the beehive library

“The study of Dorothy Wilde belongs to a discipline that...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:29:05 -0600

Dolly Wilde, as Oscar Wilde

“The study of Dorothy Wilde belongs to a discipline that doesn’t exist.”

Dorothy dressed like, and sometimes as Oscar Wilde, her uncle, who she had always idolized but never met. She moved to Paris in 1914, drove ambulances on the front lines at age 19, and then found her way into Parisian social and literary circles where she spoke openly about her then controversial and cutting-edge beliefs in war, sexuality, art, and society. Unlike Oscar, she did not write or publish, but I’ve read in several places that she was a gifted story teller and a vivacious conversationalist. I wish we had journals from her, and knew more about her character.

While nominally listed as a “socialite” in biographical entries, she didn’t entertain on a grand scale, patronise genius or pioneer new ways of living, so you won’t find her mentioned in social histories of the 20^th century. Despite her wit and facility with words you will search in vain for a book by her, so she’s not a subject for literary history. Contemporaries never failed to mention her dazzling eloquence but her performances, it seemed, belonged to the moment.

I’m deeply curious of strong women’s interior lives, which almost always highlights their love and sexual lives in media. For me, something about this aspect of the story feels less voyeuristic and more of a map. How does a strong woman move through the world? Who are her co-horts? Loves? Partners?

From A Ghost in Paris:

[Wilde] fell in love with Marion Carstairs, an oil heiress who usually dressed as a man and would in later years become a successful speedboat racer, have affairs with some of the most glamorous women of her age including Marlene Dietrich… Dolly, being one herself, seemed to attract fascinating women, who often seem more like characters out of the racier sort of novel than real people. She was fortunate enough to be in Paris at a time when women were very much in the ascendant.

I found the story of Dorothy because I stumbled on the above painting. Good portraits are linked to interesting people. And my interest in life-paths seem to come from art - a picture or a painting - and arrive at a good or at least unusual story.

“I am more Oscar-like than he was like himself,” - Dorothy Wilde

For KS & Nomad Farm

Via: Source

This Victorian Tin Chapel (built at the end of the 19th century...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:01:10 -0600

This Victorian Tin Chapel (built at the end of the 19th century in corrugated iron) located in Faversham on the coast of England was re-purposed into a home by artist and craftsman Nick Kenny, who camped in the chapel with only cold water and a hotplate as he re-built for 18 months.

“Pretty much everything in here has been bought for a pittance as scrap or salvage, or picked up for next to nothing at auction,” Nick explains.

The spiral staircase alone is worth the dedication!

Via TrendHome.

Roughly textured, rich, and darkly exposed table objects hunted...

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:37:45 -0600

Roughly textured, rich, and darkly exposed table objects hunted (mostly) on a new blog I’m loving: brown dress with white dots. Still life will always be a past time of mine, from my childhood days of setting up seemingly disparate objects in a group, photographing with a Polaroid, and drawing with colored pencils.

Kudos to K. You are forever a huntress of beautiful things.

Dreaming of studio spaces… it’s that...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:41:01 -0600

Dreaming of studio spaces… it’s that cozy-winter-hold-up to write and create feeling. Looking at art books, strange images, the snow outside.

(by Old Chum)

via fivedeer:

This beautiful little two minute vimeo Murmuration completely...

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:13:00 -0500

This beautiful little two minute vimeo Murmuration completely captivated me this evening. Duo of Sophie Windsor Clive and Liberty Smith have a project called Islands and Rivers where they work with a small crew and make amazing little shorts on or near the water.

Watch here.

/merr’meuh ray”sheuhn/, n.

1. an act or instance of murmuring.

2. a flock of starlings.

“A short film that follows the journey of two girls in a canoe on the River Shannon and how they stumble across one of nature’s greatest phenomenons; a murmuration of starlings.”

For J.R.

::via BOOOOOOOM!

The Unbelievable Airstream! A beautiful converted live-in...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 17:49:39 -0500

The Unbelievable Airstream!

A beautiful converted live-in Airstream trailer by artist Julie Montgomery and her young son Henry. Located a mile from the Pacific Ocean even! Lovely. I dream of this…

Check out the tour

Via Re-Nest

“What might future cities look like?” ponders...

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 10:01:05 -0500

“What might future cities look like?” ponders Melbourne artist Miso. Take a look at more of her installation/ street art here.

via:: Booooooom!

These images are reorganized maps from a favorite blog (things...

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:31:06 -0500

These images are reorganized maps from a favorite blog (things organized neatly.)

Looking at the right hand side, re-arranged in line information reminds me of Edward Tufte; the brilliant teacher/thinker/statistic seeker. Introduced to his work by my dad, I bought Tufte’s Envisioning Information while working on my BFA and began seeing connections between the way information (such as a map that has been created long before you experience a city) will influence the way you walk, and consequently, live in this city.

Information’s organization changes the world, and how we experience it.

Most sites, blogs, and the web in general have this same feeling for me — we are expected to walk a certain street, for a prescribed length of time, and in another persons font. Or color. And layout.

One part visual, one part organized thinker, I often synthesize double forms of the same information and put out in the world — especially at work. Looking at the above twin images but focusing on neither, my mind tells me I can somehow make sense of this complex data - that I can see the unseeable pattern — or make a third non-map to wander to. Organized un-neatly.

Images via: thingsorganizedneatly:

CMYBacon: Reorganized Cities

Stunning texture and radical color from an ‘iron of...

