ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

April 9th 2008

Water: Now More Fashionable!

Filed under: art, fashion, featured charity, magazines — kelli @ 2:10 pm

Here at Ecorazzi, we love us some Sigg. We’ve sung the praises of the versatile aluminum bottles before, but this just might be the most exciting Sigg news to date.

In conjunction with their third-annual Green Issue, Elle magazine has partnered with global warming activist Laurie David to launch a series of 14 limited-edition Sigg bottles. Each one-of-a-kind bottle has been fashioned by some of the world’s most creative designers, and feature the designer’s characteristic styles that we love - Anna Sui’s signature Dolly Girl and Kenneth Cole’s freehand text designs, as well as others from Zac Posen, Savannah and Sienna Miller’s line Twenty 8 Twelve, and Diane von Furstenberg, , just to name a few.

You can view all 14 designs now at elle.com, but you’d better keep an eye on your favorites! The bottles will be auctioned off, with proceeds benefiting StopGlobalWarming.org, starting April 14 at 7:00 p.m., so you’ll have a chance to get your fashionable little hands on one of these designer bottles yourself!

Kelli Shields is the Major Gifts Associate at the Center for Biological Diversity.

January 8th 2008

Artist Cancels Worldwide Hiding of Plastic Eggs

Can Art & The Environment Get Along?

Filed under: art — rebecca @ 12:54 pm

In the past few years I’ve become more and more a fan of public art installations and outdoor exhibits. I think it’s a fantastic way to share art with everyone, not just those who seek it out.

A couple of years ago neo-expressionist and Stuckist artist Jeffrey Scott Holland had an idea to make the concept even more interesting. Just in time for Easter, he made thousands of tiny pieces of art and hid them in green plastic Easter eggs around the country. It was called Project Egg. Once found, a person could go to his website and register their egg, noting what it contained. Results included “a really tiny comic book”, “scary skeleton head”, and “figurine of what appears to be an alien”.

It sounds like fun, right? Like a scavenger hunt that you didn’t even know you were on? This year, a worldwide installation was planned…and then Holland started thinking about the environment. Imagine, the first time these eggs were put out, 10,000 of them were hidden. Only about 60 were reported as found.

Yesterday, Holland issued a statement regarding the cancellation of this year’s Project Egg, “The majority of the eggs in Project Egg don’t actually get found, and my concern is that the eggs could end up washed into storm drains and ultimately wind up in the ocean. I cannot, in good conscience, be a party to that.”

We’re glad to see that this artist woke up to the impact that he was having on the environment. Just a few years ago, it wasn’t at the top of everyone’s mind as it may be right now. I hope that more artists consider how they are impacting the earth, including the paints and inks that they use, adhesives, and other materials to make their art. Where does it come from? Where will it go?

I’d like to see more “trash art” become popular. Recycling at it’s most imaginative. Holland had already lined up a bunch of green plastic eggs for the ‘08 installation. He has vowed to find a way to permanently recycle them, mentioning he might even grind them up and include them in his paintings.

December 6th 2007

Bono And Sotheby’s Team Up For Night Of Fine Art

Filed under: art, events, events: nyc, green and famous — parrish @ 8:50 pm

When I think of two peas in a pod, the names Bono and Sotheby’s aren’t exactly the first two that pop in my head, but it looks like two peas they shall be. Sotheby’s, the famous New York auction house, has joined forces with the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea, U2’s Bono and Damien Hirst in organizing a charity auction at the well known auction house on Valentines Day. The auction will feature more than 100 artworks, all inspired by the color red, and go to the United Nations Foundation to help various HIV/AIDS relief programs in Africa.

Some of the artists featured will be Hirst, Jeff Koons, Jasper Johns, Matthew Barney, Georg Baselitz, Cecily Brown and Douglas Gordon. The auction is estimated to bring in plenty of art aficionados and close to 40 million dollars.

WOW!

