by Nancy on April 24, 2012
One of the best things about putting together every issue of Anthology is the opportunity the collaborate with talented artists and illustrators. In Issue No. 7, which is starting to arrive in stores and mailboxes, we were excited to have Lucy Engelman create a two-page map to accompany the article Strange Days. The piece details a California road trip taken by writer Jennifer Duardo and photographer Jen Siska. Lucy was able to capture the highlights of each of the nine locations they stopped at between San Francisco and Joshua Tree. Her amazing detail and fun style was a perfect match for Issue No. 7′s ”Wit & Whimsy” theme. (We’ll be posting an online preview of the issue later today!)
I was so pleased to see these drawings of colorful forests and mountains, as well as an overview of her trip to Northern California, on her website. It reminds me of the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountain range which is only three hours east of me. Wouldn’t it be great to take a quick weekend trip to the mountains, enjoy the outdoors, and see all of the poppies along the way in full bloom? I must also mention that her drawing of a certain alarm clock in the “Making the Magazine” feature brought a huge smile on my face. Mostly because of it’s awesomeness, but also because I now know who it belongs to!
{All artwork and images by Lucy Engelman}
It’s hard to believe that we’re releasing our seventh issue! It seems like just yesterday that Meg, the magazine’s creative director, and I were preparing for our first Anthology photo shoot (a home in Venice, California). And now, here we are, with seven issues closed and printed. The magazine itself will be arriving on store shelves and in subscribers’ mailboxes soon!
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the trailer we’ve put together, which provides a glimpse of the content for Issue No. 7. And we’ll be sharing an online preview of the issue tomorrow!
Issue No. 7 Trailer from Anthology Magazine on Vimeo.
by kate on April 20, 2012
Beautiful, impossibly intricate patterns and textures are all around us. Look around the room you’re sitting in, and you can probably find some complex natural designs—the wood grain on your table, a ripple in your glass of water, the lines on the palm of your hand. Other natural patterns become visible to us only with the help of technology and data.
These wind maps are part of a personal art project created by Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg of HINT.FM. They take real-time wind data collected from the National Digital Forecast Database and animate them to reveal the wind’s utterly gorgeous fluid pathways over the United States. The still images are lovely, but you should watch the moving maps on the site for the full effect. It turns out that we land-dwellers are immersed in a tumultuous, swirling, invisible ocean—we can’t see it, but we feel the current.
The patterns in many of these images recall the supernatural sky in Starry Night, making me imagine that Van Gogh was a synesthete with the ability to “see” the wind. Sadly, I lack this heightened visual sense, and with the exception of appreciating a cool breeze on a hot day, I often take the wind for granted. These moving maps are a wonderful reminder of the powerful energies that surround us always, moving in their own complex rhythms, just as we humans do. Have a great weekend, everyone!
{All images captured from Wind Map by HINT.FM}
by kate on April 19, 2012
As you can probably tell from looking through an issue of Anthology, we’re huge fans of perfectly imperfect styling. A well-composed eclectic mix, with just a few things rumpled or off-kilter, is pure poetry to us. It’s this same kind of effortless style that draws me to the work of Meyer-Lavigne.
I first discovered this Danish design duo after spotting a couple of their hand-painted plates in an issue of Elle magazine. Interiors, product styling, ceramics: Kristine Meyer and Sabine Lavigne bring whimsy and a touch of the unexpected to everything they do. I love the fresh, sophisticated mix of pastels and deep dark tones; it feels just right for the spring season. I’ve pulled my favorites to share below, but there are many more images to admire in their portfolio. I hope you’ll sneak a few minutes to go have a look!
{All images by Meyer-Lavigne and Johan Rosenmunthe}
One of my favorite parts of home tours in Anthology is getting to see the art people select. It’s such a personal and revealing thing! And there’s usually a good story about how a particular piece ended up in someone’s home. But shopping for art is another story. Finding a piece of art, especially an original, seems intimidating.
Enter a brilliant new shop, endearingly called Buy Some Damn Art. Founded by Kate Singleton, Buy Some Damn Art offers six original works by artists she hand selects for a short period of time. Each week she introduces a new artist, so at any given time, there are works available by about half a dozen artists. Right now, my favorites in the shop are by Jenny Brown, a collage artist. They’re mixed media pieces with ink, gouache, pencil, and found paper.
Another perk of Buy Some Damn Art is the interviews with the artists. It’s so interesting to hear how the works come together and see the artist’s work spaces. These particular pieces by Brown have floral elements that she carefully lifted from 1920s greeting cards, many of which had messages inside. Isn’t that a wonderful backstory?
{Original works by Jenny Brown, images by Buy Some Damn Art}
