Woman Reunites With Birth Mother 34 Years After Being Given Up For Adoption

Photo: Screenshots from TikTok

It sounds like something straight out of a movie, but an Utah woman who has been actively searching for her birth mother for over a decade finally found and reunited with her. Rachel Ruiz shared the emotional encounter on TikTok, where it has amassed over 4 million views. I finally reunited with my birth mom after 34 years! she captioned the video. My adoption was closed and Ive been trying to find her for over 10 years with failed attempt after failed attempt. The obstacles keeping them apart made their serendipitous reunion all the more moving.

In 1988, Angie Howard gave birth to Ruiz when she was only 17 years old and put her up for adoption after two weeks. Given the customs at the end of the 1980s, her adoption was closed, meaning that her adoptive and birth parents maintained their privacy and had no way of learning each others identity. The information given to the the adoptive family was very limited. They knew their babys birth mothers height, hair color, religion, education level, and hobbies, but nothing that could help actually identify or locate her.

Ruiz's parents never hid the fact that Rachel was adopted. My parents were open about telling me from a young age that I was adopted, so it wasnt a secret and I never felt as though I wasnt their daughter, she says. When she turned 18, she even received two symbolic gifts that were handed over during the adoption process: a knit blanket and a letter from her mom, written when she was born. In the letter, Howard wrote that she hoped they'd reunite someday. After reading her birth mother's words, she felt compelled to look for her. I wanted to show her that this decision was a good one and that I was happy and healthy, Ruiz told...

All images courtesy of Antler Gallery, shared with permission

Eugene-based artist Miranda Zimmerman, a.k.a. Faunwood, brings a playful ceramic menagerie to Portland this month for Slither, a nearly sold-out solo show at Antler Gallery. Informed by Faunwoods background in evolutionary biology, the adorable creatures meld art and science and are miniature renditions of amphibians and mammals, all stylized with the artists use of wide eyes and mottled glazes. The hand-sculpted characters are expressive and reflective of the organisms real-life anatomy, and their unique dispositions emerge through the firing process. Every ceramic critter I make comes out of the kiln with its own little personality and sass, sometimes completely different from what Im expecting, the artist writes on Instagram.

Slither is on view through April 23, and you can find more from Faunwood on her site. (via Supersonic Art)

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13 Eco-Friendly Tips on How To Reduce Your Garbage and Strive for Zero Waste

Photo: lgishevamaria/Depositphotos
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The climate crisis affects everyone, and we all need to do our part to help mitigate the detrimental effects its having on our planet. While many of the solutions lie in the hands of governments and public policy reform, there are things that we, as individuals, can do to lessen our negative impact on the environment. One of the things we can all strive for is to live a zero-waste lifestyle.

So, what is zero waste? It's the practice of reducing the amount of waste you produce in your daily life to nothing. (Imagine throwing nothing away.) Being zero waste is great for the environment, especially as landfills are full and its becoming increasingly difficult to find new places to dispose of our trash. By reducing the amount of waste we produce, we help conserve resources and reduce pollution.

Opting for zero waste is also great for your wallet. Choosing reusable items over disposable ones often has a larger up-front cost but will save you money over time. A reusable water bottle, for example, is more expensive than a single bottle of water. But, when you think about how many bottles of water you won't have to buy in the future, it adds up.

If the idea of zero waste is intimidating, that's okay! Dont let it dissuade you from even trying in the first place. Its extremely difficult, especially in our culture of mass consumption, to live without making waste; disposable plastics and convenience items are everywhere you turn. Going zero waste isnt about being perfect, but rather making small changes that add up over time.

To get started, scroll down for some tips for zero-waste living.

Zero waste is the practice of reducing the amount of waste you produce in your daily life to nothing. Here are 13 tips to help you get started.

In most households, one person probably ends up doing more of the cooking. That said, I would guess that one person would rather not have it be a daily chore and thats in the best of times.

In the worst of times, partners are supposed to be there to cover each other and relieve burdens, but this man doesnt seem to have gotten the message.

