First of all, I wanted to do a proper entry regarding Samantha Lamb. And I have a funny story about my own stupidity.

So I found Sam’s work through a blog or flickr a while back, maybe a year and a half ago, maybe more. Then we got hooked up as partners for a craft swap. I made her a crazy beach towel, she made me a pirate ship in a jar.

Then, months later I get an email from Sam saying she will be exhibiting in NY! So I write an entry about it on the Free People blog to get all the crafty beauty lovers to attend. Obviously, I plan on attending myself.

Sam lets me know she is in NY all week and we end up going to a concert, going out to dinner, and getting tipsy on sparkling water. I leave her telling her I’ll see her at her opening, I can’t wait to go, etc. Then I send an email to my friends to get everyone to come to her show. I’m excited.

So I show up on Saturday night with a group of friends, all ready for a fabulous opening party. We ring the bell to get into the building, and Sam answers herself. She said nobody else was there and wasn’t sure if she should let us in. What?! I glance at the flier on the door. The opening was on FRIDAY! I’m such a dummy.

But we went up and had a private viewing. The presentation was beautiful with all of her photos framed in salvaged wood, and handwritten titles next to each piece, some poetry, some thread spools in shadow boxes. I bought the above print for my sister.

Did you miss me? I wrote an entry weeks ago that I never got to publish, but I’m back.

So yesterday, the ever-helpful findingDulcinea featured Five Must-Bookmark Music Sites (check them out, you will want to bookmark). The image they used was from Daytrotter and pictured the wonderful Thao Nguyen. I love love love how Daytrotter uses illustrations. More sites/magazines/books need artwork.

I discovered Thao by accident when she and her band opened for She and Him. And even my attendance at the show was quite unexpected. I went with Sam Lamb, the amazing photographer I met through the Web and crafting and the Free People Blog. And Sam is from Oklahoma, so her being in NY was pretty unexpected as well. I like surprises.

Opening April 15 at the American Folk Art Museum is Dargerism: Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger. Those unfamiliar with Darger should read about him here. Basiscally, he was this solitary man who barely spoke to anyone, but managed to write a 15,000 page epic called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, as caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. He also managed to illustrate the story of the enslaved children battling the Glandelinians.

The paintings are so innocent and beautiful and fierce and playful. The untrained artist has inspired many contemporary artists, several celebrated in this exhibit. Here’s a few contemporary works from the museum site.

justine kurland

justin lieberman

anthony golcolea

I read this article today in the good ol’ New York Times about how this is the age for the right brain. Meaning, all of us creative kids that our parents were worried about making it in the real world are actually quite marketable. We just have to play it right, figure out how that creativity translates into business, and make decisions that will feed our creativity rather than starve it. The Times article mentioned this book by Daniel Pink that looks pretty great. (I haven’t read it, so if you have, feel free to comment.) Check out the Johnny Bunko video trailer for the book, but basically, manga style Johnny is helped out by a superhero fairy godmother who appears when he breaks open a pair of chopsticks.

And when I think about artists trying to fit into the corporate world, I am always reminded by this beautiful cartoon my friend Brian Musikoff drew based on his personal experience. There’s more than this one frame. Read the whole thing, it’s great.

The point is, you didn’t go to school to learn about something you love just so you can graduate and sit behind a desk and do what others tell you. Have the courage to make your career your own, even if it’s not as easy as your friends that do their 9-5 and go home. They’re not happy any way, or they’re just not as smart as you. So work a little harder, do it a little different, and make that creativity work for you.

A bit about this mermaid hair attraction…

There is something about being under water that has always made me feel very alone. There is this incredible sense of privacy. You can immerse yourself in the swimming pool and say anything into the water. No one will comprehend what you have said, so you can liberate anything that’s roaming in your head that you don’t have the courage to say aloud. Remember that game “tea party”?

If you open your eyes, you can see the effect of movement, the motion of the water as someone kicks away, with a trail of bubbles left behind. You can look at your own skin and find itty bitty bubbles hovering on the surface. I liked to bang on the railing of the swimming pool steps and notice how the sound waves traveled in liquid. And my very favorite thing to do was look at my long hair as it flowed under water. It always fascinated me how beautiful my hair looked. I loved how wet hair looked more “dry” under the water than it did above. The wet, slick, sticky mane became wild flowing curls.

Mermaids live in a secret world of dark beauty. There is a freedom to the sea, a freedom in swimming similar to that of the freedom of a bird with their flight.

Both of the photos are by Howard Schatz from his book Water Dance. It’s my favorite photography book, combining my love of dance, underwater, and fashion. Many of the photos are nudes, but the few with costumes or fabric are breathtaking. The second image is scanned from my crappy scanner, so I apologize for the quality. You should buy the book (the link is to amazon and they only have the hard cover, but I own a paper cover that was much less expensive).

Thank you to Laura for pointing this out! Philly dweller Adam Wallacavage was featured on design*sponge yesterday. He’s decorated his South Philly home inspired by the sea, making these amazing lighting fixtures by practicing the lost art of scagliola. So beautiful, so inspiring, so eerily amazing.

Mika Rottenberg created the video installation Cheese (see below post). Coolhunting did this great video to take a closer look at the artist and the creation of Cheese.

TreeHugger posted an entry today on UK designer Karen (or Kate?) Ward and her adorable recycled-plastic-bag bags.  They are the cutest I have seen thus far. Check out her site. I love love love that some of the color names are indicated by the store the bags came from (superdrug pink, drycleaners white, ChinaTown Red and Sainsbury’s Orange).

Today is Recommit to Your New Year’s Resolutions Day. I have to admit, I didn’t make any resolutions this year. There are constantly things I am working on and trying to make a conscious effort to improve. I definitely want to continue to make more things. I got to busy to be creative for a while, and that’s just silly. It’s not something I can do without. So if crocheting long chains of trim or appliquéing a t-shirt is all I can make the time for, I still feel much better than if I don’t pick up the needle and thread.

And then there is the guitar. A constant possible hobby that I never fully develop. (As you can see, my amp is serving as a shelf for sweaters.) So this is the year.

I really like that quote from Ben, especially “be always at war with your vices.” It reminds me that I need to work hard to be the person I want to be. Hopefully, that is inspiring to you as well. Check out here for some more advice and resources for improving yourself with the start of spring.

Check out this video featured on findingDulcinea’s Daily Tilt today. Look at those wingdings! That’s the best part of the video (from theSmokingGun).