Marc Boutavant’s cover for Play Pen

Chaff n’ Skaffs illustrated children’s book

San Francisco-based illustrator Luke Feldman has just had his first children’s book published, Chaff n’ Skaffs: Mai and the Lost Moskivvy, a collaboration with writer Amanda Chin. The book artfully tells the story of Mai, ‘a young girl who never ventured too far from her home. When a lost mosquito interrupts Mai’s sleep, her friend Chaff suggests they escort Moskivvy back home to a faraway land. So begins a courageous girl’s voyage into a fantastic world’, all communicated beautifully through Feldman’s colorful, dynamic and considered illustrations. Read more

Baltimore’s Book Thing

Every weekend, the Book Thing opens its doors and people from all over Baltimore flood in to rummage through its vast and perpetually replenished selection of free books. The non-profit establishment accepts donations of unwanted books from the community and redistributes them to those that want them. Read more

Joseph Low

I just picked up some old editions of The Territorial Imperative and The Hunting Hypothesis mainly because I found the covers to these two books to be strikingly beautiful. From the inside of the jackets I found that they had been designed by the late Joseph Low, who was a prolific children’s book illustrator whose work was regularly featured in the New Yorker for four decades. His “primitive” style is really striking and suits the topic of the aforementioned books by science writer Robert Ardrey, who’s an interesting read despite the outdated science in his books. Read more

Sixth Pommery Exhibition Sons & Lumieres

How much better can it get than little dollops of contemporary art interspersed throughout the breathtaking setting of Champagne Pommery’s Domaine in Reims, France. The most interesting part here is that this is an ongoing tradition at Champagne Pommery, going all the way back to the 19th century ‘when Madame Pommery commissioned sculptor Gustav Navlet to carve four bas reliefs for the estate and later had the famous cabinet maker and glass artist Emile Gallé create a solid oak Pommery barrel that holds up to 19,816 gallons (100,000 bottles). This barrel was displayed at the 1904 Worlds’ Fair in St. Louis’. The upcoming Sixth Pommery Exhibition, Sons & Lumieres, will be curated by French artist Bertrand Lavier and will include ‘everyday objects often set in difficult spaces’. Read more

Ben O’Brien

Color heaven! Perusing UK illustrator Ben O’Brien’s portfolio feels a lot like wandering the aisles of a giant candy store. I could buy one of everything in sight. Read more

Art Decks

I love it! With the CD now being eclipsed by the MP3, I find myself feeling even more nostalgic for the simple charm of the cassette. Australian artists Andrew Smart and Jared Schmidt create ‘large scale hand-made wooden cassette tapes, routed, sanded, bogged, primed, and painted with a high quality paint finish’. Aha! The perfect way to memorialize my old mix tapes. Read more