building quilts and communities

My friend Denyse is featured this month in American Craft Magazine in an article called, Craft & Community. It's very interesting plus you get to see all these cool photos of her studio, her art and her coolness herself.

Six year ago, she made the daring decision to set up her studio in an old factory building in a troubled neighborhood in Bridgeport, CT. The article calls her an "urban pioneer" who looked "beyond the grittiness of the city to the possibilities of what can come." It explores how artists see beauty in hopeless places and their vision can revive whole neighborhoods.

"Artists often are that first wave of rejuvenation in a city,” says Denyse. “It’s so important, because it’s from the inside out rather than the outside in.”

Plus she makes really GREAT quilts.

Look at that. Even her scraps and sketches are works of art.

(You can find out more at her site @ Denyse Schmidt Quilts.)

stars under the stars

one of the so cool things about NYC is all the free stuff going on in the summer.

especially the movies. and watching them outside in a park or by the river--how can you beat that? (Well, maybe in a car at a drive through eating things that are very bad for you.)

anyway, if you live here or are visiting, here's a really cool list of all the free movie stuff happening and where: Becca's List courtesy of the NYT.

Vivaldi, Summer and an HP Touchsmart PC ad

(disclaimer: I'm completely still a mac person and this has nothing to do with me or you going over to the dark side and buying a pc or HP or anything!) But they do have a very cool ad that's completely mesmerizing and magical and oddly moving. Like a picture of Creation. And the Creator.

street cleaning

In London and in Hong Kong they do it with dustpan and brush. In New York it's a high speed truck thing that kicks up dust and repositions it...

Illustration by John Hendrix, an uber-talented artist and a friend, in an interesting article in the New York Times yesterday about the insane NYC ritual called "alternate street parking." Here's an excerpt:

"AS if part of a carefully choreographed dance, at strict intervals, countless New Yorkers run from their homes and move their cars from the right side of the street to the left and from the left to the right. These rituals of alternate side parking, enforced by hefty fines and humiliatingly fluorescent window stickers, help make way for the Department of Sanitation’s street sweepers, which pass through our neighborhoods every day except Wednesday, when everyone gets a reprieve."

Your day kind of gets dictated by your car. And makes you sound like a very strict enforcer of time tables. "I must be back at my apartment absolutely no later than 12.20". "Breakfast is great but I cannot linger: it is imperative I am no later than 10.07 back on my doorstep."

I don't tell everyone it's all about the car. Too complicated. Too dull. Plus it sounds ridiculous. I just call it an appointment. Which it is. An appointment with my car, true. But one I definitely can't be late for--or I'll get a fine.

Which I suppose we can be grateful doesn't happen at every appointment we're late for...