Design Indaba 2010 – Michael Bierut

27 Feb 2010 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in Design Indaba, Inspiration

I have a new hero: Michael Bierut.  He set the tone for the Design Indaba 2010 with an insightful, witty and inspiring account of  how he “almost blew it” on a high-profile project .

It must be tough to speak at the Indaba – you are asked to show off your work to an audience of highly competitive and critical people.  It it easy to come over as egocentric or arrogant.

Instead, Michael did what a good teacher does – he reminded us that learning only happens when we reflect on our own mistakes.

He told us the story of his involvement in a project run by the Robin Hood Foundation –  the L!brary Initiative. More

Faith47 at Design Indaba 2010

23 Feb 2010 2 Comments

by mashadutoit in Design Indaba

Design Indaba 2010 starts…tomorrow!  I’ll be blogging it again this year. In the mean time, I’m collecting resources on interesting speakers.  For example:

I’ve always loved the “TV Lady” who watches over De Waal Drive.  Now I know who created her: Faith47.

You can read more about Faith47 here:

>> her portfolio site – lots and lots of amazing images of her work.

>> an interview with Faith 47 on Forma.

>> an interview with Faith47 on Senses Lost.

>> Here is her MySpace profile.

>> Here is her Vimeo channel, with some videos 🙂

And you can follow find all the other links I’ve found about Design Indaba 2010 speakers here.

This post was first published on www.designindaba.com

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

21 Feb 2010 2 Comments

by mashadutoit in books

This is one of the saddest books I’ve read.  And yet, despite its subject matter, it is very gentle.  Only at the very end did the story flow away and leave me stranded with the pain of the narrator embedded in my own heart.

It is very difficult to write about “Never Let Me Go” without some spoilers.  I’m about to give away a plot point now because unlike many others whose reviews I’ve read, I don’t believe that this point is in fact, the core of the book, or the source of its sting.

But in case you are like me, and thoroughly allergic to any spoilers at all – I will now say goodbye :).  If you dont mind, read the rest of the review…

…good.  You are still around.  🙂 More

Carnival

07 Feb 2010 1 Comment

by mashadutoit in Myself

Last night Brendon and I went to the “Mardi Gras” carnival here in Wynberg.  My little cell phone camera couldn’t really capture the beautiful lights, but some of the pictures came out quite nicely.

The rides are so theatrical.  They hiss and thump and churn, and belch clouds of dry ice and loud music.  More

Masha’s Activity

04 Feb 2010 1 Comment

by mashadutoit in Inspiration

I just noticed this item on my Linked In profile page.  I just love how it looks:

Gull Feet

31 Jan 2010 3 Comments

by mashadutoit in Inspiration

Gulls walking on the tarpaulin over Kalki’s Fish and Chips at Kalk Baai:

More

Shower Songs

29 Jan 2010 4 Comments

by mashadutoit in Myself

As some of you may know, Brendon and I have a musical act called “Shower Songs”.  We do the kind of songs that we really love –  the ones that are great to sing in the shower.

They are all “cover versions” – but of everything from blues and pop to medieval songs and folk songs.  For some reason, a disproportionate number of them are about death.  Which is a problem when we get asked to play at a wedding :p.

I’ve uploaded a recording of one of our numbers.  Its a version of Bruce Springsteen’s State Trooper, which we did live on air for Bush Radio’s “Unhappy Hour” a couple of months ago.

Here it is – a bit rough around the edges, and the DJ added in some reverb here and there.  Sort of like aural equivalent of dry ice:

Testing, testing…

If you live somewhere close by (in Cape Town, that is) we love to give house concerts, usually with some other acts lined up as well.   And a special thanks to our friend Cathy Bremer who took these photos 🙂

Mr Tonktonkie and his friends – Józef Wilkon and Ursula Valentin

29 Jan 2010 5 Comments

by mashadutoit in Illustration

This post about Józef Wilkon at the wonderful animalarium blog reminded me of another one of my favourite children’s books.   I got it out of my shelf, and here it is “Oom Tonktonkie en sy maats” – roughly translated as “Mr Tonktonkie and his friends.”  Written by Ursula Valentin and illustrated by Józef Wilkon.

