Cig Harvey Archives - StyleCarrot

ARTmonday: Artwork for TroyBoston Model Apt #1409

I love when I have the opportunity in my work to showcase local Boston artists and makers. For the last couple of months I’ve been working on a interior decor scheme for a model apartment at Troy Boston, a brand new, upscale, “green” rental building in SoWa. It’s a little outside my usual scope of projects and it’s been fun. You may have seen the initial post I did about it, when I was determining the color scheme for the apartment—Impressions: Creating a Color Palette of Charcoal + Dusty Rose. The final palette is indeed based on this post, with plenty of textural elements, including velvet, sheepskin, cork, plywood, and copper.

The best part has been curating the artwork. The art collection is the distinctive feature of the overall design and I hope people will view it as an exhibition rather than mere decoration. The pieces, which include paintings, photographs, sculpture, and mixed media pieces, are all done by New England-based female artists. Some of these Boston artists are talented friends (Lee Essex Doyle, Tess Atkinson, Grace Hopkins), others are young artists whose pieces I’ve purchased over the years at the SMFA Art Sale (Laura Beth Reese, Eugenie Lewalski Berg), others are artists I’ve become familiar with through blogging (Cig Harvey, Alicia Savage, Anastasia Cazabon, Anna Kasabian, Rachel Cossar, Winky Lewis, Jenny Prinn), and others are Boston artists who are new to me (Heather McGrath, Linda Cordner).

I knew from the start that I wanted to include a statement artwork of a partially obscured woman; a moody fashion-y photograph of an elusive woman. I was able to get a few, though no oversize pieces due to the prohibitive cost of printing. Nevertheless I think the collection will hold together well. At the end of this post, you can see my current hanging scheme for the main wall, and for over the bed. I also plan to print a few of my own Instagram photos to pin or (washi) tape up.

Here I present to you the Troy Boston Model Apt #1409 art collection featuring over a dozen Boston area artists. I hope you love it and will learn more about these talented women, all of whom have generously lent me their artwork.

alicia-savage-field

Alicia Savage
self-portrait • Panopticon Gallery
Fort Point, Boston, MA

laura-beth-reese-snowy-nude

Laura Beth Reese • self-portrait from Nude series
Boston, MA

dig-harvey-the-goldfinch

Cig Harvey, MidCoast Maine
The Goldfinch • Robert Klein Gallery

anastasia-cazabon-bed

Anastasia Cazabon • From the Secret World series
Boston, MA

grace-hopkins-ca01

Grace Hopkins • CA01
Color photograph on canvas
Truro, Cape Cod, MA

grace-hopkins-nassau06

Grace Hopkins • Nassau06
Color photograph on canvas
Truro, Cape Cod, MA

grace-hopkins-lights-la45

Grace Hopkins • LA45
Color photograph on canvas
Truro, Cape Cod, MA

rachel-cossar-tights

Rachel Cossar • Tights
Instagram photograph backstage
Ballerina, Boston Ballet • Boston, MA

lee-essex-doyle-lantern

Lee Essex Doyle, Boston, MA
Prada I Orange • Childs Gallery • Watercolor and ink

winky-lewis-swimsuit

Winky Lewis, Portland, ME
Black and white photo of the artist’s daughter

eugenie-lewalsk-berg-six-couples

Eugenie Lewalski Berg • Six Couples
Cast concrete relief with graphite and oil pastel
Boston, MA

linda-cordner-bayside-sky

Linda Cordner • Bayside Sky • encaustic
Linda Cordner created this large encaustic for the apartment after seeing my color palette inspiration post.
SoWa, Boston, MA

tess-atkinson-vista-series

Tess Atkinson • Vista Series
Color photograph face-mounted on plexiglass
Boston, MA

iceland-heather-mcgrath

Heather McGrath • Sunset in Iceland
Color photograph printed on sheet metal
SoWa, Boston, MA

anna-kasabian-tide-pool

Anna Kasabian, North Shore, MA
Tide Pool III • stoneware
This many not be the exact piece that will hang. Anna Kasabian is lending me three pieces, which I will see when she drops them off next week.

jenny prinn

Jenny Prinn, Maine
Little Footsteps I • Oil on canvas
This is not the exact canvas I’ll be hanging. Jenny Prinn has graciously offered to paint an original work for the project.

• • •

Main art wall
troy-art-1

• • •

Art over the bed
troy-art-2

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ARTmonday: Cig Harvey’s Gardening at Night

Maine-based photographer Cig Harvey‘s new book Gardening at Night is both a visual and literary treat. The poetic prose that weaves through the book accompanying her dreamlike photographs is as magical as the images themselves.

