meredith cutler :: arts marketing :: artist

I'm in the studio today, and using my costly time well with stitch, canvas and scissor. Nevertheless, I deserve a coffee break as well as the next laborer, and my hot-plate espresso tastes best while surfing Etsy for my virtual wedding gift registry (the one in my mind, since I typically forget to bookmark things I want in favor of things I want to buy for others!)

The below selection, a set of "Old School" Magnetic Chalkboard Coasters by purposedesign, happily fits both criteria! I love that you can stick them to your fridge to keep them handy and visible, yet off of the table when not in use. Plus, in today's slick, whiteboard and powerpoint world, the soft scrawl and irregularities of chalkboard markings hit a nostalgic note. I love home goods that encourage creativity.

Purposedesign, out of Montreal, offers these coasters in sets of six (including chalk), for $22 plus shipping.

I have always had a love for paper that goes beyond the expected excitement of a blank, white sheet ready for the artist’s first mark. As a small child, I spent hours poring over the decorator’s hefty wallpaper sample books, left over from our 1977 home renovations: the mirrored backgrounds…the bold florals or geometric patterns rendered in one exciting colorway after another. In my early days, these enormous, psychedelic volumes rivaled even Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle for my affections.

Many years later, I helped fund my way through art school by working in the cataloging department of my college library. My love for found papers, combined with my passion for words inspired me to stash away hundreds of colorful book jackets, typically discarded during the cataloging process. Fast-forward another decade or so, and here I am in my studio, surrounded by several Tupperware storage bins full of vintage paper ephemera that desperately needs purging!

Unlike my vintage giftwrap and wallpaper collections, these heavyweight, coated book jackets don’t offer enough regular patterning or figuration to make them appropriate for the mixed-media art collages that I often create. They are text heavy, and extremely varied in coloration. With some creative experimentation, and using some tools I had available, I created this unique DIY project for my sturdy and colorful paper source. Click here for my full, illustrated tutorial:

If you happen to be in the Boston area today, take a drive up to the harbor near the new Convention Center, and stop by the Boston Design Center. There, until 4pm today, the Boston Sample Drop/Shop event is open to the public. This event is a fantastic way for design firms to recycle their unwanted sample library materials; from fabrics to papers to 3-ring binders. Visitors are welcome to take any of the pre-sorted materials for use in their own creative projects.

"Keep perfectly usable building and finish materials out of the dumpster and give them a good home!"

The event takes place at the Boston Design Center on Drydock Ave. Post "shop", they will be having a barbeque to celebrate their creative and eco-friendly community-mindedness. Cheers!

Also of note in the creative supply realm, I am offering great discounts and special bonus offers in my crostini*VS Vintage & Supply shop. In honor of my upcoming honeymoon, all items will be on sale for the entire month running May 10th-June 10th. Many items are unique and will run out, so get a head start on your creative summer projects with my unique vintage & supply materials before I close shop and head to Italy!

It must be in part my starving artist background that has provided me with the drive and enjoyment for finding creative ways to upcycle found materials in my own artwork, as well as fostered a sharp eye for methods with which to keep my own household's footprint as small as possible. Even with the everyday efforts of like-minded citizens, in our emissions-belching, stuff-hungry society, there is always room for improvement; and innovation, risk and creativity are the ingredients for impactful answers.

This is why I was particularly inspired and enraged by UK filmmaker Oliver Hodges' documentary Garbage Warrior; an in-depth piece on the ongoing materials, methods and community-building research by visionary architect and humanitarian aid worker Mike Reynolds, and the struggles he has faced in his quest to innovate sustainable living solutions for our increasingly endangered society.

In engineering his "Earthships", which are fully self-sustaining living solutions suitable for human occupancy in even the most extreme conditions, Reynolds has innovated some seriously forward-thinking construction solutions such as the use of packed-earth tires (as heat conserving core for structural walls) and the use of upcycled glass and plastic bottles as light providers and architectural art. Oh yeah, his housing developments often include built-in agricultural solutions, so that you can save yourself the gasoline you would otherwise spend trucking to and from the grocery store (buying sad, packaged goods that much to the oil companies' delight - have been trucked and flown in from the ends of the earth!)

What infuriated me about the film was the exhaustive struggle that Reynolds faced in obtaining permission to practice the experimental investigations that have paid off in such promising advances. Legal opponents of his work, (which ironically, leaves utility-companies and red-tape-happy contractors pressing their noses up against the glass of his earthships) helped to revoke his state and national architects license for some years in the 1990's.  I'll leave it to you to watch the film, but coming up on tax time (as we are all doing here in the U.S.), it pained me to watch most of the scenes involving legislature holdups and bill management as he worked with due diligence to leave room in New Mexico's state law for experimental sustainable housing sub-divisions.

Ultimately, Garbage Warrior is a film worth watching, however riled up it made me. Earthships may not be your idea of a dream home, but there is insight and inspiration to be gained from watching this film, even if just to remember never to let the *man* throw you down for having your own point of view, or to ever subdue your creative fire.

I haven't even had my espresso yet, so I am super "insert mystery word here" as I write up this rare and early-Monday-morning-appropriate Etsy find. It isn't often that I showcase other Etsy artisans, but in this case, I felt compelled to spread the...word (did I mention I have yet to down my morning espresso?)

Wordsmith & Master Jeweler Chelsea Main of eighty8words creates the perfect pendants to represent that which you are feeling, or wish to convey, without the hassle of speaking!

Meticulously handcrafted from tumbled sterling silver, each word is rendered in an antique typewriter-esque font and silhouetted by an inky pool of protective, black resin. Take, for example, her "cranky" pendant below, which I have chosen to illustrate my official morning word:

With a selection of ready-to-wear, evocative nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and love letters readily available in her Etsy store, most of us are good to go.

However, if you desire a special word that you don't necessarily want tattooed on your person, but would rather wear it emblazoned in shiny, sterling silver around your neck, eighty8words takes custom word orders upon request. Think of the possibilities!

In her own words:

..."for all you word lovers out there who are tired of wearing a pendant that says LOVE when you really feel like kicking someone's ass. Sometimes you just don't want to Believe in Love and have Faith. Sometimes you feel Cranky or Shy or Coy, or maybe love is too strong a word, and Smitten will do. I hear you, people, I'm doing my best to help!"

Thanks Chelsea! In my case, I think I've found my muse...