A R C H I T E C T U R E

2020 Deezen Design awards

The annual design event, Deezen Awards, features work from a range of designers, architecture firms, and studios. These are three of my favorites from the shortlisted projects.

1. The Growing Pavillion is a Company New Heroes event space made of timber and mycelium designed by Pascal Leboucq.

2. The Bunhill 2 Energy Centre by Cullinan Studio supplies heat sourced from the London Underground for over 1,000 buildings.

3. Capsule Hotel and Bookstore in Village Qinglongwu by Altlier tao+c sits within the forest.

A R T

David Zwirner’s New Gallery Directed by Ebony L. Haynes

David Zwirner Gallery is one of the most influential commercial galleries in the world. To offer perspective owner, David Zwirner has ranked in the top five of ArtReview’s Top 100 for eight consecutive years. The list aims to note the contemporary art world’s most “important” figures. In 2018 the gallery was estimated to be worth $500 million.

It was announced this month that a new Zwirner gallery will be developed with Ebony L. Haynes as the director, who will be hiring all-Black staff. This is a historical transition towards racial equality for the art world which far too often has been a complete disservice to BIPOC.

Learn Pottery Basics

Ceramic artist Alex Blais has developed The Free Pottery Guide, a curriculum for the self-taught potter. There are two options, handbuilding or throwing. Each technique has a curriculum broken down into four modules. In either selection, you’ll find tasks and resources. Blais intends for the project to have a community effort aspect. Use the hashtag #abcpotteryguide on Instagram if you’d like to showcase your creations.

Related: 

“The quest to understand something new is a key factor to building the resilience necessary to weather setbacks and navigate life’s volatility.” A quote from Kerry Hannon’s piece “To Build Emotional Strength, Expand Your Brain.” In Hannon’s article, she explains how the process of learning something new is healthy for your brain!

Photography of Kacey Jeffer

Photographer Kacey Jeffer revisited his series Uniform by featuring his photographs on New Yorker Photo’s Instagram. In the posts, Jeffer’s states, “Growing up, I had never seen any relatable images of people I knew or people who looked like me. I wanted this project to fill that void. Uniform is a celebration of visibility, representation, and individuality, as told through the wearing of school uniforms.” The portraits were taken at schools in Nevis, which is Jeffer’s hometown.

Click the images to be directed to the original posting featuring snippets of conversations had with the school children.

Images sourced from New Yorker Photo’s Instagram account.

L O C A L

For a Dreamer of Houses

With only minutes to spare, my friend and I were able to run through, For a Dreamer of Houses at the DMA. The exhibition features a range of work and artists whose commonality is interpreting the concept of home. I was thrilled to see one of my favorite names on the wall, Jacob Lawrence. I was also pleased to experience many pieces alongside Alex Da Corte’s Rubber Pencil Devil (the neon house that has been circulating social media).

Below are interior detail shots of Francisco Moreno’s installation titled, Chapel.

Moreno is a Dallas based artist. His piece featured in the DMA is a large scale installation with a light wood exterior that invites you to walk the narrow path of its chapel-like structure. From wall to ceiling, you’ll see hand-drawn depictions of figures and shapes. It feels both overwhelming and contemplative.

For a Dreamer of Houses will run until July 4th, 2021.

M U S I C

I made a playlist inspired by the transition from summer to fall, enjoy!

Listen here.

P E O P L E

Ynes Mexia

September 15th - October 15th marks Hispanic Heritage Month. In celebration, Fort Worth Botanic Garden featured a bio of Ynes Mexia. I was inspired to do more research about her.

Mexia was a Mexican-American botanist during 1925 - 1937 and the most accomplished in her profession. She lived between Mexico and the U.S as a child, and after ten years in Mexico, she headed to San Francisco at age 39. San Francisco is where she found a love for plants, motivating her to obtain a degree in botany at the University of California Berkeley. At 55, all on her own, she traveled back to Mexico on her first botanical exploration which lasted two years. There, she accumulated over 1,500 specimens, 500 of which were new discoveries. This included a genus of Asteraceae, commonly known as the daisy. After this point, Mexia had visited Alaska, the Amazon River, Peru, and many more destinations. She didn’t stop working until a before she passed of lung cancer in 1938 at age 68.

The stories of her personality nearly outmatch those of her accomplishments. She was known to travel through dangerous terrain, ride horseback, opted to sleep outside, and ingested poisonous plants for the sake of science.

My information provided is truly only a small fraction of her story if you’re looking to learn more.

Cleo Wade

INTERMIX carries multiple collections of women’s clothing and accessories. This month they’ve published the first of an online series titled In Conversation With Women. Artist, poet, and activist Cleo Wade is filmed speaking about confidence. Candidly, I find a lot of conversations like these pretty cringy but, I found her perspective refreshing and relevant.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on September 18th. In a 2016 article published by the Washingtonian, a glimpse into what sort of things Ginsburg enjoyed is described. In her office at this time, she played opera, hung art loaned from the Smithsonian on the walls including; two Rothko’s, Max Weber, and Josef Albers, and she had always loved the theater. I’m interested in delving into more obscure moments in a person’s history to showcase that there’s always something to learn, work to do, and that human beings are more complex than we know.

To better understand her role, there are eight Associate Judges and one Cheif of Justice that make up the Supreme Court of the United States. Taken from uscourts.gov, the duties of the Supreme Court is to; ensure that each branch of government recognizes the limits of its own power, that popular majorities cannot pass laws that harm and/or take advantage of minorities, that the changing administrations do not undermine the fundamental values common to all Americans, i.e., freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and due process of law. Members of the Supreme Court are granted life tenure unless impeached. To achieve this position, you must be nominated by the president, and the Senate votes to confirm the nominee.

Ginsburg was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1993. In her lifetime, she was faced with being the only or, one of the few women in the room numerous times throughout her career. She is remembered as an instrumental force in confronting gender-based stereotypes and ensuring women’s rights are protected.

Although the motivation to fight for racial equality wasn’t as prolific. In 1978 she ruled against Oneida Indian Nation in obtaining part of their land back from the state of New York in a large legal battle. Additionally, she lacked an understanding of contemporary concerns of police brutality and prison reform. For more on where she stood on racial issues read The Marshall Project’s, RBG’s Mixed Record on Race and Criminal Justice.