Art

I'm just back from 4 days in San Francisco, working on installing the big project I've been working on for a year and a half.  If you follow me on instagram, you saw some little snippets of what's happening there.

If you have read this blog for a while, you know that I love art.  Yesterday, as I was wrapping up and running to the airport, my client looked around with satisfaction about how things are coming together.  I found myself saying, "it's the art and the window treatments.  That's what really makes a house feel finished."  And I believe it.

It's not only about polish and the "final layer."  Art and window treatments can really be put to work to enhance your home or hide flaws.  In this house we used gorgeous sheer roman shades on the side of the house that sits close to an unattractive building.  We used art to balance the height of the massive front door. (etc.)

We also installed a pair of facing gallery walls in the upstairs hallway that leads to the kids rooms.  It  is one of the most "private" spaces in the house, and it turned out to be the perfect place for personal photos and art.

I think the best testament to the power of art is something I heard the dad say when getting his kids up in the morning.

"I just love this hallway.  Walking through it is like walking through a big hug."

YES!

If you want more on art strategies, check out my "Hanging Art" posts.  For a gallery wall tutorial, go here.  (Come to think of it, I should review and update this as I have created dozens of art walls since then and have learned a thing or two!)  I also hashtag "artmakestheproject on instagram if you want to see other examples in action.

Happy weekend!

Hanging Art: Artist Rugs

Much of my energy over the past, well, almost year has gone to one huge project.  It has been one of the most fun and rewarding opportunities I've had--to imagine a large space nearly from scratch, to work with an architect,  to choose all the lighting and hardware and finishes and faucets--but it also means an immersive, ongoing project without anything to really show for it just yet.

Since we've still got months to go, and I don't want to give too much away, I thought I might share some of the concepts and ideas that are going into it.  And the one I'll tell you about today fits right in to my "hanging art" series.

The house I'm working on was built in the 20s in the Edwardian style, but my clients have modern and eclectic taste, with a special hankering for Italian vintage and the 1970s.  (Hooray, right?)  One of the things I've thought about quite a bit is taking strategies from the 50s-70s and doing a modern take.

We know I'm a textile person, right?  In the middle of the last century, big name artists like Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso were making rugs and tapestries as art.  These days, some of my favorite designers use these pieces in their interiors. (This article is interesting on the resurgence of rug art starting in the 1990s.)

(There was a recent hollywood home by Peter Dunham that used several amazing examples, and it's killing me--KILLING ME--that I can't find it.  Here's a lesson: do not recycle your magazines.  the internet doesn't always offer up what you need.)

Anyway.  When I came across One Love, a series of limited-edition artist rugs from Woven Accents, I knew we needed to go for the rug-on-the-wall thing.  The perfect place?  The dining room.  We aren't doing a rug under the table, and there is a large wall that needs anchoring.  Rug art will help with sound absorption, soften the effect of wood furniture, and bring oh so much color to this space!

Alexandra Grant, Self Portrait

I must say, I am VERY excited to see this go up!

Also, if you wanted to go with the original, there is a selection of Picasso rugs on 1st dibs,  and a whole section devoted to artist rugs in the Nazmyal collection.  Fun to look at, even if they're too spendy to buy.

My art history degrees really come in handy sometimes.

Hanging Art: The "butterfly"

It has been fun looking back through photos to prepare these posts, and to rediscover some spaces I'd forgotten about!

With the "butterfly" (not a real thing: totally coined by me) I feel like I'm sort of jumping right to the advanced level of art hanging, but honestly, it's the easiest post for me to write next in this series, so there you go.  Sometimes the space dictates the art, but other times you start from an existing collection of works.  While I love a salon-style gallery wall, a collection of similar items in similar frames often begs for some order.  The "butterfly" is basically a balanced, even symmetrical arrangement that wings out from a centerline.

My brother collects baseball ephemera and signed vintage photos.  In his old house, they were largely in an office, in smaller groupings split across several walls.  In his new finished basement, there was a large wall where we could display most of them together.

Because we had even numbers of frames of each size, symmetry was called for.  We tested some options, but ultimately this "butterfly" configuration gave the most movement, while remaining orderly.  (I realize as I type this that it's a bit like having a center justification in text.)

In my parents' hallway, we had a collection of black and white drawings in gold frames.  There were some pairs and some that were the same basic size and orientation.  So, same deal.  (You can read an old post on this one, here!)

