*AmongMany

You’ve probably never heard of her – but you should have. Her most recent design is being featured alongside work from Yves Behar, Calvin Klein, Yoko Ono, and 31 of the hottest other designers around. Shelly Sabel is an Brooklyn-based lighting designer who splits her time among personal projects/explorations, paid work, and teaching young up-and-comers at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. And I have the pleasure of being able to say “I knew her when…” (I grew up with the youngest of the Sabel sisters and have had the opportunity to cross paths with Shelly over the years).

Shelly’s latest project is Vipp’s 70th Anniversary Charity Auction in conjunction with Design Within Reach. Thirty five designers were invited to use Vipp’s trash can as a canvas to create whatever they wanted. The resulting works will be auctioned off tomorrow at a gala event hosted at DWR’s SOHO store (the event starts at 7pm if you’re interested in placing a bid). The benefits will go to DIFFA – the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS.

I caught up with Shelly last night to pick her brain about life, design, her work, and the Vipp project specifically. Read more – and see all of the different cans – after the jump…

How’d you get selected to take part in the Vipp project? I started working with DIFFA in 2008 with their annual event Dining by Design. [See Shelly’s most recent Dining by Design work here.] This auction benifits DIFFA, and it was at their request that I participated. When I saw the list of designers also working on the project I was quite honored!

Describe your creation…Who/what inspired it? I knew that I wanted the can to light up… I got the promotional materials from DIFFA and sat with some friends and started brainstorming. At first I was really thinking about using LED’s with magnets attached to them that are electrified. I ended up simplifying the idea and making a more “traditional” lite-bright. I like that it is something vintage referencing something that is modern… or is it something modern referencing something that is nostalgic. Hmmmmm?

The actual materials used are: a wide array of lite-bright pegs, both vintage and new purchased on e-bay, electro luminescent flatlight, perforated steel and tie-down straps.

How is this project similar to/different from your other work? I tend to really gravitate towards multiplicity. Why have one thing when thousands look better. I think color and vibrancy play a part in most of the things I make, as well as a bit of nostalgia.

What role does technology play in your work? NOT ENOUGH! I wish I was more of a geek but I’m not! I need a director of technology please. Or an intern – anyone interested?!

What would you change or like to learn more about that would help with your design? I would love to have had the pedal operate some sort of action to the can. Make it flash or pulse. Right now the power is on a separate corded transformer. It would be great to have more resources and more people to collaborate with and learn from. You can never stop learning about new things. Once you stop learning, I don’t see the point of continuing to create.

Shelly also mentioned that if she could walk away with any of the resulting Vipp pieces, she’d be all over Rikke Korff’s rendition. And she mentioned that there are some provocative (read: “nude”) photos floating around of Hostess/Supermodel Veronica Webb posing with her piece.

Don’t forget to swing by DWR in SOHO tomorrow if you’d like to bid on Shelly’s (or any of the other designer’s) cans. Shelly will be there as well if you’d like to say hello.

For the last 2+ years, I’ve lived a somewhat migratory lifestyle - I’m in my 3rd apartment during that time and have finally found a place that I intend to settle into a bit. Which means that, for the first time in those couple of years, I’m ready to put some artwork on the walls and stake a claim to my space. And, as a bit of an amateur photographer (seen ShotsAmongMany?), I’m excited about the possibility of printing some of my own work to fill that void. The problem is finding some interesting way to print/display my work.

In a quest for a solution, I recently stumbled across CanvasPop, a printing service that will take your photo and print it to a canvas photoboard. They also offer a few interesting possibilities like multiple canvases per photo (turn your work into a diptych or triptych) or add filters (very photoshop-looking, but to each his own). They’ve got a flickr account with a bunch of their work samples if you want to see more possibilities.

Prices seem pretty reasonable, all things considered. Once I’ve decided on an image or two to adorn my walls, I’ll let everyone know how the finished product looks. And, if anyone has recommendations on a favorite shot, I’d love to hear them!

Chinese artist Chen Wenling critiques the global financial crisis in What You See Might Not Be Real, on display at a Beijing gallery. The bull is said to represent Wall Street, while the man pinned to the wall represents jailed financier Bernard Madoff.

via BBC & @meat99

Seems photo projects are the theme around here for the moment. The newest one that I’ve stumbled across is called Before I die, I want to…. Artistic duo Nicole Kenney and ks rives each carry a Polaroid camera with them at all times, stopping to snap a shot of the interesting people they come across. And, for every shot they take, they ask the person what dream they’d like to accomplish during their lifetime. All of the photos (and dreams) are collected on their site http://beforeidieiwantto.org for the world to see.

