Et Tu, Halloween?

While I’m not advocating “matching” your art to the holidays, I couldn’t resist writing about Brian Dettmer’s awesome, recycled-cassette-tape art for Halloween. I spotted Dettmer’s sculls at an art fair years ago and have never been able to track him down. The combination of the sadly dead music format and skull shape just spoke to me. So clever! And what makes them better are his tape choices. Here’s he’s got Mötley Crüe’s “Shout At the Devil” across the jaw. Perfect. Now I wonder what he would do with the saddest cassette-culture loss: the mixed tape.

Thanks to Inhabitot and Design Boom for tracking him down.

Want to see more cool skull art? Check out Noah Scalin’s “Skull-A-Day” project.

Fall’s Hottest Design Trends

Everything for the home from dinnerware designed by Angelina Jolie’s tatoo-artist (left), to South African-made wool ottomans that looked like stones, were presented to buyers and interior designers and the press at the N.Y. Gift Fair last week.

Buying ramped up a bit according to this — very hurt — segment of the market. The general consensus was more hopeful than at the previous, January market.

Color Trends from the New York Gift Fair

Sick of your chocolate-brown-and-sea-blue color scheme? We are, too.

And if you’re spending more time at home it’s only natural to want to freshen up the place. Check out my latest post for Richmond Home magazine about color trends for 2009/2010. This week, I’ve revived my When in R•Homeblog to report on what’s happening from the New York International Gift Fair, a twice-yearly trade show for interior designers, shop owners and other tastemakers in home design.

Things got exciting on Tuesday, when I spied designer/potter/reality-show host Jonathan Adler hanging out near his booth. [Remember my post about how Adler designed the Barbie Dream House for the doll's 50th birthday?] Ah, the glamorous life …

Brunch Porn for Your Weekend Enjoyment

This weekend don’t forget the most important meal of the week. Here’s a mouth-watering example of it’s import: two poached eggs over cheese grits with house made pork sausage and smoked pork jus. And of course a savory bloody Mary.

This week’s brunch porn is from Cookshop in Chelsea, N.Y.

What’s your favorite brunch spot?

Lets Go Native American on This Economy!

German artist Anna Jandt created a horse's head for this room, which makes me think of "The Godfather" but she says serves as "a comment on the anonymity and overpowering nature of posh hotel rooms."

Has the Great-Recession squashed your grand travel plans? Here’s an idea: Barter for your hotel!

That’s right, why exchange Benjamins when you can trade?

Berlin’s Hotel Marienbag is offering artists free accommodations in exchange for a work of art. The catch is that the artist must come from outside of Berlin, and, well, you have to be an artist. But that’s great news for U.S. artists interested in checking out the art mecca that is Berlin. Prost to that!

The program is coordinated by Susanne Pfeffer a curator at Berlin’s Kunst-Werke Institute of Contemporary Art, who says conceptual artists, sculptors and painters are welcome to participate and stay at the hotel.

[via DesignBoom]

Special Assignment: Queen Celebutante Jumping Penthouse?

Tinsley Mortimer at New York Fashion Week, 2006. Photo by Scott Elmquist.

Now I know what it must be like to write for InTouch. I didn’t resort to going through garbage or bribing hairdressers, but when I got a call from Style Weekly to cover the Tinsley Mortimer divorce rumor, I jumped to action.

Yup, that’s right. Ace New York divorce reporter at your service.

Read the sizzling tale here.

A Moment at The Met

At The Metropolitan Museum of Art this Sunday, these two people stood in front of “Mark” by photorealist painter Chuck Close for ages. Close’s work has that “how did he do it?” affect on people. This photograph reminded me of one of my favorite artists, photographer Laurie Victor Kay, and her “Au Musee” series in which she captures kids in museums. There’s something wonderful about the contrast of the innocent kids next to complex and weighty works of art.

I love the idea of watching people look at art. Not because I want to critique how anyone takes it in, just because I like to see the setting a work is placed in. And when you look at art in galleries and museums, you’re not usually alone, so those other people become part of the experience, too.

Above is her “Decapitation” taken at Paris’ Musée d’Orsay in front of Henri Regnault’s 1870 “Summary Execution under the Moorish Kings of Grenada.” I’m captivated by this sweet little girl and her chubby arms being exposed to that gruesome painting before her. I hope she’s not scarred for life.

Whose the Genius Behind the Marilyn Graffiti?

Marilyn Monroe is everywhere. Well, at least her iconic ‘do is. I spotted Spock wearing it — and looking rather debonair — in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. (That’s my husband there in the striped socks; he’s not part of the graffiti.)

The black-and-white, paste-up style is the craftiness of L.A. graffiti artist Mr. Brainwash, a.k.a. MBW. He’s Marilynized others, too. Madonna and Angelina also get graffiti makeovers in New York. Here’s a cool Flickr collection of more pop-culture inspired street art by Mr. Brainwash. And the L.A. gallery that represents him. [Photo below by Timothy Schenck.]

These made me wonder if Michael Jackson’s image will have such staying power 50 years from now …

Millennials Speak at New Museum Triennial

This post is almost cruel to write.

I just barely made it the the New Museum’s amazing “The Generational: Younger than Jesus” show on its very last day, but it was just too good to keep to myself.

The theme was simple: artists from around the world aged 33 and younger. Unlike the Whitney Biennial, which concentrates on America’s new art talent, this inaugural triennial is a worldwide view of the next generation of artists. And in my opinion, every three years will not be enough. 

The exhibit was a fascinating indication of our times. A cacophony of themes: war, violence, government corruption, materialism and social media.  I missed Ryan Gander’s white track suits embroidered with blood stains worn by the attendants, but I definitely didn’t miss the installation of a woman asleep on a bed in the middle of the gallery. She didn’t move an inch. It was fun to stand nearby and see the looks on people’s faces as they circled the bed not noticing the sleeper until … surprise! a person’s in there. I later learned that Chu Yun’s piece is made up of the materials: “female participant, sleeping pill and bed.” No wonder she didn’t move.

Here’s a run-down of my favorite moments in exhibit:

Sunset over The High Line

The newly opened High Line park is part of the return-to-nature going in New York with parks, green markets and cloth bags everywhere.

Architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (the only architects to ever win a MacArthur “genius” Award) and landscape architects James Corner Field Operations designed a heavily planted and interesting promenade. Aside from some benches and a few double-wide wooden recliners, there isn’t much sit and hang space. It’s more of a stroll and view — and what a view.

Looking West:

Who knew New Jersey could look so good.

 

Looking East:

 I love the idea of being just a few stories above the city. Close enough to see, smell and hear it all but in a removed, tranquil spot.

Quick History:

The project took 10 years: two area residents formed the Friends of the High Line in 1999. In June Section 1 opened from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 2oth Street in Chelsea, between 10th and 11th avenues.

Things Are Looking Up

What’s black and white and green overhead? This cute cottage kitchen. The black-laquer floor and white-cabinet kitchen has an unexpected apple-green punch overhead. Painting the ceiling is a fun way to add a shot of color to a simple room.

Death Becomes Him

Richmond artist Noah Scalin just released this amazing book, Skulls. It might sound strange but it’s actually quite beautiful. It all began when he decided to create a skull each day for a year and record them on his blog www.skulladay.com. I ran into him at Richmond’s First Friday Artwalk last week and he said he’s always had a fascination with skulls (he showed me a skull ring and his skull chest tattoo to prove it). The images in the book are fun and surprising - skulls made of soap, police caution tape, petroleum jelly, cotton balls, feathers, hair, coco puffs for gods sake! Pictured above are the vegetable and Vegemite skulls. (A fan from Australia sent him a jar.)  A testament to creativity and finding art in the everyday. There’s something about art made from everyday things that grabs me. Now it’s your turn, the next phase of his project is getting people to submit their own.

Barry Dixon Kicks Some Knowledge

Barry Dixon is the type of person you want around. He’s poised, articulate and smart. Smart enough to turn down Dick Chaney. Although, truth be told, he says he just didn’t have the time.

The D.C. interior designer visited Richmond last week to speak about his work and the secrets of his success. Interestingly he’s one of those people who has no secrets. He’s just good at what he does, almost intellectual about his interiors — so people, magazines, book publishers, furniture and fabric manufacturers come to him, and want him on their team.

Part of what makes his approach so unique is that it ’s global, if a bit Eastern leaning. As a child he lived in Korea, Pakistan, India, New Caledonia (a French island in the South Pacific) and South Africa and he incorporates those experiences into his rooms, not to mention actual antiques he brings back from his travels, singapore, France, wherever the lucky stiff finds himself. The photo above is the sitting room of his Warrenton, Va. estate. During his slide show one room that stood out was a porch with four club chairs and a round breakfast table. He designed the table so it would also crank down to a coffee table so the chairs could face the view. Brilliant. It’s all even better told through Dixon’s soft Tennessee twang, with his blazer-jeans-pocket-square bon vivant persona, it’s no wonder he’s hot. Oh and a book, Barry Dixon Interiors, just came out of his work, too.

