inventing kindergarten

Inventing Kindergarten is a book originally published in 1997. It is an intelligent and visually inspiring history on the concept of kindergarten and the creative education of children. When I first purchased my copy, I was interested in it from a graphic design standpoint, such as the design and packaging of the "gifts" (levels of educational tools and toys invented in 1837 by Friedrich Froebel as the first "garden of children".) I actually purchased a second copy and gave it to someone studying early childhood education.

I own a soft cover of the book and shared photos of it back in 2008 on Flickr. Recently, I was contacted by Scott Bultman and the book's author Norman Brosterman who found those images and wanted to use some in their Kickstarter campaign to reprint Inventing Kindergarten. The book has been out of print for some time and the copyright has reverted back to the author. They plan on reprinting the original hardcover version. Find out more on Kickstarter.

kate schutz

Kate Shutz will be painting live at the New Craft Coalition Spring Show + Sale event. She writes,

"My work is about memory. The past is a deeply personal and resonant place for people and I am always looking at ways to capture these feelings on canvas; immortalize them and make them big. There is both a sense of comfort and awkwardness in my work reflecting the bittersweet aspect of nostalgia. Neither entirely happy nor sad, I try to represent a universal experience that humanizes us.  My source images are snapshots from other people’s photo albums and most recently images from strangers via requests on the Internet. I am especially drawn to photos that are blurry, disintegrating or over-exposed because visually they look so much like our foggy, fading memories."

the art song project

At UPPERCASE, we love ephemera. It is not often that we use found bits of paper beyond admiring their beauty and including them in collage. I'm sure many of us are guilty of cutting up old sheet music; I confess that I have taken scissors to some and repurposed them for notebook covers.

For Munich-based soprano Hélène Lindqvist and pianist Philipp Vogler, when they come across old sheet music, they bring the music to life and share it on their Art Song Project website. Illustrated with their own paintings, the couple records art songs and include the lyrics on the site so that visitors can stream the audio, learn and admire obscure—and beautiful—music performed by world-class musicians.

"We're Hélène and Philipp and we are professional classical musicians. We search for unknown art songs in libraries, garage sales and on the internet. Then we record them live and put them on our website for free listening.

We have songs by all kinds of unknowns, and many of them are female composers—writing great music but being "too blonde and beautiful to be taken seriously". We also especially love to feature songs by living composers, who send us their music (we have a few "blonde and beautiful" there as well ;).

Each song comes with a painting and a translation of the lyrics, so it's easy to sit down and listen."

Visit the site and keep it open throughout your day; it will certainly enhance to your mood—and level of sophistication!

animated cut paper

Bee Kingdom Glass

Vinciane in the Bee Kingdom gallery/house for the interview.

Vinciane pulls some molten glass.

It is always enjoyable to spend time in artists' studios and peek in on their process. In our current issue, our Work-in-Progress Society article took a new direction in that we decided to focus on an in-person interview rather than curating from the Flickr pool. Bee Kingdom Glass is an exciting 4-person studio hidden in an unassuming house in a Calgary residential neighbourhood. At one point, some of the members of Bee Kingdom were also roommates living in the house; now the living room is a small gallery, bedrooms are office studios—and the glass studio is out back in a converted garage. This close-knit group is aptly named; as glassblowers they are dependent on one another to see their individual creative visions come into form.

Vinciane de Pape, regular UPPERCASE contributor, interviewed Phillip, Kai, Ryan and Tim while I took photos for the article. When the Bees started a demo, I took an impromptu video of the process. You'll find more of my photos and full article about Bee Kingdom in our current issue.

Join Bee Kingdom this weekend for an open house from 1-5pm Saturday and Sunday. More details on their site right here.

lovely letters pressed with Bird Dog Press

Loved instructor Allison Bozeman's style.

Re: joyce

Like candy.

Not sure what this is, but I like the way it looks!

Designs for printing.

Lots of happiness in this class!

Piles of supplies.

Hands-on instruction.

Always place the brayer on its handle to avoid damaging the cylinder.

Printmaking on the Excelsior.

Allison and Holland made a numbered edition of 100 inserts for our bookmaking project.

A great class at the Makerie. Maybe next time I can do more than snoop with my camera!

