BAD DESIGN/GOOD DESIGN

I promised my friend and associate that I would include this picture of, quite possibly, the ugliest handbag ever. It's by Korean manufacturer MCM, and it was created exclusively for a fall 2007 fashion week event hosted by Marguerita Missoni in the Meat Packing District to benefit an environmental cause. All items had to be white and were placed on white mannequins. The bag featured mini-compartments that were attached to the larger bag with velcro pieces. Nothing says "I love New York" more than toting your specs around in a miniature Statue of Liberty or your makeup in the Empire State Building. Clearly this should be carried on Fifth Avenue...on a wobbly card table attended to by a guy in dreads. We never were sure how much it retailed for, but we think $1600, which left us speechless. I think even the mannequins were at a loss for words, because I overheard one of them ask the other "How do you say 'tacky' in Korean?" The highlight of the party was checking out the "I've made absolutely no effort" Eurotrash threads worn by attendees and hanging out with the CEO of Theory and his lovely friend from Japan.

Now on to engaging designs...the following are some of my latest wire screen and mache masks. I've been told that they have come a long way from last year and I continue to be pleased with the results of my labors. Enjoy!


(Smiley Devil, Wire screen and mache, PDN 2008)
(Northwest Coast-Esque No. 1, wire screen and mache, PDN 2008)
Northwest Coast-Esque No. 2, wire screen and mache, PDN 2008)

I LOVE NEW Y'ART!

(Blue Fin XXX, Elinore Schnurr, 2007)

This past Tuesday evening, I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful art opening of a new exhibit curated by Ken Ratner at Flushing Town Hall on Northern Boulevard in Flushing, Queens. If you’ve never been to the space, you don’t know what you are missing. It was constructed during the Civil War and has been everything from a theatre to a prison as well as other things less than pretty and has withstood the test of time. P.T. Barnum and Tom Thumb played there and it is the place from which the North sent troops off to battle during the Civil War. I had the pleasure of performing in the musical RAGS there in 2001 and loved every moment I spent there. Flushing Town Hall, just a few blocks from the Flushing Main Street Long Island Railroad stop on the Port Washington line (2 stops from Manhattan’s Penn Station/15 minutes), is also home to a performance hall, which doubles as an event space, an art gallery and a sculpture garden. It’s a wonderful piece of history maintained by the Flushing Council on the Arts and Culture.

The gallery’s latest exhibit entitled “Five Women Artists in New York” includes the extraordinary work of Ellen Bradshaw, Lisbeth Firmin, Lynn Jadamec, Elinore Schnurr, Sonya Sklaroff, women who ascribe to the precept of Ashcan School founder Robert Henri “that artists should seek inspiration from their immediate surroundings.” This show includes delightful works that celebrate the “great emotion and beauty in the life of everyday New York City.”

After leaving the office later than usual, I rushed to get my train to Queens so that I would still have time to snag a glass of chardonnay and amply meditate on these artists’ works. Harried, breathing heavy upon entering the edifice, I was greeted by my old pal Mel, who is the resident security guard and a performer himself. Then I proceeded to run into another friend Clyde Bullard, who runs Flushing Town Hall’s jazz series. The evening was clearly winding down, and those who remained were ferociously gathered around the food table, which sent an aroma of warm brie and fruit into the air. I made my way to the bar where I was privy to the last bit of white wine.

Now, with my heart rate finally falling back in line with those of the other people in the room, my eyes began to adjust and I was immediately pulled towards a painting by Elinore Schnurr. The more I looked, the more I was sucked into a very familiar world-- this one oil on canvas--where I recognized the overstuffed chairs and lamps, vintage and cozy, as if they were in a dream or a past life. The thought came to me, “That looks like Caffe Raffaela,” one of my favorite hangout spots in the West Village (now closed and forgotten by many, but held lovingly in my memory) from earlier in the decade. Of course the description plate on the wall confirmed that it, indeed, was Caffe Raffaela, and I was transfixed for five glorious minutes thinking of a rich cappuccino and a slice of mouth watering carrot cake. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Elinore!
(Caffe Rafaella I, Elinore Schnurr 2002)

While Schnurr’s work is softer and moody, Sonya Sklaroff is quite adept at painting a very familiar New York as well, but in photo-like depictions that boast bold and bright colors, as is seen in her work “Downing Street.” Sklaroff so brilliantly captures the color, tone and crispness of, what I refer to as , one of those “classic New York City skies.” I could scarcely believe that I was indoors and not in the middle of the scene, feeling a fall breeze that carries the scent of lunch from a nearby deli.


(Downing Street, Sonya Sklaroff 2007)

Both Lynn Jadamec and Lisbeth Fermin’s work seem to combine the splendor of Sklaroff’s cityscapes with Schnurr’s use of the personality and emotional tension of the the diverse faces found in the Big Apple. From the morning sunlight upon a pedestrian in Williamsburg, Brooklyn by Jadamec to the colorful freneticism of an Asian woman on a cell phone in Chinatown by Firmin, they both give the spectator a complete tour of New York City and its people without ever having to get on a train to Manhattan.