NY Times Likes Pumpkin Pie

Richmond native Clay McLeod Chapman is a creepy, creepy guy. His short stories start out normal enough - a school kid, a housewife, a nurse, talking in the first person - but they always twist into a macabre O’Henry ending. The kid jerks off in class, the housewife has a crush on a death row inmate, the nurse marries dying soldiers. Chapman and his troupe of actors perform these short story/monologues, often with equally eerie songs, in what he calls “The Pumpkin Pie Show.” I wrote a profile of him in Style Weekly in 2005 when one of his stories was turned into a short film that went to Sundance. Today he got a glowing review in The New York Times. The current show runs through Nov. 1 at Under St. Marks, 94 St. Marks Place, East Village, (212) 868-4444. Check him out.  pumpkinpieshow.com

VCU’s Third “Genius” in 5 Years

When sculptor Tara Donovan was awarded a MacArthur “Genius Grant” just a couple of weeks ago, she became the third Virginia Commonwealth University grad to receive the prestigious award in 5 years. Go Rams! Donovan has made a name for herself by transforming everyday, man-made materials into natural entities. Her secret weapon: repetition. In her hands, straws become glaciers, toothpicks become haystacks, tape turns into bubbles. This spring she had an installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she turned Mylar tape into round bubbles, climbing the walls like an infestation.

Donovan received an MFA in sculpture in ‘99 from VCU. Since then, the program has been ranked no. 1 by U.S. News. Donovan follows in the footsteps of fellow VCU alumni Teresita Fernandez and Daisy Youngblood, who received MacArthur Fellowships in 2005 and 2003, respectively, both sculptors. Fernandez received her M.F.A. from VCU in 1992, and Youngblood studied at VCU in the 1960s. The first major survey of Donovan’s work opens at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston this month. Locally, gallery director Bev Reynolds, was the first to notice and show her work at Reynolds Gallery. Below is a detail of Untitled, 2006, a work made of paper plates and glue.

For More:

See my short  review of “Tara Donovan at The Met “in Richmond Magazine.

For more on VCU’s sculpture program, read “Inside the Studio,” a cover story I wrote for Style Weekly.

W magazine’s September feature on Tara and the home she built in Brooklyn.

The New York Times Sept. 23, Arts section story on Tara: “The Genius of Little Things.”

Mmmmmm … momofuku

It’s 35 degrees out and all I can think about is Momofuku Noodle Bar’s Ramen and Birkshire Pork goodness. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. This dish and this restaurant are no secret. Chef David Chang is the darling of the New York restaurant world having been named best new chef/restaurant by so many rags, even GQ named him Chef of the Year – do they even do that? New York magazine restaurant critics Adam Platt, Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld love Chang so much it’s almost embarrassing to read the reviews … and the best of lists … and the cheap eats write ups. 

But, oh, Chang deserves it. Lets take a closer look:The house noodle bowl combines Chang’s background: Korean heritage, southern upbringing and time in Japan. Just fatty enough, melt-in-your mouth Berkshire pork belly and shredded shoulder mingle in a stock made from chicken legs, roasted pork bones, ham hocks, and bacon. The perfectly compartmentalized toppings add a much needed veggie twist: scallions, snow peas, sliced bamboo shoots and sheets of nori that melt right in. But the pièce de résistance is the poached egg that breaks open and oozes warm yolk all in its business. mouth is watering now …And meanwhile you’re sitting on a bar stool watching the chefs put it together.

And this is what you’re starting off with: steamed pork buns with house-made pickles. 

Are you booking your flight now?

Momofuku Noodle Bar. 171 first ave. nyc 10003 | btwn 10th & 11th

Greek Dinner at the Chef’s Table

Last night I took an unusual cooking class that was two parts food-history lesson and one part cookng class. Maybe you could say it was food theater but it seemed more like eating at a great restaurant and being able to ask the chef as many questions as you wanted. In short, it was brilliant.

The class was conducted by smart and sassy Susan Eckis, a local chef and contributor to Richmond Home. She’s fun and funny and proved extremely knowledgeable about the origins of Greek cuisine. Some basic bits: Seafaring countries have more diverse food because it can be imported more easily. In Greece’s case it’s between Europe and the Middle-East, therefore contains attributes of both. (O.K. there were also great wine parings so I don’t remember all the details.)

Get the Party Started Right

What’s better than letterpress?
Affordable letterpress! That’s right. An almost unheard of breed of luxury paper good. But, alas, here it is: 3 tags for $10. And these cute wine gift tags are funny, to boot.
Two Richmond, Va. advertising execs birthed Popptags in the midst of motherhood. Parenting required a degree of drinking, I guess. They’ve just released a holiday line, perfect to kick off your Christmas cocktailing. 

Envying And George

If you’re into the graige trend, may I present Charlottesville, Va. shop And George. Owned by mother-daughter team Jan Roden and Kristy Ford, the shop, in a little vine-covered cottage on tony Ivy road, has a wonderful balance of antiques, earthy elements like horn-handled spoons and antique nature prints, and classic, clean-lined furniture. much of which they custom make themselves.

And now one of my favorite things:

Recession-Friendly Artist: Adam Juresko

Richmond collage artist Adam Juresko captures childlike images from magazines, books, catalogues, frees them from context and reimagines them in new settings. His works have a rough, DIY appeal. Although animals and guns can give them a violent undertone, they’re often liberated by birds in flight exiting a corner of the work. Juresko has work at J Fergeson Gallery in Farmville, Va. through November 2008 with most work around $200, check it.Here’s a video of Adam talking about his work, produced by RVA magazine

Tres Blessed

There just aren’t enough adjectives to describe the Tres Leches cake at Richmond Cuban spot Kuba Kuba, but heavenly, moist-as-hell, and damned delicious are a good start. This cute bodega-cafe run by chef Manny Mendez is a local favorite and great spot to bring out-of-towners. That’s exactly what happened last week when a group of friends and family gathered there to celebrate my birthday. Very lucky for me. Below you’ll see the aformentioned cake glowing because it’s pretty much angelic, with Manny proudly looking on from the left corner.

Manny’s mother bakes them fresh each morning. What are the tres ingredients, you ask? Condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream. Not for the lactose intollerant. My heart goes out to them.  

Next time: the California Huevos Rancheros…

Arm Candy

If you thought your mom was cool get ready to be upstaged. Richmond’s 1-year-old Ghostprint Gallery is a mother-daughter mashup. Mother Geraldine runs an art gallery upfront, while daughter Thea tattoos in back. Occasionally their worlds cross, as is the case this month’s with featured artist Amanda Wachob.

      

Wachob’s oil paintings satirize ’50s and ’60s advertising images of women with subtle feminist messages and give a modern take on the mid-century. Can we distain their ethics while envying their Eames? Why not.

        

If you like her art, perhaps you’ll let Wachob design your arm ink. (Yes, that’s a tattoo, don’t you love it.)

                              

“Bleeding Hearts” runs Dec. 5 – Jan. 31, 2009 at Ghostprint Gallery, Richmond, Va.

Tom McCormack Back at the Mic

You might remember him from The McCormack Brothers, his acoustic trio with brothers Mike and Dave, or Meanflower, his alt-country band (also with brother Dave). Today, Tom McCormack is on his own
… well, sort of. 
Tom just released a solo album, “Anxieties and Accomplishments,” a collection of catchy rock tunes that sound at times like Son Volt’s Jay Farrar. McCormack employed the help of an all-star Richmond crew: his bro Dave on organ, backing vocals by Regan, two members of Carbon Leaf on guitar and bass, and two former members of Agents of Good Roots. For the last three years McCormack’s been touring with Carbon Leaf so this is his chance to get back to his own work. Check out the first single.

Tom’s also an artist, creating work like the above acid-etched steel panel. The rusted panels turn up in warehouses he’s renovated in Petersburg, Va. (the acid he’s used for refinishing claw-foot tubs). He combines the two, and a fascination with industrial sites, to yield an almost sepia-toned memory of places most of us drive right by. More recently he’s explored buildings and streetscapes as subjects. See more here.

Does Europe Have a Sense of Humor?

 

 

 

Czec artist David Cerny decided to test the notion when he installed his sculpture ”Entropa” in the European Council building in Brussels. He was paid $800,000 to commemorate Belgim’s EU presidency with a work of art. His piece depicts unflattering stereotypes of the 27 EU countries in a map shape. Bulgaria, which was depicted as a hole-in-the-floor toilet, was the most miffed and removed its ambassador from Prague. Apparently the Czec Republic is already known for being somewhat anti-E.U. and Cerny also didn’t quite stay true to his propsal, which was supposed to involve artists from each country. He claims no bad intentions. He told The Times in London:

“I am seriously very pro-European. It would be a great pity if Europe would not be able to take this as a bit of satire and irony. If we are strong as Europe it should be OK for one nation to make fun of other nations.”

