First Look | Atlanta Hawk's Owners Club | Chris Maynard

Hawks, 2017, hand-carved feathers, 60.75 x 23 x 2 inches

Feast you eyes on this image of the first piece of artwork completed for the newly renovated Atlanta Hawk's Owner's Club at Philips Arena. Created by Olympia, WA artist Chris Maynard, the work is made by carving miniature hawks out of actual feathers with a very small scalpel. With a background in biology and a clear passion for this medium, the work is precise and visually arresting.

It is also three-dimensional; by setting them off the background with tiny pins, the pieces create shadows which is integral to the work. This piece, created for the Owner's Club which will open this month, is about flight and ascension, alluding to the drive of the team's athletes toward the goal.

The Owner's Club is designed by Smith Hanes Studio and will also feature work by Atlanta artists Larry Jens Anderson and David Landis. Stay tuned for more images. This is just the beginning of the transformation of the Philips Arena Art Collection.
 

 

To learn more about Chris Maynard and his incredible, beautiful practice, please visit his website:

www.featherfolio.com

Hurricane Symbolism | Elyse Defoor

Earlier this month, prior to the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, we had a great studio visit with ATL Artist Elyse Defoor. Her new space allows her to have many of her past works on display.

This piece, By The X, is from her X.U.ME series - a response to the visual symbolism of the X in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. With our thoughts on the people of Houston, we share this poignant past project.

 

Elyse Defoor, By the X, mixed media on muslin, 108" x 90"

Watch the PBA30 video spotlight on X.U.ME Project here


Learn more about Elyse here: www.elysedefoor.com

Currently Inspired By...

Inevitably drawn these days to warmer imagery, we are day-dreaming and traveling, inspired by what we find along the way. This Inspiration Board is the result of the connections and conversations that develop as we search for the best art out there.

Enjoy.

The Floral Art of Holly Bryan

Art can come in many forms. Like a visual artist creating a masterpiece simply by putting pencil to paper, our friend Holly Bryan makes stunning works of art by simply combining and arranging different varieties of flowers and plants. Her designs allow for a fresh rotation of art, enhancing any environment.

Please take a moment to appreciate this sampling of her work. The artistry is so evident.

“ART - the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”
Source: http://www.hollybryandesign.com/

APP Words with Friends - Galen Cheney

Galen Cheney is a Vermont-based artist that APP has felt a strong gravitation to lately. Cheney's work is so expressive and complex, yet seems to fit within a multitude of environments. We look forward to placing her work. In the meantime, a conversation...


APP: Galen, we just love your work and have to give a nod to the abstract expressionists that came before you. We are huge fans of Clyfford Still, Betty Parsons, Helen Frankenthaler and Cy Twombly. Want to tell us about some of your favs?

GC: Yes, the Abstract Expressionists are my painting heroes, generally.  Their art was their life and vice-versa.  My favorites among them are Joan Mitchell and DeKooning. They had a willingness — perhaps even a compulsion — to risk everything in a painting in order to create something meaningful, something new. I admire and aspire to that degree of artistic bravery.  Like you, I am also a big Twombly fan, as well as Guston and Diebenkorn.  And there are so many good painters working today: Mark Bradford is at the top of my list; I relate to the physicality of his work, his manipulation of non-traditional materials in the service of sublime beauty.  A few other contemporary favorites are Cecily Brown, Susan Rothenberg, Leonardo Drew, Julie Mehretu, Bill Jensen, and John Walker.  There are really too many to name.
 

APP: Agree completely. How do you see the changes in your life reflected in your work, particularly in where you have lived? I know you were born in LA and spent time in both MD and MA before settling in Vermont. In terms of street art, and referencing layered urban mark-making, where does this come from?

GC: I have spent a lot of time in Italy, and my first visits there when I was 14 and 15 had an enormous impact on me.  Yes, the art that I saw was part of it, particularly ancient frescoes in Pompeii and frescoes in Florence by Giotto and Masaccio, but just as affecting was the ancient history that suffused everything.  Witnessing noisy, contemporary life, including the day’s graffiti, within that ancient context affected me deeply. 

