Aug

Art Goes Across Cultures in “Tribute to Mandela”

by Sheron Long on August 15, 2013

How is it that a Belgian emerging artist, working with Chinese seals, honors South African activist and former President Nelson Mandela with a monumental portrait in the streets of Shanghai?

The inspiration that comes from going across cultures is, at least, part of the answer. In this video, seal artist Phil Akashi, shows his creative process.

If the video does not play, watch it here.

Mandela, An International Hero

Nelson Mandela (1918– ) celebrated his 95th birthday on July 18, 2013.

Nelson Mandela, subject of Phil Akashi's "Tribute to Mandela," a portrait created with Chinese seals and illustrating the art of going across cultures

Nelson Mandela, 2008
© South Africa The Good News

His vision of equal rights for the citizens of South Africa led to resistance against apartheid policies and to his imprisonment for 27 years.

After his 1990 release, he and President FW de Klerk negotiated an end to apartheid for which they won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

At age 77, Mandela voted for the first time in the 1994 elections, in which he became South Africa’s first democratically elected President.

Sheron Long 2 Comments

China/Crossing Cultures/South Africa/The World's Art & Design

Aug

Forty Days of Dating: A Relationship Experiment

by Sheron Long on August 1, 2013

Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman gain perspective in a relationship experiment.

Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman face up to issues in a relationship experiment.
© Osvaldo Ponton

Come Face-to-Face and Gain Perspective

Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman had a creative idea. Date for 40 days (long enough to break bad habits) and work on issues that had gotten in the way of prior relationships.

Friends for four years, Jessica and Tim are designers in NYC, people who take creative risks and enjoy collaborative projects. They have a lot in common, but—

Jessica loves the thrill of healthy, romantic relationships, falls into them perhaps too quickly, and is looking for “the one.”

Tim loves the thrill of the chase (often dating several girls at once), has trouble committing, and sometimes leaves relationships for trivial reasons.

With these opposite perspectives, Forty Days of Dating is a relationship experiment with potential for explosive results. Will the friends damage their friendship? Will they fall madly in love? Will they gain perspective?

Typographic art helps participants gain perspective in a relationship experiment

“Embrace uncertainty,” good watchwords for a relationship experiment
© Anisa Suthayalai

Getting Starting

For the experiment, Jessica and Tim set rules, such as seeing each other every day, visiting a couple’s therapist weekly, and filling out a daily questionnaire privately and with candor.

The 40 days occurred last spring, and now from July 10–August 16, 2013, daily posts chronicle the developments. Typographic art from friends captures the essence of each day, staring with Day 1:

Day 1 for Tim after a date the night before
© Roanne Adams / Roandco

Day 1 for Jessica: When an opportunity seems scary, I must take it.
© Keetra Dean Dixon

Insights Galore

Now, more than half-way through the project, the couple’s daily reflections offer a treasure trove of “Oh, I see” moments. Here are but a few:

1. On the Role of Exes—

On Day 5, Jessica and Tim engaged in “art therapy,” making word pictures about past relationships while they shared ginger cookies and egg pastries. When Jessica moved her exes out of her head, she found it “surprisingly therapeutic.”

Jessica gets an ex out of her head and onto paper.
© Jessica Walsh

Tim drew his dating history of 65 girlfriends and observed, “There’s something liberating about airing my dirty laundry.”

With 65 on his dating list, it must have taken time for Tim to air his dirty laundry!
© Kate Moross

2. On Why People Fall Too Fast—

A visit to a couple’s therapist on Day 8 gives insight on Jessica’s issue. Looking at the portraits of her exes, it’s easy to see that she jumps into relationships. The therapist explains and Tim, at least, has an aha moment: Jessica gets serious so fast because she dislikes the discomfort or awkwardness in the beginning of a relationship.

3. On Avoiding Attachment—

On Day 11, Tim gets crabby and starts pointing out Jessica’s quirks and weaknesses. She recognizes Tim’s behavior as a way to protect himself from getting too attached.

