at somepoint in time you must adapt to change + the inevitable: a rebrand. since moving to the pnw three years ago this has been in the back of my mind knowing i must adapt to the new arena of the AI digital age with a better focus on my seo + backend support. something i just really didn’t care about or even want to share within oversaturated crowd.
being future forward has always been important to me if not the most important : keeping focused on what makes my artwork unique + in the forefront in the big bad competitive world of DESIGN. i am hopeful this is the year of sustainability as I am hearing a lot of builders, engineers + designers wanting these products..now for them to not only want them but need them to help mother earth + move forward into only eco-friendly practices.
onward + upward into 2025 >>>> a rebrand is on its way !!
strolling into fall design day 2024 @ the seattle design center with my winter intern from UW, we check out the scene trying to gather information like a crime doc. how many people are here? are there artisan lectures? how many signed up? inquiring minds want to know! turns out they sold out @ 250 tix! nice job sdc
we head to baker | mcguire bc of course, lisa miller showroom manager gives a fun talk to a nice 20+ crowd about how their latest BESPOKE* line really is just that, latest buzzword in design, custom-made or tailored to the customer's specifications* just like my artwork. perfect, she also nods to the artisans, as they are finely curated due to their specific use of natural elements + thoughtful process. happy that said intern got to see the fruits of her labor [ she conducted her marketing skills successfully with baker | mcguire ]. no small feat.
buffet lunch spread was just as gorgeous as delish with their offering of seasonal salads + sandwiches. got to chat with a couple of young design professionals + meet my new winter intern to show her my work upclose [t h e most important element of this job]. the best part for me when visiting the design center is when I have a vision : let’s see what’s next!
i am absolutely honored to have my work among the baker | mcguire resort collection. they are fully invested in CRAFTMANSHIP or shall we say craftspersonship. since baker | mcguire began their company in 1890 [ mcguire established in 1948 ] every collection is meticulously selected crafted + formed. in my opinion: while baker's focus is more on edgy modern designs, mcguire focuses on naturally luxurious fine furniture, their style being coastal cali, but catering more towards timeless design | product. they both have this huge following of talented designers who are looking for product that meets their impeccable standards.
baker | mcguire seattle is hosting an event for CEU Credits TH SEPT 19 @ 11AM
they will be discussing FURNITURE FASHION: how design attributes [beyond wood + upholstery] using natural sources are being used + taken care of
these details are important to me as my sustainable art product line will be on view among these special lux home furnishings. everytime i walk into the baker | mcguire showroom I see a new detail that i didn't notice before.
sustainability in art still has not yet caught on…this is to my advantage because I have been creating sustainable art for over 15 years now! in a time where eco-friendly products are now stretching ever so slowly into the forefront of design just like the farm-to-table cuisine. everyone knows it is the best but not everyone can afford it. why has it taken so long? is design still far behind in quality vs quantity? I am working on bridging that gap in a space where designers do not have to compromise either.
like most people, i have always had an urgency to depart my hometown, well not just town, but state, coast, maybe even country. i remember begging my mom to go to high school in vermont because the people seemed more down to earth to me than the kids i knew in my town. i was always on a search for something different. living in cities have always energized me + helped me start build the career i have wanted. suburban life kills that creative drive. sometimes it puts a dagger deep in my soul. i also know I am not and will never been one to conform. that is part of being an artist for me anyways. not like most people, I am easily amused + content observing. its energizing for me to be meeting new people. i have always considered myself a wanderer. and not all those who wander are lost!
after working with a lot of showrooms @ the boston design center + even opening my own gallery in the bdc [2018], once I stumbled upon the seattle design center i just knew I had to somehow get back into designers world. as i sent my intern off to a few selected showrooms she instantly had a connection with sue, a seasoned sales rep at baker | mcguire. turns out said interns mom + sue both were in the same sorority! she shared my sustainable collection samples + discussed how it would work well with the aesthetic of their space. modern + textured, it was a match. excited to color match for them using a specific blue [baby blue eyes] + create new works that have been in my mind for a while. next step is getting the word out about sustainable art while still a relatively new concept here hopefully one that is appreciated among the naturesque evergreen state. thank you to baker | mcguire for this amazing opportunity.
whenever i am home (yes my parents still live in the house that I grew up in) i try to go through some memorabilia aka. crap. i swore I tossed this shadow box of sneakers i made from my sons collection as he grew. well it somehow ended up back in the basement. i suggest to mom to just bring it to savers. well, i get a call the other day about how she got ahold of david bieber after watching a tv program on david bieber archives. she tells me this museum collection is massive as they place the shadowbox in the room of shoes, we’re talking ceiling to floor filled. it really sounds quite impressive this collection which is rented out or sold to interested parties. rooms of tv, record, poster collections. david bieber collections has now adorned the rebuild of the verb hotel in fenway. if you haven’t stopped by this hotel you should! pretty cool stuff. oh and thanks mom!! my new agent ;)
** “don’t mistake my kindness for weakness” - Riri
if you gossip about others, share confidential conversations, judge other peoples life choices, compare your kids to others, use religion to convince yourself you're a good person, use social media to share only your good side, use money to manipulate: maybe don’t? one thing I can say rings true @ half a century old is:
continuetobe. kind. + clear out the bs
thx to my loves. who support me
my best friends who take the time. + always learning from each other. everyone’s struggles are real + grateful to those who understand the life of an artist. a life most don’t understand.
