Clare Rojas show in LA

Only a couple more days to catch the Clare Rojas show at Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery in LA. The last day is June 2nd, and from the installation shots on the gallery website, it looks like a show that shouldn't be missed.

Paris, Je T'aime

We just got back from a wonderful week-long visit to New York, (which is why you haven't heard from us in a little while) and though we were technically there to do some buying for the shoppe, we managed to sneak in some fun field trips to museums and movies. On the airplane on the way over, I had read a review of a collection of 18 short films about Paris, called Paris, Je T'aime. As soon as we got to New York, we looked it up to see if it was playing at the Paris Theater, which it was! (The Paris is our favorite movie theater in NY- always playing fantastic foreign movies and never crowded.)

Some of my favorite directors (Gus Van Sant, Alexander Payne, the Coen Brothers) are involved, as well as a handful of well-known actors (Natalie Portman, Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elijah Wood, Gena Rowlands, Willem Dafoe) so I knew we were in for a treat. The icing on the cake was spotting Wes Anderson outside the theater as we were leaving. Only in New York!

Poser

We love it when people we love collaborate.

Starring Miranda July....Directed by Mike Mills....Music by Blonde Redhead....

Follow That Bird!

Yesterday Derek and I hopped on the scooter and took the 49 mile scenic drive around San Francisco, which was so much fun! The drive was created as a promotion for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, and it leads you all around the city, through most of the neighborhoods, up and down hills, through parks and around lakes, along the shore... I can't think of anything we didn't see. Supposedly you can trust those famous seagull signs to tell you where to go, but we mapped our route anyway, and it's a good thing we did (we only got off track a couple times). We returned home six hours later, with stiff legs and wind burned faces, and a quick check of our odometer showed that we drove exactly 48.5 miles. Not bad! You can see more pictures from our drive here.

Cesar Chavez and Dolores, our starting point.

Grace Cathedral

North Beach

Our scooter taking a break to admire the view at Fort Point.

We stopped long enough at Giant Robot, Amoeba, and the dollar store in Japantown to pick up some loot!

Fun

Sign spotted at the Musee Mechanique, San Francisco.

"Get on the Mike!"

I was checking out BoingBoing today and was delighted to see a nice post about one of our favorite new books, Mingering Mike: The Amazing Career of an Imaginary Superstar by Dori Hadar. We've been curious about this story since we first read about it in the Times a few years back. Basically, a dj was digging through crates of records at a flea market and discovered dozens and dozens of LPs by Mingering Mike, a "soul superstar" of the '60s and '70s whom he had never heard of. Upon closer inspection it was clear that these "LPs" were actually elaborataly hand drawn imaginary albums by an imaginary "superstar" filled with imaginary songs on an imagary record label....you get the picture. Realizing that he had stumbled upon some great outsider art (and that behind great outsider art, there's usually a good story) Hadar embarked on a quest to track down the mysterious Mingering Mike, whose story does not dissappoint. This book recounts that quest and includes color reproductions of Mingering Mikes amazingly detailed and wonderfully imaginative albums and 45s.

Get a copy of Mingering Mike at the Shoppe, and listen to stories about him on NPR.

Weekend Fun

Warm weather has arrived in San Francisco! I always forget how different it feels when it is sunny and warm out. This weekend I was happy to leave my scarf at home and scoot around town checking out some art and enjoying this fine city of ours.

Our weekend festivities began on Thursday evening with the opening of Optimism: A Natural Vector at our studio/gallery space. We had a great turnout, and there was even a special weaving performance by Travis Meinolf and incredible layer cakes that were made and served by Leah Rosenberg.


Friday night we attended the opening of Lovely, Dark & Deep at Doe, featuring works by Lisa Congdon and Stephanie Congdon Barnes. Beautiful, beautiful work by two sweet and lovely sisters.


Saturday I think the whole city was outside enjoying the sun. I spent the morning in Golden Gate Park, followed by lunch with Derek in Dolores Park, which was absolutely packed with picnickers and sunbathers.


