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A Royal Family (Goliath Beetle) (2003) by Joianne Bittle.
More insect art. Entomologia is a group exhibition of art incorporating and inspired by insects, on view at Observatory, Brooklyn, NY, from February 26th to April 4th, 2010. There are fourteen artists involved but not all of them have websites showing the work one might expect to [...]

Some of it, anyway. This bullet grasshopper was owned by William Burroughs and photographed by Peter Ross as part of a series presenting some of the writer’s possessions. No clues as to who constructed this but I like the way it combines two of Burroughs’ persistent interests, insects and weapons. Via Coudal.
Previously on { feuilleton [...]

Above: gold, silver & enamel butterfly and squid, both by John Paul Miller. More at this Flickr page.
Below: Tintenfisch und Schmetterling (Octopus and Butterfly; 1900) by Wilhelm Lucas von Cranach, a master jeweller who liked his octopuses.
Tips by Chateau Thombeau and Fine & Dandy (NSFW).

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Geoffrey Haberman’s brass insects
• Elizabeth Goluch’s [...]

Now that we’re into the dismal weather, sombre views of Old Prague’s splendour seem appropriate. The pages at 360 Cities have a lot of Prague panoramas—76 in all—including many more of the Viriconium-esque Giant Mantis performance I linked to a few years ago. A shame they don’t do this every year.

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• [...]

top row: The Division Bell by Pink Floyd; A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay.
bottom row: London Calling by The Clash; Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield.
The Royal Mail follows its series of British Design Classics postage stamps with a series dedicated to what they call “classic” album covers. The design classics in [...]

Large E-Coli.
Or art as virus…. Just because micro-organisms can make us seriously ill doesn’t mean they can’t be beautiful. Luke Jerram’s glass renderings of some of the most deadly examples are on display at the Smithfield Gallery, London, until October 3rd.
The sculptures were designed in consultation with virologists from the University of Bristol using a [...]

The Gamelatron at Galapagos Art Space March 2009. Photo by Gisella Sorrentino.
A laptop-controlled gamelan orchestra by Zemi17 aka A. Taylor Kuffner. See it in operation here. (Is it Gamelatron or GamelaTron? Their spellings differ…)
The GamelaTron is the fruit of a collaboration between The League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR) and the composer Zemi17: A. [...]

The Glass Chair.
Today’s glass artists continue to astonish. Andy Paiko’s one-off creation above is a chair whose vitrines contain a rhesus monkey skull, a piece of octopus coral, a murex spiny trumpet shell, the skeleton of a rat, and a mountain lion skull. The piece below contains a 24 carat gold-plated coyote skull with the [...]

Blepharopsis mendica nymph.
More insect art and some really gorgeous creations. Geoffrey Haberman also makes silver insects but I much prefer the brass ones. From four pages of Flickr photos including an incredible mantis horde.

Idolomantis diabolica adult male.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Sipho Mabona’s origami insects
• Kitchen insects
• Elizabeth Goluch’s precious metal insects
• Laura Zindel’s ceramics
• [...]

Praying Mantis (2008).
Folded from a single sheet. Amazing. Lots more insects and other constructions on her Flickr page.And while we’re on the subject, Between the Folds is a documentary about origami artists currently doing the rounds of film festivals. Via Design Observer.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Kitchen insects
• Elizabeth Goluch’s precious metal insects
• Laura Zindel’s [...]

Speculative designs for kitchen utensils by artist and designer Sayaka Yamamoto.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Elizabeth Goluch’s precious metal insects
• Kelly McCallum’s insect art
• Thomas Paul’s sealife
• Laura Zindel’s ceramics
• The art of Jo Whaley
• The art of Philippe Wolfers, 1858–1929
• Lalique’s dragonflies
• Lucien Gaillard
• Insect Lab

The Royal Mail issues this splendid set of stamps next month, celebrating their choice of “the greatest achievements of British design”. The set was designed by HGV with photography by Jason Tozer and regular readers will note two { feuilleton } cult items among the selection, the Penguin book jacket and Harry Beck’s London Underground [...]

A 40X close-up of Chrysochroa fulgens, the iridescent Jewel Beetle, showing part of the insect’s eye. A stereomicroscopy photo by Charles Krebs, and one of the winners in the 2008 Olympus Bioscapes Digital Imaging Competition. Scientific American has larger images.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• How many leaf beetles can dance on the head of a [...]

Dragonfly (Green Darner) sterling silver, 18k & 14k gold, brass, ceramit, moonstone.
Two of Elizabeth Goluch’s unique—and no doubt expensive—sculptures. She also does a range of jewellery.
Another fabulous find from Fabulon.

Praying Mantis, sterling silver, copper, 14K & 18K gold.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Kelly McCallum’s insect art
• The art of Jo Whaley
• The art of Philippe [...]

One beetle, it seems. Klaus Bolte’s 40 X photograph is one of National Geographic’s Best Microscopic Images of 2008.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The art of Jo Whaley
• Endangered insects postage stamps

Venom (2003).
The work of Angelo Filomeno, an Italian artist based in New York, is just the kind of thing I like to see: insects, skulls and bones in a luscious presentation. The sculpture below is made of glass while the flat works are silk embroidery with crystals as part of the decoration. There’s a [...]

In addition to insects, Kelly McCallum also has birds filled with clockwork mechanisms, stuffed animals being eaten by gilded grubs, jewellery carved from human bones, and more. Plus a quote from the Prince of Quotation, Walter Benjamin: “The grey film of dust covering things has become their best part.”
Via 3quarksdaily.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Walmor [...]

The Royal Mail continues to rifle popular culture for suitable anniversary subjects, this week following its series of James Bond postage stamps with stamp sets celebrating the 50th anniversaries of Hammer’s first run of horror films and the Carry On series. I don’t think I’d use the word “celebration” in the case of the [...]

left: Small Hercules Beetle Vase, Large Harlequin Beetle Vase.
right: Small Lady Beetle Vase, Large Scarab Beetle Vase.
Ceramic art by Laura Zindel. Good to see that arthropods are no longer such a taboo for home furnishings.

Via Fabulon.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The art of Jo Whaley
• Endangered insects postage stamps
• Robert Lang’s origami insects
• Lalique’s dragonflies
• [...]

Remarkable steam-powered engines by glass artist Bandhu Scott Dunham. The one above is based on 19th century designs. Others are Dunham’s own developments which include contraptions to move glass marbles up and down a series of corkscrew paths. Still pictures don’t do these things justice, best to look at two short QT movies here and [...]