Body in Fibers

I stumbled the work of Emily Barletta online and really fell in love. I don't know/come across too many contemporary sculptors, let alone fiber artists (outside of the ones I know personally, from school) so this was a nice change.

                                                          Emily Barletta - 2008    

                                                            Padorina Cell 

All of her work is knit, some using a few different mediums, including clay, but all colorful and displaying incredible craftsmanship and control of her process. The pieces I find the most interesting are reminiscent of cellular structures within the body, or otherwise. Or some type of sea creature; vibrant, detailed and beautiful.

I both love and hate looking at them. On one hand they're pleasantly fascinating and on the other they're quite gross, producing a feeling akin to that of looking at microscopic images of a disease or cancer.

My stomach squirms.  

Check out more by Emily Barletta on her website.

Holy Shit

Porpita porpita (Chondrophore)

This is a colony of living organisms, measuring 1-in in diameter, all working on their own specific task to help the whole. The gas-filled center keeps the colony afloat. Learn more at Visual Complexity by clicking above, or at wiki

(image copyrighted to NOAA - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Thanks!)

Holy Shit V

Mark Schettler shared this with me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology_Fail-Safes Pretty amazing.
Medicine, micro and biotechnology have become increasingly influential in my thoughts and work. I've also noticed, in an effort of humbling ourselves, we state how small and insignificant we are in the "grand scale" of things, that is in the scale of this massive universe we are part of. But there are these particles and processes and systems thousands and millions of times smaller than ourselves and our own, things that are part of us that go unseen and unnoticed in their smallness; absolutely not in their insignificance. So it seems inconsiderate to cast off our importance in this world just because we are not "the largest" or "the smallest" piece or system, because in a scale of infinite measure there is no such thing anyway. We are here too.

Actually, this is what I'm interested in for my graduate thesis.

Holy Shit, The Fourth

Marc showed me this video today. Watch it and be amazed:

http://www.studiodaily.com/main/searchlist/6850.html

Dream Night of 2/11/08 and Holy Shit Pt. 3

I dreamt of dancing; I often have dancing dreams like this, where I'm the only one doing the right steps and the other girls are messing them up and should I follow what they're doing because that's how you make the performance not look terrible if someone completely messes up? I was with old dancemates, and my old instructors. My hair was long in a ponytail that went down to my lower back.

I also dreamt of a plane crash; We were flying over a large canal and couldn't get any air and sank into the water. There was a fire as well. There were small children who I love as my own. I had my phone-cord purse with my cell phone, camera, Ipod and wallet in it, and I kept trying to take it with me when we evacuated even though they tell us not to. Finally I just left it because I was scared of what was going to happen to us.

And HOLY SHIT Part III.

I've been reading this book recently on blood cells, specifically red blood cells. The book is from the 70s but it's filled with these beautiful negative-looking images of these microscopic cells that keep us alive. Red blood cells are 6-8 micrometers in diameter. A micron is one millionth of a meter.

It's amazing how the processes and makeup of our bodies are all basically identical. For the most of us, our cells are all the same size and shape, moving in the same paths through our body almost effortlessly. The malleability and resiliency of our blood is quite amazing as well. There's so many things that could go wrong that don't because our bodies just work. For instance, there are some arteries in our bodies in which our red blood cells have to go through one at a time. It's so bizarre that all this is just going on inside of us right now. Think about that... And that ladies and gentlemen is a Holy Shit moment. Take a look at Red Blood Cells on wiki. And maybe I'll be able to post some quotes from the book I'm reading that blew my mind.

Holy Shit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmissible_spongiform_encephalopathy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt-Jakob_disease

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia