Snow Pallet: An installation in Sapporo Art Park in Japan by Toshihiko Shibuya, relies on the neutral landscape created by snow, something we don’t get to experiment with much in the Bay Area. The art piece scatters mushroom-like disks, painted bright colors on the underside, through the snow. The color then reflects onto the snow below creating beautiful pools of soft neon light.

You could apply this simple process of adding color to neutral spaces and objects in many ways to garner a huge effect. We plan to experiment!

Images from Designboom
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At LS we pull inspiration for our events from anything and everything, especially art. Martin Pfeifle’s commentary on space and color translate very easily into an event setting, if you look hard enough. I love the colored paper hanging from the ceiling as a potential backdrop or partition. And, I’m a big fan of this pink spacial field turning into a table with one huge hit of color.

Lately, I’ve been mesmerized by water art/photography. The following artists show a passion for photography that extends into the underwater world. It’s a mystery to me on how they make taking underwater photos seem so effortless. The very nature of water makes each split second conjure up a completely different image. The colors and smokey feel of these images ignite a sense of organic beauty.

The breathtaking series Aqueous Fluoreau is the most recent body of work by photographer Mark Mawson, a nominee for the London Photography Award 2012.

Local artist (Piedmont CA), Michele Hofherr specializes in portraiture and commercial photography. Her current work (pictured here) is currently on display at Slate Contemporary Gallery in Oakland until February 25, 2012. Go check it out.

Have a bunch of leftover zip ties in your garage (or is it just me?) and no idea what to do with them? Look to artist Brian Jones for some inspiration. His work explores bringing new life to everyday objects like balconies and watering cans by adorning them with colorful zip ties. The result is quite beautiful. All images below are directly from the artist’s website.

Tuft v. Turf (2009)

Tuft v. Turf & A+B (2009)

Turfside Passage at Knoxville Museum of Art (2011)

Last year, Ai WeiWei, a Chinese conceptual artist, amazed the world with his exhibit titled Sunflower Seeds at London’s Tate Modern. The exhibition carpeted, at a depth of 4-inches, an enormous space with over 100 million replicas of porcelain sunflower seeds. Maybe it’s the marketing side of me or the consumer side that wants to buy these for my own garden, or better yet, see them in a public space.

All Photos By Paul Grover // Daily Telegraph

Crazy Stats
Around 5 tons of sunflower seeds
100 million replicas
1,600 skilled artisans from Jingdezhen in China
2 years to produce

Most of you who have been in the Bay Area for quite some time have heard of the Crucible by now. For those of you who have not The Crucible is a non-profit educational facility promoting creative expression, reuse of materials and innovative design training in the fine and industrial arts for people of all skill levels. You may have also heard of some of their amazing art performances and if you haven’t, you’re just in time to go to their most recent Fire Opera production which opened just last night and will run through the 21st of January.

I haven’t yet had a chance to take in this show, but I have had the chance to see a couple of the Crucible’s performances and can only say that they have never disappointed. Their shows are a breathtaking array of sight and sound, not to mention unusually spectacular and worth every penny! Be prepared to see a fusion of fire and dance and drama ring your core with delight. I’m getting goosebumps (or fired up) just thinking about it.

The Fire Opera show currently on stage is titled MACHINE: A world premiere Fire Opera. It was written, conceived and directed for The Crucible stage by Mark Streshinsky, who has collaborated on previous Fire shows. The music of MACHINE is by Clark Suprynowicz who is well known in the Bay area for his Jazz and Rock infused compositions of opera and symphonic work.

This spectacular performance features five opera singers, a rock singer and percussionists who “play” the scaffolding-like set. Visual effects including a molten metal pour, fire performers and industrial artists, such as glass blowers and blacksmiths. MACHINE will deliver the kind of awe-inspiring performance that Crucible audiences have come to expect.

“I’m incredibly excited about working with some of the Bay Area’s top opera talent,” said Steven Young, Crucible Executive Director. “MACHINE is going to be a breathtaking, world-class opera, and I’m thrilled that The Crucible is part of bringing the work to life.”

January 11-14 and 18-21, 2012
Tickets: $45-$65 {Buy Now}

Directed and Libretto by Mark Streshinsky
Score by Clark Suprynowicz

We’ve done a post on yarn bombing before (knitted cozies designed to adorn public objects). In fact, we’ve dedicated a lot of posts to yarn art in general illustrating our love for the delicate and versatile material. Well here’s another one for you by artist, Streetcolor, at our very own Oakland Museum in their front plaza. The yarn installation adds another playful layer to Jensen Architect’s chalkboard and furniture installation, “Chairs of the Board.” The area is open to the public to enjoy so go check it out before the rain finally starts.

Via Oakland Museum blog

Via Berkeley Today

I just couldn’t resist re-posting this diy idea from Hostess with the Mostess. They have such great diy projects. If you haven’t noticed, LS has a mini obsession over yarn. It’s so cheap and easy to work with. This tutorial of yarn craft brings me back to the yarn partition that we designed and built for our Vessels event.It also takes me back to more of our fabulous posts infusing yarn, including the Yarn Nest, Amanda McCavour’s Art, and our Cozies for the Urban Landscape post.

How beautiful and delicate is this hanging garden inspired installation created by Swiss artists Gerda Steiner + Jörg Lenzlinger? The exhibition was created for the 50th Venice Biennial in 2003. What I love most about it is that the viewer becomes part of the piece as if in an Alice in Wonderland movie. What a lovely idea.

Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, uses an iconic ready-made object – the bicycle – and the power of repetition to manipulate space in his 2011 installation titled Forever Bicycle in Taiwan. This work seems particularly relevant for the bike-centric bay area. Imagine a public bike storage system throughout the city that created art out of our preferred method of transport.

(from Selectism)

(from Arrested Motion)