White triangles dance across a black backdrop, striped squares march over a shower threshold, and Escheresque cubes bring optical allure to kitchen floors. Black and white always make for a dashing combination, and the pair’s sudden graphic appearance in tile is anything but subtle. Black-and-white tile made a big splash at the recent Cersaie design show in Italy and is now wending its way across kitchens and baths everywhere.
The Current Classic
“The way we’re using it now is mod and contemporary, but it also has historical leanings,” says designer Rande Leaman, whose eponymous firm is in the Los Angeles area. “There was a lot of black-and-white tile in the 1920s and 1930s. It’s a trend that’s come back.” Designer Erica Nicole Illions of Kitchen Design Concepts in Dallas agrees: “The look is a little glam, a little Art Deco.”
Palette Pleaser: Black-and-white tile’s lack of color lets it slot right into present styles. “It has so much punch and energy to it, but it still lives in a neutral world,” Leaman says. She adds warmth with wood cabinetry or matte brass accents. Architect Ann Sellars Lathrop of her namesake firm in Westport, Connecticut, keeps a small bathroom simple, complementing the tile with sparkly white performance fabric on the wall and black stone on the floor.Making Shapes sing: “I like to use black-and-white tile as the wow factor,” Illions says. She adds details like small hexagonal tiles on a shower floor to subtly extend accent tile elsewhere in the room. Lathrop similarly pulls the tile through the overall design. For the bathroom seen above, she chose “a thin vertical mirror to stay with the vertical expression of the tile,” she says. “The wide single sink was separated from the black cabinet base so more of the wall tile could be seen.”Pattern Play : Leaman tailors the design to the client’s personality. “If someone’s shy with black and white, I’ll go a little softer with pattern,” she says. “If they’re adventurous, I’ll grab old graphic designs that can still be considered classics.” Illions draws inspiration from the home’s aesthetic. “For a traditional house, I’ll look for tile with curves, maybe even a floral design,” she says. “If it’s a modern home, I’ll do something less intricate.” Details Make a Difference: Think about what will go on the tile, Lathrop says. “Make sure no outlets, switches, grilles or other elements interfere with the pattern.” She often omits towel bars, hooks and wall-mounted faucets on tiled surfaces. Illions considers scale too. “If the pattern is too large for the space, you get partial pieces due to cutting,” she says. “For example, in a 12-by-12-inch shower wall niche, I would use a 2-by-2-inch mosaic.”
Communication is the Key: “For a lot of tile installers, this kind of tile ventures into new territory; it’s not just laying subway in a staggered pattern,” Leaman says. “It’s like putting a puzzle together. As designers, it’s up to us to convey that to them, with drawings and job site visits.” Lathrop adds, “Decide clearly where to start the pattern and take it through on paper so there are no surprises at corners, edges or endpoints when the final install occurs.”
The Pacific North West with its wildflower woodlands, mossy waterfalls, and grey sand provides botanical artist, Bridget Beth Collins with her natural art materials – everything from wildflowers, leaves, mosses, and seeds.
Otherwise known as Flora Forager, the Seattle-based artist creates delightful foraged artworks of nature, wildlife, actresses including Audrey Hepburn, famous characters like Harry Potter, and magickal beings including a dragon and a unicorn from her foraged finds.
With a strong attention to detail florally, as it were, Bridget Beth Collins gives the gift of nature with the very gifts it provides her while out foraging. She says: “I forage almost all of my creations from foliage and flowers plucked from our sidewalks, meadows, and woods in our neighborhood. I have a small garden in the city, and my mother has a big rambling secret garden filled with old english roses in the sea town of Edmonds where I grew up.”
“Flora Forager is a product of my love affair with glittering nature, and my own artistic skills honed over the years. Creation and Creator combined,” the artist adds.
If you are looking for a Christmas gift to give the nature lover(s) in your life, check out Flora Forager’s books.
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyles including sustainable and green living. She also offers content services to businesses and individuals at Rosamedea.com
The Triumph of imagination and individuality. These beautiful artist of boulder, colorado have created amazing art to inspire dialogue and model pathways toward a more empowered, positive culture though art.
