swings and arrows

Friday, April 6, 2012

Design Always Repeats Itself: PIxelation

Modern-day computer pixelation.

Mug made in England circa 1795.

Picture: Crudely photographed with an ipad from Sumpter Priddy's book Fancy. Photo by Gavin Ashworth.

- Grace

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Portrait Drama

Marie Antoinette introduced the simpler fashion of the muslin dress with straw bonnet, similar to the clothing worn by French milkmaids around 1783. She loved the look so much she had her official portrait painted in the outfit and hung in the salon, below La Reine en gaulle.

The portrait caused such an upheaval that it had to be removed and hastily replaced with the following portrait, La Reine a la Rose.

Marie Antoinette's introduction of the simpler clothing made the French population fearful that she was trying to wipe out French fashion and replace it with Germanic tastes. The placement of the roses in the portrait, the Hapsburg flower, reinforced this fear in the 1783 French population.

Please excuse all my Marie Antoinette references lately, I am not only a Francophile I also am reading the book Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution for my Symbolism class at the Smithsonian. The book is fabulous! It's an easy read and historically correct, which kills two birds with one stone. You can also check it out from your library instead of purchasing it, win-win-win.

- Grace

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

ArtistS of the Week: Elizabeth Hamby and Hatuey Ramos-Fermin

My dear friends Elizabeth Hamby and Hatuey Ramos-Fermin, two Bronx-based multimedia artists, are gearing up for a couple of fantastic projects this month. First, they're going to be a part of a group exhibition at the Andrew Freeman Home, a former retirement home for the formerly well-to-do ladies and gentlemen of old New York. This Side of Paradise will consist of site-specific work that will reference the space, sometimes using objects that were left behind by residents of yore. It is produced by No Longer Empty, an organization that uses vacant spaces around the city for exhibitions, it opens TONIGHT!, and I can't wait to poke around and see what everyone's done with the place. Liz and Hatuey will be presenting IRT, a multi-model installation that explores transportation issues in the Bronx, including a video installation about livery cabs, maps, and interviews. You can read more about it here and here, but if you're in the NYC area, you should definitely come check it out in person at 1125 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY. The opening is from 6pm to 8pm, with regular exhibition hours Thursday to Sunday, 1pm to 7pm, until June 5th.

In conjunction with their piece at the Andrew Freeman House, Liz and Hatuey will also soon be launching Boogie Down Rides, a temporary bike shop and public education hub on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. It will be open throughout the month of May hosting educational events, something they call "community visioning sessions," and group rides, as well as providing information on ongoing cycling projects in the Bronx that include the development of greenways, bike paths, and bike shares. Visit boogiedownrides.tumblr.com for more details.

It's more than just art—these two crazy kids are deeply involved and in love with their community, working hard to reach out and make a difference in people's lives by teaching them that there is more to their neighborhood and history than they might realize; more out there that connects us all. I really admire them as artists and people and friends! And I can't wait to see what they do to the world next.

- Cathleen

[Images courtesy of Space and Place, www.hatmax.net, and No Longer Empty]

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Barn Show

This week I attended the twice yearly Barn Show in Gabrills, Maryland.

And it was AWESOME! Not only was there a wide variety of vintage stuff, everything had reasonable prices. I ended up purchasing just one thing (but I had a huge pile that I had to downsize): a old blue oar. We're about to move and even though our condo is stuffed now our new house will have lots of space, at least I hope so.

Check out The Barn Show website here.

- Grace

Monday, April 2, 2012

This Is Not a Food Blog

But it is a place where I like to share my favorite things. And one of my favorite things as of late is spending the good part of a Sunday making (and eating) granola. I found a recipe for "healthy granola" online awhile back and have modified it somewhat to suit my own tastes and needs. It's super easy to make; just dump ingredients in bowl, stir, toast, and eat. But it can be a bit labor intensive with all the mixing and round after round of brown time in the oven. But that sweet smell! That golden taste! Yes, it actually TASTES golden. Makes it all worthwhile. I would eat it with low fat vanilla yogurt and frozen berries or mango or pineapple pretty much every day if I could. Which means I tend to tear through it pretty quickly. Below I present my recipe for one batch of healthy granola that I recommend you double because you cannot STOP yourself or others from putting it on everything or eating it straight out tha container. Enjoy!

DRY INGREDIENTS:
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup raw sliced almonds (or whole, roughly chopped)
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar*
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

WET INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl and stir until evenly mixed. Then combine all wet ingredients in separate bowl and slowly pour the wet mixture incrementally into the dry ingredients in the large mixing bowl, constantly stirring until thoroughly mixed.

Spread mixture onto rimmed baking sheets in an even (not too thick) layer and bake for about 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden brown and well toasted. After you remove pans from oven when you have reached desired level of golden deliciousness, push granola around with a spatula a bit so that it doesn't become one giant hard granola bar as it cools. Once cool, store in airtight containers and enjoy for days to come!

*When doubling recipe, there's no need to double the sugar if you want to cut back on calories. It's pretty sweet as is.

- Cathleen

Friday, March 30, 2012

The ABCs of Art

A sign of the times.

Hand-Pulled Limited Edition American Sign Language Screen Print

18"x 24", $19.95 from billycraven on Etsy

Thinking about investing in an alphabet poster for the future education of my future children who will hopefully one day exist in the future. Here are some I gathered on Etsy (big surprise!) that may not necessarily make that immediate alphabetical impact you'd normally want in a teaching aid for kids, but they'll sure look pretty while trying.