October 22nd 2007

The Seed Project sprouts in NYC

Filed under: art, events: nyc, interviews — valerie @ 11:22 am

For five weeks beginning October 25th, The Seed Project, a “global environmental installation,” will be on view in New York City. The Seed Project challenges participants to create art beginning with a package of grass seeds. You, the eco- and celeb-minded reader, may have heard some buzz about this project due to some rather well-known supporters; Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan are just a few of the stars who have picked up a package of seeds. And art-world luminaries David Byrne, Chuck Close, and Damien Hirst are among the 140 artists contributing to the exhibition. The result is a “virtual garden” that strives to create a bridge between art and environmentalism; a creative way to talk about sustainability.

Recently I chatted with David Cohen, the artist behind The Seed Project and the publisher of Artworld Digest. He’s clearly passionate about helping artists recognize their ability to affect positive environmental change. Among the many things we talked about were art (naturally), the famous people he’s invited to the opening (Al Gore!) and, of course, whether or not Paris is really gonna plant those seeds.

“Artists create the world,” Cohen says. “Fashion, architecture, packaging, advertising, food…media…writing…artists are behind everything. They define the way we experience culture. Artists can change the world and have an incredible amount of power….But [they] have become very non-political. You don’t see a lot of work that’s engaging in what’s happening.

“It’s all about realizing the power that you have. The whole trick is, how do you illustrate that power? Like voting. It’s one vote out of 250 million votes. How do you visualize that as artists? That’s where the answer lies…. If we all felt empowered there’s no telling what we could do.”

The opening of the NYC exhibition of The Seed Project is Thursday, Oct. 25th, 6-8 pm at the Winkleman Gallery. The exhibit will be up for five weeks. Hit the jump for more from our interview with David Cohen.

Read the rest of this entry »

August 22nd 2007

Celebs Raise Money For Charity - Even When on Canvas

Filed under: art, events: la — rebecca @ 4:26 pm

At the beginning of the year, Golden Globe winners entered the Entertainment Tonight post-show set and autographed their pop-culture portrait by Nicolosi. In total, he has 60 “Stars for a Cause” portraits that are almost ready to go up for auction.

When Lynn first reported on this back in March for Ecorazzi, the charities planning on receiving funds from the auction included The Prince’s Trust, The Film Foundation, and The Foundation for AIDS Research. Plans seem to have changed, however. Proceeds for the auction will be headed to The Prince’s Trust (as planned) and the Hollywood Museum.

The auction will take place on September 27 at the Hollywood Museum. Pre-registration is required. Of course, you can bid in real-time on eBay, as well…or even leave an absentee bid.

If hanging a picture of America Ferrera as Ugly Betty over your bed isn’t quite your cup of tea, you can swing by the Hollywood Museum and time from now through the auction to simply browse over the collection of celebrity portraits, including those of Ecorazzi faves Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, and Matt Damon.

May 21st 2007

Celebrity Kids Doodle On Sippy Cups To Fight AIDS

Filed under: art, donations — lynn @ 1:45 pm

Several children of celebrities are getting started on supporting good causes at an early age. The kids of stars such as CSI: NY’s Melina Kanakaredes, Lost’s Elizabeth Mitchell, Desperate Housewives’s Doug Savant, and Denise Richards have all designed sippy cups for The Tinseltown Toddlers Online Charity Auction to support the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

This star-studded charity auction is inspiring parents and children everywhere to submit their own original works of art on Create My Own(TM) Cup inserts in the Playtex Talented Toddlers Contest! By submitting their artwork, toddlers will not only show off their artistic talents, but also have a chance to win $2,500 in cash prizes. The contest begins May 21, 2007 and ends on August 21, 2007. Parents can go to Playtexproducts.com to learn how to enter their child’s Create My Own(TM) Cup artwork in the contest.

The celebrity parents are pitching in too–they’re scribbling their autographs on the finished products. The auction starts today and will run until the 31st. Sounds like a fun way to get celeb kids involved!

April 30th 2007

Coachella: TRASHed

Filed under: art, festivals, green and famous — rebecca @ 2:57 pm

This post was contributed by Dino Malvone. Learn how you can become part of the Ecorazzi team.

