It's Fontastic! Andrew Byrom, 3D Type, & Llamafont.

Lately, I've been really getting into fonts. Here are some of my favorites fonts and inspirations.

Andrew Byrom creates typefaces from everyday objects, from neon letters inspired by chairs, to box kites with new meanings, to functional, yet instructional pipes.

"Letter Box Kite." (Image via www.andrewbyrom.com.)

"Interiors Light." (Image via www.andrewbyrom.com.)

Llama Font. 

This lovely website will illustrate your text in llamas. From llamas doing headstands to llamas simply sitting, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," never looked so comical. 

The 3D Type Book, by FL@33.

An anthology of the most creative fonts found off the page.

The 3D Type Book by FL@33 from Tomi Vollauschek on Vimeo.

Song:

Holiday - Vampire Weekend ("96 Point Futura")

Oh No! Doom - Out O' The Woodwork Show

This past month I exhibited a lamp at the Oh No! Doom gallery's Out O' The Woodwork show. I had my basket starfish neon lamp along with about 30 other artists' pieces. It was a really eclectic mix of work, & a lot of fun. The gallery owners are really nice, too; check the place out!

Song:

Bright Lights Bigger City - Cee Lo Green

Neon Boneyard, Las Vegas.

I've just discovered a place I need to visit. A part of the Neon Museum in Las Vegas, the Neon Boneyard is where old signs are left after they are no longer needed. The signs do not light up, but there are still plenty of vivid, stunning pieces. It's strange to see the signs magnified at a close view.

(Photo by Matt Gross via New York Times.)

After studying how signs are made, I have a much greater appreciation for the fragility of neon, the work to make a sign, and it's saddening that some of these signs are not going to be restored.

(via Vegas Chatter.)

(via Boston.)

Check out some beautiful panoramas of the Boneyard (by Zach Wise via Las Vegas Sun).

Songs & Videos:

Rag & Bone - The White Stripes

DVNO - Justice

Bones Become Rainbows - The Wailing Wall

Hello Etsy, It's Been a While

I've begun using Etsy again. I set up a shop last year, but didn't quite understand how it worked. Now, after seeing some of the best at the Renegade Craft Fair & the worst on Regretsy, I've decided to try it out with a little more of my work. It's a lovely way for artists to connect with each other and sell in a worldwide marketplace. People can even request custom items. This time I've added a lot of my senior work to my shop, It'll Glow On You.

A bioluminescent menagerie in my old studio space with works in progress. (The basket starfish would later become orange.)

Video: 

Carnival of the Animals: The Aquarium - Camille Saint-Saëns

Olafur Eliasson's Daylight Map

Recently I've been perusing a copy of The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography, which is a wonderful anthology that covers an endless variety of mediums and subjects. From purely visual aesthetics to historically and politically charged imagery, these maps use everything, including computer parts, souvenir t-shirts, fur, paint, glass, file cabinets, and even steamrollers.

One of my favorites (for obvious reasons), is Olafur Eliasson's "Daylight Map," 2005.

It's a map of the different time zones of the world, and during the daylight hours in each time zone, those particular pieces of neon on the map are lit. Kinetic light sculptures are fantastic!

Songs (YouTube): 

Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Reading the Map Upside Down - Canasta

Map of the World - Monsters of Folk

Geometry & Science of Pasta

The Geometry of Pasta, by Caz Hildebrand & Jacob Kenedy (Quirk Books), is coming out on the 17th of August. I am quite excited about it. A self-described "pastatarian," I am enamored of the endless amounts of shapes of noodles. I like the designs, the detailed ridges & miniscule patterns that form in each piece of pasta.

I would like to learn to make pasta from scratch with such intricate designs. I've never made it out of flour, but here is an electric version: My neon farfalle, from the 31st Annual Museum of Luminous Phenomenon Outdoor Light Exhibition, 2008. (All of the farfalle are filled with neon gas. The fork has argon gas & mercury.)

