Carrie Ann Baade is an internationally exhibiting artist whose surreal oil paintings are rich with allegorical meta-narratives inspired by literature and art history. She is also currently an Professor of Painting and Drawing at Florida State University.

Her imaginative portraits and narratives are informed by religion and mythology. Gods, rulers, demons, and monsters play out the complexity of the human condition in her works that incorporate forgotten paintings to quote and interpret. She has traveled around the globe in search of inspiration; her works manifest history painting into an entirely original vision, rich with the confluence of cultures and time periods.

The following is an excerpt from the Artist’s Statement.

“With scissors in hand, I compose from snippets from several hundred pictorial fragments scattered on the floor. What is created is a prototype collage of layered scraps with cut edges. Some are photographs of myself while others are cut up illustrations from art history. With a flare of Dr. Frankenstein, the painting that results from this golem is at once illusionistic and surreal. These paintings are as fractured as their sources. By picking through the bone yard of myths, literature, and history; I assemble autobiographical allegories that reflect the sorrow and absurdity of the human condition. The subjects of my work are heroines and demons…my favorites are both valorous and perverse.”

Baade was nominated for a United States Artist Fellowship for 2007 which is one of the most prestigious awards offered. She was also part of the first-ever American exhibit at China’s Ningbo Museum of Art along with two other artists from Florida State University. Billed as representative of art in America, the FSU trio and their solo exhibits in various mediums — black-and-white photography, a room-size ceramics installation, and Baade’s “Virtues and Vices” surrealist oil paintings occupied three adjacent galleries at the Ningbo Museum of Art for 10 groundbreaking days.

Her work was featured in Metamorphosis 1, a book featuring 50 contemporary Surrealists. Her artwork has been featured on the covers of, Not Quite One of the Boys, The Book of Masks and Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight.

Her newest book, The Art of Carrie Ann Baade is now available.

Follow @CarrieAnnBaade on Twitter. And Check out the Etsy shop where you can buy prints of her mesmerizing oil paintings.

* Images and content used with permission from artist.
Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.

Nation Toys & Tee’s is Calgary’s premier boutique retailer of Vinyl Toys and designer goods for creatives. This unique product line is reinforced through the support of regular monthly exhibitions of original artist works. The overall feel of the retail environment is bright, fun and whimsical.

The website was created by Carbon, a “creativity with purpose” and interactive firm with creatives based in Calgary and Montreal. In redesigning the Shopify-enabled online store, they really wanted to capture that experience of the brick and mortar space. They realized the best way to do this was to integrate the custom illustration and character design of Nation’s own Lisa Davies. Since launch, the response has been incredibly positive and they’re happy to have the opportunity to share such a fun concept.

Follow @thisisnation and @carbonmedia_ca on Twitter.

* Images and content used with permission from artist.
Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.

lightexture creates unique designer lamps that incorporate clay, porcelain, ready-made objects, lighting components and more. One of their goals is to create energy efficient fixtures, while maintaining focus on their atmospheric and spatial performance. Their dazzling illuminations are the result of a collaboration between Architect Yael Erel and lighting designer Avner Ben Natan. They design beautiful lighting fixtures using found and reappropriated objects as well as ceramics by Sharan Elran.

The patent pending Steamlights are a fruit of two years of development in design and performance. The SteamLight Lamps series is a family of adjustable light fixtures constructed from a ready-made stainless steel steamer basket that is used as a device to direct and reflect light. Creating both a light pattern and a task light, these lamps are both atmospheric and useful.

Check out the recent Etsy Storque spotlight story for an interview and animations To see more incredible animations of how these amazing lights work, head over to lightexture’s YouTube channel.

* Images and content used with permission from artist.
Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.

Alex Kuno depicts the folly and sinfulness of humankind in the wide-eyed and morose children with terrible secrets in the ever-changing story he refers to as “The Miscreants of Tiny Town”. His paintings recall the earthy, unsentimental, vivid genre paintings of Brueghel and some of his other influences on the series are Otto Dix, Beatrix Potter, and Bosch, among others.