What’s the fuss? Here’s how he depicted some countries. You decide:

Bulgaria – a series of hole in the floor toilets
Netherlands – under water with minarets peeking through the water
Luxembourg – a lump of gold with a For Sale sign
France – the words “on strike”
Sweden – an IKEA cardboard box
Belgium – a box of chocolates
Great Britain – was absent from the sculpture, seemingly because of the country’s lack of interest in the E.U.
Germany – a series of roads which some say take the shape of a swastica, but Cerny denies it
Italy – a soccer field and players because of the country’s obsession
Spain – all concrete, representing the building boom that’s taken place in the last few years

 

 

Father and Son Shoot Kin

With cameras, that is.
In the current show at Page Bond Gallery, photographers Emmet and Elijah Gowin explore the same subject, a beloved aunt at the family homestead in Danville, Va. The photos are magical and sweet, taking us to a time and place where women wear housecoats and clothes are hung on lines. Do people really live like this? And if so, can we come over for some pie?

Father Emmet is a well known black-and-white photographer who’s been a mentor to Sally Mann (her son is named after him). His photos of Aunt Maggie were taken in the ’70s, like this one above. A similarity between his work and Mann’s can be seen in their everyday subject matter and the fact that there’s often some peculiarity lending the average scenes some intrigue.

Son Elijah, who just won a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, takes a more magical approach to his work. He took pictures of Maggie 10 years ago, putting her in strange hand-crafted scenarios he created with salvaged materials (like ”Maggie and Orbs” at top).  In the past he often digitally enhanced images he found online. His last show at Page Bond, “Watered,” in October 2006, featured images of baptisms he found and manipulated. The half-submerged subjects were startling and exciting. Were these people being drowned or saved? 

Another series of his work which inspires the same unsettling emotions is “Of Falling and Floating” from 2007. And in our post-9/11 world it’s hard not to think of the World Trade Center jumpers, yet there’s something joyful about them, too.

Accidental Tourist: Boatman on Brown’s Island

Usually when I’m on Richmond’s Brown’s Island it’s with thousands of other people for a concert or festival like the annual Richmond Folk Festival each October. But riding bikes there this Sunday on this sunny, 60-degree January afternoon, I saw something I’ve never noticed before. 

This sculpture, “Headman” by Paul di Pascuale (same artist who did the controversial Arthur Ashe statue on Monument Avenue) commemorating the African-American  boatmen whose skills helped downtown Richmond develop.  Also in the above shot is Richmond’s Federal Reserve Building to the right and the still-being-built, blue-glass Mead Westvaco building. (The paper packaging company just announced last month it was laying off 10 percent of its global workforce but construction on its headquarters looked to still be a go.)

Here’s another view of the bronze-wood-rock sculpture with the former Ethyl Corp. headquarters on the hill in the background.

SCAD President Shares Design Secrets of Eccentric Southerners

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the Richmond Academy of Medical Alliance Foundation (phew!) luncheon at The Jefferson Hotel with guest speaker Paula Wallace, the founder of the Savannah College of Art and Design. I’m not sure how one goes about starting a college, but in 1978 she did, and now it’s the largest art and design school in the country. Amazing!

 Here’s what’s happening at SCAD: 

Designer Isabel Toledo (recently of Michelle-Obama-inaugural-suit fame) is coming to the fashion school’s fashion week this year; last year “The Wrestler” premiered at its film festival; through its Working Class program, students actually design for major corporations (they do the photography for the West Elm catalogue, for example); they have an amazing shop of student work called Shop SCAD; and an incredible campus in the medieval town of Lacoste in the south of France. I don’t know about you, but I was totally blown away.

And if VCU’s art’s school isn’t jealous yet: SCAD just stole VCU associate dean Joe Siepel, widely recognized as the secret to VCU no. 1 ranked sculpture program. After hearing all that’s going on at SCAD, I can see what attracted him. I wonder if he’ll take me with him.

Paula picked up the antique dressmaker’s mannequin at a French flea market and cleverly paired it with a student’s triptych painting of a clothes line and placed them in the stairwell on SCAD’s to-die-for Lacoste campus.

But let’s talk design… 

Wallace is an educator and designer and her husband, Glenn, an interior designer, has renovated and decorated many of SCAD’s historic buildings around Savannah.

In her talk, Paula outlined her six principles of successful design:

1. Start with Art. ”Art can give your house surprisingly magic.”

The Wallaces began their upstairs hallway decor with four, regal and serious portraits, then kept adding to their collection with less important works and all of a sudden an incredible installation was born. Paula even said they have fun at dinner parties coming up with stories behind the characters. 

 2. Follow your Bliss. 

“Don’t be afraid of color, use it and enjoy it.”

In this Atlanta dining room the ice-blue walls are trimmed in black and a faux-regal border is painted around an antique screen. A park bench and mis-matched chairs welcome all to the table.

 

 

  3. Listen and Talk to the Architecture.

4. Be Eccentric. Express yourself and have fun.

The owners of this coastal South Carolina home hang a hurricane cross above the bed to ward off ghosts (not storms). The modern glass lamp is an unexpected contrast to the antique Italian daybed panels.

 

In their Savannah loft, the Tenenbaum family (yes, those Tenenbaums) hung a bold nude in a warm and textured room.

 

 

 

5. Create Your Own Art Installations with Collections. Wallace used an example of a homeowner who covered a wall with cuckoo clocks: One clock is German granny, many are fun!

In the Wallace’s former beach condo they used old recipes found in an old family home and decoupaged them all over the kitchen table. Children’s life vests are used as curtain tie-backs and a student’s art adds pop to the wall.

6. Make Friendly Spaces. With pools of light, round tables and intimate gathering areas. 

 

Several of the homes she discussed were featured in “A House in the South,” the charming 2008 book Paula co-wrote with interiors writer, Frances Schultz. Each home in the book embodies Paula’s love of fun interiors that reflect their quirky Southern owners. And from her talk, it’s obvious she belives that expressing your personality – and hopefully eccentricity – should be at the forefront when designing your space. Amen to that sister!

Ed Trask Shows Graffiti and Grit in Farmville

Deep tones, conflicted skylines, graffiti and grit play into the paintings of prolific Richmond artist, Ed Trask. We caught up with Trask while he installed his current show at Farmville, Va.’s j fergeson Gallery. Here he is with the largest piece in the show: a six-panel painting (depicting Route 5 near Rockett’s Landing in Richmond) that he originally made for an exhibit in L.A.

He broke it down for us:

If you’re familiar with Ed’s work you might notice that he’s been doing something interesting to with his skies and telephone wires lately. He says he’s felt re-energized about painting now that he’s experimenting with these linear elements. 

“I just feel like for every man made right angle, nature has a reaction,” he says.

This is where the painting began. Ed started by painting this angel-like figure, a Buddhist symbol which is said to lead believers to the next life. But something about that didn’t feel right.

“I realized I’m not Buddhist,” he says. And changed direction.

So back to the art around him: The work is set less than a mile from Millie’s Diner, where Trask works on and off, and depicts the coal-carrying trains that run through Richmond. He painted the tags of famous graffiti artists on the train cars. The small box on the yellow car is in the style of international tagger Space Invader.

 If you can’t swing the $12,000 for this 96-by-180-inch “Flowers and Bones,” there’s more to choose from.

These were two of my favorites in the show. LEFT is a long-gone Dairy King and RIGHT the Lucky Strike tower (now condos) behind Millie’s on the James River downtown.

 

And this one, “Trapt in Pursuit,” has a particularly awesome sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we were at the gallery, Trask was preparing a paint-by-numbers drawing for visitors to participate in during the show’s opening. Fun idea. 

 

 

And here it is in action at the opening. Trask has experience with the format: He often teaches mural painting to kids in much the same way.

 

 
If you miss this show at j fergeson gallery, smaller works by Trask will be on view at Richmond’s Quirk Gallery in March.

Your Fluffy Valentine

If licking and cuddling from a four-legged friend is the only love you’re getting this Valentine’s Day, enjoy it! And celebrate with art.

Sherry and John Petersik, who write This Young House, a great blog about their adventures in decorating, are creative beehives. They’ve developed this cute line of pet silhouettes in sweet, modern colors. And since the silhouette’s are in white verses the traditional black, they have a fresh, mod feel. And $20 for an 8 x 10 will run you not much more than a box of chocolates. Although if you’re hanging with the pooch this V-Day, treat yourself to some Godiva.

(If you’re in Richmond, Quirk Gallery carries the line.)

Random History:Silhouettes came about in the late 18th century in France as an inexpensive way to have a portrait done and are named after Louis XV’s finance minister who was notoriously cheap.

Breakfast Pizza of Champions

Let me begin by admitting that pizza is my desert-island food. I could eat it every day. But lets be clear, not that doughy, sorry excuse, Chicago-style, and definitely not with pineapple. Otherwise I’m smitten with that brilliant pie of my ancestors. So when I saw this New York Times Magazine recipe (adapted from the Big Sur Bakery in California), I jumped at the chance to make it for a crowd. The verdict: fantastico!
Hint: Save time and buy dough at your favorite pizzeria, then dress and bake.