A former photography teacher and city dweller, and current mother and Midcoast Mainer, Cig Harvey is represented in Boston by the Robert Klein Gallery on Newbury Street, where the Gardening at Night exhibition is on display through June 13.

I blogged about Cig Harvey’s photographs last March, when I first discovered them through Artsy. I’ve since connected with her and count her among my favorites. I am excited to be displaying “The Goldfinch” in the model apartment I am decorating at Troy Boston this spring. Many thanks to Cig and Maja at Robert Klein for making that happen.

Here is a sampling of images straight from the pages of Harvey’s book, and a quick shot from the gallery too. (Cig, if you see this, I am sorry to have missed you at the opening!)

Fine Art Photo Book By New England Photographer Cig Harvey

Gardening at Night • Cig Harvey

cig-harvey-robert-klein-gallery-1

“Gardening at Night” on view in Boston through June 13
Robert Klein Gallery

ARTmonday: That Elusive Woman—Sourcing Statement Photos For Troy Boston

At the end of January I posted color inspiration—a blush & charcoal color palette—for a model apartment that I’ll be decorating. The apartment is in a new building that’s still under construction called Troy Boston in Boston’s SoWa neighborhood, right by the other new building with Boston apartments, Ink Block, and the giant new Whole Foods. (My husband got lost in there recently; says it’s fantastic.)

Troy Boston is one of a number of new buildings with Boston apartments (there are also a couple in the Fenway) slated to have a LEED Gold rating; that mean’s it will be officially “green.” I’ve been to the construction site twice now (complete with hard hat). These Boston apartments are small but beautiful, with a loft-like feel. There are floor-to-ceiling windows, pale oak flooring, and cerused oak and lacquer cabinetry.

The model apartment I’m decorating is a 469-square-foot studio on the 14th floor. It’s got lots of sun, a sleek grey bathroom, and grey kitchen, which runs along one side of the room. I’ve been putting together collage-y room layout mockups (as a non-designer I have no idea how to use interior design software), and measured last week. Fingers crossed I did so accurately.

No surprise, my favorite aspect of decorating is curating the artwork for the walls. I have a definite idea of what I want, and am excited to include works by artist friends Lee Essex Doyle, Tess Atkinson, and Grace Hopkins. Linda Cordner is another local Boston artist whose work I hope to hang, as she generously offered up a large encaustic in my blush and grey color palette.

Above the sofa in the main living space I will hang a collection of photography and paintings. I want to include a statement artwork of a partially obscured woman; a moody portrait/fashion-y lifestyle photograph, preferably with a hint of copper or mustard, which will be the accent for the pink and grey scheme color scheme.

Given my limited budget, I need to find artists who would like to loan their artwork in exchange for exposure and publicity (of which there should be plenty). Given the other work I will be using hails from New England, I have decided that all the artwork I use will be created by local women artists.

I think I’ve identified the replacement for that initial inspiration piece. In the meantime, here are the photographs I’ve found that I’d most like to use in the model apartment. I lam hoping to secure at least one or two for the Troy Boston project, which I also hope will be a well-curated showcase featuring New England artists who all happen to be women.

alicia-savage

Alicia Savage

anastasia-cazabon-forest

Anastasia Cazabon

cig-harvey-the-goldfinch

Cig Harvey

anastasia-cazabon-girl-on-bed

Anastasia Cazabon

rhi-ellis-beach

Rhi Ellis

alicia-savage-reflection

Alicia Savage

Saturday Say It: A Hot Mess

“He said, ‘Your hair is so wonderfully disheveled.’
I thought, ‘You should see the inside of me.'”
From photographer Cig Harvey’s visual autobiography,
You Like At Me Like An Emergency

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ARTmonday: Cig Harvey

Thanks to the Artsy newsletter, I discovered a new photographer last week who I love, love, love—Cig Harvey. And she’s kind of local. Cig Harvey lives in a farmhouse in the Midcoast of Maine. She was an assistant professor at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University for ten years, but recently took a leap of faith to devote her life to “purely making things.” Good choice.

Her images are visually crisp, but the subject matter a bit mysterious and at times moody. She uses herself as the subject, as well as children (hers?). They’re right up my alley, and would have fit into numerous posts I’ve done, like “Girls at Play,” and runs in the same vein as women photographers I’ve highlighted, such as Anastasia Cazabon and Rhi Ellis.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, and the International Museum of Photography all have her work in its collections. She is represented by Robert Klein Gallery in Boston, Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Robin Rice Gallery in NYC, and Kopeikin Gallery in L.A. I hope my collection will include a Cig Harvey at some point oo.