The 700s: Art Book Reviews & More

The Met: Part I

2009-07-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

Early this year I visited NY for the first time. I saw lots of amazing things, but my favourite place was The Metropolitan Museum. I spent the entire day there and it still wasn't enough time (I strongly recommend packing lots of snacks when you go). I took alot of pictures of interesting things that inspired me, I plan on posting one or two every week. Here's the first! Below are some of the

Shameless Plug: My Dad's Blog

2009-07-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just gotta do something for your dear old dad. And seeing as how I introduced him to blogging I think it's only right that I promote his new blog . Not only does it have good hones advice on real estate, but charming photos (come on, you gotta love that cow) of the Fraser Valley and local insight on good day trips in the area.

Book Review: Rex Ray Art & Design

2009-07-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

Title:Rex Ray Art & DesignAuthor:Rex Ray, Douglas Coupland (Foreword), Steven Skov Holt (contributor), Michael Paglia (contributor)Publisher:Chronicle BooksPublished: October 2007Pages:160Price:$40.00 CDNThis is a beautiful book. Rex Ray is an amazing painter/collage artist whose unique colour sense and whimsical compositions are just plain fun. Which is something you don't see much of in

Book Review: Andy Warhol Giant Size

2009-07-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Title: Andy Warhol: Giant SizeAuthor: Editors of Phaidon PressPublisher: PhaidonPublished: February 21, 2006Pages: 624 Price: $ 125.00 (US)Andy Warhol once said, "don't pay any attention to what they write about you just measure it in inches", for that reason alone he would have been thrilled with this book since it's 2 1/2 inches thick. Chronicling Warhol's career from his years as a commercial

NY graffiti

2009-07-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of really great book reviews coming soon, but right now it's too hot to type so I thought I'd post some pictures I took of graffiti when I was in NY this January. All of this was from either the meat packing district or Brooklyn mostly around Williamsburg. I loved the layers of graffiti and wheat pasting you see on the walls.

Book Review: 365 AIGA Year in Design 29

2009-07-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

Title: 365: AIGA Year in Design 29Author: editors of Wallpaper magazinePublisher: Chronicle BooksPublished: April 15, 2009Pages: 367Price: $ 40.00 (US)365: AIGA Year in Design 29 is a really nice design annual. The layout is clean so as not to take the focus from the work but there are still enough quirky design elements to give it personality, like the cover which I love. One of the constant

Book Review: Wallpaper City Guide Vancouver

2009-07-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

Title: Wallpaper City Guide VancouverAuthor: editors of Wallpaper magazinePublisher: Phaidon Published: Pages: 240Price: $19.95 (CDN)Wallpaper Magazine has been publishing city guides since 2006, with over 60 guides already available and now it's Vancouver's turn. I saw a rack display of these pocket sized guides (6.2 x 4.1 x 0.5 inches) in Chapters and I have to admit they looked pretty darned

Book Review: Crave Vancouver

2009-07-01T21:59:00.000-07:00

Title: Crave VancouverAuthor: crave partyPublisher: crave party Published: 2008Pages: 240Price: $19.95 (CDN)Crave Vancouver features "over 100 spots and women you need to know in town", with spotlights on everything from boutiques and spas to cafes and publicists. Published by CRAVEcompany a network of businesses that strive to connect entrepreneurs in new ways. It's exciting to see so

Discover Dewey The 398.2's Fairy Tale Books

2009-06-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

In this episode of "Discover Dewey" your friend and guide in all your library adventures, we'll discuss the elusive fairy-tale books, which are not always where you would expect (cue mysterious music)....The 398.2's is the folklore section of the non-fiction collection, it includes nursery rhymes, folktales, fairy tales etc. They're not with the rest of the picture books because they depict a

Design Book Review: Business Cards 3

2009-06-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

Title: Business Card 3 : Designs on Saying HelloAuthor: Michael DorrianPublisher: Laurence KingPublished: 2009Pages: 272Price: $38.95 (CDN)I remember the cold wave of fear that came over me when my instructor announced we were going to have to design our own business cards. The realization that I had to communicate my entire being and purpose in life (okay maybe I exagerate a tad) using only a

Art Book Review: Jenny Saville

2009-06-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

Title: Jenny SavilleAuthor: Gagosian Gallery Publisher: RizzoliPublished: 2005Pages: 160Price: $31.50Jenny SavilleI actually had Jenny’s cover painting in one of my inspiration books (goodness knows where I found it) but I wasen’t familiar with most of her work. This book is a beautifully designed and photographed exploration of her paintings. She paints skin so boldly and gesturally (which suits

Book Review: Simply Packaging

2009-06-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

Title: Simply PackagingAuthor: Publisher: victionaryPublished: 2008Pages: 240Price: $26.37 (on amazon, I paid about $60.00 at Oscars)Simply PackagingOh design books why do you have to be so darned expensive. This was a happy graduation present to myself (any excuse to buy an art book) from Oscars Art Books. While it’s a packaging book it’s also a good study of brand identity (including examples

Multistorey Design Studio

2009-06-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

Multistorey is a design studio out of London. They have a clean, fresh style that I really like. Their work for a store called Unpackaged is especially interesting since it aims to sell products without the use of packaging, so their identity system had to work around that possible handicap.

