Striking images of the Himalayan mountains show the alarming ramifications of global warming in a new project by the Asia Society and MediaStorm.
The videography is stunning. As is the still photography used in the project's second section, "Then & Now," which shows just how much melting is going on throughout the Himalayan region.
Brooklyn-based ceramics artist May Luk creates wonderful, wonderful stuff. Her designs are playful, her color-schemes timeless. And I love the combination of antique-y looking illustrations with function. (I don't know about you, but if something doesn't have a use it my teeny-tiny house, there's just no space for it!)
I learned about May Luk at the The Market at The (OA) Can Factory. It's a bi-weekly craft fair in Brooklyn, where Meow Meow Tweet was also on hand selling soaps!
Ariel Zambelich (pictured above) started out shooting still photography for her high school yearbook. By the time college rolled around, she decided to focus her lens on motion pictures instead. At San Francisco State University, Zambelich was an aspiring documentary filmmaker. But she “soon realized it wasn’t a good fit.”
“After talking to a high school friend's older sister, I changed majors to journalism with a focus on photography, and I haven't looked back,” she said. “I fell in love with photographing people, and was amazed it was possible to make a living through meeting strangers, listening to their stories, and photographing their lives.”
Now, she’s a California-based freelance photographer who is doing just that.
“It's definitely inspiring to see the photographers I went through school with grow so much. They're all starting collectives and small agencies, figuring out ways to fund their personal projects, and really making names for themselves,” Zambelich said. “We're always trading stories and editing each others pictures; it's an incredible support system, especially in a time when the industry is on such shaky ground and a lot of people are flailing as they try to make heads or tails of it.”
Zambelich is currently following the transition of a 53-year-old man into his new life as a woman. “The issues surrounding the transgender community have always been interesting to me,” she said. “My foster brother was transsexual, and was always really open about his lifestyle. It's been interesting to shoot because the story touches on a lot of psychological and emotional issues beyond the generally-publicized ‘man wants to be woman and is now happy’ mentality, and it's really opened my eyes to the complexities of life in transition.”
It’s not easy, she said: “There have definitely been days where I went home totally drained or confused or frustrated, which often happens on a long-term project. But there have also been some really incredible moments that make me grateful for the opportunity to do the job I do, and to be privy to the intimate moments in these people's lives.”
Jared Soares is a photographer based in Roanoke, Va. who documents daily life through his job at The Roanoke Timesnewspaper.
Born in Santa Cruz, Calif., Soares says his mother first piqued his interest in photography when he was a kid. "My mom always had cameras around the house, taking pictures of me on birthdays, family trips and first days of school," he said. "She also had a subscription to National Geographic, so I was always sort of exposed to photography, but I wasn't aware you could make a career out of it until I got college. Before that I was just taking photos of things around my neighborhood and my friends skateboarding."
As a working professional, Soares says he tries to "keep it simple" by working off one camera body and one lens -- the Canon 5D and a 35 mm f/l.4. "This set up allows me to be more in tune with the people I'm photographing and that's something I find hard to do when hauling around a backpack full of equipment," he said.
Newspaper colleagues provide inspiration, as does Christopher Anderson's gorgeous book on Caracas, Venezuela, called "Capitolio," and Aaron Huey's work from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Then there's books: "I'm currently re-reading Norman Maclean's 'A River Runs Through It' -- one of my favorite books of all time," he said.
Soares' first solo exhibition, a series on hip hop culture, will open next month at the O. Winston Link Museum.
The current issue of the rad magazine Juxtapoz has an interview with Yoshitomo Nara. The painter/sculptor talks about some recent exhibits, nostalgia and individualism. He sounds a bit tired, but overall it's good stuff.
Fast facts from the Asian American Arts Alliance today, based on a year-long delve into New York City's Asian American arts community:
+ 60 percent of artists make less than $10,000 a year from their art. + 70 percent of artists work either full- or part-time outside of their artistic career. + 40 percent of artists are accruing up to $5,000 each year in debt to create their work.
Want to read more? Click here. There's also a related discussion scheduled for 6 p.m. Tues., Sept. 15. at the New York Univesity's Asian/Pacific/American Institute.
