Biowall

Morristown building goes green with biowall

So beautiful. How stoked would you be to have one of these walls in your workplace?? Mr. Sammy would be scaling it non stop, and we'd all be breathing happily.

Thanks Alyssa for sending this!

BetsyB on Etsy

I'm completely smitten with these dresses by Betsy B Design on Etsy. They were featured on the front page this morning.
Stopped in at some local hampden shops today and heard a general consensus of "no one is shopping." Not that I'm shopping, but I am bookmarking this and dreaming of spring.... and money to buy it with.

Is it January-March slow retail time as usual, or the economy?
Or is it that the sidewalks are trecherous and one is likely to bite it on the way to the avenue?

It's called a S-H-O-V-E-L, people. It's just snow. (well...now it's ice). You can do it.
Salt is located in the BIG YELLOW BOX LABELED SALT on every street.
Shovels are either in your basement, or at Falkenhans.

The Price is Right

Can't afford (or aren't quick enough to get ahold of) one of Jenny Strunge's coveted Cotton Monsters? If you act quickly, you might just snag one of her new watchful eyes. Affordable, squeezable, and necessary for warding off reality er.... negativity... in this poo filled economy. $28 on Etsy now.

Spice and Ice

(photo from Sailus Kitchen)

Last night Phil and I treated each other to an Indian Food cooking class in Reisterstown. We braved the ice & snow and made it there and back safely and it was well worth the money and the trip.
I learned SO much about indian cooking and what spices we've always been wrong about, and which we were correct about. We learned what some of those delicious chutney's at the beginning of a meal are made of (green=mint, pepper, and all things green, blended with lemon and salt & sometimes yogurt; brown= boiled tamarind, spices & sugar) and about the heroic amount of salt (aproximately three day's progress in a salt mine) that makes its way in there to make things so delicious. (oh who cares. it's. so. good.)
My favorite thing we "made" (ie- watched the chef make while we stood awkwardly drooling) was the open faced Samosa (they looked like savory ice cream sundaes). Phil was obsessed with the Pulau (spice infused rice). Both of us were near weeping with happiness and practically had to roll our gluttonous selves down the driveway to get to the car.
Our most favorite foodie friends in Baltimore should look forward to some slightly less impressive, but still delicous remakes of all of these dishes in the coming week... and maybe this time I'll have the sense to take photos (or... breaths between bites).

This morning I woke up still tasting star anise in my mouth (or was it just in my head?) and I came downstairs to the sound of spinning tires around 7am and found our neighbor on the sidewalk, about 2 feet from our front door...... in his car.... perpendicular to the street. With the help of a pile of american apparel cardboard boxes, our snow shovel, my immense car-pushing-strength (ha), and some salt from the saltbox at the top of the hill, we got him facing the right way and off to work. I can barely stand on the sidewalk right now - it's covered over with a glaze of ice, and when i stepped outside, I went slowly sailing down the hill like a cartoon ballerina and couldn't stop laughing crazily while this poor man spun his tires and groaned. It's so fun to see winter in the city, even if it's so brief that no one knows what to do with themselves.

Hand Printed in Australia!

Australian Pippijoe hand screenprints all of her own fabrics, and then uses them in sewing her homewares collection sold on pippijoe.com and at shops in her native Australia.
I like seeing a Lotta Jansdotter (who also hand printed all of her own fabric once upon a time) influence here, even if it isn't direct - Pippijoe is definitely moving in her own direction. I love the patterns and what she's sewn/created with them. On her blog there are photos of lampshades. I'd love to find a tutorial to cover a lampshade myself (speaking of which, Pippijoe sells just her printed fabric as well, and notes next to a picture of a purse she's sewn- "feel free to make one of these yourself." and even offers to send you directions).
Nice!



Just to throw it out there - anyone know of a good lampshade covering tutorial online?
We have some mighty fugly lamps in our house.

Plea to Obama for a Secretary of the Arts

Below is a petition written by Jaime Austria to our new president to create a new position for a "Secretary of the Arts" this year.
It appears that in other countries (especially european) there have had similar cabinet-level positions for centuries - often called "minister of art" or "minister of culture" Is it true we have no position similar? What a shame. Below is the petition, and a link for you to follow if you'd like to sign!

