Art for the Bungalow

Art is so personal, as "they" say. The pieces I select usually represent not just a love of the artwork, but often serve as a means of capturing a great trip, a nice engagement with the artist, or an outing with family and friends. I don't have a broad collection, but one friend described my taste as "eclectic". I've learned from the best - looking at you AS.

Few who visit come away underestimating how much I've enjoyed travelling, with artwork and household goods in the home from Marrakech, London, Prague, Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, Nice, NYC, Santa Fe, S. Florida, Napa, Chicago, rural Zimbabwe, Cape Town, Paris, Newport, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Prague, Santorini, St. Petersburg, Capri, Cyprus, Southern Spain, Sao Paolo…and on and on...and then there's Christmas, when an even broader array of international ornaments show up on the tree.

My first gallery purchase was a tiny $275 3D Fazzino in Soho, NYC , with the World Trade Towers in the foreground forever dating the small piece. It was my first time in the city. On this trip I also bought a $25 print from an young artist trying to make a dollar on the Soho sidewalks with his brightly colored Harlem jazz paintings. I remember hemming and hawing, indecisive, young and poor, but AS said "go for it." About a decade later, I was living on the UWS, and saw the same artist at a weekend fair downtown - I introduced myself, and bought another print (now $250). The artist offered to reframe my original and clean it up a bit - gratis, as I was "an established client", and I picked both up in Washington Square a week later. It was the perfect bookend to that first wonderful, memorable trip to NYC. I can't look at the art without thinking of the lunch we had that day with my college roommate Alexis and my Aunt's (and now my) friend Dee Ann, the wandering of the city streets, the lovely hotel, the show that night, etc. You'll find both jazzy prints in the basement family room in the new home. And there is a story for almost every other piece going up in the Bungalow.

Long-time blog readers will know most of my home is to be fairly monochromatic (grays, whites) with the color coming through in the artwork and a bit of upholstery and textiles. The nice thing about a small house - the artwork really shines! And a good thing about having moved so often - you don't buy for a room, or a wall, as the rooms and walls change frequently - so one learns to buy what is really liked!

Some of the artwork has been gifted - making it even more treasured.

Below, a subset of the "Bungalow Collection"… "collection" used with a bit of a wink and a nod - there are pieces from great galleries and known artists, and others from street fairs and small villages purchased for under $50. I've also been known to fill an entire wall with framed postcards from my travels.

Peter Kutner - a great 34th birthday present. Loved this the moment I saw it at Studio E Gallery. Reminds me of Greece.

Carie Henrie - Sante Fe - wonderful trip

Petr Weigl - London - uber tallented, super nice - commissioned after seeing his work at AAF London

Leslie Emery - Cocanut Grove Art Fair

A Ron Witherspoon woven - Stuart Art Fair

Jim Lewk - Juno Beach Art Fair (another "bookend" - I have a $50 bicycle from this artist circa 1998 - all I could swing at the time.

a tiny 14 inch Kwang Cha - W. Palm Beach

London - Artist unknown

Studio Renya - Santa Fe - Christmas Gift 2012. Love how the petals just jump off the canvas, and the frame was a great addition. What a wonderful surprise under the tree.

A stunning Kim Schussler - Christmas gift 2012 (it was a really good Christmas!) I love KS.

Candra Boggs - Chicago (but she is the art teacher at my PHS alma matter - a LARGE conincidence - I had no idea of the connection when I picked this out of at a tremendously good art fair)

Chinese embroidery - amazing detail

Chicago - artist unknown - but the piece is 3d woven, composed from the artist's husband's MBA text books. To this I could relate. The blue is clearly Finance 804

The Gates - birthday gift from a dear friend; I toured this exhibit with Aunt Sue (on accident - we literally walked into it), and he knew how much I enjoyed the trip.