forever. the jaded optimist.xo
“when someone shows you who they are. believe them the first time” M.Angelou
its not every year you’re ready to take on a polar plunge but this year was different. being in a new place with water colder than any maine current why not in the pnw? as the day draws near i get nervous + excited for this new challenge. i reach out to the supportive friends i have met in this sleepy hollow town not knowing if anyone will join. people amaze me every day. one friend brings her two young daughters + another to just look on with her whole family. even my hub surprised me + joins in as well! it was really just the wait time [ with the kula kloth pyka plunge group raising funds for als } that was the hardest part. so my legs felt as if they were being stabbed by a thousand knives but hey it was only for a second. invigorating + refreshing i would say this polar plunge was a success. a friend even suggested starting my own group + plunge days. never say never!
every project is vastly different, even if the style is the same. my ever popular gold horizon seem to be a theme. my framer creates + delivers the custom frame built meticulously to scale. i prep canvas, start music, + begin. the horizon is a one shot deal. no mistakes can be made. alas everytime i hold my breathe and do it. they say that your craft gets perfected the more you do it. like a tennis player learning to serve. it really holds true. even though I do not paint every day anymore. its in my brain. i often catch myself imagining how i want to paint + how I would like to try the mediums in a different way. its always white and ends up being quite timeless. just like the gold horizons. each are so similiar but different in their imperfections only i can see. every placement is different + my favorite part of the project is seeing it in situ [a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position]. so it is: in situ, placed perfectly in a new build among other carefully curated spaces. hopefully it will be admired here for an established amount of time. that is what an artists dreams of right?
as mentioned in my earlier posts, travel has been a highlight for us this year. most summers spent boating off boston harbor was a bittersweet goodbye upon our move out west and was traded in for passports. having lived in Italy for quatro medzi in 2004 I knew this trip would be much different than that. i booked a couple of eurorail trips within our weeks-long stay in paris. as we arrived the limestone surrounding the city was breathtaking, the Eiffel was way bigger than we imagined. the louve closed earlier than planned. d’orsay mesmerizing van gogh. tre manifique! cafes. who knew the arch was built for napoleon? london rain at parliament + abbey road. pleasant people. amsterdam canal ride. anne franks house. cafes + countryside. it all was smashing. standing where the most talented artists + poets roamed the streets, barefoot, carefree + uniquely mad in their own right, comforted my soul. thank you tu mi familia for dealing with my madness while en route.
when you get to go to an event with a friend it makes it way more fun. joining tailored home design (sara s) was just a pleasant surprise. she tells me she wants to attend the lecture by hgtv show personality candice olson + we have about twenty minutes before it starts so we casually stroll the halls of the sdc. unlike the boston design center that I was part of for about ten years the seattle design center is smaller but more intimate. this being my only second visit, we know the showrooms + what they offer. a new fun showroom is craftex, a custom cement artisan. candice olsen’s lecture is about to begin. we take seats. like most events you get asked to put our biz cards in the bowl. i have never won anything in my life + when candice calls shapirodesigns in front of her 100+ crowd I slowly stand up + wave for winning the grand prize from the shade store. during the talk candice describes her upholstery collaboration with kravet in detail down to the name. sensual boucle in dove is my favorite. super luxurious + ultra soft! post my win at the sdc event we casually shove cupcakes + cookies into our hungry faces each labeled by flavor: true sdc style. i get the chance to pitch my artwork to candice + give her my card. wow what a day! even when you might not feel too social + stuck it really does help to get out of your comfort zone: it truly is refreshing.
since moving to the pnw everyone i met has given ideas of places to visit + the possibilities of outdoor activity are endless. we are not extreme patagonia people, more city-centric but honestly going to check out these places almost every weekend really is something I look forward to. my teenager would disagree but there are worse things than forced family fun day + know one day he will be experiencing an adventure on his own + hopefully will think of these times with us!
hiking the cascades, snowboarding stevens pass or snoqualmie, snowmobiling leavenworth, strolling gasworks park, boating on lake union, lounging on greenlake, experiencing taylor oyster farm, visiting the observatory, checking out fisherman village, being part of the edmonds art walk, I mean we really have experienced so much since our 1.5 years here.
looking forward to visiting victoria after much chatter, i embark on a three-ferry tour via car from the Mukilteo ferry right outside my door. first stop a couple favorite places double bluff beach hones sand dollar pods, flower house cafe for brunch + bayview garden shop. we make the Coupeville ferry to port townsend [where I swear I saw a fin.] early phew! wally’s new Zealand ice cream will not disappoint while you wait for blackball ferry to victoria. adamantly looking over the starburn bow we wished for a whale sighting + might have seen some blowholes in the very far distance. arriving at the last port of the day victoria was a lot larger than i imagined. a sunset stroll through town, bnb at abigails + tea @ the empress, morning walk through beacon hill has exceeded my expectations. looking forward to another visit for sure!
stumbling upon an ad in a local magazine*, i reach out to an interior designer, sara of tailored home, who was from boston as well and relocated to the pnw. she was happy to join me in one of my first creative ventures in the pnw, + we quickly scheduled a road trip to the seattle design center.