Street Wise is an art experience driven by social activism. Art as activism or Artivism is a way to heal and restore our sense of personal power as well as create positive change. “Street Wise” hopes to encourage conversations about important issues that affect our culture, using art as a catalyst. Street art has a rich history in activism and social commentary and it is constantly evolving alongside society- Canyon Gallery, Boulder
Katy Zimmerman- Transmutation. You are vast and full of identities not yet explored. you will ultimately grow and change to fill them. You are scared, you are powerful. Lindee Zimmer- Don’t Ignore This Crisis. We have one earth and we must respect it.This is not a drill this is an emergency. This change nature is experiencing is a direct result of humans. How will you act in a crisis?Jessica Moon Bernstein-SchianoMax Michael Coleman- Tipping Point/ Stacked- These Blue Sharks portrayed, like almost all other deep water shark species are harvested in mass. It is estimated that 100,000,000 sharks are killed annually for either soup or the cosmetic and pet food industry. It is a travesty of a monumental scale imposed upon our oceans by humans. However, just as it has been imposed, it can be remedied. We are at a tipping point with our oceans, just as these beautiful noble creatures you see before you are tipping, spilling, and leaving Earth. It is our duty to spread awareness and pass judgement on this ignorance and correct it. You the public reading it, it is in your hands. I have given you my painting, I have you my sentiment, my words, my time. Now i ask you to lend me your hand. Patrick Maxcy. Survival- “This piece was inspired by decline in suitable orangutan habitat, which has landed the animal on the critically endangered list. Deforestation, brought on by legal and illegal to make way for oil palm plantation and other agricultural plantations, is a threat to their survival. In this pieces, pollution has replaced the forest floor. But the Orangutan sits wisely atop the trash pile ready to claim back his home.”Johnny Draco. Wedge In Flight. This piece explores inclusivity through the lens of race seen by the eyes of modern day society. Jessica Moon Bernstein-Schiano- The lack of sea ice was making it more difficult to get around. Niamh Rita- The Chapel Of Femme. The Chapel of Femme is a place of reflection. Inside, you will see imagery that narrates some aspects of the queer femme experience. You need not be queer, femme, or a (non) believer os any specific faith to enter this space. All you are asked is to carry with you a spirit of respect and curiosity while you are within the walls of the chapel.
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Sustainable cabins in secret locations, otherwise known as Slow Cabins, are popping up outside the city of Belgium in a bid to help people connect with nature.
Each cabin, built using eco-friendly materials with wooden interiors, is off-grid and self-sufficient through the use of solar panels, a filtered rainwater system and ecological dry-toilet. There are cabins of two kinds to suit individuals, couples and families.
The nature-based locations of the Slow Cabins are only revealed to guests after they’ve booked a cabin. Slow Cabins are mobile and frequently rotate locations, making for new sights and experiences for those looking to book a second trip.
The interiors of the Slow Cabins are natural and minimalist with its raw-look wooden floors and walls, and wooden furniture. Insulated glass windows frame views of surrounding fields and woodland, and there’s a wood-burning stove to cosy up in front of – and a small deck. The double beds consist of eco-textiles layered on a natural latex mattress, with large windows for gazing out into the surroundings.
The insulated cabins are kept toasty in the winter with wood-burning stoves, while the kitchen contains a pair of cooking plates alongside a sink, small fridge and a food preparation area. In the bathroom you’ll find a shower, wash basin and eco-friendly dry toilet. A fireplace and ceramic BBQ offer warmth and cooking options outside.
A stay also comes with a basket of locally-sourced produce and spring water.
The Slow Cabins experience is as much about making guests aware of their environmental impact. Slow Cabins say: “Each of our cabins comes equipped with a smart display that shares your energy and water use with you. By actively seeing your energy usage throughout your stay you become aware of your impact on the environment and what a positive and ecological footprint might look like.”
The Time For Two couple’s retreat costs from €175 per night, while the Time For Family cabin, which sleeps 3-5 people, costs from €185 per night.
Slow Cabins is expanding its off-the-grid concept across Europe and looking for partners.
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyles including sustainable and green living. She also offers content services to businesses and individuals at Rosamedea.com
Daughter of the Dust **there is no paint on this artwork** Cotton, silk, wool, velvet and suede
Butler, a formally trained African American artist of Ghanaian heritage, broaches the dividing line between creating with paints on canvas and creating with fiber by fashioning magnificent quilts and elevating a medium hitherto designated as craft into one that is clearly high art. While quilts have historically been isolated in the history of art as the products of working women, Butler’s work not only acknowledges this tradition, but also reinvents it. Continuing with an aesthetic set in motion by artists such as Romare Bearden and Faith Ringgold, Butler forges an individual and expressive signature style that draws upon her own cultural background and experiences.
