Human Flora

In researching my next focus for textile patterns, I came across the Human Microbiome Project.

I have been reading how our human cells are outnumbered by bacterial cells in our bodies by 10 to 1. We are in essence scaffolding for a zoo of bacteria... such an interesting filter through which to examine our identity as organisms.

Here is an interesting Youtube video on the HMP project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfeNTQxxn0w

I enjoy following Australian artist, Jonathan McCabe's generative pattern work on both Flickr and Spoonflower, the most recent of which has a very cellular and bacterial reference.

I will be exploring creating a textile series, Human Flora, that reflects on various facets of our relationship with the organisms we host.

Of course, I knew that there would be art already out there exploring these themes. I especially liked this one using petri dishes and images of bacteria to form a human body: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisjohnbeckett/3290581741/in/photostream/Art installation: designed by Julia Lohmann with the help of Prof Michael Wilson and Dr Derren Ready, UCL Eastman Dental Institute, University College London. Photos by Lee Mauire.

And finally, here is an amazing image contest by the Wellcome Image Trust

San Jose Bans Plastic Bags!

San Jose has today banned plastic carry out bags in grocery stores. The ban will take effect in 2012. I was surprised to read this development in a San Jose Mercury News Article. I have used plastic bags in my art and it amazed me a few years ago when I visited a local creek to collect trash for projects and saw many nests of plastic bags tangled in the water and surrounding bushes. This ban is a wonderful development for our community...no more of this urban tumbleweed! I will be nice to no longer see empty bags blow up against fences and drifting along the streets.

I have met an entrepreneur who is the son of a plastic bag manufacture. This son now has a business selling the eco friendly Japanese cloth wrappers called furoshiki through http://furoshiki.com/ His furoshiki are a lovely collection of local and Japanese designs.

Anyway, musing on plastic bags and am grateful that they will be a thing of the past. I do have a purse somewhere made of woven together Safeway plastic bags. It was made by a friend of my grandma in Hawaii. Such hobbies utilizing this waste will move onto other medium, I suppose.

At any rate, good news today on the plastic bag ban!

Well, I just launched my Kickstarter project to raise funds for student created community street banners. Here is the link:
http://kck.st/fhbHwt

It seems that such crowd fundraising may be a good alternative to the traditional grant route. A few days ago the Wall Street Journal wrote an article, Tapping the Crowds for Funds, about this growing way of fundraising and the article mentioned Kickstarter.

Kickstarter

I have submitted my project idea to the funding site, Kickstarter. Once your idea is accepted, this site requires a video and a detailed description of the project. Here is what I have so far for my video. The student project site for the project is: http://youareherefabrics.weebly.com/

Get Your Project Funded

In the Fall I was working with a group (Socks Inc.) who received public donations for their arts project through Kickstarter. I was intrigued by this site and went through the steps to submit a project idea. I am hoping to receive funding to conduct a collaborative art project with students resulting in street banners. The project is called "You Are Here" and I have created a site for the various steps of the workshops: http://youareherefabrics.weebly.com/

After submitting your basic idea to Kickstarter they review it and approve you to submit the full project idea. This entails creating a video to explain one's project. It is fascinating to review other people's ideas for projects and the diversity of styles for presenting one's project idea. This looks like a great alternative way to explore funding. I will be adding posts to this as I complete my submission to the site.

Pattern Generation Tool :Repper

A friend of mine introduced me to the pattern generation tool, Repper, today. This is an amazing site that enables you to take photos and create patterns in a simple interface. I have used both Photoshop and SumoPaint to create repeat pattern tiles, but Repper seems to me to be the best tool to have students work with.

Project wins KCI Rambus Award in Innovation

I was excited to learn last Friday that the Picking Strawberries on Gold Mountain workshop series won First Place in the KCI Rambus 2010 Innovation Award. I conducted this workshop series in four classes at two schools last spring. It is a wonderful honor to have the project celebrated in this way.