From the Makerie website: "Allison Bozeman wears many aprons as a letterpress pixie / woodtype worshiper / indie ink siren / vintage fabric vixen and owner of BirdDog Press in Lyons. What started as a penchant for pen and paper in the digital age, an obsession with a more tactile, interactive experience grew. Feathered with more than 14 years of design expertise in her cap, Allison began spreading her wings into letterpress printing, non-traditional materials and a handmade eco-friendly approach. BirdDog Press was born when a rescued hunting dog inspired a design + letterpress studio with a trained eye for craftsmanship in place of perfectionism, a love of pattern and perspective and a collaboration of history and modern technology."

Find out more about Bird Dog Press here.

join me at The Makerie

In a few short weeks I'll be heading to Boulder, Colorado to teach two day-long workshops entitled "Crafting Content". It's a fun and exciting (albeit ambitious) class where we'll not only write and photograph inspirational stories from our Makerie colleagues, we'll also hand assemble the resulting books that weekend as well! It's a great class if you're interested in creating original content for your blog, have aspirations to write a book or want to take your journaling to a new place. (Read more here.) Registration is still open today and tomorrow on The Makerie website.

sparkfly

Founded by two Vancouver-based photographers, Tamar Haytayan and Cherish Bryck, Sparkfly is a series of gatherings promoting creative development: 

"We create curated events for women by women to share, inspire, create and connect. We do this by having two to three presenters talk about their creative journey (according to the theme of the evening) and interact with the participants/audience through activities or just a simple Q&A time. We usually begin the evening by sharing something creative we have done in the past 2 weeks and then pass this on to the audience. We are encouraging community building amongst women and allowing them the time to take part in the creative process even if they do not share in their own words. It might plant a seed that will ripple into effect a while later. Our evenings are hosted at Little Nest which in itself is a fantastic space for such an event."

Register for the next gathering, to be held on February 21, over here.

manly marks

Brandon Griswold has a campaign launched today on Kickstarter. His video made me chuckle.

"My name is Brandon and I'd like your help to make a hand-bound letterpress book on manhood. I'm a man well versed in things like beard growing, handiwork, carpentry, firm handshakes, and bacon consumption. I'm also an experienced letterpress printmaker. A lot of letterpress these days is associated with wedding invitations and greeting cards. Those are good things, but not very manly. I have a goal to establish more manly endeavors in letterpress printing with this Kickstarter project and many more things to come."

365 by Jag Nagra

An epic 365 illustration project completed with flair! Congratulations, Jag.

Erick Wolfmeyer

written by Linzee Kull McCray

Though he embraces a traditional craft, Erick Wolfmeyer says he’s on the margins of the quilting world. “I don’t belong to a guild or go to quilting conventions,” he says. “I just happen to work in that medium.”

Erick—who has a BFA in photography—started quilting on a whim in 1990, when he was drawn to the graphic beauty of Amish quilts and stitched a baby quilt for friends. “None of this was planned,’” he says. “I just had a general sense that I needed to do this. People saw something in my work and that was great encouragement when times were tough.”

Times were tough in part because of Erick’s dedication to his art. His quilts often take up to six months to make and to support himself he drove a school bus and lived in a rural town, where rents were cheap. Though he’s moved into a city and has a fulltime job, he still works in the same way, completing one quilt at a time, then giving away or selling it. While his quilts could be used on a bed—they are intensively pieced and employ no embellishments—they most often adorn a wall. “I think of myself as a painter in fabric, making abstract art,” he says. “It’s the shapes, colors, design, and movement I’m drawn to.”

Even so, Erick has deep respect for traditional quilters and little concern about engagement in an arena traditionally populated by women. “I try to leave gender out of it—it’s about whether the work can stand on its own,” says Erick. “I balance seeing its infinite possibilities with staying true to a medium and history so tightly woven with women.”

Indeed, quilting is a thread that purposefully ties Erick to women—specifically the mother who gave him up for adoption when he was seven months old. “For most of us, some things in life don’t work out as we’d planned,” he says. “Women lose kids, kids lose their moms. I’m working it out through my quilts.”

Recognition of those quilts is growing. In September, Erick was one of five quilters invited to China as part of the U.S. embassy-sponsored Sum of Many Parts: 25 Quiltmakers from 21st Century America. Another quilt recently appeared in Material Men: Innovation and the Art of Quilting in LaConner, WA. While he’s grateful for the accolades and opportunities, Erick’s commitment to quilting doesn’t depend on it.

“My perception of quilting hasn’t changed—the heart and the essence of it are still the same,” he says. “If the shows and fabrics and markets disappeared, I’d still make quilts, even if I had to chop up my clothes. I forever have the compulsion to keep recreating a whole—to put pieces back together. This is how I do it.”

embroidery bee

The starting point of our embroidery were iron image patterns from Sublime Stitching. We selected from Sexy Librarians and Kittens.

