Best of 2011: My Favorite Songs of the Year

Well, it's that time of year again:

1. Us - Regina Spektor

2. Born With a Broken Heart - David Wax Museum

3. Colors - April Smith and the Great Picture Show

4. Sensitive Man - Nick Lowe

5. Will Do - TV On the Radio

6. This Tornado Loves You - Neko Case

7. Rolling in the Deep - Adele

8. Thunder On the Mountain - Wanda Jackson

9. (You're So Square) Baby, I Don't Care - Buddy Holly

10. Oh! Carol - Neil Sedaka

11. Dynamite - Brenda Lee

12. La Vie, l'Amour - Edith Piaf

13. Lipstick On Your Collar - Connie Francis

14. Timber - Neko Case & Her Boyfriends

15. Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes

16. The Calculation - Regina Spektor

17. Lost in My Mind - The Head and the Heart

18. Rox in the Box - The Decemberists

19. Shell Games - Bright Eyes

20. Calgary - Bon Iver

21. Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise - The Avett Brothers

22. The Road - Emmylou Harris

23. Time After Time - Margaret Whiting

24. You've Got The Love - Florence + The Machine

25. Auld Lang Syne - Pink Martini

Furoshiki Design Contest: Autumn 2010

In 2010, I took and thoroughly enjoyed a Textile History class available to continuing education students. (You know, the worker bees who can't leave college behind.) The mid-term assignment was to create and submit a design for a furoshiki, or large folding cloth, to The Japan Foundation's International Furoshiki Design Contest.

 I didn't win. No one in our class won. Here is the list of winners.
(I like Great Pacific Garbage Fish, Transporting and Connecting, and Tides best.)

I based my design on traditional shibori patterns and the work of modern Japanese artists like Shihoko Fukumoto and Tsuguo Yanai:

Shihoko Fukumoto

 

Tsuguo Yanai

I chose to simplify and discard every unnecessary element of the shibori form, allowing the viewer to see the work abstractly. I also wanted, like Fukumoto, "to achieve artistic expressiveness within the constraints of a single colour - indigo." And like Yanai, I wanted to use my design to define "the meaning of borders..., altering the awareness of inside and outside." (All quotes from Art Textiles of the World: Japan, Volume Two.)

So, here's my hand painted design:

And here's a link to an article about other Japanese artists with a similar style.

Happy Christmas!

"Do you have Christmas in France?"

Hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful and memorable day!