I don’t deny that children need to be up to speed with technology, but computers can not do everything.

Let me tell you a little something about a new toy called makedo™. A toy hasn’t inspired such excitement in me, since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. This toy gives me hope.

The toy industry today caters to kids. Mummy and Daddy:- you have no say. It feeds off the fact that modern parents are busy and anything that will distract their kids for a few hours will be bought. Modern toys are just stepping stones to computers, and computer games, and mobile phones. Stepping stones to obese, ADD children with bad eyes, abismal motor skills and computer generated friends. Scary…

makedo™ is an Australian creation that gives kids nothing but tools – real, tangible tools. Everything else is up to the child. The sets come with reusable connecters, hinges, and child-safe saws and hole punches. The materials are whatever the child can find around the house: cardboard boxes, paper cups, egg cartons, milk cartons, plastic bottles etc. Using the the tools, and their imagination, kids can build whatever their hearts desire. Houses, skyscrapers, cars, planes, rocket ships, dinosaurs, alien creatures! Parents don’t have to worry about messy glue or tape, or kids hurting themselves with staples.

It’s so simple yet ingenious! I’m in love with it. I have a set of my own and the moment I’ve got some time, I am building a house! It’s going to be spectacular!

The tools

Robot costume

makedo™ is now available only at The Secret Garden cafe and bookstore on Sukhumvit Soi 27! And unlike most toys today, it won’t break your bank. Price range: 190 / 360 / 680 / 1,360 Baht, depending on the number of pieces in the set.

Kitchen

Wall of apple cartons

This competition is open to all schools within Thailand, and is a great opportunity for young artists to show off their skills.

The theme is “TOGETHER”. Students are to submit one 2-dimensional piece of “hanging art”, by 4th April 2012.

Semi-finalists will notified by 20th April. The pieces chosen will be sold at an auction to be held one evening at KIS. The proceeds will go to a charity of KIS’ choosing.

For more information: www.kis.ac.th/art-competition/

Email: artcompetition@kis.ac.th

Spoken by Sean, the character played by Robin Williams, to Will:

“So if I asked you about art you could give me the skinny on every art book ever written…Michelangelo?

You know a lot about him I bet. Life’s work, criticisms, political aspirations.But you couldn’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve never stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling. And if I asked you about women I’m sure you could give me a syllabus of your personal favourites, and maybe you’ve even been laid a few times, too. But you couldn’t tell me how it feels to wake up next to a woman and be truly happy. If I asked you about war you could refer me to a bevy of fictional and nonfictional material, but you’ve never been in one. You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap and watched him draw his last breath, looking to you for help. And if I asked you about love I’d get a sonnet, but you’ve never looked at a woman and been truly vulnerable. Known that someone could kill you with a look. That someone could rescue you from your grief…”

“…And you wouldn’t know about real loss, because that only occurs when you lose something you love more than yourself, and you’ve never dared to love anything that much. I look at you and I don’t see an intelligent, confident man; I don’t see a peer, and I don’t see my equal. I see a boy. Nobody could possibly understand you, right, Will? Yet you presume to know so much about me because of a painting you saw. You must know everything about me…”

How do ya like them apples?!

Rethinking The Canvas

Last week I went to the opening of a wonderfully unusual exhibition at The Neilson Hays garden gallery. The work of two relatively new additions to Bangkok’s expat art scene, Leilani Franklin-Apted and Jaclyn Bain, Rethinking The Canvas “is an experiment in removing the traditional tools of a painter and to begin not with a blank canvas but a stripped frame”.

The duo created tapestries of hardware, with wire, bolts, washers, mesh, nails and more. To see the delicate symphony of normally hard/cold elements was quite fascinating.

“Thinking out of the canvas and repurposing materials resulted in atypical art pieces that further inspired a series of abstract paintings. This second series captured the quirky essence of it’s predecessors in colour, and infuses the collection with the artists’ love for vibrant palettes and brushstrokes.”

One of my favourite pieces

“The duality of the exhibition mimics the two artists’ energies coming together and how the challenge of shifting between mediums was kept light by the playful nature of the partnership”.

