THANKSGIVING TABLE SCAPE

Thanksgiving is almost here! As you plan your holiday decorations take advantage of all the different shaped gourds. Consider placing them DIRECTLY on your table. Vary the color and shapes. Instead of using a table cloth, consider place mats or chargers and show off your table. Use coasters for under beverage glasses.
This is a tough one, but consider letting your table age gracefully like you would a leather sofa, ditch the padding and the cloth. Show off your table!
My clients will pay considerably more money to have me give them a distressed finish on custom work. You can do this yourself.
 For shiny pumpkins use Pam spray, polish with a dish cloth. If you are too nervous to put the gourds on the wood, use a table runner. Even if you are not hosting a dinner, create a table scape for you and your family to enjoy through the season.

HALLOWEEN TUSHIES

Just made it, Ocotber 31st! Could not resist passing this along from my friend , Nancy. Wishing all of you a Happy Halloween! Stay tuned for some holiday ideas, and check out my website, www.lettuceart.com!

AN ALEXANDER MCQUEEN HALLOWEEN

How can you not think of Alexander McQueen on Halloween?  He found beauty in the grotesque.This incredibly talented tour-de-force of  fashion  could turn the unthinkable into something sexy and mysterious.

What you see here are 2 Styrofoam skeletons from Target sprayed silver. They are sitting on a huge pair of butterfly wings, a little girl's costume, flower, also from Target. The cocktail forks were my mothers, could not resist. Have fun with your table decorations!

McQueen loved to  mix color and texture. Here is a pumpkin dressed in lace fabric, tied at the top with a rubber band. It is sitting on an Alessi bowl turned upside down. Mixing the unusual with traditional, straight lines with curves makes design much more fun. Check out his link and don't forget to visit www.lettuceart.com and Happy Halloween!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Alexander McQueen

www.metmuseum.org › Home › Exhibitions‎. This show was amazing.

THE TOAST MAN

Meet Maurice Bennett, the "The Toast Man". I like working with vegetables, and he likes working with bread!  I'm guessing this is pita......

Below is The Mona Lisa, all toasty, in a mall in Hong Kong

You can also read a bit about Mr. Bennett below and check out his website, www.mauricebennett.co.nz/toast-art/

For more vegetable art, check out www.lettuceart.com!

A FRENCH INSPIRED TABLE SCAPE

Meet Fifi! I saw this artichoke and thought of this skirt! The cauliflower was so pretty, I wanted to use it as a base before I cooked it! For more vegetable ladies go to www.lettuceart.com.

VEGETABLE ART ON A GRAND SCALE

Renaissance master Guiseppe Arcimboldo painted portraits of an arrangement of seasonal produce. Now artist Philip Haas has contstructed 15 foot tall fiberglass busts to look like Arcimboldo's four seasons. These were recently on display at New York Botanical Gardens. Below are the Haas figures of The Four Seasons.
To see more vegetable art on a smaller scale, please check out my website, www.lettuceart.com!

TABLESCAPES

Meet the Tomatillo Twins. Here are two ladies sitting on baked pita bread. Consider using a platter as part of your centerpiece for a luncheon. Tomatillos have a great papery skin which make great skirts. For more images, go to my website, www.lettuceart.com

INTERESTING TABLE SCAPES

Instead of using flowers for your luncheon, dinner or buffet, why not get creative with vegebables? With a bit of floral wire and imagination, have a little fun. For more images, go to my website, www.lettuceart.com

Artist Warren Muller

Meet artist Warren Muller. His studio, Bahdeebahdu is located in Philadelphia. He has been creating illuminated sculptures out of re purposed material for many, many years. His work can be seen in the Guggenheim Museum in New York City , the Dallas Fort Worth Museum , countless restaurants and buildings in New York, Philadelphia and even the Bat Bar in Japan.

Former education director of the Museum of Modern Art, Phillip Yenawine describes Warren's work:

"A glance is all it takes. We grin and think, never saw anything like that before..

The way Frank Gehry has reshaped our expectations of buildings, Muller has exploded the notion of look and function of lighting."

I so enjoyed working with Warren. We had a lot of fun searching through his wonderful, odd, old, shiny, collection of flea market finds.Once selected, he starts to assemble and magic happens.

Below are examples of his work, enjoy!

                                                           Here is Warren in his studio

                                        A look at how Muller's sculptures read in living spaces

                                         

                                                        
                                                          Brooms never looked so good

                                             A close up of Warren's newest work for the Sherle Wagner showroom
                                                    in Los Angeles. Look at the swan faucet!

This is a vintage jeep that hangs in the Philadelphia Cruise Ship Terminal's Naval Yard. It weighs over a ton.

                    Reception desk at Bahdeebahdu. portrait is made entirely of one tread and straight pins.

this is a close up of the front of the desk above. you are looking at ephemera and toys painted white

Lastly, here is a photo of Warren and Yours Truly standing below our collaboration in his studio this past summer.
To read older design blogs, go to www.merlehillaryinteriors.blogspot.com and go to the archives on the right. Also, stay tuned for the next blog which will feature a different kind of art. It will  also be sculpture, but the materials used are VEGETABLES!

