How beauty feels...

Richard Seymour: How beauty feels | Video on TED.com

Two artistically minded ladies I know shared the above video link with me recently--I highly recommend giving it a watch. It deals with a subject I often think about, and one that I remember sparked interesting conversations in my woodworking sculpture classes: how beauty feels and where we feel it.

 Several years ago I had the good fortune to visit the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy with some of my family.  The whole gallery (and the building itself) is amazing, but one room in particular nearly knocked me off my tired feet--a room filled with Botticelli paintings. These intricately painted canvases are large, each one like a wall of a house, and the brush-strokes are nearly imperceptible they are blended so smoothly. As I walked through this room, gazing at panel after panel of strikingly beautiful figures and foliage, I became aware of a feeling of lightness spreading across my chest from the top of one shoulder to the other.  That is the only way I can describe it.  I suddenly felt as if a weight I didn't know was there had been physically lifted off of me. 

That's where I feel beauty.  Where do you feel it? What evokes that feeling for you? 

Local Artist and Fabulous Earrings

I had the pleasure of meeting NC Artist Maia Leppo last week and taking on some of her fabulous earrings.  The circles are made of up-cycled tin from tea tins or other printed metal boxes.  The domed shapes are sandwiched between two darkened steel rings and riveted with silver for a great contrast.  Silver loops connect to silver earwires.  Two sizes are available in a variety of colors and patterns.

New Product: Laser Cut Clocks and Brooches

These new clocks are so delightful! I can just picture them on a bedside table or a pretty white mantle with some river stones...  Laser cut from bamboo and featuring a silent clock--all made in the USA in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Fall Window--New Scarves

The temperatures this weekend are supposed to stay in the mid-Sixties, which means everyone in North Carolina is pulling out their favorite sweaters and boots!  Personally, I love a nice scarf to make me feel like Fall, and Jody's new screenprinted jersey ones (featured on mannequin) are perfect!  Lightweight, easy to wrap many many times, and best of all, they can be washed with regular laundry.