Velvet Sea

Happy Doll Project

2011-02-14T19:18:00.001-05:00

Happy Doll started in Japan in 2006, “Happy Doll” has used art to connect the hearts of sick children to make their hospital lives a little bit brighter.

Happy Doll Project came to my job at AMAC (Association for Metroarea Autistic Children) that serves people of all ages diagnosed with Autism. The goal is to enable the youths and adults to develop their ability and skill to adapt to society easily.

Here are some photos:

I’m Oliver The RockStar!

Uzumaki Naruto

Another Session @ La Mano Pottery

2011-01-05T20:01:00.002-05:00

I'll be teaching at La Mano Pottery in Chelsea, NYC starting Sunday January 9th

Wheel Class - 8 week session

Learn to use the potter's wheel to create bowls, mugs, teapots and more.

Still time to sign up, my class is filled with beautiful ladies... join!

Sunday evenings from 6-8pm

For more information or to sign up ---> Click me please!!

Here's a lil' blurb in their December 2010 newsletter: bluuuurb me

2010-11-05T21:08:00.000-04:00

'Perhaps my greatest wisdom is the knowledge that I do not know' ~ Steinbeck, Travels with Charley

La Mano Pottery - Take a class with me!

2010-10-30T21:11:00.001-04:00

Ill be teaching pottery classes Sunday evenings at La Mano Pottery.

If you're interested in taking a beginners - intermediate ceramic wheel throwing class, sign up!

Starting November 7th until December 12th (7 weeks) from 6-8pm,

location is by Chelsea/Union Square area NYC

Check out all the info at the site ---> La Mano Pottery

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me...

School of the Future - Research Team

2010-07-23T10:57:00.003-04:00

I am now part of the School of the Future Research Team

Along with being a Teaching Artist, I am also a part of the Research group observing the classes taking place at School of the Future.

To take a look at some of the research posts...CLICK ME!

Schoolofthefuture.org

2010-07-15T21:11:00.000-04:00

"One should...listen to a little song, read a good poem, or look at a fine painting every single day, and if possible say something sensible about it."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

2010-07-06T15:01:00.003-04:00

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

School Of the Future...support

2010-06-30T21:45:00.001-04:00

School of the Future is an experimental school that will be setting up shop in Sgt. Dougherty Park in Greenpoint for the month of July. Tomorrow night (July 1st) is our opening picnic. Anyone and everyone is welcome at School of the Future so if you're looking to get involved or would like to show support for this rad idea, come down to the park at 7pm and get some free grub-a-lub!

Come on down, Ill be teaching a class on the 15th of July....

More info HERE!! Click It!!!

2010-06-04T11:43:00.002-04:00

“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.” ~Lao Tzu

Poster Boy the new Bansky?

2010-05-23T13:13:00.003-04:00

Poster Boy was sentenced to jail for 11 month because he messed up his court date and came a day late.

Real criminals are sentenced for less time. Go figure.

Read all about it HERE!!!

landscape collages in the classroom

2010-05-17T12:36:00.005-04:00

While teaching at a local High School, I was able to incorporate miniature landscape collages into a lesson using artists such as Romare Bearden and Megan Coyle. After the class concluded their series of mini landscape collages I decided to contact Ms. Coyle and show her some of the work...

Take a look at her post: Click Me!!

Romare Bearden -Mecklenburg Autumn
1981

Megan Coyle - Orange Plains, 2009

Megan Coyle- When Earth Meets Water, 2009

Megan Coyle's Site

Student Work: 

meow

2010-05-11T08:33:00.002-04:00

“Do every act of your life as if it were your last.” ~Marcus Aurelius

There’s something so powerfully simple, profoundly beautiful, about the Dalai Lama’s quote:
“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”
.
Kindness can guide every interaction you have with others, can guide your life’s work, can give meaning to your life, can even guide your eating, relationships, and more.
All else will melt away, if you let go of it, and leave only kindness.

