This Town

I love this Town - Fabric print 8x10 by Annilygreen

What a great statement. I do love this town. Minneapolis is my home and its a damn good one!





Here is our beautiful Minneapolis skyline! This is a painting made by Chicago artist Anastasia Mak for the Powderhorn Art Fair. Coming up next weekend, August 7-9!

Interior Inspiration

Goodmorning all! These colors/textures best describe how I'm feeling today. I wish I could live in a space with all of these things!

Perfect Paper

I've been having trouble getting inspired this week, which is why I didn't post yesterday. Today I'd like to make up for it by showing you work from Mia Pearlman! She's an amazing artist who does papercut installations.







Her latest work (pictured below) was in an Exhibition called Escape from New York at the Fabricolor Building in New Jersey.


Prior to that, she exhibited work in Minneapolis at the annual Chablis fundraiser/art auction for the Midway Contemporary Art Museum. So disappointed I didn't know about it sooner!


Her next exhibition isn't scheduled until 2012, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Love: Letter Writing

I know letter writing is a dying art, but I really appreciate the effort it takes and the thought put into a well written letter to friend or lover. Everyone should have the experience of letter writing a distant friend. I think it's the nostalgic nature of it is what draws me in, but it could also be the romance factor that is usually associated with them.



My writing utensil of choice is a pen or a typewriter. BUT...if I had to use something else, I'd like to use this Enamored Pencil Set from Paper Pastries.



I know a lot of people don't like writing letters. Maybe its because they don't know what to say? If that's the case, there are numerous websites with pre-written messages for you to hand-write yourself. Arteriole on Etsy also offers a hand-written letter service. She can write it in the Art Noveau style (pictured above) or any style you want. She also gives you your choice of font, ink, and illustration, and the envelope will be sealed with red wax!


While I was working at the Tweed Museum in Duluth, MN, I came across a bunch of Telegram correspondance from Mr. Tweed and his art dealers. Usually they said things like, "Dear Mr. Tweed The Millet has been sent Expect arrival in one week We are grateful for your continued business ".

Below are some telegrams I found that I thought were worth sharing.



This one makes me laugh. I'm sure whoever originally read it was excited to kill the fatted calf.



I wish we still had a way of sending telegrams. I guess text messaging is a comparable form of communication. You can only say so much in a small amount of text. Detail is no longer important, so long as the message comes across correctly.




I hope everyone finds some time to write a thoughtful letter to a friend this weekend! See you Monday!

Design: Storage Container Homes

Imagine walking into your backyard and spending your free time in this polyhedron designed by Manuel Villa.




It was designed for families to relax and enjoy the outdoors in a vocational setting with their families. It reminds me of Marie Antoinette's cottage villa she built for herself in Versailles, but it also got me thinking of practical uses for such a small space.


I came across these shipping container offices, which are quite practical! I could imagine an architect or construction foreman using one of these. They could easily move it from the main warehouse, when need be, to have it out on site with the building crew.



Illy Italian Coffee had a great idea of using these shipping containers for an quick cafe set-up!

I would buy coffee just to sit in this space for a little while. But I'm unsure why there is a toilet so out in the open. :)





The organization I work for, Friends of the Orphans, has decided to use shipping containers in a unique way that will benefit those suffering from the earthquake of Januay 12th, 2010. Currently, they are transforming shipping containers formerly used to transport supplies into fully-functional hospital rooms on the site of St. Damien’s Hospital. This allows them to help not just children, but adults in need of medical care as well. These structures will eventually become permanent.





Father Rick Frechette of St. Damien's Hospital and St. Helen's Orphanage said, "Our new campground for displaced children is nearly ready. We have been working there all week. Instead of circling the wagons, we squared off empty containers in a huge rectangle covering 4,000 square meters. We will expand it in time. The containers themselves will soon be dormitories for the children, and the area for meals, schooling and activities will be in the shadow of the containers with the help of large awnings. There are about 350 children waiting to come in."

DONATE or Learn more about Haiti & Friends of the Orphans.

Suspended Sculpture

Once in a while I come accross something that just blows my mind. Claire Morgan's work is one of those things.






"I am inspired by the world around me, and the things that happen there. My materials are things that I find in the world around me, both natural and manufactured. My materials have ranged from dried flower petals, leaves, and plant seeds, to animals, both taxidermy and rotting carcasses, blood, torn polythene bags, flies and rotting fruit."





Installation art has always been a debatable form of sculpture in the art world. When looking at this type of work, you may ask yourself; who is the intended viewer? Would this piece work in a different environment? If so, would it have the same reaction?. I love art for all of these questions and the thousand more you can think of.


I particularly like Claire Morgan's work because it has an amazing sense of movement in it, although all of the pieces are stationary and placed in a static position. Most of her work is telling an interesting story. The bird falling through the strawberries looks like a scene from a fantasy book. A moment in time, captured and suspended in our reality.

Claire Morgan was born in Belfast. She attended University of Ulster and Northumbria University where she achieved a first class degree in Sculpture. She is now based in London.

Etsy: Twelfth Night Design

For those of you who don't know, Twelfth Night Design is ME. I sell vintage goods on etsy under Twelfth Night Design. I have so many things waiting to be posted...I will do it soon! Below are some of the things I have up now!








I just couldn't resist posting this today. It's an ad, from the 50's, for deodorant. That look on her face is exactly how I feel on a sweaty, humid day...when I don't always feel "lovely to love". :)

Swim in Style

I was looking back on my Synchronized swimming days and wondering what it would have been like if we wore swim caps like these. Found via Modcloth.




I love this picture below of a youth Synchro practice, taken by bobestphoto on flickr. I sooo miss those days of 3 hour practices in the pool.


This picture is from an article in a 1955 life magazine.

Maybe I should go swimming!