Ingredients
Kosher salt
6 strips bacon
½ cup grated Parmesan
2 cups grated mozzarella
6 large eggs
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced
flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced chives
2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 shallot, minced.

Directions
1. Preheat the oven (and pizza stone, if you have one) to 500 degrees.
2. Fry the bacon in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until crisp. Cool on a paper-towel-lined plate; roughly chop.
3. Dip your hands and a ball of dough into the flour. On a lightly floured countertop, pat the dough into a disc with your fingertips, then drape the dough over your fists and carefully stretch it from beneath to form a 12-inch circle.
4. Generously dust the surface of a large sheet pan with flour and place the stretched dough on it. Sprinkle the dough with half of the Parmesan, mozzarella and bacon. Crack 3 eggs over the top and season with salt and pepper.
5. Shake to make sure the dough is not sticking. Carefully lift any sections that are sticking and sprinkle a bit more flour underneath. (If using a stone, slide the pizza directly on in one quick forward-and-back motion.) Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, rotating after 5 minutes. When the crust is golden, the cheese is melted and the egg yolks are cooked, transfer the pizza to a cutting board. Sprinkle half of the parsley, chives, scallions and shallot on top. Let cool for 2 minutes, slice and serve immediately. Prepare the second pizza in the same way. Makes 2 (12-inch) pizzas. Adapted from The New York Times Magazine, adapted from Big Sur Bakery.

Charlotte Moss on the Ideal Bedside Table

About a month ago, I visited mega-decorator Charlotte Moss in her Upper East Side brownstone to interview her for  R.Home magazine. What fun! She was lovely and incredibly schooled on design history. She made me want to lock myself in her library until I’d finished reading all of the gorgeous design books lining her shelves. Like most successful people, Moss has obviously done her homework in life. And she isn’t afraid to pull from the past — and admit she’s doing it. She takes her favorite elements from famous women of style and synthesizes them into something entirely her own, that’s elegant, detailed, and always comfortable.

I asked Charlotte to explain this nook in the bedroom she designed for the ”Designers Visions at The Laurel” decorator’s showhouse in which apartments were sponsored by magazines in The Laurel apartment building in New York. Moss decorated an apartment in the high rise for Veranda and it appeared on their cover in November. After hearing her answer, I think this photo is a great example of the level of detail in her work.

The Perfect Bedside Table
Moss sent a letter to all her clients asking them what attributes they like in a bedside table. She synthesized that feedback into this table. They wanted extra space on top so she created a pull-out slide for extra surface area. They wanted to make sure things wouldn’t fall off so she created a gallery ledge around the edge. A lower shelf is big enough for a basket to hold books and magazines. And, of course they wanted drawers, so she made drawers deep enough to hold a box of tissues, and all manner of remote controls. “It’s so nice not to have to have technology staring you in the face,” she says.

The Color of the Caribbean
As for the color palette of the room, Moss says the pale aqua blue with ivory combo felt right because of the glorious light in the apartment. ”The color to me is like floating up in a cloud in a high rise,” she says. The seagrass wall covering is by Phillip Jeffries. The four-poster bed is a Moss signature. “It’s like a room within a room,” she says. “People always say there isn’t enough room, but what you really do is sleep in this room so just because you have a small room you don’t have to sacrifice the bed of your dreams.”

Italy in the Living Room
The challenge in decorating this apartment, Moss says, was warming up a cold, contemporary space. She was inspired to decorate the living room with warm oranges immediately after walking in and spotting the terracotta church roof out the window. And she liked that the whole family of colors seemed to be sunny and warm and sort of enveloping.

“When you do a showhouse you always say, ‘who is this person? Who am I designing for. This, I imagined to be a pied a terre of a couple who got married in Italy and came to New York and walked in, like I did, and saw that terracotta roof.” The velvet on the sofas is by Schumacher and the paintings are of Venice, further bringing Italy into the apartment.

See the Whole Apartment
Check out a 360-degree video of the apartment here. You can also see the apartments designed for House Beautiful by McAlpine Booth & Ferrier Interiors, for the now-defunct O at Home by D.C. designer Darryl Carter and for Town & Country by Stephen Siegel.

Want more on Charlotte? Read my piece in R.Home. For a peek inside Charlotte’s own townhome, visit the New York Social Diary. See a recent Q&A with Charlotte at All The Best.

P.S. I couldn’t resist asking Charlotte what she thought about the Obamas’ choice of Michael Smith to decorate the White House. Here’s what she said:

“Oh I think Michael is a good choice. If I was going to decorate my own house, and I wasn’t a decorator, he would be in my top five because I love his work. There’s an ease to it and there’s intelligence and refinement without being overly done. It’s a great mix and I think that is really where they’re coming from. It’s about simplicity and it’s about that great mix. I hope it really reflects them.”

Looking at Architecture in a New Light (or Dark)

Never did the promise of modernism seem so shiny and new as when it was just that (before the roofs leaked and heating those glass boxes got so darn expensive). But before the fall, in 1929, two partners set out to photograph the new modern world like it had never been captured before. Art Deco, the World’s Fair of 1933, Frank Lloyd Wright — they were there for it all. Their shot of Wright’s “Falling Water” is said to have given it that name, see for yourself below. The firm of Hedrich Blessing documented the modernist movement and have one of the largest catalogues of Mies van der Rohe’s work. Although their dramatic angles and lighting did more than document. They brought the buildings to life. Ken Hedrich’s mantra was, “Don’t make photographs, think them.” I’d say he felt them, too. Here’s some of the firm’s legendary work:

 
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water photographed by Bill Hedrich, 1937

The art deco Field Building with it’s dramatic two-story lobby were designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, photographed by Ken Hedrich, 1932

Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, designed by Eliel Saarinen and photographed by Ken Hedrich, 1943

Crown Hall is home to the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, it’s one-time director. Photographed by  Bill Engdahl, 1956

I love the illusion created by the reflection in this photo of St. Paul County Courthouse photographed by Ken Hedrich, 1933

Chicago’s art deco Palmolive Building designed by  Holabird & Root, photographed by Bill Hedrich, 1939

Chrysler Pavilion at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair photographed by Ken Hedrich, 1933

To see more, visit “Building Images: Seventy Years of Photography at Hedrich Blessing” at the Virginia Center for Architecture through April 12, 2009.

20th-Century’s Most Influential Architects

I developed this piece for Domino magazine but, alas, it folded before the piece ran. So I present it to you here, in a series: 20th-Century Architects Most Influential to Everyday Design. Whether you pay attention to architecture or not, these are the people who’ve had an affect on your life, from what’s on the shelves of Target to what’s in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and where the Olympics are being played. Get to know these great men (and one woman) of design. 

 

Part I

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1886-1969

 

This German-born architect led the modernist movement trying to establish a style indicative of the times, free from unnecessary ornament and making use of industrial materials like glass and steel. He pioneered the skyscraper and ran the influential Bauhaus design school, emigrating to Chicago during WWII. 

 

Mantra: “Less is more” “God is in the details”

Seminal Structure: Seagram Building, New York City, 1958. Designed with American architect Philip Johnson, it’s considered a masterpiece of corporate modernism. Mies wanted the steel frame to show on the outside but because of code restrictions, he was forced to mimic the support beams with bronze-colored I-beams instead. An Alexander Calder sculpture sits in the courtyard. Inside, The Four Seasons restaurant was also designed by the architects and remains virtually the same today as when it was completed in 1959, featuring a who’s who list of mid-century touches including an adaptation of the Mies-designed Brno Chair in the dining room, banquettes designed by Johnson, lounge furniture by Eero Saarinen and private party chairs by Charles Eames.  

 

 

Go See: Farnsworth House, Illinois, 1951 (right). Outside Chicago, this weekend retreat proved that cold materials could create an emotional result.

 

Read Up: Mies and Modern Living, a 288-page book tracing his career and design highlights with previously unrealeased photos.

  

Mies van der Rohe at Work is a reprint of a 1974 book exploring the ideology behind some of his most famous works, peppered with insightful quotes from the architect like: “It is often thought that heaviness is synonymous with strength. In my opinion it is just the opposite.”

  

Written by a NYU professor, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, traces the development of the architect’s work with scholarly essays and plentiful photos and plans. 

 

Get a Piece: Barcelona Chair, $4,328. Constructed of modernist, steel tubing and tufted leather, a classic with many imitators. The original design was licensed to Knoll and is still being produced.

  

  

 

 

The chair was created in 1929 for the German Pavilion (right) at the World Arts Fair in Barcelona. The pavilion, made of glass, steel and four types of marble, was reconstructed and can be visited in Barcelona.

 

 

You Heard it Here First: Cheap Charm in Puerto Morelos, Mexico

Back in October, I wrote about a grass-roofed cottage for rent - $380 a week! – in the quaint beach town of Puerto Morelos, Mexico, just south of Cancun in a post called Love Shack. The New York Timesrecently ran a big piece about how the town has managed to keep developers at bay and held onto family run shops, B&Bs and fish shacks. Check it out. (Just don’t go and build a resort there, please.)

Rock Out in Charlottesville, Va.

