Living Etc.

On Friday I stopped by my favorite magazine stand on Polk Street to peruse the literary quarterlies, European fashion magazines and design issues from all over the world - as I am mourning the loss of Domino like may others, I can't tell you how happy I was to find the English magazine LivingEtc.

Some of my favorite images from their online gallery (deco files) include this dining room with traditional wood table and marble fireplace made less formal and more comfortable with these inviting yellow chairs and , always in the mood for a little whimsy, the bunny teapot.

The color of this bathroom wall is so dramatic and emphasizes the bold, clean lines without being cold. The texture and colors of the towels add warmth too. Always on the lookout for form and function I like how the frame around the mirror doubles as a shelf.

I found this homage to 50's dining room set in their resources at Habitat. It's maybe a good thing they don't have one here in the US yet...

How to live with color is always a fascination for me - room as palette - drama and intrigue sort of pulls me in and down to relax and set a spell....

The Ghost chair is always for me most effective with something elaborate like this exquisite bone inlaid table and mirror from Graham & Green

or perhaps this seat will make me dust off my currency converter and beg them to start shipping overseas.

Calgon take me away...

Acequias & Artists continued...

Welcome to my friend Mark's home in the North Valley, an old agricultural district of Albuquerque - we had breakfast nearby at a little cafe called Sophia's Place on Sunday morning and walked along the acequias. I love how he's taken a small space and furnished it with older pieces pulled out of friends homes and whitewashed or collected over the years on his travels through Texas and California and Mexico before settling in Albuquerque.

He found this delicate wire birdcage in a shop locally and these two little orange birds happily flit from perch to perch in the sun-filled room at the foot of his bed.

How warm and self-contained his home space is while remaining open and light and airy.

We walked along the acequias past the homes and stables that border the waterway that is empty this time of year. Horses and peacocks, chickens and dogs barked and clucked and whinnied their greetings.

This time-honored irrigation system still maintains an elaborate code of protocol in opening and closing the waterways to each neighbor's property along the way.

Another time-honored tradition in New Mexico is a pilgrimage to Chimayo where this beautiful church sits.

In the sanctuary you will find the crutches left behind by men and women who came to pray and be healed. Whether you are steeped in the Catholic faith or not, we agreed there was something very peaceful about the small chapel.

The restaurant down the road was just getting to re-open after a bad fire in the kitchen a year or more ago so we had tamales at the little cafe right next to the church and loaded up on Sandia chiles and chile powder at the store around the corner. I have to say Luisa's makes one of the best chicken and green chilie tamales I've ever eaten with guacamole and house-made corn chips. With drinks our combined lunch expense was $10!

As one in eight New Mexico residents places their occupation as "artist" on their tax returns it's not unusual that I should have the pleasure of touring another artist's studio while visiting. This time it was my friend Al Kern's.

I met Al on a park bench 12 years ago just off the plaza in Santa Fe. He & his wife Marie took me under their wing and showed me the sights - the flea market and the galleries on Canyon Road were just two of the places I remember us visiting. Al's paintings are strong, beautiful representations of the spectacular light and natural land formations in New Mexico or the lovely friends and neighbors who have modeled for him over the years.

His studio is just behind their home in Albuquerque not far from the Nob Hill neighborhood where one can park and walk to shops and cafes or bookstores and natural food stores. While the canvas are neatly stacked or stored on shelves I love the fact that it's a real working studio with brushes and paint tubes everywhere!

This was one of my favorite figurative pieces of Al's pictured above; you can see his wife Marie admiring his work below. Unfortunately Al's father passed away the week we visited and he was in Alberta for the funeral so we didn't get to see him this visit.

Once you've explored some of the national monuments or visited the pueblos you begin to understand the New Mexican artist's fascination with landscapes - Georgia O'Keefe is probably one of the best known and loved of these. Be sure to see her collection at the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe. They own over 100o paintings, but only 8o or so are on view at any one time - the exhibits are changed four times a year so it's well worth a return visit.