An industrial area not too different from the Boston Design Center minus the bustling waterfront, the Seattle Design Center was a bit smaller than expected albeit just as filled with enticing showrooms. The inviting lobby is adorned with a large Hunt Slonum from his Blue Diamond Rhapsody, 2021 series.
The symmetry of the space + showrooms makes it easy to walk through. Well-known showroom Baker hones a grey glass modern pedestal that I covet. We spend much time in Resource Furniture, an innovative way to customize any space with a futuristic appeal.
After a satisfying lunch in their open + quiet courtyard, I contemplate how I see my work in this area. We discuss design and how my modern work remains ahead of its time + unique. It’s just the beginning of my life as an artist here in the PNW. So much to see so little time…
having lived in mukilteo for over a year and a half now, home improvement projects took over taking my soul with them (a first-world problem i know). interviewing artists fills the void for about six months. as the winter looms, i take pup down to the local beaches every chance I get. this winter from november to april seemed as if they were the longest rainiest months of my life. it has been dark + lonely in this city by the mountains. everything shuts down, even the people. as i struggle to stay focused on my next creative venture i go through my images. our long-awaited trip to israel in December seemed to give me hope. whether traveling locally or to a new place across the globe, i believe it gives renewal + a sense of belonging in this world. traveling is a luxury. traveling is the unknown. snowboarding in the mountains, joining the garden club, and a recent trip back home to the house I grew up in (and was a front runner for the movie american hustle) brush strokes of creativity into my mind that was once a blank canvas. a photograph there a vision of a very specific color here, i am excited as i have been searching for this image of simple texture for some time now. now to execute the vision. that’s the fun part…linger in this moment of possibility..to be continued…
painting in a new place, studio, and lighting is always a challenge but a challenge is also a good problem. my new mentor at Impact, whose sole purpose is to assist women in all stages of their business, suggested I read The Mountain is You. available in audio, it was filled with constructive advice on how to get over your own personal mountain. anyways, I am all for supporting women in business + was thrilled to hear from suzi h. at alchemy station art, where deep knowledge + creativity intersect.
so, back to painting. In this new sun-drenched studio space, I start my playlist + go through my checklist. although this list starts way before any tangible products are strategically placed, my mental list forms all the details. communication is key, down to the amount of texture + placement of color. I really do like it when they know exactly where the client wants what as much as I enjoy total creative freedom. freedom is what I am struggling with now. a new fresh idea, it’s all in the details. and I am getting close. You have just to jump in + try even if it might be an utter failure. that’s just it. that’s art: being okay to fail, to learn + then grow.
2021-2022 was an interesting year moving with my family across the country from boston to seattle. we had no idea where we would end up. i had to put my creativity on hold for the daunting task of moving out of temp housing, find a more permanent one and within a decent school system. we ended up in a quaint city among growth + development in surrounding ones. here is a place stopped in time. a place where the land is preserved for the tribes who were the founders of life here. the water is colder than any northern maine wave, the sunrises + sunsets are an unexplainable hue of calm + the people are open to an educated conversation with a total stranger.
jumping quickly into networking + researching our new area got me a job writing, and about artists. it was refreshing being on the other side. visiting local galleries, interviewing artists + photographing them became an outlet for me over the next six months. i never really did know people enjoyed my writing but what an experience it was to be able to explore life around here at the edge of the world!
during covid, I was ecstatic to receive a call from a seasoned collector of art. she invites me to her home + do look forward to this outing not knowing what to expect. as I roll up to this enormous victorian I am not surprised. majority of my clientele just happen to have the most beautiful homes. from a small city loft to penthouse units along seaports this house was cared for + I couldn’t wait to see the inside. among an eclectic array of art she quickly showed me the available wall space she had in mind. I tell her what i think + what is readily available in my inventory. we discuss sizes + colors. she has a fun vase that I am very familiar with because I own one too from winston’s just in white. hers is this bright green. she asks if I can color match + i say of course! then the fun begins. i have to say I am quite happy with the result + painting with color really impresses me. she knew what she wanted + was happy with the result. paint on. not even a pandemic can’t stop me!
when a designer contacts me i become immediately curious..what is their favorite texture..what is their color selection? it’s not always how much creativity I can put into the art but creating the client’s vision of what they want to live with on their walls. i have to say one thing about all of my clients is their attention to detail. all have the luxury to pick everything from furniture to lighting that reflects their personal style. all are quite meticulous in what they are selecting. for example, this client requests the horizon line to be a silver one with about 1/3 sand and a specific white. i say yes to everything. want sand from a particular beach? sure but please note it may not exactly be legal lol! i get excited + nervous before each piece is created. i often feel as if this must be how actors feel right before they get on stage no matter how many times they do it. i want it to be perfect. i want them to feel the sense of calm + excitement I do each + every time they gaze at it. every piece is a moment of meditation for me during these ever-changing times.
