Frances Gearhart color block prints at the Pasadena Museum of California Art

I am usually allergic to publicist pitches, but a few days ago I received a press release about “Behold the Day: the Color Block Prints of Frances Gearhart,” now showing at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, which included a picture of this amazing color block print of Big Sur Bridge.

Maybe it’s because I just returned from a romantic pre-Thanksgiving trip to Big Sur, but this image made my heart swell. I love everything about this print—the color scheme, the perspective, the subject matter. It’s so California, but not in the sunny palm tree way.

And there were more. Like this piece called " Untroubled Waters" which is looks to me like a landscape in Big Bear.

 

And this one called "October Splendor."

Desperate to know more about this artist, I called up Susan Futterman, a former television executive who almost singlehandedly put the show at the Pasadena Museum together. Gearhart (1869-1959) was a school teacher as well as an artist, never married and lived with two sisters who were also artists, and also teachers. (Sounds like the makings of a British novel to me!). Well known in her time, she fell into near obscurity in recent decades. This show is the first retrospective of her work.

The exhibit includes 70 of Gearhart's prints as well as a children's book never reached publication. Futterman got it published through the Book Club of California and it is available for sale at the museum.

To learn more about Gearhart, you can read Futterman’s essay on the artist here or check out the show for yourself. It closes Jan. 31.

The Pasadena Museum of California Art is located at 490 East Union Street at Oakland Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101. Museum hours are  Weds – Sun, 12pm – 5 pm. Free the first Friday of the month and closed Mondays and Tuesdays. For more information, call 626-568-3665 or email info@pmcaonline.org

-- Deborah Netburn

Photo credits: Frances Gearhart, Untitled (Big Sur Bridge), 1933; Frances Gearhart, Untroubled Waters, 1931; Frances Gearhart, October Splendor, 1930.

Gold Bug in Pasadena: tea-partying insects, two-faced babydolls and other amusing oddities

Stacey Coleman calls his Pasadena gallery Gold Bug "a contemporary cabinet of curiosities,” but after its recent expansion, the description seems an understatement in many ways. After taking over an adjacent storefront, Coleman, wife Shelley Kimball and daughter Theodora Coleman have filled tables and covered walls with dozens of artists’ work that is beautifully crafted and often delightfully odd.

Lisa Wood’s miniature dioramas, above, include cicadas sitting down for tea with gold-rimmed china and soldier ants building a sandcastle — scenes that seem at once a parody of natural history displays and a celebration of them too. (And, yes, those are real insects.) The offerings range from large sculpture costing thousands of dollars to acid-washed concrete figurines (including the two-faced doll heads above) that sell for less than $20. For a look at other offerings, click to the jump.

Style spotting in Rome: Big buttons and modern hanging scrolls

Don’t hate me, but I spent a recent weekend strolling along the streets of Rome hunting for design inspiration.

I found it at Mia Design, located at Via di Ripetta 224, just a few blocks from the Piazza del Popolo. Run by stylish owner Emilia Petruccelli, this delightful interior design and furniture gallery features a mix of sleek, modern pieces and rustic, hand-crafted and repurposed items.

Two of her wall-worthy collections caught my fancy. The first, a cluster of whimsical oversize ceramic buttons (bottone) by Vietri artist Pepe Design. With two or four holes, they can be “stitched” with contrasting cording to hang from a wall, just like the display at Mia (above). Prices range from 13 to 38 euros; dimensions range from salad- to dinner-plate sized.

Rows of hand-painted and digitally printed wallpaper panels by U.K. designer Deborah Bowness decorate several of the store’s vertical surfaces (right). Measuring 20 to 22 inches wide and 130 inches long, each panel depicts life-size, everyday objects --  lamps, chairs, bookcases or clothing on hangers. These contemporary trompe l’oeil panels aren’t currently sold in the United States, although a spokeswoman for the artist told me the company will be looking for outlets at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York in May.

Anthropologie has commissioned Bowness panels for some of its U.S. stores, and the wallpaper is also featured at Soho House, a New York hotel. The panels can be ordered for 239 euros each from Mia Design or you can contact the Deborah Bowness studio directly for ordering information.

