Henry Hébert was a regular contributor to the Conservation Conversations column for the past two years. This year I invited Henry back to create a Swell Things post. Henry and I were fellow classmates at North Bennet Street School and we soon developed an appreciation for each other’s quirky interests. I was very excited to see the inclusion of Amy Borezo’s latest artist book and the Reply All episode on Zardulu. Enjoy!
1. I came across this water bottle in a shop called Chet Miller here in Durham. They probably intend this to be about trees and wildlife, but I’m choosing to believe it’s really about book conservation. Izola makes one that just says “Preservation” too! It’s one of the best water bottles I’ve ever owned – very good construction and insulation.
2. I had seen images of these paper masks from Wintercroft on social media around Halloween, but I finally saw one in real life the other day. Way more impressive in-person and apparently not that difficult to assemble.
3. I really love the style and materials of traditional icon painting, and Andrey Remnev‘s images take that to a whole new level.
4. It’s been a while since I have done any blacksmithing, but these decorated rounding hammers from Cergol Tool and Forgeworks make me want to pick it up again. Or just hang one on the wall as artwork.
5. I’m a huge Lovecraft fan and Amy Borezo‘s images are a perfect take on the mysterious “colour” which spreads from a fallen meteor in Arkham, MA. This is supposedly Lovecraft’s favorite story and a wonderful introduction, if you haven’t read any of his work. [Side note from Erin: I recently purchased this binding from Amy and the imagery is breathtaking. The page layout of use of solid blocks of black are gorgeous. The Colour Out of Space is truly a worthy addition to any artist’s book collection.]
6. Local NC artist Tedd Anderson‘s recent series of mixed media drawings about immortal beings who have cried themselves dry is simultaneously weird, beautiful, funny, and haunting.
7. Melbourne artist Daniel Agdag makes some really inspiring miniature sculptures from cardboard, paper, wood, and glass.
8. I’ve always really liked the intricate geometric patterns of Islamic art, like these ceilings of Iranian mosques. But this material which uses some of those patterns to expand and flex is mind-blowing. I’m really curious if this could be used in my own work for creating custom housing for unusually shaped objects.
9. Philadelphia artist John Dyer Baizley has done artwork for an amazing number of album covers. Stylistically similar to Brian Schroeder, but with a nice mixture of surrealism and art nouveau. Baizley is also a member of the band Baroness and their newest album Purple is pretty great.
10. Did you know that Pizza Rat could have been carefully anonymously orchestrated by a single myth-maker/mastermind in NYC named Zardulu? I learned about her through Reply All, a really fun and interesting podcast from Gimlet Media about the internet. I encourage you to read her twitter feed, listen to the backlog of Reply All episodes, and keep an eye out for trained rats.