OP had to have jaw surgery and has been on a liquid-only diet for several months. Still, shes been preparing 3 meals a day for her son and dinner for the whole family, even though shes unable to really eat any of it.

I (40f) had jaw surgery in November, and have had my jaw wired shut ever since. Im mostly surviving on Ensure, blenderized soups, smoothies, and baby food. Its been tough. During this time, I have continued to make my childs breakfast every morning, make his lunch for school, do the grocery shopping, and make dinner most nights. Honestly, its torture.

My husband (40) works full time, and doesnt really feel like cooking when he gets home. I get it, but at the same time, making dinner every night, and having to watch and smell it cook when I know I cant eat it is awful. (And I know there are lots of ways to blend proper meals, but by the time I add enough broth, juice, etc. to make it drinkable, its disgusting.)

She confessed to her husband how hard this has become and asked him to cook at least a few times a week, but he refused since shes home on medical leave.

The other night, I asked if he could make dinner at least a few nights a week, and he got pretty offended. He said that since Im not working (Im on medical leave), its nice to come home to dinner being ready and not having to rush to start it.

OP thought she would force...

If you attended a seder this month, you no doubt read aloud from the Haggadah, a Passover tradition in which everyone at the table takes turns recounting the story of Exodus.

Theres no definitive edition of the Haggadah. Every Passover host is free to choose the various retellings, or even take a crack at writing their own.  

As David Zvi Kalman, publisher of the annual, illustrated Asufa Haggadah told the New York Times, The Haggadah in America is like Kit Kats in Japan. Its a product that accepts a wide variety of flavors. Its probably the most accessible Jewish book on the market.

I feel like weve seen a few posts like this, where parents expect free babysitting in exchange for one favor or another, but without clearing that expectation with the babysitter in question first.

Most of the time this definitely doesnt go in favor of the parents who just assumed, but other times, like with this post, they might have a point.

OP has taken in her sister, who is in college, because she was having roommate trouble and needed to move out quickly. They live in a different state from their parents, so she had nowhere else to do.

The sister doesnt pay any rent or anything like that, though she does contribute some to food and groceries.

I (f30) live with my husband (m31) ans our son (m5), my sister (f22) is still in college and has to move out with us three months ago because she had some issues with her roommates. Things were going fine until this argument, also she doesnt work but my parents send her some money for textbooks and groceries although she barely ever has contributed to the household since she moved in with us.

We also live in a different state from our parents and family so Im basically throwing her in the streets by kicking her out which would make me a big asshole.

Recently, OP and her husband ran into a babysitting snag with their 5yo. Their regular sitter had some health issues and needed to quit on short notice, which left the couple high and dry during the few hours between school and when they finished work.

So, my son comes back from school at around 3pm/3:30. My husband works until 6 and I work until 5 although sometimes I have to stay an hour or two extra (this is not normal, maybe three or four times per month when were behind in a project). We had a babysitter that would wait until hes back (he comes back...

H.G. Wells War of the Worlds has terrified and fascinated readers and writers for decades since its 1898 publication and has inspired numerous adaptations. The most notorious use of Wells book was by Orson Welles, whom the author called my little namesake, and whose 1938 War of the Worlds Halloween radio play caused public alarm (though not actually a national panic). After the occurrence, reports Phil Klass, the actor remarked, Im extremely surprised to learn that a story, which has become familiar to children through the medium of comic strips and many succeeding and adventure stories, should have had such an immediate and profound effect upon radio listeners.

Surely Welles knew that is precisely why the broadcast had the effect it did, especially in such an anxious pre-war climate. The 1898 novel also startled its first readers with its verisimilitude, playing on a late Victorian sense of apocalyptic doom as the turn-of-the-century...

Businesses that have been around since before technology really took off have had to make a lot of changes over the years in order to not only stay relevant, but to keep their own now-outdated technology working.

While a lot of them enjoy having the latest and best of everything, others like Chuck E. Cheese, for example, seem to live by the mantra if it aint broke, dont fix it.