“Treat others as you’d want to be treated (in their place)”, but in another conception, how you treat others is how your treat yourself.

happy day for me~

2010-05-06T10:25:00.004-04:00

Yes, Its my birthday.

I have to say its going really well so far.

Never really into the whole birthday thing... gifts, people saying happy birthday like you've received a job promotion or a PhD (Ill let you know when I receive both!)

But I have to say last night I went out to diner with my mother and sister and had a wonderful time, quite rare, and they were both so thoughtful and kind, quite rare again.

I can go on and write a list for the things I am grateful for, but I wont bore the 2 readers (me included). But Im definitely grateful for the very (very) few people Ive encountered and let into my life that have been genuinely good and kind beings. So thank you and happy day to you too!

life-size wood cutouts from the old masters

2010-05-02T22:47:00.002-04:00

Susan Sills at Queens College Art Center

Illusion Allusion

Susan Sills

May 6, 2010—June 30, 2010 with Opening Reception and Artist's Talk on Thursday, May 6, 2010 from 5 - 8PM

Susan Sills’ whimsical, free-standing sculptures reconstruct the timelines of modern art history, making way for this playful narrative. When these life-sized cutouts are released from the confinements of their frames and thrust into real space and time, familiar images take on new dimensions for the viewer that invariably provoke not only whimsy, but fresh insights into art’s potential future. Susan Sills, a native New Yorker and Queens College alumna, is affiliated with Viridian Artists. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Utamaro, Geisha with String, 41”x35”
Utamaro, Geisha with Mirror, 38”x34”x10”
Life-size painted wood cutouts, straw mat, take-out containers, chopsticks
Installation size variable

After Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the Grand Jatte, (68x27)
After Millet, The Gleaners (34x40)

Life-size painted wood cutouts, umbrella, faux grass, confetti
Installation size variable

After Degas, Woman in a Tub, 40”x36”
After Cezanne, Fruit Dish and Apples, 9”x12”
After Ingres, Odalisque, 36”x63”
After Ingres, The Turkish Bath, 34”x28”
After Van Gogh, Sunflowers on Blue, 26”x20”

Susan Sills Website - Click me!

Queens College Art Center. 65-30 Kissena Blvd. Flushing, NY 11367. telephone: 718.997.3770 | Hours: Monday - Thursday, 9 AM - 8 PM and Fridays, 9 AM - 5 PM.

Garden of Cosmic Speculation

2010-04-24T11:25:00.001-04:00

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation is unlike any other garden we have seen before. The focus here is not on rare species of colorful flowers, but on creating permanent monuments to the patterns of mathematics within nature itself. Metal sculptures and green landscaping in different areas on the grounds are intended to provoke deep thought about scientific concepts like the fibonacci series, fractals, DNA, and the human senses. The 30-acre private property in Dumfries, Scotland is owned by Charles Jencks and only allows access to the public on one shining day per year.

Big Bambu @ the MET Rooftop

2010-04-23T21:01:00.000-04:00

From April 27 through Oct. 31 the twin artists Mike and Doug Starn will be creating a site-specific installation that is part sculpture, part architecture and part performance. Called “Big Bambú” it will be a monumental bamboo structure in the form of a cresting wave rising as high as 50 feet above the roof. Throughout the summer the artists and a team of rock climbers will lash together an intricate network of 3,200 interlocking bamboo poles with nylon rope, creating on the roof’s floor labyrinthlike spaces through which visitors can walk.

NYT Article Here!

NYC Photography

2010-04-18T19:12:00.001-04:00

John McGregor

He recently had a exhibition opening at Joe’s Coffee shop in Chelsea that’ll be there until about April or so. I know it’s pretty standard and somewhat boring to have pictures of New York City, but incredibly, John takes a refreshingly new and original approach to New York photography.