I am drawn to the enduring human need for visual self-expression.  Graffiti, ancient and contemporary, is a rich example of that.  These days I spend a lot of time in New York, and even its walls covered in layers of torn-off posters are a turn-on for me.  I often employ a similar kind of process in my own work — laying paint on, scraping it off; gluing paper or fabric on, pulling it off.  It’s not a planned technique in order to achieve a particular effect, rather it is just a process of working.  All those changes of direction in the making of a painting amount to rich and varied surfaces that are a record of the process.


APP: And in 2015 you were a fellow at the Da Wang Culture Highland in China. How lasting of an effect did the residency have on you? I know you took just a brush, ink and a marker, so it seems you were already open to the calligraphic and to using papers more common there. Can you give an example of something gleaned in Shenzhen that inspired a significant influence within your practice?

GC: My time in China continues to strongly inform my work. When I was there I began really focusing on collage as a method for making work.  I love scavenging, and I did that, gathering cast-off papers, hand-written notes, paper trash, basically.  I combined those with special Chinese papers and passages of ink brush paintings that I was working on.  I was energized by the process that I began there and I am continuing to work in that way today, though with painted textiles more often than paper. I love paper, but I am sensitive to the needs of framing paper pieces and wanted to explore more durable materials.
 


APP: Do you sew outside of using that technique as a manipulation in your work? Can you comment on any feminist concerns you have as an artist? What your work says or ignores? 

GC: No, I do not sew!  I didn’t grow up in a sewing household, though I recently inherited a friend’s old sewing machine and I am determined to learn the basics.  Hand-stitching is such a slow process, and though I like the look of it, the speed of it is at odds with my preferred way of working.  And then there’s the feminine association that seems to inevitably arise with stitching.  That said, more and more artists — both women and men — are working with thread in various ways and it feels like it is losing that strict association with the feminine or feminist. I am a feminist, though my work is not overtly about that.  I just try to make strong paintings.


APP: And you succeed. When did you make your series of "War Paintings?" Are you anticipating more work in this vein given the current turmoil in our world/our own country?

GC: The War Paintings were a response to the bombing of Beirut in 2006. Sadly, since then there have been and continue to be other wars that might have inspired that work.  My work is abstract, though I think it has everything to do with the world we are living in. It will never be a narrative of current events.  While it embodies the complexities of contemporary life, my work, if successful will rise above the noise.  This is the promise of art, to enrich us, engage us, to help us make sense of being human.


APP: You've really shown your work everywhere. Was there a particular place or group of people that you felt just "got" your work?

GC: Mostly it has been other painters that have most appreciated my work. Though now, after many years of tenacious and uncompromising painting, things are beginning to shift and my work is gaining broader recognition and appeal. I am always pushing myself to become a better painter with every painting I make. For me, that struggle, that process of discovery is the whole point.  And just maybe the stars are beginning to align.


APP: What is a typical winter day for you?

GC: Coffee first, followed by hauling wood for the wood stove and filling the bird-feeder.  If there is time, I’ll do a little reading (right now I am reading the Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead), painting, hiking in the back woods with my dog, Viggo, answering emails, looking online for artist opportunities. There are always chores to do, but I get into my studio (which is in my house) just about every day.  I often paint at night, which comes early during winter in Vermont.

 

To learn more about Galen, please visit her website.

Source: http://galencheney.com/

APP Out of Town / Palm Springs, CA

Winter in Palm Springs is just magical. In mid-January there are plenty of parking spaces and coyotes, and everywhere you look there are palm trees and rainbows framed by a spectacular backdrop of snow-covered mountains. Driving around with your mouth hanging open, there is inspiration literally at every turn.

