The Flying Machine

From Van Gogh's early letters to his brother, Theo:

You mustn’t, whatever you do, think that I have great expectations regarding the appreciation of my work — I believe one must be satisfied if one gets to the point where one can persuade a few people of the soundness of what one is striving for and is understood by them, without exaggerated praise.

And the rest is a matter of, if something comes of it so much the better, but something that one should even think about as little as possible. But still I believe the work has to be seen, precisely because the few friends can settle out from the stream of passers-by. One doesn’t have to be guided by what the majority say or do, though.

The early sketches and roughs of paintings he sent to his brother are lovely and reflect a side of him, and his art, that I never knew.

(via BibliOdyssey)

Posted by Sarah at 8:26 AM | Permalink

Yes, Freear, yes!

The projects have grown bigger—students have master-planned parks and built a fire station, a birding tower, and a bridge—but Freear insists they train their sights on minutiae, on the easily overlooked matters, such as handles, that separate lofty concepts from buildable ones. Whereas Mockbee encouraged freewheeling discovery (which sometimes translated into trial and error—and more error—on the construction site), Freear’s a stickler for getting things right the first time. “We say, ‘OK, you’ve decided it’s going to be that way. Now how are you going to make it clearer, simpler?’” he says.

(Life After Sambo, via Metropolis)

Posted by Sarah at 10:11 PM | Permalink

This week's A Softer World is great:

Posted by Sarah at 11:21 AM | Permalink

Found this via my buddy Phil:

Shepard Fairey does Obama. That's some nice design work. Very, very nice.

Posted by Sarah at 5:32 PM | Permalink

People! It's a documentary! About Amos Kennedy! Premieres in May 2008!

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. is my favorite printmaker. I wish he had more of his posters online. I wish I could buy them for all of my friends. I wish I could get back down to Alabama to visit his print shop again.

An Amos quote, from another clip from the documentary: "Self-determination can only occur through the cooperation of all people. You cannot be free unless you depend on other people."

Posted by Sarah at 10:00 AM | Permalink

Scene: semi-hipster bar in Northeast Portland

Cast:
Me, unfortunately clad in clothes for working outdoors, not standing in bars
New Acquaintance J, a young architect, roommate of a good friend

NAJ: Yeah, we work all night at least once or twice every two weeks.
S: What's your project?

NAJ: Are you familiar with mumblemumbleDeStijl?
S: Yes, of course!

NAJ: Really? We are building his museum in Denver. (Long explanation of museum project, lots of high-minded design talk, little mention of functionality)
S: (Thinking: Hmm. Wait. His? Isn't De Stijl a movement, not a person?) Very nice. Tell me how his work has influenced your museum design.

NAJ: I must say, you're the first person I've met who actually knew who mumblemumbleStill is.
S: You don't say. (Shit)

NAJ: You must be a fan of abstract expressionism, then!
S: You could say that. I took some art classes in college, but art wasn't really a viable career option for me. (I did not actually have any talent)

NAJ: What kind of art do you do?
S: Um, well, it actually kind of looks like the art on the walls in here. (These are better than anything I could make, but I do like them)

NAJ: So, lots of graphic design and pop influences, eh?
S: For sure. It's hard not to, really. I'm not, like, the next Jeff Koons or anything though. Not that kind of pop influence. (A ha! Chance to reference an artist I actually know!)

NAJ: I would love to put a Jeff Koons in my house.
S: ...

NAJ: Are you familiar with mumblemumblerandomartist?
S: Um, no, tell me about him/her.

(Repeat, several times, for the rest of the evening)

--

As it turns out, upon Googling, Clyfford Still was a pretty cool abstract expressionist. With kind of a crazy ego. But I like his later work.

Posted by Sarah at 11:30 AM | Permalink

Here's a fun little 1-hour invite I did tonight. Makes me wish I had a place to do letterpress out here.

Posted by Sarah at 10:28 PM | Permalink

Alright, I know, I'm way slacking here on the blog. I been busy, y'all. Things should be back to normal next week.

As for tonight: tonight, for one night only, I am going to a jam band show. Yonder Mountain String Band, to be precise, who kinda straddle the bluegrass-newgrass-jam-acoustic scene.

Mostly I'm excited for the hippie dancing. That, and the fact that they've been covering Ooh La La and Tear Down the Grand Ol' Opry at recent shows.

Posted by Sarah at 3:15 PM | Permalink

Having implemented some draconian Internet-usage-control measures on myself, I suddenly have all this time with which to do fun stuff. Like draw a sanguine John Hartford, circa Aereo-Plain, for my wall.

I like it.

Here is a crappy photograph:

You can see him in progress here:
 

(Current plan: get at least 3-5 drawings up on the wall. Right now John's kind of alone up there.)

Posted by Sarah at 8:57 AM | Permalink

Pretty much the prettiest notecards ever: hand-carved woodcuts of flowering trees of Appalachia.

SIGH.

>

Posted by Sarah at 9:18 PM | Permalink

There's a LiveJournal community exclusively for people who love to talk about children's storybooks. Perhaps because my mom used to be a kindergarten teacher, I love love love the illustrations that accompany these books. Someone posted a series of gorgeous illos by Harry Clarke today - so if you like this kind of thing, definitely check them out:

Posted by Sarah at 10:10 AM | Permalink