Tuesday 18 October 2011

Ursula's voice

"We may each of us live in our own private hells, but the Devil gets a bulk deal on wallpaper. "
Ursula Vernon on shared weird feelings: It's not just you.  

I love her work, but in true creepy stalker fashion, it's her blog and podcast I follow most ardently.  There's something about the way Ursula Vernon speaks and writes that twangs something in my brain. I guess it's that there's a lot about her I admire: she's strong, funny, snarky and surreal, constructing immense edifices of whimsy always grounded in an earthy practicality (eg. considering the poor elf who deals with all the non-pretty injuries).  She's gone through a lot of crap but picked herself up again, and has shared some of her experiences and their aftermath which may help others in true your-mileage-may-vary fashion.  Most of all, she seems so forthright, honest and genuine in everything she does.   Most of all, I admire people who get fired up when they speak, who occasionally stumble over their words because they're too excited and want to say it all at once.  Also weird adventures.  I crave weird adventures.  Anyone got any adventures?  Count me in.

Her publicly revealed meanderings echo with something of who I want to be.  Being formed from a weird mix of science and art, craft and industry, and being hugely influenced by my parents, I look to a diverse range of sources for examples, but while there are many people I admire, there are few I want to, or could emulate.   When it comes to role models, I think I could do a lot worse than this "artist and writer and creator of random oddities".

Friday 12 August 2011

Quick post - Stop motion sculpture

I've broken my recent habit of archiving things to post about when I'm less busy to put up the details of a striking stop-motion sculpture project.  A deceptively simple concept, complex in execution, executed flawlessly on a fantastic array of locations to great effect. 




MÖBIUS from ENESS on Vimeo.
Via Collossal, which I can't recommend highly enough - it keeps finding me all kinds of amazing, inspiring things! 

Saturday 19 March 2011

Margolin's Kinetic Sculpture

A brilliant video of interviews with Reuben Margolin as he builds astonishingly beautiful kinetic sculpture:





Via Cocktail Party Physics

Thursday 10 February 2011

Indoor water garden

Following up on the previous post on water gardens, I just spotted this piece on indoor water-gardens over winter!  I'm so excited...



Indoor Tabletop Water Garden from RadMegan

Thursday 13 January 2011

Zimoun - sound sculptures

Video showcasing a number of sound sculptures and installations from someone called Zimoun. Some really interesting ideas in there surrounding motors, multiples and the like. Especially nifty is the sculpture of hanging rotating wheels which give each other a big kick of energy when they collide.

Hypnotic transformations - Flux

Came across this beautiflly hyptnotic and compelling video by by Candas Sisman. Really interesting use of a completely static frame and restricted view to increase tension and confusion...

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Self-contained pond

Apartment therapy have some great articles, in this case for making a water garden in a container:

Container garden by Bart Everson (licensed for use under Creative Commons)

Such a fantastic idea.