i spy with my little eye

Do you think our human visual perception is pretty amazing? Think again and learn about the mighty Mantis Shrimp.

It has the most sophisticated visual system in the world, as its eyes contain 16 different types of photoreceptors (12 for color analysis, compared to humanity’s 3 cones). Mantis shrimps can thus see polarized light and 4 colors of uv light, and they may also be able to distinguish up to 100,000 colors (compared to the 10,000 seen by human beings). from swissmiss | Mantis Shrimp.

And here is another article about this far out creature: How Does the Mantis Shrimp Break Glass Without Hurting Itself? | Mental Floss.

writing on the wall

An interactive exhibition by Annie Albagli, held in the Commonwealth Gallery in the Fall of 2007 .

the forest of signs

found here: The Forest of Signs (Budding Artists – Detail) 2008.

The Forest of Signs (Apple Record) 2008 

The Forest of Signs (Brake) 2008 

 

the world is an abstract comic

 

And many more on Andrei Molotius‘ s fun blog Abstract Comics. Go there to see them large.

postcrossing

I used to love buying and sending postcards, but with the internet, email etc. somehow  have stopped doing so. The last postcard I sent was to my grandmother, before she died last year.

Every summer I remind my son to send postcards from his summer travels to his grandparents in two countries and to us and he dutifully obliges. Everybody, grandparents on all sides, me and my husband are delighted. However, recently he told me, that even though he does send the postcards (usually after being gently reminded though a facebook message) he “does not get this postcard thing.” Why would anybody want to receive some random card with a superficial note, when one could send photos and phone, skype, facebook or chat instead?

I don’t know if I managed to explain it to him properly. In any case – for those who grew up without the internet, with telephone land lines, mix tapes and analog film – a card, which has been bought, written, stamped and mailed by somebody, and physically made its way across the globe is still something special.

A few days ago, I signed up with postcrossing.com – a platform in support of sending and receiving postcards from people all over the world. I posted my first cards, on to Belarus, one to Hong Kong and one to Germany and now I will wait and see who will write to me.

I am interested in vernacular creativity, the kind of things ordinary people get up to, the creative practices and processes and the way people connect and interact in creative ways. David Gauntlets “Making is Connecting” comes to mind.

I browsed the gallery of hundreds of postcards posted online, which people have mailed to each other through postcrossing. Yes, the postcards are sent through mail but can also be “collected” online. I particularly like the multiview tourist  postcards, which use the letters of the name place as a frame for images. Perfect combination of word and image! So I have picked a few from postcrossing.com to share with you. I would be really chuffed if I got one of those! I’ll keep you, ahem, posted.

See also the academic paper on postcrossing by Ryan Kelly  Understanding participation and opportunities for design from an online postcard sending community

And did you know, today is World Post Day!

color pencils

“Colour Pencils” by Jonna Pohjalainen on environmentalart.net via Handmade Charlotte.

This cheers me up immensely.

one more book spine poem

from ruthhorowitz.wordpress.com/category/poetry/

stitches

more by Lauren DiCioccio  via Obsolete Embroidery / Handmade Charlotte.

book paradise

The Art of Reading by Kay Kremerskothen

vineyard by Ruben.d

“Massimo Bartolini’s impressive green outdoor library titled Bookyard was constructed by the artist in the idyllic vineyard of St. Peter’s Abbey in the Belgian town of Ghent. It is part of the  Track art festival, and visitors are invited to take a book along in exchange for a small donation.” The first image and quote were taken from here : The Art of Reading by Kay Kremerskothen. More pictures here: Bookyard 

Shame about the fact that rain and snow usually do not go well together with books. This would be my idea of paradise, a library in the middle of an orchard.

book shelter

The Bibliobarn’s Bibliobargains!

I love this idea. In the small village in Lower Austria where I like to spend the summer, there is a small disused bus shelter made of wood. I have been wondering if it could be turned into something like that – a reading shelter for the village kids,  a stop for book crossing. But then it only makes sense if people use it. And that would mean more people passing through, but I like that it is so quiet here. And who would make sure it is not vandalized? Hmmm.

tree of books

Ha, this one goes with my winter theme in the middle of summer.

Bookshelf Porn.

phone camera and image search

Some things I love about digital culture:

1. Phone cameras are great. I use my phone camera more for taking pictures than talking to people. I am considering an upgrade, not because I need it, but because I heard the camera is even better. This funny picture with caption sums it up.

2. Google image search. I use it for lots of different purposes. I sometimes pluck images from the Internet, but forget to note down where they came from. Google image search helps me find the source. If I am lucky, though not in this case. The image has been reposted way over 50 times, so that it would take some serious detective work to find the original. I wish Google had a function where you can list results by publication date.

global revolution

I’m all for it. Joining in on 15 October 2011.

(again I could not locate the original source of the picture, sorry.)

the thing about the internet

 

 

– not only that, I also could not find the source of the photograph.

postal experiments

Last year Boing Boing featured a book called The Englishman who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects telling the story of W. Reginald Bray, “a stamp collector who experimented with mailing odd objects … through the Royal Mail. … Perhaps most remarkably, he posted himself, becoming the first man to send a human through the mail in 1900, and then, through registered mail, in 1903.” This idea seems to have caught on in other places, as we can see from this image posted on Flickr by the Smithsonian.

This city letter carrier posed for a humorous photograph with a young boy in his mailbag. After parcel post service was introduced in 1913, at least two children were sent by the service. With stamps attached to their clothing, the children rode with railway and city carriers to their destination. The Postmaster General quickly issued a regulation forbidding the sending of children in the mail after hearing of those examples. Smithsonian Institution on Flickr via Kotke.org

Flat Stanley Project

Based on Jeff Brown’s Flat Stanley book illustrated by Tomi Ungerer, Dale Hubert, Grade 3 teacher in London, Ontario began the Flat Stanley Project in 1994. Flat Stanley provides the core for  many literacy activities – drawing, writing, taking photos, sending letters and emails, etc. Similar to penpal activities, children send letters and flat visitors based on Flat Stanley or other characters from the Template Gallery: “it’s as if the sender and the recipient have a mutual friend, and writing becomes easier and more creative.” In 2010, Darren Haas, developed the Flat Stanley, a free app for the iPhone.

 

word collage

Here are instruction by ms art for work in the classroom: making collages of words out of images on my artful nest: word collage.
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bild!

As other people have said, the iPhone is actually not such a great phone, but I love the fact that I  have a reasonably decent camera in my back pocket. This picture I took a while ago . It says what it is: BILD = image.

season’s greetings

I got these greetings from the Institute of Education. Do they read my blog?

 

making things

YES – The Big Art Project.
Campaign concept and creative direction for broadcaster Channel 4’s initiative ‘The Big Art Project’. The series set out to create six pieces of art across Britain with the input of the general public. A 15ft typographic sculpture was designed and fabricated to represent the art that would be created throughout the series. The identity was used in print and and for 20, 40 and 60 second TV spots directed by James Griffiths.

Which reminds me, David Gauntlett has posted excerpts of his new book “Making is Connecting.” Looking forward to this.

field of dreams

by Jason DeMarte.
click to enlarge