My birthday is on August 8th and Objectified just came out on DVD, what are the odds? Plus you get a free tote bag with any order, whodathunkit?!

I found the illustration of Kevin Dart this morning via twitter and I completely dig his style. One of the recent pieces he was commissioned for was a poster for the new No Doubt tour. I was a shameless No Doubt fan in high school. Went to all the concerts, front row fan boy. One concert I yelled “I LOVE YOU GWEN” and she blew me a kiss. Right there, at that very moment, I could have died and everything would have been right with the world.

The Art and Illustration of Kevin Dart.

I came across Departures this morning while reading my daily RSS feeds. After living in Wales I’m only now discovering the amazing world of design that existed in Cardiff Bay, 45 minutes from my house. It seems that UK design has its own regional aesthectic. It’s simple, colorful, and intelligent. Departures work is all that and a bag of crisps. I especially love their work for the National Assembly of Wales, but who could design something wrong with such amazing architecture?

Departures® –Byw yn yr Ardd.

I came across New Urban Arts this morning on Design Sponge and was instantly inspired by the space, art, goal, people. It looks amazing. Community Arts is something I have never considered before as pursuing but it has the potential to combine the things I value. Oh, the possibilities!

When I saw New Urban Arts it reminded me a bit of The Public Design Center that Kate Bingham Burt used to run in Mississippi. The two are different but the integration of art + design + community is great and inspiring.

About New Urban Arts:

A nationally recognized interdisciplinary arts studio for high school students and emerging artists in Providence, Rhode Island.

Our mission is to build a vital community that empowers young people to develop a creative practice they can sustain throughout their lives. We provide studio, exhibition space, and mentoring for young artists who explore the visual, performing, and literary arts through yearlong free out-of-school programs.  Founded in 1997, New Urban Arts serves 150 high school students in the Providence Public High Schools and 20 artists each year. We have been named one of fifty premiere arts and youth development programs in the country for five years.

All of the work for the grad Show 09 at Lincoln School of Art & Design looks rad, wish I could jet set to Lincoln to check it out. Completely crushing on some of their print / presentation / & typography. Nicely done boys and girls.

Mark Weaver’s series “Make Something Cool Everyday” is nothing less than inspiring.

Check it out! Today I have a print on Wallblank where 100% of the proceed go towards Union Gospel Mission’s Orangeday. Here’s the gist.

On April 10, over 3,500 people in need all across Metro Vancouver will be served a delicious Easter Dinner at UGM – and given a fresh orange at the end of the meal. We call it Orange Day.

Check out the Orangeday site, as well as UGM’s twitter and the Orangeday flickr group.

Amidst the papers and final projects of the last month my friend Hannah had time along with some other classy gals from TheBirdhouse™ to put on a benefit concert for Vancouver based charity Imagine1day.

imagine1day is a nonprofit organization that provides an opportunity for donors to be directly connected to projects that provide primary education for all children in Ethiopia, Africa.

For the event I designed some small handout cards where people could write what they imagined for the future. They turned out great and we’re accompanied by lovely music by The Magician, Eisenhauer, and In Medias Res. By the end of the evening we were able to raise over $1000 for Imagine1day, it was awesome.

I really love the way Imagine1days online giving works. They list actual items (e.g. chalkboards, a school roof, windows, paint, desks, etc.) that you can purchase. It makes the whole process so tangible and I love that.

You can support any of the elements of an education venture, such as the roof of a classroom, the water system, or the desks and blackboards. 100% of your contribution will fund the children’s education project of your choice and no administration fees are kept.

Crazy! Innovative, and awesome. Check them out. Imagine1day

More photos at flickr.

Ba•rack•to•pus (noun): “A unique species of octopi that is typically red and blue in color and has lots of charisma.”

A few months ago my roommates and me started drawing on our fridge with eraseable marker. Everything started when someone drew a hawktopus, which was followed by a shocktapus, jocktapus, glochtapus, clocktabpus, rocktapus, bachtapus, and then Johnny drew Baracktopus. From that original fridge illustration came ideas for making some rad t-shirts that would  help a rad cause and bring positive “change” to the world.

All shirts are printed on American Apparel t’s. For each shirt sold 30% of the sales will go to Save The Children International. The other 70% will help pay off student loans and be supporting a rad artist and all around good dutchman.

Cheers to Reuben for making a rad internet home for Baracktopus with his mad coding skills.