Mosaic Art Now

I've been growing more interested in mosaics as an art form over the last couple of months and I've been meeting some really great people who live their lives in the world of the mosaic. I'm captivated by this idea of mosaic as art. In the hands of a genius, the seeming restrictions of geometry and the medium itself are transformed into assets to be reveled in and the resulting work offers a perspective not available by any other means.

There's an organization out there called Mosaic Art Now, and it was through their blog that I first became aware of them. I'll write more about the great folks at Mosaic Art Now later this week, but in the meantime, one of their posts from earlier this month really got me excited and I want to pass along some of my excitement.

This stunning work is in a subway station in the Bronx, the Bedford Park Boulevard Station to be precise. I'll say one thing about the MTA, they are serious about bringing real art to the subway riders of the great city of New York. As evidenced by this work, Community Garden, they're committed to the outer boroughs as much as they are to Manhattan.

Artist Andrea Dezsö was commissioned by the MTA to create this mosaic, and it was interpreted and installed by master mosaicist Stephen Miotto. Andrea Dezsö is a visual artist and writer. She was born and raised Romania and is ethnically Hungarian. She brings a whole new definition to the term multi-media artist. Dezsö makes drawings; small, densely worked up one-of-a-kind artist's books; intricate, multi-layered paper cutouts; embroidery; sculpture; installation; animation and large-scale murals. She's won numerous awards and accolades and she is an Assistant Professor of Media Design at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City.

This is great art executed flawlessly and the people of the Bronx have to feel a little warmer, a little more joyful, every time they walk past it. On miserable days in February and March I'm sure that effect is increased tenfold. Three cheers for the MTA and thank you Mosaic Art Now for letting me know this work exists.

My old favorite MTA art was Tom Otternesses' Life Underground in the station at 14th Street and 8th. However, Bedford Park Boulevard's Community Garden has made me forget (sort of) about those clever bronzes. Sorry Tom.

Wanna write a guest post or two?

Newsflash! I was just asked to fly shotgun on a supply plane to The Bahamas next Monday morning. We'll drop off a load of modern conveniences to a small colony of ex-pats, spend the night then fly home Tuesday morning. Granted, it's only 24 hours, but that's plenty of time to get in a reef dive and a belly full of rice and peas. But still, it sounds so exotic and madcap. I'm going back to the same spot next month for a week, so this will be a taste of the glories to come in early August.

What this means too is that I'm looking for anybody who'd like to borrow my soapbox for a couple of days next week. If you'd like to write a guest post or two, let me know. All I ask is that your post remain somewhat topical (I define topical pretty broadly as a glance through my archives shows), and not get too political or religious. Wanna exercise your potty mouth? Set yourself free. Write about kitchens, bathrooms, sustainability, art, flooring, art history, everyday science, travel, food, projects, plans, hopes or dreams. Call Kitchen and Residential Design your very own for two whole days. Imagine!

A run through the granite yard

I popped into Cutting Edge Granite yesterday to check on some slabs of Santa Cecilia a client is using in a kitchen. At the risk of offending somebody, all I have to say is yawn.

Santa Cecilia is an inexpensive granite from Brazil and it screams "I got my kitchen at Lowe's!" Ugh. But at this stage of the game, any sale's a good sale. Right? Right?

While I was there, I saw a couple of real beauties. This is a granite that's commonly called Matrix. Well, at least, that's what it's called at the places I frequent.

Granite and natural stone slabs have common names that are kind of arbitrary and those names vary from place to place. They have scientific names too, but that only describes the kind of stone it is, not the name of the pattern. It can be confusing. Matrix is an OK name for this one, but I want to call it something more evocative.

Fresh from the truck was this beauty.

It didn't have a country of origin label on it, but there was a sticker with the hand-written name "Varde Raize." In looking at it though, I can tell it's a quartzite. Its name doesn't concern me too much.

I'm not so sure I'd like to see a whole kitchen done in this, but imagine the master bath it could transform. Wow.

