Hugo Guinness | Need your vote!

I've been a HUGE fan of Hugo Guinness' work for a long time!  My grandparents gifted Heath a piece of his work last year, and they gave me and J.D. a piece for Christmas this year.  (Thank you Tata & Granddaddy!!)  I truly LOVE it!  So, I'm finally getting around to having it framed, and I'd love your input.  I really want to get the frame on this piece right.  I feel like a frame can really make a huge difference in a piece.  I've put together some inspiration below showing beautifully framed Hugo Guinness pieces, and I've included my three framing options for you to vote - Option 1 | a Chunky Gold, Option 2 | an Antiqued Black & Gold, and Option 3 | a Chunky Black with Gold Details.  Take a look and let me know what you think....

If you don't mind, let me know your input.  I'd really love to hear.  And in case you're curious, here's the roundup of the image sources:  Top collage is via Jessica Comingnore, and the middle image is of Hugo Guinness' home.  I'm pretty obsessed with that mantel too!  Third image is of Kate Spade's beautiful collection - I think this is where my obsession began!  And the last image is of a collection in Real Simple.  I love his work in every single one of these settings.  A while ago we did a feature on "Starting a Collection" showing off pieces you would use forever and this certainly fits the bill.  I love his work because it works so well with traditional interiors and in contemporary spaces.  And the black and white color palette seem to work with any other colors in a space.  His work is timeless and classic, but really quirky at the same time.  Let me know your vote!

~Mary Keller

Artists at Home | Amanda Stone Talley

Today we're back with another Artists at Home series with a sneak peek into the New Orleans home of artist Amanda Stone Talley.  We were so excited when Amanda shared the images below with us.  Her home is so gorgeous guys, and it shows how creativity really does create the most beautiful spaces.

We asked Amanda to share her thoughts on decorating and incorporating art into a home.

 

Artists at Home | Kristen Giorgi

Next up in our series Artists at Home we have the other half of NG Collective Studio, Kristen Giorgi!  (We shared Kristen's sister Laura's home here last week!)  Kristen's home is amazing guys.  It's absolutely full of life and color, it's perfectly imperfect and has so much beautiful art.  I think in a former life Kristen must have been a lighting designer -- all of her fixtures are so beautiful, and oddly enough I think I could move right in to her daughter's beautiful nursery.  See below for more images, plus to see what inspires Kristen and Laura when it comes to their homes and art.

Artists at Home | Laura Naples

We're kicking off a new series today that we're so excited for!  We're going to take a peek into some of our favorite artists' homes.  We love artists' studio tours, but Heath and I thought it would be really cool to take a look at their homes.  Artists are always really creative and think a little differently.  We're kicking things off with the amazing home of artist Laura Naples, one half of NG Collective Studio.  Next week we'll share her sister Kristen Giorgi's (the second half of NG Collective) home.  Seriously guys, they are pretty amazing!  Their homes blew us away and there is so much take away inspiration here.  See below for their thoughts on decorating, and more of Laura's lovely home.  (also, sorry for photo overload!  too much goodness not to share!)

Artist Spotlight | Catherine Jones

 

I think one of my favorite things about Instagram is coming across so many different creative people doing cool things.  I don't know where we "found" Catherine Jones, but I'm glad we did because I'm loving all of her work.  (Heath seems to always discover cool brands, artists and start ups.)  Catherine's a Birmingham based artist and even though we're Tennessee girls and she's an Alabama fan, we can't get enough of what she's doing lately.  She does everything from really bold abstracts to simple black and white silhouettes.  Everything is really lovely, and I think well priced for original art at the sizes she's creating.  I especially love these pieces on the tan linen.  A few more of her pieces below.

 

Artist Update | Lulie Wallace Textiles

I'm sure I'm not introducing anything new to you when I talk about the work of talented Charleston artist Lulie Wallace, but I just had to share some of her work with you guys because she's launching her new fabric collection today and it's gorgeous!

Artist Spotlight | Kate Mullin

 

Are you guys familiar with Kate Mullin's work?  We first heard of Kate because she has a studio space right near our other fave Teil Duncan in Charleston.  I'm loving so many of the new pieces that Kate is doing.  She's originally a Georgia girl, studied painting at Auburn, and now has a studio in Charleston.  (So many amazing artists and creative folks are living in Charleston now!)  Her pieces are all full of intense color and her subjects vary greatly which is different from most artists.  Another cool fact, she's actually a gallery owner in Charleston now too - the youngest gallery owner in Charleston which is awesome!

