Make Something Mondays Archives - Page 3 of 4

Art Interiors | Festival of the Smalls

Each year, my favourite Toronto art gallery hosts a delightful event intended to make original art truly accessible. Art Interiors‘ trailblazing event – The Festival of the Smalls – has been making original art affordable to all of us for 19 years now. The owners of the Forest Hill Village gallery – Lisa Diamond Katz and Shira Wood – carefully curate a delightfully eclectic mix of small canvases each year. Ranging from $55 to $250, the diverse works on offer are perfectly priced for your Christmas shopping list!

Paintings by Erin Vincent and Elizabeth Lennie

As you may remember from previous posts like this one, I am a big fan of curating interesting groupings of smalls. While large canvases can be a powerful way to bring soul to your space, groupings of smalls offer a dynamic and inspired approach to creating interest and anchoring a wall. Done well, a grouping of smalls can even script something of a story in the way each of the pieces speak to one another.

Today for Make Something Monday, I thought I would share some of the Art Interiors artists I love and offer you a peak at their contributions to this year’s Festival of the Smalls. Up first, Elizabeth Lennie, an inspired Canadian artist who captures the visceral and emotional connection with two favourite Canadian past times – swimming and hockey.

Up next is Elzbieta Krawecka, whose large landscape paintings are spectacular and can truly anchor a space. {Take a look back here at my use of one of Elzbieta’s large canveses in a client’s beautiful traditional master ensuite.} Elzbieta’s masterful painting is both classic and refined, well worthy of being collected and engaged with daily. Her smalls are the perfect way to add her spectacular work to your collection! Here are a few of my favourites this year. If someone could just buy me the first one for Christmas {please + thanks} I’d be ever so delighted!

Emily Bickell has become well known for her remarkably realistic water surface studies. Often just close-up studies of the play of light and movement on the water, they communicate a serenity and quietude that can only come from spending time on the blue, surrounded by nature. I am particularly fond of the last two as they transport me to the lakes of Northern Ontario, a place of great serenity, relaxation and beauty for me.

If I had to sum up Kelly Grace’s work in one word, for me it would be nostalgia. As a child, I spent countless hours with our family’s Viewmaster, clicking through slides of beautiful scenes. I can still hear the hard plastic “click” the lever would make as I scrolled through the images. Kelly Grace’s series of paintings {see two below} instantly transport me back to my living room’s hardwood floor where I would lay on my belly or my back, totally enrapt by the images hidden inside this deceptively simple gadget.

The pieces I’ve shared today are just a small sampling of the small works available during Art Interiors‘ Festival of The Smalls, on until December 24th. If you are in search of something inspired, personal and entirely unique for a loved one on your list, you simply must pay a visit to the lovely ladies at the gallery for help with finding that perfect piece of original art. It’s the kind of gift that is guaranteed to surprise + delight.

Happy {Make Something} Monday!

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|November 12th, 2012|0 Comments

Make Something Mondays | Geninne’s Studio

I love process. I’m such a believer in the importance of it. I’m probably sounding like a broken record to some of you, but I think my motto bears repeating. “Beautiful process, beautiful product.” Life can be messy {life is ALWAYS messy?} but beauty and meaning are always waiting to be discovered around countless corners, not just in the obvious places of our defining moments of achievement.

This love of process is in part why I believe in the psychology of environment. Our spaces can either contribute to or hinder our process of working, living, connecting, creating, relaxing, dreaming and resting. What defines a “sacred space” for each of us will be different, but I think it’s always fascinating to peek inside that space and understand how it has become the canvas upon which each person paints their life. This can be especially interesting when artists are involved, and today I’m delighted to share with you the working and living space of artist Geninne.

The first thing I notice is the natural light bathing the space with golden warmth and possibility.

Perhaps this gorgeous daily flood of amber is just one of Geninne’s muses, drawing her imagination outside and into nature where the characters she creates are quietly nesting in the trees, waiting to be discovered?

I just love seeing the diversity of mediums that Geninne explores in her studio. From delicate paintings on paper and rocks to lino-cuts and paintings on vintage postcards, Geninne is an artist who embraces the art of exploration.

What is your space inspiring in you today? Perhaps you need a change of environment to see your creative, working and living adventures differently? Is it time to rearrange the furniture, change up some art groupings, refresh a room with a new coat of paint or even just wash some windows to let the light pour in unfettered? Whatever it is that inspires you, go find it and find a way to surround yourself with it every day. I promise, your process and your product will become more beautiful as a result. Thank you for offering us such inspiration, Geninne!

xo
s.

P.S. GENINNE IS COMING TO TORONTO FOR A WORKSHOP!! If you love lino-printing and wish you could learn from Geninne in some way, you’re in luck! Bookhou At Home is hosting a workshop with Geninne in Toronto on December 2nd in support of her new book, Making An Impression. She’ll be teaching those in attendance how to make your own hand-carved lino-cut stamps. Sounds rather delightful to me! See you there?

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|October 29th, 2012|2 Comments

Make Something Mondays | Lila Lewis Irving

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a passionate abstract painter whose process is both emotional and inspiring. Starting with watercolours and woodcut prints in the 1960’s, Lila Lewis Irving’s artistic voice has evolved dramatically over the years. After thoroughly exploring literal subject matter through watercolours and printmaking for decades, Irving broke through to the adventurous world of abstract expressionism in 1990. Since then, she hasn’t looked back.

Irving’s dramatically large canvases – filled with gestural shapes, sophisticated compositions and bold colours – are the result of powerfully tapping into emotions, intuition and creativity while shutting off the “thinking brain” as much as possible. Her life-long commitment to spontaneity is inspirational.

I’ve had the joy of seeing Lila Lewis Irving’s work installed in a wonderful client’s home. Her pieces are at once bold, powerful, harmonious and deeply engaging.

Today I have a real treat for you – a beautiful mini documentary offering a rare glimpse into Lila’s deeply intuitive, private and emotional process. Lila says her greatest achievement is simply being able to paint for 50+ years. Painting for passion and not for profit has certainly served Lila well. Her work has been significantly represented in both private and public art collections.

Appassionata from Joel-Adam Powley on Vimeo.

Director + Producer – Joss Monzon
Director of Photography – Chris van Dijk
Camera + Editor – Joel-Adam Powley

Wishing you a day, an hour, or even a moment when you are able to turn off your thinking brain and immerse yourself fully in your intuition. If Lila is any example, this courageous and creative exercise can offer rather stunning results.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|October 22nd, 2012|0 Comments