In a clients house, we wanted to use some of her kids art over the console in the living room.  She also had vintage posters, so we took advantage of the different pairs.  By hanging them the same (button trees in white, ad posters in black), we got cohesion.

All of those examples were a matter of making a collection shine.

These next two examples took a collection and put them to use around an existing element in the room.

In the former office of Public Art St Paul, I had an uneven number of project photos to hang, and some awkward internal windows to work around.  This arrangement reads less like a butterfly but has the same principle of a mirrored layout and is a bit off-grid.

At this bedroom in my parents' house we had a grouping of six framed prints and we wanted to fill the space above the bed.

The idea was the go with the shape of the headboard.  By staggering the placement of the two sets of horizontals, we got a wider overall arrangement AND we were able to hang everything close to the bed.  (If those side pairs were stacked, they would have been hung higher to avoid overlapping the wood headboard.)

I took a similar tack in this bedroom.  Originally we planned on more of a loose gallery wall, but when we decided to repurpose this bed from the attic, the space between the top of the headboard and the picture rail was pretty short!  Stacking pairs over the dressers fills in the negative space created by the height difference in furniture.  The single piece over the headboard is in related subject matter (they are all prints related to swimming), so the 5 pieces feel like one connected arrangement.

(You can read about this project here and here and see the final reveal here).  But if you look at just one side, you get the Stacked Pair!

Is it weird that I think so much/ have so much to say about hanging art?

Hanging Art: The stacked pair

Fun fact:  my design career really started with some art walls.  When I first started this blog, a couple of readers got in touch and asked me to hang artwork for them.  Then we started to work on other projects in their homes.

My background is in the arts--I have a Master's Degree in Modern Art and Curatorial studies from Columbia, I worked at a public art organization in NYC for nearly 6 years, and I am still on the board of Public Art St Paul--so I suppose it's not surprising that the art is one of my favorite parts of any project.

The more I use art to finish spaces, the more I think about the ways we can be strategic not just with the type of art we choose, but the way we hang it to polish a room.

One of my favorite tactics is the stacked pair.  Stacking an actual pair is pretty fool-proof, and it can be a great way to fill all of those narrow spots in a house.

My powder room, above the toilet:

My old guest room:

(a foolproof way to do a mismatched pair: two from the same artist, in the same medium, like these fashion illustration watercolors)

Clio's room:

(these are pieces from 2 different artists, but both are black and white line drawings in gold frames.)

The stacked pair is also a great way to visually balance a tall piece of furniture, like we did in this home:

With the library shelf, the stacked pair helps flank the window--the largest element in the room.  The pieces are from the same artist, in identical frames:

In Eleri's room, there isn't space for nightstands on both sides of the bed, but the bed felt imbalanced without a second lamp.  Enter--you guessed it!--a stacked pair.

In my living room, the window is off center on the couch.  To bring symmetry, I used a pair of side tables topped with a pair of lamps--and filled in the white space next to the window with a pair of 1970s portraits.

Advanced move: on this landing, I needed to balance the height of the gallery wall.  The stacked pair was an orderly way to get the height we needed.

I repeated the same stacked pair facing this one, to "end" the gallery wall:

 

I do love symmetry, balance, and pairs.   Most pairs in a room (chairs, tables, lamps) run on a horizontal plane.  A stacked pair gives the same balance, but since it runs vertical there is a new sense of movement.

Other posts in the works for this series: the row, the column, the flanking pair, and the butterfly.  Stay tuned.

Big Art in Context 2

You guys: I am so inspired by the big awesome paintings I shared the other day!

I made another art-inspired dining room.

I think I love this even more than yesterday's.  Or, let's say this is my city dining room and the other is the breakfast porch in my country house.  Right?

Painting, table, chairs, rug, buffet (similar), mirror, buffet lamps, tree basket.  Chandelier, Oly, no longer available.

By the way, that painting is actually 5' tall by 7' wide.

These boards always make me want to start over--except, of course that I did this one with no thought to price, and I can't afford this room!

Big Art in Context

I rounded up some big art the other day, including a giant portrait that I would totally snatch up for my dining room if I wasn't already set in the giant portrait-in-the-dining-room department.