Songs:

Noodles - Suburban Kids With Biblical Names (iLike)

Baby's Got Sauce - G. Love & Special Sauce (YouTube)

Spaghetti Western Swing (Instrumental) - Brad Paisley (last.fm)

The Electric Version - The New Pornographers (YouTube)

Investigating Film Noir with CHIRP Radio & Mark Khaisman

I love making playlists and curating soundtracks to themes. I'm also intrigued by the mystery & suspense of film noir. I created a film noir list for my radio show on CHIRP Radio (the Chicago Independent Radio Project). It includes everything from danger, secrets, lies, femme fatales, spies, and evening rendezvous. Dramatic stuff, eh?!

I'm inspired by the tape art of Mark Khaisman. Mr. Khaisman uses packing tape & light boxes to create warm, sepia-toned portraits & dramatic scenes, giving a new light (ha) to classic pulp art. I like the process he uses, simply adding more and more tape to create his shadows and lines. His "Tape Noir" series resonates strongly with everything I enjoy, in both mediums & thrilling stories.

Seen on the Streets of Chicago

Songs (All Links to YouTube):
11:56AM Black Bear Combo - Watchyerstep from Game Of Death (Self-Released)
11:50AM Tunng - Don't Look Down Or Back from ...And Then We Saw Land (Thrill Jockey)
11:46AM Hunting Club - Sweet Soprano from Hunting Club (Self-Released)
11:41AM [Request] Jack White and Alicia Keys - Another Way To Die from Quantum of Solace (J)
11:37AM Orgone - Lookout from Cali Fever (Ubiquity)
11:33AM Girls In Trouble - Secrets/You're Always Watching from JDub Presents: Wild Peace (JDUB)
11:29AM The Infesticons - Give 'Em Anthem from Bedford Park (Big Dada)
11:26AM The Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running from Neon Bible (Merge)
11:24AM oRSo - Mavis from Long Time By (Perishable)
11:20AM The Raveonettes - Bang! from In and Out of Control (Fierce Panda/Vice)
11:17AM Spoon - Trouble Comes Running from Transference (Merge)
11:13AM Zs - Masonry from New Slaves (Social Registry)
11:07AM Coldplay - Spies from Parachutes (Capitol/Parlophone)
11:04AM Andrew Bird - Action/Adventure from Weather Systems (Grimsey)
11:00AM Beck - Nausea from The Information (Interscope)
10:56AM The Futureheads - Sun Goes Down from The Chaos (Dovecote)
10:52AM Two Gallants - Las Cruces Jail from What the Toll Tells (Saddle Creek)
10:47AM Suckers - You Can Keep Me Runnin' Around from Wild Smile (Frenchkiss)
10:43AM Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart from Narrow Stairs (Atlantic/Barsuk)
10:36AM Gayngs - No Sweat from Relayted (Jagjaguwar)
10:29AM [Request] The Decemberists - The Bagman's Gambit from Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)
10:25AM Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Just War from Dark Night of the Soul (EMI)
10:21AM Roy G and the Biv - Somebody's Watching Me from ROY G and the BIV (Self-Released)
10:17AM Aqueduct - Hardcore Days & Softcore Nights from Pistols At Dawn (Sub Pop)
10:15AM The Apples In Stereo - She's Telling Lies (Bryce's Mix) from Velocity of Sound (SpinART/Elephant 6)
10:12AM [Request] Sleigh Bells - Run the Heart from Treats (Mom+Pop)
10:08AM of Montreal - Disguises from The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower (Kindercore)
10:04AM All City Affairs - Flashback to When We Both Were Young from Identity Theft (Lujo)
10:01AM The Velvet Underground - Femme Fatale from The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve)
9:59AM Zapruder Point - Bad Man from Soda & Sympathy (Self-Released)
9:54AM World/Inferno Friendship Society - Peter Lorre's Overture from Addicted to Bad Ideas (Chunksaah)
9:50AM Club 8 - Be Mad, Get Ill, Be Still from The People's Record (Labrador)
9:46AM Quincy Jones - Blues In The Night from Ocean's Eleven Soundtrack (Warner Bros/Wea)
9:41AM The Black Keys - Ten Cent Pistol from Brothers (Nonesuch)
9:35AM Neko Case - Prison Girls from Middle Cyclone (ANTI-)
9:31AM Tame Impala - Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind? from Innerspeaker (Modular)
9:28AM Bloc Party - She's Hearing Voices from Silent Alarm (Wichita)
9:24AM [Request] The Budos Band - Up From The South from Daptone Gold (Daptone)
9:20AM Rilo Kiley - Smoke Detector from Under the Blacklight (Warner Bros.)
9:18AM [Request] Crystal Castles - Fainting Spells from Crystal Castles II (Fiction)
9:14AM My Brightest Diamond - Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey from Mojo Presents The White Album Recovered Vol. 2 (Unknown)
9:09AM Deer Tick - Goodbye, Dear Friend from The Black Dirt Sessions (Partisan)
9:06AM Francis and the Lights - Night Watchman from A Modern Promise (Normative)
9:03AM Nancy Sinatra - Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) from Kill Bill Vol. 1 (A Band)

