The keds are all right - keds collective

One of the perks of working client side in digital marketing, is that I get contacted by throngs of cool agencies in the area... trying to get their foot in the door. Unfortunately, I cannot meet with all of them, but its such an honor to see what cool work is being produced by the brightest minds in advertising. After clicking through one such email, I stumbled upon Keds Collective. Keds, presumably with the counsel of a cutting edge agency, has brought in artists to design their classic white shoes - and if these artists designs do not strike your fancy, you can even design your own. Although these designed shoes come at a higher price point - $60 a pop - the investment is well worth it. The other option is to pick up a sharpie and a white pair of keds at $40 a pair and scribble all over the shoes... but those can be pretty cool too.

My own bottle of beauty - Chanel Peridot

 
Although I missed out on last years hottest color, Jade, by Chanel, I am in recent possession of Peridot. Peridot, technically an olive green gemstone, is also one of Chanels soon to be obsessed over fall nail colors. In the bottle, #531, limited edition Perdiot looks like petrol in the hot sun; it has primary base of green overlayed by gradient blues and speckled with gold and orange. The only thing equally as beautiful can be found in nature - the back of a beetle or the eye of a fly. On the nail, the color is like a chameleon and changes to its surroundings. At work, it reflects the taupe walls and plays it gold. At home and at night, its hue is olive green to almost graphite blue.  The photo on the left does not do it justice - please go see for your self and at least visually treat yourself to this gorgeous hue. To the chemists and colorists of Chanel, I praise you.

Fruits of labor II - ceramic bulbs

One comment I get most about any art I do, is that I should find one medium and stick to it. I disagree. I have found that experimenting with different mediums (painting, ceramics, wood) has helped me identify the common fiber in my work. One of those fibers is repetition of form and the desire to install.

In my ceramics class, I made useful plates and pretty wall tiles, but my favorite piece(s) are my slip casted light bulbs. They do serve a purpose, but the beauty of these repeating installed forms really resonates with me as an artist. Why go through so much pain just to make a damn ceramic light bulb? Because it allows you to make the same form - with very slight variation - over and over and over again. Its basically a stencil, but for clay.

Now, let me explain slip casting. Basically, in slip casting, the artist takes a bucket of viscous clay - aka slip - and pours it into a mold. In this shot, you see what the mold looks like while waiting for the clay to harden up. Once its hardened, the slip gets poured back into the bucket, and you are left with a hallow form. 

Slip cast molds

The light bulb, once out of the slip cast mold

Once the light bulb was out of the form, I dropped it on the ground, flattening one side, turning it into a hallow vessel. Flip it on its side, and you have a wall vase!