Spotlight: Estella Fransbergen

Hey There . . 

Posted recently a Penthouse project (here) I am working on.  I was asked to help detail the entire space with some unique pieces, odd furniture, rugs, and window treatments.  I generally snap up some art pieces I love for my installs but in this case, I am working for an artist !  She has the art covered, but there is one piece both she and I love that we found at Shain Gallery.  It's the work of Estella Fransbergen.   

She celebrates the human form with beautiful clay torsos which to her captures the "essence of the soul."  She uses primitive firing techniques of awdust and Raku bringing her back to to South African roots where she was born and raised.  She explains the clay's beautiful colors are created by the intensity of the fire.  She then "dresses" the naked torso using feathers, branches, leaves and gemstones.  Her sculptures reflect her total life experience, she further explains.  

I love all of these pieces.  Showing at Shain Gallery here in Charlotte, as well as a few others here in the U.S. (here)  Take a look at a few of my favorites !!

Artist Spotlight: Jennifer Levine

Hey !

Jennifer Levine, Charlotte artist.  I love her work and have placed it on several occasions.  She shows at Slate Interiors and during my many "swooping trips" at Slate I always pause and see if one of Jennifer pieces will fill an empty wall at a current install.  That's just what happened when I was shopping for accessories for the recent Lake Game Room, and got lucky !!

He work is colorful, vibrant and full of texture and movement.  Take a look at a few of my favorites from her site, and head over to Slate Interiors and give them a closer look !

A little more about Jennifer, from her site . . . 

Jennifer Levine has enjoyed a love of art most of her life with the help of her very artistic father and artist grandmother, who illustrated medical text books in the 1920s through 1950s. At St. Lawrence University, in Upstate New York, Jennifer studied Art History, Fine Arts and Economics, but set the artistic visions aside when transferring to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she continued her major in Economics and then Political Science. After 15 years working in Commercial Real Estate Investment Banking with Bank of America and Wachovia, Jennifer became a full-time mother of three children, and began to really explore her artistic interests and techniques. She works with oils, watercolor, charcoal, pen and inks and printmaking. Her style ranges from abstract interpretations of still life and landscape in very large form, to playing with geometric forms through hazy layers below and on the surface. Jennifer shows paintings primarily in Slate Interiors, or by appointment.

Spotlight: Kelly O'Neal

Hi There !

Always on the hunt for original art for installs, and always checking out the new introductions my vendors are offering at upcoming markets.  I came across a series of original art by Kelly O'Neal which I fell in love with.  Take a look !

Be happy to source for you, give us a call !

Spotlight: Orr Ambrose

Hi There . . .

Another artist I fell in love with at the Hart Witzen Show was Orr Ambrose.  These pieces I found amazing in their detail and vibrant color.  Mixed media on canvas and on a large scale, these pieces would bring any space to life.  I particularly love the color combinations and the intricacy of these pieces.

From his site:

American artist Orr Ambrose, born 1970, was raised in Greenville, South Carolina. His early art education began with drawing classes at the County Museum. From there he went on to receive private instruction and enroll at the Greenville Fine Arts Center. He earned his BFA from the University of Georgia, majoring in Painting and Ceramics. In addition, Orr spent 7 months in Cortona, Italy studying drawing and refining his painting technique. He completed a 3 year residency program at Odyssey Center in Asheville, North Carolina. Orr Ambrose has shown in solo and group exhibitions in galleries across the eastern US, demonstrating a path of focused growth. His paintings are included in private and corporate collections and he has been commissioned to create works for private collectors. Using painting, drawing, and photography, his work addresses the emotional impact of visual art upon the viewer and the atmosphere that paintings create in a space. Orr currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.

His portrait work and landscapes are quite beautiful as well.  Check out his other work at www.orrambrose.com

Spotlight - Susanna Bauer

Hey There . . 

I came across this artist today and find her work just amazing !  Wanted to share.  Susanna Bauer works with small structural objects based on found natural materials.

Things that often go unnoticed, like these leaves.  We dread raking them in when they cover our yard but gaze at them when they are at their yellow, red or orange Fall glory.  I am simply amazing at her patience in creating these beauties . . .

She pays such attention to the small details and the tactile quality of these objects, weaving and crocheting to create these shapes and forms.  She is interested in the unusual combinations of materials, the experimentation with fragility and strength and the individual stories that evolve and shape themselves in the process of making.

Susanna was born in 1969 in Bavaria, Germany.  In 2010 in the West Penwith area of Cornwall, she became a permanent residence.

Take a look at a few of my favorites !

For more details, check out her site at

www.susannabauer.com

No Shrinking Violet - Rose Cumming

Hey there . . .

I gave you a look at my new office, which I am loving.   I wanted to elaborate on the great Rose Cumming a bit. The window treatments in my space are hers and I have been dying to use that fabric.  While pulling it, I spent some time looking at all her other designs as well as the woman herself, because I have always loved an eccentric, an original, with striking violet hair and all.  

Her appearance first of all will peak your interested.  Known to wear shocking lime dresses cinched with a gold tie back and hair full of plastic fern fronds, a look and attitude to admire simply for it's unconventionality.  She marched to her own drummer, which I love.

Flash back to 1917, she was popular in New York society.  Having not entered the design world yet, she asked her friend Frank Crowninshield, the editor of Vanity Fair what she should do, he suggested she become a decorator, to which she responded, "Perhaps I would, but first tell me what it is."  She set up shop on Park Avenue and revolutionized interior design with her unparalleled sense of color and unorthodox style.

She became famous for combining pieces in ways which seemed random.  Her greatest strength was as a colorist.  Her mix of tangerine orange and blood red, teal and lime and her favorite hyacinth taffeta were legendary.  "Parrots are blue and green, why shouldn't fabrics be!"

With her sense of the dramatic, it's not surprising that she counted Marlene Dietrich and Mary Pickford among her clients.

Upon her death in 1968, her sister Eileen Cecil carried on the fabric business until recently when the business was sold to Dessin Fournir - Chuck Comeau, who heads the firm, discovered old boxes containing fabrics hand painted by Cumming in the 30's in simpler and more abstract forms than her chintzes.

Today Dessin Fournir (a vendor of ours) offers many of the gorgeous colors and patterns, all Ms. Cumming - take a look at my favorites . . .

And let's not forget the wall paper !

Read more about Ms. Cumming and get inspired to be an original !

publish date September 4, 2012

Our showroom is filled with all her samples, give us a call for an appointment and come take a look.