Circles, Lines, & Balloons - Ashley Harwood & Jason Hackenworth

The most challenging shapes to make while bending neon are circles, due to the exact geometry and the need to evenly heat and shape the glass over a small ribbon burner, which is about the length of a keyboard. This is why I am bowled over by Ashley Harwood's neon circles. And these are not tiny loops, these are enormous, multiple tube works. They look like celestial shapes, planets, and galaxies. In this piece, 1.66782048x10^-9, (made in 2007,) there are 10 transformers powering this sphere.

We are the Light that Travels into Space (2007).

The other artist whose work has captivated me this week is Jason Hackenworth. He creates enormous creatures entirely out of balloons. Some of them are even interactive and wearable, but most are blown-up (ha) sculptural replications of tiny microbes and sea creatures. This piece is called Ecstasy of the Scarlet Empress, (photo via NY Times).

Songs (YouTube):

Red Rubber Ball - The Cyrkle 

Blue Light Red Light (Someone's There) - Harry Connick, Jr.

Blue Light - Bloc Party

Red Light - The Strokes 

A Balloon On A Broken String - The Boy Least Likely To

99 Luft Ballons - Nena

Lights & Sounds - Yochai Matos & Bruce Nauman

Right now I am amazed by the light sculptures of Yochai Matos (Flame [Gate] above). Yochai Matos is a multi-media artist (check out his street art) who creates huge light pieces, and often incorporates pattern and geometry into them. I like seeing the back of Flame, because of the behind-the-scenes nature of the installation (ha!). This piece (below) is called Sunset, and again, I love the form, the way his art works so well in both a gallery and a natural setting. There's also a lot of attention to the detail of how both the bulbs and the wires are placed. Beautiful.

 I just discovered this piece by Bruce Nauman. 

 

 It's called My Name As Though It Were Written On the Moon. He made it in 1969. He's a neon lettering genius.

Songs: 

2000 Volts - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (iLike)

At Night Trees Aren't Sleeping - of Montreal (Lala)

Make Light - Passion Pit (YouTube)

Dancing In The Dark - Bruce Springsteen (YouTube)

Sunlight - Harlem Shakes (YouTube)

BRUUUUUUUCE!

Recently I went to the Art Institute of Chicago and got a chance to see some of the famous work of Neon/Video/Sculpture artist Bruce Nauman. I was floored by the amount of neon letter work he has done over the years. After having studied different techniques of neon bending, I have an enormous appreciation for anyone who can create numerous uniformed letters out of glass.