Jessica Walsh gains perspective in a relationship experiment

Jessica Walsh
© Forty Days of Dating

On Day 13, Jessica explains:

“As soon as he starts seeing a girl, especially a girl he really likes, he’ll focus on bizarre things about her that bother him.

“These things are meaningless in terms of a relationship, but he claims they are deal breakers.

“A few months ago he dated a great girl who seemed to have it all, but he decided he should end things because he didn’t like her shoes. Seriously.

“The next girl he said he liked hooked up with him too soon. The next girl he dated was amazing but she didn’t like her career as much as he likes his.”

The attachment issues led to the first fight, and soon the couple had to—

Not even two weeks into the relationship, things began to change.
© Sabine Dowek

4. On the Fear of Commitment—

Jessica reports mixed signals from Tim: “He’s both interested and scared to become intimate, yet he’s still being flirtatious and showing signs of wanting more.”

She starts asking more from the relationship. What does that feel like to Tim? He speaks honestly:

Timothy Goodman gains perspective in a relationship experiment

Timothy Goodman
© Forty Days of Dating

“I feel like I’m walking on eggshells a bit.” (Day 12)

“Yes, I am interested in more, but it just feels too risky.” (Day 13)

“I feel a lot of pressure from Jessie. I like a bit of uncertainty, and I like living in the questions. I don’t like having to live up to some idea, or to fulfill some expectation, though. I don’t think she even realizes she’s doing it. The whole situation is making me feel very unsettled, and she wonders why I’m being so wishy-washy.” (Day 14)

The pressure Tim feels leads to the wishy-washiness that confuses Jessica, and that confusion prompts the questions that feel like pressure to Tim. Ah, it’s a circle all about commitment. What’s missing?

What do the missing letters spell?
© Leland Maschmeyer

5. On Not Giving Up—

As in all relationships, things get really tense. On Day 15, Jessica decides to quit the project, but returns. On Day 23, Tim has had it:

“I’ve never felt more like a mouse in a cage being tested on against my will. I feel grimy. I feel very uncomfortable. I feel emotional.”

And Jessica is deflated.

What gets them through it? Intense communication and this realization:

Full hearts and broken hearts happen as relationships go ’round.
© Sharon Hwang

What’s Next?

By Day 24, Tim has decided to give the relationship a go. Jessica has decided to let go of her expectations. They have sex. It’s 15 days from today to the end of the relationship experiment. Find more of their candid “Oh, I see” moments at 40 Days of Dating, and gain perspective for yourself, too.

Jessica is a partner at Sagmeister & Walsh, and Timothy runs his own design studio.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Sheron Long Comments

Secrets to Life

Jul

Paris Expo: Bravos and Bouquets for Urban Gardens

by Sheron Long on July 15, 2013

Roses on display at Paris Garden Show, featuring creative ideas in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

A bouquet of roses brightens a rainy day at Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries, annual Paris garden show.
© Sheron Long

Creative Ideas Find Fertile Ground

Plenty of creative ideas grew in the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein (early 1900s), including her famous quote:

A rose is a rose is a rose.

Though generally interpreted to mean that “things are what they say they are,” I’m not so sure that’s the case when it comes to the term “garden show.”

A garden show is a garden show is not just a garden show when it’s in Paris.

This year, the Paris garden show known as Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries staged its magic in the Tuileries Garden—a stunning display of beauty (superbe, as the French say) and fertile ground for creative ideas in urban gardening.

Can’t Go Out? Go Up!—The Beauty of Vertical Gardens

I bought my ticket to beauty and was enchanted from the moment I saw wispy fabric waving in the wind.

Wall of roses at Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries, a Paris Expo featuring creative ideas in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

“L’Instant Grand-Siècle,” exhibit by Nicolas Gilsoul for Laurent-Perrier at Paris garden show
© Sheron Long

What was behind it? A vertical garden of roses—pink and mauve and white and red—created by landscape architect Nicolas Gilsoul for Champagne Laurent-Perrier, a participant in the annual event for the past nine years.

