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by Erik Gunther
Fri, August 24, 2007, 12:10 pm PDT

Shea'la Finch and Jon Buonaccorsi are self-described "nerds and knuckleheads." But don't let them fool you. In 2005, these two dreamers from Rhode Island hatched a plan to make art more accessible to the non-gallery-attending populace.

Tiny Showcase is the fruit of their furtive planning, and the site's goal hasn't changed in the three years of operation. Their mission? Offer up a tiny limited-run print each week for art enthusiasts to "take home...for around the same price as a CD, book or record..."

We've been fans of the Showcase since it started and were lucky enough to score a conversation with the enchanting Ms. Finch. She's one half of the titanic Tiny Showcase empire and her thoughtful answers demonstrate the colorful spirit behind this arty adventure...

Hey Shea'la, what was the impetus behind the creation of Tiny Showcase (TS)?

We were born to out-idea each other. Your typical idea freestyle session can happen anywhere, anytime, and normally begins, "What if we..."

The ideas are normally outlandish, ridiculous, and seemingly impossible. Read the full profile...

by Trystan L. Bass
Wed, July 18, 2007, 8:00 am PDT

Everybody consumes stuff, but not everyone turns it into art like Kate Bingaman-Burt. When we reviewed her site in 2003, she was a typical grad student, except that she was chronicling every single thing she spent money on, from cups of coffee to fancy design magazines. She kept at it for a whole 28 months, only stopping when she finished her art degree.

But the obsessive documentation of her consumption didn't end for Kate, oh no. "The graduate school bubble had burst, and I was sitting on some pretty extreme credit card debt," she admits. So next, she started drawing her credit card statements, "like a penance for my sins. Ha!"

While racking up debt during school is pretty typical, sharing your bills online—even in a clever cartoon form—isn't. Kate explains her new direction: "People are embarrassed to talk about how much they make or how much debt they have. By sharing debt with other people it gives you more motivation to pay it off. By making it look less scary and maybe even fun it might encourage other people to think about their own debt and what they buy."  Read the full profile...

by Jill Robinson
Thu, July 05, 2007, 3:00 am PDT

Math class always seemed light-years away from what happens in the real world. Quadratic equations, isosceles triangles, radical equations—forget it! We wanted to solve problems that we'd face in real life, like whether or not our hot summer jobs would make us more or less likely to get a date. But now, Jessica Hagy proves that all that chart-drawing and stats-calculating actually does apply. This ingenious blogger puts good use to her note cards in order to "make fun of some things and sense of others" in the measurement of everyday relationships. Scroll through to discover:

Filed under: Blogs, Humor, Drawing

by Jon Brooks
Tue, June 19, 2007, 3:00 am PDT

Just when you thought all possible commentary—earnest or ironic—had been made about "Star Trek," someone beams up another take on the currently dormant sci-fi franchise. It's not logical, but this repository of artistic tributes to the contained-yet-charismatic Mr. Spock does nicely as a late-entry homage. Vulcan purists may chafe at Creepy Child Spock, Bauhaus Spock, or two-headed real universe/mirror universe Spock, but Nimoy knows, "Trek" can use the attention. And though we're accustomed to seeing the half-human, half-alien Starfleet officer in any number of daring or dignified positions, Chimp Spock, Ballerina Spock, and the Spocktopus take us where no fan has gone before. Even if words often fail in describing certain representations, we can still say: "Bad Spock Drawings," live long and prosper.
by Molly McCall
Thu, April 05, 2007, 3:00 am PDT

Wreckers, unite! Originalists, journalistas, and fabulists of all forms, wait no longer! The revolution is here—and it will not be tidy. Illustrator, master blogger, and "guerrilla artist" Keri Smith has thrown open the doors to the life of "creative destruction" and invited you in. Get a blank book. Carry it with you wherever you go. Subject its pages to the elements. Think you're alone? No way! Browse the gallery of notebooks already stained, stitched, painted, torn, folded, glued, scratched, and stapled by your inventive comrades. Return to the site for suggestions. In one, Keri calls for marking your journal with "whatever is around you." In another, she says make a "resist" and then coat it (definitions are provided). Now, get out there and spoil your book! Demolish your pages! Shatter the clean, white sheet! We can't wait to see the shipwrecked results.

Filed under: Books, Art, Drawing, Collage, DIY, Journals


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