We sure had a fun time on Saturday at the Embroidery Bee at Stash. Thanks, Veronica! Thanks, Jenny!

thread week: an eclectic stash

Artist: Vicky Lindo

As this post goes live, we'll be deep in the midst of thread, vintage finds and crafty friends. Sounds like a perfect Saturday eh? When Janine recently visited STASH, and discovered a kindred spirit, we knew it would be the perfect place to hold our Embroidery Bee and Issue #16 launch. 

In addition to her thriving business, STASH proprietress Veronica Murphy maintains an amazingly eclectic Pinterest pressence. If you aren't able to join us visiting her boards will give you a taste of the STASH experience. 

Artist: Jose Romussi
Image Source: The Jealous Curator

thread week: knit collage

Knit Collage makes stunning yarns. The textures, colours and intricate details are so appealing that I just want to keep one... as a pet! I could scarcely bring myself to unwind one they are such gorgeous objects on their own.

With playful textures, sparks, sequins, silk flowers, ribbons and other surprises spun throughout, each is a delightful surprise. Obviously labour-intensive, Knit Collage yarns are made in India. Their website shares the story:

All of our spinning takes place in India, where we recently moved our studio. With the hope of creating work for uneducated women in Punjab, we spend (and still spend!) countless hours teaching the ladies how to craft the yarns on traditional spinning wheels. Through much patience and hard work, more and more women are slowly becoming spinning experts. We now proudly employ 36 women there and that number is growing every month. Not all of those women are spinners, we also rely on ladies to card fiber, crochet tiny flowers and organize the other trims that will later be spun. Our manager also checks and packages each and every skein for quality. Truly each yarn is specially handcrafted with love and care! Through our tiny operation, we hope to create beautiful yarns and better the lives of the women who craft them along the way. We also hope that by sharing our vision of the world through our yarns, we will inspire creative freedom in the people who love and use them.

Knit Collage was founded by Amy Small, who used to design sweaters for Free People and has been hand-spinning wool since 2005.

Amy spinning. Photo via Jimmy Beans Wool blog.

Read an interview with Amy on the Jimmy Beans Wool blog.

Here in Calgary, folks can find Knit Collage yarns at Stash (where we're having our Embroidery B and issue 16 launch this Saturday!)

embroidery B

Giovannella Brusatin gave this sampler to Janine on a recent trip to Amsterdam.

In Issue #16 we investigate knitting, knotting and needlework. To celebrate the release of our winter issue, we've partnered with STASH Needle Art Lounge and Sublime Stitching to host an Embroidery Bee. Experienced embroiderers will enjoy meeting new crafters and those new to the craft will receive a taste of this creative pursuit. A desire to embroider is not required for this event—join us to say hi and share a treat! Copies of Issue #16 will be available for purchase. 

STASH Needle Art Lounge (#1B, 1215 13 Street SE in Inglewood) 
Saturday, January 19 from 1:00-4:00pm
Light refreshments will be served

RSVP by January 16 to Erin. 

While the creative and curious of all ages are welcome to attend, STASH is a working studio and little people will require supervision.

STASH photos from Janine's recent visit. 

art basel

Yayoi Kusama: Tulip with All My Love. Photo courtesy Art Basel Miami website.

Guest Post by Rose Zgodzinski

We attended the previews of the Art Basel fair yesterday, hoping to avoid the crush of the vernissage—still the place was packed, and people watching was just as interesting as the art itself. This is the sophisticated, classic art fair that oozes prestige—and never disappoints. Languages overheard: Spanish, German, Russian, French and many accents of English.

Jack Pierson, IF. Photo courtesy Art Basel Miami website.

Jack Pierson, The World is Yours. Photo by Rose Zgodzinski.

We also drove through Wynwood—the street art capital of the world, where we saw several crews painting in the dark, getting their walls ready for the day and the expected throngs. We managed to get to preview some art fairs nearby: Scope, Overture, and Art Asia, all in one tent.

Image courtesy Wynwood Walls website.

Photo courtesy Wynwood Walls website.

warmer climes: Art Basel Miami!

Adam Adach: Gymnastes

Guest Post by Rose Zgodzinski

Over the past decade Art Basel Miami has evolved into a contemporary art extravaganza and It will launch its 11th season this year on Dec 6th to 9th in the Miami area.