 

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Welcome to the Shirk Report where you will find 20 funny images, 10 interesting articles and 5 entertaining videos from the last 7 days of sifting. Most images found on Reddit; articles from Digg, Kottke, WITI, Facebook, Twitter, and email; videos come from everywhere. Any suggestions? Send a note to submit@twistedsifter.com

20 IMAGES

Friday!
Game recognizes game
Aesthetic custom widebody rx7 loop animation
Backpacker stumbled upon plane wreck
RatChilling
The surface of Venus
A legend is born
Customized cat tats
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People love to give advice, or to sound as if they know a lot about a certain topic. Which is fine (if a bit annoying), unless the person your spouting knowledge to is actually a subject matter expert.

Here are 15 moments that could not have been more awkward for all parties involved.

15. Any number of things.

My parents are Italian, I speak Italian, and Ive had people in the U.S. who are 1/4 Italian at best, or who once ate Italian food, correct me on the pronunciation of any number of things.

Yeah, Ive forgotten how to say a lot of things, so maybe Im not a specialist per se, but sauce isnt called gravy in Italy, sorry.

14. Seen it with his own eyes.

My wife has a friend who studied zoology who once told me that cows cant run or jump. I grew up with them. I more than once had to run after or away from them after they had jumped a fence.

Cows are f**king fast when they want to be.

13. Not super easy.

I once had a lengthy argument with a guy about the Finnish language, he claimed that it was super easy and that he could speak it really well after a very short time studying it. He proceeded to give me some examples about compound words that he was able to easily deduce.

In his defense, most people would probably understand what he means (or at least guess), but none of the words were actual words used in the Finnish language and all of his sentences were either nonsensical or super wonky at best.

I just couldnt believe that a person who has studied the language for maybe four months would actually have an argumen...

For nearly 150 years, a stained-glass window portraying Jesus and three biblical women as Black hung at St. Marks, an 1830 Greek Revival church in Warren, Rhode Island. Its said to be the only known stained-glass depiction of a Black Christ. Installed in 1878, the window also suggests a radical representation of gender parity: Christ speaks to three women positioned at the same visual level, who are engaged in household labor. But what might first appear as a transgressive statement on equality may actually represent a group of White womens efforts to come to terms with their own connections to slavery.

The window, featuring a Black Jesus, was commissioned in 1877 by Mary P. Carr, a wealthy White widow, and donated to the church in honor of two other wealthy White women in Warrens Episcopalian community Ruth B. DeWolf and Hannah Gibbs. There is little information about DeWolf and Gibbs, but its known that DeWolf married into a family that made its wealth from the slave trade. Its also known that the two women made donations to the American Colonization Society (ACS), which advocated for formerly enslaved peoples emigration to Africa in the first half of the 1800s. The ACS established a colony on the west coast of Africa in 1822, whic...

People believe lies for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes its because we dont know any better, and other times its because we need to believe in something, even if we know deep down its not true.

That said, these 15 people say these particular lies have worn out their welcome.

14. Family doesnt get a pass.

That when youre related to someone, particularly in regards to parents, all things should be forgiven and forgotten.

I wholeheartedly believe that when someone has been or becomes toxic, manipulative, abusive, or hurtful and has no intention of changing bad behaviors or treating you with any decency that these people should not get to be a part of your life, and that being related does not give someone a free pass to say and do what they want with no repercussions. Everyone should be allowed to feel safe and loved.

It is a heartbreaking thing to cut contact with people you should have been able to be safe with, and the decision does not ever come easy. Sometimes, it is a very necessary thing to ensure the safety and security of yourself, your children, or other loved ones.

The stories that have been shared in the comments associated with mine are tragic, and no one should have to go through these things, especially not alone. I am truly so very sorry for all those that can relate to what I have said, and how I said it. I hope you all find peace, comfort, and a solid support system.

13. The Old Lie.

It is sweet and fitting to die for your country.

