/art

The Festival of The Smalls at Art Interiors | How to Start Collecting Original Art For Your Home

{“The Battery” by Charlene Serdan}

It should come as no surprise at this point that art is often my starting point for design projects, whether for clients or for my own home. As I’ve said many times, I believe art gives soul to a space and allows you to personalize your home in a very unique and meaningful way. Whether you start with art or finish with it, I believe original work should always be a part of a well designed interior.

{“Arc En Ciel #3″ by Chrstine Breakell-Lee}

I also believe that original art should be accessible to everyone. For many, it is intimidating at first and I get that. Price tags seem high and many galleries seem to look down their noses at you if you don’t understand the “gestalt” of the artists they happen to represent. So…where do you start?

STEP 1 – LOOK FOR ART THAT CONNECTS WITH YOU

Art should speak to you first and foremost, and that’s always the place to start. It might be something clear – a piece that reminds you of a a place you’ve been or something you’ve experienced – or perhaps it will be something more abstract, eliciting an emotion or a mood. Whatever it is, you are the beholder, so your reaction is all that matters.

{“City Nights 2” by Eleanor Doran}
STEP 2 – START SMALL AND COLLECT OVER TIME

Once you’ve made the connection and have found an artist, a style, a medium or a subject matter that moves you, start small and work your way into a collection over time. There really is no better way to do that than by collecting smalls, and my favourite Toronto gallery Art Interiors has made an art form out of this approach.

{“Alone Together” by Elizabeth Lennie}

Every year, Art Interiors puts on The Festival of The Smalls where original works of art ranging in price from $55 – $250 are available from a vast array of incredible artists. Owners Lisa and Shira and their amazing team are phenomenal at making art accessible. Rather than feeling judged for what you like or don’t like, they will empower you to find art that connects with you, and they are brilliant at pulling together bespoke and customized groupings. Gallery groupings are one of my favourite ways to create interest and an engaging focal point in a space. In its 20th year, The Festival of The Smalls really is the go-to place to get started!

STEP 3 – BE OPEN TO DIVERSITY

Once you’ve found an artist or a style that speaks to you, it can be tempting to just keep collecting the same thing so that it all “works together.” Here’s the thing: juxtaposition is one of the energizing gifts that original art can bring to a space, so the only rule to follow is to go with what moves you. Be open to new artists, mediums, subject matter and a variety of scale. As you collect over time there will no doubt be a thread that connects your collection, but it will also tell a story of a home that is curated through the lens of life experience. A space that is curated over time is always a more interesting and unique reflection of its inhabitants.
{“City Girl Ski Lesson” by Sarah Martin}
{“Lemons” by Greg Nordoff}

The Festival of The Smalls is on until December 24th, and in my opinion it is the PERFECT place to do your Christmas shopping. If you’re afraid of purchasing something that doesn’t suit that special someone on your list, why not purchase a gift certificate and make it an experience? Give them an Art Interiors certificate along with an “Art Adventure IOU” to take your loved one with you to visit the delightful team at Art Interiors. The shared experience of finding that special piece together will only enhance the enjoyment of it for years to come.

Later this week I’ll share some charming concepts from the team at Art Interiors on creating customized groupings for an inspired nursery. In the meantime, be sure to check out The Festival of The Smalls online and even better, visit the gallery in person for an abundance of inspiration! My guess is you’ll find yourself struggling to choose between the myriad of pieces that will have you falling in love and feeling alive.

Happy Monday!
xo
s.

By |November 11th, 2013|0 Comments

The Curated Collection | Off the Walls + Into The Woods | Zoé Ouvrier

I love it when art is able to come off of the walls and create its own centre stage and spotlight. Some pieces do that figuratively with their strength of presence and story. Others do so more literally, combining art and architecture and merging with the world of design in inspiring yet unexpected ways. Such is the spectacular work of French artist Zoé Ouvrier and her decadent wood-carved screens.

Born in Montpellier, France, Ouvrier studied at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. With nature as her muse, Zoé uses traditional methods derived from book and scroll making to engrave natural materials with strikingly fantasy-like woodland motifs. Plywood becomes elevated from the commonplace to the sublime in the caring and skilled hands of Ouvrier, and the results are nothing short of breathtaking.

The scale of her works is expansive, like set designs exquisitely crafted for the dramatic and tender moments of life. The perfect way to define a living or dining room in an open loft space, for example, one needs no wardrobe to escape into Narnia now. Ouvrier has provided all the entrée one needs into the vivid and detailed world of the imagination.

Zoé is represented by Gallery Fumi in London where inquiries for commissioned, one-of-a-kind works are welcomed, allowing designers and architects to place unique value on space planning with the juxtaposition and marriage of art, design and architecture. Ouvrier’s work has been featured in Vogue, Elle Decoration and at England’s estate museum Chatsworth House.
I hope Zoé’s work inspires you as much as it does me! I’m going to be dwelling in the land of imagination and wandering off into the woods today as I savour her beautiful pieces. 
Happy Monday!
xo
s.
By |November 4th, 2013|0 Comments

The Curated Collection | Karyn Lyons

There is always for me a quality of escape that I look for in fine art – a transcendence that carries me to a new place or experience I’ve never had, or returns me to a feeling or a memory I once knew. The truth is, it is rather rare to discover this kind of transcendence in still life, for me at least. And yet that is exactly what I find myself experiencing in the stunning work of Karyn Lyons.
Blurring the lines between photo-realism and interpretation, Lyons sweeps me away into a dream-like state with her paintings. I feel as though I have awoken at midnight and wandered out into a grove, or perhaps sat down at a table with my love to savour the succulent flavours of nature and fine wine – simple things and decadent things effortlessly married like fantasy-meets-real-life.

With obvious respect for the 400 year history of still life portraiture, Lyons reinterprets traditional motifs with a decidedly modern aesthetic, expressing them in quietly luminous, often monochromatic palettes that add a cinematic, mysterious quality and depth to her work. 
  
Artist and essayist George Ferrandi says, “…in art, apples are almost always in some residual conversation with temptation – but Lyons makes broader use of them. Somehow, in their associations with fall and the end of summer, and in the presence of these ever-woolen skies, the apple tree carts with it a feeling of ‘after.’ Like the moon is on the wane. Like the honeymoon is over.”

Karyn’s background is also quite fascinating. Lyons is an art director in the fashion industry. She worked at Polo Ralph Lauren and J. Crew before returning to school in 2001 for graduate studies at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. After graduating in 2003, she spent a year working as a painter for Jeff Koons, where she worked on the Popeye series.  Her first solo show was at the Sarah Bowen Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, in 2005. Since then, she has been in numerous group shows in the United States and abroad. She lives and works in New York City and Lima, Peru.

Lyons‘ latest work is currently on exhibition at MARCH in San Francisco through until November 23, 2013. The show includes 20 oil on canvas and oil on vellum paintings, sizes ranging between 3.5×3.5” to 44×60″. If you are in the area, I highly recommend making a point of stopping by for a visit.

MARCH
3075 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, CA
Wishing you an inspired Monday!
xo
s.
By |September 30th, 2013|0 Comments