To get a sense of the natural beauty ourselves we visited Tent Rocks National Monument on the Cochiti Reservation just outside of Albuquerque.

One can really appreciate how the land has formed over millions of years from the spectacular vistas at the top of the Canyon Loop.

I know these are supposed to resemble tents, but in my imagination other forms come to mind - a sort of topographic Rorschach test.

I loved how a tree or cactus will grow out of the rocks where you'd think nothing could possibly grow.

I hope you have an opportunity to visit soon or, if you're there already. to see some of the wide open spaces you haven't been to yet....

Land of Enchantment - Part One

Last week I had the good fortune to find myself visiting old friends and making new ones in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

One of the highlights was meeting the artist Ann Dunbar who teaches art to 7th graders part-time at The Bosque School and works in her home studio creating these whimsical mixed media assemblages and ethereal three dimensional dresses.

Many of her pieces are culled from visits to the Albuquerque Flea Market on Saturdays and Sundays.

Theses dresses takes hours and hours as she painstakingly folds and glues the pieces together. The New Mexico winter light was perfect the day we visited for catching some of the amazing detail that goes into these creations.

If you happen to be in Albuquerque next month you can catch her work at the artspace116 Gallery.

In this time of economic uncertainty and global warming it's refreshing to see such delicate beauty and memory keepers made from found objects and recycled treasures or simple everyday objects.

Here's Ann outside her home with one of her creations - a background in fashion design as well as fine art certainly influences her creativity as does her affinity for Mexican folk art.

The room below shows one of her works on the wall below Turkish divans inspired by a trip to the Ottoman Empire.

This is is one of my favorite photos of her white glassine dresses much like the ones that caught my eye in Seattle last summer where Curtis Steiner the owner of Souvenir in Ballard featured her work - I fell in love with the delicate array and feel fortunate to have brought one home to enjoy every time I walk by the window in my home where it catches the light.

Here you see one of Ann's pieces with her yellow ceramic collection and the Mexican influence very apparent. One of her pieces was drawn and then sewn onto a backing and quilted before being hung in a shadowbox frame - I can't even begin to comprehend the focus and patience it must take to realize that kind of vision!

The day before we went to visit Ann my friend Pamela & I made a pilgrimage to 10,000 Waves in Santa Fe on Artist Road - the Japanese style bathhouse with massage and skin treatments provides the perfect retreat. Everything from the koi in the pond to the sound of water and the scent of hinoki wood helps to decompress and recharge your batteries.

One of the best places to have dinner or a well mixed Margarita is High Noon in Old Town.

If you need lodging check out Casa de Suenos - after a good nights sleep in one of the casitas you'll begin to know why New Mexico license plates remind you it really is a land of enchantment.

One room at a time and The Suitcase House

I've always been interested in how human beings work with space so especiallly limited spaces like Airstream trailers and Tokyo apartments, where form and function are sometimes magically paired , appeal to me; I have been known to muse that "you can only be in one room at a time."

So I was completely enchanted with the article in the NY Times yesterday about architect Gary Chang and his tiny Hong Kong apartment with moving walls that can actually be transformed in 24 different configurations.

I love the irony that an apartment filled with the latest design and technology was remodelled to house the architect's extensive cd collection! I agree that Mp3s are great but so are the liner notes and artwork tucked into jewel cases.

It has a very Wong Kar-Wai feeling the way the golden light bathes the space.

I also love that even in a tiny space the bathtub is deep and the guest bed is hidden above it!



Then there is Mr Chang's Suitcase House built in 2000 where you can stay in China near the Great Wall just 20 minutes from the Beijing airport . This space is filled with light and again the same flexibility of making the space into what you'd like it to be as you go along. So beautiful in summer...or winter.... inside.... outside.... day....or night.....

I wonder if The Suitcase House in 1945 offered any inspiration ....