[Giselle Potter] whimsical narratives

The Little Grape Stomper

Alone from The boy who loved words

The Land of Pond

Acrobats from The year I didn't go to school

My drawings and illustrated journals from the years when I travelled with my parents puppet theater, The Mystic Paper Beasts, inspire me a lot now. I graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1994 and spent my last year in Rome with RISD’s European Honors Program. After moving to Brooklyn, I got my first freelance illustration job with the New Yorker. My New Yorker Illustrations inspired a lucky chain of work with many magazines and children’s books. Hudson Valley, NY [Giselle Potter]

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I adore the facial expression of Potter's illustrations. The facial features look very similar from one another but they are so full of emotions, making each character unique with his or her own personality. Perfect for children books ;-D

[Hanna Konola] pastels

 

Hanna was born in 1981 in Pyhäjärvi, Finland. She has graduated from The University of Art and Design, Helsinki as a Bachelor of Arts. Now she is studying in the MA-programme. Hanna works as a freelancer. She has been working for example with Chronicle Books, Lines & Shapes, Trendi, Viini, Pikku Kukka, Ylioppilaslehti, Aisti Medialab and her works have been sold in shops such as Mieke Willems, Biotope, Bakers Dozen and Rare Device. Finland. [Hanna Konola]

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[Elsa Mora] paper cutting stories

Good Morning Birdie

Paper Fur

Peter Rabbit

(this is available for purchase at her [etsy shop]; you can cut them yourself!)

Old Soul Girls (series)

Exhausted Bird Carrying Multiple Hearts.

No Tengas Miedo

images from [all about paper cutting]

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I am so into paper art these days.... I read her blogs [one, two, three, four] and fell in love with her personality as well as her artworks. She sometimes uses red paper to indicate blood which I am not a big fan of but I like the way creamy white paper and the warm (not so blood like) deep red compliment each other for more vivid effect (though this used to scare me as a child and today when used in a horror movie, especially when a white statue bleeds from the eyes.. yikes).

[Brian Dettmer] not your ordinary book

Brian Dettmer, Mound 3, 2008
4-1/2" x 10" x 10-3/4"
Image Courtesy of the Artist and Kinz + Tillou Fine Art

Brian Dettmer, Webs New Inner Dictionary, 2007
12" x 11-1/2" x 5"
Image Courtesy of the Artist and Kinz + Tillou Fine Art 

Brian Dettmer, Modern Painters (1873), 2008, Altered Books
9-1/8" x 7" x 6-3/4"
Image Courtesy of the Artist and Kinz + Tillou Fine Art

Brian Dettmer, Europa Samples, 2007, Altered Wallpaper Sample Book
14" x 18" x 1-3/4"
Image Courtesy of the Artist and Kinz + Tillou Fine Art

Exhibition Images, Ex Libris, May 27 - July 31, 2010, MiTO Gallery, Barcelona

Atlanta, GA
[Brian Dettmer Flickr]

“Old books, records, tapes, maps, and other media frequently fall into a realm that too much of today’s art occupies. Their intended role has decreased or deceased and they often exist simply as symbols of the ideas they represent rather than true conveyers of content. ... When an object's intended function is fleeting, the necessity for a new approach to its form and content arises.” (Valdez 2006). [wikipedia entry]

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I found Dettmer's Flickr by a chance and I am kind of torn (pun? well his books are cut, bended, folded.. not really torn.. lol); yes his works are amazing but the books... It was interesting to see he selected different types of books: old dictionaries, encyclopedias, art and architecture books, history books, atlases and even wallpaper sample books (these are very colourful, I like it).

[Slinkachu] little people, big world

the world of little people, I love it!

relics

Belsay Hall, Newcastle

wonderland

Battersea Park, London

"They're not pets, Susan."
Primrose Hill, London

antscape painting
Crystal Palace, London

Inner City Snail
utilising the humble snail shell as a medium for 'art'.
No snails were harmed, they just had their homes vandalised.

all images from Slinkachu's [little people blog]

My 'Little People Project' started in 2006. It involves the remodelling and painting of miniature model train set characters, which I then place and leave on the street. It is both a street art installation project and a photography project. The street-based side of my work plays with the notion of surprise and I aim to encourage city-dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings. The scenes I set up, more evident through the photography, and the titles I give these scenes aim to reflect the loneliness and melancholy of living in a big city, almost being lost and overwhelmed. But underneath this, there is always some humour. I want people to be able to empathise with the tiny people in my works. London, UK [Slinkachu]

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He gets most of his props from eBay; truly, they do sell everything! I spend a good amount of time browsing his website and his blog to see the life stories of 'little people'. It's astonishing! Each piece draws attention and curiosity about the lives of these 'little people'; and they are often very engaging. It makes me think that we live in a world that is familiar yet distant depending on where you stand.

