Friday Favorites 2/10/2012

Kara Lashley, Associate Editor
In the current issue of New England Home’s Connecticut, we feature the work of Litchfield County artist John Scofield, including a very colorful table he designed in 2002. If you wondered how Scofield came up with that eye-catching piece, dubbed I-Miss-You Table/Water, Fire, Sky, Bone, here’s the backstory from the artist himself:

“Right after 9/11, there was a wonderful event held in Harlem. Thousands of balloons were released with names of loved ones and other messages written on them. Two days later, one of the balloons landed on a rose bush, impaled on its thorns, next to my studio in Amenia, New York. It was one of those shiny, Mylar balloons. Someone had written the message I MISS YOU on it in magic marker. I was then determined to commemorate this by designing and making a small table.â€

John Scofield: I-Miss-You Table/Water, Fire, Sky, Bone (2002). carved and painted wood base with bird’s eye maple top

Jared Ainscough, Assistant Art Director
If you have ever fallen in love with a lampshade, chances are it was built at Blanche P. Field. Possibly the most unobtrusive home design element, the lampshade often plays second fiddle to the lamp’s base. An exception to the rule are shades made at Blanche P. Field. Dedicating decades to the design of lampshades–and only lampshades–this company has elevated the craft to an art form. I’m a sucker for paper shades that offer great detail and depth, and, of course, are beautifully backlit.

Photo courtesy of Blanche P. Field

Debbie Hagan, Managing Editor
The human form presents one of the greatest artistic challenges, and yet there’s one artist on the Cape who seems to have mastered it: Paul Schulenburg. Starting tomorrow, this painter will be showing his work with twenty-four younger, emerging  artists in a show called Courting the Figure at the Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, Mass. It opens on Saturday, Feb. 11, with a public reception, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Though Schulenburg does paint landscapes, he’s known for his figures–everyday people captured in pensive, Hopperesque moments or plying their trade at sea, as shown in this painting, Fisherman Shoveling Ice.

There are a number of reasons why this painting strikes a chord in me. In part it’s the treatment of light and shadow, creating brilliant whites, deep blacks and almost primary yellow as the sun strikes the waders. Even more, there is something very true in this narrative, capturing the muscular strength of the crewman’s forearm and the flush in his wind-swept cheeks. With only a little imagination, one can smell the salt in the air.

This show runs until February 28.

Paul Schulenburg: Fisherman Shoveling Ice, oil on canvas