Tag Archives: art

Gun barrels into ploughshares

'Harvest Nation Sculpture Project' on Terra Furna Public Art

The guys over at Terra Furna Public Art posted on their site back in May of last year about a very cool sculpture project they were working on.

The concept comes from the ancient text “They shall forge their swords into ploughshares”. Our thought is that Canada has been a nation of peacekeepers for decades, and our influence has had a significant part in many nations’ histories. From Korea to Bosnia to the more recent Afghanistan, our soldiers can be found doing their best to encourage the world to put down their arms.

Our idea was to get our hands on a Howitzer gun barrel, or tank barrel, and forge that into a plough as a modern interpretation of the text. Our idea has developed into a larger, more ambitious idea with the inclusion of other elements that reinforce the message of peacekeeping.

The Harvest Nation Sculpture Project on terrafurna.com. Lots more photos.

[TED Talks Tuesday] Relieving the pressure of creative success

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about how she copes with work after the success of Eat, Pray, Love and how much pressure is put on creative geniuses, calling for a return to the idea of an invisible source of creativity outside the artist.

'Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity', TED.com

Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity

A quick-start guide to choosing a digital SLR camera and lens

Claudio Matsuoka (flickr.com/photos/cmatsuoka/3518394738/)

Claudio Matsuoka (flickr.com/photos/cmatsuoka/3518394738/)

The Right Camera

I am a fan of Canon SLR cameras. I like their controls and the fact they can use virtually any manufacturer’s lenses including Nikon. Some people like Nikon’s controls better and feel more comfortable with them. The two companies compete so heavily there are practically head-to-head matches in all equipment. I’ll focus on Canon where I have more experience and will only reference Nikon equivalents occasionally.

My recommendation for anyone interested in buying a digital SLR (single-lens reflex) camera for the first time is to go with the Canon EOS Rebel XSi (450D) body for around $560. If you are interested in Nikon, the equivalent camera body is the D3000. The camera body is basically a small computer and will become obsolete roughly as fast. Spend your money on timeless lens technology, not rapidly evolving electronic technology…. Read more…

nate piekos: the science of blam

Nate and one of his many fonts.

Nate Piekos (pronounced ‘PEE-kos’) is the man behind Blambot.com, a website well known in the comic book industry for fonts, lettering, and logo design. It’s not just the comic pros at Marvel and DC that use Nate’s fonts though. Everyone from The New Yorker to Kellogg’s Cereal to MTV to Hasbro to Hallmark have used Blambot fonts. Besides lettering comic books (which is an art in itself), designing fonts, and designing logos, he also keeps up a webcomic of his own called ATLAND and has written a few articles about his craft on Blambot. The cool thing about Blambot is for most commercial fonts Nate releases on the site, he releases a free font as well for independent comic creators. Nate was good enough to answer a few questions for us recently.Read more…