la pequeña habana

we looked for things that were influenced by mediterranean design like the stuff in my pictures from spain... we found lots of stuff, but also some surpriess outside of our theme. Mike went nuts with the camera and took almost 300 pics!

march 22 walkaround: liberty city

the theme for this shoot was finding a sense of home in the urban landscape. here's some of what came up:

Art that looks like Food?

To be continue...

traces of spain

I realize it's about time I shared with everyone some images from my amazing artists' residency in Spain. Here are a few choice pics, showing some of the architecture and design of the region, which lies just north of Africa, across the Mediterranean sea.








Narrow streets on hills with steep stairs to climb, view of the inside of a gypsy cave, images of the Palace of the Alhambra - an amazing fortress built by the Moorish rulers in the 13th Century - all in the city of Granada, located in the region of Andalusia, Spain. Surrounded by the snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada. From the tallest peaks, people say you can see the North African city of Algiers.

Meanwhile back in the claymation studio....

The characters are being molded by the artists at Mater - next week we begin shooting. Keep your eyes peeled!

A skatepark is born

This is how a Brick x Brick project begins - in the drafting space of sketchup, a skate park takes shape. First phase, deciding on some initial volumes.

Inspiration: Typography + Architecture

Herbert Bayer (American, b. Austria, 1900-1985). Design for a multimedia building, 1924. Gouache, cut-and-pasted photomechanical elements, charcoal, ink, and pencil on paper. 21 1/2 x 18 7/16 in.
Kerry Keeler from Miami Art Museum brought this image to share with us - and it expresses perfectly some of the themes we're working with this year in Brick x Brick - Words arranged in a graphic way combined with 3D models of buildings and spaces. This work was made almost 100 years ago - and we all agreed how fresh and cool it was.

The engraving goes on

This collective enterprise is all about creating a rich, dense surface on the aluminum panels Mike Genovese has brought in for us. Graffito has captured us all, in both groups - Girl Power and Mater Academy - and it's fun to communicate with each other via this giant tablet.

Lego filmstrip

Working within the free software Lego Digital Designer, a student at Mater Academy created an epic saga of bricks and characters, played out on many backdrops, from the abstract to monumental landscapes. These scenes are a storyboard for any moving image film/video work. Next up, claymation. Stay tuned!

Stop Motion Feature Film coming to Miami

We're all HUGE fans of stop motion animation at Brick x Brick - so here's a film we should all run over to see at the Miami Beach Cinematheque.

Hilarious and frequently surreal, the stop-motion extravaganza A Town Called Panic has endless charms and raucous laughs for children from eight to eighty. Based on the Belgian animated cult TV series (which was released by Wallace & Gromit’s Aardman Studios), Panic stars three plastic toys named Cowboy, Indian and Horse who share a rambling house in a rural town that never fails to attract the weirdest events. MAR 26 FRI, 27 SAT, 28 SUN, 7pm for more info, visit www.mbcinema.com

Collages

In the past few weeks we have been working on collages from actual photos and from magazines.

Here some samples of different applications at both Mater and Girl Power

Brazilian artist/designer Nando Costa

Designer and artist Nando Costa is doing a project about his local environments - views of places he sees everyday - in Brazil and in in Portland Oregon. These works in his Landscape Engraved Series are wood engravings created digitally and later engraved with a laser on an untreated block of maple. We've been doing hand-engraving on aluminum with Mike Genovese. Now check these out. The video at the bottom of the linked page shows it being done.

Watch this space

Brick by Brick participants are charged with solving the problem of an ugly, empty lot in the Little Havana neighborhood. Watch in the coming weeks for some proposals to turn urban blight into livable space!

Patterned spaces

Using a tile design simulator online, students at Mater Academy created patterns for floors and walls of their constructions in Sketchup. These young designers are getting more advanced at using Sketchup, and are creating more complex structures. Power users!