Piet Hein Eek
Posted by Cynthia | Filed under Musings
Tags: architecture, Furniture Design, Piet Hein Eek, Repurpose, Sculpture
Bennett Robot Works
Posted by Cynthia | Filed under Musings
Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is Bud. Bud is the imaginative creation of artist Gordon Bennett. Standing 13” tall, this collection of parts and pieces, beautifully composed, encapsulates a spirit within. Mr. Bennett’s robots are whimsical, yet painstakingly precise in their execution. The detailing of each object and connection is exquisite. I appreciate the time taken to craft each one of the robot identities, and the insight provided to their implied personality by their given name.
Tags: Bennett Robot Works, design, Found Objects, Gordon Bennett, Reuse, Robot, Sculpture
Curtis Jere
Posted by Cynthia | Filed under Inspiration, Musings, Solutions
I was recently shopping for vintage furniture, when a fabulous wall sculpture caught my eye. Could it be I had just laid eyes on an authentic Curis Jere?
I looked with cautious excitement, as there are many knock offs of the highly collectible work of the design team of Jerry Fels and Kurt Freiler. Together they launched Artisan House in 1964. They began creating costume jewelry and brightly enameled copper work in the 1950's and 1960's. Later, the team became known for their highly ornamental wall sculptures, like their best known 1970's composition above titled "Raindrops".
So who was Curtis Jere anyway? All of the authentic work is signed "C. Jere", and notes the production date. The identification represents a creative contraction of the partners names, which lead many to believe it was the work of a single artist. Did my found object have the appropriate markings? Yes!
This brand identity was marketed by retailers like Gumps. The tag, like the one pictured below, was often attached to artwork to convey a purchase of a one of a kind piece. The manufacturing process is most successful, as these jewel-like objects were in fact mass produced, yet look handmade.
The work of C. Jere has become so sought after, that interior designer Johnathan Adler has recently made arrangements with the firm to reproduce several of their most famous designs. Raindrops round mirror is one of the pieces offered by Adler. Prices are a fraction of an original at auction.
Original work of C. Jere can be found on Ebay and 1st Dibbs, or if you are lucky like I was, in vintage shops and estate sales. Happy Hunting!
Tags: Curtis Jere, mid century modern, Sculpture, vintage
Thought bubbles…
Posted by Peggy | Filed under Musings
Le Mobile (3) by Xavier Veilhan. I'm a huge fan of Calder's mobiles and when I saw this piece by Veihan, I immediately took a liking to his work. This particular mobile is constructed of twenty-five painted plastic and aluminum spheres linked together by metal and string. Veihan describes each black circle as a "thought bubble". As a sculpture, it connects thoughts and feelings by a group of people when gathered at a certain place and time, "the sum of all thoughts" if you would. It's rather impressive when shown within the compounds of a museum or a grand architectural space (could you imagine having one commissioned for your home?!) Literally took my breathe away. It's strange, but when they are done in bright colors, I feel like they create completely different conversations all together. Hence, the magic of colors and shapes – big happy thoughts, deep dark feelings, small conversations… I love it when they are shown in scale too, the proportion and dynamics each sculpture creates between an object and the human form is quite intriguing… almost as if you are a character in an animated film, just waiting for the "thought bubbles" to make a move.
Tags: Inspiration, mobiles, Sculpture, Xavier Veilhan
Patrick Dougherty Natural History
Posted by Cynthia | Filed under Inspiration, Musings
Patrick Dougherty has combined his love of nature with his sense of design and architecture to create over 200 woven stick works around the world. Mr. Dougherty, with the help of students and volunteers at each of his project sites, creates a sculptural experience for the visitor. He embraces the natural lifecycle of his material, which over time settles and decays, eventually returning to the earth. Patrick uses locally sourced material for each of his installations.
“My affinity for trees as a material seems to come from a childhood spent wandering the forest around Southern Pines, North Carolina – a place with thick underbrush and many intersecting lines evident in the bare winter branches of trees,” Dougherty has said. “When I turned to sculpture as an adult, I was drawn to sticks as a plentiful and renewable resource. I realized that saplings have an inherent method of joining – that is, sticks entangle easily. This snagging property is the key to working material into a variety of large forms.”
Tags: architecture, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, design, Natural History, Patrick Dougherty, Sculpture
