Art and Style, Artists and Makers / 15 Sep 2018

Lighting with Contemporary Farmhouse Style

The contemporary farmhouse-style design trend is so strongly rooted in today’s design vernacular, we dare say it has become a classic. It’s no wonder this clean-lined look married with rustic simplicity is so popular. The design aesthetic is unpretentious, with a focus on quality handcrafted products and straightforward design, making it a look that is both timeless and easy to live with. If you’re craving the modern farmhouse look in your home, lighting is a great place to start because it is often the focal point of the room. Here is a round-up of some favorite lighting fixtures with farmhouse flair from Vermont-based Authentic Designs. Who better to execute the ageless look than a company that for over a half a century has been building this lighting in the heart of New England? The Federalist Simple and straightforward, the Federalist Lantern checks all the boxes for the modern farmhouse look. The lantern is derived from the four sloping sides of a mansard roof which first appeared on French structures dating back to the 1500s. Like all of Authentic Designs’  handmade lighting, the lantern comes in a wide variety of styles, sizes, and finishes, including wall, ceiling, and post-mount versions. The Beattie Barn Light No style captures the farmhouse spirit more than the humble and hard-working barn light! Inspired by the shade lights often found on New England agricultural and industrial buildings, the Beattie Barn Light‘s clean lines work in both modern and traditional spaces. Available in wall-mounted or pendant forms for a wide-variety of applications. The Dordogne The design of this interior sconce is rooted in history but still feels contemporary and chic today. The Dordogne is defined by its graceful reflective back plate consisting of two flat semi-circular plates joined by a central curved panel. This fixture is UL…

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Art and Style, Artists and Makers / 14 Aug 2018

Maine furniture Maker Gregg Lipton

If you’ve ever eaten at the Chebeague Island Inn near Portland, Maine, Gramercy Tavern in New York City, or dozens of other high-end restaurants across the country, you’ve probably not only enjoyed a nice meal, but helped support the furniture arts. That’s because these establishments buy Gregg Lipton’s production furniture in large quantities, which keeps alive his custom work.

Art and Style, Artists and Makers / 13 Aug 2018

Artistry: Painter Eva Lundsager

Page through Eva Lundsager’s rich, varied, and colorful portfolio of her much-praised work over the last thirty years, and it’s clear why one reviewer noted, “Lundsager takes advantage of everything paint can do.” The artist, who lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, and has a studio in nearby Somerville, brushes, drips, pours, layers, glazes, and “doodles” paint to produce her abstract works. “I love to experiment with paint,” she says. “I may begin a painting by laying a stretched canvas on the floor and dripping very liquid paint onto it; then I’ll lift it or turn it to let the paint drip upward, as if it is defying gravity. After it’s dry, I may place paint over paint and add tiny brushstrokes as well as bolder swatches of paint. My work is all about mark making, spontaneity, and the possibilities—the freedom—of abstract art.” As she talks about her process, Lundsager describes being influenced by legendary artists and including “bits and pieces” of their techniques in her work. “I love Mark Rothko’s thin washes of paints, Morris Louis’s streaks, Helen Frankenthaler’s use of tiny, detailed brush strokes as well as Cézanne’s more heavily worked brush strokes.” Many of her works display her own broad knowledge of and love for the history of painting. “It’s a language I admire,” she says. The fifty-eight-year-old Lundsager earned a BA in art from the University of Maryland and her MFA from Hunter College, and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in painting. Her work has been featured in numerous one-woman and group exhibitions and is included in many corporate collections and in the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, the Saint Louis Art Museum, and others. A compendium of her watercolors, Ascendosphere, was published by Regency Arts Press in 2009. Although she calls her 330-square-foot studio “modest,”…

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