So I put together a little dining room design using other items that have caught my eye lately, without the right client to foist them upon.  This hearkens back to my Kathryn Ireland obsession (patchwork!) , with maybe a little Peter Dunham inspiration throw in.

A daybed layered with ethnic textile pillows, a farm table, patchwork kilim (remember this patchwork product round up?), and 1970s style leather director chairs.  Not to mention a mid-century inspired, sort of serge mouille but not serge mouille chandelier.

Aaaah.  Me likey.

Big Art

Filling a large wall can be tricky--you generally need either a lot of small pieces, a pair of large pieces, or one REALLY big work to make a statement.  Problem is, all of those strategies add up, money-wise.

I was recently looking for wall-defining art for my brother and sister-in-law, and came across a number of pieces not right for them but that I felt I couldn't pass without comment.

All of these are extra large (at least one side over 5'), and all $1000 or under.  Obviously $1000 is still plenty of dough, but it's really not a lot for a wall-sized artwork that will make your space.

Melodie Allegre, folie a deux, acrylic and ink on canvas

Tijana Lukovic, untitled, oil on canvas, Belgium

Claire Elizabeth Jackson, Resham Singh Sandhu, High Sheriff of Leicester 2011, Oil on Canvas, United Kingdom

(you know I would want this for my dining room if I didn't already have Nai Nai)

Raj Yadav, The Mask, Oil, India

Alecs Heiduschka, Totem 2, acrylic on canvas, Germany

We're thinking about letting the girls have their own rooms--and some of the design schemes would leave me with a big wall to fill.  Keeping my eye on these!

Hope your holiday weekend was refreshing!

Art you can afford: Heart Art for you, Heart Art for me

As it turns out, plenty of retailers are in on the heart art trend.  I found pieces in many colors, sizes, and price points.  shall we?

Shown in relative scale.  Clockwise(ish) from left:

Multi-heart print (I love that this is a play on Damien Hirst's dot paintings): Saatchi Gallery online, both original and prints available (scale here is the large print.  Prints are reasonable, original is expensive.)

Neon pink heart poster, with write-in box: ElasticCo, through Domino

I worked with this poster's maker on projects long ago.  She is awesome and deserves her own post.

Chartreuse, pink, and ted (you know I love this color combo): Saatchi gallery online, both original and prints available at this scale (prints are reasonable, original is expensive)

Cartier Heart Strings, gold leaf: Natural Curiosities, to the trade.  Contact me for pricing

Love Letters Collection, Blue: Natural Curiosities, to the trade.  Contact me for pricing

Big heart (I used this print in this little girl's room): Minted, available in many sizes and frame options

Tiny black heart: Natural Curiosities, to the trade.  Contact me for pricing

Gold heart: Serena and Lily,  love the sparkle!

What do you think: would you go for the heart?

I Heart Heart Art

For some time now, I have been obsessed with the graphic punch of very simple heart art.

I already have one version in my office gallery wall--the sweet valentine my older daughter made me at school when she was maybe 2 or 3.  (I love that it has the letters to spell "Hug me," but that it is all jumbled up.)

This art wall was the first thing I did when we moved into this house.  Four years later, I've barely changed a thing--updating some old collages of my daughter's to her Warhol-inspired soup cans, here.  See my original post about hanging this gallery wall, here.

Now what I am really craving is the super-simple heart.

Liz Caan, HGTV Magazine

I was thinking I needed a red heart like this more the girls' bathroom, but then, when the brown and white stripes went up in the laundry room, I REALLY wanted the bold simplicity of it in there.

Tomorrow I'll round up some options that are currently available!

Just for fun, some other excellent heart art.

So versatile.  Trendy?  A bit.  But really, what could be more classic than the symbol for love?

I went for it!

I met with a photographer last week to plan to shoot my house.  (I know: my own photos are SO beautiful and not at all dark or blurry so why would I want to bring in a professional?).  The result is that:

a.  I am super excited and,
b.  Man, do I have a lot of work to do!

But you know what else?  Deadlines are awesome, and all of a sudden I am making long-considered, well-drawn out decisions lickety split.  The biggest one?

Art for the dining room.

I have been living with an 8x10 print out of this painting taped to my wall for weeks, nay, months, and I just bought it.  And now I wait...three weeks or more...while it takes the slow boat from Australia.

