I love contemplating and exploring the endless ways humans seem to get obsessed by a creative activity.   Sometimes it’s a humorous one-off thing (like building a snowman) and sometimes it’s years or a lifetime of developing and innovating one very specific art form.  Then of course, thanks to the internet, they can take a picture and upload it for our pleasure.  Here are examples of each that I’ve enjoyed and want to share.

Let’s start with Canadian humor.

Others having fun with snow

Now for some revenge parking:  ideas I know you’ve had but never got around to carrying out.

FUN SIGNS, SOME ON PURPOSE, SOME NOT

Surreal World

Urban planners in Lidzbark Warminski, Poland just unveiled a new glow-in-the-dark bike lane.The path is made from small crystal-like particles of phosphor called ‘luminophores’ that charge during sunlight hours and can glow for up to 10 hours.

Spanish artist Javier Riera creates these temporary works by projecting geometric patterns onto the natural landscape. Using only the medium of projection, Riera does not make any permanent mark on the environment to create his stunning images.

In early 2015, paper artist Cristian Marianciuc challenged himself to make an origami crane every day for a year. Using a paper bird as a blank canvas, Marianciuc adds various colors and embellishments as a way to express himself and his day.  365 paper birds later, he loved the ancient art of paper folding so much that he decided to keep going.  Now, he’s amassed a flock of over 1,000 origami creations

 

Photographer Joseph Ford collaborates with friend and knitter Nina Dodd to create a project that blends models into their environments rather than having them stand out.

Australia-based artist Shona Wilson forms mandala-like pieces from objects such as seedpods, twigs, and bones as gestures of gratitude to her source of inspiration—nature.

Artist Chris Fox was tasked with repurposing two pairs of timber escalators that carried people at Sydney’s Wynyard Station for over 80 years.  His solution is Interloop, a twisting, accordion-like ribbon that is now suspended from the station ceiling, stitching together 244 wooden escalator treads.

Chinese artist Zheng Chunhui spent four years carving these incredibly intricate details and creating the world’s longest wooden sculpture, (40 feet or over 12 meters.)  It is based on a painting that depicts a historical holiday celebrating past ancestors and falls on the 104th day after the winter solstice.

Lewis Miller converts trash cans and statues around New York to overflowing bouquets of colorful flowers. In temporary installations dubbed “Flower Flashes” Miller utilizes a mixture of post-event flowers and fresh stock to create these stunning displays.

This video touched me deeply because it reminded me that all over this planet, while you and I are going about our daily lives, there are pockets of people whose lives are beautiful, inspiring and completely different.

 It’s an example of Incan people working together, using their ancient engineering techniques to build a suspension bridge that looks like the Golden Gate Bridge only it’s hand-made out of woven grasses.  The Q’eswaanchaka bridge in Peru spans 118 feet and hangs 60 feet above a canyon’s rushing river. The women braid small, thin ropes, which are then braided again by the men into large support cables. Handwoven bridges have been part of the trail and roadway system of the Inca for over 500 years and were held in very high regard. The punishment for tampering with such a bridge was death.

The bridges’ sagging is addressed by destroying and rebuilding it in an annual ceremony—originally considered a social obligation under Inca rule, and now preserved as a way of honoring their history by the nearby community of Quehue, Peru. This bridge has been christened with a traditional Incan ceremonial bridge-blessing and is in extremely good condition.

 

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Thanks to:  Sam, George, Anita, Wim, John, Jackie and This Is Colossal.