Watching and waiting, the Erysichthon’s Ball leers around the corner at the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne, Australia.

The theme of the work is to challenge our visual perception. It is an ongoing exploration of the photographic object and its relationship to human subjects. Justine Khamara uses photography as the basis for her unique three-dimensional collages. Thousands of photographic details are painstakingly cut out by hand and densely collaged to create texture and disorienting confusion of depth into new freestanding forms. This new work offers a psychological response to contemporary notions of ‘being’ by bringing together optical illusionism and perfect form to contain and tame a visceral mass of over ten thousand photographic elements.

Here are some other pieces where once again she challenges the mind in perception. She really does create some of the craziest collages your eyes will ever feast upon.

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Name:  Jason Seiden

Title of Book:  How to Self-Destruct: Making the Least of What’s Left of Your Career

What are some of the main themes of your book?

Oh, you know, the typical career stuff… how to fail as an employee, how to suck as a manager, how to jam your head totally up your colon as an executive… plus I dive into other areas, like how to wreck your emotional state and alienate your friends and family. And because I have a twisted sense of humor, I also get into ways to really succeed.

What prompted you to write the book?

I literally woke up at 2:53 a.m. with the book in my head. It started as a lengthy email to a friend; after some positive feedback and requests for “more,” I decided to just go for it.

What sparks your creativity?

I try to spend as much time writing as I can. I find that if I can force myself to start, the energy picks up and things start to flow. I don’t think I’m such a great or prolific writer; nor do I very often have creative “sparks.” It’s more like, since I’m not afraid to throw stuff, I’m not afraid to write dreck. And if I’m willing to pound out a few pages of garbage and throw it away, I know I’ll have a nugget of goodness buried in there somewhere that I’ll be able to build from.

What recently sparked your curiosity and how did you satisfy it?

This is going to sound so mundane: I sat down to write a quick blog post before going for a run… and there was just something about it that unlocked that creative “gush.” I penned over 20 posts and edited a fictional short story before I finally got up to take a shower a few hours later—without ever having gone for that run.

What’s one big thing you want people to take away from your book?

People don’t fear failure. They choose to fail in ways big and small every day. When you step back and see all the ways you choose to fail every day, then—like an image in the negative—the path to success becomes that much more clear.

Join us here at the Catalyst Ranch for our next Match Books event Thursday, September 9th 2010 from 6pm to 8:30 pm, when we welcome Jason Seiden and discuss his book How to Self Destruct: Making the Least of What’s Left of Your Career. Check out our Happenings Page for all the info!

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What in the world? Here is an icebreaker that brings out creativity and imagination from your meeting attendees. All you need is some old magazines and glue to create an out of this world person. Silly facial expressions, dog tails, robotic legs…. The sky is the limit.  

Assignment: Put together a person using various body parts cut out of magazines

Allotted time: 5-10 minutes

• Cut out photos of people and animals from magazines. Take each photo and cut it into body parts- heads, torsos, arms and legs. Sort them into piles by type. Provide a pile of construction or colored paper and glue sticks. Have your participants piece together new “people” using the different body parts by mounting them onto the paper with glue sticks.
• Decorate your space to form a gallery from the assignment.

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Have you ever wondered about the importance of “play” in our lives, and not only just in our personal lives but also in our work lives? Dr. Brown co-author of “Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul” shares with us some insight into his research and how important play really is in our lives.

Q: How do you know play is important to both adults and children?

Dr. Brown: In my career I have reviewed more than 6000 life histories, looking specifically at a person’s play experiences over his or her life. In studying these histories it has become vividly apparent that play is enormously significant for both children and adults. I began thinking about the role of play in our lives while conducting a detailed study of homicidal males in Texas. What I discovered was severe play deprivation in the lives of these murderers. When I later studied highly creative and successful individuals, there was a stark contrast. Highly successful people have a rich play life. It is also established that play affects mental and physical health for both adults and children. A severely play deprived child demonstrates multiple dysfunctional symptoms– the evidence continues to accumulate that the learning of emotional control, social competency, personal resiliency and continuing curiosity plus other life benefits accrue largely through rich developmentally appropriate play experiences. Likewise, an adult who has “lost” what was a playful youth and doesn’t play will demonstrate social, emotional and cognitive narrowing, be less able to handle stress, and often experience a smoldering depression. From an evolutionary point of view, research suggests that play is a biological necessity. There is evidence that suggests the forces that initiate play lie in the ancient survival centers of the brain–the brain stem–where other anciently preserved survival capacities also reside. In other words, play is a basic biological necessity that has survived through the evolution of the brain. And necessity=importance. But one of the strongest arguments for the importance of play is how strongly we identify ourselves through our play behavior. Just look at the eloquent memories of 9-11 victims the New York Times published. The headlines—the summation of a life—were lines like “A Spitball-Shooting Executive,” a “Lover of Laughter.” Play is who we are.

Q: What are the areas of our culture most in need of “play hygiene?”

