Fall Happenings

Been doing much of everything, here is the attempt to share most of it with you. 

The making of fall bouquets:

A respite in New Caanan, CT satiated the travel itch for an oh so brief moment. 

•  A visit to Philip Johnsons Glass House 

• Philips de Pury auction of Murray Moss 'Dialogues Between Art & Design' The Michael Anastassiades 'kinetic light,' the slender Giacometti bronze a mere 30" in height sold for $3,000,000. Naoto Fukasawa's glass bench for a cool 15k had me transfixed to surfing the sea.                              My big take home was the auction catalogue. 

• Hearing from landscape architect Ken Smith one of many projects is the East River Waterfront Esplanade. Built into the shoreline is a diagonal construction of concrete and stone for a mussle waterbed, a unique feature to rebuild ecology and clean the river water. 

•  Then to toast an evening with a book launch for Rose Hartman's Incomperable Women of Style

Next moring the spring bulbs were planted deep in the earth and we give a few more horrahs before the bitter cold sets in. 

Creative Mind Salon

In the quest to bridge botanicals and design I was reintroduced to the work of Alexis Bittar, which I shared as inspiration in this post from spring.

Fitting how things re-connect as I listened to Bittar speak at Creative Mind Salon debates 21st century design.

We are constantly bombarded with the new and demand for the 'cool' which can be a struggle if we choose to keep up with, ultimately it has to come from within ourselves. Alexis Bittar got his enteprenurial start selling flowers from a handpainted cart in Brooklyn at the age of 10. By the age of 22 Bittar focused on jewlery and found his greatest design inspiration from the period of 1903 the Wiener Werkstätte movement in Vienna, vintage lucite and the Deco/ Art Noveu jewlery designer Theodor Fahrner. Elated beyond belief to share these periods as my design obsessions, especially as I chip away at the Age of Insight by Eric R. Kandel. 

That which was the biggest take away from the evenings discussion was the geniuneness with which Alexis presented himself. "A hatred for style" a lover of fantasy and abstractions towards the future; for a designer that produces over 400 pieces 3 times a year, he explained that art and commerce is a balancing act and slowing down is equally important to the speeding up. 

Bouquet of the Day

This summer was a one hit wonder in the growing stack of books. Taking upon the autumn to wise up with more reading and school. This is the somber story of a foster care child and if you know a thing of two about flowers it's a read for you.  

Book It!

This 250 paged marvel of a book landed on my lap and I can't put it down. If you are at all catching my blogging drift I suggest treating yourself to a copy. It will make you love the weirdness of NY, and other cosmopolitan places even more. Heck! you may recognize a face, or have been to a place. 

Click Here to read Todd Selby's blog. 

Click Here to read the latest NY Times Article-brilliant!

Hothouse Flower & the 9 Plants of Desire

I read this really yummy summer read and so should you.

If the cover doesn't convince you click on THIS

Field Guides to Art in Nature

As a child growing up in the vast expanse of the southwest, my house rested a top of a cliff. My mother would call out onto the sun-setting desert for us to come inside after a day of roaming acres of wild land. Nature held a huge amount of mystery as a child. Weather it was an afternoon spent staring at the clouds making up songs, building secret forts in abandoned trucks, or kicking fire ant hills; the outdoors occupied a major part of my youth.

I hold a distinct a memory of getting caught in a cholla cactus bush and limping the dirt road filled with tears and covered in thorns. I was only to be found the following day with my sister and neighbor girls back in the wild expanse to explore and create more imaginary worlds.

This curiosity of nature was further spurred by a book introduced to my childhood, “The Secret Garden" I longed to have the lush green English Garden where I could un-choke big green vines and nurse a secret garden and boy back to health. This being so far from my desert landscape I savored the books illustrations.

These memories always remained, but far away. This flood of remembrance was triggered the other day when I discovered a tiny book at Printed Matter entitled, “Field Guides to Art in Nature.” Artists Karen Wirth & Chad Rurrler created this limited edition book to go with an installation for Minneapolis, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

The book is broken in four chapters- Color, Form, Pattern, and Perspective. It is also illustrated in my favorite medium, collage. When I saw this tiny weather proof book I saw my dream visions on paper. While I still do not understand the extent of what these artists are getting at, I’m happy to share my connection and story.