Gasp! Flannery Cronin, aka Friend of All, is a Brooklyn based glass artist – and yes, ok, I may have had to stop myself from including everything from her site and Instagram feed – can you blame me though?! Her work is just so elegant and dreamy. Now, who wants an A-frame cabin in the woods with one of Flannery’s triangular windows?! Me please!!! I think her faithful hound, Lily, might want one… although she looks pretty happy with that gorgeous one-of-a-kind “Spirit Holder“. LOVE.

You know when you set out to interview a complete stranger, but instead you end up with a new friend who somehow totally understands your love of weeding other people’s gardens, staring into space, and eating at gallery cafes?  Yep, my plan had been to interview New York based artist, designer, and general creative genius Doug Meyer about his beautiful new book, but as usual, one thing led to another and we wound up talking about WAY more than that. You can listen right up there under that still from New York Magazine’s video about Doug’s amazing apartment, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

Where do we even begin? Well, let’s start with just a few of the wildly wonderful environments Doug has created for various clients:

Oh my word, yes! In any of those spaces, you’d feel like you were living INSIDE a work of art. Speaking of which, Doug and his husband live INSIDE a work of art:

Yeah, that’s his apartment in Chelsea. ?!? All of these images are from an article in New York Magazine. Here’s the video from the same article that Doug and I were talking about. You have to see this place to believe it:

Right!?

Ok, and now… the cameos! Have a look and tell me you don’t want one:

Well, now I want one for each member of my entire family, mounted on that crazy beautiful wallpaper.

And finally, yes, we even talked about the book! “Heroes : A Tribute” is exactly that:

“The book pays homage to some of the first victims of AIDS and AIDS-related diseases—brilliant creative figures such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Keith Haring, Rudolph Nureyev, Freddie Mercury, Rock Hudson, John Duka, Tina Chow, Klaus Nomi, Halston, and Angelo Donghia. In Heroes, artist Doug Meyer honors 50 innovative pioneers from the worlds of art, design, film, and dance whose contributions may be unknown to a younger generation.”

And here’s a little peek into this neon-covered object d’art:

So gorgeous, so powerful, and so important. ps. I had to throw in that group of heroes I found on Doug’s Instagram feed… it makes me really happy to see a bunch of them hanging out together. Thanks to Doug for sharing all of his hilarious/inspiring stories; thank you to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and great big thanks to you for listening. There will be more Art For Your Ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Heroes : A Tribute {BUY the book today!}
2. Doug on Instagram
3. Doug & Gene Meyer
4. Holly Solomon, Collector & Curator
5. DIFFA
6. New York Magazine / The Cut

I often say that “Oh, I’d love to jump into that painting and walk around”… so yeah, this. These interior murals are the work of Australian artist Camille Javal. Granted, she also does work contained on canvas, but there is something pretty special about these “all over” abstracts. Dreamy.

“A contemporary take on chinoiserie wallpapers, producing unique and luxurious embroideries that transform walls into works of art.” Exactly! Oh my word, this is the gorgeous work of London based artist Claire Coles. Could you imagine having your walls covered in this kind of art? Exotic birds, flowers in full bloom, and elegant embroidery living in perfect harmony! Here is a little blurb about her process, materials etc:

“Claire designs and handcrafts couture wallpaper murals and appliqué artworks. Papers, silks and leathers are collaged and freehand embroidered to create a range of decorative surface patterns inspired by flora and fauna. Claire uses the sewing machine as others would use a pen or a pencil in a loose and fluid way, intricately stitching her motifs together. All designs are handmade in her London studio.”

Sigh. Lovely.

Oh, I love that painting so much. Sigh. Anywho, the episode today is titled “Chance favors those in motion”. It’s a favorite quote, by James H. Austin, of Canadian painter Zoë Pawlak. Not only is it a great quote, it’s a perfect description of how Zoë lives her life. She is a talented artist, a brilliant entrepreneur, a fantastic mother, a lover of tacos, and a great summer brunch date. I’ve known Zoë for a few years now, but I’ve never really dug in and asked where it all started and how she does the things she does… usually we just eat brunch. You can listen right up there under one of my fave “Zoë Pawlaks”, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, her new studio in Montreal {she was based in Vancouver for years, but recently moved}:

Ok, how great is that little message on her big brush? And I had to include those photos of Zoë, because that’s generally what she looks like most of the time… giant smile ‘n fab style! ps. I grabbed all of these images from her gorgeous Instagram feed.

And now, her work! Here are a few of her absolutely dreamy and poetic figurative paintings:

Gah! Beautiful. Those colors, those curves. Stunning. Speaking of which, her ethereal landscapes:

Annnnd, exhale. Maybe just one more deep breath. Yes.

Next… the underpainting “pink girl” that I said I saw/loved on her Instagram feed the other day:

And that’s just the underpainting!? I’d take it just like that, thank you very much.