Dr. Brown: Most adults have “forgotten” what it was like to engage in free play when they were kids. And truthfully, they may have not had much experience with free play when they were young. Beginning in preschool, the natural mayhem that 3-5 year olds engage in (normal rough and tumble play) is usually suppressed by a well meaning preschool teacher and parents who prefer quiet and order to the seeming chaos that is typical of free childhood play. We need adequate play hygiene in preschools so that both parents and preschool teachers recognize the difference between dangerous out of control boundary-less anarchy, and normal play– diving, screaming, chasing, even some punching. When there are smiles and continuing friendships, rambunctious play is healthy. The awareness on the part of parents and teachers of the value of free child-organized–meaning lightly supervised–play for elementary school children at recess is another area where greater insight about play hygiene is needed. Play should also be used with teachers in their classroom, and by parents when they help their child with homework. Learning should not be drudgery. Play promotes true intellectual curiously. It has been shown to increase lifetime performance, just as adequate recess time leads to increased long term academic accomplishments. Also, parents need to control their anxieties about maximizing every minute of their child or young adult’s time to increase their competitiveness and performance so that their college resumes will be strong. With every moment scripted by adult ambitions for them, kids cannot become naturally attuned to their innate talents.

Q: How can a review of one’s own life history of their play help?

Dr. Brown: If adults can begin to reminisce about their happiest and most memorable moments, they can capture the emotion and visual memories of those moments and begin to connect again to what truly excites them in life. Generally, a person’s purest emotional profile—temperament, talents, passions– is reflected in positive play experiences from childhood. If you can understand your own emotional profile when it was in its purest form, you can begin to apply it to your adult life. Going through this process may encourage someone to give serious consideration to shifting to another job that may bring them more joy, or to infuse their current life with those elements that once brought them enlivenment but may have been left behind as they conformed to cultural stereotypes of success.

Q: If you could only cite one discovery you have made about play that continues to excite you what would it be?

Dr. Brown: It is that we, as homo sapiens, are fundamentally equipped for and need to play actively throughout our lifespan by nature’s design. While most social mammals have a life cycle that involves dominance and submissiveness (as in Chimpanzee troops or wolf packs) with play diminishing significantly as adulthood arrives, we retain the biology associated with youthfulness despite still dying of old age! By this I mean that our overall long period of childhood dependency, which is dominated by the need for play, does not end with our reaching adulthood. Our adult biology remains unique among all creatures, and our capacity for flexibility, novelty and exploration persists. If we suppress this natural design, the consequences are dire. The play-less adult becomes stereotyped, inflexible, humorless, lives without irony, loses the capacity for optimism, and generally is quicker to react to stress with violence or depression than the adult whose play life persists. In a world of major continuous change (and we are certainly facing big changes economically now) playful humans who can roll with the punches and innovate through their play-inspired imaginations will better survive. Our playful natures have arrived at this place through the trial and error of millions of years of evolution, and we need to honor our design to play.

Q: Who is your favorite player? Why?

Dr. Brown: The exuberance that is my grandson Leo makes him my current #1 play companion. His innate humor, constant curiosity, ability to make life a playground is so contagious and pure that he sweeps me away. He takes me out of a sense of time, brings me joy, engages me fully, and does so in a climate of love. But I guess I can also muse that my favorite player is God, who somehow put this marvelous divinely superfluous process into the cosmos for us to embrace.

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Dalton Ghetti is a carpenter who in his spare time carves tiny sculptures on the ends of pencils. Brazilian born, Connecticut based, Dalton Ghetti carefully crafts the tips of pencils into amazing micro sculptures. These miniature masterpieces are a side project for the professional carpenter, who has been perfecting this art for the last 25 years. Dalton uses a razor blade, sewing needle, a sculpting knife, a steady hand and lots of patience to meticulously carve the graphite which can take anywhere between a few months to a few years.

It is amazing how much skill and patience this guy has!

“The pencil tip is great; it’s like a pure, very homogenous material,” he said. “It cuts in the same direction, not like wood, which has a grain. But when I tell people how long it takes, that’s when they don’t believe it. That’s what amazes people more, the patience. Because everything nowadays has to be fast, fast, fast.”

After two and half years, he finished a line of 26 pencils, with each letter of the alphabet carved into the tip.

 Mr. Ghetti has never sold any of his work, and has only given it away to friends. “It’s hard to explain but for me it’s like a sort of meditation. I’m alone with no music on in my studio and in a deep state of concentration; it’s like another mind state I float about in.”

Dalton has a box full of more than 100 sculptures that have broken while working on them that he affectionately calls ‘the cemetery collection’. Some of them he displays on a Styrofoam bed to remind him of the time spent on this almost finished works (below):

Check out other images of his creations on Flavorpill.

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I love this plated table and just could not resist the urge to share. Where innovation and design collide, Yanko Design-Form Beyond Design shows the world concepts in design that leave you in awe. Check the website. They are dedicated to introducing the best modern international design, covering industrial design, concepts, technology, interior design, architecture, exhibition and fashion. It’s about the cutting edge and the classic, the new and the rediscovered. It’s all about the best.

