There are 75 photographs included in the “Life through the Lens” Norcross Photography Competition Exhibition, but only one image can become the “People’s Choice.”
During the July 4th holiday this summer, the public was invited to take photographs of Norcross, its inhabitants, scenic spots and activities and submit entries for an exhibition that opened on Sept. 14 in four locations. The exhibition will be up through Oct. 29 and has been a part of the Artober events in Norcross.
After a successful Kickstarter appealing to cat owners seeking comfortable and stimulating feline furniture with a discerning eye for design, Los Angeles-based designer pet accessories brand PETLIBRO have gone on to officially launch the Infinity DIY Cat Tree, a modular and expandable cat tree system engineered to piece together in more configurations than a cat’s nine lives.
Cats may desire the comfort of a household routine, but as this long time cat owner can attest, felines can also become bored when limited to the interior confines of an apartment or home. Giving your cat a place to climb, scratch, and perch from gives the curious creature an outlet for its many natural inclinations, all without endangering the furnishings near and dear to their 2-legged owner.
Infinity’s modular design is made to grow and adapt across the various stages of a cat’s life, and is easily assembled with less effort than a piece of flatpack IKEA furniture.
Sadly one design element that was originally promoted during the Infinity Cat Tree’s crowdfunding phase that did not make it into the original design with this tubular tunnel rest spot.
Paired with a higher attention to materials and design, the Infinity stands apart from typical pet store cat furniture with a refreshing modernity. Because if there’s one thing pet accessories would benefit from, it would be taking a “less is more” approach to design. The result is cat furniture that won’t look like an eyesore against the backdrop of surrounding human furnishings (which your cat is undoubtedly accustomed to already calling its own too).
Accessories include a variety of scratching surfaces, platforms, posts cubby tents, and other dangling diversions to keep cats preoccupied and comfortable. Additional levels can be added vertically up to four levels high. Positioning other base sections side-by-side opens up even more configurations spanning width wise.
Starting at $199, the Infinity Cat Tree is available in three base configurations: Loft, Villa, and Castle. Additionally, PETLIBRO offers the Villa and Castle or two Castles as larger cat playgrounds if you’re a multi-cat territorial household without the “sharing is caring” vibe.
With its multitude of accessories and modular design, it’s understandable why PETLIBRO describes the Infinity as the “LEGO” of cat trees. But in many ways the expandable Infinity seems closer to a finely realized IKEA hack – a slim flatpack construction with easy assembly designed to blend harmoniously into any contemporary interior space all without screaming, “Yes, I’ve arranged my home around the habits and preferences of my cat!”
Twisted Arts, an organization that uplifts LGBTQ arts and artists, is hosting a two-day festival in Tulsa that will showcase Two-Spirit Native American artists from Oklahoma and beyond.
Kevin Lovelace, one of the founders of Twisted Arts, said after moving back to Tulsa, he noticed there wasn’t really a festival for LGBTQ Tulsans.
“So I was like, well, let’s start one just for fun, you know, and needed something to do,” Lovelace recalled.
The inaugural Two-Spirit Festival is this weekend in Tulsa-the tagline: An Indigiqueer Celebration. It will feature a lineup of entertainment, music and a drag show with performer Landa Lakes.
Twisted Arts
Lakes is a Chickasaw writer, musician, activist and artist who is originally from Oklahoma but currently lives in San Francisco. Lakes derives her name from the Land O’Lakes label that once featured a young Native woman holding up a tray of butter.
The second day of the festival will feature an exhibition and panel on Indigiqueer arts.
Osage performer Marx will be singing new singles from their forthcoming album 2S Sacred. They along with eight other Indigenous artists will be performing as part of a festival that has the goal of giving more visibility to LGBTQ Native Americans, who use the term Two-Spirit to identify themselves.
Marx remembers a time when talking about being Two-Spirit was taboo in the Native community. Now, they’re seeing more events like this one in Tulsa.
“Two-Spirit people are really wanting visibility-for their existence to be honored and to be known.”
Earlier this year, Marx debuted the first single from their forthcoming album titled How Long, about a young Two-Spirit person struggling with belonging. They said the single was inspired by just how many young, queer people contemplate taking their own lives. Today, Marx said there is more space in the community for Two-Spirit people, but there is still more work to do.
At the festival, two members of the community will be honored: John Hawk Co-Cke, retired certified prevention specialist for behavioral health in Oklahoma and identifies as transgender and Two-Spirited and Tony Staton, another activist working to elevate Two-Spirit people in Oklahoma and beyond.
