And Then There Was Light

It's amazing how a little more light and a better looking fixture can transform a space. When we moved in the sad little light that was hanging over the dining room table needed to go. It is really the only major source of light on the first floor and it was not cutting it.

Nine whole light bulbs, it's crazy bright!

Why would you put an entry light
in your dining room?

After searching high and low for a new light, including the Paris Flea Markets where we fell hard for a 19th Century Baccarat Crystal fixture (and then realized that um, we aren't "those people") it was replaced with this new light I found on One Kings Lane. It is absolutely not what I started out looking for. I had even found this crazy, oversized rough wood piece at the Luckett's Design House that I was sure would be awesome for the space and then after we painted, I realized it would be too much of a statement for the place. I fully planned to go vintage, some great piece I would have to have rewired, but then voila.

It turns out getting all those random emails and glancing at them from time to time is worthwhile and for the record One Kings Lane really did have killer good pricing. So very excited and now we can actually (for better or worse) see each other and the food on the table.

Curatorial Endeavor

Creating demand and driving interest in visual art exhibitions is something that I love to do. The process of understanding why a curator picked a certain artist, theme, perspective is an endeavor I treasure to be a part of over and over again. So, this spring when I decided to take advantage of a little university perk and take a class to feed my brain, it was a bit of leap to select Curatorial Practice as my course of study.

Actually being a curator is a path that I considered and actively abandoned years ago, but I thought this effort might improve my understanding of what makes a curator tick and improve my capacity to support them and tell their stories. To that end, I thought I would share a little about why I selected Joseph Lappie as the artist in the class developed show Like. Comment. Share opening this Saturday, April 28 at American University.

Joseph Lappie is incredibly talented artist based in Davenport, Iowa and currently a professor at St. Ambrose University. But my appreciation for Joseph's talent began long before he garnered global accolades as a printmaker. It began (I think) in the back of Mrs. Walrath's eighth grade class at Broadmoor Junior High School. I have vague recollections of Joseph drawing dinosaurs and other figures while we were in class. We went on to high school and Joseph expanded his talent exponentially as an artist, always having a talent to entertain both on paper and in person. We lost touch as he went onto earn his BFA and MFA, but then images of his MFA Thesis exhibition crossed my path. That was 2008.

For four years, I've recalled the work from time to time as an important departure from the traditional approach to printmaking. The scale, the figures, the sculptural evolution of the print blocks, all represent truly original thinking in printmaking. Stretching the boundary between printmaker and sculptor, the work commands consideration both as a technical achievement and artistic representation.

There is a depth of sadness and inward reflection in many of the figures Lappie illustrates. In his piece There Is Always More Than One When There Is Always Only One (2008) the stature of the figures-- shoulders slumped, faces tightly drawn, conveys a heaviness, a burden that feels isolating even when among a group. The carved surfaces appear deeply marked and worn with life. Lappie speaks of this series as being pieces of himself. An external display of an internal examination of his motives as a human and a man.

Courtesy of the Artist. All rights reserved.

Layered with information, the figures' emotional forms take shape as shadows that shift between changing shapes and text. Lappie seeks to create comfort with discomfort. The more the viewer is willing to interact with the piece the more they will see of the work and perhaps of themselves.


Most compelling is that Lappie's point of view as an artist is as powerful in full scale at over six feet, as it is in a few precious inches in a handmade and bound book or print.

For the installation at American University, there are four of the matrix figures from the piece There is Always More Than One When There is Always Only One, Determination, Predatory, and Fear and Dependence in full sculptural form and three as full size relief prints, Love, Doubt, and Sexuality. Select artist books will also be on view.

There is far more to say, but perhaps it is best to let the work speak for itself. I understand now how a curator can consider and work towards an exhibition idea for years and never grown tired.

Exhibition: Like. Comment. Share.
Location: American University Museum at Katzen
Dates: April 28- May 20, 2012
Hours: Free Daily, Tuesday-Sunday
Exhibition Website: http://www.lcsartshow.com
Twitter: @LCSArtShow
Hashtag: #likeart
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curatorialpractices

Proper List of Excuses

After feigning no knowledge of the fact that I even have a blog for years, DH casually shamed me the other day by pointing out that he finally figured out how to subscribe to this rambling mess--but I hadn't written in ages. So here is a quick, totally lame list of excuses as to why I haven't been writing:

View of the river at Salt Water Cowboys in FL.

1. Mornings- We're still not friends, but I've been getting up way closer to 6 or 6:30 voluntarily that I ever thought possible to make it to (gasp) the gym or yoga. As a result, my evenings are getting cut shorter and shorter because apparently you have to go to bed early to get up early. Who knew?

2. Class- No I haven't lost my mind and decided grad school would be fun to do, again. I'm taking Curatorial Practice merely for the fun of it and you should totally come this Saturday to the exhibition opening and see the amazing work by the artist I selected Joseph Lappie.

3. Neighborhood- I'm having a total love affair with our new neighborhood and the dog is the main beneficiary. He's getting way more walks than he used to and I think being a city dog agrees with him. Well, at least he's tolerant of the slow pace I take to gawk at all of the embassy houses on the other side of Connecticut. What's brilliant, is the sidewalks are huge and no one actually walks there, so it's me, the dog and the secret service patrols. Btw, if any wants to purchase and gift a townhouse on Wyoming to me, feel free.

Beach in St. Augustine.

4.Decorating- Turns out that trying to decorate your house like a grown up takes time. Well, the good news is, I'm totally out of budget for now, so this project will be on temporary hiatus.

5.Travel- Both taking it and the lack of- meaning I've been lucky enough to see friends and their brilliant babes in Illinois, Missouri and Connecticut in the last few months and also escape to Florida for a nice long weekend with friends. And, DH has been home more this winter/spring than anytime I can recently recall. That's even with a trip to the middle of the Indian Ocean. So, I actually get to see him and do stuff. Crazy, I know.

So sorry, all three people who read this (4 with DH), I know your reading schedule has been just totally throw into havoc as a result. Let's just move on and instead think about how awesome Society Fair is in Old Town (total new favorite spot), the fantastic Doug Aitken: SONG 1 installation at the Hirshhorn, and tastiness that is this blueberry pie.