Shin Park dishes on fashion, crafting and general sassiness from London, via her blog, Park & Cube. Park is a design student with a sharp eye for photography (she uses a Canon 400D according to her blog bio), vintage fashion and D.I.Y. creativity. Her latest is a gorgeous hand-knit shawl that she models herself.
What does merging cultures look like to you? Enter the East West magazine cover contest and show us your take.
The winner earns bragging rights, a magazine profile and a *national* audience. Deadline is Sept. 4. Can't wait to see what you creative cats come up with.
Mimi Shim sews a mean pillow. Just look at her revolver pillowcase. Tough! But the New York-based artist isn't the only one into needlework that would make my grandma grin. Read on.
First up, a nifty book with photos and patterns called "Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts: Woolly Embroidery." ($14.95 at The Curiosity Shoppe)
Then there's this little lion, handcrafted and felted by Cary Walker of Atlanta. ($48) Her etsy shop, Little Love Blue, has a few other animals as well. No scary jungle beasts there! (Check out her adorable Flickr page for more.)
Finally, want to try your own hand at embroidery? Hearts and Laserbeams, an online goodies shop, will show you how with its "underwater critters embroidery pattern." ($4) Buena suerte!
Pancho, Clark, Milo, Jet and Lucci may be cute and small. But they have big dreams about helping others.
Sarah Sung, a graphic designer based in Lawrence, Kans., is the creative brain power behind the cartoon quintet. It's aim: "To promote social activism in our communities," Sung says.
Each Lucha character represents a separate category of advocacy. Clark, the accordion-playing monkey, he's passionate about music and arts, of course. Lucci the pirate, peg-legged owl loves promoting literacy. The list goes on.
How can you help? A portion of proceeds sold on The Lucha Narrative Web site go toward non-profit aid organizations. (Think cute T-shirts, hoodies and tote bags.)
Sung has also started venturing into event planning by organizing a benefit concert this month. There's little doubt there will be more do-gooder goodness coming out of this fledgling project.
Learn more by checking out an awesome audio interview with Sung on lawrence.com.
(Photo courtesy of the lawrence.com/Lawrence Journal-World.)
A gift of goat’s milk soap, made by a family friend, prompted Jeff Kurosaki and Tara Pelletier to enter the world of soap making. It was 2008, and the present came from Pelletier’s grandmother. “After using it, there was no way that we could go back to commercial soaps,” the pair said.
Around the same time, Kurosaki and Pelleitier were venturing into “urban homesteading.” They created an indoor compost and a large herb garden in the windows of their Brooklyn apartment. (Kurosaki was already into furniture making and Pelletier was sewing her way into her own wardrobe and bag line.)
A soap-making book taught the couple basic recipes. They then ventured into recipes of their own. First up: a shea butter bar with tea tree and oats.
“We had made so much that we gave some away to friends, who also became addicted,” Kurosaki and Pelletier told Creative Cat. “At the same time, we had been going to the Brooklyn Flea and the Brooklyn Indie Market and were inspired by all of the cool things people were making and wanted to be a part of it.”
Here's a look at how it's done:
Now that Kurosaki and Pelletier have formed their own organic soap company, Meow Meow Tweet, they really like developing recipes and making drawings for product labels.
Kurosaki is also into “using these big, beautiful glass droppers to measure out the essential oils.” And Pelletier “loves to bring the soap to trace (this is when the oils and the lye combine).”
But the hardest part, Kurosaki and Pelletier say, is balancing day jobs with their art and soap-making. Also tricky: “Realizing the scent we have in our minds and communicating that to our noses.” Most of the meow meow tweet soap scents are inspired by food flavors.
Pelletier cooked in restaurants for many years and Kurosaki says he loves good food. “So our natural sensibility was to create flavors that we'd want to eat,” they said.
A study of the creative and the cool behind inspiring east/west innovators.
Suggestions? Compliments? Complaints? creativecat at eastwestmagazine dot com
Striking images of the Himalayan mountains show the alarming ramifications of global warming in a new project by the Asia Society and MediaStorm.
