going thru old keepsakes

growing up, my parents spent ~years~ working on our church’s bazaars.  every year, the bazaar was held on one weekend ... in may??... with carnival rides, arts & crafts sales, lots of food, raffles and a varied assortment of booths.  (the money raised would go to our church’s building fund.)  volunteering to help with the “country store” booth meant a solid year of begging grocery donations, bartering for containers, and trips all over the city to pick up food, which would culminate in a frenzied evening of filling 250 baskets full of groceries - an assembly line process that was almost more fun than the bazaar itself.  over the weekend, we’d hawk tickets - 3 chances for $1!!! - and with each spin of the wheel someone would win a basket of groceries.  (i can remember times when there was almost no food in the house for us to eat, but the living room was absolutely *packed* with food for the country store.  i’d a love-hate relationship with the bazaar.) then in 1983, my parents took chairmanship of the bazaar, itself.

my dad painting the front of the country store booth - judging by that shirt, it was the early to mid-70s ;o

serious amount of groceries - my brother and i - i’ve no explanation for what was going on with those glasses or that hair.  or the monk.

my mom, after 27 years, decided to finally throw out their bazaar book - a conglomeration of meeting minutes and assorted notes on running the bazaar.  i snagged it just before she trashed it and was happy to find a bunch of fliers and the clown logo that my father’d drawn.  somewhere out in the world is a bunch of artwork done by my father and i have almost none of it, so i’m happy whenever i come across examples.  i spent many an hour, sitting at my dad’s feet as he’d draw posters, fliers, banners, etc, for different events, trying to mimic his lettering, but i never mastered his ability to draw.  i’ve always thought that he missed his calling as a commercial artist.

i love the look of these old fliers, from the days before photoshop, illustrator, and the like.  when signs had human touches.  before everything had to be ~perfect~ and the rough sketching shown through.  and i love that clown.  holey-toed socks and all

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Tagged as: art,memories June 17, 2010 @ 09:50 pm

reverse graffiti - paul curtis

ok, seriously, this is *too cool*.  i’m ever a fan of really well done, creative graffiti and this certainly fits the bill…

from “Reverse Graffiti” Artist Paul Curtis Shows Us How Dirty We Really Are:

If there is a lesson in the work of the British artist Paul Curtis (aka “Moose”), it would be that the world is a mess. Curtis’s signature technique is cleaning. He strips away years of accumulated soot, dust, dirt, and atmospheric detritus to make pieces like these, which were part of a celebration of street art. He also creates promotions for not-for-profits like Greenpeace and commissions for brands such as Xbox and Clorox’s GreenWorks.

oh, the irony.

via (guy kawasaki @ alltop.com).

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Tagged as: art,graffiti November 18, 2009 @ 02:58 pm

janice lowry: assemblage artist

sasha @ hypnobird pointed me to this and i’m loving the artwork:

video about the artist, janice lowry:

you can see more at janice lowry’s website.

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Tagged as: art,crafts,videos October 26, 2009 @ 01:27 pm

food… as art…

The structure above, created in 2005 by Platt Byard Dovell White Architects LLP, is made from 5,000 cans of sliced bamboo shoots and stuffed vine leaves. It’s one of several works to come out of Canstruction—a trademark charity event and design/build competition under the auspices of the Society for Design Administration. The challenge? To build large structures made of unopened food cans, which are later donated to city-registered food banks.

Created by London-based photographer Carl Warner, this food-scape is one of many images in a series that features foodie creations, such as pea pod boats, strawberry hot air balloons, salmon seas and Parmesan cliffs. Once designed, the setting is photographed and touched up to create original photographic works of art. In the picture above, loaves of bread were used to depict mountains among a cove of sliced-bread cobblestones and cheese boulders.

see more 10 Edible Artistic Expressions

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Tagged as: art July 07, 2009 @ 12:45 pm

banksy awesomeness strikes again!

from banksy in secret exhibition stunt:

Graffiti artist Banksy has pulled off an audacious stunt amid tight secrecy to stage his biggest ever exhibition.

A burned-out ice-cream van is among 100 works Banksy has installed at Bristol’s museum, replacing many of the museum’s regular artefacts.

The reason the museum was closed was kept secret from top council officials.

Banksy said: “This is the first show I’ve ever done where taxpayers’ money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off.”

Staged in the council-owned City Museum and Art Gallery, Banksy v Bristol Museum features animatronics, installations and a sensory display.

for pictures from the exhibit: banksy’s bristol show

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Tagged as: art,graffiti June 17, 2009 @ 02:36 pm