Breyermania

Definitely going to be asking Santa for a few of these this year.
Found here.

the animanted life

I was just forwarded a link for this artist:
jeff scher

because I have been wanting to do some animation myself. This is not exactly the style I'm going for, but watching the two short films below really fascinated me. I think you will enjoy them.


tulips


white out

i love raptors

Yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting some very nice birds of prey. The vet program here is pretty big, and part of it includes tending to injured wild birds that people bring in. Some are able to go back into the wild, and some have been there for years. This first one is an American Kestrel, and if you can't tell that's a mouse (that she has devoured) in her grasp.
Usually, owls are a bit creepy to me, but this little Saw Whet Owl was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. If you ever get the chance to see an owl's eyelids you should take it. They are covered in tiny feathers.

They all had fabulous names that I can't remember now, but I know this handsome Golden eagle was named "Friend" in Latin. This guy had been around for a long time because he is blind in both eyes. They have to set up the items in his home exactly the same everyday so he remembers how to get around. It was amazing to see such a large bird up close, and I was completely blown away by the size of his feet, which were probably the size of my hand. If I were a small rodent, I would not want to be tangled up in those things.

My little point and shoot was a bit inadequate in this situation, but I sort of like how this blurry one turned out anyway.

Hats off to Jerry Yoon

I have about one million links I've been meaning to put up on this site, but none more pressing than Jerry Yoon. I found him through the Mighty Girl blog, and have been obsessively looking through his archives ever since. His work is absolutely breathtaking. He is to me as Tim Will is to you. And it's sort of perfect timing for me to stumble upon such inspiring wedding work what with this wedding coming up Saturday.

Check him out here. Get ready to be awed.
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Pecha Kucha Night Lights

Last night we went to Pecha Kucha night in Denver for one of my classes and I drug Alex along. It comes from a Japanese term for chit chat, and the idea was developed as a way for architects to show their work in a quick format. There were architects, graphic designers, visual artists, sculptors and writers there last night, so it was a little more broad, but they stuck to the main idea: each presenter gets 20 slides and 20 seconds to talk about each slide. Some of them weren't as prepared or as descriptive as I'd have liked, but there was definitely some cool work. At the end of the night, they took a photo of the crowd from the front of the theater and asked us to spell letters with our cell phones. I like being a part of community art, especially when it ends up looking like this.
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me and you and everyone we know

About every other week I assign my students to do a quick research project on a contemporary artist. One student selected Miranda July, who I had previously never heard of. The student was so impressed with Miranda's work that she immediately bought her latest film, and participated in a project listed on her website. Intrigued by my student's intrigue I borrowed the film and listened to a few podcasts where July is being interviewed about her work. Needless, to say, I am going to suggest that you rent the movie and become a fan. I'll warn you it's not a your typical movie, and it includes some very strange parts, but there are also a lot of really beautiful and thought provoking parts. I watched it last week and I'm still chewing on the experience....one of the first signs (to me) that something is great.

Celebrate Leaf Watchers

It's pretty rare for my dad to leave the comfort of his secluded cabin in the middle of nowhere, so when he suggested a drive through the mountains to see the fall colors, I jumped at the chance. Alex and I made a weekend of it and camped the night before with friends Eric + Lara. Since it was all car camping and driving, I brought my camera along, which was pretty exciting because usually when we're doing that sort of thing there's a lot of hiking involved and I hate heavy backpacks, so I'd pretty much have to bring no water or food at all to make lugging my camera with me work at all, and I generally choose food and water over Dottie. The beauty of this weekend was that I could have both.

Camping the night before: (I didn't edit these photos at all because I sort of love the blue light/dusky feel)


What a difference focusing makes! (I sort of like the unfocused version myself).


And from the drive:


We stopped at a tiny little town called Alma for lunch at this old saloon:


I'm assuming that means 'celebrate' and they just ran out of the proper letters.

So fall is definitely here, at least at 10,000 feet. A lot of the trees around town are hanging in there still, but in a few weeks I bet they'll be outta here. I was thinking yesterday how glad I am to live in a place where we have seasons. It's such a rite of passage to experience each season coming and going; a deep-rooted sense of ritual and tradition is part of the whole thing, and I really like that about it.

I'm ready to start breaking out the sweaters and hot tea.