Saturday, January 14, 2012

Peace Begins At Home

I was recently asked to design a custom license plate in support of healthy relationships by the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. The result is this "Peace Begins at Home" plate that is now available for pre-order...



If you're a Virginia resident please consider making this your new license plate. It's just $25, with a proceeds going to support the Building Healthy Futures fund. They need to get 450 orders by the end of the month or the plate won't get made at all, so you can really make a difference by signing up now.

More information is HERE.

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Variety Pack - a night of inspired creativity in NYC

We want you to be inspired in 2012! So, we have invited a diverse group of the most creative performers we know to entertain you with their talents and answer your questions about how they do it...


Join us in New York City on Wednesday January 18th for 

Variety Pack

an evening of inspired creativity featuring our panel of experts:


$8, Doors 8pm

This is an intimate venue with limited seating, so arrive early!

Jimmy's No. 43 - craft beer and delicious locavore cuisine!
43 East 7th St. btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave. NYC
6 to Astor Place or R/W to 8th St. or F to 2nd Ave.


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Unstuck Book Release Party: Richmond, VA

Richmond friends please come out celebrate the release of my new book Unstuck...


Saturday, December 3rd
5-7pm
2913 W. Cary St.
Richmond, VA
804.422.8066

Hope to see you there!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Radical Gardening: Plant The Piece


In 2004 I co-created the guerrilla gardening art project Plant The Piece with Christopher Humes in which we made handguns out of dirt & plant seeds. To brand the project I developed a logo inspired by the classic photo of a flower being placed in the barrel of a gun.



The project initially ran for nine months here in Richmond, Virginia and then took on another life online and eventually ended up in galleries across the globe.


Then earlier this year I was contacted by a designer who was working in the UK on a new book about guerrilla gardening she asked if she could use a version of the logo on the cover.

Since the original image wasn't made for commercial purposes I decided to update it and also create it as a spray paint stencil to go with the aesthetic of the book cover as already designed.

More information about the book Radical Gardening can be found HERE.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

My new book Unstuck is in stores today!

My new book Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work & in Your Studio is officially in stores as of today!


It features 52 creativity boosting projects, that are arranged by time commitment from 30 seconds to several hours, and is designed to be used by anyone, regardless of age, profession, or level of skill. 


The book also features interviews with a dozen of my favorite inspiring people and how they deal with their own roadblocks to creativity.


In addition there are sidebars with even more projects to get your creative wheels turning.


And it includes plenty of blank space to use as you see fit!

I hope you'll pick up a copy today. As always I recommend supporting your local independent bookstore if you still have one, but if not you can also order online at Powells, Amazon.com, Qbookshop, Barnes & Noble, and Chapters/Indigo.


Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Unstuck Book Signing: NYC

The first book signing event for my newest book Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work & in Your Studio will be next week in NYC!


Friday, November 18th
6-8pm 

118 Prince Street
SOHO, NYC
212.966.6688


Hope to see you there!




Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Skulls in NYC

Krause Gallery in NYC will be exhibiting a selection of objects and images from my Skull-A-Day project this month!



The show opens Thursday, November 17th with a reception from 6–9pm.
If you're in the area I hope you'll come by and say hi!

The show runs through mid-December so even if you can't make the opening there'll be plenty of time to see the work in person.

Krause Gallery
149 Orchard St.
Lower East Side, NYC
212-777-7799

Wed-Sun 12-6pm
Mon-Tue By Appointment

image: Nude Skull

Monday, November 07, 2011

The 99% Vote

My friend Bizhan Khodabandeh was inspired by my 99% design to create his own Occupy Wall Street poster...


You can download a PDF of this poster via his site HERE.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

99% Art in Action II

My ever vigilant friend Phoebe spotted my 99% art in use in a beauty salon in Brooklyn!...




Tuesday, November 01, 2011

99% Tee Too

I decided to make a slightly different version of my 99% design on Zazzle so that it would work on lighter colored shirts as well...



You can get this version HERE.

And you can still get the original design on red (and other darker colored shirts) HERE.

As before, all profits will be donated to support the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

99% Art in Action

I was delighted to get this photo from my friend Phoebe of an unnamed protestor holding a custom made sign for the NYC General Assembly featuring my 99% design at Zuccotti Park where Occupy Wall Street is taking place!


You can download my art for your own use HERE.

And T-shirts with the graphic are available from Zazzle HERE (all profits go to support the Occupy Wall Street movement).

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

CD Package Design: Lightning Slingers and Dead Ringers

I recently designed this CD package for Lisa Moore's new EP Lightning Slingers and Dead Ringers from Cantaloupe Music...


The typography is all hand painted and the image was one taken by Lisa herself. The disc is a follow-up to her EP Seven.

More information can be found on the album page HERE.

Monday, October 24, 2011

CD Package Design: Baroque Tardif

I recently designed this package for the new Florent Ghys album Baroque Tardif from Cantaloupe Music...


Florent specifically asked for something that was minimalist and had a rich feel to it.


The title on the cover is reflective gold foil. The image, an illustration by Romain Cadillhon, is printed in gloss varnish on a matte varnish background on the outside of the package and in gold ink on the interior and disc.



For more about the CD including audio samples check out its page on the Cantaloupe site HERE.


