Confession time: I’m one of those people who sweat it just a teensy bit ( ok maybe a lot on a really hot day ) when a glass full of cold liquid is resting on a wood or glass surface. Oh the rings! My little OCD heart is pounding just thinking about it! The cure for such an ailment? Super artsy coasters, of course! Here are a few of my faves..
Any of these are bound to be more pleasing to the eye than condensation rings, eh? Happy weekend, Artsies!
All images are linked above.
Mr. Forager & I both marvel at the way architects here in the Northwest deal with the terrain. Houses and other structures are built to hug the earth or conform to it, often leaving us wondering what a feat of design and engineering it took to solve that problem! The ceramic compositions of Philadelphia artist Ben Fiess remind me of those precariously perched buildings.. seemingly random or off-kilter, yet as a whole making perfect sense.
Fiess, whose more practical design I featured in last week’s Design Foraging, puts together these compositions with great care and concern for the elements of texture, materials and space. Indeed, each piece seems like a perfectly balanced still life in three dimensions.
In addition to line, form, and texture, color plays a key part in Fiess’s compositions. He works within a tight palette, each cool tone balanced by the natural warmth of wood and textile elements.
Want to see more of Ben Fiess’s work? Be sure to check out his website here.
All images are via the artist’s website.
So if you read yesterday’s late afternoon post, you’ve heard the news– Mr. Forager and I have officially moved to Seattle! That’s right, no more traveling around, no more putting up with someone else’s decor taste or grody furnishings. We’ve rented a sweet little mid-century apartment in a beautiful Seattle neighborhood and I’ve been completely obsessed with furnishing it. Since I’m not working yet ( Did I mention I now have to get a real J-O-B? ), we’ve been furnishing on a “for now” budget until we have two incomes coming in. And then there’s all my lovely home goodies in storage back in Florida. I can’t wait to see them again, but am having serious issues remembering what I kept! So I’ve been doing a bit of day dreaming today.. looking at lovelies that would be perfect for our first real home together. My favorite colors, a little artsy for me, a bit rustic for Mr. F.
Anyone else doing some artsy nesting in a new home? Any Seattle area artsies know of a job opportunity for a hard working Artsy? 😉
All images linked above.
Monday morning, as Mr. Forager & I were leaving home, we both got excited at how grey and blustery a morning it was here in the desert. A “Northwest kind of day!” we both exclaimed. Perhaps you might think us a bit odd, but we really miss the grey and the rain. Cool days spent reading in a coffee shop, wandering through used bookstores and galleries. Those days just don’t seem to happen here in the desert. So as I’m finding myself longing for clouds, I rounded up a few artsy finds of the cumulus variety!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend and may all your clouds end in rainbows. See you Monday, Artsies!
Last night, as Mr. Forager and I were taking our evening walk around Joshua Tree, we spotted the most amazing little creature! Appearing to be a hummingbird, we moved in closer and took a few photos in the quickly disappearing dusk light. Imagine my surprise when I opened the photos this morning and saw that it wasn’t a hummingbird at all– but an insect of some kind! ( A pair of antennae we couldn’t see last night being an easy tell ). A quick Google search confirmed what we had seen as a striped hummingbird moth! It seems such a fanciful little thing, not quite real somehow. Similarly, ceramic artist Renee Brown crafts her own fanciful interpretations of nature’s forms.
In carefully straddling that line between reality and fantasy, Brown’s work may leave us questioning the vision before us. Are my eyes deceiving me? Is that a hummingbird I see?
Artist found via Daily Dolan Geiman. All images are via the artist’s website.
Excuse the horrible pun in the title. I just couldn’t resist! As any jeweler will tell you, cut makes all the difference in bringing out the best in a material. Just like gemstones, these pieces of functional art are geometrically cut and patterned to take advantage of their materials and create a different view from every angle.
Wouldn’t any of these add a little extra artsy to your day? Want to see some facet-nating artists? Check out the work of Jackie Tileston and Aaron Moran!
All image sources linked above.
Perhaps some pretty flowers arrived at your house yesterday? Maybe not ones of the Christy Kinard variety ( but if so, LUCKY!! ), but the sweetly scented kind. Pray tell, what did you do with your floral treasure? Please don’t say you just left them in the boring, cheap-o, mass manufactured vase they came in! A beautiful token of love deserves a special vessel. An artsy vessel. Here are a few I would happily grace with blooms!
Hope you the lovey doveyness keeps coming your way! I’m off to Palm Springs today for the Palm Springs Art Fair, looking forward to spending the day discovering more artsy to share with you!
**this vase is extra special because it is emblazened with lyrics from mine & Mr. Forager’s song. It’s not super mushy, but it fits us perfectly!
All images sources linked above.
Sometimes, I happen upon the loveliest artsy things when I’m not looking. Last Sunday, Mr. F & I were enjoying a quiet day at home and decided to take a little walk down the hill into Joshua Tree. We explored a few of the storefronts we hadn’t seen yet and tucked away in a corner was a new little shop, bkb ceramics. I immediately fell for the modern, simple shapes and the deep rich raku glazes. The shop is new, but artist/sculptor/ceramicist Brian Bosworth has already made waves at the Dwell on Design show in LA last year.
Each piece is unique, hand carved, completely affordable and functional, with a drain hole in the bottom. Just add rocks & your choice of succulent and voila, instant desert garden! We’re seriously thinking we’ll go back and pick our favorite as our artsy reminder of our time in Joshua Tree.. I’m leaning towards the Medium Blue Raku beauty above!
All images are via bkb ceramics’ website.
While living in the desert, I’ve noticed that people tend to embrace color in bolder ways than you might expect. I think it’s a side effect of being surrounded by so much beige sand! In today’s Friday Design Finds, I’d like to share with you some examples of the work of Ed & Kate Coleman, an artsy husband & wife team who aren’t shy about using color in their wonderfully textured ceramic creations.
Seriously, wouldn’t coffee be that much more glorious when sipped from one of those mugs? And their wall tiles are perfect for adding color, texture, and some dimension to a boring wall. Want to see more from Ed & Kate Coleman? Check out their website, where you’ll find their complete product line and a listing of galleries who carry their work. There are a bunch– bound to be one near you!
All images are via the Ed & Kate Coleman website.
I’m a firm believer that the beauty of objects we use every day enhances our simple daily rituals. That doesn’t mean every meal should be eaten off Royal Dalton china with fine silver, but we do eat with our eyes as much as our mouths, so why not help even the most ordinary of meals a lovely experience? Here are some “painted” plates that would make any meal feel a bit more artsy!
Hmm.. wonder if we could get any of these in time for Thanksgiving next Thursday? 🙂 Happy weekend, Artsies!
All image sources are linked under each image.