This is known as the Old Lie, a lie that has been around for millennia, and one that is still around. Its a lie that hundreds of millions of young men over the course of humanity believed in...

Last December, and for the second time, Harvard University filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Tamara Lanier, a Black woman seeking ownership of daguerreotypes of her enslaved ancestors held in the schools Peabody Museum. But Laniers suit, in which she alleges that she suffered emotionally as a result of the schools retention of the images and its conduct surrounding her claims, will now forge ahead.

In a hearing today, April 13, the Middlesex County Superior Court in New Jersey rejected Harvard Universitys motion to dismiss and its request that Lanier amend sections of her complaint. Last summer, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court established that Harvard is not legally obligated to return the photographs effectively dismissing Laniers property claims but ruled unanimously that she could pursue a case related to the physical and emotional consequences she suffered. In that ruling, the court opined that Harvard cavalierly dismissed her ancestral claims and disregarded her req...

Living in Downtown Brooklyn, I did a double-take at the projected Google Maps journey to Bedford Park in the Bronx to view a group show called Queer Love at Lehman College Art Gallery. The hour-and-a-half transit with multiple transfers gave me plenty of time to wonder if I was wasting a whole day to see an exhibition that, by title alone, could easily just lean into the existing wave of White queer navel-gazing through self-centered portraiture accessorized with monstera plants and exaggerated color palettes.

But upon entering the gallery, I was presented with an array of 2D works by approximately four dozen LGBTQ+ artists from all walks of life. Not only did the exhibition content chip away at my intrinsic cynicism, but the deliberate considerations of materiality, scale, and craft emphasized the truth that queerness is something thats both visually and emotionally beautiful.

• A new study just revealed that the Benin Bronzes, whose repatriation to West Africa is an ongoing fight, may have been created from the same metal used in manillas, a form of currency during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. For Smithsonian Magazine, Sean Kinglsey reports:

According to the documents, the brass rings used to craft the bronzes were purchased by one country: Portugal. In 1548, the Portuguese king commissioned the Fuggers, a German merchant family, to supply 432 tons of manillas (almost 1.4 million individual bracelets) over a three-year period. From the Rhineland, the brass manillas were sent to the markets of Antwerp in Belgium, then exported to Lisbon before finally being traded in West Africa.

Portugals connections to the Kingdom of Benin are well documented. Portuguese merchants fir...

It is rather easy to hate on Blac Chyna. Thats because, for years, she embodied everything thats annoying and ridiculous in Hollywood. Indeed, Blac Chyna is the archetype of the celebrity thats a celebrity for no apparent reason.

After gaining some notoriety as a popular stripper in Miami, Chyna became a household name when she went out with Rob Kardashian, which lead many to wonder if she was trying to leech off the familys wealth and popularity. These suspicions were solidified when she filed a $100 million lawsuit against the family for defamation. She lost the case.

Meanwhile, Chynas physical appearance kept getting weirder as her face, breasts, and buttocks were artificially inflated using various forms of fillers and injections.

Then, like many other celebrities who are lacking discernable talent, she started posting pornographic material on OnlyFans.

Chyna quickly became a top earner on OnlyFans with porn content that included foot fetish.

In short, it was very easy to dismiss Chyna as a vapid, untalented, Hollywood harlot.

However, in the past year, Chyna basically reversed everything mentioned above. She shut down her OnlyFans account, reversed her surgeries, removed a demonic tattoo of Baphomet, got baptized, and became a born-again Christian.

Are we witnessing the miraculous transformation of Blac Chyna? Or is it all (as some claim) an attempt at rebranding herself and tapping into the lucrative Christian market?

Heres a look at Blac Chynas transformation and the hate shes been receiving from many, including her own mother.

From Blac Chyna to Angela White

In 2022, Chyna got baptized on the day of her 34th birthday. In March 2023, she posted a video of the baptism on Instagram with the caption:

I got baptized on 5-11-22 .. I was watching the video again and w...

