Art Monday Archives - Page 19 of 58

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

ARTmonday: Mail Order Picture Frames by Framebridge

When someone from Framebridge reached out to me I was intrigued. If you read my blog regularly or follow my Instagram, you know we have a lot of artwork. And a lot of it is unframed. I immediately accepted the offer to try it out its service for mail order picture frames.

Susan Tynan (who hails from local brain bank Harvard Business School) founded Framebridge last year. She was spot on in the thinking behind the company, saying “What makes visiting a traditional custom frame shop uncomfortable? Let’s remove it. The up-selling, the unclear pricing, the overwhelming, outdated selection–gone.” Because seriously, nobody has used those glossy purple frames with the rounded edges since the 1970s.

Framebridge offers 21 styles of mail order picture frames, which are hand-cut and assembled at its production studio in Maryland using top-of-the-line materials including acid-free matting and foam boards and UV protective acrylic.

Here’s how it works: Choose a frame from the 21 options (you can try them virtually by uploading a photo of your piece), provide approximate measurements, choose from a white matte, off white matte, or no matte. If you can’t decide on a frame style, the Framebridge design team will make three suggestions for you.

Once you know what you want, indicate whether you have your own mailer or want them to send you a flat mailer or tube mailer. That’s it. Soon the mailer will arrive at your doorstep; pop in your art, stick on the pre-paid shipping label, and send it off. You’ll receive an email when they get your piece and another in about two weeks once they’ve shipped it back to you. If the team has questions (maybe they’re not sure about orientation or somesuch issue), you’ll get a friendly personal email.

If you have a digital file, you can upload it and Framebridge will print and frame it for you using heavyweight, luster photo paper with archival inks. You can even have them frame mini Instagram photos through the iPhone app . Pricing is based on size, not frame style, and ranges from $39 for Instagram minis to $149 for a piece up to 32″ x 40″. Shipping is free both ways.

A few weeks ago I got back my first two mail order picture frames from Framebridge. I love them and I just put through orders for two more. Have a look.

framebridge-stephen-sheffield-swimmer

Stephen Sheffield

Fort Point, Boston-based photographer Stephen Sheffield, who is a friend of ours, posted this photo of his son swimming last summer on Facebook. I had to have it to add to my growing collection of artwork of pools and swimmers. I love the way the moody blue water looks against the pale wood Marin frame from Framebridge. It’s on my bookshelf right over the sofa where I work.

framedbridge-stephen-sheffield-cubot

Stephen Sheffield • Cubeot by David Weeks • child’s watercolor

My husband spotted this Stephen Sheffield photograph (on the left) on Facebook a couple of years ago. I think Steve shot it with one hand while driving the trailer that he and his wife Alison decided to rent for a road trip to Disney World with their kids during winter break. I used Framebridge’s modern white frame called Irvine. (The piece on the right is a watercolor by my son done in the woods during an art in nature class at Castle Hill in Truro years ago. It’s in an ill-fitting off the shelf frame.)

framedbridge-stephen-sheffield-cubot-2

Stephen Sheffield

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F R A M I N G O P T I O N S at F R A M E B R I D G E

Modern Classic And Eclectic Framing Mail Order Service

There are plenty of options at Framebridge. Let me know how yours turns out.

ARTmonday: Tom Chambers Landscapes with Animals and Girls

These fantastical portraits of young women with animals in fairy tale-like landscapes by Tom Chambers‘ have a moody quality, mixed with the irresistible subject matter of alternately adorable, ferocious, and exotic animals and girls swathed in taffeta and tulle.

Tom Chambers was born and raised on a farm in the Amish country of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1985 from Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida, after which he worked as a graphic designer. He has concentrated on this evocative, photographic storytelling since 1998.

Here are examples of Tom Chambers’ photography.

Daybreakers

Winged Migration

Horse Talk

Icy Road

Cow Girl

Late For Dinner

Prom Gown 1

Saccharine Perch

Seabird Mimicry

With One Eye Open

It’s Only Normal

With the Pack

Presumptuous Guests

Grimalkin’s Opus

Glass Flower

Pretty As Me

All images courtesy of the artist.

ARTmonday: Popsicle & Ice Cream Artworks

Somehow I managed the impossible over the holidays: I didn’t eat sugar for almost a month. I love chocolate. I love ice cream. I love chocolate ice cream, chocolate covered pretzels (thanks Matouk for the holiday gift!), Oreos (on special occasions only, like when a publicist sends out a package so I can sample a new flavor #redvelvetoreo), chocolate cupcakes (preferably with vanilla buttercream frosting), Dancing Deer chocolate brownies snagged off the assembly line, M&Ms (especially in popcorn), Hershey bars smeared in peanut butter (breakfast of champions), and in desperation, when I’ve purposefully neglected to buy anything chocolate, lest I eat it, semi-sweet chocolate chips from the baking shelf in the pantry.

Don’t be alarmed. It’s not like there’s chocolate encrusted between my computer keys and dripping down my J.Crew tees (not usually). I don’t partake every hour, or even every day. But I’d love to. So, it was a REALLY BIG DEAL when I cut out sugar for weeks. My mother-in-law had told me she lost 25 pounds from eliminating sugary sweets from her diet. That was enough motivation for me.

Did I lose any weight, you wonder? Yes. One pound. One measly f*&%$ing pound. And no, I wasn’t making up for the loss of dessert by gorging on carbs or even adding extra calories. So the weekend of my son’s 13th birthday party (32 boys and girls dancing in our living room), I decided to go ahead and eat a Georgetown cupcake. And another. There were many left over. So that weekend, I polished off multiple frosting tops. And you know what? I lost another pound.

So I am continuing to exercise and I am continuing to eat chocolate. In moderation of course.

All that as a really long, mostly irrelevant introduction to today’s ARTmonday post—21 Popsicle & Ice Cream Artworks. Because if you can’t have all the ice cream you want in the world, you may as well at least look at it. And also because hands holding out ice cream cones have been trending on Instagram for, like, ever.

Irresistible Flavors • Bruce Burt • Saatchi Art

Ice Cream • A+Y Paper Goods • Society6

Paper Ice Cream • Mr. Printables

Summer of Popsicles • Heritage and Joy • Minted

Mi Piace Gelato • Anek • Etsy

Popsicle Poster • HelloTinge • Etsy

Chocolate Eclair Ice Cream • JJ Galloway • UGallery

Ice Cream In Vermont • Instagram/laurenswells

Ice Cream • Celine Descamps • Society6

Popsicles • Kelly Ventura • Minted

ARTmonday: 10 Figures In States of Undress In the Snow

I started off aiming for beautiful but slightly edgy snowy landscape images. But when I came across a snowy nude, and then another, I thought, why not? My son wants to know why I’m putting up porn on my blog. I told him, “This is art.”

Here are nine snowy landscape images, or more specifically, nine artworks with figures (not just women, though mostly women) in various states of undress in snowy landscapes. Captions provided for your entertainment. Happy night before a snow day.

Snow Angel • Rebecca Handler
Starting at $16.99 at Society6

She wandered out from her verandah in her peignoir, forgetting she was no longer in the Carolinas.

Fractal Snow • Paul Coker
$150 at Saatchi Art

I thought these were bare-nekked Barbie dolls planted in the snow. Nope, seems to be a real live woman, silhouetted and pasted in the landscape ad infinitum.

Warm Winter • Ilona Shevchishina
$600 at Saatchi Art

It’s flaming hair Barbie. I thought “real women” didn’t really look like this. Photoshop? Starvation diet? And what’s with the picnic while the ground is still thawing?