Alphabet Quilt

Girard Alphabet QuiltI suppose an alphabet blanket on my bed would be overkill, even for me, but I do like the “&” in the detail to the left of an Alphabet Quilt made from Alexander Girard’s alphabet. Girard is a “mid-century” designer who specialized in playful patterns and bright colors and was head of Herman Miller’s textile division in the 1950s. House Industries has licensed many of his designs, and you can see them here. There’s a book available too (Alexander Girard Designs for Herman Miller) that has photos of all his textile & furniture work.

Mnemonic Sampler

Chandler O’Leary’s solo show Mnemonic Sampler opens tonight in Tacoma, WA. She’s made 26 samplers, one for each letter of the alphabet, combining fabric, monoprinting and sewing. On her blog, she explains (and shows) how she made them — using reduction-cut linoleum blocks for the monoprints. To pique your interest, here are a couple of them…

Mnemonic Sampler by Chandler O’Leary

Pop Up Architecture

Most books that showcase architectural projects use photos. Wendy Evans Joseph made a pop-up book instead. It features 3d constructions of 10 projects. You can see more images on her website. Below is the pedestrian bridge at Rockefeller University.

Pop up architecture

Craft in America

Julie Chen working on a book projectHere in the bay area, our local PBS station is showing a 2-part series called Craft in America. (I think it’s the continuation of a series that started last year.) According to this article from the SF Chronicle, the second program (entitled Process) features two Bay Area artists, book artist Julie Chen (that’s her to the right) and printer Tom Killion.
I’ve got the shows set up to record on our DVR, and you can also watch season 1 online.