Friday Favorites 6/24/2011

June 24, 2011

Paula M. Bodah, Senior Editor
I love this little jumble of a store right in my hometown. The Porch, on Brown Street in the old fishing village of Wickford, Rhode Island, is barely bigger than a powder room, but it’s jam-packed with charming things for the home including Dash & Albert rugs to buy on the spot or custom orderâ€¦

â€¦and all sorts of whimsies for the house and garden, many of them hand-painted by artist/designer Jules Macher, the shop’s owner.

Kyle Hoepner, Editor-in-Chief
We’ve had no shortage of summer stuff on this blog in recent weeks, so I thought I’d pile on a bit more. What could be more summery than seashells? And what could be more seashelly than Maine artist Brian White? I first became aware of his work, I think, back in 2008 at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. He did a shell-encrusted wedding dress and veil for Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony, a show organized by curator Paula Bradstreet Richter.

Vintage White Dress and Veil (2007) by Brian White. Photo by Dennis Helmar via yankeemagazine.com

But the museum also owns an even more ebullient piece by him, called Island Bride.

Island Bride (2002) by Brian White. Photo courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum

And you can see plenty more of White‘s intricate work on the Web site of Camden, Maine’s Ten High Street gallery.

Grange Supper by Brian White. Photo courtesy of Ten High Street

Karin Lidbeck Brent, Contributing Editor
I am always thrilled when I discover a store that surprises me with something new and fresh. My True Blue Studio was last week’s discovery in the charming harbor area of Duxbury, Massachusetts. Photographer/artist Heidi White creates beautiful, colorful, sea-inspired images that are reinterpreted on canvas, tiles, glass and even fabrics, vibrantly displayed in her charming gallery and gift shop.Â If you don’t see the image you want in the gallery, Heidi offers books of her images that you can choose from to make your own custom art, specified to any size or medium.

I think these one-inch and four-inch tiles are great. Imagine these tiny tiles as a border mixed with white bathroom tiles or a mosaic pattern on a tabletop.