Objects of Desire with Rogene Manas & Bev Soasey

  

 Readers, I have been completely lax about letting you know we're having our Objects of Desire Show tonight......the artist's Bev Soasey & Rogene Manas are self curating a table of oddities and treasures......Read all about it and more on Rogene's art blog Out of my Mind by clicking here. 

Photo above courtesy Rogene Manas from her new piece entitled Your Play....

One of a Kind Textiles from Oaxaca

                                       

I finally decided to cut loose and put all the textiles I brought back from Mexico out on the floor.  Round and square cushion covers, some handwoven, hand embroidered, huipiles (a kind of traditional shirt), and a runner or two. So for those textile lovers out there amongst you, it's worth a visit.  The hand crafts and needle arts are alive and well in Central America.

A New Year's Journal

I am generally an optimist at heart and always looking forward to what might be coming.  Even though the holidays are barely over, I can hardly contain myself as I anticipate the new set at the store....I am thinking lots of yellow and white, and bare branches, and big terrariums and raw wood..that's baby daffodils and white hyacinth, pussywillow, and acacia, filbert and alder..January is like a palate cleanser for December.  And in the meantime, the Happiest of New Year's to You & Yours.....

Getting a Little Crafty with a Homemade Journal

Some holiday gifts I made for my nephew and his mom.....hope they like them.

Introducing the Chia Angel

 Look what I brought back from Mexico with me....the little angel of the chia,  distant relative of the famed chia pet which has spawned everything from chia mac to chia Mr T.... I couldn't wait to plant my little piece of folk pottery.

  I think it's fair to say, one can fall in love with inanimate objects.  Because I am completely smitten watching the chia angel grow.  She's been watching over the holiday table.

Please and thank you

                                              

Here's a funky little card I made last year using a page from a tattered up version of the Joy of Cooking and a red ink stamp pad..this is part of my ongoing quest to become friends with the color red...

Tis the Season

People don't make yourself crazy or exhausted or stressed out with Christmas decorating.  Thing of it as time to light a lot of candles and bring the boughs of greenery into your homes and make everything smell good. Time to pull out a few time worn treasures from their boxes and bring a new treasure or two home. Time to bask in the warmth of the season and put a wreath by the door to welcome all who might enter.   We're chock full of  beautiful wreaths.....and this year we're fond of playing off the brown of the cones with lots of rusts, and persimmon, and oranges and ruby tones.....Click here to find out more about the history of wreaths.

The Thanksgiving Menu

I was inspired by the Patricia Curtan book and so I made this fun little guest book for Thanksgiving - everyone signed in, and we made a big long list of every kind of food on the table, and there were a couple of pages where we wrote down what we were thankful for and there was some room to write down other thoughts  too.   So now we'll have a lovely record of this year's Thanksgiving and I hope to do it every year because it's so easy to forget all the details  that make a day special....

P.S.We have a Thanksgiving tradition of having a new food we've never eaten before.  This year the food was fingerlimes and they are delicious....click here to find out more about them.

A Great Hostess Gift

                                            

                    

  Thanksgiving is coming up pretty soon here and so I'm going to devote the blog to all things in the store that make me food happy.  Who wouldn't love getting  this newly published book featuring the letterpress work of artist Patricia Curtan? Curtan has had a longstanding collaboration with the famous Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse and in my mind has been an integral part of defining their aesthetic.  Mouthwatering locally sourced menus and beautiful art will have you clamoring to make your own Thanksgiving Menus. And I might do just that!.  Click here should you like to know more about Patricia Curtan's work.

 

 

                                    

  

 Our very favorite cowgirl/potter (gardener extraordinaire)  Mary Briggs brought her very special brand of ceramics to Passionflower last week.

 Most of this work was fresh out of the kiln like this ewe and ram bookend.  Well this is just the ram side of the bookend, you'll have to come in to see the ewe.

 Monsieur le Pig.....this piece is amazing...Mary is moving into sculpture in a big way.

 And yet , what is this? Something super painterly....she's making big slabs and using them as canvas.  But Mary told me the thick, slab, cracking earth three dimensional quality of the work is important to her.

 Oh and some trees......these two platters sold quickly....

I helped Mary set up her work last week and want to tell you that having a show like this is  really one of the true pleasures of my job....being able to look at each piece with the artist , to see their work grow over time and  to hear stories from people who have been collecting Mary's work for years and to feel that, in some small way, we at Passionflower are helping spread the love of the handmade. 

Things to Do in All My Free Time

Some friends and I put together a food swap....kind of like a cookie swap except with food we put up. The rather messy homegrown invitiation is above.

I made little cards for everyone to write down what they brought. 

I brought dried italian plums, fresh frozen cider, and some peach chutney and I went home with fantastic goodies including corned beef, thyme rub, dried brandywine tomatoes, pickled beets, salsa verde and some local honey.

 

Kind of Nutty

Passionflower's homage to the acorn.....o ye from which the mighty oaks grow....

 

German made (that's code for well made), naturally tanned leather, these small carrying bags can be clipped to a bag, to a belt or to whatever strikes your fancy....they come in two sizes and lots of great colors.

Completely random, but the guy who played the Wiz in Wicked came in and bought a bunch of them.

There is something a little munchkin land about them.

Fabbie New Pillows

 Quite possibly, one of my favorite new things in the store.  Beautiful in a child's room....or would that be scary in a child's room? I'm not sure.

A Thanksgiving Table

 Potter Mary Briggs is once again bringing her special brand of ceramic art to the store. We're honored to be hosting a trunk show of her work this Friday & Saturday November 4th & 5th .  I had the pleasure of visiting Mary's studio today to get a sneak peek of what she's got cooking and was really impressed by how Mary continues to push herself as an artist and remain true to her vision.  She's playing with her color palette and having fun with a host of fun and whimsical shapes for some great platters and she has some magnificent sculptural pieces....

So if you can, come down and join us during the Artwalk from 5 to 8 pm and find yourself some beautiful work to grace your Autumn & Winter table ..  Mary will be giving a short talk about her work aound 6:30 and she'll be here to answer questions and share her inspirations.  Find out what we've had to say about Mary's work in some other blog posts by clicking here. And come visit us soon for more table inspiration.

A Peek Inside Someone's Home

 

Magazines delight the voyeur in all of us.   Which is why it was so much fun to find Laura Zindel's home featured in the October issue of Country Living.....Laura is a Vermont potter whose work we've been carrying at Passionflower for about two years now.  

 

They describe her home (above) as "nature inspired"....we like that.

 
Here's a display of Laura's snake designs that we've been featuring for our Fall Halloween look....I love how the cream and white of the plates looks dramatic and stark but when you pair it with natural wood and earth tones  it feels all warm and cozy.

 
I think her snake designs are some of her strongest....the high graphic, almost escher like quality of her work with a very organic pattern makes them really sing to me.

 

And if snakes aren't really your thing, well there's always her crows....mixed with feathers, ferns and eggs....All Laura's designs are transferware of original images she draws with graphite.
I love it when fine art and utilitarian ware blend so beautifully.