Object of Lust: San Francisco Terrain Sculpture

Is there a place in the world that's captured your imagination, that inspires you daily, and that holds a place in your heart equal to no other?

For Conor Fennessy, that place is San Francisco. His San Francisco Terrain sculpture depicts the unique topography of his beloved City by the Bay, simply and beautifully, in pure white gypsum.

It's $175 framed and ready to hang, or $275 with its own stand direct from Fennessy or at San Francisco's Jak Home boutique.

Etsy Find of the Day: Abigail Brown Birds

I just want to go on record that I'm completely over the whole bird thing. But I'll make a huge exception for these exquisite fabric avians from London-based textile artist Abigail Brown, which transcend the twee, tired trend and qualify as true works of art. They're not exactly inexpensive, but they are absolutely covetable. Above: Fabric Bird in Nest, $154

Blue Birds Canvas, $137

Large Fabric Bird White, $150

Pink Bird in Blossom Canvas, $204

Fabric Bird Blue Gray Cream, $125

Matchbox Tweeter, $31

See all of Brown's Etsy offerings right here (I'm a fan of her crafty foxes, too) -- and check out more of her handmade creations here.

Etsy Find of the Day: Junquegrrl Abandoned Houses

I can't stop thinking about these wee, dilapidated houses from Etsy seller junquegrrl (aka Providence, Rhode Island "maker of stuff" Mandy Jordan). Each 3-inch miniature -- eerily beautiful in its ruin -- is crafted from cardboard, paper, paint, and mica with obsessive detail to evoke the forgotten domiciles that Jordan says she's captivated by.

"Have you ever found a forgotten house in the woods, leaning on its foundations, being practically swallowed up by the overgrowth?" she asks. "Underneath the spreading boughs of oak and maple, the house is in shadow. Ivy curls along the façade and moss grows in spreading carpets across the crumbling shingles, lichen and peeling paint combine to create new textures on the walls. With each layer of color and texture I lovingly apply, these little houses remind me more and more of those places: sad, sometimes spooky, always beguiling."

Seaweed and Celadon Abandoned House, $15

Abandoned House G, $15

Overgrown Abandoned House, $15

Ruined Abandoned House, $15

See all of junquegrrl's Etsy offerings right here.

Mark Your Calendar: Diem Chau and Danielle Giudici Wallis at Mark Wolfe Contemporary

Opening tonight, November 6, at Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art in San Francisco: Simultaneous solo exhibitions from Seattle's Diem Chau and local sculptor Danielle Giudici Wallis.

Chau (previously blogged here), creates incredibly intricate and beautiful embroidered china and impossibly tiny and delicate carvings from crayons and pencils. Her work "drifts into new territory by exploring the periphery of the narrative, moments forgotten and faded, or too brief to retain." I simply think it's breathtaking.

Giudici Wallis's "surrealistic sculptural works explore 'place' and domesticity through the use of architectural references," toying with "the distance between private and public, interior and exterior, and physical versus psychological space."

The shows will be up at Mark Wolfe through December 24. Click here for more information.

The Artful Home: Ruth Asawa

I had to bop over to San Francisco's de Young Museum for a work thing this week (I know -- poor me). On my hurried way to check out the thing I needed to see, I was struck speechless by these ethereal wire sculptures by Ruth Asawa.

Seriously: One minute I was jogging to the elevator, and the next I was rooted to the spot where I stood, my mouth hanging agape at the gorgeousness before me.

The delicate biomorphic and organic sculptures themselves are breathtaking -- but it's the play of light and shadow that they cast upon the walls that's absolutely magical.

Although it turns out that I'd seen various pieces of Asawa's public art around the City over the years, I didn't know anything about her. And when I read up a bit on her life and work, I was even more blown away.

As a young woman during World War II, the California native was sent with her family to a Japanese internment camp, where she began to explore art. At art school, she studied under Buckminster Fuller and learned traditional basket-making techniques while traveling in Mexico.

Photo by Laurence Cuneo

In the 1950s, Asawa actually crocheted these pieces from iron, copper, brass, and bronze, often working late into the night while her six -- yes, you read that right: six -- young children slept. (So much for that "parenthood leaves me no time for creativity" rationalization, eh?)

Her work has been exhibited at various California museums as well as at New York's Whitney and the Museum of Modern Art. Asawa also dedicated much of her life to advancing and safeguarding art in San Francisco's public schools.

For more on Ruth Asawa and her amazing creations, keep an eye out for the book Contours in the Air. And if you're in the Bay Area, don't miss the opportunity to see her beautiful wire sculptures in person at the de Young -- they're in the Hamon Tower entrance on the ground floor, which you can visit for free.

Objects of Lust: David Wiseman Designs

Yesterday, Grace Bonney of the amazing design*sponge featured this Collage Chandelier by David Wiseman as part of her great chandelier guide.

Being the lighting junkie and branch fetishist that I am, my jaw pretty much landed on the floor when I saw it. So of course I clicked through to Wiseman's site to ogle more of his creations. And then I had to mop up the drool from my keyboard.

All I can say is, holy moly -- this guy makes some gorgeous stuff, in every medium from bronze to crystal to plastic.

Take a look:

Bronze Branches and Porcelain Blossoms, available by custom order through Arp in Los Angeles

Bronze Vase

Ceiling Installation at the Cooper-Hewitt

Ceramic and Bronze Pomegranate, $920 from the Shop at Cooper-Hewitt

Rock Vase with Moss

Private Residence Ceiling Installation

Wall Forest

Deer Hat Hangers, $160 each from Figments

The Los Angeles-based designer is obscenely young (maybe 26?), a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, has been featured in a spate of prestigious publications -- from The New York Times to Elle Decor -- and was chosen for inclusion in the most recent Design Triennial at the Cooper-Hewitt.

Many of Wiseman's designs are custom, which I'm pretty sure puts them in the price category of "Don't. Even. Ask." (But if you dare, email the designer directly for info.) We can still look, though, right?

Breathtaking stuff. My hat is off to you, young Mr. Wiseman.

The Artful Home: Lisa Jones' Symbiosis Chair Series

Creepy cool.

Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings, British (by way of Australia) sculptor Lisa Jones takes Arne Jacobsen's iconic Series 7 chair and transforms it into something almost living and breathing.

Constructed from plywood, silicone, felt, and steel, Jones' "Symbiosis" chairs appear beautifully ethereal on first glance, like gossamer wings or delicate webs. Take a closer look, though, and it quickly becomes apparent that something decidedly more organic is going on.

Each of the chairs represents a human organ system -- be it glandular, bronchial, nervous, circulatory, or excretory. The chairs function almost like one of those layered anatomical charts, offering a peek inside the sitter as you peel away layer after layer to see what lurks beneath the skin.

Cortical Chair

Venus Chair

Butterfly Chair

Check out more of Jones' work on her website.

(Via pan-dan.)