good reads and videos worth watching that I also discovered in 2010. Many of them were passed onto me by friends, while I stumbled upon the others:
my schedule usually slows down this time of year, mid-december, so i've spent the last week doing my bookkeeping and inventory as well as organizing my office and studio. i like taking time to do these kinds of things. it's good for my mind and body to take a break from making work. it gives my hands time to heal from daily studio wear-and-tear and allows my mind a chance to process. yesterday, i updated my delicious account with bookmarks i've saved throughout the year and i picked out my favorite jewelry related ones to share with you now:
my blog turned one recently and i have to say it's been really fun and a great challenge for me to write my posts over the past year. i remember thinking i would never have a blog, but now i am so glad i do. i've learned a lot about my work and the work of others, why i make jewelry, and why i love it all so much, just from writing about it regularly.
to celebrate and mark the occasion i pulled together a list of my absolute favorite jewelry sites i found over the last 365 days to share with all of you. this list includes 25 of my favorite jewelers, jewelry designers, galleries, blogs, and shopping sites. i like them for a variety of reasons, the work mostly, but also the design and functionality of the site itself...here they are:
i also want to mention something new i will begin with my sophomore effort this year and that's to write about a favorite artist each month who is not a jeweler. i don't think i'll have a set time for this new feature. i'll just choose someone and write when i'm ready.
