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In the Artist’s Studio: Watching @wolfbat’s Carvings Come to Life

To see more photos of Dennis’s work—and the work of people who inspire him—follow @wolfbat on Instagram.

Under his art moniker Wolfbat (@wolfbat), New York City-based artist Dennis McNett uses Instagram to share the process behind his huge, intricate wood cuts and sculptures.

"Everything I do is hand carved with a chisel," says Dennis. While sometimes it’s hard to capture in a photo, "I try to show the process from start to finish to give a better idea of what people are looking at when viewing my work. It’s also fun to show some of the big sculptures I make for performance, which are then burned afterwards."

Dennis first heard about Instagram from his interns, he says. “They kept talking about it and encouraged me to join.” After signing up, however, his captivating wood cuts and sculptures—which take the form of Viking ships, dragons and other mythical creatures—quickly found an audience.

The Instagram community is also a source of inspiration. “I use Instagram to share my work,” which Dennis says is strongly influenced by the imagery of the early 80s skating and punk rock scene, “but also to see other peoples work and share things that inspire me.”

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Spotlight: St. Petersburg

Spotlight Since launching, we’ve seen Instagram spread from our headquarters in the Bay Area to every corner of the globe. In this series we’ll highlight top users from countries and cities with thriving Instagram communities.

"Rocks or stones, explain it as you want, but there is a mystery to St. Petersburg—it really affects your soul." Joseph Brodsky.

St. Petersburg is often called the cultural capital of Russia, but Russian poets such as Joseph Brodsky have highlighted that there is something even more special to the city. With a population of 5,000,000, for several centuries St. Petersburg has been a center for creative people to come together from throughout Russia. Now, the city is home to a growing Instagram community organizing InstaMeets and gatherings.

Want to see St Petersburg for yourself? We’ve gathered together a group of our favorite Instagrammers sharing photos and videos from the heart of St. Petersburg:

• Vera Rolle, rooftops and nature – @verarolle


• Maka Smirnova, foggy landscapes – @maka_smirnova


• Stanislav Liepa, portraits and cityscapes – @liepa_s


• Danya, portraits and InstaMeets – @tertiusalio

To explore the city in depth, you can also browse the location pages for some of St. Petersburg’s most popular landmarks:

• Дворцовая площадь/Palace Square - probably one of the most famous locations in the city, with Alexander’s Column in the middle


• Государственный Эрмитаж/Hermitage Museum, see inside the city’s museum of art and culture and the most famous


• Vasilyevsky Island/васильевский


• Tsarskoye Selo/Palace of the Tsars - one of St. Petersburg’s biggest parks with the baroque Catherine Palace and the neoclassical Alexander Palace.

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Weekend Hashtag Project: #WHPliquidlandscape

Weekend Hashtag Project is a series featuring designated themes & hashtags chosen by Instagram’s Community Team. For a chance to be featured on the Instagram blog, follow @instagram and look for a photo announcing the weekend’s project every Friday.

The goal this weekend is to take creative landscape photos that feature water. Some tips to get you started:

• Keep an eye on the weather, as the environment will help set the mood for your shot. Sunny skies make for crisp photos, while grayer days tell a more somber story. As winter comes to the northern hemisphere, those in cold climates can also use the newly-forming ice to set a snowy scene.


• Even if you don’t live near the ocean or within easy distance to a lake, you can still participate. Look for rivers, ponds, swimming pools or puddles to photograph.


• There’s a lot of room for creativity when photographing landscapes with water. In addition to traditional landscape photography, think about the possibilities that slow-shutter techniques and reflection shots create.

PROJECT RULES: Please only add the #WHPliquidlandscape hashtag to photos taken over this weekend and only submit your own photographs to the project. Any image taken then tagged over the weekend is eligible to be featured right here Monday morning!

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Off the Beaten Path at Art Basel Miami Beach: Touring Wynwood with @shaynabatya

To view more photos and videos of Wynwood, follow @shaynabatya and browse the #WynwoodWatcher hashtag.