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:52:02 -0500

Stunning texture and radical color from an ‘iron of heaven’ - a piece of meteorite sold on the black market. And it’s just my kind of drug.

Here is a bit from the NYT article:

“The mystery began thousands of years ago with Egyptian hieroglyphs, which refer to the “iron of heaven.” Archaeologists have long debated whether the Egyptians made artifacts from iron meteorites that fell to Earth in fiery upheavals. The main evidence came from ancient knife blades of iron that had high concentrations of nickel — a rare element in the Earth’s crust that was considered a signature of extraterrestrial origin.”

::read the complete article here.

Unnatural nature-like installations by artist Sonja Vordermaier....

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:00:05 -0500

Unnatural nature-like installations by artist Sonja Vordermaier. I like how organic and alien these sculptures are, and how massive! Taking over the room, moving toward you or shrinking away from you.

I thought this summed it up perfectly:

Amorphous growth on the ceilings and in corners that somehow resemble rows of mussels shimmering silver or grotesquely large fungi. At first glance, this seems nature-like, if not necessarily natural. It is as if one had been beamed through an electron microscope to another level of perception. On closer inspection the alienating structures, as beautiful as coral riffs and yet irritating and threatening like rampant tumors or nesting aliens…

(from Jens Asthoff: Interstices in reality via artnews)

A mineral bull’s-eye in the Oquirrh Mountains that is two...

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 21:01:06 -0500

A mineral bull’s-eye in the Oquirrh Mountains that is two and a half miles wide. I found a great selection of national geographic images - scans from old mags 60’s-80’s by Sarah Gossett here. Nicely curated.

Details on the image:

April 1975

“The company’s [Kennecott Copper] mineral bull’s-eye in the Oquirrh Mountains stretches two and a half miles wide and more than half a mile deep - the nation’s largest open-pit copper mine, and its most productive.”

From article Utah’s Shining Oasis by Charles McCarry, photographs by James L. Amos

Want to go to Italy with me? Let’s live vicariously until...

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:13:24 -0500

Want to go to Italy with me?

Let’s live vicariously until we can go…for now…a great flickr set by Liivia on her daily adventures.

Bellissima indeed!!

(via englishmuse)

Spell and the Gypsy Collective have this amazing home filled...

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 10:00:00 -0500

Spell and the Gypsy Collective have this amazing home filled with found objects: distressed furniture, a weathered porch, woodburning stove, bright turquoise jewelry, worn vintage pillows.

I dream of a house.

Via (a little hampster)

Roving lone street photographer Julian Berman from LA. It has...

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 13:55:14 -0500

Roving lone street photographer Julian Berman from LA.

It has been a long time since I have stumbled upon a photographer who doesn’t overly romanticize his subjects, is clear, open, and looks rigorously into worlds I haven’t experienced. It’s apparent to me that he is a strong editor of his own images -
I’m guessing he takes many to arrive at one that works.

Nice work!

His official site here.

Images of the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen’s...

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:00:06 -0500

Images of the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen’s work - many pictured here are currently at the MET in the show Savage Beauty.

And because I love lists, here is a list of materials:

Duck feathers,

mussel shells,

medical slides,

castings of bone,

butterflies, glass,

ostrich feathers,

gazelle horns,

brocade, suede,

ruffled organza,

striped silk,

wooden fans,

metallic dust,

and distressed mohair.

Images of a beautiful post from In the Labyrinth which I stumbled upon (guiltily) looking for photos of David Bowie. Ahem.

more images here.

Marie Clerel’s lovely project. Reminds me of Lady...

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:00:06 -0500

Marie Clerel’s lovely project. Reminds me of Lady Kate.

Ten envelopes containing each a coal piece are sent to ten people. Every step of the trip is recorded, the result is marker of a length, of a distance. Of ten envelopes, four returned, ten pins are at the wall, four are occupied. Six others await.

(My attempt at translating French)

Via Jeff on Booooooom.

This tornado loves you. Painting (Golden Dawn) by Clare Woods....

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:05:06 -0500

This tornado loves you.

Painting (Golden Dawn) by Clare Woods. Enamel and oil on aluminium.

More of her large scale work here.

House collection images from all over… (for Leigha) Click...

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:31:00 -0500

House collection images from all over…

(for Leigha)

Click on the arrow to the right of the image to view the slideshow.

I could look at images of personal collections, styled and photographed.. all. day. long. Then wake up, and do it again. I think I’ll go re-arrange my furniture for solstice… (and for the second time this month.)

Imgs various sources.

And suddenly, I felt nothing. . . . . Image courtesy Faded...

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 01:41:00 -0500

And suddenly, I felt nothing.

Image courtesy Faded Vision

For Strange Women (For Kate) I stumbled upon this site: For...

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 08:00:00 -0500

For Strange Women

(For Kate)

I stumbled upon this site: For Strange Women through N.E.E.T. magazine… anything with the word strange or curious, and I’m down the rabbit hole.

Artisan perfume, beautiful antique packaging, and incredible styling. Choosing one image to represent any blog post for me is often difficult, especially with a variety of interesting ideas and good photography or choosing just one work from an accomplished artist. The Victorian inspired solid perfume image above (from her etsy site) reminds me of three oysters or shells - open and almost about to say something. Waiting. I can almost smell them…

The Craftress’s blog is also quite beautiful. She is a solid photographer that is awake in her looking during her daily life.

Winter Kitty…another curious and delightful image.