                                                


                                               

OOPS ON THE OMO PEOPLE!

To my wonderful subscribers,
 I apologize that you were not able to view the omo people in my last post. Due to a few uninteresting reasons, that one was not able to be published on my blog,

There is a new video that is lap top and I-pad ready this time, so i hope you can view. Just continue to scroll down and have a look! if you can't scroll down, just go back to my original email, posted may 2nd, you won't be disappointed!
                                            sorry for the snafu !

THE OMO PEOPLE

The Mursi tribe and many others have lived in southern Ethiopia for centuries. Their religion is referred to as "Animist". They believe that there is no distinction between themselves, animals, plants or rocks. Everything has a soul. Nature is deeply revered. This may explain why there unique expression of body art blends seamlessly into their environment. Artists like Picasso, Motherwell and Rothko believed that primitivism was the core of creativity because it conveyed the soul of a person. Abstract Expressionist art was based on the non-intellectual. It was all about revealing your inner expression directly on the canvas.

Sadly, these tribes along the Omo river are slowly being forced out by the Omo National Parks. Government officials have coerced the Mursi to give up their land without compensation, making them squatters on their own land. Now there is a community tourism project helping the Mursi to declare their territory a community conservation area. You can go to www.mursicommunity.com.

Please watch this stunning video of the Omo People, their bodies are their canvases

GREAT GIFT IDEAS

This lovely logo is from "iomoi" (i owe me) www.iomoi.com . If you are looking for great gift ideas, this company offers standard or custom designs for home accessories as well as desk, kids and fashion accessories too.

Just enjoy and have a look!



These wonderful icebuckets can be made using custom designs. they also make lucite trays with custom designs. if you look below, here is a sampling of their choices.








I hope you enjoyed looking at some interesting gift possibilities. To look at older posts, please go to my main page at www.merlehillaryinteriors.blogspot.com

ARCHITECT ZAHA HADID

This is architect Zaha Hadid, from Baghdad. She is the recipient of the Pritzker award, the equivalent of the noble prize in architecture. Her research focuses on interrelating fields of urbanism, architecture and design. She combines natural topography and human made systems with cutting edge technology. The result is unexpected and dynamic architectural forms.

I have been on hiatus for a while to complete a two year docent program at the Philadelphia Art Museum. I am now a full fledged guide. The program not only focused on art and sculpture, but decorative arts as well which has helped me tremendously in my field of Interior Decoration.

Hadid's work can be seen at the museum. The focus of this show is how her interior space relates to her furniture design.

This photo below is Hoxton Square, London, England. It is based on the idea of a prism. The design seeks to respond to and manipulate daylight and views.


This next photo is he opera house in Guangzhon, China.

Below is the Vitra fire station in Weil am Rhein, Germany.


Id like you to take a look how the architect translates her merge of urbanization and design when we look at the interior spaces.


Here we are looking at her "Art Borders" wallcovers as well as one of her tables, organic and sleek. These pieces as well as her exteriors show movement as well.

Below is Zahad's latest installation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The three dimensional pieces you see are actual seating. Once inside the space one feels like you are part of a wave.

Please go to my blog, www.merlehillaryinteriors.blogspot.com to look at older posts that may be of interest. My portfolio is also on display as well.
Wishing you all the best in 2012! Merle Weismer

Artist, JoAnne Russo

This is the work of JoAnne Russo, contemporary basketmaker from Maine. This is part of her "Pod" series. What attracts me to her work is her use of unexpected materials like buttons, and zippers, and eyehooks. her application creates an unusual sophisticated surface design, they transcend their use and take on a new meaning.

Ms. Russo started making baskets in 1984. She was inspired by the works and basket techniques of the basketmakers of long ago from Mount Agamenticus in York, Maine. She was able to learn their techniques and incorporate them into her work. It involved selecting the right kind of Ash tree, splitting the wood for handles and rims using tradtional tools and then finally weaving the basket. She was also inspired by basket makers from Native Americans from the north east and the southwest. She started to incorporate porcupine quills and other natural materials which gave texture and individual presence to each peice she refers to as "Animism".

Here is a close-up. These pieces are from the "zip it" series.

Above is a shot of the inside. The buttons used create a wonderful 3d textural element to the

surface. Below is a basket whose top is made using acorns.

Her use of simple acorns adds a certain quiet elegance to this piece.

The pieces also look wonderful together as a group in the "chili pepper" series.

The curves in the eye hooks look like an ornate surface design I featured in my last blog, the

surface decoration of architect Robert Adam .

I am always impressed by taking unconventional materials and using them in such a poetic way. Russo has won numerous awards. Her pieces have been purchased by several museums including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

To see older posts, please go to my main blog page, www.merlehillaryinteriors.blogspot.com