Friday, October 21, 2011

Jerky Activism

I'm at a loss for what a company (and ostensibly the designer behind it) is thinking when they create a campaign like this. "Hey, let's co-opt the hip aesthetics of social activism to sell cheap processed meat products!" Seriously?! I just can't imagine the audience for either has much overlap. But maybe I'm wrong. Ug.

Jerky Activist?

Here's a nice article giving a history of this icon, prior to its use in highway side convenience stores in southern Virginia.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Secret Heart Wedding Invitations

I recently designed these wedding invitations made from vintage books...


I decided it would be fun to create a bit of a mystery for people who were invited, so they were just sent what looked like a normal book, with a ribbon bookmark that was tied to a small wooden key.


Inside they discovered a heart shaped lock fit snugly into a hole inside the book.


The lock had to be removed and turned over to discover a URL which led to a website that explained the details of this destination event.

The wooden pieces are laser etched bamboo and the books were laser cut (all by my friend Jason at Big Secret) and then the entire thing was hand assembled and delivered in a large sturdy envelope.


Sunday, October 16, 2011

Blog Action Day: Food

Today is Blog Action Day and this year's topic is Food.


You are what you eat. It's a phrase we hear all the time and yet, it seems that most people don't take it to heart. I think of it when I hear people complaining about how expensive it is to buy local/organic food and I think of it when I hear people bragging about the bargains they got on large quantities of mass-produced, highly processed food, at national chain-stores. We live in a culture in the US that has made food consumption about cost and quantity rather than taste and quality. And it's killing us, literally from the inside out.

And it's not just about your personal health, there are many reasons that it's important to make conscious choices about the food you eat. Here's just a sampling:
I made a choice several years ago that I would eat lower on the food chain (i.e. be vegetarian), support local food producers/sellers as much as possible, and that I would avoid non-organic and GM (Genetically Modified) foods at all costs. It turns out that once you stop seeing those other options as actual food, it's really not that hard to do.

As for the cost? Americans currently spend a smaller percentage of their income on food than ever before (in 1949 it was 22%, in 2009 it was just 10% via). So where is the rest of our money going? Obviously we've been convinced that the consumer products we buy are more important than the things we ingest and ultimately incorporate into our bodies!

So where do you start? Luckily there are tons of excellent resources out there for people interested in starting to think about their food differently. Here are just a few great ways to begin...

Watch the documentary Food, Inc. it does a good job of covering the gamut of issues that surround what's on your plate.






Read Michael Pollan's succint In Defense of Food. Also worth reading is his book Omnivore's Dilemma.
Get the facts about healthy food from the Center for Science in The Public Interest.
Check out the Slow Food movement that encourages thoughtful eating.
Find a local Farmer's Market to shop at, you might be surprised at how affordable local can be.

Join a CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture) group to really get to know where your food is coming from.

Happy eating!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

99% Tee

Just put up a quick T-shirt design on Zazzle using my 99% design...



All profits will be donated to support the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Get yours HERE.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Eye In The Sky


Artist Marcos Zotes shared his intriguing video installation from this year's Nuit Blanche in Greenpoint, Brooklyn which happened on October 1st. I'm a big fan of large-scale public art installations, especially when they question the increasing amount of control private concerns have over public spaces. He explains, 
"CCTV/Creative Control seeks to question the oppressive mechanisms and discourses implemented in the city through the temporary appropriation of public space. The intervention consists of a video projection displaying an over-sized eye onto the lower surface of the 10-storey-hight Milton Street water tower in Brooklyn, New York. Still the highest point in the area, until it is dwarfed by new gentrification plans, the water tower exists as a relic of the neighbourhood’s industrial past. The intervention temporarily transforms this iconic landmark into a discernible CCTV tower, raising questions of private control over public space in the urban context. By intervening in the everyday order of contemporary urban life, CCTV/Creative Control aims at both producing moments of antagonism –however transitory, fragmentary or ephemeral– and finding new ways to practice the city, not simply as consumers but as creators."

I only wish I could've seen it in person.

Sunday, October 09, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Visuals

Here is a nice web site called owni.fr, with some photos and visuals concerning the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. A Lot of links too if you want to follow the movement on the net or if you want to take it to the street. Nice analyses.

The website is in French but all the links are in English though.

Friday, October 07, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Posters

Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protestors I've created a few posters that are free to download and use as you please. Click on the images for giant files or use the links below them for PDFs.

 

 




[UPDATE] This was a tagline I had initially considered and per request I have added it as an option...

Get the PDF.

Be sure to check out the posters created by my friend John Emerson and as well the ones from Josh at Just Seeds. There's also an ongoing online collection of them to be found HERE.

You can also now buy T-shirts with my image on it HERE.

And you can see it in use in NYC HERE and HERE.

People's Design Awards

I've been nominated for a Cooper-Hewitt People's Design Award for my CD package for Toby Twining's Eurydice!




I'd appreciate your vote if you don't mind taking a moment to register. The details are HERE.

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Kreativitetskalendern

I recently got a copy of Swedish edition of my book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal! It's called: Kreativitetskalendern: 365 sätt att förändra ditt liv...





This is the first time I've seen one of my books translated to another language and it's a delightfully odd experience! Hopefully I make sense in Swedish.

If you happen to be a Swedish speaker I hope you'll pick up a copy, it appears you can find it in many online bookstores and I'm sure your local bookstores can order it for you as well.

Now I'm just waiting to see the Chinese edition!