Michelle Armas' Home

You guys probably know that I've been a fan of Michelle Armas and her beautiful art for some time.  (I used one of her prints in Virginia's nursery and love it!)  Her beautiful Atlanta home was featured in the first volume of Trouve Magazine, and oh my gosh it looks amazing.  Her home is absolutely perfect, which I guess is what you would expect from a creative artist.  I love everything about it.  It's imperfect and not overly decorated.  It's filled with beautiful neutral, comfortable looking furniture pieces and colorful, unique art.  It looks collected and added to over time.  I especially love the huge long lumbar pillow on her camelback sofa.  Go see more for yourself here, and check out Trouve here.

~Mary Keller

images via Michelle Armas' blog by Paige French for Trouve.

Community Supported Art Pick Up Two

I mentioned that this past Saturday we attended pick up round two for Charlotte's Arts and Science Council CSA.  We have a few more pics below if you're interested.

 

 

The event was held at the Charlotte Museum of History.  The Hezekiah Alexander House is located on the property just behind the museum, and it really was a cool location for an event.  The house was built in 1774 with a really old barn just next door.  All of the food and drinks for the afternoon were set up in the barn, and a fun bluegrass band was set up just outside.

 

 

Birdsong Brewery provided the drinks for the event, and I can say I highly recommend their jalapeno pale ale!!  For snacks we had little fried green tomatoes on biscuits, fried chicken drumsticks and banana pudding.  Heath said it was the best banana pudding that she had ever tasted, and I'm just now realizing that somehow (amazingly) I forgot to try it.

 

 



We picked up our art "share" and opened our goodies.  The featured artists this month included oil painter Mark Stephenson, ceramist Terry Shipley and a glass artist.  (We got an IOU from the glass artist because she was having studio electrical problems!!)  We got a great fun vase from the ceramist, and my favorite was a tiny oil from Mark Stephenson.  He painted the pieces on old reclaimed barn wood from North Carolina farms, and painted scenes from North Carolina farmlands.  It's the perfect tiny size.  Overall, a fun afternoon for wanna be art collectors like us! :)

 

~Mary Keller

 

p.s. pictures from CSA pick up one here.

Community Supported Art



Sisters with our loot

Last week MK mentioned we attended the Arts & Science Council of Charlotte's first Spring CSA (Community Supported Art) event and promised we'd give more details later. Well, I'm back today with details and some thoughts after our first event.

This CSA functions similarly to a standard CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in that the organization supports local artists (instead of farmers!). For Charlotte's first Art CSA, they issued 50 "shares."  They then chose 9 artists who each made 50 unique pieces, one for each "shareholder." There are three events each season to "unveil" the artwork.  Being new shareholders, we had no idea what to expect when we made our way to LaCa Projects last Thursday night for the first event but it was such a great experience.  Here's a little tidbit about the three artists whose work was unveiled last week.



Ceramics wrapped pretty!

Lauren Doran is a photographer inspired by Charlotte's local landscape. She feels that "plants inform our sense of place" and I couldn't agree more. Her "Garden of Shadows" series demonstrates the interplay between light and dark and reveals something special about the place we all call home.  We received a really cool small piece from Lauren Doran.  Out of all the pieces, it's probably the one I would have chosen for myself. 

Scott Partridge's work was very new to me, as is the entire world of digital printing. Scott's designs are digitally created, printed and mounted on cradled wood panels. Scott emphasized his friendly and playful designs can be enjoyed by both children and adults.  (MK already has plans to add this piece to Virginia's room!) 

Amy Sanders is a ceramics artist creating beautiful yet functional (microwave and dishwasher safe!) pieces. Our piece is about the size of a medium serving dish and is perfect for both display or use around the house.


Snapshot of my favorites from the gallery

So beyond the art, the event itself was fun too. It was held at LaCa Projects, a Latin American Contemporary Art gallery and had live music and beers from Birdsong Brewery too! Obviously we are going to like some pieces more than others but I'm happy it introduces us to pieces that may have been a little outside of our comfort zone and new galleries that would be otherwise intimidating (at least to me!). Overall I just love the concept of creating a lasting relationship between local artists and consumers. Find out more about ASC Charlotte CSA and others here if you're interested.  I just think this is such a cool idea, and a clever play on traditional CSAs.  What do you guys think?  Would you ever sign up for an Art CSA??  A few other cities beyond Charlotte have started this cool idea too.

- Heath

PS Sorry for the iPhone pics, and at the moment I have no pictures of our three pieces, more to come on that when they find a home in our home.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!  We made it to the weekend.  This week was a little crazy.  Virginia started off sick and then I also had a few days of travel for work.  I'm certainly ready for a weekend.  Heath and I did attend a really cool local Arts & Science Council Art CSA event last night.  It's a cool little series that we'll tell you about, with two other events to follow.  JD and I have good friends coming in town this weekend (we love when our Nashville friends visit!) and we can't wait to have them for lunch.  Hope everyone has a good, relaxing weekend and we'll meet you back here Monday!

