MLK Day: Good Time to Remember Artist Romare Bearden

Irwin Weiner ASID - It's Martin Luther King day, and we're reminded as a nation of the important dream of civil rights for all people and the historic struggles of African Americans to gain equality in everyday society. An artist who plunged wholeheartedly into the struggle was Romare Bearden, perhaps the most significant African American artist of the last century, and many galleries and museums have recently been celebrating the centennial of his birth. Our friend Russell Goings, co-founder of Essence magazine (among many, many other accomplishments), was a close friend and collector of Bearden's work - see photo above for Russell with Bearden's 1977 mixed-media work Conjur Woman. Read more about Bearden's Centennial here - and click here to watch Design2Share's exclusive video interviews with Russell Goings as he talks about Bearden's amazing work. And always ... always! ... keep the dream alive.

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Creative Talent Hangs Out on the Behance Network

Irwin Weiner ASID - A good friend told me recently about the Behance Network website, and you need to check it out. It's a place where creative professionals hang out their shingles - we'll do that soon at Design2Share, as this seems to be THE place to be - and that means that you can dip into the Behance waters by using their professional field filters to find what you're looking for. You can follow creative professionals and their work, hire them to help you out on a project, follow their blogs, etc. Here are some of the folks I just found ... and love ... from the Behance Network. Click on each image above and below for more information.

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Trends from Latest AD Home Design Show

 

Irwin Weiner ASID - The Architectural Digest Home Design Show isn't the sole arbiter of style trends for the home, but it's interesting each year to see who exhibits and is putting money and public relations into their product lines. Will someone new break through the noise and become a standout and a true trendsetter? The following LifeMinute.TV video shows their favorite trends including some mid-price pro ovens and a refrigerator solution from Jenn-Air, US-made shagreen furniture from Skatemoderne, fascinating stereo speakers turned into high art from TON Art (each piece combines gold and light), and indoor-outdoor furnishings from Oasiq Outdoor Furniture.

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Wish List: Artwork and Framing - a Bicoastal Thing

Irwin Weiner ASID - I love the framing services and artwork from Mike McClintock's Lambertville, NJ based store Artfull Eye - and he runs a very successful eBay storefront, too. Mike's work is exceptional, and I always take client framing into him, and have the chance to often browse his packed-to-the-gills shop for artistic goodies, from sculpture and old photographs to paintings and etchings. So that takes care of the East Coast.

Artfull Eye: Abram Molarsky gouache landscape

I have a new client that I'll be doing some framing work with on the West Coast, at Rick's Custom Framing in La Mesa, CA.

Rick's does lovely work with French Mat, and it's a technique that can help you create a lovely Old World look under-glass. I'm purchasing some lovely etchings and woodcuts on eBay around a favorite theme my clients picked out, and using Rick's French Mat materials to add impact and beauty to each framed piece, and also reducing the size and expense of the outer frame so as not to detract from the art and artistic mat themselves. It saves cost on the entire job, and the results (I predict) will be smashing. Click on the photos below for more information on artwork from Artfull Eye, and click on the links above for more info on Rick's Custom Framing.

Artfull Eye: S. Pinto impressionist still life

Artfull Eye: W.W. Swallow Red Pottery Bowl

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