Palm Springs architect and resident, Trevor O’Donnell offers a terrific Mid-Century Modern Architecture Tour. The approximately two-and-a-half-hour trip gives a drive-by view of homes that represent the best examples of this fascinating movement. So much to see and so many stories about the lifestyles of the families who lived in the homes, the competition (as well as mutual admiration) between architects and why the simplified, efficient designs, perfectly situated within the desert landscape, offered their inhabitants better, more relaxed living experiences. After all, Palm Springs is legendary - considered to be the ultimate place to step back and unwind.

Art consultants typically receive a plethora of details about interiors in order to make their suggestions for complementing artworks. In this case, it was just fun to imagine what could be found inside by only seeing the exteriors. The following images were inspired by this first trip of the year: mid-century modern homes paired with works of art from APP's endless art database.

We specialize in capturing a sense of place in our art packages. We could do this all day…

Source: http://www.psarchitecturetours.com/

In Transition / Take Action

"It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world..."

ATL Artist Anita Arliss created this protest image because in her words: "We may never know the USA we grew up in again. Things look dangerously unstable." She has made the image available for public use via Hair on Fire. Click the flag to download if you feel so inclined. 

Even though it feels as if the sky is truly falling, we must fight through this discomfort
and uncertainty and take action. 

 

Learn more about the Artist: www.anitaarliss.com
Quote taken from "Lola" by The Kinks. Listen here.
 

Source: www.haironfire.org

Past, Present + Future / We Love Boutique Hotels

One of the great points of pride for Amy Parry Projects is that we have worked in boutique hospitality since our inception. We understand the guest experience and the desires of our clients. We love that the consumer drives the developments in our business, and that hotel trends we admire and exemplify in our projects flourished in 2016 and will continue to do so in the coming year...

OLD BUILDINGS RENOVATED INTO NEW HOTELS

There is no greater way to offer a unique visual experience for a hotel guest than by welcoming them into a space with built-in history and character. Although chain hotels are some of the ones choosing old properties for their new concepts, each renovated hotel is able to convey an independent feel. Each hotel is set apart by the unique architectural elements which developers choose (or are forced) to keep during renovation. This trend “straddles history and hospitality,” allowing guests to stay in old offices, warehouses, hospitals, etc. The art and furnishings provide the throwback and often pay tribute to the buildings’ rich past. What we love most about this trend is that the older buildings are typically situated in urban epicenters. We are thrilled by the resurgence of downtown and their abundance of interest-generating landmarks. When you stay on a bustling Main Street or in an established, beautiful downtown neighborhood, you are immersed in the city’s culture. Your choice of hotel helps tremendously in that by providing you proximity and carrying the authenticity of a place throughout.

INTENTIONAL ART EXPERIENCES

Going along with intentionally putting hotels in context-filled old buildings, hotels continue to strive to offer spaces with a “lived-in” feeling. Larger hotel companies competing with the Airbnb experience are turning to the immediate resources to achieve this local flavor. Even West Elm, a furniture company, is entering the hospitality business, set to open a handful of boutique concepts in 2018. These companies are giving people more than just a place to sleep. Nowadays, when a guest stays at a great hotel, they can expect to be served local wine and coffee, hear local bands in the bar on weekend nights, take yoga in a studio also frequented by city residents, and play games with other guests in the lobbies. And at the top of our list, their guestoom might feature artwork by the city’s best artists and the first floor may boast a legit, museum-quality collection. As art consultants, it is so much more fun to pick art to complement a hotel’s character, rather than it’s couches (although we can do that too).

Amy Parry Projects is honored to provide art for boutique hotels.

The entire hospitality experience should be curated to make each stay memorable, comfortable and fun for the guest. Here’s to a great 2017 - we look forward to amplifying each project with awesome, intentional art (like the commissioned Jesus Perea seen below).

IMAGE 1: Jesus Perea, customized print for upcoming hotel (inserted local imagery)

IMAGE 2: AP on Site: "Cloud" being built in the ceiling of a historic boutique hotel designed to cover pipes required to stay through renovation.