Almost all of his prints have a candy-colored quality that you’d commonly see in urban photos of Tokyo. John looks for the brightness in otherwise mundane structures and objects and turns what is in my opinion, the complete exhaustion of the idea of New York as a gritty, hard, and overwhelmingly urban and cold, completely on its head. Everything is a bit idealized, but still grounded in the reality that it’s not the easiest thing in the world to live here– you just really, really have to love it.

trianglesss

2010-02-25T17:53:00.000-05:00

National Gallery, East Wing by Cesar Lujan, via The Washingtonian

drawing by bluebicicletta on Etsy

Alice in Wonderland Furniture

2010-02-18T12:27:00.001-05:00

Loving this....

More Info!

Into the Void

2010-02-17T12:37:00.005-05:00

Still celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Guggenheim

Frank Lloyd Wright's Rotunda is being celebrated for exactly what it is...

“Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum”

More Here!!
and especially Here!
also...

2010-02-07T22:05:00.002-05:00

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” ~ Lao Tzu

NYC Photography

2010-02-01T20:06:00.005-05:00

If you do not know who Genevieve Hafner is, you should right now!

I did not know about her until about a few months ago, and got re-introduced to her work again today.

Amazing NYC photos.

I was at an art education workshop today and we used her box of postcards for an exercise about story telling and writing. Each student in small groups begins to write a story about what they see, just a few sentences and then passes the postcard and story to the next person who continues it. It gets pretty interesting and entertaining. It gets the student to observe and take a close look at what they are seeing.

Very Surrealist 'Esquisite Corpe'.

Check out her blog with two other great photographers which I am starting to get into as well!

Melanie Einzig, Genevieve Hafner, Regina Monfort

Click ME! The G Road

Williamsburg, 2009

Lower East Side, 2009

St. Marks, 2009

Go See Georgia O'Keeffe @ the Whitney, now!

2010-01-05T11:14:00.002-05:00

One thing to do this January...

Go see Georgia O'Keeffe's Abstraction at the Whitney, NYC

It is only up for a bit longer, January 17th, to be exact.

Over 130 of her works, really unbelievable and you must see it with your own eyes if your'e able to.

Photo by Alfred Stieglitz

For more info: Click Me!

Tim Burton @ moma

2009-12-22T12:59:00.005-05:00

Finally saw the Tim Burton exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art...
Go See It!!!

It was spectacular!
The exhibit is a showcase of his work from childhood to the present.
There are paintings, sketches, figurines, sculptures, photos, videos, storyboards and props from his movies.

If you buy tix you don't need to wait on line, but the line is about 10-15 minutes, not too bad.

It is packed though, so you might not be able to linger as long as you'd like.

I'll definitely be going back again to take another and better look at the work.

And there is so sooo much more...

go!

All the info is HERE!

Found Creatures

2009-12-20T00:07:00.006-05:00

If you like Rangoli art, here are some Nature Found Creatures

For more info and photos look here: Where Fish Sing!

Rangoli done with some classmates in my art ed program

‘I Spy’ in New York’s Cityscape

2009-12-04T11:36:00.001-05:00

Antony Gormley's Event Horizon

From March 26 through Aug. 15, naked men — or rather 31 slightly different sculptures of the same naked man — will be perched on rooftops, placed on the grounds of Madison Square Park and dotting sidewalks around the Flatiron district.

March 23 – August 15, 2010
Madison Square Park

Broadway at 23rd St

Have fun!

AG's site

black friday

2009-11-30T16:48:00.001-05:00

Black Friday scares me, this is why...

Hope you had a great weekend being with gooood people and heady food!

back to the land

2009-11-27T09:39:00.001-05:00

Take a look at this op article in the NYT by Maira Kalaman, quite inspiring!

Its a beautiful illustrated way of showing what is being done in CA and NY to help us get back to our basics, eating better food thats grown better.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Enjoy----> HERE!!!

~MK

romantic blake

2009-11-26T10:14:00.007-05:00

William Blake @ The Morgan Museum
with some of poems being read.

William Blake's World: "A New Heaven Is Begun"
September 11, 2009, through January 3, 2010

The Ancient of Days

Behemoth and Leviathan

Pen and black and gray ink,

gray wash, and watercolor,

over faint indications in pencil, on paper

For more info click here!

mass consumption

2009-11-25T21:40:00.005-05:00

If you don't know who Chris Jordan is, I suggest you check out his work.
Unbelievable...
Here's a taste, check out his site---> here!!!

Gyre, 2009

8x11 feet, in three vertical panels

Depicts 2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enter the world's oceans every hour. All of the plastic in this image was collected from the Pacific Ocean.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dog and Cat Collars, 2009

60x67"

Depicts ten thousand dog and cat collars, equal to the average number of unwanted dogs and cats euthanized in the United States every day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cans Seurat, 2007

60x92"

Depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds.

invisible man

2009-11-21T15:13:00.001-05:00

nuff said...

check it out: Liu Bolin

bronze statuette

2009-11-19T14:36:00.003-05:00

Still blows my mind.
Go to the MET...

Bronze statuette of a veiled and masked dancer
Greek, Hellenistic, 3rd–2nd century B.C.
H. 8 1/16 in. (20.5 cm)

click here

alias man ray

2009-11-18T14:45:00.000-05:00

Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention

November 15, 2009 - March 14, 2010

The Jewish Museum
1109 5th Ave at 92nd St
New York NY 10128

Also: Man Ray Mondays
check it out: here!

aboriginal art @ grey art gallery

2009-11-16T23:27:00.006-05:00

Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi’s “Mystery Sand Mosaic” (1974)

"The Trial," 1972, by Charlie Tarawa (Tjaruru) Tjungurrayi

untitled 1973 work by Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula

"Water Dreaming," 1972, by Mick Namararri Tjapaltjarri

“Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings From Papunya” is on view through Dec. 5 at the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, 100 Washington Square East, Greenwich Village; (212) 998-6780, nyu.edu/greyart.

Read it at nyt

toilet roll faces

2009-11-15T17:50:00.003-05:00

French Artist Junior Fritz Jacquet takes empty toilet paper rolls and turns them into works of art. He coaxes and creases them and then finishes them with layers of color and varnish, for an effect that’s nothing less than remarkable.

white noise, amazing!

2009-11-10T11:34:00.006-05:00

White Noise: A Pop-up Book for Children of All Ages

By David A. Carter.
Little Simon/Simon & Schuster. $22.99. (Ages 3 and up)

A pop-up romp through cubism and futurism, and a lesson in early- 20th-century modernist formalism.

Read a review on NYT: click here

Also best illustrated books: here

fri nov 6th, kandinsky and dj's

2009-11-04T12:49:00.008-05:00

Go!
Guggenheim has been celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Kandinsky - Open till Jan 13th

and....

November 6: Composed of the Brooklyn duo Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel, Holy Ghost! (DFA) is one of the most exciting acts to recently come out of the indie-disco scene. Take in their clean and powerful sound as you ascend the Guggenheim’s spiraling ramp to see Kandinsky, the exhibition described by the New York Times as "sensational." During your visit, see how Kandinsky took inspiration from music in his pioneering efforts toward abstraction.
Please note: The November and December Art After Dark: First Fridays events will have priority admission for members and strictly limited capacity. Make sure to become a member and get in line early! Art After Dark will return in 2010 with new events and special offers for members.

Doors open at 9 pm, and event lasts until 1 am
$25, free for Guggenheim members
Cash only at the door, cash bar
5th Ave at 89th St, New York City

cardboard painting

2009-11-03T11:30:00.004-05:00

Gavin Worth is an artist from San Francisco, and sometimes he make paintings from old pieces of cardboard that he finds on the sidewalk.

I love his work, I'm thinking about trying out a lesson on Japanese landscapes and incorporating this style to do so.

More information at Gavin Worth website !

ahh my first post!

2009-11-02T23:06:00.007-05:00

First day...

Thought I'd start archiving all sorts of goodies.

I have recently concluded my art education degree in NYC and wanted a place to share interesting art, thoughts and events.

Feel free to message me for any additional information about the posts.