Imagine the possibilities of what you can do with legos. Nathan Sawaya creates masterpieces of art ranging from portraits of people to sculpturesque models and even ordinary objects such as strawberries. RED: The Lego Brick Sculpture of Nathan Sawaya exhibition is at the Agora Gallery in Chelesa until December 14, 2010. Agora Gallery’s hours are Tues – Sat 11am-6pm

Why Design Now? is the fourth installation in the National Design Triennial exhibition series launched by Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in 2000. The Triennial provides a sample of contemporary innovation, looking at what progressive designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and citizens are doing in diverse fields and at different scales around the world.

via Cooper Hewitt

This exhibit looks great and I look forward to seeing it.

AIGA’s upcoming exhibition Design Journeys: You Are shines a light on the careers of 25 designers from a variety of backgrounds, whose own lives and experiences demonstrate the ideal combination of diversity and excellence. Visitors will also be encouraged to consider their own journeys and place in design.

The exhibition is free and open to the public from May 20–July 23, 2010 at AIGA.

via AIGA

I was recently at Dylan’s Candy Bar which is reminiscent of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. It contains three floors of sweet treats and magical goodness. Dylan’s was created and owned by Dylan Lauren the daughter of designer Ralph Lauren. I love how the wall of the check out counter utilizes jumbo size candy such as gumballs, runts and sweedish fish.

This past weekend I attended the Thinking Creatively Conference at Kean University and heard Jon Kamen and James Spindler of @ radical.media speak. One of their many intriguing projects, The Johnny Cash Project was particularly interesting. It is a website where the user can pick a particular picture and draw over it creating a frame for the music video for one of the tunes. All of these frames are drawn over by different people all over the world and then compile as one and make one music video for which ever song was chosen.  Definitely check it out and be a part of the The Johnny Cash Project. Here is also some background of the project.

I am a part of the AIGA’s Mentor Program and I was recently with my mentee, Jennifer and we discovered Sur la table. This store is both a chefs and bakers dream. It has everything you can think of from cake pans to kitchen linens. I love the details of their branding like the above photo with the door handles being a fork and spoon and their tag line “The Art and Soul of Cooking.”

With the holiday in mind I recently strolled through Columbus Circle’s holiday market and came across the booth for The Walking Art that literally had amazing works of art. This vendor had paintings with photographs and objects collaged on top of the, photo collages, and etchings just to name a few of the unique work of a variety of artists. I purchased some art for myself and as gifts. I really loved their work!

December 28th also known as Good Riddance Day was formed by the Times Square Alliance and  has been day for New Yorkers and tourists to shred their bad memories of the prior year.  There is a huge shredder in New York’s Time Square where people come to shred all their bad memories, bills and any other negative in the form of paper in order to have fresh start to the new year!

photo via WPIX

You’ve Got Mail! That was the sound of  first days of the internet for me. AOL has now taken their brand to the next level. A more creative everyday feel has been incorporated into their new look. It almost gives off an MTV vibe. It should be exciting to see what happens with AOL’s rebranding. The rebranding was done by Wolff Olins.

I came across a sort of The Degenerate Craft Fair via Art Bistro. The Degenerate Craft Fair is an anti-art-fair featuring over 20 artists and designers. Just in time for holiday shopping, it will take place in the first three weekends of December at three different locations, and feature works of art generally priced under $50.

Dates and Locations:

December 4th — 8pm – 12am
Silent Barn, Ridgewood

December 13th — 12pm – 10pm
December 14th — 12pm – 8pm
303 Grand Street, Williamsburg

December 18th 12pm – 9pm
December 19th 12pm – 6pm
BravinLee programs, Chelsea

This is something I am definitely going to check out!