November 7th, 2011 Comments Off
For some time I have been really interested in the work of Polly Apfelbaum, a NYC artist who has built a body of work between painting and sculpture, through the use of fabric, cut, dyed, drawn and placed.
This latest work has become more abstract and in some ways more linked to responding to the site: stretch sequin fabrics are cut and placed in the gallery, interacting with the architecture of the space, involving viewers in the glow of the light, in negotiating the spacing of the pieces, in revelling in the simple scale and seduction of the composition.
These works were preceded, in 2005-2009, by complex installations of cut synthetic velvet shapes, often as diagrammatic flowers, in monochrome or tonal compositions.
Increasingly, esterni will be developing and disseminating more of the cross-disciplinary links found between art and design and design for landscape, for horticulture and planting. Here we are highlighting the use of scale, colour relationships, form, easily understood for their link to gardens. Flora has been an intriguing subject for artists, as seen in the previous post, one I have been very familiar with in the field of textiles, and that I am growing to understand more about. Plants and their shapes as the changing and growing medium of a contemporary art form.
I leave you to revel in these glorious prints of abstract flowers, a riot of composition, scale, colour harmonies.
All images copyright: Polly Apfelbaum.
January 27th, 2011 §
The Esterni Design Partnership ethos is to develop gardens as multi-layered emotional spaces; we mix modernist references, materials and forms with a more romantic, wild, drought tolerant planting style influenced by the italian countryside.
Our mission is to introduce opportunities to making a positive, individual contribution towards environmental stewardship; a whole load of garden owners can make a difference to their local ecology and environmental well being through making the most of plant selection…..So, one of our specialisms (passion, more) is designing with plant and flower collections.
Below I am posting images of the first collections we have put together for those of you who might be interested in growing your own cutting garden, either from seed or plants you can get in nurseries or garden centres. Most of these plants are annuals, which means you sow them and cut the flowers in the same year, and because they are swift growing, hungry plants, it is not really possible to reduce water demand substantially.
However:
these collections are butterfly friendly, and you can improve the biodiversity of your plot by just selecting simple, non double flowers, which enable insects to get easily to the nectar!
Plus, we hope you like the look and colour of the plants, as this takes us back to the idea of multi-layered emotional experiences: pleasure, warmth, relaxation and a trigger for memory….
Let us know if you like them and the idea of the collections….and if you would like to know the species and names, then e-mail me below or post a comment..
October 2nd, 2010 §
The Esterni Design Partnership vision is eclectic, restless and influenced by many disciplines and a miriad of images out there, and this post is all about connections between floral patterns (they continue to be a mainstay of textile design) and the real thing. The examples here come from my research as an artist and designer in textiles. There are fabulous connections between the names, forms and textures of the plants and the “original” textiles, and it is something that Esterni might use either in the layout of garden design or in planting plans that echo the repetition of forms in the textiles. So here goes…..
16th Century Venetian Gros Point Lace
Gros Point de Venise
William Morris watercolour design for a printed textile
William Morris design circa 1883
The see through effect of the lace, where the empty spaces are important as the pattern, can be appreciated in a variety of plants and parterre patterns:
Orsini Garden parterre, Vignanello, Italy
And now for some plants…The shiny silvery purple stars of the allium combine well with the matt purple brown of the elder, and the rosy hue of its white flowers.
Sambucus 'Black Lace' and Allium Christophii
A good self-seeding plant, reminiscent of the countryside, with tall white umbels of flowers appropriate for swathes of natural planting is
Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’
Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing', by Jacki Dougan on flickr
And lastly, a great small book, full of useful Black Plants, authored by Paul Bonine.
Black Plants - by Paul Bonine
