THIS WEEK’S FEATURED ARTISTS!

OUR BOOK GOES DIGITAL

Seeing our book enjoyed by humans never ceases to amaze us, but we’ve never seen an homage to our work quite like this! Our book trendsends the digital and real space with a little fun video from Brian B., a graphic designer based in Honolulu. Brian also had a little fun with our friends at Whalebone. Thanks for sharing your work with us, Brian! 🤙

WHAT MAKES A PHOTO “ACCIDENTAL?”

Although we get asked this question quite frequently, it’s kind of difficult to answer. Imitative Photography makes a great video to help answer this age old question. They discuss everything from light to composition, and we must say, they do a pretty great job 📸❤️

EPIC EMBROIDERY

Your creative talents continue to amaze us, and when we stumbled across Rene Onclin’s detailed embroidery work we were stopped in our tracks, lost for words, simply put, we were awestruck. We had no idea you could “paint” with thread, but Rene has truly turned his needle into a paintbrush with his detailed works centered around the subject of architecture. 

WONDERFUL WATERCOLORS

We love a creative challenge and we’re honored that Mika Smith included some of our AWA locations on their journey to sketch for 100 days in a row! From the teeniest post office to ice cream trucks, Mika offers a different look into iconic AWA scenery.

SNOWY SCAPES

Your winter wonderlands are preparing us for the snow to come! In the northern hemisphere we’re gearing up for winter, and here in New York City it’s getting a wee bit chilly. So this week we’re diving into some snow filled scenery created by our ultra talented Community Creators to get into the winter spirit! These pieces are sure to make you crave a cup of warm hot cocoa ☕️.

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church

Glistening above the busy streets of Panaji, this bright white church sits at the top of a crisp zig-zagged pathway. A sacred spot to the city’s Catholic community, the church is also held dear to followers of another doting faction–Bollywood.

Boston Navy Yard

Originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard, this patriotic totem to American history was one of the U.S.’ oldest shipbuilding facilities, which specialized in repairing, modernizing, and resupplying ships for 174 years.

Wharf Shed

New Zealand is famous for its distinctive and picturesque landscapes that grace its lands. Within the splendor of its pristine environments is the Glenorchy Wharf Shed that was utilized as a storage shed for the New Zealand Railways.

Half Moon Bay Jail Museum

Before a jail was built in Half Moon Bay, lawbreakers were held in a wooden shed in the backyard of a judge’s home – which also happened to be the town’s courthouse. The conditions were so bad in the shed that the town’s newspaper called for a new jail and in 1919, the Half Moon Bay Jail was built, still standing today as a historical museum.

Murdeira

Sal is one of the ten islands of Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa. Discovered in 1460, its name was revised to Sal (the Portuguese word for “salt”) when two large deposits were discovered.

Hotel Opera

A hot-pink confection of Bohemian Neo-Renaissance style, the Hotel Opera stands in the less touristy Nové Město, or “New Town,” quarter of storied Prague. It is a five-minute walk from historic Old Town—an apt reflection of Prague’s nonlinear relationship to time. This romantic city is a unique meeting ground for old and new, historic and modern.

Fire Observation Tower

At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day, 1885, a new forest preserve was created, ensuring that the 3 million acres of New York woodlands would be kept “forever wild.” Exploitation by loggers had left behind dry, barren land that was especially susceptible to fire.

Reefton Courthouse

Nicknamed “Quartzopolis,” Reefton was founded after the discovery of rich quartz veins, or “reefs,” in New Zealand’s Inangahua region. Quartz deposits often foretell the nearby presence of gold, as was the case here.

Hot Springs State Park

The aroma of rotten eggs rarely entices the senses, but should this pungent fragrance hit you while wandering through Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis, Wyoming, it means you’re on the right track. Pinch your nose if you must, but follow the trail to three soaking pools: the Wyoming State Bath House, Star Plunge, and Hellie’s TePee Pools. The therapeutic waters here, with benefits of boosting circulation, relieving bodily aches, and everything in between, have been enjoyed by the public since 1897–though Native Americans had been utilizing them for more than 10,000 years.

Midtown Bowl

Not many can claim the title of “accidental bowling alley owners”, but Aaron Goldman and Tim Schrager are among the rarified few. Midtown Bowl (originally Express Lanes), has been an Atlanta staple since the 1960s. Generations of Atlantans have journeyed here to roll at this landmark. Which is why it would strike such customers that it was very nearly shuttered.

Humayun’s Tomb

A monument to love, loss, and above all, wealth, Humayun’s Tomb is not only the legacy of Mughal Emperor Humayun, but of his first wife, Empress Bega Begum. The structure is an architectural wonder, and was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent, and the first to use red sandstone at such a scale.

Skyline

Curaçao is an island off the coast of Venezuela, with an estimated population just shy of 150,000. Although it is located in the southern Caribbean Sea, the island is actually a “constituent country” of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In the seventeenth century, the Dutch ruled the island and were very fond of colorful buildings— hence the vivid lineup that greets you at the harbor in Willemstad, the capital. It is meant to mirror the architecture of Amsterdam.

Great North of Scotland Railway

Despite its signage, this historic building in the small Scottish town of Braemar was never a railway station. The Great North of Scotland Railway line made its maiden voyage from Kittybrewster to Huntly in 1854. By 1867, this company owned and operated over 360 kilometres of rail, providing passenger service all the way to Scotland’s northern coast.