"To: President Barack Obama
Congratulations and thank you for all you do.

Your good friend Quincy Jones said: "...next conversation I have with President Obama is to beg for a Secretary of Arts."
[November 14th 2008 WNYC interview by John Schaefer on "Soundcheck."]

We the undersigned support Quincy Jones' plea.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned"
(to sign this petition online, please visit the petition site HERE)

Baltimore Comic Artists In Brooklyn

(just found this via Ten Tigers. I missed announcing in time for the opening, but if you are in brooklyn, or happen to be before February 8th - maybe on a trip to the NY gift show this week, perhaps - it would be worth your while to visit this show).
I'm really admiring the prolificness of this group that just graduated from MICA. They are a team worth envying for their collective motivation and pheneominal talent, and worth embracing as locals, even if they're educational transplants. Baltimore should be sure to celebrate this collective upon their return... I'd love to see a show like this locally.



Cinders Gallery is proud to present Adolescent Rage, the first NY show by Baltimore-based collective Closed Caption Comics. We first encountered the artwork of this prolific group when some of them came into the gallery bearing an amazing colorful stack of self-published comic and art zines. These beautiful handmade silk-screened goodies featured wild stories, inventive layouts, and the type of manic fun energy we find wholly exciting and infectious. As a group, Closed Caption puts out a comic zine of the same name that features a section by each artist, allowing the reader to delve into the different worlds of each contributor. These worlds vary from forests to cities to outer space and are inhabited by as diverse a cast of characters such as mummies, toads, robots, aliens and ordinary folks riding bikes around town. From meticulous fine line renderings to scratchy chaotic explosions, the styles and stories couldn't be more varied and yet make perfect sense together in a haphazardly homey kind of way. This group show will feature drawings, paintings, prints, collages and zines by all 10 artists, allowing the viewer to be enveloped by their art on a larger scale.

Sweet Potatoes, Zola, and Running Barefoot

For a while now, I've considered myself something of a master of sweet potato "fries" made in the oven with a little olive oil, sea salt and rosemary. they are SO good, and good for you. But here's an even better looking recipe that I'm now intent on trying. Similar process to what Phil and I usually do, but they look far prettier. We usually make a garlic aioli to go with the fries (yes, thus kinda canceling any actually health benefit) but the honey-lime dip they make sounds good too.



Phil has begun his training for the Burlington (VT) marathon this spring and I've decided to try and run a (small) portion of the race with him to keep him company. Yesterday we ran 3 miles around charles village and roland park and it was my first outdoor run in a couple years. Felt great! I know this isn't very far for legitimate runners - but I'm the polar opposite of a legitimate runner. Sometimes I'm such a poor runner, I wonder if my legs are on right.
Maybe the real problem is, I wear shoes. Maybe I should start running barefoot like my new idol, Zola Budd?

In any case, 3 miles, in my own humble opinion, pretty much makes me a running champion, who is allowed to dip sweet potato fries in whatever amount of mayonnaise sauce she wants. So there.

Happy friday. Be sure to go to the Business workshop at CA if you can!

GO TO THIS.

Do you have questions about wholesale? Taxes? Copyright? What about getting great images of your work? Or effectively promoting yourself on the web?

Maintaining a successful business is hard work and can feel overwhelming when you are the person responsible for everything from design to production, accounting, marketing, shipping and sales. It's time to step out of the studio and arm yourself with information. You know how they say 'knowledge is power'? In the business world it's also time, money, success and probably sanity, too.

Register for BEST's first business meet-up at the Creative Alliance this Sunday, January 25th. The meet-up will feature roundtable discussions led by Cynthia Blake Sanders, MD Lawyers for the Arts; Rebecca Cason, former director of the Buyer's Market of American Craft; Jen Menkhaus, working crafter and one of the founders of the Baltimore Street Team; Nita Gale, web designer; Ariella Levin of Baltimore's Best Bookkeeper; and Thomas Wynn, professional photographer.

