Underwater Choreography Performed in the World’s Deepest Pool by Julie Gautier

AMA is a short film performed and directed by deep sea diver and underwater filmmaker Julie Gautier. The work follows Gautier through several uninterrupted minutes of underwater choreography, gracefully performed in the world’s deepest pool near Venice, Italy. She holds her breath as she uses controlled movements to twist and glide through the calm water, eventually rising up to the surface with the release of one giant air bubble.

The piece is titled after the Japanese word for “woman of the sea,” which is also the name for Japan’s traditional shell collectors. The film is a metaphoric nod to these united women, while also representing the relationship that connects women from all over the world.

“For me, this film is a way to say: you are not alone,” said Gautier, “open yourself to others, talk about your sufferings and your joys.”

Gautier and her husband, world champion deep sea diver Guillaume Néry, worked together on the 2015 Beyoncé and Arrow Benjamin music video Runnin, and collaborate on an underwater film company called Les Films Engloutis. You can see more short films by Gautier on her website and Instagram. (via Vimeo Staff Pick)

How Jewelry Artist Alexis Pavlantos Grew Her Business with Weebly

Oakland-based artist Alexis Pavlantos brings to life beetles, fireflies, and other tiny creatures in her masterfully crafted insect jewelry where unexpected wildlife becomes high-end adornment. Despite their lifelike appearance, the objects are each sculpted entirely by hand showing the artist’s remarkable ability to translate the fine details of nature into other materials.

Pavlantos often uses an ancient form of sculpting called lost wax-casting where the piece is first rendered in wax and then turned into a mould through several steps. Lastly, molten metal like bronze or silver is poured inside which assumes the shape of the original wax, resulting in a truly one-of-a-kind object.

The tiny scale of Pavlantos’ artwork was born from necessity rather than intent.  She was born and raised in the expansive southwestern United States, a place that deeply influenced her affinity for nature and the outdoors and where she obtained an MFA in sculpture from the University of New Mexico. But it wasn’t until she moved to Oakland that she had to start thinking small: studio space was simply too expensive and immediately limited the scale of her creative output.

She soon began to design increasingly smaller art objects and a menagerie of ornamental insects and functional objects in the form of both reptiles and mammals cast from various metals.

“I consider my process to be a transmogrification of my inexplicable depth of feeling into concrete material forms,” Pavlantos shares. “I create jewelry to collaborate with the human body. These embellishments interact as an extension of the body, thus nature is not something we set out to find, but is something we are a part of.”

As her business began to grow several years ago, Pavlantos made the decision to build her website with Weebly, a powerful platform for online stores. She was one of the first customers to sign up for their ecommerce platform several years ago and has used it ever since.

Pavlantos says she was attracted to a service that offered quick and easy setup while providing numerous elegant design templates and powerful tools to grow her jewelry business online. With an intuitive ecommerce website builder and an integrated shopping cart, Weebly does the heavy lifting, allowing Pavlantos to spend time on the important things like creating new work and interacting with customers.

Pavlantos’ advice for people on the fence about starting a business? “Just start somewhere,” she says. “Sometimes we’re the only ones holding ourselves back.” Whether it be the decision to bring your business online for the first time with a service like Weebly or simply reserving a new domain name, the first step is often the most important one.

Visit Weebly to learn more about their website building and ecommerce services and launch your new business today.

This post was written in partnership with Weebly.

Sisyphus: the Hypnotizing Kickstarter-Funded Kinetic Sand Drawing Machine is Now Available to The Public

Sisyphus, the wildly successful Kickstarter-funded kinetic table designed by Bruce Shapiro (previously>, is now available to the public via pre-order. The 2016 project raised $1,924,018 and is, to date, the most-funded campaign in the history of Kickstarter’s art category. The coffee table design includes a bed of sand with a magnetic steel marble that continuously traces programmed patterns through the malleable material. Many of the original designs are meditative mandala-like configurations, but it’s also possible to program the marble to create continuous line drawings or custom messages.

Sisyphus started taking pre-orders this weekend via their website. The table is available in two styles (coffee table or end table) and a variety of metallic and wood finishes. You can also follow the brand’s progress on Facebook and Instagram.

The Surprising Result of Crushing Non-Newtonian Fluids and Crayons in a Hydraulic Press

Warning: strong language. Over on the Hydraulic Press Channel, Finnish factory owners Lauri and Anni devised an awesome experiment to force a variety of soft objects like cheese, soap, and crayons through a plate drilled with holes with the help of their famous hydraulic press. The result is as funny as it is incredible, especially the squished crayons that seem to sprout straight up like sticks. The press is set to exert 150 bars of pressure (2,175 pounds per square inch) sending the various materials squirting in every direction in genuinely surprising ways. I’ve probably watched a few dozen of their videos over the years, and this an instant favorite.

Slinky Spirals of Clay Form Topsy-Turvy Vases by Michael Boroniec

Michael Boroniec subverts the age-old conception of pots and vases as useful vessels of containment with his sculptural ceramics. The artist began his spiral motif in 2008 with a focus on teapots, and the style has since become the predominant theme of his body of work. Boroniec forms each vessel on his potter’s wheel, and then carefully slices through the still-soft clay to deconstruct the traditional shape. He describes his intention behind these deconstructions in a recent Instagram post:

This process reveals aspects of the vase that most rarely encounter. Within the walls, maker’s marks become evident and contribute to the texture. The resultant ribbon effect, reminiscent of a wheel trimming, lends fragility, elegance, and motion to a medium generally perceived as hard and heavy. This emphasizes a resistance of gravity, allowing negative space to unravel and become part of the form.

Boroniec studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and now lives and works in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He is represented by Lyons Wier Gallery, where his work is on view in a group exhibition through April 28, 2018. You can see more of his work on tumblr and Instagram. Mark Cantin and Cat Burt also directed and produced a short film about Boroniec, which you can view below.

 

Dazzling Three-Dimensional Paper Sculptures of Birds, Bees, and Crustaceans by Lisa Lloyd

UK-based paper artist Lisa Lloyd builds dazzling birds, floral arrangements, and feasts from multi-colored layers of precisely cut paper. Her three-dimensional works are most often inspired by naturally occurring colors and patterns, which is apparent in the geometric shapes and layered textures found in her works’ feathers, scales, and wings. Recently two of her creations were featured at Milan Design Week as a part of a Wunderkammer curated by CASAfacile magazine. You can see more of Lloyd’s paper sculptures and design work for brands such as Asahi, Elle Decor Italia, Grolsch, Disney, and the BBC on her website and Instagram. (via Lustik)

Soaring Wire Mesh Buildings Cast Ethereal Shadows Over Coachella Music Festival

All images © Roberto Conte

Italian artist Edoardo Tresoldi (previously), known for his massive architectural sculptures made of wire, built three transparent structures for this year’s Coachella music festival in California. Titled ‘Etherea’, the sculptural series was comprised of three identical buildings in different sizes, inspired by Neoclassical and Baroque aesthetics. The buildings were illuminated at night with a hazy lavender glow that emphasized the illusion of Etherea’s solidity. You can hear Tresoldi share more about his work in a TED talk, and see previous installations on his website, Instagram, and Facebook. (via Ignant)