When you imagine folk art, what kind of paintings come to mind? Bright, vibrant colors? A flattened-out, comic book-style perspective? Magical and mythical creatures stretched into otherworldly proportions? 

These attributes are all characteristic of folk paintings throughout the world, but the style is also found in European art before the Renaissance, when almost everyone painted this way. Medieval artisans of all socioeconomic backgrounds rich and poor, rural and urban, self-taught and formally trained conjured many-headed dragons and man-eating Tarasques, to be conquered and slain by heroic men, or sometimes tamed and leashed by intrepid women. But eventually, the arbiters of high culture began expecting paintings with techniques like vanishing-point perspective to depict the physical world in a more literal way. 

The fantastical medieval aesthetic did not end there, however. As Jews fled increased persecution in Western Europe, they brought their art with them. Most made their way to the Pale of Settlement, the swath of Eastern Europe in which they were permitted to live. Without the pressure to conform to the society they had left behind, they covered their wooden houses of prayer in murals of holy text illustrated by flowers, astrological constellations, serpents, lions, even unicorns. There once were more than two hundred such synagogues. Very few survived the Holoca...

Costco Misinterprets Mans Instructions for Birthday Cake and Results Are Hilarious

Costco will give you exactly what you know you didn't need.
by u/FlipDemStocks in funny

Throughout the years, cake decorators have fed the internet with (mostly unintentionally) funny creations. Nevertheless, this may be the first time a confection has elicited laughter due to its no-nonsense interpretation of a costumer's request.

For practicality purposes, Costco has customers submit their cake requests via a paper form, which offers little room for more specific customizations. That's why a man named Stephen Walker figured it was best to add some notes and a drawing on the back of the paper. His order reads: No writing/no designs. Only request red frosting on perimeter for top/bottom. To get his message across, he drew a rectangular sheet cake with a black pen, and used his daughter's magic marker to highlight the edges he wanted to be red. I was like, I got directions and a little illustration here. They cant mess this up. Right? the man said in an interview with Today.

Walker showed up to pick up the cake, which was meant to celebrate his daughter's third birthday, a couple days later. I picked it up Saturday morning and I was in a time crunch, the man recalled. To his surprise, the red border that would match the cake topper he had selected wasn't there. Instead, an exact replica of the drawing he made on the back of the form shone bright in the center of the cake. The Costco artist managed to keep the proportions on Walker's sketch and even included the black lines of the original drawing.

Confused, but in a hurry, he decided to shrug it off. He made a joke to the cashier about it, who offered to call someone from the bakery about it, but Walker declined. We were in a hurry, so I was like, Well, Ill just scrape it off.'

The man then decided to make lemonade out of these lemons, and shared the funny experience on Reddit. He posted the cake form alongside a picture of the cake with the message: Costco will give you exactly what you know you didn't need. His post quickly went viral, earning over 110,000 upvot...

Drew Barrymore Is Being Praised For Interview With Brooke Shields About Childhood Fame and #MeToo

Photo: Screenshot from YouTube

Since 2020, actor Drew Barrymore has thrived as the host of her eponymous daytime talk show. One of her greatest strengths is her ability to be vulnerable with her guests and discuss uncomfortable topics. This is exemplified in a recent interview with actor Brooke Shields. Shields went on the show to promote the release of her new documentary series Pretty Baby, which details the actor as she becomes a woman who discovers her power after being a sexualized young girl.

Barrymore and Shields were both child actors who never had anonymity before fame. In the conversation on Barrymores show, they sit closer to one anotherBarrymore sitting cross-legged on the couchand have a raw, honest conversation about their shared experiences in the entertainment industry as young girls.

The part of the interview that has gained the most attention online is their discussion of the Me Too movement that began in 2017. Barrymore asked Shields if she found that her experiences in childhood impacted how she felt about it.

This is gonna seem like a very weird turn, Barrymore said. But how did you feel about the Me Too movement, in the sense of, I didn't feel like I had a dog in that race. I didn't feel like I could speak to it, because I experienced things that were so inappropriate at such a young ageWe were children. How did that movement affect you? Did you feel like you could speak to it?

