Well, well, well. Here we are again. I’m hot on the heels of a Tokyo trip, feeling rejuvenated and ready to show my face around here more often with more posts. In fact, I wrote two new ones if you care to read about how to do Japan with a nine-year-old or learn about the afterschool art club I recently started with Lucas and a few of his friends.
Scroll down to the floating sauna to skip to the links. Or carry on reading.
Lately, I have found myself talking to friends about how they navigate life as creative parents and found similar topics always come up. Recently, I met my ooold friend Jordan Seiler, whom I first met in the LES in 2001 and probably haven’t seen since also 2001. I mean, we’ve kept in touch. He once stole me a Dalek Nike Presto ad from a phone booth, which graced the walls of many of my apartments until that fateful day it ended up being stolen from me. That was when he was helping to liberate ads from phone booths. After that, he made a phone app that replaced NYC subway ads with digital art using AR, which was way ahead of its time. For his last project, he modded five old public pay phones, spread them out amongst the five NYC boroughs, and connected them to one another.
Anyway, Jordan is now the dad of an almost three-year-old and a very happy little-over-one-year-old whom I had the pleasure of meeting recently for the first time. He takes care of both girls while his wife is at work during the day, so when I asked him how much time he gets to spend at his studio these days and answered with about eight hours spread out throughout the week, I almost fell off my chair. But I also understood. We also discussed how your view on stuff changes after becoming a parent and how different things become important.
I will be sharing some of the bits I’m learning from other creative dads in the upcoming weeks. If you already receive too many weekly emails from me (which has been at zero for a while now until today), please consider turning off email notifications instead of unsubscribing. Unless you’re really not into me anymore, then by all means.
I posed similar dad questions to Brendan Ravenhill that I’ll share next time but judging by this floating sauna he built, I think he’s doing it right. Until then, please enjoy the links. The first three are courtesy of Brendan.
Thomas
Japanese potter Kawai Kanjiro’s house in Kyoto
A 350-year-old Japanese stationery store also in Kyoto
Tokyo Jazz Joints is a visual chronicle of the Japanese jazz bars and coffee shops where time ceases to exist
Japanese town builds wall to block world-famous Instagram view
Tono Mirai Architects encloses toilet in Japanese park with rammed earth
The number of vacant houses in Japan has surged to a record high of nine million – more than enough for each person in New York City
New York City nabs stretch of Brooklyn coastline to redevelop
NYC is being forced to rethink how its thoroughfares are used.
An abandoned school becomes a canvas for art galleries
We’ll never climb down from the tree house
Photos from 41 countries juxtapose blocky architecture and verdant gardens in Brutalist Plants book
Artist plays architect to design a Brutalist-inspired family home in Turkey
Lloyd Wright’s historic Wayfarers Chapel will be disassembled due to landslide risk
You can now build your very own Frank Lloyd Wright house
The little cross-shaped Kodak House in the Fire Island Pines hits the market
National Trust for Historic Preservation invests $1.8M to bring Philip Johnson’s historic Brick House back to life after fifteen years, including a glimpse of his problematic book collection
Producer Ryan Murphy lists Richard Neutra-designed LA home for $33.9M
NYC office for creative law firm Jayaram becomes a world of Snarkitecture
Phillips Modern and Contemporary Art Evening manages $86.3M, led by 3 Basquiats
In Bushwick, Skewville makes a home for street art
America through the lens of Robert Frank
Lee Quiñones, subway graffiti pioneer, gets mega-monograph treatment
Did this notorious couple who stole a de Kooning painting also hit a New Mexico museum?
How Jeff Koons’s lunar artwork could outlast all of humanity
How digital body language is changing our relationships
Hybrid workplaces are still a headache
Why members-only clubs have taken NYC by storm
Magazines aren’t dying - just ask these indie publishers