It’s a sweet story about a lonely old man – Oom Tonktonkie – and his love for the wild birds in his neighbourhood.   The illustrations are delicate ink washes in muted colours: More

Miss Fanshaw – by Sue Scullard

26 Jan 2010 11 Comments

by mashadutoit in books, Illustration Tags:

Miss Fanshaw and the Great Dragon Adventure – written and illustrated by Sue Scullard –  is the opposite of a pop-up book – it’s a “pop through” book.

It satisfies on several levels.   An unusual heroine, sumptuously detailed drawings and clever “reveals” created by holes cut in the pages. These holes are part of the plot, as you shall see in the examples below.

More

The Iliad and the Odyssey – Alice and Martin Provensen

24 Jan 2010 12 Comments

by mashadutoit in Inspiration

I get frustrated by the limitations of my scanner.  Illustrations often spread across both pages of a book, and its difficult to show that with a scan. So now I’m trying out a new approach – taking photographs from a tripod.  Dont have the lighting quite right yet so bear with me.

To test run my new approach, I took some pictures of a children’s version of the Iliad and the Odyssey by Jane Werner Watson, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen.

This is another book I grew up with, and I spent hours pouring over these illustrations and memorising the names.  Here is the cover: More

Solomon’s Secret – Helen Cooper

21 Jan 2010 3 Comments

by mashadutoit in Illustration

Some books have such a strong sense of place.  Solomon’s Secret, written by Saviour Pirotta and illustrated by Helen Cooper, is one.

It is set in a rather downtrodden neighbourhood.  Everything is a little bit worn and dingy.  But there is  magic behind the everyday exterior.  We meet Solomon, and learn about his extraordinary secret:

Solomon is a little scared of his neighbours, the mysterious Mr and Mrs Zee.  There are all kinds of scary stories about them, and the neighbourhood kids like to throw stones at their door: More

Kalk Bay

18 Jan 2010 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in Myself

Yesterday was another blazing summers day.  We spent it at Kalk Bay harbour, looking at the waves washing over the concrete dollose.

They made  restful, sploshing gulping glupping sounds. More

Avatar’s End

17 Jan 2010 5 Comments

by mashadutoit in fantasy, Opinions & reviews

(many spoilers in this post, if you haven’t seen Avatar yet)

Sometimes  a story just goes wrong.  The author sets it all up just right – and then somehow the whole thing falls apart.  That’s how I feel about James Cameron’s Avatar.  Its a stunning movie.  The richly detailed landscapes and lovely Aliens draw one deeply inside the world of Pandora.  And apart from the glorious visuals, there is a tragic heart to the story that makes you want to watch it to the end, even though you know that it cannot end well.

I’m struggling to articulate why one would feel drawn to tragedy.  Is it simply the affirmation of facing your fear? Maybe that is why I felt so let down by the way that Avatar plays out.  Instead of facing up to the inevitable tragedy of its story line, we get a day dream fairy tale ending.

I felt the same about WALL-E .  That was a truly dark story.  More

A wart snake in a fig tree!

18 Dec 2009 9 Comments

by mashadutoit in Illustration

Tired of “Partridge in a Pear Tree” already?  George Mendoza and Etiene Delessert have an alternative – A “Wart Snake in a Fig Tree”.

This little book takes the words of that dreary Christmas song and makes you want to sing it all over again.  Its illustrated by Etiene Delessert.  I first got to know Delessert’s illustrations when I was a child reading Ionesko’s  remarkable “Story Number One” – sadly that book is lost.  Or maybe one of my siblings has it?

Here is the fist one –  “On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…A Wart Snake in a Fig Tree!”: More

The Body (Un)comfortable: Teaching with blogs

15 Dec 2009 2 Comments

by mashadutoit in Inspiration, Opinions & reviews

Recently Franci Cronje – a colleague of mine –  ran a blog project with her 2nd year students.  Some remarkable blog posts were created.

Teaching with blogs is not as straightforward as it may seem, and Franci shared her experience with me: More

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