Monthly Archives: February 2009

Charlotte Moss on the Ideal Bedside Table

charlotte_mossAbout a month ago, I visited mega-decorator Charlotte Moss in her Upper East Side brownstone to interview her for  R.Home magazine. What fun! She was lovely and incredibly schooled on design history. She made me want to lock myself in her library until I’d finished reading all of the gorgeous design books lining her shelves. Like most successful people, Moss has obviously done her homework in life. And she isn’t afraid to pull from the past — and admit she’s doing it. She takes her favorite elements from famous women of style and synthesizes them into something entirely her own, that’s elegant, detailed, and always comfortable.

tria_giovan_cm_bedroom_11I asked Charlotte to explain this nook in the bedroom she designed for the ”Designers Visions at The Laurel” decorator’s showhouse in which apartments were sponsored by magazines in The Laurel apartment building in New York. Moss decorated an apartment in the high rise for Veranda and it appeared on their cover in November. After hearing her answer, I think this photo is a great example of the level of detail in her work. Continue reading

Breakfast Pizza of Champions

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Let me begin by admitting that pizza is my desert-island food. I could eat it every day. But lets be clear, not that doughy, sorry excuse, Chicago-style, and definitely not with pineapple. Otherwise I’m smitten with that brilliant pie of my ancestors. So when I saw this New York Times Magazine recipe (adapted from the Big Sur Bakery in California), I jumped at the chance to make it for a crowd. The verdict: fantastico!
Hint: Save time and buy dough at your favorite pizzeria, then dress and bake.

Here’s the recipe: Continue reading

Ed Trask Shows Graffiti and Grit in Farmville

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Deep tones, conflicted skylines, graffiti and grit play into the paintings of prolific Richmond artist, Ed Trask. We caught up with Trask while he installed his current show at Farmville, Va.’s j fergeson Gallery. Here he is with the largest piece in the show: a six-panel painting (depicting Route 5 near Rockett’s Landing in Richmond) that he originally made for an exhibit in L.A.

He broke it down for us: Continue reading

Your Fluffy Valentine

If licking and cuddling from a four-legged friend is the only love you’re getting this Valentine’s Day, enjoy it! And celebrate with art.

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Sherry and John Petersik, who write This Young House, a great blog about their adventures in decorating, are creative beehives. They’ve developed this cute line of pet silhouettes in sweet, modern colors. And since the silhouette’s are in white verses the traditional black, they have a fresh, mod feel. And $20 for an 8 x 10 will run you not much more than a box of chocolates. Although if you’re hanging with the pooch this V-Day, treat yourself to some Godiva.

(If you’re in Richmond, Quirk Gallery carries the line.)

Random History: Silhouettes came about in the late 18th century in France as an inexpensive way to have a portrait done and are named after Louis XV’s finance minister who was notoriously cheap.

SCAD President Shares Design Secrets of Eccentric Southerners

paula20070829_psw_034_v2Last week I was lucky enough to attend the Richmond Academy of Medical Alliance Foundation (phew!) luncheon at The Jefferson Hotel with guest speaker Paula Wallace, the founder of the Savannah College of Art and Design. I’m not sure how one goes about starting a college, but in 1978 she did, and now it’s the largest art and design school in the country. Amazing!

Here’s what’s happening at SCAD:

Designer Isabel Toledo (recently of Michelle-Obama-inaugural-suit fame) is coming to the fashion school’s fashion week this year; last year “The Wrestler” premiered at its film festival; through its Working Class program, students actually design for major corporations (they do the photography for the West Elm catalogue, for example); they have an amazing shop of student work called Shop SCAD; and an incredible campus in the medieval town of Lacoste in the south of France. I don’t know about you, but I was totally blown away. Continue reading

Accidental Tourist: Boatman on Brown’s Island

Usually when I’m on Richmond’s Brown’s Island it’s with thousands of other people for a concert or festival like the annual Richmond Folk Festival each October. But riding bikes there this Sunday on this sunny, 60-degree January afternoon, I saw something I’ve never noticed before.

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This sculpture, “Headman” by Paul di Pascuale (same artist who did the controversial Arthur Ashe statue on Monument Avenue) commemorating the African-American  boatmen whose skills helped downtown Richmond develop.  Also in the above shot is Richmond’s Federal Reserve Building to the right and the still-being-built, blue-glass Mead Westvaco building. (The paper packaging company just announced last month it was laying off 10 percent of its global workforce but construction on its headquarters looked to still be a go.) Continue reading

Father and Son Shoot Kin

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With cameras, that is.
In the current show at Page Bond Gallery, photographers Emmet and Elijah Gowin explore the same subject, a beloved aunt at the family homestead in Danville, Va. The photos are magical and sweet, taking us to a time and place where women wear housecoats and clothes are hung on lines. Do people really live like this? And if so, can we come over for some pie?

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Father Emmet is a well known black-and-white photographer who’s been a mentor to Sally Mann (her son is named after him). His photos of Aunt Maggie were taken in the ’70s, like this one above. A similarity between his work and Mann’s can be seen in their everyday subject matter and the fact that there’s often some peculiarity lending the average scenes some intrigue. Continue reading