Mixed Media Art ~ “Realistic Animal Drawings Surrounded By The Tools Used To Create Them”

“Realistic Animal Drawings Surrounded By The Tools Used To Create Them”

by Dovas via “BoredPanda”

Talented artist Karla Mialynne isn’t content with simply sharing her stunning hyper-realistic art with her 44,000 Instagram followers – she posts these mixed-media images together with the artistic utensils she used to create these pieces, as if to prove that these are indeed drawings and not photographs.

The utensils, which include pencils, markers and acrylic paints, also show the beautiful rich color palette that Mialynne uses in each of her pictures.

 

“Upright Pianos”

Having played the piano for the past 20 years, I still have my old original upright Whitney piano.  However, given that I’m moving abroad, I am heartbroken by the news that I now have to sell it.  That piano lasted me through the banging “Freres Jacques” song of a five year old, the angsty operatic period of a teenager, and the Broadway musical era of my twenties.  Built from sturdy wood, it has lasted through three moves and decades of love and crooning.  It’s just killing me to have to let it go.  

In the course of research the estimated value of my treasure, I ran across this fascinating article discussing the history and development of the 20th century piano.  It includes all sorts of pictures and informative details, a great read if you are into music.  Based on the photos, I was able to estimate that my Whitney is from circa early 1920s.  It looks exactly like the photo!  I didn’t realize that I got one of the last styles to have the really high backs.  I don’t like the waist-high piano’s nearly as well.  Of course, to be honest, I’ve yet to meet a piano that sounded as beautiful as my own ~ even the expensive grand pianos.  Sadness, I’ll miss you baby!

If you’re interested, here is a brief portion of the article:

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Identify Instrument

via “Antique Piano Shop“

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, pianos and organs went through an incredible evolution. Pictured below are various styles, models, and descriptions of vintage instruments that can help you determine the type and approximate age of your instrument.

UPRIGHT PIANOS

Upright Piano, Circa 1870

Upright Piano, Circa 1880

Upright Piano, Circa 1890

Upright Piano, Circa 1900

Upright Piano, Circa 1910

Arts & Crafts Upright, Circa 1912

Upright Piano, Circa 1920

Upright Piano, Circa 1930

Spinet Piano, Circa 1940

The upright piano didn’t become popular in American culture until the last quarter of the 19th century. Prior to that time, the square grand piano was the preferred choice that dominated the American piano market. Most of our vintage ephemera collection doesn’t show upright pianos until the 1870s, although upright pianos were built on a limited scale all through the early and middle 19th century. It is exceedingly rare that we see an upright piano dating prior to 1870 come through our restoration shop, indicating that the extant models of mid-19th century upright pianos are very scarce today.

As the 20th century approached, makers began shifting their production from the square grand piano to the upright piano, as the public’s tastes were beginning to change and homes were becoming smaller and less suited for large square grand pianos. In the 1880s and 1890s, upright piano production increased substantially and by the last decade of the 19th century, the square grand piano that had dominated the market for the past century had all but vanished. Since this was the height of the Victorian era, manufacturers were building their upright pianos with exotic woods and lavish carvings, often producing incredibly ornate and lavish models to suit the décor of the era. The last decade of the 19th century saw some of the finest craftsmanship and quality ever to be put into piano manufacturing.

After the turn-of-the-century, tastes began to change and piano design began to become a bit more streamlined. The ostentatious styles of the late 19th century gave way for more classic and simple design. The first decade of the 20th century saw a calmer, less radical movement in interior design than the previous decades, and this change was immediately seen in the evolving styles offer by the major piano manufacturers.

From about 1900-1916, the Arts & Crafts Movement was a major force in American design. Although the Arts & Crafts design was very popular during the early 20th century, piano makers were slow to adapt to the Mission/Arts & Crafts design. Furniture manufactures were quick to jump on the new trend of the Craftsman style, but piano makers were slow to recognize just how important the Arts & Crafts Movement really was. A handful of manufactures attempted to build pianos in the Craftsman/Mission style, but because the Movement was so short-lived, most of them didn’t see the significance of the Arts & Crafts Movement until it was too late; the Arts & Crafts Movement was over before 1920. Sadly, very few manufacturers ever offered Craftsman style pianos, and as a result, original specimens are exceedingly rare today.

The 1920s era was considered the “Golden Age” of piano building. By this time makers had streamlined operations and the piano had evolved into a perfect machine. The upright piano had evolved into a very simple basic design, becoming more utilitarian in appearance than ever before. With the exception of period furniture styles like Louis XV and French Provincial, most upright pianos were without ornamentation or frills. Instead, plain square pillars and streamlined moldings resulted in a very “modern” looking upright piano which was considered “uncluttered” and “beautifully simplistic.” These simple-looking upright pianos were generally of excellent quality.

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“Young Designers’ Exuberant SCADpad Homes Fit in a Parking Spot”

There is a fascinating trend in the younger American generation to leave behind the large, two- and three- story homes that have for so long controlled our domestic architecture. Instead the current movement is toward smaller, more economical housing that is more affordable and yet still stylish.  Designers have come a long way in making these places attractive to those who live alone and appreciate these smaller places.  As one of those new graduates who cannot even begin to dream of affording a small “traditional” home in the near (or long) future, I think this is amazing movement truly adapts to the needs of present society. Plus, I was beginning to grow tired of the generic sameness of most housing architecture; this is the first real innovation I have seen in a while. **  DB

“Young Designers’ Exuberant SCADpad Homes Fit in a Parking Spot”

by Ilyce R. Glink via “Yahoo!“

“Imagine an urban parking garage, emptied of its cars and filled instead with dozens of parking-spot-size homes.

It’s the vision of a group of more than 80 students, alumni and educators from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. They have been experimenting with these car-sized homes, called SCADpads, that could be plunked into any parking garage and instantly provide housing in overpriced downtown areas of major cities. The units are prototypes for urban housing, but students will live in them first to test out the concept.

“We’re targeting decks built in the middle of the 20th century, located in the heart of a city,” says Christian Sottile, dean of the school of building arts at SCAD. “Many of these were built as fallout shelters and will basically be there until the end of time.”

For its experiment, the folks at SCAD built their beta SCADpad neighborhood in the college’s midtown Atlanta parking garage, with incredible views of the city’s sprawling skyline. They took over the fourth floor of the garage, using eight parking spaces to create the three pads. The pads reflect the design aesthetics of the college’s three campuses: SCADpad North America for its Savannah campus, SCADpad Europe reflecting the campus in Lacoste, France, and SCADpad Asia reflecting its Hong Kong campus. Each pad takes up two parking spaces—one for the unit itself and the other for an outdoor garden area—and then there’s space for the community garden and a workbench. . . . .”

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Preview: “Charles James: Beyond Fashion” at the MET

“Charles James: Beyond Fashion” at the MET

By Eugénie Trochu, translated by Charlotte Sutherland-Hawes via Vogue.fr

Anglo-American designer Charles James (1906-1978) is one the biggest names in mid 20th century American fashion, a designer who thought of fashion as a mathematical science. From Thursday May 8 to Sunday August 10, 2014, the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is opening to the doors to the “Charles James: Beyond Fashion” exhibition, which celebrates the work of the visionary designer. With just a few days until it officially opens, Vogue.fr brings you a look at some of the iconic images on display in this year’s MET exhibition, which draws huge crowds every year.