I became curious what Slinkachu meant and did some research to find this amazing Q&A from [moreintelligentlife.com].

G20 mayhem

Just in one day 400 people were arrested in Toronto during G20 protest on Saturday (what is going to happen to them?). Having seen the video footage and photos, I am not surprised.

2:21 p.m. Queen and University. (Nancy Paiva/Torontoist)

what are you doing up there? really?
sure, protesting to show how you feel about the government is okay but I am not so happy about Toronto getting vandalized everywhere. the stupid, rowdy ones ruin it for everyone. I heard many stores on Queen st and near Eaton Centre were brutally damaged yesterday, including some biological stuff, seriously?

from blogTO

Toronto as of yesterday and noon today feels like it's in a war. I cannot believe I spent a day at Harbourfront so peacefully while all these crisis were happening just few blocks up north. It feels as if this part of the city was detached from the Toronto-in-action.

3:26 p.m. Queen and John's Starbucks, with its windows smashed... (Christopher Drost/Torontoist)

3:45 p.m. ...then light on fire a police cruiser. Torontoist's video of the fire is here. (Ryan Walker/Torontoist)

so much violence..... I can't believe it is happening in Toronto. tear gases, rubber bullets, beating.... Why did they have to have G20 in Toronto anyways?

I feel terrible for those who have to pay for this chaos. sure, you a-hole may have enjoyed a day of 'let's have some fun around town beating everything/one up' but now our city is damaged. shame on you people who are careless and immature, because of you, the 'actual' protesters' voice are overshadowed and our city has to suffer. After watching a guy claiming his rights while police officers tried to search his bag, I realized some people are just so self-absorbed morons (why do you cause problems by provoking the authority when you don't have anything to hide?). And these people always seem to have something to say about the police but police are people too!

Photo by Deborah Mensah-Bonsu/Torontoist.

baby swans

Just a block south of the G20 craziness, a swan family was taking a peaceful nap in the pond near the Queens Quay Marina. So cute! I thought they were some stuffed animals people threw but Carly pointed out that they were baby swans, sleeping! I never seen such fuzzy little things, all tucked in flat before. ADORABLE! It was a long day at the gallery with only 15 people coming by for the total of 8 hours and this was just cute enough to brighten up our day. I guess, thanks to the TTC not working, otherwise we would've missed this.

[Peter Callesen] paper transformation

Little Erected Ruin (detail), 2007
Acid free A4 115 gsm paper and glue

On The Other Side, 2006
Acid free A4 115 gsm paper and glue

Broken Flowers, 2007
37 x 48 x 7 cm.
Acid Free A4 115 gsm paper, glue, acrylic paint and oak frame

The Core of Everything, 2006
47,5 x 37 x 7 cm
Acid free A4 80 gms paper, glue and oak frame

Holding on to Myself, 2006
47,5 x 37 x 7 cm
Acid free A4 80 gms paper, glue, acrylic paint and oak frame

My paper works have been based around an exploration of the relationship between two and three dimensionality. I find this materialization of a flat piece of paper into a 3D form almost a magic process - or maybe one could call it obvious magic, because the process is obvious and the figures still stick to their origin, without the possibility of escaping........I find the A4 sheet of paper interesting to work with, because it is probably the most common and consumed media and format for carrying information today, and in that sense it is something very loaded. This means that we rarely notice the actual materiality of the A4 paper. By removing all the information and starting from scratch using the blank white 80gsm A4 paper as a base for my creations, I feel that I have found a material which we all are able to relate to, and at the same time is non-loaded and neutral and therefore easier to fill with different meanings. The thin white paper also gives the paper sculptures a fragility which underlines the tragic and romantic theme of the works. Copenhagen, Denmark [Peter Callesen]

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Looking at Callesen's works, I am without words. To think, how much time and effort was put into one piece of paper to achieve the meticulously crafted artwork, is unbelievable. Some pieces are obvious that the work is made out of one sheet of A4 paper, but other intricately cut and glued pieces are simply amazing (and you can see that the folded paper is attached to the flat paper even after the manipulation). He's got some amazing large paper cutout installations on his website. wow.

[Jennifer Judd-McGee] colour, colour, colour, more colour and lines.

six little birds

a room of ones own

orange five

seed 

 sow

endless rows of green

Portland, ME

[Jennifer Judd-McGee]

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I love how these drawings/collages are very random, yet seem to have a intricate relationship between each elements. I'd love to have these printed on a white cloth and turn it into a summer dress! It will be both funky and unique!

These colourful prints are available on her etsy [link] and her blog is awesome too [shallowfield]
There's a picture of her [son's note] on her blog, just made me laugh.. kids are so adorable.