As I mentioned in a previous post, I live in an area which has a large number of architecturally designed and well built houses from the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's including some blocks of flats (or apartments if you are outside of Australia). I have driven or walked past this building many times and admired the architecture, but always thought it was a large house - until one day I noticed 5 letterboxes in the driveway - and on closer viewing discovered it is a block of flats.

It's superb example of 1950's architecture, and shows how even a block of flats doesn't have to be ugly or poorly designed like many of this period and later years were. Obviously architecturally designed, this complex of 5 units is built with quite simple materials - concrete "bessa" blocks, and slab supports - with a flat iron roof - angled towards the back.





While simply built, the use of sharp angles, slabs and modernist forms, combined with attention to detail makes this a piece of inspiring design. The pattern on the front wall adds to the interest of the design - It is simply made of pebbles embedded with some modernist cement shapes.  I hope in coming years it is maintained and doesn't fall under the developers hammer.

Often as I go walking I notice all types of pattern and images in the environment - natural, man made, created and accidental.  These 3 images are of sections of "stobie" poles. (for residents outside South Australia - a stobie pole is a large concrete and steel electricity pole). The numbers, symbols and marks obviously mean something to someone - but as stand alone images I think they have interest.

I have been photographing an Italian Mid-Century Lamp that I purchased at auction a few weeks ago for my retro ceramics blog, which led to me taking a few other "vignettes" which I thought I would share on this blog.

The first shot features the Italian Lamp, which is a stoneware piece from around 1960 with its new shade - which took me quite a while find - and ended up being the least expensive out of all the ones I looked at!

With the lamp is a 1973 Gerd Bogelund (Royal Copenhagen) stoneware limited edition piece, and "Boris" the raku bull.  Just in the image on the far right is a painting I will share in another post - a classic 1960's oil painting by Vic Adolfsson - an Adelaide artist and art teacher from that period.

The next shots are of a few pieces of 1970's tenmoku glazed stoneware by Lauri Tunomenien who was a prolific potter in Adelaide in the late seventies and eighties. I like these earth tones and put the second image through a colour schemer and quite like the result. You can get the hex numbers for these colours from my page on colour lovers if you want a closer look at them and some of my other colour schemes from similar images.

Like a lot of people with an iPhone, mine is cluttered with Apps that sound promising, but are poor in practise, have poor content or aren't updated frequently enough and end up being deleted after a few uses.

I never thought I would be recommending APP's for the iPhone or iPad in a blog, but this week I found 2 which I have installed on my iPhone that have astounded me with the quality and quantity of content - and which are free - even better.

If you are into Art & Design or just generally like interesting and high quality content - do yourself a favour and get these 2 Apps.  I'm going to have to get myself an iPad soon, as the content of these apps would be much easier to view, and much more impressive - although the parent websites are now on my desktop as well.

The first was only released this month and is from MoMA - The Museum of Modern Art in New York. This App makes accessible a whole Museum which would otherwise be inaccessible unless you were to go to New York. It also links to YouTube and has a huge amount of high quality content. I just watched a fascinating video of JEFF KOONS talking about his work. There are something like 239 movies to view.




The second app is a superb piece of Design.  I had never heard of DEXIGNER until I saw this App...now I'm hooked.  Ive been looking for something for a long time that is not too narrow in its content, has high quality content, and is easy to read - and this App does all that and more. It updates (streams) constantly with Art & Design news from around the world and has a very easy to follow menu. I love the "local " function as well - found out about designers in my city I had no idea existed.

I first saw Janine Mackintosh’s work during the Waterhouse Art Prize exhibition of 2008 where she won the people’s choice award. The piece she entered was quite large (about a 2m circle) and simply breathtaking. It drew me in like a magnet. From the distance I thought it was a gouache or a drawing, but as I got closer I was amazed to see the whole piece was composed entirely of pressed, dried leaves, individually stitched on to the paper behind glass – in the same manner a herbarium would preserve them.

Pattern can be a very powerful tool when used well and Janine has found the key to bring pattern to a spiritual level by making us think about the world we live in. Pattern can be about mathematics and balance. Sometimes it is about culture, emotion, imagination, observation and creativity. And sometimes it can be deeply spiritual, as it is with Janine’s work. It draws the viewer in to a quiet reflection about nature and introduces deeper themes, such as connectedness with nature.

On her website Janine says she loves the “excitement caused by repetition where hundreds of ordinary objects are presented as one” and that she “is drawn to the leaves that have been weathered or chewed by beetles or somehow display the myriad of tiny complex processes at work in the native Australian landscape.”

Janine was a graphic designer for 16 years, and in 2000 purchased a property on the rugged and beautiful south coast of Kangaroo Island which was the catalyst for her work. Her work is represented in the National War Memorial and several private collections.

Janine's website is a beautiful, clean example of web design which also displays her work beautifully. Well worth a look, and I feel that Janine Mackintosh is an Artist well worth following.

Some of her work is on display in the National Wine Centre as part of an exhibition of Kangaroo Island Artists, during this year's SALA event.

I am amazed by the number of Exhibitions and events, and high standard of work being displayed by Artists at SALA (South Australian Living Artists Festival) which is on for the next 3 weeks. I came across this emerging artists work quite by accident, in the upper gallery at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide.

Her work struck me straight away with its strong use of colour, shape and beautiful composition that really “sings” to its audience. It reminds me of some of the great Modernists work. It is full of Joy. Her early experiences with the early Filani tribes in Nigeria obviously inspired her wonderful sense of colour and form.

Joslin Koolen is a graduate of the University of South Australia’s Design school, Koolen has expressed her exceptional creativity through forms as diverse as floral and textile design, screen-printing fabrics and creating one-off handbags and garments. Her transition to the medium of paint and canvas began in earnest in 2008, as she discovered “a new way to breathe” through painting.

Born to Dutch migrants, Joslin’s early life was a riot of colour and magnificent natural beauty as she grew up between Nigeria, the Netherlands, Asia and Australia. Joslin cites her formative creative influences as Dali, Mondrian and Whiteley.

More of Joslin's work is viewable on her website where she can also be contacted.