I love hats and I’m envious of anyone that can pull them off without looking forced.  A story you may remember in one of my first posts features my grandmother and her four friends who owned a milliner business in 1907.  I created a 3-d piece with American early 1900 vintage hat forms. So you can see why this London exhibit is of particular interest to me.

Hats and architecture may not appear to have anything in common—at first blush, anyway—but architect-turned-milliner Gabriela Ligenza begs to differ. For the London Festival of Architecture, Ligenza and design duo You&Me commissioned several local architects, artists, and designers to produce hats inspired by their visions of London.

'ant hill' by riitta ikonen

In 1849, london hat makers Thomas and William Bowler designed the bowler as a close-fitting hat to protect gamekeepers’ heads from low hanging branches while on horseback. In the following century, no hat would become more synonymous with london itself. American architects austin+mergold have reinterpreted the bowler in a sustainable version. Its recycled corrugated cardboard layers keep the sun’s rays at bay while providing ventilation. At the same time, the hat is both adaptable to the whims of fashion as it can be easily painted in any color.

'A + M bowler. 2010

'A + M bowler. 2010

We’ve ask the phone company to stop sending us phone books at our apartment building several times.  Still, we get piles on our front steps.  After seeing what Jolis Paon did with her phone books I may be chasing after them to bring me more.

Artist, Jolis Paon caught my attention recently with her handmade dress constructed out of phonebook paper.

Paons says of the Paper Dress she designed and created for her Creative Processes class, “I pleated, stuck, sewed, and glued everything by hand.”

It’s amazing what you can do with simple resources when creativity is involved. Think of all the phonebooks that go to waste!

I love this video created by the Chicago Tribune that follows the creation of the highly anticipated public sculpture “Eye”, from Sparta, Wisconsin to downtown Chicago. The 30-foot eyeball, designed by Oak Park artist/sculptor Tony Tasset is on display from July 7 to October 31.

The “Eye,” modeled after one of the artist’s blue eyeballs, is in the final days of completion in the Loop’s Pritzker Park, at State and Van Buren Streets. Last week (JUNE 21), sections of the giant 30-foot fiberglass sphere arrived in carefully cut, expressway-friendly pieces via truck from their manufacturer, the Sparta, Wis.-based F.A.S.T. Corporation. Assembly on the white of the eye was completed last week and the sculpture’s striking blue iris was put in place Monday. The finished sculpture is scheduled for a public unveiling on July 7.

10 Year Anniversary Show

Gallery 360

Opening Reception

Saturday, June 5, 7-10 pm

Show Runs

June 5 – July 4, 2010

3011 West 50th St, Minneapolis (612) 925-2400‎

Please join me for a special evening of art, food and entertainment. Saxophonist Bill Lang will be perched on the roof, appetizers  prepared by Corner Table Restaurant and 10% of the sales from this show will benefit Art Buddies ,  a program which pairs creative mentors with kids from low-income families.

There will be over 20 artists featured including several pieces I will have on display.   A great variety of Minnesota artists, mediums and price points.

Marilyn Stevens, Absence of Transparency, 2009

Please join me at Gallery 360 where owner Merry Beck seamlessly combines art, design, fashion and craft into one inspiring retail event.  I was thrilled when I met Merry and heard about her vision for the trunk show. It is the perfect venue where my art can be a backdrop with fashion. I have three pieces in this show and hope to be part of their 10 year anniversary event next month.  I would love to see you.

Martha McQuade

Marilyn Stevens, Letting Go of the Words, 2009

Spring Trunk Show Event

Thursday, May 13, 6-9 pm

Featured Clothing Artists: Martha McQuade, Kimberly Jurek, Liz Plambeck & Heather Hambrecht

20% off Sale

Thursday, May 13 through Sunday, May 16

Gallery 360

3011 West 50th St

Minneapolis, MN 55410

Hours: Monday to Saturday 10-6, Thurs until 8, Sunday 12 to 5

Gallery 360 is a contemporary retail gallery located at the corner of 50th and Xerxes in Southwest Minneapolis. Opened by owner Merry Beck in the summer of 2000, this neighborhood gallery is situated amongst an eclectic array of independently owned boutique shops. With exhibitions rotating every six weeks, Merry Beck and her staff are able to recreate the space with an ever-changing collection of local and national talent. The gallery’s tag line “art in every degree”, sums up the extensive variety of fine art and handmade product available within. While representing traditional art media, such as painting, photography, and sculpture Gallery 360 is also known to take an offbeat approach by offering contemporary art jewelry, locally designed fashions, and multi media window installations.

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum has brought in internationally known environmental artist Patrick Dougherty to create a one-of-kind work inspired by the Arboretum itself.

When: 6:30-8 p.m. May 13

Where: Minnesota Landscape Arboretum visitor center, 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chanhassen

Admission: $10 for Arboretum members, $20 for nonmembers

To register: Go to www.arboretum.umn.edu and click on “Learn pages.”

Ongoing: Dougherty also will be on-site 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. daily through May 21, except for this Saturday and Sunday.

Webcam: To see progress on the “Big Build,” go to the Arboretum’s website.

More info: For more on Dougherty’s work, go to www.stickwork.net.

* Sortie de Cave Jardin des Arts, Chateaubourg, France, 2008. Photography: Charles Crie. *

Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed black characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved.  I haven’t read any of Toni’s books but this interview with Annie Lebowitz has inspired me to do so.

Much of what she says about her readers is how I often feel about viewers of my art.  While she is sometimes disappointed that readers want a quick and happy ending, I too feel viewers want to quickly like something based on the colors, a pleasing image or how it will look in their room.  She goes on to say that she would like each book to create a willingness to surrender, to be in the landscape and make it theirs.  This, in my mind, is where all of the magic happens.