Shields understood, noting that she had trouble interpreting her own experiences. I was made to feel culpable, but at the same time you victim-shame yourself, Shields said. We were so young and it was so appropriate. I couldnt feel sorry. I didn't even know. I didnt know what it was. I didnt know.&rdquo...

Students in the art programs at the Rhode Island School of Design and at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, took to the streets this week in support of striking staff at both higher learning

All images Kanako Abe

After several years of working primarily with white paper, Kanako Abe has shifted to color. The Seattle-based artist is known for her exquisite Kirie worksa traditional Japanese art form that translates to cut pictureand shes recently begun to incorporate rich blue and gold sheets tinted with rust, indigo, and various materials foraged from forests. When I dye the paper, I dont know how the hue, color, or texture would turn out, but I just go with the flow, trust the process, and embrace the imperfection, she shares.

This sentiment contrasts the impeccable precision of her compositions, which often feature silhouettes, hands, animals, or household objects encircled by delicate botanical filigree. The idea to pair organic dyes with meticulous cuts was born in the early days of the pandemic, when in such state of the world, the attitude of trying to have control over something felt very stressful, so I started feeling out of alignment with my art making method, Abe says. This new method, which Im still experimenting and exploring, allows me to meditate on a thought that the world around us is changeable. The resulting works are as intricate as her earlier pieces, although they place greater emphasis on the limits and possibilities of human touch.

Head to Instagram for more of Abes papercuts and to peek into her process.

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While reproductive rights have been a prevalent theme in contemporary art for many years, instances when the event of giving birth does not or cannot take placesuch as infertility, abortions, and

Visionary Art Collective (VAC) is thrilled to announce its first in-person exhibition in New York City, The Lens Through Which We See, featuring six contemporary landscape painters: Bri Custer, Colleen Gleason Shull, Julie Avisar, Ekaterina Popova, Amanda Hawkins, and Sarah Boyle. Each intends to capture the beauty of the natural world while conveying a deeper truth, filtering her observations through emotion and memory. The resulting paintings are both a celebration of the land and of the artists interiority, providing a locus for the interplay of perceived reality and personal understanding. While deeply tied to a physical place, the work aims for transcendence, gesturing beyond what is seen to what is felt. Through particu...

On cruelty, kindness, and the song of life.

Pastel-colored apparitions of tenderness, magnolias are titans of resilience. They have been consecrating Earth with their beauty since the time dinosaurs roamed it, long before bees evolved to give our planet its colors, pioneering the exquisitely orchestrated pollination strategies by which perfect flowers survive.

Today, for a precious week in spring, they bloom to remind us that life is livable, then die to remind us that it must be lived.

When Western botanists first encountered these ravishing flowering trees on an island in the West Indies, they named them after the trailblazing French botanist Pierre Magnol originator of the concept of plant families and the first person to devise a system of natural classification, a century ahead of Linnaeus. The word magnolia was heartily adopted, so that by the time Linnaeus published his Species Plantarum, introducing his revolutionary binomial naming system, the magnolia appeared in it as a single species. Today, we know there to be hundreds, some of them deciduous and some evergreen, with the American evergreen species Magnolia grandiflora the most widely recognizable.

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Researcher Uses UV Light to Uncover Hidden Chapter of the Bible

Photo: Vatican Library

Recycling isn't something new. For thousands of years, different cultures have gotten creative about using the materials they had on hand. This includes medieval scribes, who were responsible for writing important manuscripts. When materials were scarce, they would look for existing texts considered to be of lower value and wash or scrape the ink off the pages. Then, they'd go about writing a new text on the fresh, blank pages. The result is something that modern scholars call palimpsest manuscripts. Incredibly, UV light can be used to reveal the invisible texta beautiful marriage of technology and classic research.

This has led to amazing discoveries. Most recently, medievalist Grigory Kessel from the Austrian Academy of Sciences was studying a manuscript in the Vatican Library when his UV light brought forth something spectacular. Hidden under two layers of text was a previously unknown chapter of the Bible. Written in Old Syriac over  Matthew 11-12 in the New Testament.

The tradition of Syriac Christianity knows several translations of the Old and New Testaments, shared Kessel. Until recently, only two manuscripts were known to contain the Old Syriac translation of the gospels.

Photo: Vatican Library

The discovery is important because it offers new insight into the history of the Gospels and how their stories were...

AI is the next big thing and some very cool things using this new technology are coming out. But, of course, scammers wasted no time getting in on the game. This time, they are using AI to make it sound like you are talking to someone you know over the phone.

Thats what Ruth Card, a 73-year old grandma, thought when she heard the voice of her beloved grandson, Brandon, when she answered the phone. When he said he desperately needed bail money, she and her husband went straight to their bank.

Image Credit: Rawpixel

Card told the Washington Post, It was definitely this feeling offear. That weve...

Study Suggests That Plants Cry When Theyre Stressed

Photo: Vrabelpeter1/Depositphotos

Forgetting to water your plants happens from time to time. Aside from wilting leaves, it may seem like there are no other signs that the flora is not doing as well as it could. Well, a study published in Cell suggests that plants do have a way of communicating when they are stressedby emitting high-pitched sounds.

Don't feel bad if you've never noticed it though. These noises range between 20 and 100 kilohertz, making them inaudible to the human ear. Actually, only some animals, like bats, mice, and moths, are believed to have the ability to hear these plant sounds. Likewise, the study found that plants may also respond to animal noises from their surrounding environment. Even if the emission of the sounds is merely a result of the plant's physiological condition, nearby organisms that are capable of hearing these sounds could use them for their own benefit, the study says. Moreover, we show that the emitted sounds carry information about the physiological state of the plant.

So, what triggers these plant sounds? It seems like major stress, such as lack of water and having their stems cut, triggers some plants to produce 35 sounds per hourcompared to healthy, uncut plants which make only one sound per hour. The study measured these differences by placing tobacco and tomato plants in small containers accessorized with microphones and limiting the water intake as well as trimming the stems. Although the researchers couldn't hear anything, the microphones were able to detect faint sounds. It is a bit like popcornvery short clicks. It is not singing,...

All images Vanessa Filley, shared with permission

Vanessa Filley describes a recent body of work as imagined cosmic map(s), charts that connect the traditions of fiber arts with the present and the artists own questions of finding ones place in the world. Titled In the Delicate Meshes, the series is comprised of sewn pieces that Filley likens to quilts, with stitches layered into symmetric patchworks of color and texture. I am interested in the energetic threads that orient and connect us, ground us in place and time, yet tether us to our ancestral past and futurethe lines that bring us home, she says.

Filley references artists like Lenore Tawney, Hilma af Klint, and the women of Gees Bend Quilters, whose practices connect to spirituality, nature, and ancestral histories. Taut threads and twists embody tension and connection between both ends of a stitch, the intricate structures of the works as a whole, and the long tradition of fiber arts. Each piece in this series is a quilted conversation, a way of taking the disparate questions and feeling of a given moment and mingling them with inspiration from the outside world and the work of those who came before, the artist says.

In the Delicate Meshes was recently on view at Vivid Art Gallery in Winnetka, and you can find more of the series along with an archive of Filleys works on her site and Instagram.

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Modern Terrarium Simulates Different Climates to Allow Any Plant to Thrive Indoors

In every plant parent's life, there comes a time when they feel a little adventurous. Once they've mastered common houseplants and succulents, they want something a little more colorful, or maybe something exotic for a challenge. But not everyone can replicate the tropical and humid conditions some flora demand at home. Luckily, there are modern hi-tech terrariums that can work wonders and be aesthetically pleasing at the same time.

The AIR 60 Terrarium by biOrb is a stylish spherical terrarium with a capacity of 16 gallons. It can turn your favorite plants into a decorative piece that matches any room, all while providing the ideal conditions any plant needs to survive. Instead of regular glass, this terrarium is made of acrylic, which is 10 times stronger, 50% lighter, and has a 93% transparency rating.