Practical discussions will include legal and accounting basics; marketing, wholesale and pricing; and looking your best– on the web and in promo photos. Lunch will be provided (mouth-watering white bean hummus sandwiches!), a great time to get connected with other local artists and crafters to make new friends, show off your work, and share ideas. Come join us!

Details:
Sun Jan 25. 10am-2:30pm.
Adv reg $25, $20 CA & BEST mbrs. Walk-in $30, $25 CA & BEST mbrs. Includes lunch.

Register HERE

Inspiration Thursday

Kim Rosen's awesome illustations (this is a greeting card, which I found on Jess Gonacha's blog):
Cal Lane's lacey garden tools - at Foley Gallery in NY:

Pidge-tastic

Oh my GOODNESS - what a proud week this is!

My good pal Vanessa of PidgePidge made this beautiful quilted illustration for me and my sidekick for our wedding this past July. How honored was I, and how proud of her was I, when this morning, that very illustration made it to the Craft Magazine blog! Go Pidgepidge Go!

If you have a pet, or know someone obsessed with THEIR pet, Vanessa will make you a custom portrait in this way. Always so fun to see what she does with vintage fabric, silly pet photos, and vague descriptions from strangers.
Vanessa will also be in a show coming up at Hanahou Gallery in NYC.

While waiting to go to that opening, I think I'll go gaze lovingly at our now famous piece of art in the living room.

-rb

art for a bigger purpose

Shepard Fairey on the Colbert Report, humbly discussing own awesomeness:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Shepard Fairey

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

With all the constant fear of copyright and ownership... you can't help being annoyed at yourself for not being as cucumber cool as Shepard Fairey. True selflessness? Enough attention already from other projects (and the assumption everyone will know it was you anyway)? Or the realization that there are more important things than money? Either way, Fairey remains one of my heroes, if only for using art in such a positive way, and inspiring a resurgence of nice political design.

Happy Tuesday

What a day.

Postcards to Obama

The project: "Postcards to Obama" is an ongoing community art project started by Baltimore artist Rebecca Nagle.

The plan: Nagle has created blank postcards for people to fill out. People make postcards about what they want for their country, and address them to President Obama.
The cards are being collected through the inauguration in January at which time the collection will be shipped to the white house.

All cards are posted on the project website: postcardstoobama.com.



You can contact Rebecca Nagle, the project organizer at
rebecca.nagle {at} gmail.com.

New Fricking Websites. Plural.

That's right. PLURAL.NEW. WEBSITES. Red Prairie Press has now been sensibly redesigned, and separated into categories: Apparel, Art and Blog. Purpose: so that now, you'll WANT to visit us!

Take a gander at the new design! The blog* is still the blog (duh, you're reading it!); rachelbone.com* is now ONLY artwork and the redprairiepress shop* - now hosted by a shop building wonderland called "bigcartel" is SOLELY the apparel & calendar line (I know. Can you even HANDLE IT!!!??!?!???!)

*The best part is - you still get to go to one big blob of glue in the middle called redprairiepress.com and pick where you want to go by scrolling over the pretty pictures that pop up over each option. AND I'm told me email even works at this point!
Wasssup 21st century!??

Seriously though, go check out the site, and then go pat Ben on the back, because he's the one who did it all. I just sat there and shouted out the names of colors and fake internet terminology until it was over.

City Paper Review- Storytellers

Thanks to Kate Noonan for the awesomely spot-on review she gave the Storytellers exhibit (the show I'm currently in at Paperwork Gallery) in today's City Paper!

Calendars are on sale

it's official- it's 2009.
To celebrate the new year, and our new website debuting this week (!!!)
our 2009 calendars are now on sale until they are gone!

Weekend Recap

Had the nicest weekend with friends on my first trip to Western MD. Angie found us a cabin to rent near Deep Creek Lake, and it had an outdoor hot tub, which we frequented all weekend in between bouts of boardgames, crossword puzzles, hot toddy's and delicious meals by the fire. From the few photos that Phil and I took- it appears we were hiking all weekend, but that's a lie. The only hiking we did was between the cabin, and the car, which was parked down at the bottom of the road due to ice and snow (which were both a really nice sight to this northerner's winter-deprived eyes).
I thieved the first and last photo from Scott's flickr, since Phil and I only took a few photos the whole weekend. Scott managed to get some amazing group shots in our last few hours in Garrett County. Store did too.
All in all, a perfect way to start living 2009 the way I hope it will be. Laughing, eating and surrounded by good people.