Originally established in 1970 as a way to showcase contemporary art in Europe as Art Basel (Switzerland), Art Basel Miami Beach was set up in 2002 as a sister show to forge stronger geographic links with art enthusiasts in the Americas.

The art festivities during Art Basel week are a visual feast with the Art Basel Fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center the main course. 260 international galleries and over 2000 artists will be showing 20th and 21st century art.

But there is much more on the menu in Miami over the next few days—so far I have counted 23 additional Art Fairs, 16 in the city and 7 on the beach. Because so many art people are in town over the course of Art Basel, a profusion of Art Fairs have sprouted into existence in Miami’s nearby art districts.

If you’ve never visited this part of the world before, the art deco hotels on the beach, some of which will be hosting Art Fairs, are also tour-worthy. 

It’s not just the added boost of the Florida sun that makes this event so invigorating. It’s great to be able to recharge the creative batteries and all this non-stop art just makes you want to get back to the studio and dig in.

I’m happy to be offering a taste by sharing my impressions and photos of Art Basel Miami over the next few days.

Bon Appetite!

Alex Katz: Sharon

Alexander Ross: Summer III

Alexandre da Cunha: 1623100812

my life with paper: Francisca Prieto

Francisca Prieto at work on her intricate folded paper works.

This text written by Francisca Prieto was originally published in the now sold-out issue #12 of UPPERCASE magazine. In that issue, we asked various artists to describe their "life with paper."

To me there is something magic about paper; it is hard to point out something specific, though it is probably the endless possibilities that it offers... It all starts with a blank page!

Over the years I have been collecting a variety of things made of paper and those things inspire me, from old tickets and catalogues to vintage ledger books and all kind of unusual finds. Each has something fascinating about them, the colours, texture, concept or simply because they make me smile. I choose them because I feel that somehow they have a story to tell.

Each leaf of the book is folded using a traditional origami technique, to form a single modular structure. Selected and folded in a planned and considered way so that the dominant image, be it a chair, a bird, or a musical score, relates to the connecting pieces forming a multilayered artwork made up of many tiny compositions. By consciously linking each module a hidden narrative emerges in each of my works through the conceptual connections, thus combining my interest as an artist, mathematician and typographer, whilst searching for precision and fluidity in each artwork. 

Paper, as you can imagine, is quite fragile, so there are no mistakes allowed. You can easily tear it or leave a mark on it. Working with old, often rare books, I find that each page is irreplaceable, so I have to work very carefully. But the experience of transforming something very fragile into something totally new is what drives me. I just want people to look at them in detail and treasure them in a different way.

For the last 2 years I have been working with old books. Books excite me and inspire me: the intimate relationship with their texture and colour and even their smell - all unique and distinct to each – ultimately feeds into the work. I have been working on a series entitled Between Folds, an ongoing body of work which draws together many of my interests: exploring the deconstruction of rare illustrated periodicals and books using modular structures whilst incorporating typographical elements. The delicate pages of these beautiful, often rare books are released from their bindings and restructured into new three-dimensional artworks. By dissecting, folding and re-connecting the pages, viewers are invited to experience looking at a book and all of its pages at once, yet without being able to read any one page individually.

I admire the dedication with which so many people work together into making these old journals, encyclopaedias, catalogues and books in general. The quality of their illustrations, the dedication with which the typesetter puts the text together, the precision of the binder, all contribute to create stunning art pieces. But the ones I work with have somehow lost their value due to damage by water, worms, missing pages, a broken spine, or they simply have been forgotten, so I love to give them back their glory.
 
Each book has a unique character and I enjoy translating that. I also like to keep as much of the book as possible, sometimes managing to use every single page, including the end papers and a bit from the cover. I like to keep any dedications, comments, fingerprints or other things that I find inside of them and that inform of their previous mysterious life.

western edge

A journey from Mexico up the Western coast to Vancouver to document artists along the way. Sounds like a great project to back on Kickstarter.

Anna Tilson: pretty mosaics from broken china

Sometimes I come across something so perfect and amazing in its concept and execution that I have the following two reactions, often one right after the other:

1. I want to immediately stop what I'm doing and go out and try making it myself.
2. I realize that I'll never do something as awesome, so I might as well not bother.

Broken china with floral patterns made into mosaic floral arrangements? The concept is so simple, but artist Anna Tilson does it perfectly. Perhaps I'll just save my pennies and someday purchase one of her mosaics.

I'm in love with that pink and orange shard!

Discovered thanks to a Google search prompted by the last post, "Brighton" + "mosaics".