Agast!

Do you have any idea how many artists work in the Gowanus Canal area? 150, according to the Annual Gowanus Artists Studio Tour (A.G.A.S.T.), which I visited last weekend (although there must be even more). I spent three hours wandering in and out of artists’ studios at 94 9th Street — only one of 28 venues where artists work near the canal.

The awkward thing about studio tours is that you never know until you venture into the close quarters of the studio, with the artist hovering nearby, how you will respond to the work.  How are some highlights of the work that I liked.

I don’t know what Abraham McNally’s art is all about, but I like it’s elemental nature. That’s his print, above.

This mirror-edged pile of firewood, snapped in his studio, has taken on different forms in previous work:

Raw nature meets human artifice in the way he combines materials, like hay and constructed wood:  

And stone and maple veneer:

The two meet again in his drawings and prints:

Brian Adam Douglas has carved a reputation as a street artist, aka Elbow Toe. Locals may recognize some of his images from the streets around Brooklyn.

The public got a peek into his studio, where he displayed floor-to-ceiling woodcuts that he uses to make his incredibly detailed prints, and a series of twisted takes on popular stories that he sold for $30 a pop – a real steal!

Douglas just launched an online store on his website, and some of his prints are also available on etsy.

Lauren Collings makes vibrant, flat paintings that remind me of David Hockney’s work.

Collings displayed some studies and smaller works:

I am developing a bit of a thing for the top piece in the above photo.

Red

Sweater I repaired with felted wool at Platform21’s installation, Governor’s Island

‘Flamingo’ by Alexander Calder, Chicago

Wool at Christien Meindertsma’s installation, Governor’s Island, NYC

Isabel’s shoes, Marion and Duncan’s house, Cape Town

Friday assembly at my cousins’ private school in Johannesburg, South Africa 

CNA Plaza, Chicago

Murat Küpçü’s booth for his store, Double Knot, at the Architectural Digest Home Show, New York

Plates & Records Supper Club

OK, OK. I know I’ve been a bad, bad blogger recently. I can only tell you that I hit a bit of burnout at work this summer – precisely the time you’re supposed to be loafing off, slipping out of work early on Fridays and dashing off to beach locations near and far. Instead, I was chasing deadlines, and pulling some late hours. Well, boo hoo to me.

One of the cool things I did this summer was attend the Plates & Records Supper Club. This was the second time that Joann Kim, Ram Subramanian and Andrzej Nowicki threw this bash for their friends and this time the menu was South African.

On the way to the bar in Bushwick that was hosting it, I was treated to a gritty artwalk.

 

 

But on to the important stuff–the food.

On the menu:

Cocktails: Cape Town Collins and Malawi shandy

Chicken and veggie mini-pies

Watermelon, arugula and feta salad

Bunny chows (a quarter loaf of bread scooped out and filled with curry – see pic below)

Grilled corn in herb butter

Spinach with ground nuts

Milktert with rasberry coulis

Post-dinner treats included live music in the alleyway alongside the bar. One of the acts was none other than Jon Burgerman, whom I coincidentally wrote about for the Elle Decoration blog a while ago. He seems to be branching out from hyperactive doodles to deadpan rap.

Incidentally, you should check out his exhibit at Giant Robot in the East Village, “My American Summer,” which closes Sept. 16. The guy elevates doodling to a high, high art.

Green

BDDW’s booth, Architectural Digest Home Design Show

Greenhouse at Stone Barns Farm, Westchester, NY

Lindsey Adelman lights, Architectural Digest Home Design Show 

Town of Hawzien, Ethiopia

Greenhouse at Stone Barns Farm, Westchester, NY

The Highline, 34th Street, NYC

Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Yellow

My cousin Nate eating macaroni, Bedford, NY.

 

Carved yellow pages by Long-Bin Chen, Tribeca.

 

 

Church of St. George, Lalibella, Ethiopia.

 

Cardboard boxes, Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

 

Under the ’L’ train, Chicago.

 

Buttermilk and feta rolls, Neigbour Goods Market, Cape Town.

 

Birch trees, Brooklyn Heights.

Maker’s Market at Socrates Sculpture Park

The humidity and mud did nothing to diminish the pull of the Maker’s Market in Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens this weekend. There were three tents chock full of a fantastic variety of furniture, glassware, ceramics, jewellery, textiles and art curated by R20th Century, America Craft magazine, the Isamu Noguchi Museum and ReadyMade Design.

I admit: I was overwhelmed. I got triggerhappy with the old camera, which died on me four booths from the end. Here’s what I saw, sans commentary. 

From R 20th Century, glassware by Jeff Zimmerman, robot figures by Rusti D. (Deimos), and soft scultpure toys by Renate Müller:

 

Hope Ginsburg/Sponge (that’s her talking to the lady with the psychedelic blouse):

 

Hivemindesign:

Esque Studio:

 Produce Design:

 Jewelry by Eric Silva:

 Spring Gallery:

 

 Sanam Emami:

 Thaddeus Wolfe Glass:

Elyse Allen Textiles:

I think my most favorite thing was the stool by Hivemindesign. It is made from reclaimed and salvaged wood and the elements can be taken apart and stacked any way you want.

What was yours?

Storm, Friday night

I rushed outside soon after the intense downpour on Friday night, when the sunset cast an eerie yellow light and the clouds were shaped like scoops of ice cream. But what I got were these strange photos that look like Armageddon on Cranberry Street.

The camera intensified the reds in the sky – it really didn’t look like this at all.

A couple of blocks away, the Brooklyn Heights promenade gave a more dramatic view of the clouds.

What Am I Doing in Brooklyn?

At the risk of sounding traitorous – and perhaps even insane in a blog devoted to the glories of life in Brooklyn - I sometimes dream of abandoning my pre-war studio in Brooklyn for this:

There is just the small obstacle of some $1.1 million. That’s the price tag for the David and Elene Cohen residence, designed by Paul Rudolph and built in 1955 in Sarasota, Florida, which is advertized for sale on the Paul Rudolph Foundation website.   

I love the light-filled interior and all that warm wood. Not to mention the flow of space from indoor to outdoor. Sigh.

Apparently this house was designed for Sarasota’s mayor. The listing taunts us with descriptions of “terrazzo floors throughout, cedar-lined walk-in closets, built-in furnishings, restored to Rudolph’s design and more.” Plus it has it’s own dock.

You can see more photos here.

Hubba hubba, tribal necklace

It has nothing to do with Brooklyn but I couldn’t resist posting this photo of a choker by kjoo that I have fallen in love with on etsy:

I want.

Rodney Trice in Time Out NY

I just spotted this amazing Noguchi-inspired lamp made by Rodney Trice out of an old fan cage in a recent issue of Time Out NY. You may remember I first  launched this blog with a post about Trice’s studio, T.O.M.T.

It’s amazing that something so elegant and crisp can be made out of salvaged junk.

In the Time Out piece, Trice explains how he repurposed the fan casing - read it here.

And since I wrote about him last November, Trice has gotten a lot of attention for his special brand of “object recovery and reassignment.” Time magazine included him in its Green Design issue.

Way to go, Rodney!