Discover the next bluegrass and roots-rock stars in this music-loving college town.

WHERE TO STAY
To be within a quick walk to live-music venues, book accommodations in downtown Charlottesville.

The outdoor “Downtown Mall” is chock-o-block with venues. To be near the action, stay at the three-story Victorian 200 South Street Inn, right, (from $160). Request room 18 on the second floor, which is insulated from downtown’s rumbling trains. Fuel your night of living like a rock star at Asian-tapas restaurant Bang!, across the street (213 Second St. SW, 434-984-BANG).

Rub elbows with performers at the Omni Hotel (from $169), a three-star high-rise, popular with headliners at the state-of-the-art John Paul Jones Arena — named after a donor, not the bassist. If Keith Urban, Phil Lesh and Bruce Springsteen sightings are nil (they’re all playing the arena this spring/summer), take solace in the indoor and outdoor pools, seven pillows on the beds, and the unparalleled location on the Mall.

For easy access to the University of Virginia’s nightlife strip, “The Corner,” check into the Dinsmore House Inn (from $119), an exquisitely preserved bricked colonial. If you plan on finding an afterparty, request the Veranda Room for its private entrance.
Three blocks away on Elliewood Avenue restaurants such as Coupe DeVille’s and the Buddhist Biker Bar, above, let the party spill outside, at the latter on a generous fenced front lawn, with live reggae, blues or rock most nights.

WHERE TO EAT
Start your day with a coffee and potato-doughnut from Spudnuts Shop, below, (309 Avon St., 434296-0590), one of the only remaining outposts of the ’50s-era chain. A $6 a dozen of the fluffy, ultra-sweet glazed blueberry cake donuts will make you question the wheat-flour-based standard. Place your order before closing time at 2 p.m.

If you like to eat with accompaniment, Mono Loco, below, is a Latin-inspired eatery with live music on weekends. Order the tender braised pork burrito and pair with one of ten tequilas, or better yet, a blood orange margarita. Move out to the patio  at 10 p.m. where you can dance to local favorites like Appalachian klezmer act Accordion Death Squad or Bluegrass-influenced folk band The Whiskey Rebellion.

Enter the Coran Capshaw nightlife empire at Mas, below, an artisinal Spanish tapas and wine bar owned by the controversial real estate mogul and Dave Matthews Band manager — he’s the financier behind many of the city’s upscale eateries and new music venues, including the Charlottesville Pavilion. For small plates that eat like meals, order the “queso cocido con alcachofal” (artichoke and goat cheese) or the smoky “croquetas de jamon” (ham, Yukon gold potatoes, Manchego cheese).

Treat post-show hangovers with sausage and gravy and a generous side of grits from UVa-student favorite The Tavern (1140 N. Emmet St., 434295-0404). Or, stop into Riverside Lunch (1429 Hazel St., 434-971-3546) for a greasy and savory hamburger served on a mini paper-plate. The White Spot (1407 University Ave., 295-9899), left,  serves the legendary “Gus Burger,” below, a satisfying griddle-cooked cheeseburger blanketed with fried egg.

WHAT TO DO
Chock it up to the music-loving UVa student body, Virginia’s bluegrass legacy, or the success of the Dave Matthews band — Charlottesville has emerged as a mecca of Americana, folk, and roots-rock talent. And there are almost as many venues as there are great bands.

For the biggest talents, see a show at the Charlottesville Pavilion, a new, regal-looking outdoor amphitheater where folk-rock and country superstars perform — David Byrne (right), George Jones and Jackson Browne are booked for the summer. Kick off your weekend at the Pavilion’s free Friday After Five concerts, where up-and-coming local artists, like blues prodigy Eli Cook and eco-rockers Trees on Fire perform.

Find the next big thing at the Mall and the Corner’s smaller venues. For emerging blues and folk acts, duck into the subterranean Gravity Lounge, left, a living-room size coffee shop and music venue where local MacArthur “genius” Award-winner Corey Harris often plays his Rasta-tinged blues. Catch local folk singer Shannon Worrell on April 22. To hear buzzy indie-rock, plant yourself on a giant floor-pillow at the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, below, a cafe and small-concert space. Miller’s (109 W. Main St., 434-971-8511), the legendary pharmacy-turned-bar, is the place to take in live jazz. Check out Thompson D’Earth’s masterful improv on Thursday nights. The Charlottesville Music Showcase runs every Wednesday night at Rapture a restaurant/night club with a New Orleans vibe.

Escape to Charlottesville’s wine-growing country — for the music tie-in, of course. Set up a private tour and tasting at Dave Matthews’ family vineyard, Blenheim Vineyards, located 11 miles outside Charlottesville. Sample the Cabernet Franc, an earthy-red varietal that thrives in these parts. Back towards town, pick up fresh produce and eggs at Matthews’ 1,200-acre organic farm, Best of What’s Around. The farm sells shares to members and supplies crops to area restaurants; arrange by phone for a private tour.

INSIDER’S TIP
To find out which shows are worth their ticket-price, tune into local independent radio station 106.1 The Corner’s Live and Local show at 8 p.m. Purchase tickets in advance through Charlottesville’s MusicToday.com, a ticket and merchandise e-commerce site started by Coran Capshaw, and now owned by Live Nation. For a complete roster of show listings, pick up one of Charlottesville’s alt-weekly newspapers, The Hook or C-ville Weekly, in one of newspaper boxes on the UVa campus and the downtown mall.

AN ODDBALL DAY
Charlottesville bluegrass legends The Hackensaw Boys, right, are usually touring these days, but you can still buy their records and take your own road trip to the mountains that inspired their sound. Pick up their latest release “Look Out” at Plan 9 Music, a Virginia-based chain that carries over 300 titles from area bands. Pop the CD into the rental and take Hwy 64 west 30 minutes to the Shenandoah National Park and have $15 pocketed for the park entry fee. Enter the Park at the the Rockfish Gap South Entrance Station, following the legendary scenic Skyline Drive, left, at a leisurely 35 miles an hour. Keep an eye out for delicate, white trillium wildflowers in spring and early summer — the roadsides are left unmowed to let them grow. At mile 17.1, pull over at the Range View Overlook to take in a jaw-dropping, almost full panorama of the Blue Ridge mountains. Next, stretch your legs at the Blackrock Summit trail, below, an easy one-mile-loop trail at mile 87. To reach the 3,092-foot vista, scramble over the rocks at the end of the trail. After working up an appetite, motor back to Big Meadows Lodge at mile 51.2, a thirties-era roadside resort and restaurant. Chef Terry’s serves dressed-up home cooking — like braised short ribs and garlic mashed potatoes. Let Charlottesville’s independent stations — 91.1 WTJU, 91.9 WNRN or 106.1 WCNR — keep you company on the drive back.

Falling for it?

Two years ago I walked into the Irvine Contemporary gallery in Washington, D.C. to see this startling photograph by Brooklyn artist Kerry Skarbakka. I was transfixed and it stayed with me.

Recently I was reminded of Skarbakka’s work when I came across Elijah Gowin’s “Of Falling & Floating” series while researching a previous post on his recent exhibit at Richmond’s Page Bond Gallery. Both photographers explore a loss of control and those slow-motion, mid-air moments of terror or joy. Take a look…

ABOVE: Skarbakka’s “Studio,” 2002 

LEFT: Gowin’s “Falling in Trees 2,” 2006 

Gowin collects images from the internet and layers them together. He’s interested in questions of doubt and faith. Who are these people and what is happening to them? We know less information; their clothes are ambiguous and the locations a mystery.  

 

 

LEFT: Skarbakka’s “Trestle,” 2006

Skarbakka is the person in his photos. He harnesses himself, performs the stunts then photoshops out the harness later. There was a fascinating story in the Chicago Reader about him growing up in a fundamentalist commune in Tennessee with a militant stepfather and constant anxiety. 
 

Skarbakka said this series, called “The Struggle to Right Oneself,” was an artistic response to seeing people jumping from the Twin Towers on 9/11.

“They had released themselves completely,” he told the Reader. “They left the constructs of society, they left their family, they left their bills they had to pay. They left everything but the choice  of what they were going to do in their final moments.”   

Some critics called him insensitive especially when he staged a fall from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in June 2005.

I’m all for artistic expression but the office-setting falls are harder for me to look at, especially the one below. They almost feel like reenactments.

 

 

 

Elijah’s photos are more dreamlike. The falls suggest a peaceful, almost spiritual moment, rather than the helplessness in Skarbakka photos. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skarbakka’s latest series of underwater photos is called “Fluid.”

Interestingly, Gowin has a series of baptism photos called “Watered.”

Adler Gets in Touch with His Inner Barbie

This morning on NPR, they did a segment on the real Barbie Dream House in Malibu, Ca., designed by chipper designer Jonathan Adler. While I love radio, there is that one big drawback. So I scoured the web looking for an image only to turn up just one nugget, the living room shot below.

