Scoutie Girl

gift tags and mini-envelope/notecard sets. made from repurposed magazine covers and more, by a designer who is obsessed with re-using things and finding ways to recycle them into a new life.

$6.50-8.00 from a small bright idea

…polymer clay blossom magnets from the b-line.

visit pretty fun for contemporary wooden pendants, rings, bracelets and earrings. these pendants are double-sided so it's like getting 2 for the price of 1!

thank you for advertising with scoutie girl!

* sponsored feature – images borrowed from sponsor's website *

I love photographers.

I have a thing for them. Lauri Lyons is wicked cool. She is the first black female photographer to be signed by Getty Images, and the subject of a biopic that's a running favorite on CurrentTV.
Her most recent monograph, Flag International (2008), is one piece of a multimedia documentary project that incorporates photography, video, audio and handwritten text. As a series of portraits of people from 8 countries posing with the American flag, the project investigates how the international community views the United States in the 21st Century–a timely project given our historic recent election year..

See the rest of the Flag International multimedia piece. I love her original thought and the way she captures images. Please enjoy her!

Can you describe yr art and process?
My art is a visual exploration of how ideas and culture transform as people migrate throughout the world. I love to travel to travel around the world and photograph people in their environments. When I am shooting a commercial assignment I like to incorporate cultural symbols, icons, references and decor, which I saw while traveling, into the art direction of the photograph.

Tell us a bit about yrself?
My parents are Jamaican and moved to the U.S. in the late sixties. They later joined the military, so I grew up in a variety of cities and countries. I was always the 'in house' photographer of the family. I earned a degree in Media Arts in Minneapolis, and later relocated to New York to begin my professional career. For eight years, I worked as a Photo Editor for several national magazines and photo agencies. Since 1998 I have focused on being a professional photographer.

So- Can you just tell me a few things that inspire you? And how you work- yr process?
My inspiration comes from a wide variety of sources, including PBS, fashion, and old record covers. Whether shooting on location or in a studio, I pack very light in regards to equipment. I generally shoot medium format cameras and I like natural light or artificial lighting which is inconspicuous. All of my work is now conceptualized as multimedia projects, so I now shoot video and capture audio. I'm very curious, so I always like to discover a bit of information that I did not previously know about. I consider my camera a passport to venture into cultures, and landscapes which may otherwise be out of my reach. The great joy of photography is to see how people are more alike than different.

Do you shoot daily or how often?
I used to do a lot of spontaneous street photography, but now I am very project oriented and tend to shoot daily for a few months and then work on the post production for a couple months.

I want to know some things about what is it really like to be a working artist…the
good and the bad?
Being a working artist is a journey!  You build your skills, promote yourself to get work, shoot assignments, fundraise for personal projects, gain exposure and hopefully sell the work, and then you repeat the entire process over and over again! If you don't love what you're doing, you won't stick with it. It's far easier working a 9 to 5. The work involved in being a working artist is never ending, because you always want to do something new or get to the next level. To be a working artist you not only need an original voice and good skills, but also thick skin.

What are the three top things you wish you would have known before you
started this art/journey?
1. The journey is a winding road full of surprises you could not have anticipated.
2. Artists have to pay attention to their business responsibilities as well as their art.
3. Whenever you think you should give up, a big breakthrough happens!

What are yr five top blogs/shops/etc on web?
1. The Huffington Post
2. Free Will Astrology
3. Lightstalkers
4. Cultureserve

Who would you love to meet online?
Prince

Thanks to Lauri who writes over at The Huffington Post, too! Check her out here.
Check out her gorgeous gallery here!

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Please contact me at my blog or email me at amytsharp (at) gmail (dot) com to give me scoop on cool things that you find or make! I want to hear from you!

Art has played an important part in my life for some time now, and of course, I always enjoy looking at other artists' work whether its online or in a gallery. Over the last several months, I have been putting together art posts (mainly) here that feature artists living in states and even countries different than my own. And today, I felt it was time to showcase the talent in my own backyard. The works above are from artists that live in Jacksonville, FL, where I currently reside. These four artists are people that I admire, and I hope you enjoy their work as much as I do.