STUFF: C magazine

California style/a great read if you are suffering from the winter blahs/refreshing fashion editorials/great alternative to superpowers CONDE NAST/HEARST
http://www.magazinec.com/

STUFF: lip balms

lip balm obsession/latest purchase Korres.

STUFF: suite303 sexy sugar scrub

My friend April's first product/handmade/all natural/smells amazing/skin so soft/
212.633.1011/www.suite303.com

NYC

All these images were taken in NYC.

FRIEND: Donald Lawrence

I recently ran into another old friend, Donald Lawrence, amazing stylist and all around stylish man about town;)
See his amazing portfolio here under NY ARTISTS:

http://www.opusbeauty.com/

NYC: Norman Rockwell at Brooklyn Museum

During the holidays I stopped by the Brooklyn Museum to see the show NORMAN ROCKWELL: BEHIND THE CAMERA. Great studies of small town America at a more prosperous and optimistic time.
The Brooklyn Museum is also a great venue and one of my favorite museums,it's small,not crowded,old school and not too glitzy unlike other NYC museums that have been recently renovated to draw larger crowds. I understand the economics of this philosophy but sometimes things are just better smaller and low key and I'm not sure the cost of expansion will prove profitable in the long term.
See the official release for the show below:
NORMAN ROCKWELL: BEHIND THE CAMERA November 19, 2010–April 10, 2011 Robert E. Blum Gallery, 1st Floor

Beginning in the late 1930s, Norman Rockwell adopted photography as a tool to bring his illustration ideas to life in studio sessions. Working as a director, Rockwell carefully staged his photographs, selecting props and locations, choosing his models, and orchestrating every detail. He created an abundance of photographs for each new subject, sometimes capturing complete compositions and other times combining separate pictures of individual elements. These photographs were the focus of a recently completed two-year project at the Norman Rockwell Museum that preserved and digitized almost 20,000 negatives. For the first time, Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera presents these study photographs alongside his paintings, drawings, and related tear sheets to offer a fascinating look at the artist’s working process.

Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera has been organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in collaboration with guest curator Ron Schick.

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/norman_rockwell/

STUFF: old crucibles

A crucible is a container that can be heated to extremely high temperatures to melt gold/silver/metals. These two pieces probably date back to the gold rush out west. I bought them from a guy(rock hound???) selling odds and ends out of his trailer/mobile home in Arizona. The piece marked 7, on the right, is a great example of early pioneer pottery since it was probably made out of local clay. The green glaze is probably from a metal that overflowed and then oxidized, perhaps copper???

ART: Lynda Churilla

My friend, Lynda Churilla, will be showing her latest work at the Robin Rice Gallery in the West Village, her first solo show opening 1/12/11. Gorgeous images, check them out here:
http://art.1stdibs.com/art_gallery.php?gid=robin-rice-gallery-fine-photography&showID=127#

JEWELRY: victorian bracelets

Victorian bracelets from my own collection.
I have been collecting Victorian jewelry since I started working after college and buy whatever catches my eye. This led to my interest in silver/goldsmithing, enabling me to fabricate my own designs/ideas.

JEWELRY: amazing blue turquoise

Huge turquoise from the American southwest mines. The colors are just amazing ranging from the palest blues to blue-green and every shade in between. Most of these turquoise mines are located in Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico and have cool names like Cripple Creek, Pilot Moutain, Darling Darlene, and Sleeping Beauty.

JEWELRY: bright braided+old beads

Armfuls bright braided leather/colorful old African bead bracelets

+ dark winter clothes

= a vacation on your wrists

HOLIDAYS 2010 NYC

A fun thing the NYC transit authority does every year during the holidays is to run some historic bus and subway trains on their regular bus routes. These historic vehicles are usually on view at their museum in Brooklyn Heights. I spotted this bus running on the M42 line yesterday on 42nd street. See the official press release and scheduled lines below from the MTA. Look for these historic "rides" if you plan to visit NYC during the holidays!!!!

