Happy Monday

Instead of racing full steam ahead, I've decided to ease into my first working Monday of 2012. It's made me think of work and life and how much of our lives we spend working. Last year I decided to work for myself and do more of what I love for a living, it EXCITES me, it INSPIRES and TEACHES me.

Mr Confucius said:    
“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” If it was relevant in 479 BC, I'm pretty sure it's relevant now.

I've always been an advocate of hard work but there is a difference between working for what is yours and slaving away. In the last year I've discovered that the seemingly impossible can be achieved by small measureable actions or goals. Elephants too can be eaten in small bites.

So here are a few rules to which I've started to work by:

1. Do what you love and love what you do
2. Am I making it better than it was before?
3. Trust the process
4. The money will come
5. If you need help - ask for it
6. Two heads are better than one...
7. Go with what feels right. It probably is
8. When you're tired you s...l...o...w  d...o...w...n  Get some rest and tackle it in the morning
9. Solving the problem VS Finding a solution.... change that thinking.
10. Is my work honest?

Hope you had a good Monday - here's to working smart.

Happy New Year!

Ah, the bliss of a new year :) To start afresh, new chances, new beginnings and do agains.

I was so very blessed in 2011, meeting my Love, living and working in Berlin, returning home to start my own studio, organizing two amazing [SPOKEN WORD] shows, having my work published internationally - twice, working as part of a film crew on an amazing new Namibian short film, securing my first teaching position and meeting new friends - for life. I am so truly GRATEFUL, thank you.

Here's to living every day with gratitude, love, ease, creativity and joy! May all your wishes come true too.

Happy New Year! Happy 2012!

This wonderful piece of water, colour art created by tigrowna, artist, illustrator and silkscreen printers, who taught me how to do silk screening in her amazing studio in Berlin. It reads: "I wish You a happy new year!"

The Santa Shoebox Project

Last year the lovely Natali from NARRY LIKES  introduced me to the Santa Shoebox Project
I had the best time decorating and putting two boxes together for a boy and a girl from the Nasop Primary School right here in Namibia and this year I'll be doing the same.

For 2011, the Santa Shoebox Project has raised their target to 70 000 boxes and their about half way. Maybe you can help to reach their target and share a little giving gratitude. :) It's super simple. Here's how:

They Draw and Cook Artwork for sale

The artwork that I created for the They Draw and Cook Illustrated recipe books is now available as a framed print from imagekind starting at only $11.39 Great news is that they ship internationally! Copies of the hardcover recipe book can be ordered through  Amazon.com here.

World Gratitude Day

Gratitude. Being grateful. Saying Thank you.
“When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears” Anthony Robbins

Source: chrissiegrace.blogspot.com via Richelle on Pinterest

Gratitude is the most powerful of feelings and action we can have. It places us in the present; being thankful for all that we have and all that we will still receive.

What are you grateful today?

Motherland po·ten·tial

po·ten·tial
Existing in possibility : capable of development into actuality.

It's been so fascinating watching other Namibian creatives bloom from a distance. I've always felt that being away from home gives you a little perspective...that goes a very long way, to remind you of how truly amazing your Motherland is.

I've encountered a number of young Europeans in Berlin who are so despondent about being young professionals in their own countries, always citing a lack of opportunities as the main reason, yearning to be elsewhere. Strikes in Spain and riots in London, although not comparable all underpin that the current economic climate and social circumstances has not been favourable to us all.  And though I can not speak for others, I have always been of the opinion that should you be granted the opportunity to travel and learn, not dismissing your own hard work and perseverance - it is so important to bring skills home!

I am blessed enough to be in a country where I can make a living from doing what I love. Sharing knowledge and imparting skills can only develop a nation brimming with creative potential. I am very excited to have returned home - seeing how much is happening locally... a forging of new creative alliances, the likes of which I have not seen before! September will bring new beginnings with the warmer days of Spring and regular day time hours, ushering in a new zenith of creative stirrings.