Unlike an old-fashioned terrarium, which is basically just a fish bowl, AIR 60 can replicate the conditions found in tropical climates. It comes equipped with auto lighting, humidity, and airflow systems to simulate the temperatures and humidity the plant would find in its native environment outdoors. There are six LED lights at the top within the dome that work on a 24-hour cycle, imitating day and night, to encourage natural growth.

In addition to the AIR 60, biOrb has an 8-gallon terrarium aptly called AIR 30. It may be half the size, but its just as effective. It can also simulate three climate settings to fit your plants needs: tropical for plants that require high humidity, semi-arid for cacti and succulents, and medium for temperate plants. To prevent them from growing and bending towards just one light source, the top cover houses an array of LED lights that you can program for 8-hour, 10-hour, 12-hour, or 14-hour light cycles.

Whether you consider yourself a green thumb or a plant newbie, these terrariums can help make sure your plants thrive within the micro habitat. They can sense when the humidity drops and gently adjust the air within the sphere using advanced misting and fan settings.

One of the biggest known issues with regular terrariums is that they beco...

La Causa (2020), Saint-Merri Church, Paris, France. All images Aryz

In vibrant blocks of color, Catalan artist Aryz creates multistory murals and diorama-like artworks that radiate within their surroundings. Known for his saturated chromatic installations (previously) that fill the sides of apartment blocks or stand as panels in grand interiors, the artist emphasizes an outsized sketchy style as if the pigment were applied with giant crayons or pastels.

Aryz often reveals a grid-like structure redolent of paintings underdrawings, but rather than cover the structure, he creates distinct compartments containing a variety of textural and compositional elements. While much of his work emphasizes a flat two-dimensional plane, murals like El Entreacto expand the grid and incorporate three-dimensional depth with shadows and cartoonish details that glitch or cut off.

Often featuring figures in early 20th-century garments, Aryzs dramatic scenes involve lions and circus performers, airplanes, or injured figures, evoking associations with early cinema and the First and Second World Wars. The murals locations provide incredible backdrops for the artists theatrical interior scenes, nodding to the rich history of crumbling old chapels or cavernous sites like Saint-Merri Church in Paris that have been damaged and reconstructed over many centuries.

Find more on his website, and see videos of his process on Instagram. (via Booooooom)

Artist Constructs Portraits of Famous Faces by Stacking Thousands of Books

There are many different methods to organizing your library. While some people prefer to sort books by title or author's name, others find enjoyment in arranging covers by their color. Well, artist Jordi Prat Pons takes this approach to another level by constructing massive portraits of famous faces, including one of Vincent van Gogh with the well-placed spines of 2,400 books.

Pons has been creating collage art for over 30 years, finding particular inspiration in working with paper and books. Many of his materials are donated by his followers, while others he sources through donations and thrift stores. After receiving about 8,000 books, he began working on the Van Gogh portrait during the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking advantage of the lockdown, I started an installation paying homage to one of the greatest individuals in the world of art, Vincent van Gogh, he tells My Modern Met. Vincent was writing all his life letters to his brother Theo and years later a book was published titled Letters to Theo. I would like to thank Vincent for everything he has given to the world of art and what he has given to the world in general. I wanted to send him some letters to thank him for everything.

Pons neatly stacked dark-colored books, ranging from black to burgundy to blue, to render the darkened background. Most of these texts are placed in horizontal piles, but occasionally, he has to account for the mismatched sizing by placing books vertically. These moody colors frame the portrait of Van Gogh himself, which Pons creates with a palette of pale yellows, reds, and whites. As a result of his careful placement, the image looks remarkably similar to the Dutch Post-Impressionist from afar. Pons has even made a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. and a c...

The Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe (CCA) on April 6 announced that it would be closing to the public for good. The institution in a press release pointed to the Covid-19 crisis, shifts in film