Wall of Roses at Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries, a Paris garden show featuring creative ideas in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

OK, a rose is a rose is a rose, but when I saw 10,000 of them in a vertical garden three times my height, I had to elaborate: Oh-là-là!

Vertical gardens have been around at least since the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in 600 BC. Today, however, they are a new and creative way to address issues in the urban environment.

Green, living urban walls bring to city dwellers the beauty and nature that has long been associated with health and well-being.
Vertical gardens play a role in controlling temperatures inside buildings.
Some vertical gardens are farms, growing food to feed the increasing urban population.

Vertical gardens are as varied as any landscape. See 39 more here.

Do Creative Ideas Change with the Times?

Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries, in partnership with the Louvre Museum, formerly the royal residence at the east end of the Tuileries Garden, began the annual event ten years ago.

Each year, the show addresses creative gardening ideas.

Sign honoring Le Notre to whom Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries dedicated its garden show that features creative ideas in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

This year’s event honored landscape architect André Le Nôtre (1613–1700) for his creative genius upon the 400th anniversary of his birth.

Le Nôtre was born into a family of gardeners to kings and was trained in the Tuileries Garden, which he modified between 1666 and 1672.

He is perhaps best known for creating the grand gardens at Versailles for Louis XIV.

Creative ideas often spring from need. Le Notre’s creative challenge was to “think big,” generating ideas that worked on a vast scale, whereas urban spaces today often demand creative ideas that work on a small scale.

Times change, and so do creative solutions.

Somehow, I was sure that Le Nôtre would approve of today’s artists, designers, and landscape architects who are working “small” and “up” to bring beauty to urban spaces.

Ugly Sidewalks? Dress Them Up with Dadagreen®

When I saw this gentleman dressed up as Le Nôtre in the Dadagreen® exhibit, I knew I would find creative ideas there.

Actor playing Le Notre at the 2013 Paris garden admiring the creative ideas in urban gardening in the Dadagreen exhibit. Image © Paule Kingleur

Bringing beauty to fences and grills along streets and bridges, by hospitals and schools, to your balcony—that’s the goal of Dadagreen®, innovative flower pots that combine two old ideas—saddlebags and container gardening—to create fertile ground for an urban garden.

Dadagreen® flower boxes straddling urban railings, a creative idea in urban gardening. Image © Paule Kingleur

Dadagreen®, the concept of Paule Kingleur, founder of Paris Label, consists of two saddlebags handmade of recycled tarp and decorated with eye-catching photographs. Filled with dirt, the innovative pots welcome flowers, greenery, and even vegetables for those who want to create a kitchen garden on their street.

The Dadagreen, a creative idea in urban gardening, is planted with zucchini. Image © Paule Kingleur

How Do Creative Ideas Sprout and Grow?

In Paule Kingleur’s case, one gray November day, she saw a colorful child’s bonnet with stripes perched atop a street pole, one of those ugly anti-parking barriers.

She noticed how the bonnet dressed up the sidewalk. Committed to an urban life, Paule also believes in the right of urban dwellers to connect with nature.

That’s when she had an “Oh, I see” moment, realizing that she could hang pretty containers, called Potogreens, on existing poles to create micro-gardens and beauty in urban spaces.

Many new ideas are born like this. And often, the first idea leads to another. Later, Paule created the larger Dadagreen® where bigger urban gardens can thrive.

Where will Paule’s ideas go next? All over the city. Not content with prettying up a static sidewalk space, Paule threw the Dadagreen® saddlebags on a bike to take beauty on the road! Now, that’s a creative idea that fits our times!

Bicycle with Dadagreen® flower boxes, a creative idea in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

At Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries 2013, the rose wall by Nicolas Gilsoul won the Prix Coup de Coeur (“Lovestruck” Award).

Paule Kingleur’s Dadagreen® won the Prix Innovation Cité Vert (Prize for Green City Innovation).

The name Dadagreen® is a combination of the English word “green,” denoting its green mission, and “dada,” a childish nickname for horse, reflecting its characteristic of a straddle (and a wink at the Dadaist-Surrealist movement).