I am always curious about the work and process of  street artists.  Some of their work is quite beautiful and inventive. TKV is the artist name of Sashka (1988), a Serbian street artist, living in Belgrade. Doing stencil art is a basic need for her: she has to go out and leave her creative marks throughout the city. It’s as essential as eating or sleeping.

Since graffiti – like in most places – is prohibited in Serbia, TKV has to be very careful not to be caught by the police. That’s the reason why Pretty Cool People filmed her in a matter that makes her less recognizable.

Although TKV is extremely concerned with the social situation of her country, this doesn’t mean she loses herself in political slogans. On the contrary: she wants to add something beautiful to the world, she wants to surprise unsuspecting passerby’s and make her fellow citizens smile. Albeit for a moment.

Pretty Cool Crew: Commissioning Editor for SubmarineChannel: Geert van de Wetering, Interview & sound: Jessie van Vreden, Camera: Pierre Rezus, Editing: Jessie van Vreden, Axel Skovdal Roelofs.

The image you see below was an outdoor sculpture created by Ogilvy & Mather — under creative direction by Gary Caulfield, Millaty Ismail, and Alfa Aphrodita — which is meant to visualize “speed” and has popped up in various locations across Jakarta. It also happens to share  similarities with a piece by sculptor, Ryan Johnson. See for yourself. On the left is the UPS campaign. On the right is Pedestrian, from 2007:

First I want to introduce you to the Submarine Channel which features Pretty Cool People Interviews that are short portraits of creative innovators who are breaking new ground in contemporary visual culture.

Capturing them in their natural environments – be it the streets of Barcelona, the confines of a darkened special effects studio, or the lofty heights of a skate park – the interviews move beyond a simple “talking-heads” format, to offer viewers an insight into the creative processes of established and upcoming creators across the spectrum.

There were many interesting interviews but I chose to feature Miranda July. Miranda July was a prolific performance and video artist in the 1990s who stepped into the mainstream limelight when her 2005 film Me and You and Everyone We Know became an international hit. She now is making exhibitions featuring do-it-yourself art taken from the ever-expanding Learning To Love You More project, an ongoing collaboration with Harrell Fletcher.

The Learning To Love You More website features 65 creative assignments, as well as the reports from people who completed an assignment. With over five thousand reports and counting, the website has become an amazing archive of personal creative endeavors by people from all over the world. Browsing the pictures, drawings, and videos that were uploaded, you kind of feel a connection to them, which is due to the nature of the assignments. Learning To Love You More is a project for and about other people and, as Miranda says in the interview, it’s a great source of inspiration for her and keeps her sane.

Filmed at MU, a great art space in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, on Friday 24 August 2007, the day of the opening of the Learning To Love You More show.

We thought about using a reddish orange cement board color as accent and then tabled it.  We’re boring, I know.  Has anyone every taken that what primary color are you test?  Seriously, from the bazillion colors I ended up as no color–snow.  I guess that says something about me and my artwork too!  Test yourself.

Bronze trim, two grey tones of cement board and cypress

Bronze trim, sand blasted window for shop, redwood and cement board

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

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!

The fairy tale isn’t over but we are now getting the bills which has a way of taking some air out of your sail.  It is pretty amazing though that we will literally be living in the treetops.  The second floor space is full of light, great views of the valley and a kick ass rooftop deck.  I don’t know how much art I’m going to get done.

First guests, Nancy & Annjetta

Living in the treetops, second floor living space

Southeast side with the main view, rooftop deck to the left

Hard labor

Smoothing the concrete floors

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.