The children of this tiny town exist in a surreal world of anxiety and depraved ne’er-do-wells—where they are permanently in arrested development. They’ve developed their own little cults and societies, which then run into each other. Kuno’s children roam in landscapes that have broken free of their rectangular constraints and given way to more naturalistic forms. No matter how vivid or gleeful the violence may seem in his work, these images are also satirical jabs at those universal fears from childhood that reflect our very natural tendency toward savagery. The new pieces are eccentric in dimension, painted on pieces of hand carved wood into unique curved shapes. The idea is to evoke pieces of illustrations torn from storybooks.

A portfolio of his work can be found at www.nyfew.com. Visit the Etsy store.

Follow @TinyTownJournal on Twitter.

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Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.

To wear a piece of art, is to participate in it’s story. It is about forming an emotional link with the piece and realizing you are a work of art yourself. Sonya Lindsay of Ancient Grove doesn’t just create simple costumes, she creates wearable art in the form of one-of-a-kind fairy wings, fairy costumes, and silk leaf cuffs. All of the accessories, jewelry, clothing and costumes are inspired by the natural world and the unseen, ethereal creatures that inhabit it.

Since receiving her diploma in fibre arts from Kootenay School of the Arts in Nelson, BC, Sonya has been professionally designing and sewing costumes and clothes since 2004. She is also a fantasy illustrator and member of Fantasy Artists of Etsy (FAE).

Follow @AncientGrove on Twitter.

The characters created by Michela Muserra are inspired by the manga and anime style, and partially to the typical disproportion of the Kokeshi dolls. Large heads and dreaming eyes are physical attributes that refer to the childhood and cartoon world. Her work can be defined as “kawaii”, a Japanese term corresponds to the English “cute” and is used to describe anything that is sweet and adorable, but also extremely vulnerable. The artist’s figures possess a disarming power of charm in their happy expressions, a mask behind which, a more selfish and untamed instinct predominate, as confirmed by the repetitive use of the word “Self” in most of her works.

* Images and content used with permission from artist.
Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.

Nobody does it better than Elsa “Elsita” Mora, one of my favorite multimedia artists with a seemingly infinite evolution of ideas. In case anyone from art school is hovering, her awe-inspiring artworks grab your attention and make the most of every last detail. Her creations span so many media, it’s no wonder she is one of the most-hearted users on Etsy. I first stumbled across Elsita on Flickr in 2008… the tiny diorama worlds, dollhouses and miniature characters intrigue me still. While many artists struggle to manage one online home, she manages multiple blogs dedicated to papercutting, art dolls and personal style. Her sites are chock full of incredible photography and heartfelt stories describing the work. Honestly, many Etsy sellers could take a few pointers from Elsa on styling and copywriting.

Magic indeed!

Follow @ElsitaMora on Twitter.

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Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.

Every now and again, I wander over to check on the Design for Chunks website. Created as a side project by Oz Dean of forcefeed:swede, it was an online exhibition site exploring the art of in-flight sickness bags that has run since 2000. They collaborated with Virgin Atlantic in 2004 and half a million bags were printed and placed on a fleet of 26 planes, making forcefeed:swede the first person to curate an exhibition in the sky and make sick bags pretty. After so many years, it’s nice to see this site archive still lives!

Born in Nova Scotia, Canada, Lesley Reppeteaux is a published comic book author and illustrator and has exhibited her paintings at galleries such as Thinkspace, Copro/Nason, La Luz De Jesus, Gallery 1988, Strychnin, Last Rites, as well as many esteemed international galleries. She has been featured in King Brown, Hi-Fructose, Art Prostitute, Xfubs and Lemonade Magazine as well as BEASTS, the hardcover book by Fantagraphics.

She is a storyteller who is deeply affected by the marriage of art and literature. Drawing influences from the Art Nouveau movement, vintage postcards, and the wonder of nature, the characters in her work celebrate strong ethereal beauty and invoke a femininity whose power is all-encompassing. Through a mindful balance of vision and improvisation, Reppeteaux submerges her viewers in an exploration of themes consisting of dream-like adventures and otherworldly mysteries. Within her work you’ll find long-limbed beauties with dangerous claws, stories of sea swept sirens, and creatures from the deep. Pouty-lipped heroines with melancholy softness permeate to create a peculiar world filled with chimera and charm – a bewitching gathering of all the cloven-hoofed vixens that prance in her head. Her female characters are strong and ethereal. The heart of her paintings lie within their concepts, each piece expanding your imagination as she takes you by the hand and leads you on a journey with her.