Their hope is to reconnect with all of their subjects in a few (read 10 or 20?) years to see how they’re coming with their dreams.

Seeing online that other people are fulfilling their desires will motivate participants to complete their task and write a story of their own.

They’ve also taken this hobby/project on the road. The two recently spent three months traveling through India, Polaroids close at hand, asking the locals the very same question. Those dreams are also collected on a separate section of the site.

If you want to share with Nicole and ks your personal dream, they’re taking submissions from around the world as well. Just follow the directions here to share with them.

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, Spike Jonze’s highly anticipated rendition of the ever-popular children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are is set to release in October (see the trailer here). And, as with any movie release based on something that’s already wildly popular, it has spurred a ton of discussion as well as a few other inspired and artistic moments. One such inspired moment takes shape at TerribleYellowEyes.com, a collection of original artworks by a variety of artists created by illustrator Corey Godbey.

In his own words, Terrible Yellow Eyes is:

a collection of works inspired by the beloved classic, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Over the coming weeks and months I’ll display a growing collection of works created by invited contributing artists and myself. We share a love and admiration for Sendak’s work and the pieces we present here are done as a tribute to his life and legacy.

The site already features work from over 90 different artists, and with the upcoming movie release, it’s sure to grow heading into October. Where the Wild Things Are is a book that holds a place in the hearts of many children, and the sentiment will only strengthen interest in both the site and the movie release.

Thanks to @JeffSoo for the heads-up on this one!

A couple of months ago I mentioned UK-based artist and illustrator Russ Mills who’s working name is Byroglyphics. His work originally caught my eye due to the unique paint/inkpen technique that creates an outstanding graphic look. So, after the last entry, I wrote Russ just to see what’s up.

Turns out, he’s got a new show coming up that’s running under the title “Domestic Science”. If you’re going to be anywhere near London between May 22nd and June 13th, swing by the Signal Gallery to have a look at Russ’ latest pieces. There’s also a “private view” - which I assume is Londonese for “opening party” on May 21st, but I’m not certain if the evening is invite only.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to most simply as Dr. Seuss, was born on March 2, 1904 (and, unfortunately, passed away on September 21, 1991). In honor of his work, March 2nd is being celebrated as Read Across America Day - or more simply put, Dr. Seuss Day!

The National Education Association annually sponsors Read Across America. Now in its twelfth year, the program focuses on motivating children to read, in addition to helping them master basic skills. The nationwide reading celebration takes place each year on or near March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

One of my personal favorite authors - I still have my collection of Dr. Seuss books that was painstakingly collected by my mother as I was growing up - I’ve been known to spout random quotes from a few choice works.

If you want to learn more about Dr. Seuss, check out his Wikipedia entry. And have a look at all the chatter on Twitter today!

I stumbled across Byroglyphics.com this morning and was immediately taken by the illustrations. The work of UK-based artist/illustrator, Russ Mills, the drawings remind me of David Choe’s work, with a bit more mess/scratch to them (in a good way!). Interestingly, Choe isn’t on Mills’ list of influencers - which is rather substantial. He’s also got some great thoughts for budding artists on his site.

Here’s a couple of my faves from his latest set:

Russ also has some older work featured on his blog, and his latest is available for purchase at his store site.

It’s amazing what you can find on the web. Or maybe this is one of those things that’s really old and I’m just way behind the game. Either way, I stumbled onto this little flash toy a few minutes ago called Man In The Dark. Created by Miltos Manetas and Aaron Russ Clinger (anyone got a link for Aaron?) back in ‘04, it appears to have been made for the Blow de la Barra gallery in London.

PS. Miltos, for a guy who’s creating awesome flash toys, your site could use an update. The painting tool, however, is also a lotta fun!

In my recent interwebs travels, I stumbled across the Guerrilla-Innovation.com blog (quite literally; gotta love StumbleUpon!). While mesmerized on my first visit, it’s a tough place to describe simply. Instead of trying myself, I’ll the site’s creator, Sebastian Campion, do the explaining:

GUERRILLA-INNOVATION.COM is a blog that brings together a wide range of cases in which traditional ideas and situations are challenged through unconventional creativity.

Sebastian goes on to admit on the blog’s about page that Guerrilla Innovation is sometimes “difficult to locate and identify”, but if his most recent entry is a solid example, I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled.

His latest post discusses the ‘Til Vægs’ (To The Wall) exhibit at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, for which the newly appointed museum director was asked to fill a blank schedule with a miniscule budget. In response, she invited 40 local artists to literally paint the walls with their work (thereby avoiding travel costs, etc.).

Be sure to dig through his other posts as well for a well-thought, unusual collection of artistic pieces.

[image of Ida Kvetny’s work for ‘Til Vægs’]