Recently about Personal

Heading up to Nova Scotia, Canada tomorrow for the first White Rabbit Installation Arts Festival. A week long artist residency on a 70 acre property by the Bay of Fundy. I'll be working on a multimedia outdoor installation and collaborating with 13 other artists-in-residence, culminating in a 24-hour public exhibit with live music and performances!

Just for fun: the birthday announcement for my daughter's 5th birthday party. Got to combine my loves for photography, design, and Evie.

Happy Earth day from Ultra Virgo! While we're firm believers in practicing sustainability year round, it's always nice to celebrate our mother. Check out some of the green events around town here, here and here  or take the opportunity to join Repower America

I just returned from the Patois, the 2009 New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival. It was an incredible line up of Films - a few highlights were Nerakhoon (The Betrayal), Disturbing the Universe, and keep an eye out for the release of the House that Herman Built.
Watch the trailer I created for the fest here.

I bought Happy Baby green puffs. Noticed on the bottom of the container that it says Method, the cleaning company. So, I googled to discover that Method had thousands of containers it was never going to use after a packaging redesign. So Happy Baby bought them, to package their puffs in non-toxic, recyclable, non-Bisphenol A containers. Interesting packaging choice. I'm still not sure if it's brilliant or anxiety inducing. 

Paid a visit to the Brooklyn Historical Society this weekend to see their show, "Counter/Culture: The Disappearing Face of the Brooklyn Storefront" it was interesting to see photos of the blocks I know in a constant state of flux. Also learned that the world's first teddy bear was created at a little mom and pop store in Williamsberg, the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co.
Also very well done (and timely on this Veteran's day) was their exhibit "In Our Own Words," which features life size portraits of Vietnam vets, as you approach the paintings, viewers stand in footprints which activate speakers above to play their recorded stories.

I've just returned freshly inspired from a visit to New Orleans, where the city is beginning to buzz with preparations for the Prospect 1 Biennial opening in 1 month. I was down there working on the open air project, sponsered by the Arts Council of New Orleans and opening concurrently. A friend's gallery/experiment was just written up in the style section of the NY times. KK Projects has taken over a block of hurricane destroyed houses and given a new life and a little magic to the area.

Necessity is the mother of research and development. I've been looking at baby carriers, and finally chose one. I love guessing how the design of products like this started with something old and people added their own clever ideas until now it can be used front or back, transferred from person to person with the baby inside, and with a pocket to carry essentials.

Happy fall! We're all back from our various vacations in the woods (Katie and Patrick were here) and it's full speed ahead.

We didn't win the Smallest Coolest apartment, but we did get an article about us in the Daily News, with video. Next time I'm being interviewed, remind me to hire a stylist to fix my hair.

Our (Patrick & Katie's) apartment is in the finals over at Apartment Therapy's Smallest Coolest Apartment Design Contest. Check out our original entry, and the new expanded entry.