Up next… her paintings turned into gorgeous rugs. Yes. Paintings as huge, beautifully made rugs. This is such an ingenious collaboration between Zoë and the Burritt Brothers:

Wow, right? {speaking of wow, all of these photos were taken by the very talented, Vancouver based Janis Nicolay}.

Moving on to another beautiful collaboration, this time between Zoë and Vancouver based furniture designer Jeff Martin:

Right?! Ah, so beautiful and so smart. See, she is such a talented artist / brilliant entrepreneur.

And finally, I had to include this shot given one of her speed round answers:

Avocado, Corona … yep, I’m pretty sure she’s going to use that credit card to buy tacos! HA! Had to. Thanks so much to Zoë for doing this with me, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and BIG thanks to you for listening {and rating the podcast on iTunes? please? xo}. There will be more art for your ear next weekend!

Other links:

1. Concordia University
2. NSCAD
3. Ben Skinner
4. TED Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert
5. IDS West
6. Nowness

I’m not sure if you’ve seen my latest series of posts on sfgirlbybay, but I kind of love doing them! The column is called ART GOES HERE, and I write one every second Wednesday {which happens to be today!}. Basically, I find a beautiful interior design image, and using a little photoshop magic, I add three different selections of contemporary art to the shot. Sculpture, painting, installation – yep, anything goes!

To be totally honest, this is my dream job. Finding, and then hanging, the perfect art for someone’s home… I’d get to play matchmaker between artist and collector, and amazing work would end up on beautiful walls. Win, WIN! Here are a few little snippets from ART GOES HERE from the past few months {visit sfgirlbybay to see the full posts}:

{Art // 1. Tape ~ Alex Menocal 2. Lights ~ Steve Lambert 3. Photography ~ Amy Friend 4. Thread ~ Anne Lindberg 5. Chalk ~ Dana Tanamachi 6. Pen ~ Il Lee 7. Stairs – various images found on Pinterest by searching for ‘staircases’}

Ok, this should probably go under ‘design’, but really, an enamel pot with a bunch of illuminated teapots growing out of it, like some kind of bizarre Alice in Wonderland garden, should also totally qualify as art! Either way, I love just about everything that Tel Aviv based Junktion makes… or, more correctly, remakes. They take forgotten junk and flip it on it’s head {literally, did you see those dangling phone lamps?}. TV’s transformed into lights, suitcases into tables, and don’t even get me started on those bike seats turned bar stools. DIWITOT {ie., Damn, I wish I thought of that!}

{via sodapopgirl}

I’m so happy to have editor & stylist Victoria Smith {of the always fab blog sfgirlbybay} back again! She was one of my weekend guests this past summer… I guess I served her enough glasses of sweet lemonade, because she agreed to come back over the holidays! She’s hilarious, unbelievably generous, and has amazing taste, which is why I can’t imagine that she’d be jealous of anyone, but it turns out, she kinda is:

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i’m so incredibly jealous of the selby. todd selby has the life. he gets to visit super talented, and creative people and photograph their homes and studios. now, i know what you might be thinking, “hey, isn’t that what you do, too?”. well, i do, but i aspire to do it as well as the selby. i don’t know how he does it exactly, but i’m very envious of todd selby’s ability to light his subjects in such a way that i feel as though i’m right there in the room. i am a visitor, right along side him. his photography is what i am most jealous of. i get to visit rad people, too. i just wanna do it as well as mr. selby. kudos, dude.

this is one of very favorite selby visits – that of eileen and mark wiesmayr at home in venice beach, winners of the Selby x CB2 contest. lucky. i’m quite jealous of them, too!

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Sigh. So many people to be jealous of in this post! Thanks so much Victoria… see you next summer ; )

Ahh, Paris… home to croissants, fancy poodles and Ma + Chr, a design studio created by Mathilde Aubier and Christine Delaquaize. So, where should I begin with my list of things to be jealous of? I already mentioned that they live in Paris, right? Right, ok, then, moving on. Well, how about the fact that they cover the spectrum when it comes to creative endeavors… print, textiles, mixed media, web, interior design! Basically, if it’s creative, they do it. Oh, and of course, those cats! I love those cats with their giant, vintage lady eyes! Yep, je suis très jaloux.

Is it weird that I’m totally jealous of the dolls who get to live in this house? No, I didn’t think so either. These super cool, damn I wish I’d thought of it, dollhouse interiors are by Georgia Smith, and were featured in the latest issue of frankie magazine. Unfortunately I don’t know anything about Georgia {i don’t even have a link for you}, so let me know if you have any info… oh, and if you could get me some of that amazing teeny-tiny wallpaper while you’re at it, that would be fantastic!

{via cream coloured ponies}

ps. continuing with the dollhouse theme… if you missed the post about Heather Benning a few weeks ago, you must go and take a look!