I love these beautiful nature inspired wallpaper designs by William Morris.  William Morris was an English architect, furniture and textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement.  The Arts and Crafts Movement was a British, Canadian, and American aesthetic movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries that influenced arts, crafts and architecture. The Arts and Crafts Movement was inspired by the writings of John Ruskin and a romantic idealization of a craftsperson taking pride in their personal handiwork. The movement was a reaction to the eclectic revival of historic styles of the Victorian era and to “soulless” machine-made production aided by the Industrial Revolution.

March 29, 2009

It is fun being a tourist in your own city, especially if you have a bike. Pictures are from Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Carrol Gardens and Ditmas Park.

March 28, 2009

Really cute tree and nature inspired stackable ceramic cups by Chris Koens!

March 21, 2009

So it snowed a lot a couple of days ago in Brooklyn. Then, it became increasingly warm, snow melted and these first white flowers appeared. Photos are taken in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

March 15, 2009

I love Charley Harper’s print, The Desert. 

AFTER:

BEFORE:

The city slowly have been replacing old modern silver lamp posts and installing new old fashioned Victorian style (“Bishop’s Crook”) street lamps to match the historic architecture of the Ditmas Park’s large, free-standing Victorian homes built in the 1900s. Ditmas Park is actually a neighborhood in Brooklyn that have been officially designated a Historic District. It has remained rural until the early 20th century and still fells a lot like a small village surrounded by the city.

March 14, 2009

Wow. Handmade floor mat from old vintage leather belts.  Design by Inghua Ting.

March 11, 2009

Robert Bordo is a painter and teacher at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He is originally from Montreal, Canada but currently he resides in upstate New York.  Why do I like Robert Bordo’s paintings?  I do not really know.  Probably because they feel very free and traditional at the same time. 

March 09, 2009

I went to NYU open studios today and this is what I found.  Very talented artist and designer - Hana Tanimura.

http://www.hanatanimura.com/

March 08, 2009

Beautiful ceramic plates inspired by Ernst Haeckel’s biological drawings (book named Art Forms in Nature) by Megha Patel.



*above:  Ernst Haeckel’s book “Art Forms in Nature”

March 07, 2009

Siesta stiffened crocheted doily by Stanley Ruiz . This is really nice.  I even was thinking of making it myself - taking old lace, stiffening it with starch…  but it probably would not be as nice as the one above.

March 06, 2009

Benjamin Hemmendinger
Clouds
2009
Lithograph

Ben Hemmendinger graduated from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He is really good at painting clouds and his mom, Gail Kort, is a professional cloud painter.  I believe Benjamin painted only clouds for a year or two while studying at Cooper (although I could be wrong).
Now Benjamin resides in upstate New York.
(This posting is created by me, Anastasia Ugorskaya, watercolor/drawing artist and Cooper Union graduate)

March 05, 2009

Apparently, the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art now has The Institute for Sustainable Design. It was created in 2008, with support from philanthropist Jack Rudin, as a resource for education, research and public understanding of the principles and methods of sustainability in all design disciplines. “:Central to the mission of the Institute is the development of innovative pedagogies in architecture, art and engineering that will be models for the transformation of learning and practice for a sustainable future” The inagural lecture of Institute for Sustainable Design NEARLY TRAPPED:  DESIGN IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CONSEQUENCES was held at Cooper a few days ago by Paul Sears, distinguished professor of environmental studies and politics. 

Also, now Cooper Union has a new logo and soon will have a new building with green features.  The building is designed for sustainability, energy efficiency and air quality:

1. Innovative heating and cooling technology
2. An outer layer of semi-transparent mesh screen will create coolness in the summer and warmth in the winter.
3. Carbon dioxide detectors throughout the building will automatically dim power and ventilation when rooms are unoccupied.
4.  A co-generation system will produce some power for both the new building and the Foundation building, reducing the need to tap into the outside electrical grid.
5. The deck surface of the green roof will be covered by a layer of low-maintenance plantings.
6. The low-flow plumbing devices and the green roof will save more than 600,000 gallons of water annually.

March 03, 2009

Today is a snow storm in Brooklyn.  Speaking about snow storms, artist Amy Bennett constructs paintings where houses, villages, roads and trees look small, like tiny toy models.  In a lot of her artwork, snow is taking over.  Amy writes that her art is a lot about isolation and quietness and by transitioning her models into winter, seemed to fortify these senses. 

March 02, 2009