Also - thanks to my big brother, I have a new very warm & cozy winter coat that worked its magic during this excursion.

Artscape Applications Available Online

Did you apply for your artscape vendor space yet?
applications are up now, HERE!

The Indie Craft Documentary

A big whopping Congratulations to Faythe Levine. After 3 years of filming, traveling, editing and animating, her documentary on the indie craft world - aptly titled "Handmade Nation" - is finally complete! Look for a screening in a city near you this year, and in the meantime, check out her blog, and watch the trailer!

c'mere Mr Sammy...

Good Morning

Did you know that you can opt out of having the yellow pages, and white pages, and all phone books delivered to your house?
If you're reading blogs, chances are, you google things to find them, rather than looking in the phone book anyway.
Having just dumped a pile of FOUR phone books into our recycling bin, I realized we should probably put a stop to the wasted paper.

You can do it easily by visiting YellowPagesGoesGreen.org.
Now, if only we could opt out of getting former tenants' junk mail...

Get Your Craft On - Bizwise

Our friends at BEST will be hosting their first business meetup at the Creative Alliance on Sunday, January 25th. The meetup will feature roundtable discussions led by Cynthia Blake Sanders, MD Lawyers for the Arts; Rebecca Cason, former director of the Buyer’s Market of American Craft; Jen Menkhaus, working crafter and one of the founders of the Baltimore Street Team; Nita Gale, web designer; Ariella Levin of Baltimore’s Best Bookkeeper; and Thomas Wynn, professional photographer. Practical discussions will include legal and accounting basics; marketing, wholesale and pricing; and looking your best– on the web and in promo photos. Lunch will be provided, a great time to get connected with other local artists and crafters to make new friends, show off your work, and share ideas. Come bond with your fellow local crafters, and get some learning done!

Details:
Sun Jan 25. 10am-2:30pm.

Adv reg $25, $20 CA & BEST mbrs. Walk-in $30, $25 CA & BEST mbrs. Includes lunch.

Read More

One of my New Year's Resolutions (that's right. "Resolution" is plural this year) is to read more. Not just grownup books either. Lots and lots of children's books. I've been thinking about storytelling, and the things that originally (and continuously) inspire me, and really, it all comes back to children's books and old folktales. I've been particularly obsessing over Scandinavia and pretending that Phil and I will take a trip there someday soon, but until then, I'm happy with my nose in books.

Sort of fitting- last night, my good pal Sage and I cuddled up under a blanket and watched Harold & the Purple Crayon (the animated, now-on-DVD version) last night at Heather's house. It really is one of the most simple & beautiful things I've ever seen. My kind of animation for sure, and my kind of book too. Off to bust out my organization skills and get my taxes done (AGHHHH) so I can begin my year of reading.

Other resolutions include: cook more with friends, drink more water & less coffee, take more walks outside, refrain from reading trashy celebrity gossip blogs, sit at a computer less in general, travel, paint and draw more, work on an animation with phil, and finally, write more letters by hand.

Back in Action

Hello long lost friends of 2009! We're back safely in Baltimore after a trip to NH for Christmas, and one to Cape Cod for New Years. All is merry up north, and I got my one wish - which was to see some snow.
We got to play with our niece, eat too much food with our families, sit by the woodstove fire, and talk with old friends and even hike in the woods a bit. Mr Sammy camped out at the Davis house and was strung out on catnip at all hours of the day, lounging upside down by the fire and purring away. A big fluffy Christmas mess.
Now that we're back, and ready for 2009. All orders placed since December 24 will ship today. Thank you for your patience as we took our long winded and much needed journey. I think if I have time, I'd like to write a list of my favorite things from 2008, so look for that later in the week. I wonder if this will make the cut: