Odd Volumes by Laura Steele

http://surrealvisions.wordpress.com/2013/05/25/odd-volumes/

Her blog Surrealvisions is full of beautiful :')

Links

In attempt to finish posting more of the links I wanted to write about, this week's post is typography-themed! The above video was created by Ben Barrett-Forrest if it hasn't been viralled-to-death already (it should, it's taken a hideous amount of work, and also it's awesome). I'm not going to even begin to pretend I know a whole lot about typography, I just like things that look exquisitely designed so I'm going to post things I think look nice and leave it at that.

http://www.fsemeric.com/
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2013/april/fontsmiths-fs-emeric-launch-campaign

http://www.swisstypefaces.com/

I Love Typography
Can I marry a website? ...is- is that allowed? Do people do that? Oh my god I think I've just found my new favourite thing on the internet.

AAaaanndd slightly less related to typography, more graphic designy:

http://www.basenow.net/
http://www.basedesign.com/home/baaaaase

http://www.non-format.com/

mmm...nicely designed websites

(appologies for the increased crazy-per-word ratio in this post)

Seriously considering entering this

http://www.thenationalopenartcompetition.com/

Think it'd be an awesome way to finish off my gap year, even if I don't get in it would be nice to know that at least I can do these things.

Plus, I'm loving the work entered by Verity Burton last year, and competitions like this allow me to find out about work like hers.

Clementine I cut mountboard and etching ink on wood panel
Verity Burton 2012

Glass experiments

Here are the glass pieces I did under the kind supervision of The Cultural Sisters in Longport. Some of them didn't turn out exactly as I expected but I think they're all pretty great so far.

Above is one of my pre-firing photos for comparison.

I wanted to try creating the above comic grid layout I designed earlier in the year in different materials, such as my foray into textiles.

I guess its kinda funny that I took my original inspiration from windows in gothic architecture and now I've done a full circle and I'm trying to make drawings of windows out of glass. 

I made some smaller triangles which I thought could be incorporated into the final comic because there are a lot of triangular shapes and arches within gothic architecture. Glass was often used to tell biblical stories, so it would be my attempt to nod back to that.

The flower motif was created by cutting out paper and placing it between two layers of glass. I thought it would burn away and the silhouette of the flower would be seen in the glass frit around it. I suppose I didn't contend for the fact that the paper wasn't exposed to any air and even if it did burn, it wouldn't have anywhere to go.

Here is lots of links to art and design-related things I am looking at at the moment. I've been doing social networking so that my facebook now looks more like stuff I am interested in and less like sonograms and other overly revealing tidbits from people I met in a drunken haze three years ago.

http://www.theartbay.co.uk/

-A Local Gallery in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent

http://ourownfuture.org/

-Website is a bit 90's-looking but they've recently set up a shop in Wolverhampton that only sells work that is handmade by artists and craft peoples from the local area.

http://vimeo.com/38459378

-Video about independant store Yellowstone Art Boutique in Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent that sells and exhibits work from contemporary artists and makers. I also love their branding!

http://thedsgnblog.com/

-Beautiful website showcasing work by young designers across the globe

http://www.daydelosmuertos.blogspot.co.uk/

-Day Of The Dead, gorgeous photos of abandoned places worldwide. I love derelict buildings, they are soo beautiful.

I do have a list of further links but this post started to look kinda silly with content and I wanted to write something about all of them so that I don't miss anybody out. Might make links a weekly thing til I run out of em for a while.

Amanda Palmer: The art of asking

This video reminds me of when me and my best friend went to see Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra at Manchester Cathedral and we all stood outside towards the end of the night and ms Palmer was playing the ukulele.

I was mentally ill and running low on the drugs I needed. My money had gone missing and I was 9 pounds and 99 pence away from my overdraft limit with no secure income. I was fighting with my parents, living with my boyfriend's mum, and she looked straight at me, since I was only a few feet away and I was so scared that somehow she knew what a giant ball of miserable I was when I was out with friends trying to enjoy seeing one of my favourite performers.

I was so used to avoiding eye contact, it was like one of those dreams (I have never had) where you're suddenly naked in public, and it troubled me for months afterwards. I suppose the video makes me feel better about it, and helps restore some of my faith in humanity. Every time I watch something like this, I'm always inspired to go on an art rampage and maybe by sharing it, somebody else will too.

Initial collages

The best part about making these was coming up with the word 'Rhinocerfish', and the main reception I've received so far is that they are weird and creepy. Not sure if that's a good thing?

It's part of the joint project with Lorraine Bennett. In a bizarre twist, whilst she's making little doll mackettes, I'm still sketching and researching ideas (since normally we work oppositely). I think they flow on quite nicely from my research into Bosch

Probs the least successful one is the snake with a tambourine and legs and a massive eye on its back (I can't even think of a more succinct name for it) but I'm rather fond of them all so far. 

Made from pictures cut out of an dusty, old-ass encyclopedia I found at my parents house, bought specially for decimating. In the days before we had the internet and printers and if we wanted to include a picture in a school project to illustrate a point, odds are I usually had to cut it out myself. Pretty sure I inherited nerd-genes from my mum, all the cool kids were busy playing outside.