Beauty in the Breakdown

Artist: Calethia DeConto
Assignment: Public Poetry
Materials: dry wall, ink, frustration

My favorite collaborator (and fellow S.S. fan) Calethia DeConto snapped this image of a piece of dry wall she rescued, then stashed in her car for months before finally finding the spark of inspiration to scrawl upon it thoughts of frustration. Miss DeConto, a noted photographer currently based in LA, is notorious for finding beauty in things otherwise overlooked and with the aid of her magic lens her subjects' worth is transposed.

Speaking of all things Calethia, our lady has recently completed installing her very own dark room with which she introduces The Beauty Seeker Dark Room, available for custom black and white printing. See the image below for info on the dark room and how you can donate funds to help its existence! Support local dark rooms! Trust me, this girl is totally gifted. If you don't believe me go look here and here.

Pictures & Promises

Artist: Lydia Hyslop
Assignment: Public Poetry
Materials: holga pictures, a digital image, photoshop, the human heart, and summer '07

As if being a talented actress, singer/songwriter, and magazine start-upper, LadyGunn's Lydia Hyslop shows she has a knack for creating beautiful objects as well in this project for our Assignment #6: Public Poetry. My girl Lydzzz uses simple but powerful language along with her own photographic images to associate memories. The result is sincere and a little bit heartbreaking. I think we call can relate. Thanks Lady! :)

Post it.

Artist: Savita Ostendorf
Assignment: Public Poetry
Materials: red Sharpie, brown paper, puppet design studio

I always knew Savita would be the perfect I Make Picture-maker. The Los Angeles-based designer is equipped with both A) an amazing camera, and B) an eye for seeing and creating beautiful things. To learn more about Savita, check out her blog or click on her website to view some sample work.

...from a magnetic heart.

Another reason Nick McPhail rules? His answer to Assignment #6: Public Poetry. Nick's project is great because he used materials that were laying around and still captured exactly what this assignment was all about: turning your own words into a piece of public art. Not to mention...working within the limited vocabulary of refrigerator magnet? Not an easy task.

For more things McPhail, check out Nick's website, and mark your calendars for his solo show at San Francisco's Mina Dresden Gallery this August. Thanks again, Nick!












Artist: Nick McPhail
Assignment: Public Poetry
Materials: fridge, magnetic poetry, imagination