FROM THE MTA WEBSITE/http://www.mta.info/news/stories/?story=152

Just in time for the holidays, NYC Transit is also running buses and subway cars from its historic fleet. Bus customers will once again have the opportunity to ride buses from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and this year, the nostalgia fleet will operate along routes in all five boroughs. Vintage buses will operate along the B1 and B65 in Brooklyn; S61 in Staten Island; Q13 and Q46 in Queens; M34 and M42 in Manhattan and the Bx7 and Bx30 in the Bronx.

Subway customers may also take a ride back in time between Queens and Lower Manhattan along the M line through the holiday season. The "Nostalgia Train" is made up of subway cars in service from 1932 until 1977. Ceiling fans, padded seats and incandescent light bulbs were state-of-the-art when these cars were first placed in service.

Many New Yorkers bear fond memories of the trains, which served the lettered lines throughout the system. However, with the cars having been out of service for more than 30 years, many New Yorkers have never experienced the charm of wicker seats and ceiling fans. The holiday "Nostalgia Train" will operate on Sundays only, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., from November 28th to December 26th.

TRUNK SHOW 12/11+16 suite 303/chelsea hotel

My holiday trunk show will be at the my friend April Barton's salon, suite303/CHELSEA HOTEL. I will be there 2 different dates, 12/11 and 12/16 from 1-6:30pm both days. If you have never been to the historic hotel, stop by and check out what Patti Smith is writing about in her fantastic book JUST KIDS!!!!
222 w 23rd st btw 7+8th 212-633-1011.

NEW STORE - Great Barrington, Mass

My friend Dabney has finally opened her new home/pet/accessories/ kids/ book/housewares/pottery/jewelry(mine)/stationery shop in Great Barrington just in time for the holidays. The location of the shop is on route 7, right near Guido's and is the front part of the Germaine shop, if you are familiar with the area.
DABNEY MACAVOY HOME 413-644-8868 635 S. Main Street Great Barrington

JEWELRY: antique glass beads

The colors, size and raw finish of these antique beads are amazing. A string of these are a perfect complement against the darkness of winter. The beads look completely modern when worn with chunky sweaters but still retain an organic sensibility due to the roughness and aged finish of each bead. Please contact www.tamtran.com for purchasing information.

TRAVEL: Galerie Maeght

There are many small museums scattered all around the Cote D'Azur. Matisse, Leger, Chagall and Picasso are a few of the artists who spent time in the area. Most of these little museums are housed in unique buildings that were either the artist's studio or home or have some special significance to the artist. Our favorite was the Galerie Maeght in St Paul de Vence, commsioned by Aime Maeght, a Parisian art dealer, to house his own collection and to show work by his artist friends such as Miro and Calder. The site specific building overlooking the Mediterranean was designed by the architect Josep Lluis Sert, a friend of Joan Miro who recommended the Spanish architect to M. Maeght. http://www.maeght.com

RED the movie

Exciting news, Helen Mirren and Mary Louise Parker both wearing necklaces that I had designed/fabricated specifically for their characters on the official poster for the film RED.

TRAVEL: Cote D'Azur

Last week I travelled with my family to the Cote D'Azur in France. It's been a good ten years since I was last here. This is an image of the old port in Nice. In France, things change but at a much slower pace than in NYC. We visited villages high above the Mediterranean, people-watched from cafe terraces in St.Tropez and Monaco, and of course ate incredible food.

FLEA FINDS

A small painting I picked up from the FT GREENE FLEA MARKET from arthouse. A little "Hopper-esque" rendition of the old Domino sugar factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

JEWELRY: large hand forged cuff

In the winter, I like to wear large pieces of jewelry to offset all the chunky layers that I'm wearing so a large cuff always stand out. This one has an unusual pear shaped stone, raw pyrite in slate, that I found at a gem show. I buy stones based on color and intuition unlike traditional jewelers who value the rarity and preciousness of gemstones. I love going to stone shows and just poking around, I'm just drawn to certain stones intuitively and instantly imagine it as some incredible finished piece. Therefore each stone is hand selected and never bought in bulk since I rarely make multiple pieces. Wear this over long skinny sleeves!!!