Lush Canopies of Hundreds of Purple Flowers Erupt from Japan’s Wisteria

Ashikaga Flower Park, Tochigi, Japan. All images © Ryo Tajima, shared with permission

Each spring, the Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi, Japan, is flooded with bright, blossoming canopies of purple flowers. The area is home to more than 350 wisterias, including one monumental specimen that’s at least 150 years old, and hosts an annual festival that illuminates the lengthy tendrils against the nighttime sky. For the past few years, Ryo Tajima has visited the park, in addition to other locations around the country, to photograph the flowers as they reach peak bloom. His images capture the stunning magnitude of the vines, showing the breadth and density that appear to explode with color.

Some of Tajima’s wisteria photos are compiled in a book from National Geographic, and you can follow his travels to document cherry blossoms, cosmos, and fields teeming with lavender on Instagram.

 

Ashikaga Flower Park, Tochigi, Japan

Ashikaga Flower Park, Tochigi, Japan

Yamaguchi, Japan

Ashikaga Flower Park, Tochigi, Japan

Saitama, Japan

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A Brilliant Orange Orb Shape-Shifts Through Time in a Meditative Animated Short

A metaphor for the way fragments of time both accumulate and mutate as they slip from one moment to the next, a glowing sphere is the subject of a calming short film by Argentinian artist Ezequiel Pini, of Six N. Five. The CGI animation follows the bright orb as it expands, multiplies, and transfigures into alternate forms like a sun dropping beneath the horizon and windows evocative of the recently demolished Nakagin Capsule Tower. Although simple in shape, the round object “represents care, calm, and attention to achieve its ultimate perfection. We are a circle, without boundaries, beginning or end. Infinity,” Pini says. Watch more of his poetic works on Vimeo.

 

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Cloaked in Bold Motifs, Ceramic Vessels by Ariana Heinzman Sprout Playful Botanical Forms

All images courtesy of J. Reinhart Gallery, shared with permission

From her studio on Vashon Island in Washington, artist Ariana Heinzman channels the lithe forms of the human body into supple clay vessels. Enveloped in quirky botanical patterns and thick outlines, the sculptures twist and bow into elegant shapes that sprout buds and spiked flowers. Bold, dense motifs evoke the Garden of Eden, Heinzman shares, and serve as a metaphor for the impulse to cover the nude figure with layers of garments.

The vessels shown below are on view through June 18 at J. Rinehart Gallery in Seattle as part of the artist’s solo show, It’s Good to be Here. You can shop functional ceramic pieces like cups and planters on Heinzman’s site, and explore an archive of her floral sculptures on Instagram.

 

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A Conservationist Teaches Geese to Use Safer Migration Routes by Flying With Them Across Europe

Back in 1995, Christian Moullec embarked on his first migration alongside a flock of lesser white-fronted geese that he intended to introduce to Sweden. He flew an adapted delta plane alongside the birds, which were threatened after being overhunted, and protect them on their journey. This initial mission quickly morphed into a now decades-long project of training avian populations to utilize more secure paths as they travel across Europe, ensuring that the already dwindled species would survive the trek and be able to reproduce.

English YouTuber and educator Tom Scott (previously) joins Moullec on one of the flights above Southern France as they glide in a microlight aircraft just inches from the animals—Scott is so close that he’s able to touch goose’s tail feathers. Reaching this level of intimacy takes dedication and immersion in the flock, Moullec shares, saying that he raises the birds, sleeps with them, and even bathes in the pond on his property. This establishes trust and is essential as they define their routes, which sometimes traverse thousands of kilometers each day. “I’m not the one who teaches the birds to fly with me,” Moullec shares. “I’ve been flying with birds for 27 years, and they taught me how to fly with them.”

In addition to his conservation-oriented flights, Moullec offers passenger trips for those interested in joining the flock, and you can find more about his work on his site. (via The Kids Should See This)

 

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Welcome to 2072: Send Your Artwork to the Future with The Time Capsule Project

It’s 2072. We solved world hunger, you can teleport to Mars, and we really did figure out how to make gas from compost like in Back to the Future.

We know we can’t predict what the world looks like 50 years from now, but we still wanted to find a way to show our future selves and generations to come what means to live in 2022. Along with our friends at the Brooklyn Art Library, we’re launching The Time Capsule Project, a collection of 1,000 mini sketchbooks that will be buried in St. Petersburg, Florida, until 2072. The idea is to fill pages with artworks and stories that offer a glimpse of the moment we’re all living in and preserve today’s creativity for years to come.

The Time Capsule Project sketchbooks are available now in the Brooklyn Art Library shop, and there will be an exhibition in the fall of this year prior to burial. Submissions are due by September 16, 2022.

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Garments of Grass and Flowers Fuse Jeanne Simmons’s Body to the Landscape

“Grass Cocoon” (2018). All images © Jeanne Simmons, shared with permission

“When we spend a lot of time in a place, and if we are paying attention, a kind of intimacy develops,” says Jeanne Simmons. The artist, who’s based in the Pacific Northwest, grounds her practice in this sense of familiarity and ease with her surroundings. “We come to know the plants that grow there and the critters that roam there… We may even begin to feel that we ourselves have become part of that place, and it is this feeling that sustains and inspires me.”

After gathering natural materials like branches, wild vegetables, and bark, Simmons constructs garments that intertwine her own body with the landscape and obscure the distinction between the two. In one work, a full skirt made of Queen Anne’s Lace trails from her waist and blends with a meadow, while another piece braids dried vegetation into her blond hair, developing a feet-long braid that appears to emerge from the ground. “Grass Cocoon” is similar, twisting the artist’s locks into the material and swaddling her body in a sheath of green. “This is how I celebrate and deepen my connection with the natural world. I suppose I have discovered that the best way for me to become part of the landscape… is to wear it,” she shares. “It is also, at least in part, a lamentation for the catastrophic loss of that connection that we are witnessing in real-time.”

Simmons has several works in progress at the moment, including a kelp shroud and fennel gown, and is collaborating with director and producer Ward Serrill on a film about her practice. Keep up with those projects on her site and Instagram. (via Lustik)

 

“Grass Cocoon” (2018)

“Extensions” (2020)

“Lace Skirt” (2019)

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Fold an Elaborate Origami Menagerie with DIY Instructions from Jo Nakashima

All images © Jo Nakashima

Since 2010, Brazilian origami artist Jo Nakashima has amassed a trove of original designs ranging from modular cubes and kinetic works to multicolor, angular wildlife. His creations require just a single sheet of double-sided paper and a deft hand and vary in complexity: Nakashima marks the eagle with pleated wings, quacking duck, and writhing snake shown here as intermediate or above. Head to YouTube for detailed instructions on folding your own versions of his intricate designs, but take note of his warning: “Although I call it ‘simplified,’ it doesn’t mean it is simple: it is just simpler than the original version, but actually it is still a bit complex.”

 

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