~Mary Keller

The Paris Print Shop

Have you guys ever seen the prints in The Paris Print Shop?  Their photography is so gorgeous.  I have one of their smaller prints in my bathroom, but I'm really loving these new extra large prints.  It's so hard to find good looking extra large art, especially that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  I think these would make the perfect statement in almost any room.

I wouldn't mind a copy of their book, Paris in Color, either. :)

~Mary Keller

All images via The Paris Print Shop

Artist Spotlight: Whaley Connell

 

You guys my grandmother came up with the best surprise gift for all of us this Christmas.  At the end of our Christmas celebration, after all of the gifts had been upwrapped, she pulled out 4 more tiny little Christmas baggies and handed them to each of us.  Inside each baggie was a number.  Next she asked us to head to my aunt's living room where we discovered these beautiful small paintings.  My cousin's wife, Whaley Connell, is an artist and my grandmother asked Whaley to paint a small piece for each of us.  My grandmother didn't want to decide who got which piece so she came up with the idea of making us essentially draw a number.  Heath's baggie randomly had number 1 so she picked first, my bag had number 2 so I picked second, and we went on down the line.  It was such a fun surprise, but I was SO impressed with these beautiful paintings. 

If anyone would like us to put you in touch with Whaley, please let us know!  I think these would make beautiful bridal or anniversary gifts of a bride's bouquet, and their little size is perfect.  I think Whaley's work is very reasonable and you can fit a small painting like this just about anywhere!  Leave us a comment if you'd like us to pass along her email address.

p.s.  Heath picked the one all by its self on the back row.  I picked the one second in from the right with the big orange (go vols!) flower up front!  It was a tough decision that we of course overanalyzed the rest of the afternoon. :)

~Mary Keller

Teil Duncan

You may remember MK talked about Teil Duncan's work here a while back. She's super talented (and Southern!) and I'm happy to report that she is just the cutest little thing you've ever seen in person too! Over the fourth of July, while Andy and I were visiting friends in Charleston we also visited Teil's studio and picked out the piece above for my birthday. It was so much fun meeting Teil and so cool to see where all her gorgeous pieces are created.

I love love love how the piece turned out. I still can't believe it's mine! 

I'm not sure if we've found a permanent home for her yet but I'm really loving having her perched in front of this mirror for now. This chest is seen from the dining room, kitchen and living room so I'm loving that we can see her no matter where we are. Go check out all of Teil's amazing pieces here! I love everything she does so I can't wait to see what she comes up with this fall. 

- Heath 

Starting a Collection: Teil Duncan



I love art and beautiful antiques, interesting accessories and furnishings.  Don't get me wrong, I love fashion, purses and jewelry as much as the next girl, but my priority tends to be on interior design and things for the home.  I think things collected over time for the home add history and warmth to homes, and home purchases last MUCH longer than fashion purposes.  (Truthfully, other than maybe a Burberry Trench or Chanel purse, not many fashion purposes last for years and years as art and furniture does.)

Budget doesn't allow for most of us to fully decorate our homes all at once, but I think that's a good thing because rooms should not be "done" overnight.  This gorgeous home tour of Hanna Seabrook on Glitter Guide has me feeling like I'm not crazy or the only one who appreciates items with history.  I'm really lucky to have a husband who appreciates my love for art, antiques and a beautiful home, and he supports these types of purchases trusting me that when we are old our home will be filled with pieces that tell our story. 

We put a little money away each month while budgeting to save up for one piece of our "collection" each year.  Truthfully, it doesn't matter how much room you have in your budget, but if you make a plan and put a little money away each month, it adds up.  Just $20 a month (less than one pedicure!) will add up to an original Michelle Armas piece at the end of year.  Don't shy away from small original pieces if that is what your budget can afford.  I actually think that small pieces are easier to use.  They can be added together to create a larger gallery wall, tucked in bookshelves, or used on a quirky small wall. 

The next artist I have my eye on is Teil Duncan in Charleston, South Carolina.  I would love one of her Figure Study pieces.  I love the color and playfulness of them, and I think they'd add life to an otherwise traditional interior and can be equally at home in a contemporary setting.  She has beautiful smaller Figure Study pieces starting at just $140 and they go up from there.  Let me know if there is another artist or item you have your eye on to begin or add to your collection!

~Mary Keller

P.S.  I'll let you know which piece we end up selecting!

All images via Teil Duncan