One of the more creative elements is on the wall just over the feather explosion; a mirror made of 64 Barbies (below). According to the AP, after a big 50th birthday party for Barbie tonight in the house, the custom furnishings will find a home at the Palms casino resort in Las Vegas where they will decorate a pink Barbie Suite available for bachelorette parties and other girly events. Other pieces will be available in September when Adler launches a “Jonathan Adler Loves Barbie” collection. Wow. Not sure about that one.

Adler was a good pick for the house, his peppy look mixes bright-whites and saturated tones with bold patterns and campy accessories. I’ve never been able to embrace the total Adler package, but he’s certainly likeable and I found some inspiration from some of his design work. Take a look:

ABOVE: I’m always love to see art arranged in interesting ways. Here he mixes figurative, abstract, black-and-white photography, he throws all sorts of things together. The same theory goes for the patterns, they’re just thrown together. It’s debatable whether it works, but it’s fun.

RIGHT: Here the mix works for me. The blue and orange are toned down just enough by the paneled walls.

 

 

ABOVE: A surprisingly restrained living room. Definitely mellow for Adler. I love those gorgeous sofas, classic lines in a buttery leather.
LEFT: The art makes it for me here. Are those the same woman? Aunts? Or just 60s babes? And that’s a fantastic green velvet on the chairs.

Mid-Week Desk-Chair Travel: English Cottage Escape

Lets go back to a time before the recession, a time when we did things like travel for fun and throw away paper towels and partake in the fine luxury that is the dry cleaners. Well I’m exaggerating, but I am feeling terribly vacation-deprived. So here goes the first of a new series of mid-week desk-chair travel pieces.

I dream of a solitary vacation, where I can read and rest and write and drink tea and sit by a fireplace and make like Emily Dickinson or Virginia Woolf (minus the depression and lesbianism). “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction,” Woolf said. So here tis.

Boy it would be a good novel coming from here. I’d call it: “Eat, Sleep, Chill.”

Seriously though, you can rent this cottage through the Royal Oak Foundation, an American booster-group for the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Cottages start at $352 for a week in low season. And now that the dollar is creeping up on the pound, you’ll get more pints at the pub than you could last year. 

From a jazz-era Warwickshire cottage (a holiday home to the 2nd Viscount Bearstead) to a cliff-edge lighthouse-keepers cottage in Devon, the properties are all historic and special – and staying at them helps support their preservation.

If you’re an Anglophile, you can join the Foundation for $55, which grants admission to more than 300 historic homes and gardens, 700 miles of coastline and 620,000 acres of open countryside, plus stateside lectures and events. Coming up is the 2009 Garden Tour of “New” Gardens of the English Cotswolds, which sounds amazing if the rest of the gardens are anything like this one below. 

Apparently the Cotswolds is where much of the country’s garden innovation is born. The group tour will have access to private gardens and meet owners and lunch on the properties. Sounds devine! Maybe I should skip the seclusion and take my camera to these gardens instead. Sounds like a great book.

Where shall we go next wednesday?

Robots Invade Brooklyn

One-time Richmond artist, Nick Kyuzyk, is still working on his robot invasion. A Culture Fix associate was recently in New York and spotted a Kyuzyk mural on the side of a bagel shopin Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Makes me wish I bought one of his paintings when they were $25 at Cafe 821 in Oregon Hill.

Kyuzyk’s last appearance in Richmond was at ADA gallery in September and according to a story in Brick Weekly at the time, he illustrated a children’s book for Penguin coming out July 2009.

Black and White and Cool All Over

A little Ikea goes a long way. Or make that A LOT of Ikea.
Richmond interior designer Janie Molster used this graphic, black-and-white Ikea fabric to great effect in her son’s room by repeating it for curtains, headboards and bedskirts. See, even designers shop at Ikea.

 

 

Here’s a latter version of the same room. No doubt an interior designer’s home is always in flux.

 

 
Molster is a master of mixing patterns and colors. I notice she often throws a black-and-white pattern in with other multi-colored fabrics and rugs. Below is a shot of her Swedish-cottage-meets-Southern-debutante  library that we featured in R.Home magazine. Although here the David Hicks fabric on the sofa is actually chocolate brown, not black (available through Lee Jofa).

And the fabulous mix of Iranian, Moroccan and Turkish tribal rugs in the dining room is totally unexpected, especially paired with the black-and-white wallpaper in the foyer. 

This room has evolved, too. Now the chair seats sport fragments of the rugs. A fun, and probably comfortable, idea. Molster also runs an online shop featuring some of her favorite pieces. See more of Janie’s design work here.

Mid-Week Escape: Far Out Stay in Austin

The South by Southwest festival is upon us, do you know where you’re staying? The first (and only) time I was in Austin we stayed at the super-funky (in a good way) Austin Motel, with its irresistible slogan: “So close yet so far out.” I remember we shared some pooltime with a band named Estradasphere who played a gig nearby. Although that felt like the quintessential Austin experience, this time, I’d like to bump it up a notch and stay at the five-month-old KimberModern.

Built by two women who love to travel and had hospitality in their blood. Partners Kimber Cavendish and Vicki Faust spent $1 million to build the modernist five-room hotel in the South Congress neighborhood. With rates at $250 to $320 a night it\’s a tad steep, but take a look at some of the cool features.

 Architect Burton Baldridge had to contend with a steeply sloped 1-acre lot. Because it was facing the back of a strip of stores, he decided to create an inner courtyard. I love the way they built the deck around the old Texas oak tree.

They feature three Austin artists’ work in the hotel. This bunny painting by Martha Gannon is fun and intriguing and totally makes the room.  

The exterior is clad with energy efficient concrete board that resist’s the sun’s heat, the windows and doors are made with low-e glass. Modernist details appearing throughout the property include bath fixtures by Philippe Stark, Arne Jacobsen egg chairs in the common area and Eames desk chairs. The design is top notch, lets just hope there’s a band staying.

For more, check out the recent New York Times Real Estate section piece, or the post at Apartment Therapy.

This Man Will Not be Throwing Stones

After researching the post about the new Kimber Modern hotel in Austin, I got curious about architect Burton Baldridge’s other work. Turns out he caused a stir in a one of Austin’s historic bungalow neighborhoods when he built this amazing glass house (below) for himself.

He cleverly hid the glass with the wooden screen. And look at that amazing fireplace and patio. Read an article about Baldridge’s plight in Metropolis magazine. Read  my post about his work on Austin’s Kimber Modern hotel.

“Bubba Likes Trees”

A friend decided to impart this particular nugget about her boyfriend, Bubba, while taking a road trip during college, and boy did that stick with her. But, you know, Bubba has a point. I was reminded of this notorious quote recently when I spotted this amazing house on interior designer Amanda Nisbet’s web site. 

Nothing can make a house like trees.

I wrote about this eco-friendly house in the Woodland Heights neighborhood in Richmond several years ago. Architect Patrick Farley designed the structure, and its bridge-entrance, narrow enough to squeeze between mature trees on the property. The owner helped maintain the character of the ‘hood by building around the land’s already existing occupants. How refreshing. Apparently he liked trees, too. 

In other tree news

The new book, Remarkable Trees of Virginia, is a reminder that big, old trees have personalities, too. A forestry professor and horticulturist spent two years seeking out the biggest, oldest, most unique and culturally significant trees in the state. People could submit their suggestions and the resulting 200-page book is filled with magical photographs by landscape photographer Robert Llewellyn.

On the cover, a boy plays around an ancient Tulip Poplar tree in Richmond’s Maymont park.

Yesterday I spotted blooms on our dogwood and even better, a cherry tree in our neighbor’s yard. The cherry is boring 50 weeks of the year but when it blooms for those precious two weeks each March/April, life is good. I mean really, I’m literally happier. I sit on the porch and stare at it a lot. Last year I decided I’d rather have that ephemeral beauty than a year of lackluster leaves. Isn’t the fact that it’s not around all year what makes it better?

Some day I’ll check out the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. This year it’s March 28-April 12.

Warhol Getting Another 15

Could it be said that Warhol was an early, imbedded paparazzo?

Close to 30,000 images taken by the artist were recently unearthed and donated to universities across the country by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Considering the artist’s obsession with fame, it sounds like a strategic move by the foundation to insure his popularity among the next generation of art collectors. Note to artists: Save everything.

The University of Richmond held an opening last Thursday to show off about a third of its new gift of 153 photos, both candid and studio shots. UR was one of 183 collegiate museums to receive the gift. Take a look at some of their pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mick Jagger, Mackenzie Phillips, and Nicky Lane Weymouth, circa 1970-1987; gelatin silver print on paper

 

 

 

“A good picture is one that’s in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous,” Warhol once said. It’s interesting to see how fascinated he was with fame. He seemed to have been attracted by sensation, not necessarily talent. He would have loved him some Paris Hilton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dorothy Hamill, 1977;

Polacolor Type 108 on paper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“A good reason to be famous is so you can read all the big magazines and know everyone in all the stories.” 

 

Warhol loved Polaroids and apparently the company continued making a certain model just for him. Some of his Polaroid portraits would later go on to become silk screens. The pictures are not remarkable or even very memorable. They serve as more of a view into Warhol’s life and fascinations, and as a snapshot of the times, than as examples of exceptional art. 