Yesterday on Design Sponge, Grace Bonney wrote about splurges and the benefits of "playing the long game."   The dining room wall is a huge focal point in my home--it is the first thing you see, in a way, when you come in the front door, and it is in the room where we probably spend most of our time as a family.  I've known for years that it needed a large canvas, and while my temporary solution lent a more finished air to the space, I am thrilled to have saved enough rewards points on my business card to, well, reward myself.

Right before biting the bullet, I read the artist's description of the work.

This is a portrait of my 107 year old neighbour in Nanning, Guangxi Province China. She was born the same year as Emperor Puyi, China's last emperor. She has lived through great social, political and economic upheavals. So much speaks for the lines on her face.

And you know what I realized?  This painting is a contemporary ancestor portrait, a fresh take on the kind I wrote about here.

Isn't it funny how we sometimes get an idea in mind, and won't let it go?

Generosity

A while back, we went to the fabulous weekend of open studios in Northeast Minneapolis, called Art-a-Whirl.

We go because it is a fun event, but also because I want to show my girls, artists themselves, that "artist" is actually a thing one can be when one grows up.  This year, I was also on the prowl for a painting for my dining room, and generally seeking artwork for clients.

My older daughter, Clio, had given my younger daughter, Eleri, her straw hat in the morning, and everywhere we went, Eleri was getting compliments on it.  By the end of the day, I think Clio was feeling a little stung, maybe a little regretful that she had given away something that suddenly seemed to have such value.  she didn't want the hat back, exactly, but I think she wanted to feel special, too.  (Or maybe just didn't want her sister to be so special at her own expense?)

At the very end of the day, A painting called to me from across the room, and though everyone else was ready to go, I struck up a conversation with the artist, Charles Thysell.  I loved his "big heads" work, and wanted to know more about his process for creating his large-scale canvasses.

While we were talking, Eleri got yet another compliment on her style and her hat, and Clio finally blurted out "yeah, well, I GAVE it to her!"

Want to know what the artist did?

He told Clio that kindness is the way to go, that it was so nice of her to give the hat to her sister, and that generosity can pay off.  To prove it, he gave her an original drawing.  To keep.  She was over the moon, and now the drawing (which I love!) hangs right next to her bed.

I love this "pay it forward" lesson, and this random act of generosity towards my daughter.  Also doesn't hurt as a true start to her own art collection, right?

What generosity will you share this weekend?

My latest obsession

I have been looking for a large painting for my dining room wall.  (More on that to come.)

In addition to open studios and local galleries around town, I have been obsessively searching Saatchi online.   Unlike the proliferation of on-line print shops (many of which are wonderful in their own right), the Saatchi gallery offers tons of original works, by artists all over the world.  You can filter by many factors, including size, medium, price, style, and orientation.  After inputting my parameters, there were still over 5,000 works to consider, which is either impressive or daunting, depending on how you look at it.  My husband jokingly asked last night if I had viewed them all yet.  Okay, he was serious.  But I "only" looked at about half of them before cutting myself off and admitting that I am, in fact, slightly insane.

But this is normal, right?

Oh, just some printouts of pieces I am considering, taped to the wall.

Totally, completely normal.

Spotted: "My" Indian Artwork

Remember when I took a wee step back to re-imagine my dining room?  (The accidental rug arrives this week, by the way, and I am afraid I will hate it.)  The clear favorite of the artwork options in those new dining room boards was a pair of large-scale Indian figures, themselves re-imagined from tiny paintings.

Last week I was looking through some inspiration images with a new client, and I spotted the prints!

Traditional Home, House of Windsor

Layered over my very favorite--leopard print--no less.  And with trimmed out walls.

Gah!

And who is the genius behind this room?  Peter Dunham, of course, my other style idol (as witnessed here, here, and here!)

At first this made me want the prints more.  But then it made me want them....less?

What do you think?  Are you okay with prints, or do you only want originals around you?

Split Screen

I'm always, always, always on the hunt for interesting ways to hang art.

I spotted this home tour by designer Tara Guerard on Style Me Pretty, via Bryn Alexandra.  I love the way they hung the many-panelled Japanese screen with a little--interruption--from the window.  This may have been a practical choice--if the screen was simply too big for the space between windows--but I will give them full credit for their ingenuity.  This installation gives the screen added energy, and I love the way it calls your attention right on over.

Happy weekend!