September also deserves a special mention, as it's the first ever Month of Photography for Namibia. I attended the stellar opening event last night and I'm so looking forward to doing a comprehensive post on it including a special feature of two amazingly talented female photographers; whom have me in awe every time I see their work.

Veni, vidi, vici...

Everything has a beginning and an end.

My mom took this photo of me on her short visit to Berlin while we were walking back home one day.
And yes - this is the walk way that lead up to my apartment ...

Bitter-sweetly, my time here in beautiful Berlin has come to an end. I did what I came to do - explore a city, explore my art and explore myself. And boy did I explore!

The funny thing about the creative process is that you don't always know what you're going to get on the other side. But with a little bit of faith and trust, I can safely say - you always get what you wanted and so much more. There is always more. More wonder, more awe more to discover - even around that next bend. So, as life winds like the road, and in my case, a cobble stone walk way, I'll be going around another bend. Tomorrow I'll return back home to my beautiful country Namibia, which I've seen blossom in it's own special way while I've been gone.

Not so incidently, today is that first day of Spring, if you're from the Southern of Hemispheres. Spring is about blooming and budding, growing anew, starting out fresh. So, as one journey end another has just begun...

 PS: Und dann auf Deutsch, weil nach fier Monaten kann ich naturlich mehr sprechen! Du bist wichlich so wunderschön mein Berlin und ich komme wieder nochmal! Bis später meine Freund und noch Viel Spaß!

Intersections in Berlin

So, the time has come to share. To share my work, with friends and viewers from Berlin. As any artist will tell you, showing work in a public forum can be so very daunting. I feel like I need to wear a T-shirt that says: Eeeeeeeep! Yes, set in bold and underlined.


My friend Caroline, the cool cucumber that she is, has assured me:

"I know exactly how you feel but this was meant to happen. Your willingness to expose yourself will have a huge reward! Living life!" Seriously. I think she's onto something there...

The support of my friends, my love and my family has been truly immense. I say thank you everyday. I so wish they could all be here for this! I suppose I'll just have to do it ALL OVER AGAIN in Windhoek right?!

If you happen to be in Berlin, swing by.

Pics to follow soon.

Inside Berlin's Letter Museum | Buchstabenmuseum

My obsession with letters and type will be an infinite one. The Buchstabenmuseum is must see for any type fan in Berlin. The museum's exhibition space has recently undergone a layout renovation, as part of an interior design concept thesis project by Marcus Hahn and Wolfram Schmeisse; two students from the Coburg University of Applied Sciences.

The new layout is mcuh more inviting with distinctive areas that flow into each other. The permanent yet growing exhibition is engaging; letting the letters fill the space and speak for themselves - in all their former neon-lit glory.

Image from Buchstabenmuseum

These images were taken by kind permission of the Buchstabenmuseum and are not intended for commercial use.

Gulp - The world's largest stop-motion animation

From microscopic to 11,000 square feet, the talented creatives at Sumo Science along with Aardmen, have yet again pushed the envelope of possibility. Yesterday I posted Dot. The world's smallest stop-motion animation

Of late, my favourite kind of 'creativity' in terms of design and animation has been projects that solve problems or find new ways using creative thinking and engineering.

Shot on a Nokia N8 rigged above Pendine Breach in South Wales, each frame was carefully made up using props and raking into the sand!

Images and video via Visual News.

Dot. The world's smallest stop-motion animation

Technology and creativity can create jaw dropping results leaving viewers both in awe and inspired. As Nokia's saying goes, "It's not technology it's what you do with it."

Professor Fletcher's CellScope invention; a cell phone attached to a microscope, "was the inspiration for a teeny-tiny film created by Sumo Science at Aardman. It stars a 9mm girl called Dot as she struggles through a microscopic world. All the minuscule detail was shot using CellScope technology and a Nokia N8, with its 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics."

If this isn't amazing enough, the Dot character was created using a 3D rapid prototyping printer and hand painted, as she was too small to animate mechanically!

Enjoy Dot and The making of Dot.