* Images and content used with permission from artist.
Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.

There was a bit in Eastenders when Ricky said, “we were goin’ at it ‘ammer ‘n tongs!” I think it’s brilliant that Hammer & Tongs pinched it for the beginning of their showreel.

When H&T was little (circa 1999), their big idea was: to make pop promos on MTV in a company where you could do what you wanted to do. Years later and several hundred promos later, director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith are responsible for some of the best music videos ever made for the likes of Beck, Blur, Fatboy Slim, Radiohead, REM and Supergrass. They have also made their names directing award-winning TV ads by teaming up with such major brands as McDonalds, Milky Way, and PG Tips. Hammer & Tongs have also directed movies such as Son of Rambow and the film version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Their Tongsville concept website has been around since 2001 and was handmade by the robots at Preloaded. It’s such a treat to visit their site and see the old-school pixel graphics still giving life to the city. The side scrolling city environment is intended to visualize the strange goings on within the ideas and works of the team. The site is deliberately unspecific as to what H&T do, but contains enough clues to allude to the nature of their business. The immersive site encourages visitors to spend more time exploring Tongsville by jumping on the train and taking a ride to the city center to discover hidden elements and new events. It includes real weather to give the true London climate. Real time day and night transitions are calculated using the longitude and latitude of the Hammer and Tongs’ offices, allowing the city to gradually change from day to night.

After all these years, the site still looks great! Just goes to show that a well-designed site is timeless. How many sites can survive — and thrive — for almost decade? That’s special. But, I’ve always wanted to know what that little pixel guy is actually saying….

You can follow H&T on Twitter @tongsville.

Onextrapixel has compiled a group interview showcasing the some of the most talented female web designers from around the world. I am honored to be included on a list with so many talented ladies. I’ve been honing my craft as a web designer since the mid-90s, so it’s incredibly amazing to be recognized again this year as someone who continues to create useful and memorable online experiences.

Thank you @onextrapixel and Krishna Solanki!

I’m a big fan of Tyler Stout’s intricately detailed illustrations. His limited edition movie posters are nostalgic, visual celebrations of some of the quintessential 80’s cult classics. In fact, I have his “Lost Boys” and “Blade Runner” posters hanging in my studio. His limited edition prints sell-out very quickly. I’m still kicking myself for missing out on “il Grande Lebowski“.

Tyler started out doing posters for music venues while he was still in college. He was eventually asked to contribute posters for upcoming showings of classic movies like “The Thing” or “The Warriors” for the Alamo Drafthouse cinema in Austin. Obviously, people responded well and he has continued producing many intricately illustrated movie posters, band posters .

For instance, the “Lost Boys” poster was created for the 2007 Alamo Drafthouse’s Rolling Roadshow showing of the “The Lost Boys” at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, where parts of the movie were filmed. The Alamo’s Rolling Roadshow Tour is a series of outdoor movie screenings that try to recapture the thrill of watching your favorite movies in the exact locations in which they were filmed.

Can’t wait to see what Tyler Stout does next. Whatever it is, it will surely sell out!

* Images and content used with permission from artist.
Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.

If you can believe it, I still have almost every bookmark I made from the time I first logged into AOL in 1994. Sometimes, I look back at those really old bookmarks and compare their websites to the way they look today and check the design iterations along the way on the Wayback Machine.

This particular entry is from 2006 for Sevenuck – 7UCK – specializing in the production of extreme sports films and more precisely of ski and snowboard. Unfortunately, this Flash site no longer exists and isn’t accessible in the internet archive. Too bad, I loved their interactive brand experience and unique navigation to take you on a tour of the house.

Key takeaway: if you want to be remembered in the archive, make sure you have an alternate HTML site if you do full Flash goodness.