Finally, yesterday we drove over to Sausalito for the Heath Ceramics open studio and sale, where we glazed tiles, ate free hotdogs and took their awesome factory tour for the second time. We just can't get enough of that place! We always leave feeling inspired and wishing we could stock all our kitchen cabinets with their beautiful dinnerware! But we will continue to grow our collection one piece at a time...

Shoppe Update

This week has been all about updating the shoppe- adding to our press page, making a new homepage, and adding tons of new products! Here are some of my current favorites:

"Winging It" notecard set with art by Charley Harper


Octopus charm necklace by Regina Pruss


Dress and shirt pattern from Built by Wendy


Mini-wallet from FluffyCo


Japanese cast iron wrench bottle opener


Birdie dishware decals

Art Opening this Thursday!

We are so lucky that the studio where we work also happens to be an art gallery! The opening for our next show, entitled Optimism, A Natural Vector is this Thursday from 7-10 pm, so if you're in the Bay Area, please stop by to say hello and check out the art!

Here is a description of the show, written by curator Gareth Spor:
When an artist invests himself or herself into the creative process, with the goal of rewarding the viewer, the resulting artworks can produce a lasting impact on the audience and possibly the world. Not to suggest that all artworks should be bright and kitschy, for many types of work, if made with sincerity and honesty, can produce a lasting effect.

Someone who values the social practice of art making never intentionally alienates his or her audience. Too often people these days get worn down by the current state of affairs in the world and lose sight of their potential to do good. Optimism does not presuppose ignorance, but reflects a general attitude that regardless of the current state, positive change is always a possibility.

Optimism: A Natural Vector will be on display from May 3 - June 2, 2007. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, May 3 from 7pm to 10pm at 3824 Mission Street, San Francisco. For further information please contact the gallery.

Artists include:
Michelle Blade
Luke Butler
Rachelle Cohen
Christina Empedocles
Sarrita Hunn
Danny Keith
Travis Meinolf
Leah Rosenberg
Jacob Peter Tillman
Hannah Wachs

Card Catalogs

We've had vintage library card catalogs on the brain recently. We love everything about them- the little wooden drawers, the smell of the cards, the nostalgia of something from the past that has all but been replaced by computers. We are still on the hunt for the perfect card catalog to put in our home (preferably dark wood, like the one pictured about which is from the library at Tulane University), and until we find one, we'll continue to be inspired the ones pictured below:

This card catalog and collection of vintage books is from the lobby of one of our favorite brunch places in New York, Public.

A few weeks ago I saw this post about a site where you can type in any information you want to turn into a catalog card. Click here to make your own.

A craft room is a great place for a card catalog. This one, from Bits & Bobbins, looks like a perfect place to store all your... well... bits and bobbins!

An entire card catalog wall from the University of Wisconsin.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Last night we spent a lovely evening at the Herman Miller showroom celebrating the Undeniable Awesomeness of our friends Anton, Christina and Kate. They were being honored as the winners of Metropolis magazine's 2007 Next Generation Design Competition. How badass is that?! Under the auspices of their super smart collective Civil Twilight they conceived, designed, and built a prototype for what they call Lunar-Resonant streetlights. The idea is that we can combat light pollution and conserve energy with street lamps that dim and brighten based on the ambient light in the night sky. Full moon? Less streetlight. New moon? More streetlight. GENIUS. Look for the full story in the May issue of Metropolis.

The Bees Knees

As some of you may already know, I'm the recent victim of a pretty gnarly obsession with bees. It started with a visit to the San Francisco Bee Keeping Society, and now I can't seem to escape them. They're everywhere. Yesterday in the New York Times there was an article about the very mysterious and very scary CCD (colony collapse disorder), and then Emily over at Inhabitat posted about this crazy vase made by Studio Libertiny (and some very talented worker bees), and then the folks on BoingBoing pointed me towards the work of Aganetha Dyck, an artist who "collaborates" with bees. Buzzy, indeed.

Vase by Studio Libertiny

Artwork by Aganetha Dyck

Stick it to me

In my opinion, finding the perfect glue stick is similar to finding the perfect pen (mine is the Uni-Ball Vision Exact with the micro tip). Once you've found it, there is no turning back! I am a big fan of the Tombow gluestick, a Japanese product that somehow manages to glide on smoother than the rest, and is less prone to drying out. It also comes in different strengths, repositionable or permanent. And a quick glance at their website shows that you can also buy them in flavors, or "pretty fragrance", so you can enjoy the smell of grape or strawberry as you do your gluing. Pretty great!