Dear Mama (detail): quilted and appliquéd cotton, wool and chiffon
Her emergence as a quilt artist began humbly when, as a result of a fiber arts class taken at Howard University, she constructed a quilt for her dying grandmother mainly as a means of comfort. As a child Butler had often spent time poring over black and white photographs with her grandmother, who told her stories about the people in each one. This experience of creating narrative and identity informs her quilts. The vibrant portraits of African American life and the tales the quilts tell are largely based on photographs from which Butler takes inspiration. She creates a story around each image, and, in her choice of fabrics, she uses texture, color and the cultural origin of the cloth as part of a personal iconography that makes statements about society and identity. African painted cotton and mud cloth tells the story of her ancestral homeland, vintage lace and aged satin might demonstrate the delicacy and refinement of times past while multi-colored organza and layered netting can convey a story of someone colorful and multifaceted.The constructed nature of the work with its reliance on piecing and stitching acknowledges the traditions of needlework normally associated with women and domesticity. Butler subverts this notion through her choice of motifs, embellishments, patterning and scale, all drawn from African textiles.What results are stunning works that transform family memories and cultural practices into works of social statement.
The Mighty GentsThe Equestrian: quilted and appliquéd cotton, wool and chiffon
Tyres are finding new life as life-sized sculptures of animals courtesy of Blake McFarland’s visions.
The former baseball player and mixed-materials artist has created an animal kingdom of artworks which include a cougar that stands around 4 ft tall and 7 ft long; a tiger made from 4,000 shreds of Goodyear tyres; and pandas created using black and white recycled tyres.
Each sculpture uses strategically placed tyres which are woven and secured. The grooves in the tyres give a muscle-like definition to the animal sculpture, while the different treads and widths of the tyre material also provide texture to emulate the animals’ fur. An average sculpture uses around 100-400 tyres and takes up to a month to complete.
Blake McFarland’s most recent work and one of his finest is of a lion’s head, which makes use of hundreds of pieces of basketball leather to achieve the big cat’s mane.
The San Jose-born artist loves being able to be eco-friendly by using mostly recycled materials to make his distinctive art. Working with different materials including recycled ethernet cables and wires as well as tyres means that Blake McFarland gets to explore creative ways of using everyday items that would otherwise go to landfill.
Blake McFarland began his art career painting ocean scenery and landscaped with acrylics. While he was a pro ball player for the Blue Jays, he would paint during the off-season. And it was in 2012, that he found the medium that he was truly meant to master and work with.
In an interview with The Hardball Times, Blake McFarland said: “In 2012 during the off-season, my wife [Jessica] and I were in St. Louis and we drove by this playground where there were a bunch of tractor tires stacked up in a dragon-snake-serpent design. It sparked my interest. Tyres were not being used anywhere – you see them on the side of the road all over the place – and maybe it’s something to work with. From there, I had to teach myself that entire thing, too, which took some time.”
The former baseball player retired from the game last year following a shoulder injury, and is now a full-time artist.
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyles including sustainable and green living. She also offers content services to businesses and individuals at Rosamedea.com
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“Painting takes me to another world where I am as free as a bird,” says Judhaiya Baiga. She says this is her way of putting her village on the global map and keeping her traditions alive.
Judhaiya Bai Baiga’s painting recently travelled all the way to a Milan exhibition in Italy and was sold instantly. This was not the first time Baiga’s painting was displayed in an exhibition along with paintings of other talented artists.
A resident of Lorha village in Madhya Pradesh, 80-year-old Baiga who belongs to a tribal community, has the distinction of seeing her art travelling to several art galleries in India and abroad.
“Age or fame has nothing to do with the errors. Perfecting any art is a myth as there is always scope for improvement,” Baiga repeats the sentence from the other end of the phone in case the message was not heard.
Despite being a Diwali week, Baiga is kind enough to oblige for an interview. The excitement to share tales of her village and paintings is clearly evident in her voice.
When asked how she feels about getting international recognition, she says, “It has not changed my life as such. But yes, a change can be seen as more and more women, including my daughter-in-law are taking an interest in painting. Some of these women always wanted to paint but did not have avenues back then.”