The Regional Assembly of Text

2009-06-23T19:00:00.001-07:00

The Regional Assembly of Text is a stationary store, but so much more than a stationary store, on Main St. in Vancouver. It's pretty embaressing how many times I said "so cute!" in the time I was in the store, but really I couldn't help it. The store has stationary items, buttons, hilarious form letters for the uninspired letter writer, minature art books, and even their very own library of

The Front Windows

2009-06-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

The Front is a really great consignment/vintage clothing store on Main St. in Vancouver. They have tons of super cute summer dresses, great deals on gently used shoes and bags and awesome window displays. You can see pics of past displays on their website.

Urban Source on Main Street

2009-06-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

Pink submarine hanging in , a eco-crafty persons dream store. They sell industrial remnants like wine corks, old film canisters, petri dishes, badges, tiles http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifetc you never know what they'll have in stock. Their windows and ceiling are covered in interesting creations they've made from the materials they sell, such as this lovely submarine.

Cool Cat on Main Street

2009-06-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

Loved this improvised mannequin that was on Main St. last weekend

Art Book Review: The Art of Vogue Covers 1909-1940

2009-06-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Title: The Art of Vogue Covers 1909-1940Author: William Packer, introduction by Lady Diana CooperPublisher: Peerage BooksPublished: 1987Pages: 255Price: $20.00 (used)The Art of Vogue Covers 1909-1940I bought this eight years ago in a unremarkable used book store in Hope, which goes to show that you never know what you'll find (I could have said don't judge a book by it's cover but that would

Even More Car Free Day

2009-06-17T13:44:00.001-07:00

Car Free was so great I had to include as many pictures as possible, epically the free bicycle parking that was available. There was also a booth where you could try out the bike racks that are on the front of buses, I thought this was ingenious because my silly fear of those things has kept me from using them.Hula-hoopers making us of their new found freedom on the empty road, good uses of the

More Car Free Day

2009-06-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

Blim, Vancouver's community based art resource center, had lots of artists and craftsters with tables in front selling their wares. Including Poodlebreath's beautiful workI espically love the stumps, I can imagine them in a whimsical terrarium. Her glazes are so gorgeous and I like the functional aspect of her pieces, like using the hand plaques for necklace holders. You can find her work on

Vancouver Car Free Day on Main St.

2009-06-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

view of the crowd on Main St.On Sunday I went to Main St. for Vancouver's car free day http://www.carfreevancouver.org/, it was an awesome event with great weather, live music, local artisans, community information booths, and a fabulous vibe of community spirit. The festival closed down streets in four communities this year including main street in an effort to encourage healthy communities,

Book Review: Gig Posters

2009-06-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

Title: Gig Posters Volume 1: Rock Show Art of the 21st CenturyAuthor: Clay HayesPublisher: Quirk BooksPages: 208 pagesPrice: $55.95Gig Posters : Rock Show Art of the 21st Century by Clay Hayes of gigposters.com Includes over 700 poster images and 101 ready to frame posters. Gigposters.com is worth a post in itself, it is (as the books introduction states) "the world's largest historical archive

Hang-Tags: who knew they could be so great

2009-06-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hang tags are often overlooked and usually nothing special, this one puts all others to shame. I'm not really sure what the story is on the faux newsletter inside, but I love the attention to detail and the beautiful tea stained bag.

Japanese Craft Books and More

2009-06-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought the foreign language section of the library (or bookstore) would have so many awesome books? One of the perks of shelving books at the library is getting to see so many different books (and get paid at the same time). I discovered Japanese craft books via other blogs several years ago, and was thrilled to discover they could be found in my very own library. Even though I

What are the 700s?

2009-06-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

Why is this blog called the 700s? Because it’s my go to dewey decimal number, the art section of any library. With books on sculpture, colour, design, painting, decorative arts, textile arts, animation, and even numismatics (study/collection of currency). Art books are full of information and inspiration, I surround myself with them and find even the most inane come in