The Spring 2013 issue is full of beautiful paintings by Tony Winters, of whose work up until this point, I was unfamiliar.  It’s always a pleasant surprise to learn of an artist and even more so to know they have some mutual connection to a place that is so meaningful. Tony Winters is an painter and architect living in Manhattan and a 1971 graduate of SAS. To paraphrase the article below which you may not be able to read, he states that he “realized that great architecture often draws on its inspiration from the forms and structures of nature. Nature is a great teacher.“  I believe Frank Lloyd Wright would have agreed. His painting below of Sewanee’s Perimeter Trail captures that dappled sunlight through the woods that I’ve seen so many times but it never comes out in my photos. His exaggerated bright colors authenticate the experience while traveling on this path with the that great rock suspension looming above.

Perimeter Trail, oil on canvas by Tony Winters

Here’s a study of the work above, which looks to me like fall.

After going to his website I realized that there were many similarities to what others have tried to captured while living the Sewanee Life.

The photos below are by my son Jackson.

Sewanee Planet – photo by Jackson Spencer

Moon Over Trezvant  – photo by Jackson Spencer

Rock Formation – photo by Jackson Spencer

Bridal Veil Falls – photo by Jackson Spencer

Sewanee Light – photo by Jackson Spencer

And I took these while hiking with him.

The Cumberland Plateau and valley dwarf us

Looking  over the edge above Perimeter Trail?

These other paintings have other personal significance. Ed Carlos was  also an inspirational art teacher of mine. I’m so happy to see an homage done for him.

This cavern painting reminds me of another SAS and University graduate and fellow classmate, Stephen Alvarez, who takes incredible photos for National Geographic, among other places, as he travels the world and captures caves and magical sites that many of us will never see otherwise.

Stephen was also featured in this issue and is being awarded SAS’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Congratulations, Stephen!

Here’s a previous photo that I posted of Stephen’s work so many moons ago. He’s taken hundreds more since and had had exceptional story features in The National Geographic like Paris Underground, where he and his family lived for months while shooting. A nice gig to have! Although these gorgeous stars were taken in Madagascar, they could be in Sewanee because this is what it looks like at night from the top of The Mountain.

Hunting Crocodiles in Madagascar. © Photo by Stephen Alvarez

Getting back to Tony Winters and finding a further connection from his website — 2 places right in my neck of the woods, were designed by his architecture firm, along with the Nabit Art Building at the University….We really needed that while at school there. A little late for us previous art students but much welcomed by the current:

Since 1999, Tony Winters has owned and directed Pentastudio Architecture, New York, a professional firm focused on design for creative environments such as fine arts studios, galleries, rehearsal and performing-arts spaces. In 2000 this office was joined by the Italian design firm SOHO Architteture of Rome to form Pentastudio Associated Architects.

Architectural clients include leading schools and arts organizations including the Blue Man Group, the Olney Theater in Maryland, Cinecitta Studios in Rome and the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. For more on Pentastudio Architecture see web site.

 Small world with Art being everywhere within it.

As the reporter Cliff Radel shows in his series of articles, there are corresponding photos that exist that directly relate to each mural. “They depict Cincinnati’s history in such an artful way, and it would be ashame to either have them destroyed or scattered across the city,” said Jake Warren.

Click link for a video description of the murals

Cincinnati’s online paper has done a great job of creating awareness and interactivity to obtain information about the murals and ownership among the community. They have posted these pictures and shown the side by side comparison with historical photos and have requested the public for further information by asking, “Do you know who this is?” They’ve even developed an app to help solve the mystery of finding more details about these murals. Here’s an example of where technology and art combine

Interactive questions to obtain info and create public awareness

Interactive photo comparison on Cincinnati.com

Here’s a video link to learn more.

Here’s a link to more interesting black and white / mural comparision photos.

Marathon Runners:

Kent Twitchell’s Marathon Runners in Los Angeles parking lot

Beautiful and well executed murals in a Sarasota parking garage. Each floor has its own theme.

Palm Ave Garage Murals in Sarasota. All different floor themes.

