Artist Jemison Faust has also been a personal organizer for over 20 years. Her latest series of paintings took inspiration from the original state of her clients’ homes when she arrived to straighten the clutter. “Before the Work Begins: Tipping Point Series” shows us the chaos of toys and other household objects along with the storage devices they’ve escaped from.  It is on view through this week at the Bromfield Gallery in Boston.

Made in NYC hosts a searchable database of products made in New York City.  Designed for business-to-business there is a selection diverse as its home city, from yarmulkes to neon to tamales to stained glass.  It’s managed by the New York Industrial Retention Network, a non-profit established in 1997 to strengthen manufacturing and save blue-collar jobs in New York City.

Antoinette Brocklebank, who lives not far from Belmont Park, has been sewing jockey silks for 40 years.  Married to a jockey, Brocklebank made her first silks for family members and found herself in business soon after when word spread of her sewing skills.  She and her sister Anna Marie Miceli estimate they’ve made over 5,500 silks.  They’ve dressed Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown winners.  Business boomed after their black and yellow creation rode to a Derby victory on Seattle Slew.  The silks are actually made out of Lycra and the designs for New York races must be registered with the Jockey Club which allows 38 different body patterns and 19 sleeve patterns. Any color is OK, except for navy blue which can be confused with black.

The orange basketball rims on public courts in New York City stand up to a lot of abuse.  Although other cities buy factory-made rims, the blacksmiths of New York’s parks department handcraft these sturdy steel rims. The design “has been kept in a dusty composition notebook in the center of the cavernous workshop.”  Its origins are unknown but harken back to a time when everything possible was made locally instead of ordered from a national manufacturer.

The New England Belt Sander Racing Association resulted from a 1988 discussion of possible Olympic Games woodworking events. Belt sander racing was deemed the safest of the options and since then a group of self-proclaimed lunatics have gathered every year or so to misuse the power tool. The races became so popular that they had to take a hiatus a few years ago. They were back this month with participants expected from other power tool racing associations. Speed is not the only factor as trophies have been presented in revered categories such as “Most Spiritually Bereft.”

I remember turning around in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and unexpectedly coming face-to-profile with “Whistler’s Mother,” a painting I thought would be residing in the United States. But there it was amongst a wealth of French paintings, frame after frame of the greatest hits from the impressionist and post-impressionist periods. The museum is undergoing a renovation and selections from the collection are on two tours, both stopping in San Francisco.  Right now, the de Young Museum is hosting “Birth of Impressionism” through September 6th.  Soon after, the post-impressionists get their turn. It’s “a masterpiece everywhere you turn”, and Whistler’s mom gets to see her home country.

Seattle’s School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts’ Annual Spring Showcase is this weekend. SANCA began six years ago with five students and now they offer everything from “Baby & Me” classes to all ages family classes to advanced skills and master classes.  We attended the afternoon Spring Showcase last year with Seth and watched an extra treat afterwards: how circus artists rescue an Aerobie from a tree.

My husband (aka dadhacker) needs new earbud covers and, having been raised by the kind of thrifty mother who would buy marked down cans of food with missing labels, he picked the most cost effective replacements. Soon, 400 earbud covers for a mere $6.95 will arrive at our house. Paying no attention to my quips about listing them on eBay for a modest markup or that we’d all have neural implants long before they run out, he simply remarked that we could pass them down to succeeding generations as family heirlooms.  In a well meaning attempt to remedy my unfortunate situation, a friend provided me with the following list of earbud cover applications:

• Wear them on your fingertips.
• Use them as very small, inefficient sponges.
• Add water to them and declare them defective magic capsule dinosaurs.
• Poorly construct some sort of lumpy poodle or sheep.
• Make fake beards and mustaches.
• Regift them individually to be known as the worst gift-giver ever.
• Rest assured when the Earbud Cover Shortage of 2011 arrives, you will be regarded as kings.
• Put them on Lego minifigs as fashionable berets.
• Put them on a doll to get instant Princess Leia hair buns.
• Spill them all on the floor and roll over them and pretend you are rich in some foreign currency.
• Send them to Lady Gaga’s costume designer for her next music video.

Word on the street is that if you actually count them, you’re usually short a few so perhaps the situation is not as dire as I believe it to be.

San Francisco artist Emiko Oye has a lovely line of jewelry made from repurposed Lego, some set with gemstones.  Maybe if I show this to my son he’ll be inspired to make something for me that isn’t a weapon from Star Wars.

One of the early skyscrapers, Seattle’s Smith Tower rises 42 floors and is topped by a pyramid shaped Gothic cap. Completed in 1914, the building’s steel frame is wrapped in white terra cotta, with granite on the 1st and 2nd floors. Smith Tower is primarily an office building (with an observation room and deck), but there is actually someone residing under that Gothic cap. There 37th floor was originally a caretaker’s apartment and a 10,000 gallon water tank sat above it. Now that pyramid of space is occupied by a very lucky tenant who has a spectacular view. (revelation via Redfin)