When Dirk Brown and his team entered the home,
they were immediately struck by the artwork.
At the bottom of the stairwell hung an amazing painting.
Dirk’s colleague suddenly envisioned a brilliant plan.
The railing design for the client could mimic a few swirling shapes from the original painting.
A stunning unique work of art emerged in the custom railing.
The result created an inspired energy in the home, and a delighted client.
Blue Mountain Metalworks produces one of a kind, hand forged pieces.
After visiting their workshop, I always walk away inspired.
Red Birds in Flight; Blue Mountain Metalworks, Marc Banning table.
We tend to think of art as passive. After all, it’s just decoration, right?
The truth is we engage with ART more than we may realize.
What we place in our homes, offices, clinics etc, has a direct effect of our (and visitors) experience in these spaces.
Scientific studies prove we are affected, even if we aren’t aware of it.
In one study, subjects were asked to sit at a table with a bowl of candies.
Behind each person was a screen, one reflected a renaissance painting, the other wild graphics. The people who sat near the painting image ate less candies, even thou the subjects were ‘unaware that there was an image nearby’.
Art is powerful.
Consciously chosen art can heighten our experience.
Here are a few ideas:
1. Think handmade. We are naturally drawn to what was crafted by another’s hands. Feel the difference of a machine made pillow and hand woven one, a clay mug with a factory one.
2. Purpose of the room. If it is a reading room, art can reflect your favourite book, poem, or passage.
3. If glaciers are your passion, glass sculpture placed near a painting of the subject. A photography book or video on glaciers handy for visitors makes the experience educational.
4. Thought provoking. A friend has a unique painting of a girl with a lamp. He loves how it makes him think of stories, what is that girl doing? And what is the lamp for?
What story does your art tell? Involve children or dinner guests in the story telling.
5. Include all your senses: Enhance the experience with a scented candle- a pine&winterberry scent placed near a winter painting- a textured weaving simulating large brush strokes: clay pottery: a colourful rug: the music of nature or of the culture reflected in the art.
As with the Blue Mountain Metalworks project, apply synergy between items.
Clients enjoy art relaxed in a handmade chair by Marc much more than in a metal stack chair.
They rub the soft surface of the wood, exploring the curves with their hands drinking in the scene before them.
Harmony between our work thrives.
People comment on it on the blog photos, even those yet to experience our work in person.
Avoid decorative, ‘matching’ or trends.
Consider what feels good, experience desired. Personalize.
If it’s a children’s room, office, or lobby, be respectful of who will be using the space.
Are they welcomed, stimulated, engaged, soothed, transported, inspired?
When we honour the space, we honour those who inhabit in the space.
Do we consider items for our environment as carefully as we select organically grown produce?
Do we know where the ART originates as well as the food we eat?
With intention we can transform the places in which we dwell, influence our energy, mental & emotional health. As the study above would suggest, even our physical health. ART isn’t just decoration after all.
“Artists are just as important as doctors and nurses. People need nourishing of their souls as well as their bodies; in Navajo culture the ‘medicine man’ and artist are one and the same.“~ Marni California
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What’ s new in the studio.
6×8 Original Oil- Clouds- 250.oo$
11×14 Original Oil Hill at Sunset- 424.oo$
all prices will increase in fall of 2014.
Thank you for your support of the work~ feel free to share this Art/blog with anyone you think might enjoy it.