More about this innovative table:

Designer Elad Kashi’s Table Set allows people to eat directly off of it, for the table set is also the table top. The table is divided into individual dishes, side dishes and a center dish for the main course. At the end of your meal, all you need to do is simply put the pieces in the dish washer.

Here are just a few other designs that caught my eye on Yanko Design:

Magnetic Spice Rack

Senz Weatherproof Umbrella

chair bookcase / bookcase chair

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Here is a collection of art work that just breaths new life into old clothing.  Exactly what we like to see! Creativity in the re-use of everyday items makes a statement out of the overabundance of waste. Check out what these sculptures have to say and be inspired, go create now! Then send us in some pictures of your masterpiece!

Sourcing their materials from the waste bins of second-hand goods in Miami, Guerra De La Paz make their sculptures from the discarded items of daily life. Guerra De La Paz, a collaboration between two artists, Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz don’t see trash in the waste bins, but an opportunity for artistic beauty and expression.

The ongoing collaboration has grown by way of experimentation and constant dialog, combining two contrastive personalities to form a single entity with a visual language that conveys a universal message referencing the many different dimensions of the human experience.

 It’s a cross-cultural look at the general consensus of the day using iconic imagery with a complexity of identities. “We’re visually stimulated by our immediate surroundings. Our neighborhood has been the catalyst for much of our work – A paradox where gritty industrial warehouses cohabitate with lush tropical vegetation. The ever-present evidence of erosion guarantees that nothing stays new for long and exposes a sense of impermanence that encourages our own bucolic approach, to collect and reuse discarded materials.” -Guerra de la Paz

A giant mound of clothing, Nine, is a collection of prom dresses, Christmas sweaters, and a swell of different fads all bearing down with the weight of a civilization and its disowned memories. Beneath the mass can be seen the feet of nine people supporting the load, a testimony to the strength and value of community.

 Alain remarks, “Not everything is beautiful. Not everything is dark. There are both. We’re two different personalities. Our names are war and peace. Our work explores what brings tranquility and what brings unrest.”

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Supplies: Paper and pencils

Many people don’t realize that 70% of communication comes from non-verbal cues such as tone of voice or facial expression. According to the SunSentinel there are “80 muscles in the face that can create more than 7,000 expressions. Facial expressions are so much a part of our lives that it is easy to overlook the fact that the need for them is not immediately obvious.”

  In this exercise, participants will learn to recognize different facial expressions and the difficulty in determining the true meaning of some people’s expressions. This can be a fun team building exercise for your next meeting that will get everyone thinking and paying closer attention to expression throughout the meeting.

Each participant will choose one emotion that can easily be expressed silently.  Write the emotion on a piece of paper to be put into a box on the table.

Have each participant choose one piece of paper and act out the emotion.  The other participants must come to a group decision on which emotion is being portrayed.

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Looking for a break this summer, somewhere to “vanish” for a little vacation? Well here is a hotel that literally is invisible to the surrounding forest. This hotel just recently opened a few weeks ago and looks like its straight out of a sci-fi story, the perfect place for the Jetsons if they moved into the Swedish Artic.

Located in the remote wilderness of Harads, Sweden, Treehotel offers guests a unique experience: accommodations in one-of-a-kind tree-house rooms, designed to exist in harmony with the natural environment around them. Founders Kent Lindvall and wife Britta, are particular about preserving the landscape around them.

Currently the hotel consists of five rooms, the cabin, the tree sauna, the blue cone, the nest and the mirrorcube. Two additional structures are scheduled to open in October, the UFO and a room with a view. These first structures were designed by different architects including sandell & sandberg, interior group ab, marten cyrene, inredningsgruppen and tham & videgard architects. The hope is that in five years the Treehotel will have 24 rooms each designed by 24 different architects.

The Mirrorcube

 Like the name implies, it is a large cube room with an outer surface that is entirely composed of reflective material, encompassing a single tree that runs through the middle. Treehotel owner Kent Lindvall describes that the concept behind the room is to make it appear nearly invisible in the forest. To avoid any harm to wildlife, the mirrored walls will be fitted with an infrared film visible only to birds.

 “Everything will reflect in this – the trees, the birds, the clouds, the sun, everything. So it should be invisible nearly in the forest.” – Kent Lindvall

Check out more information and pictures about all the rooms at Treehotel and the creative art blog Designboom.

The Bird’s Nest

The Tree Sauna

The Cabin

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Riitta Ikonen has a strong belief in taking art out of the gallery for people to see in a wider context. I discovered her work on the creative art blog BOOOOOOOM! just recently and fell in love with her Mail Art project. In her mind, “individualism is a little space inside your head reserved just for you, like a private restaurant table that serves you anything you think to want”. I hope this project as well as some of her other projects inspire you to be creative and maybe a little silly as well.

YCN’s new Rivington Street display is visual proof that when an appropriate stamp is used, most things will make it through the mail.

This project has been going on since 2004 and Ritta has already sent around one hundred and fifty A6 sized postal cards to Margaret Huber her old illustration tutor, from Japan, Finland, Spain, Russia and England. These “postcards” included hair, fish, a sachet of white powder, a piece of broken record etc. Only three cards failed to reach their destination.

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