From: http://howtobuyart.blogspot.com/

No, it’s not the title of a Tom Wolfe piece circa 1975. It’s the new travelling exhibit from the Museum of Art and Design.

If you still think knitting is for grannies and retro grrlz, check out the ways artists are now using knitting to make provocative, conceptual works. The MAD exhibit aims to show us that our distinctions between high art and lowly crafts are arbitrary, based on the materials used rather than on the power of the piece.

As regular blog readers know, this a subject dear to my heart. When chauvenist blowhards ask rhetorically where all the great women artists of the past are, I always invite them to see the textile halls at the Victoria and Albert. For centuries, women used fiber and fabric — the only materials available to them — to create expressive art. Women were grappling with abstraction centuries before the Cedar Tavern had a liquor license.

The Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting travelling exhibit will be available starting in July. For booking information, contact the museum.

Photo: Althea Merback’s art, Museum of Art and Design

Well, it’s no surprise that the week between Christmas and New Year’s is usually one of reflection. Rather than look inward, we thought we’d reflect on the greatest ideas of 2006. One great source, David Pogue of the NY Times’ Top 10 list — not of the greatest tech products, but of the greatest individual features that surfaced this year, from Microsoft’s new music player, Zune to Nintendo’s Wii game console, Pogue covers it all. Beyond some of the more obvious winners, one of my fav’s, (courtesy of TIME.com’s BEST INVENTIONS OF 2006)…may I present to you the HUG shirt.

LOREFFREY FOR TIME

HUG SHIRT

Are you ready for this one? The Hug Shirt is a high-tech garment that simulates the experience of being embraced by a loved one. Here’s the way it works: When a friend sends you a virtual hug, your cell phone notifies the shirt wirelessly, via Bluetooth. The shirt will then re-create that person’s distinctive hug, replicating his or her warmth, pressure, duration and even heartbeat. And, yes, the Hug Shirt is fully washable.
Inventor: CuteCircuit
Availability: Not yet for sale
To learn more visit cutecircuit.com

http://www.microcompacthome.com/company/?con=do1

The micro compact home [m-ch] is a lightweight compact dwelling for one or two people. Its compact dimensions of 2.6m cube adapt it to a variety of sites and circumstances, and its functioning spaces of sleeping, working / dining, cooking and hygiene make it suitable for everyday use.

Adam Neate, self-portrait

Q: When I presented Marc Schiller of the Wooster Collective with your painting he immediately knew that it was your work. After visiting your Web site it became clear you’re a prolific and talented artist. What motivates you to create art and, even more intriguing, give it away by placing it on the street for people like me lucky enough to happen by?

Adam: I paint purely for the love and enjoyment I get from the feeling of creating something, be it a doodle on a piece of cardboard or a 6ft wall. After the process of creating something I lose interest in the final end product. I no longer want to see it. The egotist thrives on completing an acceptable painting. He will stand for hours looking at his own achievment. The egotist will call himself an “artist”… I just paint on stuff. The walls of my home are bare. For me art is not for hanging, but more for experiencing oneself. (more…)