The festival is being put on by Twisted Arts in Tulsa, an LGBTQ arts organization that got its start in 2020. The festival is on Saturday and Sunday at 101 Archer and WOMPA, an arts collective space.
Learn more about the lineup here.
Issued on: 13/10/2023 – 15:58
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Thandiwe Muriu discovered photography at 14, when she says her father put a camera in her hands and she never put it down. After breaking boundaries as Kenya’s first female commercial photographer, she began developing her own personal work and burst onto the arts scene in 2020 with her “Camo” series: vibrant photos of women enrobed in colourful wax fabrics that are part portrait, part optical illusion. From her use of wax prints and everyday objects to her incorporation of African proverbs, her work is layered with meaning. In Paris for her first major solo show, Thandiwe Muriu spoke to Alison Sargent about her desire to embolden women, Kenyans and all those who have been historically devalued.
Architect Eran Chen established ODA in 2007, and has earned a reputation for designing mold-breaking structures meant to deliver a better urban future. In the past decade alone, he’s completed more than 50 buildings, becoming one of the most prolific architects in New York while doing so.
Eran’s mom seemed to all but predict his eventual career during his childhood. “When I was around 12 years old, I sat down and drew my family’s living room, in perspective view. The drawing captured everything, the windows, furniture, and accessories. When my mom saw it, she said, “Eran, you’re going to grow up to be an architect,” and I guess that really stuck with me. Over the years I thought about going into medicine or psychology, but something always brought me back to architecture. It was my destiny.” Eran’s also quite musical, and jokes that his mom must not have seen a career as a rockstar in his future!
“For me, architecture isn’t just work, it really is my life. So, I never fully switch from one to the other,” he shared. “I do, however, need mental breaks from time to time, and spending time with my family is my favorite way to do that. We’re fortunate enough to have a house in upstate New York and every Friday night, we drive up there for the weekend. The time in the car is perfect to make the mental shift, and once we get there, we’ve left our city lives (and worries) behind.”
Recent projects include the renovation of the former Postkantoor in Rotterdam, an urban plan in Chicago, and the conversion of a defunct parking garage into a public park and class A office building in Buenos Aires. His writings on architecture have been published in Unboxing New York and in ODA: Office of Design and Architecture, which features notable projects from Eran’s portfolio and the firm’s range in architecture – from apartments to buildings to neighborhoods.
“No ideas should be cherished as works of art unless they are,” he said. “That’s how our process unfolds at ODA: we start off with so many ideas, then we test and scrutinize them, without having an attachment until they form into the pieces of art they’re meant to be.”
Eran’s work has been widely published and recognized by the AIA, the Society of American Registered Architects, and others. In addition to guest lecturing globally, he’s also an Adjunct Professor at both Columbia University and New York University.
This week, Eran Chen is joining us for Friday Five!
Photo courtesy Pepolino
It’s an authentic, family-owned and run Italian restaurant that’s my go-to in my neighborhood. I love it when the family speaks Italian in the restaurant. The food is simple, so the quality really shines through. It’s off the beaten path and a hidden gem, since most of the restaurant is on the second level.
Photo: Marco Grassi
Marco is a young artist from Italy, who creates hyper-realistic oil paintings. I have several of them in my loft. His work reminds me of the old Dutch masters, every work is a masterpiece. Each of his paintings takes up to four years to complete – and it’s worth the wait.
Photo: Nic Lehoux
The Whitney Museum on the High Line in New York is my favorite museum – and one of my favorite urban experiences. Renzo Piano’s design feels like a natural extension of the High Line, combining views of the city, the Hudson River, and of course, the art. I love how you make your way down the museum through outdoor terraces, it’s truly a perfect integration of the urban environment.
Photo: Eran Chen
My fourth child, not in importance but in age. He’s the only one in my house who doesn’t criticize me or ask me for anything… except food.
Photo: Eran Chen
I have these 6 tiny white ceramic homes that were made by a craftsman in Tbilisi, Georgia. They each have either a small light inside or a chimney made to hold incense, so that at night they emanate a small glow.
