Ms. Davey in a Soundsuit?!

Ms. Davey + Soundsuit = AWESOME!

That's right.... yours truly had the chance to dance around in a Nick Cave original Soundsuit! In mid march, I donned a soundsuit, mask and wig and shimmied through the halls of LPK design firm in downtown Cincinnati. The suits were made of colored straw, pom-pom-like material, and dyed hair.... crazy!

The soundsuit performances are intended to be an "invasion"... bringing art directly to people, interrupting their space and forcing you to sit up and take notice! With that in mind, we carried a CD player playing funky tunes and ran/danced through 6 floors of employees! Unsuspecting designers were taken by surprise as we swarmed the offices! We bombarded boardrooms, enveloped elevators and crowded cubicles.

Check out the video of our invasion, produced by LPK

see if you can spot me!!

The suits were hot- running, jumping and dancing didn't help! All of the volunteers agreed it was fun to take on a new identity for an hour, hidden behind a mask, dancing like a maniac! Don't forget to

check out the full exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum until the end of April!!

Nick Cave Soundsuits are in Cincinnati!

"What is a Soundsuit?" I'm so glad you asked! A "Soundsuit" is wearable art, sculptures that come to life when worn, created by Chicago-based artist Nick Cave. They were dubbed "Soundsuits" because of the noise they make when they dance and move. The Cincinnati Art Museum is currently playing host to the exhibit Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth. Nick Cave is a fashion designer, visual artist, and performance artist all wrapped into one.

"Cave combines aspects of sculpture, fashion design, dance and video art in his larger than life ‘Soundsuits’. These full body, form fitting ‘suits’ are layered and textured with metal, plastic, found objects, and colorfully dyed human hair designed to rattle, swish, and resonate in rhythm with the movements of the wearer, usually Cave himself."

From The Cincinnati Art Museum

The exhibit will be at The Cincinnati Art Museum until April 29th, 2012... You do NOT want to miss this one!! The museum is open Tuesday- Sunday, 11-5. Admission is FREE! (parking is $4 for non-members).

Catch the Soundsuits in action at one of their scheduled performances or interactive "invasions"!

Nick Cave Soundsuit Dance Performances

Friday, March 30, 2012, 7 p.m. – Art After Dark at the Cincinnati Art Museum

Saturday, April 7, 2012, 2:30 p.m. – Family First Saturday at the Cincinnati Art Museum

Friday, April 20, 2012, 12 noon – Fountain Square

Nick Cave Soundsuit Invasions

Saturday, March 10, 2012, 11:30 a.m. – ArtsWave Sampler Weekend at the Taft Museum of Art

Thursday, April 5, 2012 – Reds Opening Day Parade

I caught them at Findlay Market!!

taken by Ms. Davey!

Were Picasso and Rembrandt Friends?

When studying art, students often think that all art exists in a bubble. Picasso and Rembrandt are both very famous artists, they must've known each other, right? Within my lessons, I always try to make my students stop and consider WHEN a piece of art was made. Rembrandt died over 200 years before Picasso was born (to the shock of my students!). A helpful tool to give your students some context on the Timeline of Art History is Dipity.com. It is full of interactive timelines for any and every subject- from the life of Steve Jobs, to a timeline of the events of World War II.

I often show my students this one: Smarthistory -- An Art History Timeline. You can zoom in for a smaller intervals or zoom out for an overall snapshot, click on various works of art for more information, and see a visual progression of art throughout the ages. Click on over and check it out!

Street Art

Innocent, unsuspecting people walk through town each day... and then one day- BAM! Their eyes are attacked by art! Jumping into their daily lives... forcing them to stop and think about something or just appreciate the beauty around them.

I love street art.... so naturally when I stumbled upon Street Art Utopia I fell in love all over again. Take a minute to check it out and don't be surprised if you start looking at the world a little differently, seeing the possibilities for your own street art :)

Recycled Book Art

Issac Salazar- Book of Art

There are an array of artists creating interesting and beautiful artwork from recycled books. One of my absolute favorites, Brian Dettmer, uses surgical tools to carve into books, sculpting them into the most fabulous creations.

Su Blackwell creates intricate scenes from books, reminiscent of a pop-up book, the stories from the book emerge and come to life!

They are often displayed in a shadowbox format, with strategic lighting to enhance the mood.

The details are amazing!

Check out these artist's websites, or Google some of the following artists to be inspired even further!

Thomas Allen, Cara Barer, Ellen Bell, Doug Beube, Su Blackwell, Tracey Bush, Nicci Cobb, Casey Curran, Nicola Dale, Sheila Daniels, Brian Dettmer, Pam Garrison, Cuby Gerard, Mollie C. Greene, Nocholas Jones, Jennifer Khosbin, Lisa Kokin, Karin Langeveld, Guy Laramee, Jacqueline Rush Lee, Lana Manis, Kelly Murray, Betty Pepper, Susan Porteous, Alex Queral, Jim Rosenau, Georgia Russell, Deborah Schitmans, Kristin Sollenberger, Ilira Steinman, Mike Stilkey, Jill Sylvia, Veronika Anita Teuber, Robert The and Jason Thompson.

images above from the artists' websites