Hat Tip to Phlegm Robots for Street Art of the Day
Warner Bros will open its “The Making of Harry Potter” walking tour at Leavesden, 
England, the production base of the Harry Potter films, in spring next year. The three-hour-long tour will give fans the chance to see sets, costumes, props and effects used in all 8 Harry Potter movies. Tickets go on sale later this year. Potter fans will be able to walk onto sets including headmaster Dumbledore’s office and the 120ft long Great Hall featuring “the tables and benches used in the films”. The studio tour, first announced last November, is part of Warner Bros’ $161M refit of Leavesden, which is set to be one of the largest studio production facilities in Europe when it opens. Warner Bros plans to use the 250,000 sq ft of soundstages to shoot its blockbusters. The studio won’t be ready for Chris Nolan shooting The Dark Knight Rises this year though. Leavesden will also boast the largest back-lot in Europe. Around 1,500 people are employed at Leavesden when production is in full swing. Warner Bros says that it wants to attract outside film and TV productions as well as its own. It remains to be seen whether there’ll be enough demand to fill the 200-acre Hertfordshire site as well as the sprawling Pinewood Shepperton studio complexes.
In 2005, Norway launched a 15 year campaign to increase tourism. The government contracted with designers and architects to build tourist routes, reststops and scenic viewpoints. The project, dubbed The National Tourist Routes In Norway, forms a network that spans the country from Jaeren in the south to Varenger in the far north.
Carlos Slim could be the world’s richest person with an estimated wealth exceeding $53 billion. But on March 1st he was just another art patron unveiling his personal museum. The Museo Soumaya, named for Slim’s late wife, will open officially on March 29th, but the glitterati got a sneak peak at the 66,00 piece collection.
Reviews are mixed on the six-story anvil shaped structure, which is part of a mixed use commercial/residential/cultural complex. Designed in part by Slim’s son-in-law, Fernado Romero, the curvaceous building is clad in over 16,000 glittering, hexagonal aluminum panels.
This planetoid, made entirely of books, was created by artist John Marshall, and is prominently displayed at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts
As the largest and most comprehensive center of its kind in the nation, Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) celebrates the book as a vibrant contemporary art form that takes many shapes. From the traditional crafts of papermaking, letterpress printing and bookbinding to experimental art making and self-publishing techniques, MCBA supports the limitless creative evolution of book arts.
In 1983, a group of book arts practitioners and enthusiasts in the Twin Cities began plans to create an institution, a true book arts center, where artists could create, students could learn, fine art could be exhibited, and a generally under-acknowledged artistic discipline could be elevated into focus and take its proper place in the Minnesota arts community. Two years later, in 1985, this dedicated group opened the doors of the brand new Minnesota Center for Book Arts. MCBA’s first public home was in the McKesson Building, on North Third Street in the Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis.
After more than two years of research and planning, the Spring of 2000 saw Minnesota Center for Book Arts, The Loft Literary Center and Milkweed Editions become the principal tenants in the Open Book Building at 1011 South Washington Avenue in Minneapolis. The building creates a lively destination for a diverse public interested in books, book arts and literary endeavors of all kinds.
The soul of MCBA is the studio spaces where you find masters and novices working at letterpress printing, hand bookbinding and papermaking. In addition to the studios, there is an exhibition space, a studio shop, an archive and reference library, and offices. Visitors are welcome to observe the book art activity close-up. MCBA serves artists, students, teachers, designers, writers, families, youth, and book lovers through a variety of participatory programs. More than 20 years after opening its doors, MCBA is the most comprehensive independent book arts center in the nation.
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This week, Melville House Publishing announced the inauguration of the Independent Booksellers Choice Awards — the first award for indie publishing judged by indie booksellers.
Why yet another book award ? Because independent booksellers are the cognoscenti, 
who are hooked-in to the literary zeitgeist. They are the ones who can guide readers to the overlooked or unkown hidden gems. No Amazon algorithm suggestion can compete with the recommendation from local booksellers who actually read the books.
There are already enough book awards judged by critics, by committees or from newspapers — it’s time to hear from real readers. Hopefully, the Independent Booksellers Choice Award will be the ultimate “staff picks”.
Visit the award website to learn more and to help name the award. I suggested the Savvy.
Did you ever wonder which books inspired your favorite writers and artists? Well, Strand Books has created Curated Collections, an intriguing selection of great reads by authors and artists promoted in their NYC store and on the Strand website.
The initial selections are by Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novelist Art Spiegelman. Future collections “curators” include Jennifer Egan, Gary Steyngart, Chuck Palahniuk, Nora Ephron and Maira Kalman.
Photographer James Stillings took these breathtaking shots during the construction of the new Hoover Dam Bridge. The Phoenix Art Museum will be presenting a solo show of his amazing work August through November 2011.
All photos © James Stillings
This week the PBS show Independent Lens aired a fascinating documentary on William S. Burroughs that was directed by newcomer Yony Leyser. “William S. Burroughs: A Man Within” is a star-studdied portrait of the revolutionary writer, his eccentricities, and his enormous impact on 20th century arts and culture, including music.
Travel Between The Pages 