 

Paul Anka, 1975; 

Polacolor Type 108 on paper

 

“What I’m most impressed with is when I meet somebody that I thought I could never meet — that I’d never dream I’d be talking to some day …”

 

 

What’s interesting about this quote is that he goes on to site several people who are insignificant today — Paul Anka of “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” fame, anyone? —  leading me to think, what’s the use if celebrity and fame are so fleeting? Seems like a superficial muse to chase. Though that doesn’t make it any less fascinating. We are now watching Warhol watch the celebrities of his time and interestingly, he’s the one who ended up with the fame.

 

“Warhol’s Photographs and Pictures: Selections from the Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts”
is up through May 15 at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art at the University of Richmond.

Enough About Art, Lets Talk About Me

I interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post to make a small announcement:

I won some stuff!

This past weekend I was presented with three awards for my writing in R.Home from the past year at the Virginia Press Association Awards. No, unfortunately the awards were far, far less weighty than the above trophy, but hey, a piece of paper with a gold-ribbon sticker is cool, too. I mean, I’ll take it.

So what did I win? 

Glad you asked. Well, first there was a 2nd Place in Arts Writing for “Ones to Watch,” a story about emerging Richmond artists to collect before they hit it big, which appeared in R.Home’s Art At Home issue. Looking to start a collection? Check it out. Really. (Richmond’s turned out THREE MacArthur Geniuses in the last five years.)

Then there was a 2nd Place in Leisure, Lifestyle or Home Writing for “Sail Away,” a story I wrote about Stove Point, a close-knit sailing community on the Chesapeake Bay where some lucky Richmonders vacation. 

And last but not least, a 1st Place in Headline Writing for an entry that included five headlines I wrote during 2008. Maybe I can thank my creative-director Dad for inheriting his snappy-header gene. Two of my favorites were: “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree: Kim Vincze’s glamorous style revs up clients’ homes each holiday season.” and “Couture Digs: Enter the world of fashion and stay for a while at these designer-decorated hotels.”

O.K. I’m done patting myself on the back. Thanks for indulging me.

Outsider Art with Heart Sewn to Sleeve

Hey everybody, we’re now curating art! Since I’m passionate about art and want to share the inspiring artists I’ve come across, I’ve decided to begin a series of featured artist profiles accompanied by 5-piece art shows. All work will be under $2,000 and available for sale in the Culture Fix Gallery. Think of it as a virtual gallery where you get to meet the artist.

Meet Our April Featured Artist: Chris Milk Hulburt

Chris Milk is a theatrical sort. His writings are poetic. His nails are painted. His art is sweet and tells the story of sunny afternoons riding through historic Richmond, Va. neighborhoods on a bike, or curled with a lover. He even performs in a puppet show.

He lives and paints with three cats in an old home in Richmond’s Oregon Hill neighborhood. The sofa was recently cleared out and he’s now trying to unload a coffee table made from bowling-alley floorboards. He’s decluttering to make room for his sewing machine. He makes the puppets he performs with, the clothes they wear and some of his own clothes. Most everything he touches has been created or reshaped by him, including the vest he’s wearing in the above photo.

Hulburt is also one of the first artists whose work I bought, that’s one reason I asked him to be the first featured artist on Culture Fix. Another reason is because, while he’s well known in Richmond, having worked as an artist here for many years, he’s a bit of a hidden secret and I thought we should share.

You say you paint the in-between moments. What’s significant about that time for you?

“I like to think there is some narrative to all my work, but hopefully it is that quiet moment preceding, or following, something sad or wonderful. I think the actual occurrence of action is less interesting than its aftermath. Or the innocent minute before.”

Tell me about this painting:

“‘Kiss, with Gold’ came straight from sketchbook pages, too. A lovely moment, spent by the river’s edge. That girls gone, too. The memory remains. The gold pays homage to little minutes, lost.”

“Kiss, with Gold” $300
House paint with gold leaf on board, 19 1/2 by 22 1/4 inches.
To purchase, email culturefix@ymail.com

For more on Chris, visit his site or blog. Portrait by Ash Daniel Photography.

Know of an artist worthy of being featured? Email culturefix@ymail.com

French Film Fest: Comme Ci, Comme Ca

I love foreign films more than most. I don’t mind the subtitles. I can get over slow-moving plots. And I definitely don’t need a star, action sequence or CGI to get sucked in. I’m looking for escapism at the movies and what better way to get it than by looking through the lens of another culture.

So, one of my favorite weekends in Richmond is when the VCU French Film Festival takes over The Byrd Theatre, the gorgeous old movie palace that’s just two blocks from our house. French natives and Francophiles come from all over (this year from Oregon and Washington state and elsewhere), the streets were filled with buses from area lycees, or French schools, and Can Can Brasserie was brimming all weekend with espresso-sippers (including us). But the French Film Festival let us down this year.

It did everything right, as it always does. Festival directors Francoise and Peter Kirkpatrick went to Cannes and elsewhere to scout for current French films, many that hadn’t gained distribution yet and premiered at the festival. Top French actors and directors flew over to introduce their films and answer questions in stilted English afterwards. The crowds flocked (reportedly 10,000) filling seats all the way to the last row of the balcony.

We just chose wrong. The first film we saw “L’après-midi de Monsieur Andesmas” or “The Afternoon of Mr. Andesmas” (above) was incredible. No American would have ever made that movie — and many refused to sit through it. This is a movie about an old man waiting for his daughter at the top of a valley, who — spoiler alert — never shows up! Two hours later we’ve heard the wind gush, we’ve seen him adjust himself in his rickety chair but we never get the satisfaction of seeing the daughter he (and we) patiently wait for all damn movie long. How rude.

Our second film, however, was a winner. ”Cliente” was a lighthearted glance the at the complicated life of a male gigolo. He goes into it for the money and all is fine until his wife finds out. Desperate for money, she begs him to continue but it tears them apart. It reminded me of “Requiem for a Dream” in that way. It’s all over once you ask your loved one to do something horrible for you. “Cliente” is both heavy and humorous. A thoughtful look at sacrifice and trust.

Two films we missed but that got rave reviews from others at the festival were the documentary “Tabarly“ and the father-daughter comedy “15 Ans et Demi.”

April Artist Chris Milk, Day 2

I’ve asked Chris five questions that we’ll release over a series of days with a piece of work each day. See all five paintings in the gallery or read Day 1 here.

What’s the oddest, funniest, nicest thing someone has said to you about your work?

“The only reaction to art, music, that I will stand behind, is that of honest affinity. For someone to say, “I love this painting because I love it.” That’s all I want to hear.
Sometimes folks will say, “Your work is so fun”. I would like never to hear that again.”

“The Hummingbird, I painted on my easel, and it became a friend,
floating next to the panels painted to the left, and right of it, over the course of a year. Again, here comes saw. Freed from the easel, hummingbird gets
his chance to shine, or fly, really, on his own.”

For more on Chris, visit his site or blog. Portrait by Ash Daniel Photography.

Make Mine (Bargain) Virginia Wine

Visiting wineries in Virginia is usually fun and lovely but not always especially palate-pleasing or affordable.

The state does two things well: Cabernet Franc and Voignier, so if you don’t like the tobacco-y red or sweet-floral white, you’re usually out of luck. Plus, prices usually hover around $20 a bottle, which is too high for so-so wine.

So, I was pleasantly surprised to find a fine, Meritage at Blenheim Vineyards for just $10. A touch of oak and tannins with nice hints of cherry and plum. Not bad at all. In fact, pretty darn good. 

 

The winery, which is part-owned by Dave Matthews and run by his brother Peter, seems to be coming into its own with new winemaker Kirsty Harmon. They’re doing some smart things, like developing a rose ($14), another rarity in Virginia.

Blenheim’s tasting room had been open by appointment only until recently.  And the building is a beautiful spot to sit with a $10 bottle and picnic lunch. 

 

The tasting room is built with reclaimed heart-pine and features a cool glass floor where you can see to down to the barreling room below.

The Most Controversial Man in Art

Oh we love to hate Jeff Koons. The artist’s sculptures have fetched millions, he’s represented by heavyweight Gagosian Gallery, yet he once married a porn star and he’s known for works that look like enormous balloon animals. Something’s not right here.

Or is it.

A new book explores the kitch-loving world of Koons. Koons ($70, Rizzoli) is a reissue of a limited edition book (the first signed copy of that edition went for $450,000 at auction). But don’t buy a book because it will go up in value, buy it because you love it. O.K.?

Or go see his “Puppy” on permanent display outside the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain. I love this 12-foot dog sculpture made of flowering plants. He took the sappy combination of puppies and flowers to create a monumental statement that references 18th-century manicured gardens.

Now I wonder what he could do with those greeting card sepia-toned kids dressed like adults?

Dress Your Nest With Queer-Eye Style

Ever since he popped on the scene in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, interior designer Thom Filicia has been my secret gay crush. So likeable, so real and so adept at giving hopeless schlubs cool-livable style. His look is classic with modern touches. Very now, with a grasp of the past.