How Age Worked In Baiga’s Favour
Baiga belongs to a tribal community heavily dependent on forest resources for their livelihood and some engage in menial jobs. Education, roads and employment are still to reach the interiors of the region.
She lost her husband when she turned 40 and now lives with her two sons. Her only daughter is now married.
Baiga decided to start her second innings with a colourful attitude, literally.
Happy in their world, her community loves to dress in the brightest and most colourful clothes and lead life with the belief that there is no substitute to hard work.
This is probably the reason why Baiga took up painting at 70, an age when most people retire and indulge in rest. But Baiga, who worked in the fields for most of her life, finds relaxation in painting.
“Painting takes me to another world where I am as free as a bird. When I learnt about a teacher who is willing to teach for free in our village, I decided to give painting a try, something I was never interested in. Yet, on the very first day, I found my passion,” says Baiga.
She joined Ashish Swami, a well-known art teacher and an alumnus of Shantiniketan, West Bengal. He runs his studio ‘Jangan Tasweerkhana’ in several tribal belts of Madhya Pradesh to prevent local cultures and traditions from becoming extinct.
“We have such rich cultures across India that are on the verge of dying. Painting is an effective means to save them. By articulating the local practices or customs in paintings, we can also tell other people about local traditions,” Swami tells TBI.
Almost a decade ago, Swami opened a studio in a small room of Baiga’s village. He teaches painting for free and also helps them get fair monetary value through art dealings. Close to 15 local women have been a part of Swami’s classes for the past ten years.
Swami, particularly enjoys teaching people from Lorha village because of their peculiar imagination that colours the canvas.
“Even if they draw something as basic as a tree, their outlook is so different from the rest. They manage to capture innocence in wild animals and serenity in clouds. Their definition of a perfect nature lies in the harmony or co-existence between trees, birds, animals, water bodies and humans,” he explains.
Initially, Baiga and Swami would be happy with whatever amount the painting would be sold at. But soon, they realised the value of the paintings and stood firm on their quotations.
“Paintings are sold on craft and not on how creative they are. We are trying to change that and promote creativity by taking the painters to exhibitions that take place across India. Currently, paintings by Baiga are valued anything between Rs 300 to Rs 8,000,” he says.
While Baiga is content with the money her paintings are making, it is not the motivating factor behind her passion. For Baiga, its her way of putting her village on the global map and keeping traditions alive.
People like Baiga prove that there is no age to learning, and even nature can educate, one only has to be receptive.
LA-based artist Cryptik explores impermanence – a world beyond notions of life and death – in his first solo exhibition, Impermanent Nature.
In Impermanent Nature, which is currently on display at Galerie Itinerrance in Paris until 19 October, Cryptik takes the law of nature – “all that exists is impermanent; nothing lasts forever” – as his starting point to honour the cycle of life throughout the exhibition.
“It is a search for wisdom and beauty in the transient with the understanding that through anicca all things are possible. From the birth of stars, to our beating hearts, to every breath we take, anicca is what allows life to happen – impermanence is life.
“By deepening our insight into impermanence, we can discover a world beyond notions of life and death, where there is no-birth and no-death, only continuous becoming. All physical and mental phenomena are transient, they come into being and dissolve away. Attachment to things that are impermanent and changing ineviteably leads to suffering.”
“It is a search for wisdom and beauty in the transient with the understanding that through anicca all things are possible. From the birth of stars, to our beating hearts, to every breath we take, anicca is what allows life to happen – impermanence is life.
“By deepening our insight into impermanence, we can discover a world beyond notions of life and death, where there is no-birth and no-death, only continuous becoming. All physical and mental phenomena are transient, they come into being and dissolve away. Attachment to things that are impermanent and changing ineviteably leads to suffering.”
“We must cultivate and nourish our insight into impermanence if we are to live more deeply and suffer less,” Cryptik added. “Through observation and understanding we can experience the nature of impermanence and release ourselves from the sorrows of human life, achieving liberation from the process of anicca.
“’Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation.’ These were the last words of the Buddha.”
Cryptik’s exhibition Impermanent Nature is currently on at Galerie Itinerrance in Paris until 19 October
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyles including sustainable and green living. She also offers content services to businesses and individuals at Rosamedea.com
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