Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Mount Clare

This weekend while in Baltimore, I stopped by Mount Clare -a house museum right in the middle of the city on a huge property. The weather was beautiful and I managed to take a few pictures.Dating from 1760, the home was built as the summer house of Charles Carroll; the center of an 800 acre plantation named ' Georgia'. Later after his death, his wife retired there and it stayed in the family for over 100 years. The house boasts a sophisticated Georgian plan with the stately stair to the side of the entry hall -not your common center hall! Also, instead of wood, the 'paneling' on all the walls was actually made of insect repellant plaster.Later, because of the change in the neighborhood it housed numerous organizations till 1900 when it was purchased by the city and used as a bathhouse for the industrical workers who lived in the neighborhood and the remaining property became a city park. Now a Registered National Historic Landmark, the home is open for tours and is operated by the city of Baltimore.A crappy image of some cool built-in bookcases at the office. Excuse the mess!

Visit them online

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

cute bike!

Forget the outfit, this bike is AMAZING! How cute would it be to drive this around a beach town this summer? I wish I lived in a more bikeable area!
Via the Sartorialist

Minton Vases

I've been a bad blogger and haven't posted in a few days! I've missed sharing my thoughts here! So for this week, I thought I'd start with a china of the week posting - these beautiful Minton vases are sucessionist in style from around 1910. I know Loda will appreciate the pink and green colors!The secessionist art movement started in France formally in 1897 with Germany and Austria quickly following. The term 'secession' refers to the modernist artists seperating themselves from academic art cultures. The most famous of these artists was Gustav Klimt ( I think you all know 'the kiss'! ).
I love the natural crazing that these older pieces have. While these aren't something I would have in my own home I really love the color and playfulness of them!
They're online on ebay for a short time only ( 4 hours left as of this posting )

Thursday, May 1, 2008

John Currin

john and his son

One of my favorite artists is John Currin. He also is also a co-alumni of mine from Carnegie Mellon Univ. in Pittsburgh! He graduated in 1984 though - a few years before me- Go CMU!!!! He is a postmodernist where he uses past styles to satirically depict current, exaggerated notions of female beauty. That is what he is most well-known for -however of course like many artists he is well rounded and has painted many subjects as well -all dealing with portraiture. This last painting of his has always intrigued me because it looks EXACTLY like my mom right before I was born!! even the hairstyle!