Sydney Long - Pan

I've been thinking about this artwork all weekend. It hangs in the Art Gallery of NSW and  I remember seeing it for the first time while at school. Reminds me of a forest not to far from my mum's place in the Southern Highlands, all gnarly and elongated.

The print (shown at the Prints and Printmaking site) shows the shapely  Art Nouveau-inspired trunks in even more detail...

La La Laurie

I can't quite decide if this lovely lady is some one I completely admire or down right detest with sickening jealousy for all her amazing talent. Hmmm... for peace of mind I'll go with the former...

Please note that there are some tree themed pics included!

Tree Print by Bryan Nash Gill

Ooooo, this is quite a lovely print doing the rounds of the blog-0-sphere, and thought it fits quite well with this months theme...

When I was 15 I was definite I wanted to be either

A. An architect

B. A graphic designer

C. A forensic scientist

As the old song goes... "One of these things is not like the other..."

I think Option C had something to do with watching a lot of Murder Mysteries where things like dating a suspicious crime could be deduced with a quick count of the tree rings.

This little memory has made me smile, and actually involves Yumi... We were both into art at school and we completed 'work experience' together for a week at a design company that did the Australian packaging for Nutella. Not that we got to do anything as exciting as design for a chocolate brand (which reminds me I still haven't ticked that off the 'to do' list). 

The first day there was a bit of confusion about how we were getting to the studio (ending in me being quite late) and somehow Yumi and I wore exactly the same thing (white Country Road oversized button up shirt & jeans). The creative director thought this was quite funny much to our dismay. We desperately wanted to fit into this uber-cool designer lifestyle (well... I did, not sure about Yumi).

The week passed with us spending 7 hours a day perforating piles of itty-bitty stamps while listening to a very boring radio station (Simply Red was on repeat on the hour every hour).

BUT! At the end of the week we were able to design our own plastic boxes with sticky label logo! I'm sure I still have my box somewhere in the garage which I'll try to dig out and take a photo of. It was totally worth while.

Thank you to Cup of Jo & Oh So Beautiful Paper for posting this image and the trip down memory lane!

The Store that Souzou Built!

Some very exciting news... Souzou now has it's own little store over at Etsy. I'm sure all of you know Etsy very well... if you don't we suggest you get over there immediately! 

For our Opening Week we have a 

Super Special Give Away Offer! 

All you have to do is pop over to The Souzou Shop, post a comment below telling us which of Yumi's beautiful prints you like the best and why it is your favourite choice and we'll be sending the winner their own very special copy in the  mail! We will announce the winner next week on the blog.

Please let your friends and family know all about our little shop - your support makes us feel very special.

x Emma & Yumi

Turning over a new leaf

Welcome to Chapter 2 of Souzou!

Yumi and I are very excited to announce that Souzou has become something new in the last couple of hours.

We have been feeling a little drained, disheartened and down about our project. All the good intentions and energy that we began with have been lost along the way.

After a good chat at our favourite meeting place (Berkalouw Books in Newtown) we've decided to make sure that Souzou is never a chore and is always a place for us to create with joy, dedication and verve. It's all about the journey rather than the destination!

Inspired by how Bill Henson & Richard Tognetti collaborated we have chosen a theme for this month to be our inspiration. After gathering a collection of second hand books available we came back to the couch and found that there was a strong sense of trees running through all our choices. 

So here we are with our very first theme which we will be working with for the next couple of weeks... My first 'tree' creation was a new Souzou banner... what do you think?

Petra Storrs - Paper Magician

While over at the blog of lovely Felicity Gleeson I found she had posted a little stop-start motion film by Petra Storrs. "Who is this lady of paper magic?" I wondered aloud... A little googling led me to seeing some of her other quite nice paper-work in numerous places... what a divine world she creates! Turns out Petra is a set slash costume slash stage slash prop-designer who has worked with Emiliana Torrini, Friendly Fires and a bunch of other creative types.

Thanks Felicity for sharing with us...

*julie harris*

Jack Flash

Views 5

Constellation

Landscape study #2

well worth a day trip to the galleries!: 

Richard Martin Gallery

or

Mosman Art Gallery

Fashioning Felt - Cooper Hewitt

I'd do anything to get to this exhibition happening right now in New York - I've loved felt since a fateful University textile class where I was taught how to magically make wool into fabric.

Since then I've been smitten with the possibilities of this versatile technique. An honours paper tracing the historical and contemporary application of felt followed,  and my own felt vessels made up the practical component. These little fellows have been rolling around our apartment for the last couple of years, and I thought it might be nice to share them with you today...

As well as the video above, Martha Stewart explores the exhibition here, so you can see a bit more of the lovely felty things! Bliss...

xEmma

*art*music*film*

The idea of collaborating and creative sharing and inspiring has interested me lately.  The idea of a creative dialogue. I see the importance of this in strengthening the arts in our sport saturated society?...we need to work like a team!

 That's what I'm learning and observing and I think blogging has been a great tool in creating a community of collaborators.

*Glass: A portrait of Phillip in twelve parts* 

This beautiful documentary by Scott Hicks was on at the Cremorne orpheum last year. I went to see one of the screenings. There were 3 people in the cinema (including myself!). 

When I was leaving, an older lady sitting behind me thanked me for attending the film and went on to say '...this film has been on for only 2 weeks... and it's ending today with 3 people'

*Luminous*

I experienced last night. An inspiring collaboration between Richard Tognetti, Bill Henson, Katie Noonan and Paul Healy. 

It was amazing to come out of the theatre feeling creatively free and a little lightheaded(in a nice way!) from a sense of limitlessness. 

Bill Henson explains the project here.(from the music show, radio national 28/3/2009)

Lastly... my inspiration of the day, *Yayoi Kusama: I adore myself*

what more can I say...positivity positivity positivity!

yumi

＊ミ＊ル＊ク＊

I read milk and I love milk!

Emma once lent me a copy of her french Milk magazine. It has been my love since(!)...a beautiful magazine, filled with pictures and fashion and art...all things I love in life!!!

Milk's philosophy is..."Milk, because we feel something in common: nostalgic for our childhood...This transient moment, we want to live it together, like a hedonistic transition where each moment is an occasion to be an aesthete."

Now I have discovered Milk Japon...oh boy,..choo kawaii!