Berlinische Galerie

Halo and greetings from Berlin. I know my updates have been few and far between but workshops, traveling, sight seeing and working hasn't always allowed for it. As my time here comes to a close I'll be adding a few posts as a sort of retrospective.

One of my favourite exhibitions was Information, Manifesto, Rules and other leaks by Canadian artist, working in Berlin Angela Bulloch. Of late I've been interested in the concept of non-art as in Dadaism with Berlin's street art serving as an example. The larger than life typographic pieces in the huge airy space made me feel rather small in comparison but like a tiny observer of a great big world, yet undiscovered, floating about in space.

"In her works, Angela Bulloch studies the complex operation of rule systems in society. For the exhibition at Berlinische Galerie, she continues the concept of her Rule Series in several works, some of which were conceived especially for the exhibition site. The work group Rules Series, begun in 1992, consists of a continuously growing collection of rules, regulations, and norms. The Big Mac Index, used to compare the buying power of a currency, encounters instructions for those visiting London’s Downing Street, the guidelines of the November Group and the Italian Mafia’s code of honour.Under the title “Information, Manifesto, Rules and other leaks…”, Angela Bulloch chose ten of these texts and transformed them with a new design into monumental wall painting and a posters..." From Berlinische Galerie

These photographs have been taken with kind permission of the Berlinische Gallery and are not intended for commercial use.

Pogo Boom remix

I'm a self confessed Disney addict and to this day I could happily watch entire marathons. My very good friend Liz, pervayour of all things awesome, first introduced me to Pogo with his famed remix Upular for the Pixar flick Up!

Here's Pogo's latest remix titled Bloom featuring my favourite Disney Princess, Aurora. Yah for childhood memories remixed. ♥

Why Man Creates by Saul Bass

I first read about Saul Bass when I was a student working an design project based on Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Vertigo. Saul Bass pretty much reinvented the way we see movie intro sequences today with his famed animated approach to The man with the golden arm.

With my never ending quest and interest in the concept of why we create and what creativity can bring to our lives, I loved watching Saul Bass's short film title Why man creates released in 1968. The film looks at “a series of explorations, episodes & comments on creativity.”

Why Man Creates focuses on the creative process and the different approaches taken to that process. It is divided into eight sections: The Edifice, Fooling Around, The Process, Judgment, A Parable, Digression, The Search, and The Mark. In 2002, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Via Wikipedia

“Playful yet profound, the film is a series of sequences that at first appear unconnected but eventually converge into a compelling exploration of (wo)man’s most fundamental impetus to create.” Via brain picking. SPOILER I love the bits on the never ending illusive concept of process and public critique on an artist's work. It's so true!

Letter Museum Berlin | Buchstabenmuseum

The BUCHSTABEN MUSEUM is a must see for anyone interested in typography, design and architecture while in Berlin. Although almost aptly yet incongruously located in a shopping mall, the Museum is devoted to preserving and documenting letterforms. The musuem are actively searches for outstanding letterforms and typographic objects that merit preservation.

Some of my favourite pieces include neon building signage from the former GDR and faces set in script like this one from Schuhe. The museum will be RE-OPENING next month with a brand new floor layout and design and I can't wait to attend the official opening.

"Students Marcus Hahn and Wolfram Schmeisser have developed a new concept for the design and layout of the Buchstabenmuseum as part of their thesis project. Their interdisciplinary studies focused on practical planning, technology and design. Their reorganization of the museum space has created a fresh atmosphere that allows the exhibits to be discovered and appreciated individually. Come see for yourself—have a conversation with the students and check out the results of their hard work.

In cooperation with the Interior Design division of the Coburg University of Applied Sciences Design Department of Fakultät Design, lead by Professor Werner Kitzinger and Tobias Kunz."

Opening: Saturday, 2 July 2011 5pm–9pm
Entry: free (Please make a contribution for the students)
Showroom: Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 13
10178 Berlin (Berlin Carré, 1st floor)

BUCHSTABEN MUSEUM
BUCHSTABEN MUSEUM on Faccebook