Lovely ladies

Last Friday, a box containing some 1500 squirming ladybugs landed in our mailbox. They had been sent to us as a gift in honor of Earth Day, and as a tribute of sorts to a friend and favorite artist of ours, Charley Harper. Ladybug releases are a common Earth Day activity, as they are great enemies of aphids, and thereby great friends of your garden. We don't have a yard, so I called the Alemany Farm, a lovely urban farm not far from our house. The farm manager Jason invited us down to release them and it turned into a lovely event with all the volunteers and staff gathering to ogle and set free all the lovely little beasties. I'm so glad we discovered the farm, I can't wait to get back there and get my hands in the dirt.

Awesome

Not a week goes by that I don't find another blog to add to my ever growing list of bookmarks. A couple weeks ago I discovered a site called Your Daily Awesome, which is one of my new favorites because a) it's updated everyday (unlike this site, but we're working on it!) and b) everything that author Chas Bowie posts is truly awesome!

The posts are short and sweet and heavy on the visuals (with lots of emphasis on art and music), and just perfect little nuggets of inspiration to carry with you throughout your day.

Special Delivery

Imagine my surprise when I came home yesterday to find a box of flowers propped up against the door to my apartment! Turns out they were from lovely Todd, who sent me one of his very own creations from the Todd Oldham flowers from FTD collection. If you haven't already seen it, you should check it out- there are loads of designs to choose from, and most of them come interesting and reusable containers, like colanders, teapots and cheese graters. Definitely something to keep in mind as Mother's Day approaches. Below are some of my other favorite bouquets:

Speaking of Todd, he asked me to pinch-hit for him in this month's issue of ReadyMade while he was off filming the final episodes of Top Design, and here is the project I came up with. It's a garden caddy with pockets all the way around to hold your gardening tools, while the bucket is used to hold flowers and clippings. Mine is currently filled with sewing supplies and fabric, and it works great for that as well. Also, sewn onto the caddy is a "Buzz Off" patch, one of my favorite items from the shoppe. (That's me in the background of the shot, wearing a shirt that Todd designed. It's all interconnected somehow...)

New Art

Pictured above is the newest addition to our art collection- a beautiful silkscreened poster by the talented Mr. Jason Munn of The Small Stakes. We picked up a simple white frame for it last weekend, and after a little bit of a dramatic episode in art hanging (let's just say it's a miracle that both the frame and the poster are still intact after it FELL OFF THE WALL), it is up and we are loving it.

Boys who craft

I brought my sewing machine and a small stack of flea market fabric home last weekend and set up a little at-home crafting station in our kitchen. Since then D and I have been practicing our sewing... together! He is getting quite good with the machine, and stitched up the entire back of this tie by hand. Hurray for boys who craft!

Meet me at the show

I know this has already made the blog rounds, but I just installed the iConcert Cal plug-in for iTunes and it is my new favorite thing. It scans your music library and generates a custom calendar listing of all your favorite bands' upcoming shows in your area. (Click on the link above to download it- it's free!)

"Uncle Bwuce?!"

So I was talking to a friend of mine who happens to be from Nevada City. And it turns out that in addition to being the hometown of the lovely and talented Joanna Newsom, it's other claim to fame is that it is the seat of Nevada County. "And...?" you ask? Well, turns out that Nevada City was settled in 1849, 15 years before the state of Nevada. "And...?" Well, when Nevada decided to call itself "Nevada", the good folks of Nevada City got pissed off at having had their thunder stolen, as it were, so they drew their county line to resemble a pistol aimed point blank at the name-stealing state of Nevada. "Really?!" Yes!
So this friend of mine from Nevada City also happens to be a very talented filmmaker whose production company is called Terri Timely. They make wonderful music videos, commercials, and short films. One of their shorts is called "Children are a Gift" and is being screened as part of the hi/lo film festival right now. Go see it. You will love it. (And I'm sure a lot of the other shorts being screened will be pretty darn good as well.)