Joy’s vision of Venus

Drawing by Joyce Johnson Grady

Photo by Matthew Girling; CC BY-SA

Montage by James J Grady

Joy (my 3 year old daughter) impressed me once again with her artwork. She drew this picture (far left) for me to take to work and I immediately thought it was beautiful. I said it looked like an angel. She said “no, it’s a statue!”. It dawned on me tonight what statue it looked like. The gesture of the drawing is uncanny. I didn’t do anything to tweak her original drawing, I just overlaid the two images and was blown away with the relationship.

I don’t want to speak for Joy, but I feel the interpretation liberates one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. I know I’m bias, but this is pretty incredible and Joy has a vision beyond my comprehension.

Bread & Puppet

Last weekend I visited the Bread & Puppet Museum in Glover, VT. It is such a beautiful and inspirational experience. I have not been there in years. I was introduced to Bread and Puppet in college by a good friend Brynna Tucker. She is a fantastic artist living in Brooklyn NY. Check her out on twitter @stlvlinitiative. Bread & Puppet is one of the oldest non-profit, self-supporting theatrical companies in the U.S. I went to The Pageant of Bread and Puppet in 1998. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Although B&P is not having the annual pageant it’s good to see they are still lively as ever and performing all over. If you get a chance check them out. Here are some pics from the museum. Enjoy!

physical (and light) graffiti

Over the New Year I went to South America. There was endless inspiration on the trip, but one place that really stands out is Valparaiso, Chile. Graffiti is everywhere in Valparaiso, it’s part of their vernacular. I documented many examples of these ever changing murals on the walls and buildings in the hills of Valparaiso. On New Years Eve Valparaiso has a spectacular fireworks display. With long exposures, my camera captured the light and motion of the fireworks. I thought of the gestures by the graffiti artists then capturing these images. I think the juxtapositions of these two techniques complement each other beautifully. I hope you enjoy.

Daily Monster

I recently saw Steven G. Bucher speak at the AIGA Make | Think conference in Memphis. He is a really cool guy. His lecture is available on the AIGA website. Enjoy

Italiano 1999

I did some spring cleaning this weekend and came across a small plastic bag with some very random articles from a trip I took to Italy. It was this month 10 years ago with my good friend Aaron (he is the guy in the photos on the couch). I can’t get myself to throw this stuff away. This is why spring cleaning is always so difficult and such a long process for me. I find this stuff to bring back great memories of that trip and it also acts as a visual inspiration. Enjoy…

Lira, Alitalia spoon, Alitalia ticket, receipt

Alitalia Straws, B.I.T. pass, Sant, Onofrio, B.I.R.G. pass, Cupola pass

Alitalia boarding pass, Prefettura Della Casa Pontificia (pass to see the pope)

5000 Lira

refettura Della Casa Pontificia (pass to see the pope on St. Patrick's Day)

Copy of my passport