If you could afford to hire him — like J.Lo and Mark Anthony did for their Hamptons house, right, which was featured in Vogue Living —  you could have his magic touch. But GOOD NEWS, Filicia just announced he’s releasing the Thom Filicia Home collection via with partnerships with several well-known manufacturers, such as Vanguard. Let’s hope the prices are recession-friendly so we can all have a piece of Thom. More to come on that.

Another great way to get a piece of Thom’s style. His book, Tom Filicia Style: Inspired Ideas for Creating Rooms You’ll Love.

For more of Thom, check out his portfolio here. Or visit Habitually Chic’s coverage of Thom here and here.

The new season of Thom’s show Dress Your Nest starts April 22 on The Style Network.

Savannah on my Mind

I’ve been in Savannah less than 24 hours and I’ve already satisfied three desires:

1. I had shrimp and grits (less than 20 minutes after landing) at the big and bawdy 700 Drayton restaurant at the Mansion hotel on Forsyth Park.
Verdict: Usually I prefer a cream sauce but this one had a gravy, which was also nice, if rich, and the mushrooms rounded it out nicely.

2. I saw Spanish Moss, everywhere, dripping from live oak trees that canopy the streets. Tip: Don’t take any home, I learned that chiggers live in there. Ick.

3. I bought something. A kelly-green DVF dress to be exact. At a cute boutique called Bleu Belle on the great shopping strip of Broughton Street. (Shhhh, don’t tell my husband.)

I’m in Savannah to speak on a Design Blog Panel at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s SCAD Style event. Tomorrow I’ll be speaking with Katie Runnels of The Constant Gatherer and Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge. Come see us at 4 p.m. in the Pei Ling Chan Gallery.

More on Savannah to come …

Dispatches from Savannah: Speaking at SCAD Style

Earlier this week I traveled to Savannah to speak at SCAD Style, the month-long chock-full festival put on by the Savannah College of Art and Design that culminates in a student fashion show and lifetime achievement award. This year’s recipient: Isabel Toledo.

I was delighted to be in the company of an impressive roster of speakers, such as Pulitzer Prize winning Washingnton Post fashion critic Robin Givhan, hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons, interior designer Jonathan Adler, Barneys creative director Simon Doonan, designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka, architect Clive Wilkinson, MoMA curator Barry Bergdoll, New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman and many others. I would have loved to stay the month attending each talk – and I recommend it to all, since all lectures are free – but alas, my stay was just a few days.

I spoke as part of a panel of design bloggers. We had a packed house and a wonderful audience of students, faculty and staff who seemed as excited about the blogging as we are. My co-panelists were artist-blogger Katie Runnels, who has wonderful site, The Constant Gatherer, where she features her own work and the work of artists she finds, and Grace Bonney, who began Design*Sponge in 2004, to concentrate on home and product design, and is one of the first design bloggers.

 Where we spoke, the Pei Ling Chan Gallery, a former bank now part of the campus, as it was filling up with students.

 

 

Here we are after our talk (from left): Me, Katie Runnels and Grace Bonney.

 

 

 

SCAD graciously put us up in the wonderful Magnolia Hall, it’s 1878 mansion-guesthouse adjacent to Forsyth Park.

 

I love the way the ivy grew under each step leading to the front porch.

I took an early-morning walk through Forsyth Park and just couldn’t get enough of the Spanish moss. At right is the view from the floor-to-ceiling windows in my room.

 

One thing I love about the SCAD aesthetic is the way they mix styles, nothing is taken too seriously. In my room, a lucite chair, antique screen, Moroccan poof and funky silk lampshade (with chandelier printed on it) enjoy each others company. And at right, what a clever way to do mirrors in a bathroom, the arrangement also worked in lieu of a full-length.

 The dining room where we ate breakfast each morning. The draperies paired silk with burlap bottoms for a not-too-dressed up look.

  

Modern art punched up antiques and traditional accessories like the gold candleabra lights.

 At right, I loved the bright arrangement on the dining room table and later found the slim vases at a local shop owned by a SCAD alum called Arcanum (they don’t have a web site but can be found at 422 Whitaker St., 912.236.6000).

That’s all for now, but more Savannah inspiration to come!

I’ll Have What She’s Having

Occasionally in my work I get a little wined and dined, but never have I been so deliciously cheesed.

Reps from Gaylord National Resort, a new hotel-conference center on the Potomac River in Maryland, came to town to introduce Richmond press to their new jumbo facilities complete with 2,000 rooms, a rooftop lounge, water taxi to Old Town Alexandria and an 18-story glass atrium.

That was all well and good, but they had me at Maitre d’fromage. Yes, that’s right. A Maitre d’ just for cheese. Apparently Carolyn Stromberg is the only one of her kind on the East Coast, but the post is common in civilized places like France.

The knowledgeable Stromberg seeks out artisanal cheeses from all over the world, learns their tales, gets to know their makers, then ages their cheeses in a glass-enclosed cave in her resort’s Old Hickory Steakhouse and presents them to the public. She’s pretty much my idol. The Cabot cheddar I’m eating while writing this is making matters worse. 

So back to the lunch: Stromberg served us the most incredible cheese plate accompanied by several glasses of sparkling Cremant du Jura “Coeur de Chardonnay” Domaine Rolet, making my return to the office terribly depressing.

Here’s what we ate (seen on the plate from bottom left, going clockwise):

Garrotxa goat’s milk cheese, Spain

Mt Tam (right), cow’s milk by Cowgirl Creamery, California

Ossau-Vielle, sheep’s milk, France

Reypenaer, cow’s milk aged Gouda, Holland

Crozier Blue (below), sheep’s milk blue, Ireland

I will now try and replicate this plate for the rest of my life. And I think I’m inspired to taker her suggestion and enroll in Cheese 101 at the famed Murray’s Cheese in Greenwich Village.

Inspiration Found!

A Does this look familiar? It does if you read my post a few months back about Ed Trask’s show at Farmville’s J. Fergeson Gallery. On Friday I was driving in the East End of Richmond going to Rockett’s Landing, a new waterfront condo development, when I spotted this odd tower and was lucky enough to catch it just as graffiti-strewn cars were rolling by.

I like Ed’s interpretation a lot better. Here he is with “Flowers and Bones” his six-panel painting that goes for $12,000. He told Juxtapose magazine: “The bones are the old buildings and trains, the areas around the city that are forgotten. … The flowers are the graffiti on the train, any light that’s brought to this is through the graffiti. This is an old area and one of the most exciting things to watch here is a train full of graffiti go past.”

This was a cool shot, too, maybe he’ll paint this next. What do you think, Ed? Maybe we should lobby him a la Colbert.

For more on Ed’s work, check out his new site. Or read the Juxtapose piece.

The Best of Richmond: A Filling Farewell

I was asked a sort of dying wish, repeatedly, during my last few weeks in Richmond, Va. Where do you want to eat before you go? But after 10 years in Richmond, it was just too hard to decide. Did I want a Chiocca’s Chicken Coup sub? Of course. The lobster puff-pastry egg dish at Millie’s Diner? Heck yeah. White bean, garlic, arugula heaven at Mamma Zu? Absolutely. But alas, there was neither time nor money for everything. But luckily I did get to a few last suppers.

Colorful Cuban spot Kuba Kuba served the most satisfying send-off lunch. My friend and I hungrily ordered black-bean soup and avocado salad (she) and a pressed Cuban sandwich and salad (me). At any lesser establishment there would have been plenty of elbow room. But god love Kuba Kuba. Your arteries, not so much.

For dessert, I couldn’t pass up Kuba Kuba’s famous tres leches cake made by the owner’s mom. (An interesting aside: My office was nice enough to try and order an entire tres leches cake for my send off but the cakes were booked two months out!) So naturally, I had to take matters into my own hands (and mouth).

Another memorable send off took place over a leisurely brunch at Can Can Brasserie. What started off innocently enough with coffee and croissants soon took a turn when Champagne, oysters and pomme frites joined the party. There may have even been a cheeseburger on the table. But no shame here:  Can Can makes one hell of a cheeseburger. I hope I always remember that three-hour brunch with great friends, food and all of Richmond walking up Carytown past the window next to us.

Now I’m off to do some eating in New York.

 

Brooklyn is the New Richmond

We’ve moved!
Goodbye to our adorable but small-for-Richmond 1,000-square-foot house

and hello 500-square-foot, third-floor-walkup apartment in Brooklyn.
(Half the size and twice the price!)

Hibiscus Tea Me

After a bike ride to the Fort Greene’s Brooklyn Flea on Saturday I was darn parched so I rolled up to these fine ladies doling out exotic tonic and got myself a frosty glass of …  hibiscus tea!

The taste: Slightly sweet, a bit tart, a little cranberryish. Perfect at $2.

The Effect: People drink hibiscus tea all over the world, especially in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. It’s sometimes used as a mild medicine and it’s been found to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. Even better.