101 West 14th Street Located at the nexus of Greenwich Village, West Village, Union Square, and Chelsea, 101 West 14th Street is a boutique residential building designed by ODA Architecture and developed by Gemini Rosemont Development. Recently completed, the 13-story condominium features 10,000 square feet of amenities and 44 one-to-four-bedroom residences with interior design by Whitehall Interiors. 101 West 14th Street is modern yet contextual, with a glass box façade and fractal geometry that creates a sense of lightness, airiness, and depth. The building’s geometric façade, which has become a signature element across ODA’s architectural portfolio, grounds the bustling corner and provides breathing room for the passersby. Similar to what’s found in nature, pattern repetition has a natural soothing effect on our brains. Photo: Scott Frances
POST Rotterdam Located in Rotterdam’s city center, this historically important building stands as a testament to its inextinguishable spirit. Built in 1916, it was one of the only original structures still standing after the Rotterdam Blitz, the aerial bombardment that in 1940 leveled nearly all of the city’s historic core. Restoring, designing, and engineering the conversion of such valuable heritage requires the utmost reverence for the remarkable history of the building, but also the vision and ambition to deliver a civic hub worthy of its central setting. ODA’s design features a new 150-meter tower rising towards the rear of the Postkantoor and straddling the existing open courtyard at the Rodezand wing. The vaulted plinth of the tower will greatly enhance the experience of the courtyard, coupling it with the Great Hall of the Postkantoor. Designed with nonpareil windows, the POST tower shows openings that vary in size and shape to funnel daylight. This variety sets a break from the series of glass-facade towers along the new Rotterdam skyline and celebrates the elegance of the main hall along its profile. Photo: Forbes Massie Studio
West Half West Half houses 465 apartments – nearly 1000 people – in a single square block. The internal circulation of the building, the curated multi-level amenities, access to outdoor space, and the cascading nature of the facade which creates a connection at the street level give the building a transparent, approachable feel, while the bright yellow underbelly of the facade is a subliminal layer of color theory 101: Happiness. ODA’s three-pronged approach of integrating architecture, interior design, and landscape design gives West Half a thorough narrative: from the three-dimensional patterns of the lobby interiors that mimic the facade to the amenities that punctuate the building with pockets of life, to the extensive terrace landscaping with first-of-its-kind built-in planters that grow and change with the seasons. Photo: Scott Frances
Quay Tower Quay Tower and The Landing’s design concepts stem from the history of the neighborhood, merging its past as a hub of manufacturing to a now transformed, prime residential area. The façades of this affordable housing complex represent the industrial past by the use of Brooklyn’s characteristic materials, and the residential present through the insertion of outdoor spaces to the overall volume. The juxtaposition of traditional materials and residential volumes signifies the historical transition of this Brooklyn area. The floor-to-ceiling windows are a design feature commonly utilized in modern architecture to establish a strong connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. In the context of Quay Tower’s building facade facing a waterfront area and views of Brooklyn Bridge Park, these windows play a pivotal role in enhancing the residents’ experience and engagement with the natural surroundings. Photo courtesy Quay Tower
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“Bittersweet, River and Milk” (2023). Photos by Matthew Hollerbush. All images © Amber Cowan, shared with permission
In elaborate detail, Amber Cowan recycles vintage glass into sculptures that effervesce with botanical frills and nostalgic motifs (previously). Many of the pieces shown here comprise the artist’s exhibition Alchemy of Adornment, now on view at the Museum of American Glass at WheatonArts, delving into the phases of popularity and eventual decline of glassware. “By the end of the 20th century, inexpensive pressed milky white and colored glass candy dishes, vases, and novelties—once proudly displayed in American homes—had fallen from favor,” says an exhibition statement.
Cowan draws on the medium’s legacy in her intricate wall pieces and freestanding sculptures, emphasizing the vast potential of the material. Vessels, kitsch, and decor transform into fantastical assemblages centered around femininity, change, and nostalgia. Using glass found in thrift stores, online sales, or by way of friends, Cowan incorporates antique pieces with flameworked cullet, or waste material that can be remelted. Sometimes, strangers donate their objects to see them revived in an artwork, and many of the fragments originate from defunct regional manufacturers in distinctive colorways that will never be produced again.
Alchemy of Adornment continues through December 31 in Millville, New Jersey. Find more on Cowan’s website and Instagram.
“Melanie Walking Snail with Cart” (2023)
“Art Nude Cascade in Jade” (2023)
“Candelabra in Shell” (2023)
“Dreams of a Decendant of Sirenuse” (2022), commissioned by Brunnier Art Museum
Detail of “Dreams of a Decendant of Sirenuse”
“Willie the Mouse with Tractor and Train” (2023)
“Cornucopia in Shell” (2021)
“Lamb and Dog in Sky and Milk” (2023)
Detail of “Bittersweet, River and Milk”
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Amber Cowan Transforms Flameworked Vintage Glass into Lush Assemblages appeared first on Colossal.