Orbit

Although I enjoyed the show, I was left wanting more hardware and less paint. I felt the pieces were too few and too constrained. The frames acted as a barrier, almost, limiting the work within it’s confines. With such sculptural materials, I wonder if the duo could have taken it further and broken free of the frames. Maybe that would have been getting ahead of themselves. Breaking through the frame could be the next step.

If you have time, do go down and take a gander. The work is interesting, engaging, and quite beautiful. And both Jaclyn and Leilani relished in the making of it. It was a passionate and fun-filled collaboration, which is obvious in the pieces they produced.

The exhibition runs until the 25th March 2012. To see other work by the artists or contact them, visit www.bangkokpalette.com

Art Supplies:

The Old Siam in China Town: there are a few shops in this famous complex selling most things your artist’s heart may desire: Oil paints and mediums, Acrylic paints and mediums, paper, pastels, pens, canvas and much much more.

As far as how to get there, I can only tell you how I prefer to get there….which is to take the MRT to Hua Lumphong station, take Exit 1, then jump on a motorbike taxi. Tell them “Old Siam” (in English) and they’re off. Its all the way at the far end of China Town so walking it could be a bit far, unless you check out all the shopping on the way.

Somjai is one of the original art supply stores in the Old Siam and now has a small branch located in the new Central Rama 9 complex opposite Fortune Town on the Rama 9/Ratchadaphisek intersection. They don’t have as much but they have the necessities including a great variety of graphic and art markers, screen printing supplies, paint, and locally made craft supplies.

Take the MRT to Rama 9 and follow the signs to the Central exit. It pops up right on Central’s doorstep.

Craft Supplies:

Mind Memory is the newest addition the craft supply trend. They are also located in the new Central Plaza Rama 9 (next door to Somjai). Mostly imported supplies by the likes of Martha Stewart, 7 Gypsies, MakingMemories, Tim Holtz etc. A lot of the stuff here, I have never seen in Bangkok before. Not even at Goose.

Goose can be found in a number of places. Biggest stores however, are in Siam Discovery and on Thonglor Soi 13.

Have fun!

In fact, I must do it more often.

I will definitely be staying on the pen and ink track but add another dimension…delicately sculpted paper. I will have to find the time and energy as soon as I can, this idea needs to be explored and dissected, and practiced and perfected. Its not something I’ve done much of so there will be unwelcome drama.

Maybe I need a deadline. Eek! Scratch that. Way too much pressure.

The Secret Garden bookstore, and gallery cafe is open for business!

A mere ten minute walk from the Prom Phong BTS station and you’ll find yourself in a unique and unexpected sanctuary, situated in a private two-storey house with a lush green garden.
The Secret Garden, named for the book as well as the little secret garden on site, is a bookstore, gallery and coffee shop designed to be completely uncommercial and more like a home. We wanted to create a place that embodied a certain magic and warmth. A place that people could lose track of time in. A place that shunned all that big city cynicism and embraced a little romance.

On our Coffee List are a selection of  delicious, espresso based coffees by illy. The bookstore carries a large selection of secondhand fiction and non-fiction books at great prices, and we produce a beautiful range of handmade products from natural and recycled materials; including greeting cards, home decor and gifts.

We hope that our vision translates to all our visitors and that every moment you spend in The SG is a good one.

We are open everyday but Monday, 9am – 4pm. We ask you to please refrain from driving your cars as there is limited to no parking. We will, however, be able to accomodate motorbikes, scooters, and bicycles quite happily.

For a map of our location and other daily updates, please visit and “Like” our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/SecretGardenBkk

The weather held up and it didn’t rain. The food and wine flowed and people mingled and minced about till it was time to pack up and go. And to top it all off, I sold three pieces during the night!

I have to thank all those who attended and supported. Thank you to all my gorgeous friends who never fail to cheer me on. And thank you to my buyers who I adore to little pieces for their ultimate support. And most importantly thank you to my fiance for without him none of this would have been possible! Love you! xo