I had heard of his neon work before, but not his video or sculpture. I was actually frustrated trying to watch his clown video piece, although he accurately conveyed the mood he had intended with that piece.

His neon, however, is presented in an easy-to-read manner, with an overwhelming attention to detail and craft. He was featured on the wonderful PBS program Art:21, which explores the work, lives, and processes of modern-day artists.

Bruce Nauman's work is intense, both visually and emotionally, and his technique is inspiring to neon students all over, and this neon bender is no exception.

Songs:

Life In Technicolor - Coldplay

That's Life - Frank Sinatra

Human - The Killers

Death - White Lies

Modern Nature - Sondre Lerche

Armadillos in Motion

The 32nd Annual Museum of Luminous Phenomenon (the annual light show at Alfred University) was a success!


I displayed my neon armadillos. They are curling up into a ball. Check it out!




Song: Flashing Lights - Kanye West

Starfinished!

Hooray! I have finished the stacked-neon-tube starfish. Here it is!

And a dance song to celebrate!

"Electric Feel" - MGMT (on YouTube)

Electric Muffins

Hey! Good news from the studio: I've successfully bent, sealed electrodes to, and bombarded a tube within 24 hrs. And it worked! To celebrate, a bit of Billy Joel:

Get It Right the First Time - Billy Joel

So anyways: I wanted to see how extra color would work inside the basket starfish lamp. The little shape makes a big difference in the color of the lamp... I tried it with the regular peach tube, both tubes, and the tangerine-orange. I actually like the last one the best.

And in other lamp news, The Jellyfish is finally stuffed. With bubble wrap. Lots and lots of bubble wrap. The color shows through much better than regular stuffing. Now it's like an electric muffin. The Electric Muffins might just be a good name for a rock band.

This project's stacking up

Back to the Red-Spiny Neon starfish. I've built a frame that the tubes would rest on. I've painted it, and now attached the tubes. They look like a odd, mechanical, looping staircase. Now I am going to wire it, and scrape away the paint from the tubes to create the starfish design.

Utilitarian Digest

Hooray! I finished the basket starfish lamp and am presenting it in the (2nd Annual) Utilitarian Digest Show in the Turner Student Gallery! It is up Thursday, too. The show is a collection of functional artwork, so there are tools, bowls, glasses, lamps, alternative power sources, and silverware.

I like seeing ceramics, glass, metal, and wood pieces all in the same show. It is a good showcase of the 3-D materials found throughout the Art School, although perhaps more neon could be seen. Not that I'm biased or anything.

The lamp may be tweaked a bit later, but I am pretty happy with the stenciling.

Also, I made deviled eggs for the opening, Grandma B.'s recipe. They were a hit!

I'm Seeing Stars

Here is the design for the Spiny Red Neon Starfish.



Reference Photo Courtesy.

Paint It Black

Here are the flat plane starfish tubes, coated with blockout paint. Soon to have the paint scratched away into a starfish design.

It's very messy. These paint drips are actually dry.

Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones

Safety Glasses Required, Safety Dances Optional!

I just finished bombarding 6 neon tubes in one night! A new record for me! I am pretty PUMPED about this.

Sunglasses at Night - Corey Heart (YouTube)

The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats

I'm Beginning To See The Light

Working like a mad lady in the neon shop this week. Here's what the inside of last week's starfish lamp looks like, some nice, simple shapes. The neon will be held on to the frame with standoff glass toggles.
And onto the next neon starfish. The pieces will be layered, like this, blacked out, and the image of a starfish will be scraped away out of the different glass tubes. It'll be a reddish-pink color. There are 6 tubes here, all with electrodes sealed onto the ends. There's a lot of patterns that can be made, too, checkerboards and waves. Now, to pump them all!
And now presenting, in several installments, a Neon Mix (Vol. 1):

I'm Beginning To See The Light - Ella Fitzgerald

Electricity- The Avalanches

Neon Bible - The Arcade Fire