Zwölferhorn Cable Car

Known for being the setting for many outdoor scenes in the film “The Sound of Music” and as the birthplace of Mozart’s mother, the Austrian lake town of St. Gilgen holds a significant place in the world of music. It’s also home to the Zwölferhorn Cable Car, a two-cable gondola lift that transports passengers from St. Gilgen up to the Zwölferhorn mountain.

Hotel Belvédère

Built in 1882, the Hotel Belvédère is cradled by a hair-pin turn in the Furka Pass, a road that winds in dramatic loops through Switzerland’s Alps. In its heyday, guest rooms overlooked icy stretches of the Rhône Glacier and a grotto carved into the blue-tinged ice.

El Rastro Flea Market

Europe’s biggest open-air flea market, El Rastro, is often said to be the northernmost neighborhood of Africa. Each Sunday morning, for more than 400 years, this pop-up souk has meandered through the streets of Barrio La Latina and been a pilgrimage for Madrileños (Madrid’s residents) searching for Spanish antiques, quirky second-hand goods and wartime curiosities not found anywhere else in the city.

Húsavik Light

Sixty-six degrees north of the equator, off the northeastern coast of Iceland near the Arctic Circle, the brightly painted Húsavik Lighthouse spends the winter in near-perpetual darkness.  On December 21, the sun is out for a total of two hours and forty-five minutes.  

Futuro House

No, you’re not looking at a UFO, nor are you on the set of a movie. What you see here is a Futuro House. One of less than 100 ever produced, providing owners a taste of the “Jet and Space Age way of living”.

Designed in Finland in the 1960s as a hopeful solution to the world’s housing shortage, these prefab, fiberglass, flying-saucer domiciles were created to be “quick to heat and easy to construct in rough terrain”. Unfortunately the dream was not realized.

Ascensor Da Bica

Built in 1892, the charming Ascensor Da Bica is one of Lisbon’s three funicular railway cars.  A funicular railway car differs from a standard tram through its reliance on its twin.  Two passenger vehicles are pulled on a slope by single cable looped around a pulley wheel at the top.  The pair move in perfect synchronicity: one vehicle ascends as its descending partner counterbalance it. 

Malley’s Chocolates

Towering over Interstate 480 on the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio, written in large letters on the pink cylindrical storage tanks of Malley’s Chocolates, are the three ingredients that make chocolate delicious: cocoa, milk, sugar.

Historic Line 7

Though much of the world was introduced to Turin (or Torino, “little bull”) as the host of the 2006 Winter Olympics, it was actually the first capital city of Unified Italy, in 1861. When celebrations kicked off for the 150th anniversary of that Unification, the Turinese launched a “moving museum,” via the revival of its Historic Line 7 tram.

House on S Atlantic Avenue

Just south of Daytona Beach on Florida’s east coast, the unincorporated community of Wilbur-by-the-Sea offers a more intimate kind of coastal living. The community is one of two in its county that doesn’t have condos or a hotel. Instead, the streets are lined with beachfront homes — just like the pleasantly pastel-colored House on S Atlantic Avenue.

Kohekohe Church

Among the definitions for Awhitu are “a longing to return” and “to yearn for.” This New Zealand peninsula delivers on either interpretation. Perched amid a vision of serenity that anybody would yearn for sits Kohekohe Church.

Marfa Central Fire Station

Founded in 1883 as a water stop to replenish the steam engines running trains between San Antonio and El Paso, Marfa (Russian for “Martha”) was named by Hanna Maria Strobridge.  Hanna, the wife of a Southern Pacific Railroad executive, was given the task of naming water stops along the new line by her husband.  A voracious reader, she was inspired by a character in Jules Verne’s Michael Srogoff (a handful of other water stops also bear the names of characters from Verne’s work).

Eastern Columbia Building

Amid the glitz and glamour of early Hollywood, the stunning Eastern Columbia Building became a star unto itself. Built in 1930, the thirteen-story Art Deco building was constructed in the Broadway Theater District of Downtown Los Angeles. One of the city’s most photographed buildings, it is considered the greatest surviving example of Art Deco architecture in L.A.

Laurel Tavern Donuts

It takes dedication to begin making fresh doughnuts from scratch everyday at 3 a.m., but that’s just what husband and wife, Will and Jin Kwon do to ensure the freshest doughnuts hit the display cases by the time they open their doors at 5:30 a.m.

Ice-Fishing Shacks

Devoted owners of ice shanties agree: “We do not have ice-fishing seasons in Ontario—only fishing seasons.” In other words, these humble winter homes do not merely provide accommodation for some sort of recreational activity. They enable a way of life.

Surf Life Saving

Members of Surf Life Saving New Zealand (SLSNZ) are “In it for Life” – a motto that is actualized by member’s lifelong commitment and passion to lifesaving. Founded in 1910, SLSNZ is a national association that represents the 74 Surf Life Saving Clubs in the country.

Saltburn Cliff Tramway

When the railroad came to Saltburn-by-the-Sea in the 1860s, it brought tourists seeking a beach holiday. To accommodate and entice vacationers Saltburn Pier was built, but with one issue: to reach the pier from town, visitors had to descend precarious cliffs. As problems are the genesis of all solutions, the oldest operating water-balance lift in the United Kingdom was constructed to safely descend visitors down the cliffs.

St. Vincent Pilgrimage Church

It all started with an avalanche & a flask of Holy Blood. At the foot of Großglockner – the tallest mountain in Austria – the majestic St. Vincent Pilgrimage Church presides over the valley. But its epic location in the central eastern Alps is no match for its supremely epic origin story.