-- Debra Prinzing

Photos: Debra Prinzing

Aboriginal art on display at George Smith Hand Made Furniture and Fabrics through Wednesday

As the recession continues, resourceful retailers are finding creative ways to draw in new customers.

In one such inspired move, art dealer Leslie Goldsmith has installed a selection of Aboriginal paintings in the showroom of George Smith Hand Made Furniture and Fabrics.

The works in “From Down Under: The Aboriginal Art Tour,” which were previously at the George Smith store in New York, feature the highly symbolic and boldly graphic composition of lines, dots and strokes. The paintings, which tell of their families, their tribes and their “dreamtime” interpretations, are available for sale, ranging in price from $700 for an unframed piece, to $26,000.

The showroom is at 804 N. La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: George Smith Hand Made Furniture and Fabrics

Restaurant design inspiration: Rippou-Tai wall at Sugarfish

When the first Sugarfish sushi restaurant opened in Marina Del Rey in June 2008, brand designer Clement Mok worked with architects to create a space that would feel bright and vibrant. But when customers began to compare the results to Pinkberry, Mok knew he wanted something different for the Brentwood location, which opened in July.

Enter the Rippou-Tai wall -- an undulating wooden wall that runs the length of the restaurant. The oceanic symbolism is obvious -- especially with those glass bubble lamps hanging in front of it. The wall itself is gorgeous, at once intricate and simple, watery and earthy.

The restaurant and the wall were designed by Glen Bell of Studio Dex. He calls it a "Rippou-Tai" wall because the phrase means "3-D cube" in Japanese. It is constructed from more than 3,000 individually cut 3-by-3-inch cubes of Douglas fir that vary in depth.

The scale of Sugarfish's wall made it time consuming to assemble, but Bell says the construction is simple enough that anyone could do it. "It's like color by numbers once you have your piles of cut wood ready to go," he said. Bell screwed each piece of wood into a piece of backing (in this case, plywood). The only unforeseen difficulty? The lumber was so heavy it nearly tipped over a forklift.

-- Deborah Netburn

Photo credit: Studio Dex

The Deal: Fine art photography auction at Kopeikin Gallery

Wide-eyed owls and dolls and sad but sweet monkeys are among the fine art photographs being put on the block at Kopeikin Gallery in West Hollywood on Friday at 7 p.m. The subject matter is particularly apt, as proceeds from this fifth annual auction will benefit the Larchmont Charter School. Gallery owner Paul Kopeikin says that the works will have starting bids of up to 70% off the artists' customary asking prices. If bidding on pieces reach a certain price, Kopeikin may offer multiple prints to interested parties.

Among the highlights is "Owl Girl," above, a 24-by-20-inch archival digital print by the Los Angeles-based team Davis & Davis, which has a starting bid of $1,200.
Bidding for Hiroshi Watanabe's "Big With Monkey Doll, Suo Sarumawashi," a 14-inch-square toned silver gelatin print, right, will start at $1,100.

In a work of vérité cuteness, Lara Regan's "Adrift" depicts a puppy floating on an inflatable raft at the bottom of a nearly drained swimming pool. The starting bid: $980. (See it after the jump.)

Other photographs document the geometric patterns found in nature and architecture. Two of the wittiest come from Andy Freeberg's 2006 series of the reception areas in New York's Chelsea art galleries. Defined by monolithic white desks that obscure all but the tops of employees' heads, "Cheim and Reid" and "Metro Pictures" ($1,700 to start) are minimalist abstract compositions -- ideal for clean modernist homes or industrial lofts. (Get a glimpse after the jump.)

A free preview of the work is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday at the gallery at 8810 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Or see the online preview here. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Attendance is not necessary to participate in the auction, which will accept advance bids until 7 p.m. Friday by phone or e-mail.

CanvasPop lets you turn photos into wall art, and it's pretty cheap

We've seen online services that let you put your own image on T-shirts, coffee cups, throw pillows and shower curtains, so why was I so excited to hear about CanvasPop, a new company that will print any image onto a stretched canvas for low-cost wall art?

