I like these Sect Eye boards from Toy Machine. Or maybe I’ve just been brainwashed.

Anne Smith is an artist who began her career as a potter and more has been working as an artist and illustrator. Her early pottery work has come full circle in her 100 Cups illustrations. We are excited to launch four of those cups at The Working Proof today – Four Cups, by Anne Smith.

At one point I realized that I was much happier painting images of cups than actually making them out of clay. This is my way of staying connected and paying homage to a significant aspect of my art making life and self.

15% of the sale of this print goes to the Médecins Sans Frontières. Read our interview with Anne here, and buy the print here.

How beautiful is this intervention into an old bunker? The bunker is part of a system of 700 bunkers that made up the New Dutch Waterline – a Dutch military defense system that was in use from 1815-1940. The NDW protected the cities of Muiden, Utrecht, Vreeswijk and Gorinchem through intentional flooding, transforming the economic heartland of the Dutch Republic into an island, if needed.

Rietveld Landscape, in collaboration with Atelier de Lyon, transformed bunker 599 into a public space by slicing into the concrete and providing passage through the bunker to the water and the footpaths of the nearby natural reserve.

Via designboom.

I think that the title of Lucas Foglia’s Re-Wilding project is so perfect. Lucas spent time photographing a group of people who left (most of) the comforts of typical American life to go back to the basics of human survival. It’s a little disappointing, though, that the subjects aren’t super purist about their lifestyle (reminds me of the NY Times article on a family that moved to Alaska to live in a yurt – no toilet, but they did have broadband internet!) – many apparently have laptops, internet and cell phones. I guess that no matter how disconnected one wants to be from modern life, there is still a deep desire to be connected to the larger world and community in some way. In Lucas Foglia’s own words:

Since 2006 I have traveled throughout the southeastern United States, befriending, photographing, and interviewing a network of people who left cities and suburbs to live off the grid. Motivated by environmental concerns, religious beliefs, or predictions of economic collapse, my subjects build their homes from local materials, obtain their water from nearby springs, and hunt, gather, or grow their own food.

All the people in my photographs are working to maintain a self-sufficient lifestyle, but no one I found lives in complete isolation from the mainstream. Many of my subjects have websites that they update using laptop computers, and cell phones that they charge on car batteries or solar panels. They do not wholly reject the modern world. Instead, they step away from it and choose the parts that they want to bring with them.

Via Jia Za Zhi.

I watched the video about the Tate’s installation of Ai Weiwei’s 100 million sunflower seeds and wished I were in London to check it out – walk barefoot, sneak a few into my pocket, etc. The day after I watched that video, the public interation with the installation was shut down. There is now a velvet rope between the art and the viewers, due to health concerns about the ceramic dust.

via designboom

We got an email from our alma mater about the progress of Milstein Hall, the new OMA-designed building for The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. These photos of the rebar and pour for the dome are so incredible. In the end, it will be a smooth surface, but now you know the intense framework and heavy construction what goes into building something like that seems so pliable and light. It’s cool to see the building going up and we can’t wait to drive up and check it out.

Please excuse the lack of posts yesterday – I am in personal-tax-extension-deadline-hell. Will I ever learn not to wait until the last possible minute to do my taxes? Probably not.

At any rate, on Monday I checked out the RE:FORM SCHOOL exhibition for Notcot, and was really blown away by all of the amazing artwork. The exhibition took over a school for the long weekend, and artwork by over 150 artists was displayed on three floors of the building – in classrooms, hallways, and even with graphic installations in the bathrooms! The whole purpose of the exhibition was to bring together the creative community in a call for the reform of the American Public Education System.

Check out more of the artwork and exhibition in an extended post over at Notcot.

Guess what? Today marks The Working Proof’s one-year anniversary (time sure flies!)! To date we’ve raised $5000 for charity and released 51 editions by 51 different artists. To celebrate our birthday, we are offering free shipping in the US and Canada, and a $5 flat shipping rate for all international orders, through the end of the week. Thank you for supporting The Working Proof, our artists, and our charities!

On to this week’s print release: I’m super excited to launch Wildlife of Vietnam by Brendan Wenzel. I am a huge fan of his work (check out his website for his amazing wildlife portraits), and really appreciate his commitment to endangered animal species. He is a frequent collaborator with conservation groups throughout South East Asia and is currently involved in Fauna, Flora International’s efforts to save the critically endangered Siamese Crocodile from the brink of extinction. He is also attempting to create a visual collection of the planet’s species circa 2010.

Brendan’s print, Wildlife of Vietnam came from a series of images that he illustrated featuring Vietnam’s threatened wildlife. The illustration originally ran on the cover of AsiaLife, in an issue focused on threats facing Vietnam’s species – in particular the illegal wildlife trade, which has unfortunately been growing to meet the demand for bush meat and animal products for use in traditional Chinese medicine.

15% of each print sold will be donated to The Jane Goodall Institute, which Brendan admires for their work and for empowering people to make a difference for all living things. Buy the print here, and read our interview with Brendan here.

More loveliness by Appree – the Waterdrop Magnet, inspired by droplets of water. These guys make some amazing stuff – be sure to check out their website if you haven’t already!

Swatch has a new set of simple, clean, and colorful gents. I like that they are pursuing two different directions – fun wacky old school Swatch, and now the refined and subdued new school Swatch.