Newberry Street Mural in Waltham, Massachusetts by native artist, Joshua Winer. With his effort, he hopes to replace graffiti with ornate “sense of place” murals to help empower the community.

It is an exquisite dining room with extraordinary food — voted one of the best restaurants in DC.

Plume Restaurant

We voted to go on a midweek night so it wouldn’t be crowded. Well, it couldn’t have been crowded because little did we know how difficult it would be to get there. The entire street had been blocked off due to “government officials dining at the restaurant.” Code for POTUS and in this case, along with the entire democratic leadership, who decided to have a pow wow on our big night. At least after we finally got around the block (30+ min in rush hour traffic), and our car was overheating, and we finally found a place to park, the secret service guys were expecting us on their list.

Once that drama was behind us, as were “the officials” dining behind the black curtain when we first walked in, we could relax and enjoy the evening. We were first seated at this nice table next to the hand-painted grisaille, wallpaper mural of scenes from Monticello. I should have asked who manufactured it and if it was custom. I can only imagine it was since this would be most fitting for the Jefferson Hotel, where Plume is located.

Note the way to get dimension is by layering light over darker painted rendition of shrubbery, which I might add had little detail but a lot of depth.

grisaille detail – how to get dimension with light and shadow

We spied a cozier spot that was more appropriate for the celebration. Our waiter, Paul, and wait staff were kind enough to relocate us.

Our romantic book nook

The food was delicious. Peter had fois gras to start with Martin’s aged beef (because, coincidentally, he had met Mr. Martin in our local Butcher Block). We always compare who has the better meal and I won out this time with crab emulsion risotto and duck with apple chutney and curry sauces. We didn’t get the tasting menu but we had wines paired with our courses, which was the best idea. Perfect since I gave Peter a book on wines so we’ll know more about what we’re drinking as we travel the world during the next 25 years.

So maybe if we have that party, we can eat in their special wine room for parties of 20 or more. It reminded me of the 21 Club in New York. However, I’m still fixated on this location (at end of post).

Wine Cellar Dining

The pressure has past and we have a lot more time now to look into it. It’s nice to know that we can put a Plume/feather in our cap for making it to 25 years and continuing.

It’s really hard to take a photo that you haven’t seen before of such a popular event as the Cherry Blossoms blooming around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. Like Mardi Gras, it’s a time when I don’t visit this local festival often but have in the past. This photo was unusual and almost looked surreal with it’s unique depiction of the event and at night. Evidently I wasn’t the only one to think so…

Response to the above photo

The Post has had some inspirational photos lately, like these as well. They were taken when we were supposed to get a heavy snowfall when instead, we got rain. Good thing, I wasn’t ready for snow even though we didn’t have a lot of it. It’s just that it’s April and spring is supposed to be here.

As seen through a car window

On a completely other note. This is a few days after my 25th wedding anniversary (forgot to post earlier). Eventually, we’ll celebrate it the right way — with more fanfare and inviting family and friends to join in the celebration!! In the meantime, with recent events in Boston, it’s time to cherish the ones we love.

I don’t mind my small office but having more space as seen with these murals would be nice. These were my favorite out of the bunch shown on 10 Incredibly Cool Design Office Murals from CB creative blog, perhaps because I’m not a huge fan of graffiti art but can appreciate it when it seems to improve the space. Take a look at these and then you can decide if they do just this.

This mural by Andy J Miller, right here in DC at the Jess3 agency, looks like a fun Romper Room to me. The bright colors make the space very cheerful and interesting. Jess3 specializes in visual storytelling for their creative spaces. I particularly like the mockup/ layouts of their murals on their site

Mindjet Case Study by Jess3

Even Google has their share of Google Doodles. This mural is by Kate Moross, who has some spunky graphic design and a variety of mixed media on her website.

And finally, I liked this one for its clear display on glass. It reminds me of a contemporary Pac-Man track. These stickers and the murals in the Digibrand office are by Gatis Kurzemnieks.

These murals are fun but they made me just want to get outside into the near spring like weather we are finally having. Getting outside made me think of traveling, which in made me think of a recent customer who told me about a whole other lifestyle of which I was unfamiliar – RV / Tiny living. Pretty cool though.