(Williamsburg Morning, Lynn Jadamec 2004)

Reminding us of the harsh and pensive nature of a New York winter, Ellen Bradshaw’s “Winter Lower Manhattan” captures the cold, quiet calm of a city street at night. Her ability to convey tones with which the New Yorker can immediately identify with is amazing, whether it’s the loneliness of a deserted Fulton Fish Market, or the coziness of a gentle snowstorm in ”Snowbound Manhattan.” It’s her ability to effectively tell the full the story with a brush that adds her to the roster of my new favorite artists.

(Winter Night, Murray Street, Ellen Bradshaw, 2003)

“Five Women Artists in New York” will be on exhibit through June 29. For more information visit www.flushingtownhall.org.

GROOVY 'COUVY:VANCOUVER SHOW ITS STYLE

I can't believe it's been a week since I last blogged. The vacation is over and now it's back to the grind of work in New York City, so pardon me as I pine over my most favorite city on the planet, Vancouver, British Columbia. It is truly a spectacular place! Up until moving back to New York three years ago, I spent a great deal of time there and have cultivated a great group of cool friends and associates, who make visiting there even more fun and inspiring.

On Tuesday, I visited Vancouver for the first time in more than a year, and I’m so glad that that I made the just over one-hour trek, because I had the most fantastic day. In spite of the fact that I was only there from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm, in and out, I had an afternoon crammed with fun, including lunch with my fabulously talented and witty personal organizer friend Linda Chu at my favorite all-you-can-eat sushi place Kisha Poppo on Davie Street ($11 per person!). Linda and I talked about many things, including my mask-making. I happened to bring examples of my latest work, and as we looked at them and got caught up on the latest Vancouver gossip, a couple across the aisle happened to notice and wanted to take a look. Well, this ended up being my first sale to a stranger and I’m thrilled! It inspired me so much that I went home and made three more that night. Here is a family portrait of the latest:
In addition to lunching with Linda (sounds like a cuisine show for locating tasty quick bites!), I popped by the Vancouver Museum in lovely Vanier Park in the Kitsilano neighborhood, otherwise known as “Kits.” My friend who does marketing there gave me the royal tour of their latest exhibit entitled “Movers and Shapers,” a showing of incredible pieces by 20 Vancouver-based furniture and clothing designers who are making the rest of world sit up and take notice, including Propellor, Mono, Hajnalka Mandula, Bricault Design, Free Agency Creative, Red Flag Design, Urthwurks, Darcy Jones Design, LWPAC, Burnkit, Nico Spacecraft, This Is It. Design, Omer Arbel, Alicia Grunert, BattersbyHowat, Subplot Design, Molo, Pyrrha Design, Modern Domestic Textiles, and Cause+Affect.

I was blown away by all of the pieces in this must-see exhibition, most noteably,the avant-garde fashion made from certified organic textiles by Hungarian-born Hajnalka Mandula. Delicate and exquisite, Mandula’s fashion shows her adeptness at working with pure, natural materials, and she incorporates recycled materials and found objects, including rusted skeleton keys, bicycle inner tubes and vintage military artifacts.

This exhibit also allows patrons to get a close-up view of jewelry to the stars, including that of the likes of Sharon Stone and Brad Pitt. The design duo Wade Papin and Danielle Wilmore, otherwise known as Pyrrha Design, have created a collection that began in 1994 with no formal jewelry-making training and has grown into a phenomenon in Hollywood. It’s easy to see why when you get a glimpse of the work of their work, which is produced entirely in Vancouver, B.C. The current collection features pendants and rings cast from authentic 19th century European wax seals, and can be found in some of the top boutiques in North America, the UK and Japan. Stunning!
Perhaps my favorite “Mover and Shaper” in the exhibit is Omer Arbel, a man whose work has been seen in major venues the world over. Arbel, designing under the auspices of Omer Arbel Office (OAO), is a Vancouver-based designer whose focus is “eliminating the boundaries between the traditionally defined fields of architecture, industrial design, material research, manufacturing and invention. “ Having trained as an architect in the 1990s with Enric Miralles and John and Patricia Patkau, Arbel is the winner of high-profile international design awards. His work was also featured in a piece by Elaine Louie in The New York Times earlier this year.

When all is said and done, this entire exhibit was the brainchild of participant designers, Steven & Jane Cox, collectively known as Cause+Affect . They apparently approached the museum curators and asked to create this winning showcase of top Vancouver designers. Together, they have years of combined experience working with leading architecture, design and brand firms throughout Canada and in the UK, and their work is representative of their commitment to authenticity, innovation, depth and meaning. They create “design that does something important.”

"Movers and Shapers" is on exhibit at the Vancouver Museum through June 22. If all the design doesn’t draw you to this interesting venue, the views across English Bay will! Visit the Vancouver Museum Web site for more details and directions.