If you’ve ever been to an outdoor music festival, you know that each one, in its own right, evokes a nostalgic vibe: alive with the scent of the unbathed and spilled beer - the scent of both enhanced by temperatures soaring above 100°F. Each festival has had its share of problems: Woodstock ’69 plagued with heavy rains and mud abound, Woodstock ’99 with roaring fires and rioting, and even past Coachella events, cursed with financial woes. But all these events have one thing in common, and that’s: what to do with all that trash?

But this year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the three-day long music festival held annually at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California, decided to do things a little differently. With a crowd of over 60,000 people for each day, why not incentivize them to recycle? So, Coachella introduced their, “10 for 1 Bottle Recycling Centers” program, where you bring them 10 empty water bottles and redeem them for 1 free new bottle of water. Score! Beats paying $4 for a bottle of water, right? With socially aware acts such as Rage Against the Machine and Willie Nelson on the bill, I bet this push to recycle was a welcomed addition to the Festival’s lineup.

Last year, at the 2006 festival, TRASHed represented with 35 recycling/trash stations around the main festival grounds and back stage. TRASHed was a year long trash education program developed by Fashion Peace that redefined the way people and businesses viewed recycling and trash collection. Each station was equipped with signage directing people to the trash or recycling bins. The recycling bins were designed by talented artists all along the west coast.

The 2007 festivities came to a close last night, featuring such acts as Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rage Against the Machine. For information about next year’s event, visit the official Coachella website.

Via - Boing Boing

March 28th 2007

Art Exhibit Gets Help From Bollywood Celebs

Filed under: art, campaigns — lynn @ 2:05 pm

Speaking of artwork going to a good cause, Bollywood stars were recently seen lending a hand at an art exhibit. Sanjay Dutt, Pooja Bedi, and Vinod Khanna all pitched in to raise funds for Plan India, a group dedicated to helping kids in need.

IBNLive reports that “The foundation conducted an art exhibition to raise funds with many Bollywood actors including Plan India brand Ambassador Anil Kapoor in attendance.”

Seems to me that Pooja (pictured here) is a little cocky about her influence on fans, though. While the other actors say they’re involved because they want to help out the children, the article quotes her as saying “When a film star says I drive this car, a million follow; I eat this chocolate, a million follow; am sure if they say that I do charity, a million will follow suit.”

March 22nd 2007

T-Shirt Watch: Heather Mills, Applegate Get The Word Out

Filed under: animals, art, fashion — michael @ 3:18 pm

You wouldn’t think a blog devoted to T-Shirts — and the stars wearing them — would be all that interesting. However, I’m addicted to this cool site and I think the angle is perfect for a time when t-shirts and interesting messages seem to be back in style. If you haven’t visited threadless.com yet — and are a big fan of cool tees — you’re missing out on one of the best ideas for user-generated designs on the web. But I digress…

Both Heather Mills and Christina Applegate were spotted wearing their passions on their shirts by the blog T-Shirt Watch. There isn’t anything particularly amazing about this post, but in the interest of serving up more photos, take a look below!

February 16th 2007

Joni Mitchell’s Message in Motion

Filed under: art — rebecca @ 6:33 am

Post contributed by Elizabeth Doyle.  Learn more about how to become an Ecorazzi contributor.

We didn’t know folk music could be so sexy. For years, Canadian singer Joni Mitchell has been crooning about the pitfalls of “paving paradise to put up a parking lot.” (Yup, that’s where the Counting Crows and Bob Dylan got the lyrics). Now she’s brought her folksy tunes to the Alberta Ballet to create Dancing Joni & Other Works. The performance highlights her life-long concerns about environmental neglect and humanity’s warring nature.

“As an artist creating today, quite frankly, I can see no other subject matter that is of more importance now. We need people to awaken to this reality,” said Mitchell. Dancing Joni & Other Works has just wrapped up in Calgary and will be performed at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium today and tomorrow, February16 - 17, 2007. Good news: the performance special will be recorded to television in high-definition and produced for CHUM/Bravo by Calgary-based Joe Media Group.