Back to work, indoors for now…but these have me dreaming.

I really like this one in North Stonington’s Health Center, where artist Karen Krogseng painted the murals along with four students from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). I like how the tree branch goes over the doorway. There’s a bird’s nest with eggs and even (Easter) bunnies in this one. This mural depicts change branching from one side of the door to the other where the leaves are barren but new life is about ready to break open.

North Stonington Center Murals

The “Bird’s Eye View” mural not too far from Pittsburgh has a creative perspective from above with the birds looking down on the community below and gives you an indication of what they may see as they fly the friendly skies. It has a 3-D look because the bricks lend themselves to defining the houses they represent. The story of how this came to be is pretty fascinating as well. Happenstance often seems fated but maybe it’s a larger force looking out for us. This story seems to indicate this to me. Click here to see some before pics and the mural in progression

Birds Eye View painted by Kristin Williams via Forest Hills Regent Square Patch

Artist Dylan Karges was working in Bill Poe’s garden with a lumbering mother and baby giraffe mural as part of an Art in the Garden event in 2011 in Starkville, Mississippi. Poe stated that the objective of the event, “is to heighten the visibility and engagement in appreciation of the arts, to get people out so they can create a forum to share and inspire others to raise the bar for their gardens and the general aesthetics for the town.” Who doesn’t find giraffes some of the most curious of animals? I love how this mural becomes part of the space naturally with the foliage — some painted and some real.

Art in the Garden mural via The Dispatch.

This next set of murals via Studio G, depict street artist Roa’s work. They are somewhat dark but have that beautifully detailed look of illustrations from a different decade. Here’s a tumblr site with more of Roa’s work. I’ll end back where I started with a bunny but this one much larger than life. Easter is like that.

Roa’s masterful Rabbit

Happy Easter, again!

Being surrounded by water reminded me that this community was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.

Little did I know I’d find more artwork in the most unexpected of places — the ladies’ restroom! Tiles of children’s artwork line the walls.

These are all so endearing that you can’t help but stop and linger and wonder, “What goes through a child’s mind?”

But I was getting distracted and had to get on with business but no place was left untouched — even the stall was adorned! Love this one that reads “Mommy helped too.” How incredibly precious and hard to believe that such treasures are in everyday places.

Many in the Long Island community work in NYC and its residents have some of the largest numbers of police and firemen. 9-11 is never far from this community’s heart and soul. They are very patriotic people.

The beach is never far from their mind, which is also nearby and provides NYC with its prime getaways.

Kids’ artwork just makes me happy. I walked out feeling not only relieved but filled with joy as all this artwork in such an unexpected place uplifted my spirits with the energy of innocence and simple pleasures to enjoy. What a delightful surprise!

With Easter just around the corner, these simple pleasures in life should be savored and reminds me that life should never be taken for granted, especially in our busy hustle of everyday living, where so much can get overlooked.

Anonymous German Artist, c. 1815 – 30, watercolor with feathers, $2,800 Arader Galleries

I had to get underneath the painting to be able to depict the actual feathers. I think you can see them pretty well here and also see what has been painted and what is actual bird. This is a pretty unique and clever concept. I also like how the feathers add depth and bright color to the painting, something that with just paint would be lacking.

You can see all the many birds here on the blue wall.

Arader Galleries booth. Photo from Slipcovers for your walls blog

Want to make your own feather artwork? Start collecting.…

Another thing I learned about was that fashion back in the 1920′s was not exactly as I thought — all flashy and ready to get up and do the Charleston in. This was primarily the vision for the well to do. General attire was much more low key and simple. You can see multiple styles featured in this fashion exhibit at the show — among them, an evening dress with heavy beading and a casual day-wear dress that you could see worn today as popular “vintage” attire. The pajamas stuck me as being funny, yes, comfortable but not anything sexy about them. Maybe they were the early version of lounge wear sweats.

Click here to read more about the show.

But if these aren’t the way they will look, will it matter if streets look this watercolor perfect on a rainy day? These photos were taken through the windows of cars and shown in the Washington Post recently.

And readers like the artistic interpretation.

Next time you’re in a car and it’s raining, pull out your cell phone camera.