Vancouver, Canada
Ice hockey is Canada’s national sport, and the annual crowning moment in the sport of hockey in North America is the winning of the National Hockey League’s (aka NHL, not actually national now with more U.S. teams than Canadian ones… but that’s another story) Stanley Cup. Most Canadians watched the Vancouver Canucks lose the final game of the series to the better-playing Boston Bruins in Vancouver earlier this week—and most were also mortified (ashamed, embarrassed, upset) at the full-moon riots (triggered by a relatively small group of anarchists and drunk teenagers) that ensued, sullying the reputation for human kindness and friendly hospitality that the City of Vancouver (and Canada in general, we’d like to think) has long enjoyed.
Among the thousands of photographs of rioting, looting, and general mayhem that appeared online within hours of the event, one image in particular caught the attention and imagination of viewers—and at almost light-speed, circled the globe to become an instant icon of an ironic moment in time. After having been knocked down by advancing police troupes armed with shields, Scott Jones and his girlfriend Alex Thomas were captured by photographer Rich Lam in what appears, at first blush, to be the amorous act of love-making—in reality, Scott was simply trying to comfort and calm her.
CBC’s news-sleuths were quick to track down and reveal the back-story (text article and a video interview) here.
You can’t always trust your eyes… especially with smoke in them.
Vienna, Austria
Mladen Penev is a Bulgarian-born artist/photographer now working in Vienna. This powerful piece and its expression of “clean slate” (illustrating the impact of branding on an impressionable/defenseless consciousness) entitled Tabula rasa is exemplary of the fine work he does… see more here.
Manchester, UK
The hell of war comes home. In July 2009, Colorado Springs Gazette published a two-part series entitled ‘Casualties of War.’ The articles focused on a single battalion based at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, who since returning from duty in Iraq had been involved in brawls, beatings, rapes, drunk driving, drug deals, domestic violence, shootings, stabbings, kidnapping, and suicides. Returning soldiers were committing murder at a rate 20 times greater than other young American males. A separate investigation into the high suicide rate among veterans published in the New York Times in October 2010 revealed that three times as many California veterans and active service members were dying soon after returning home than those being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. We hear little about the personal hell soldiers live through after returning home.
(from wearedorothy) Read the ‘Casualties of War’ articles here.
Images: plastic moulded toy soldier figurines with bases, 7cm high
Ortisei, Italy
Willy Verginer is a Tyrolean woodcarver, living and working in the picturesque Val Gardena, surrounded by the Dolomites. His stunning, life-sized wooden sculptures are highlighted with a vibrant palette of acrylic colors…
See more of Willy Verginer’s beautiful figurative work here and on his own website (well worth the visit), here.
Algerian Sahara
From the sloping dunes of the Sahara comes a groundbreaking design process that turns waste from refugee camps into jewelry as beautiful as the intentions behind it. Royal College of Art student Florie Salnot collaborated with Sandblast, a London-based nonprofit that works with the Saharawis of Algeria, to find a creative yet economic solution to raise awareness about their cultural displacement. Old plastic bottles from the refugee camp are collected and repurposed into remarkable faux-gold jewelry that reflects their local traditions.
Read more of this story (with additional images) in the Ecouterre article here.
“These stunning pieces prove that
upcycling can be synonymous with
sophisticated and inspired artisanal work.”
Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba
Thanks to the many who came out to visit Evelin Richter’s studio ‘What Clay Art & Curios’ as part of the 10th Wave Artists’ Studio Tour over the past two days. The weather was outstanding and the exchange with visitors was stimulating. Among the guests who attended, my Circle colleague Adrian Shum decided to document his impressions photographically by means of his iPhone—view an online Flickr gallery of what he captured here.
Thanks Adrian!
Images: thumbnails from the Flickr gallery; the ‘What Clay Art & Curios’ studio, workshop, and Ev’s house as seen from the street; some of the completed sculptural pieces on display in the “workshop gallery;” “Piercings” jewelery pieces of Ev’s (on sterling silver chains); and the ‘Domestic Goddess’ weather-vane I made for Ev a few years back…