So my question is this, any body out there ever see this stone before? These are photos taken on my phone, I ought to go back and photograph this quartzite properly. I smell a new obsession forming...

Help New Ravenna Mosaics name their new collection

New Ravena Mosaics is a great friend to this blog and they are in a quandary over one of their new collections. On Saturday, a call went out for help in naming a new collection of monochromatic, classically-inspired mosaics. It goes without saying that this collection is gorgeous and raises the bar quite a bit. It helps that I came up with one of the options for the name of this collection. So please, pop over to Sara Baldwin's blog, Sara Baldwin Design: Blog and vote! Hint: I think Cimbrone is about as perfect a name as there is, not that I'm attempting to influence the outcome here or anything like that.

Two postings back I requested a name for our 2009 black, gray and shades of white collection. Did I ever mention how commitment-phobic I can be?

Since we're writing press releases for the collection, it seems that now would be a good time to settle on a name (duh). The two names I like the most via suggestions in the comments section of the blog or from emails and discussions in Kelly's pub are: Cimbrone, or Samsāra.

Kitchen and Residential Design blog guru Paul Anater made the first suggestion saying, "How about Cimbrone? The Villa Cimbrone is now a grand hotel in Ravello but it started in the 11th century as a grand home. The Villa and the town it sits in is a one stop shop for the history of western art. Classical, Moorish, Renaissance, Baroque and Modern influences are all over the place and they compliment one another perfectly, just like your new collection." I checked out the website--and I'm ready to check in tomorrow, Paul. Also, in 1991 I was completely at a loss for what to name our first mosaic borders and ended up naming them after small towns in Italy. One of them was Ravello.

New Ravenna purchaser Karen Fowler suggested Samsāra: "These designs are all perfectly balanced, and have a Yin/Yang sort of feel to them- with their dual natures. I can't come up with any Buddhist/Eastern philosophy words other than Samsāra (cycle of reincarnation)." I think Samsara could work. It appeals to me because so much of design is simply a reincarnation and reinterpretation of previous work.

Honoring the tradition that came before was the reason I chose New Ravenna as the name for our mosaic company so many years ago--Ravenna, Italy is known for it's amazing Byzantine mosaics, but we wanted to emphasize an American perspective, a new perspective, while revering the best of the old world.

Both of these names appeal to me. What do you guys think?

What are you waiting for? Vote!

Lazy people take heed! Pre-made cookie dough has a body count.

See this?

If you have any of this symptom of of social decay in your fridge, take it back to the store where you bought it before you poop to death. Nestle is recalling all of its Nestle Tollhouse Cookie Dough products immediately. An E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak traced to their pre-made cookie dough has already sickened 68 people. Even though E. coli can be killed by cooking anything contaminated with it, Nestle's not taking any chances and is encouraging customers to return or discard all of the product. Don't cook it, don't touch it, don't eat it.

Now I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Stuff like this makes my inner Calvinist come out. There are no short cuts folks. There are no short cuts to baking, there are no shortcuts to happiness, there are no short cuts to life. Nonsensical products like pre-made cookie dough are the symptom and the result of the lie that somehow "we're too busy" nowadays to make cookies. Because "we're too busy" it becomes OK to feed yourself and your family out of a microwave, it becomes OK to do away with dining rooms in favor of TV trays, and it becomes OK to have shorthanded text messages substitute for talking to your mother. Bull! I say it's bull. "We" aren't to busy, but "we" have screwed up priorities.

If you want cookies that won't sicken you or your family, here's a recipe.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

1 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

I make these cookies for myself every couple of weeks as a reward for good behavior. It takes a whopping 20 minutes to put the batter together and about an hour to crank out two dozen cookies. Baking things like this for myself is easy, allows me to control what I eat and doesn't expose me to E. Coli 0157:H7. make your own! It's cheaper, safer and provides a sense of accomplishment break 'n bakes can't.