"There are as many ways to live as there are people in this world, and each one deserves a closer look"

At about 3:48 into this video is one of my favorite scenes in the history of ever, when Harriet, Sport, and Janie visit a magical art garden. (Click here to see it in high quality!) I wish I could tell you more about the actual venue, but all I know is that it's somewhere in Toronto. where the movie was filmed. Do any of you awesome readers know more about it?

Today's my birthday!

Photo by Alice's Tea Cup

I arrived on this planet 23 years ago today, and I'm celebrating with lunch at Alice's Tea Cup with two good friends, and then a bit of adventuring around Union Square with a visit to my old Place of Internship. Some of my amazing friends have gifted me already, and I'd like to share their art with you.


Callan is the secret love child of Hillary Knight and Mary Blair, but you didn't hear it from me. If you care about me, you'll just have to care about her too, because she's the other half of my brain and our wands have the same core. We enjoy the bon mots of Oscar Wilde, giggling at ridiculous hats, and plotting world domination by cute things. This is her portrait of me; the spiked wheel is for St. Catherine of Alexandria, patron saint of librarians, and the unicorn...well...why not a unicorn?


Krista will be the next John Lasseter some day, just you wait and see. She can leap tall storyboards in a single bound and sketch faster than a Pratt freshman on a quad mocha and a thesis due the next day. Recently, she spent a week here, where we left secret messages for visitors to Governor's Island, painted the roses (and my hair) red, and stood in defiance of the rain on my parade. She's drawn an illustration for the picture book I've written, Dear Mrs. Winterbloom.

Puppets and Synchronicity

Who's seen the movie Labyrinth? It's one of my favorites; the scene where Sarah's friends come back to party with her never fails to make me tear up. (So right! So fitting! It spoke so much to my 16 year old self, who thought she'd have to leave her stories behind when she became an adult.)
Remember the baby, Toby?

Turns out that he's the son of Brian and Wendy Froud, famous fantasy artists and collaborators on both Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal.


And look what a handsome satyr he's become!

All things come full circle; Toby Froud is a puppeteer in his own right, and worked on the Scissor Sister's video for "She's My Man," using the same technique as the "Chilly Down" sequence in Labyrinth.

You can read about the making of this video in Toby Froud Returns to the Labyrinth.

Capsule Prize Reviews: She's Staring at Me

Like the little treasures in a gumball machine, here are mini-reviews of three titles celebrating the wide-eyed and wonderful.


Once upon a time, Blythe was an obscure 70s B-line doll, shunned for her eccentric looks. Along came Gina Garen, fairy godmother to a troupe of tiny plastic muses rescued from antique toy haunts. Blythe stole hearts and paved the way for an all-singing, all-dancing doll revival. This is Blythe is where it all began, dreamy vintage-toned photos that "embrace the rare and unique, the beautiful and funny qualities that are the true essence of who we are." See Blythe masquerading as produce, hailing a cab in a number reminiscent of Built by Hannah, and arguing with the angel and devil on her shoulders.

Big Eye Art: Resurrected and Transformed documents the rise of enormous eyes in pop surrealist portraits, from Margaret Keane to our own Gina Garan. Strange and eerie, cute and colorful, or whimsically subversive, Blonde Blythe introduces us to 22 big-eye-artists, who share what drew them to the style along with their best pieces. I heart Lisa Petrucci and her loving tributes to retro dollies with a modern twist, Misty Benson's gothic beauties with their insect collections and skeleton pets, and Elizabeth Victoria Knowles' surreal monsterscapes where miniature elephants frolic and Victorian poppets carve jack-o-lanterns.

Kitty Ballerina hasn't been the same ever since she traveled to Abby Denson's Dolltopia, a tiny city where toys can live and love as they please. After breaking free of her dream house and going AWOL with her new best friend, pacifist Army Jim, she finds herself questioning her identity and the nature of freedom, tempted by a whole new set of beauty standards, and ultimately willing to fight to bring more dolls to the light. It's deceptively simple and endlessly cute, and bonus, uber-queer-friendly. Hand it to your younger siblings till they're old enough for But I'm a Cheerleader, and then give them a hand with the ensuing Barbie makeovers.