Art Basel Miami Beach (@artbasel), one of the world’s leading Modern and Contemporary art shows, began Thursday. More than 250 galleries from across the globe take part and past events have seen more than 50,000 visitors flock to the fair’s main site at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

During Art Basel week, street art enthusiasts often venture beyond the Convention Center to the small neighborhood of Wynwood. Street art legends like Shepard Fairey (@obeygiant), Futura (@futuradosmil), Kenny Scharf (@kennyscharf) and Martha Cooper (@marthacoopergram) often visit Wynwood alongside up-and-comers like Johnny Robles (@johnny_robles), Evoca1 (@evoca1), Ever (@eversiempre) and Never (@never2501).

For Miami Instagrammer and photojournalist Shayna Batya (@shaynabatya), Wynwood is home all year round. “I believe that there is no place on earth like Wynwood,” she says. “I like to think of Wynwood as an outdoor art gallery. Most of the international street artists who visit to paint on huge walls are surrounded by other painted walls, among even more painted walls. What a privilege it is to see such high-caliber street art on a normal basis.”

Driven by her passion for Wynwood, Shayna documents the neighborhood’s many murals and shares them with people around the world through the #WynwoodWatcher hashtag. Tune in to her account, @shaynabatya over the coming days for photos and videos from the fair and browse the #WynwoodWatcher hashtag for more images of the street art in her neighborhood.

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Remembering Nelson Mandela

To view more photos and videos from Instagrammers remembering Nelson Mandela, visit the #madiba, #mandela and #nelsonmandela hashtags.

People around the world are gathering to remember and celebrate the life of Nelson “Madiba” Mandela who died late on Thursday. Mandela led the fight against apartheid in South Africa. In 1963, he was arrested and spent the next 27 years in prison. Local and international pressure for his release escalated in the late 1980s, and on February 11, 1990 he was released from prison Mandela was elected President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first black South African to hold the office.

Crowds have grown outside Mandela’s house in Johannesburg as people all over the world remember and celebrate his life. To see more images and videos from the many vigils taking place today, visit these location pages:

• Nelson Mandela’s Former House, Soweto


• Nelson Mandela Square, South Africa


• South Africa House, London


• Houghton, around the site of Mandela’s home in Johannesburg, South Africa

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Celebrating Hannukah on Instagram

To see more photos and videos from Hannukah celebrations around the world, browse the #Hannukah, #Chanukah, #dreidel and #menorah hashtags.

Over the past eight days, Jews across the world have come together with family and friends to celebrate Hannukah, the festival of lights.

Hannukah, also spelled Chanukah, begins on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev, causing the timing of the holiday to vary each year between late November and late December. The festival commemorates the Maccabee rebellion of 167 BCE, when a Jewish group regained control of their Temple in Jerusalem after it had been occupied by Syrian-Greek soldiers. They set out to burn ritual oil in the Temple’s menorah for eight days to purify the holy space, but found there was only enough oil left to burn for one day. As the story goes, however, the oil miraculously burned for the full eight days.

Now, Jews celebrating Hannukah come together at sunset to light candles in their own menorahs—one a night for eight nights in memory of the ancient miracle. Other Hannukah traditions involve spinning the dreidel—a traditional children’s game—and eating fried potato pancakes called latkes.

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"The Kelpies," Andy Scott’s Massive Horse Sculpture

Explore Andy Scott’s work through the #AndyScott hashtag and see more photos and videos of The Kelpies by visiting The Helix location page.

Just days ago, construction wrapped up on The Kelpies , the latest work by Scottish sculptor Andy Scott.

The massive steel sculpture of two iconic Clydesdale horses is a central element of The Helix, a multi-use park being built just east of the Scottish town of Falkirk.

The piece, which took 7 years to complete, stands over 100 feet (30.5 meters) tall and is built from more than 600 tons of steel.

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Hunting for the Perfect Christmas Tree

Want to see photos and videos of amazing Christmas trees from around the world? Be sure to visit the Parque Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Trafalgar Square, Vilnius, Hansaplatz and 30 Rockefeller Plaza location pages.

It’s officially December, which means Christmas trees will start popping up in living rooms around the world. The tradition of bringing a Christmas tree into the home can be traced back to 15h-century Germany, and the custom spread throughout the globe in the second half of the 1800s. Today, around 35 million Christmas trees are grown in America each year and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe.

Historically, Christmas trees were almost exclusively harvested from wild forests. Now almost all trees are grown on commercial tree farms where they are cut after about 10 years of growth. Many Instagrammers around the world visited both farms and forests to find the perfect tree and shared their search on Instagram.

by via Instagram Blog