amy, Author at Pikaland - Page 80 of 698

Hello 2013!

I’ve never been a party animal, preferring to welcome the new year at home most of the time, so this year was no different. This year though, instead of thinking about the future, I spent most of my time remembering and recalling the conversations I had with my grandma who passed away last month, just a day after Christmas after being ill for three weeks. She was 87, fit as a fiddle for most of her life (except for the last three weeks where she was in and out of the hospital) and one of the strongest women I ever had the privilege of getting to know. I treasure the last 4 years that she spent with my family and words can’t describe how much I miss her.

And while I reflect on the void that she has left behind, I can’t help but be thankful for what I already have; and for the achievements and experiments that I’ve been able to experience in the last year – here are some of the ones which I am most proudest of:

Giving my first local talk at The One Academy, and then getting hired as a part-time lecturer. I’m not sure which I enjoy more – hanging out with my crazy fun colleagues or spending time with my students! I talk about the creative process behind illustrations where I also slip in entrepreneurial advice. This gave rise to my Dear Students post series;
Collaborated on, and shipped Pikaland’s first stationery product in the form of the Pikaland perpetual wall calendar, with 12 awesome artists;
Changed the platform of the blog from TXP to WordPress (which caused a bit of nail-biting!) and did a bit of an overhaul on the design (finally!) all thanks to the team at Design Garden.

My grandma knew about all this and cheered me on in spirit. I’d like to think that she might still be keeping tabs on me, so I better have more achievements to show this year! We’re all doing much better too – thank you so much for all your well wishes and kind words, especially those who knew what happened via my Instagram feed.

I’d like to personally give my thanks to you, dear readers for coming on a roller coaster ride with me as I journey along the Pikaland path! Also a big thanks goes out to the blog’s contributors – Tartaruga Feliz and Melanie Maddison for their amazing contribution to the blog; as well as the teachers on Camp Pikaland – Jamie Shelman, Michelle Fifis, Kim Welling, and Alexandra Hedberg for unwavering passion in their work. And last but not least, a very special thanks goes to my developer, Victor, who is helping me with some awesome stuff that’s coming soon in the pipeline!

I look forward to more collaborations in 2013, more time spent on writing, and to reveal new projects that are already in the works – it’s going to be an exciting year ahead and I do hope that you come along to join in the fun!

Happy 2013 folks!

Happy holidays!

I wanted to write a long thank you note to you – my readers – as the year comes to a close here at Pikaland HQ but I’ll save that for next year, when we meet again. It’s been a little hectic over here and all I can say is that I’m spending time with my family as much as I can.

And I hope you are too.

Here’s to a warm, wonderful Christmas; happy holidays to all – and I’ll see you in 2013!

{Illustration by Thereza Rowe}

Creative mash-ups: Art x humans

[quote]Remix: To combine or edit existing materials to produce something new.[/quote]

I’m a big believer in Kirby Ferguson’s Everything is a Remix in which we do not live in a creative vacuum – and that we’re unconsciously deriving inspiration from all around us on a daily basis.

And I’m simply inspired whenever I see creative remixes (in this case, it was the remix of functionality) – like Olaf Breuning’s series, the Art Freaks. What makes his collection different is that he used the human body as canvas instead – exhibiting them as life-sized works of art. Now if the paintings were done on normal canvases, my bet is that it wouldn’t have elicited a second look. But put them onto something new and our perceptions shift.

I’m familiar with the works of body painters. With body painting, there is always an element of familiarity, much like adding details like shirts and shorts to produce optical illusions – illusions that are usually grounded in reality or familiar forms (like details on animals, etc). But Olaf’s work takes it up a notch with abstracts and the treatment of body as canvas in its entirety.

Click here to see more of his artwork (some of it is NSFW!)