Extras:

*Gina Garan is webmistress of This is Blythe, your destination for everything you've ever wanted to know about the dolls, her photos, and their fandom
*Want more? Check out SuperJunk's Blythes and monsters running amock in an ultra-mod dollhouse , JamFancy's circus girls and forest elves run away from a theme park, and Boopsie Daisy's Technicolor dreamland
*Big Eyed Art Bonanza is your guide to vintage big-eye-art, with an upcoming print companion Big Eyed Masters
* Lisa Petrucci, Misty Benson, and Elizabeth Victoria Knowles all have online galleries--as does Blonde Blythe.
*Read the first issue of Dolltopia online
*Abby Denson, as well as creating several other excellent comics, pens a bi-weekly comic in The L Magazine dedicated to the "sweet and sugary wonders of NYC." Don't miss the past columns!
*Abby was a Lulu of the Year for 2007; read her interview with Friends of Lulu here

Change the world (one interaction at a time):The Guerilla Art Kit by Keri Smith

Despite serving my undergrad sentence at a painfully normal small liberal arts college, I managed to make the acquaintance of the few eccentrics that dared disturb our universe. One of them was a blithe spirit who wore kitty ears and hula hooped for fun and profit. "Here," I thought, "is the first guerilla artist I've ever had the pleasure of meeting in person." While we never quite carried out our plan to chalk quotes up and down the byways of Central Park, I tried to carry a little of E's nonchalance into the world at large.

Wait, you say. Guerilla art? What's that?

(My father asked if it's when people dressed up like gorillas and let animals loose at the zoo. I told him not to say that too loud, or he'd give people ideas.)

Technically, yes. According to Keri Smith, artist and philosopher, guerilla art is "any anonymous work...installed, performed, or attached in public spaces, with the distinct purpose of affecting the world in a creative or thought-provoking way." Think of that frozen-moment-in-time-at-Grand-Central video that's been making its way around the net. Of course it could be just beautiful, but even adding a beautiful thing to your everyday environment will make people stop and think, and isn't that what art's all about?
The Guerrilla Art Kit has a nice blend of theory and practice. Smith's words on her own experience and research in the world of guerilla art will make you want to get out there and start slapping eyeballs on your neighborhood parking meters and mixing up batches of moss graffiti. There are instructions for making seed balls, wheatpaste, and freezer paper stencils, illustrated in Smith's deceptively naive style. Mindful of ecological issues and the current social climate, she stresses impermanent, eco-friendly work that does not permanently deface the environment you are in. Dozens of exercises encourage the reader to send passers-by on a scavenger hunt in your neighborhood, create wish trees and portable idea dispensers, and leave books and Polaroids for the taking. The last section of the kit (a sturdy little covered spiral-bound book printed on thick paper, the better to stash in your bag) includes stencil templates, stickers, postcards, and quotes for you to copy, cut out, and use.

Though she addresses the political side of guerilla art--some of her own work addresses her strong feelings against pervasive advertising--Smith explains that guerilla art is about expressing your own ideas:

Leave secret messages everywhere you go. Your ideas are interesting. Find yourself through recklessness and freedom. Revel in the idea of impermanence. Create your own world. Give back. Doodle. Listen. Plant. Stroll. Dance. Grow.

Wish Jar Journal is Keri's blog. Her website is also full of good things, like 100 Ideas, paper dolls, and instructions for a magic book.

This past year, she also published Wreck This Journal and The Little Otso Non-Planner Datebook.
There are many, many excellent interviews drifting about the internet. The best are at Craftzine, Arts and Healing Network (this one has an especial focus on guerilla art), and this podcast at Hip Tranquil Chick.
Stories from Space features the work of Helen Nodding (aka Ladybird), who builds tiny worlds and strange insects and leaves them in secret places that only the most observant would find.