Maybe it's because CanvasPop recognizes that (rightly or wrongly) many of us consider the photographs we take as worthy of hanging in our home. (Hey, what picture could be better than that photo I shot of the waves at Abalone Cove?)  Maybe it's because the price point is so reasonable: $30 will get you an 8-by-10-inch canvas printed with a photo of your choosing but not stretched, and a 3-by-6-foot canvas will run you about $500 stretched. Or maybe it's because absolutely everything about the site makes sense. It's easy to upload a photo, and an actual person will get in touch with you to show a proof of the cropped image and to help you with other tweaks you might want.

I can think of at least three photos in my iPhoto library that I feel are worthy of display in my living room, and apparently I'm not the only one. CanvasPop's founder, Adrian Salamunovic, said the company has taken hundreds of orders, and it's only been around for a month.

-- Deborah Netburn

Photo courtesy of CanvasPop

Sculptor-woodworker Alma Allen logs his work at Heath Ceramics; reception tonight

Alma Allen didn't come up with the idea of transforming tree trunks into side tables and stools, but during the past decade, the sculptor and woodworker behind the now-defunct Venice gallery Pearce has certainly refined the concept. His work has found its way into the vocabulary of art collectors and decorators, and his pieces helped to create a look that's been dubbed "rustic modern." Even West Elm has taken notice.

Allen, above, uses a chainsaw and lathe to turn salvaged woods into sleek forms. The interiors firm  Commune Design commissioned the artist, now based in Joshua Tree, to create side tables, above left, for the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs and stools for the Oliver Peoples store in Malibu, above right.

Allen recently teamed with Commune and Heath Ceramics to create a collection of Bauhaus-influenced pottery. The line includes canisters with lids that Allen crafted from solid walnut, right. They are priced $125 to $325. 

Heath Ceramics' L.A. store will be displaying and selling other recent work by Allen. Among the highlights: highly polished ironwood bowls and sculptures in marble and bronze that recall the work of modernist Constantin Brancusi and architectural tables made from slabs of solid wood and metal bases. You can see them after the jump.

From 5 to 8 p.m. today, Heath will host an artist's reception. It is free and open to the public. Allen's pieces will be in the store through the end of the year. 

The Deal: $200 off Botanist designs through Nov. 2

 

The Botanist series of benches, cocktail tables and nesting end tables from L.A.’s Orange22 Design Lab pairs a minimalist silhouette with the finishing touches of 11 noted designers. Each item begins as a single piece of aluminum, which is precisely cut, bent and faced with a high-impact powder coat or a wood veneer covered in epoxy. The sleek forms are then refined with color and graphics by artists such as Milton Glaser, Karim Rashid and Dario Antonioni.

This month, Orange22 is offering $200 off any Botanist product. Just enter the code: HALLOWEEN200 during checkout or call (877) ECO-FLOW. Two percent of the proceeds go to the artists' charities of choice. Margo Chase’s Flight pattern shown above (with prices ranging from $690 for an end table to $1,214 for a cocktail table, after the discount) will benefit the Sierra Club. The sale ends Nov. 2. For more designs, click here.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Orange22 Design Lab

Florentine mosaics at Sollo Rago Modern auction

It looks like one of those European science lab posters that have been popular as home decor for the past decade, but look again. This is a stunning example of pietra dura, the Italian art of painting with stones such as marble and granite. It is part of a collection of pieces by the American artist Richard Allmand Blow, who revived the centuries-old Florentine mosaic technique and gave it a distinctively modernist twist.

Blow established the Montici studio in Italy after World War II, where this crazy beautiful still life of fruit was produced. It is one of eight Blow works from the 1950s and '60s that will go on the block during the Sollo Rago Modern auction that runs Oct. 24 and 25. The framed 14.5-by-16.25-inch piece (Lot No. 14), above, is expected to fetch between $3,000 and $5,000. 

See two rare table designs by Blow after the jump.