Paul Bowen

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One of my favorite contemporary artists is sculptor Paul Bowen.  A new show of his work is opening this week at the Clark Gallery in Lincoln, Mass.  If you're in the area between now and January 30, you should make it a point to stop by to see his work.

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I first saw Paul's work several years ago at the DeCordova Museum and immediately fell in love with it.  I repeated his name over and over so I could research his work but I'd forgotten his name by the time I got home.  Don't you hate that?  

Fast forward a few a years when I visited Provincetown to take a white line woodblock printing course and found his work at Artstrand, an artist-run gallery in town.  

Pile

Most, if not all of this wood, was found washed up on the shores of Cape Cod.  I love that these materials that have already had a life (fish crates, boats, wharves) are tossed and turned by salt water, rocks and sand and then spit back on land and given a new life through an artist's vision and hand.

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The butterfly shaped pieces hold two pieces of wood together.  Paul often uses this butterfly joint in his work.

Windrush

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Paul also works in other media.  These pieces are made of old marine flags.  The dragger shapes are an icon of Paul's print work.

This marine flag piece reminds me of old Kuba cloth.

Paul and his wife, a writer whose name is escaping me, moved a few years ago from Cape Cod to Vermont.  Since then, Paul's work is taking on new forms and objects collected from his new rural environment.

This is one of the pieces that will be in the new show.  It's hard to imagine from the photo but it's about 4 feet high by 8 feet wide.  I can't wait to see it in person.

If you visit the gallery, there are also a lot of other things to do in the area.  You could make an entire day out of it.  Here are a few of my suggestions.

The Walter Gropius house is a spectacular example of mid-20th-Century modern architecture.

The DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.

The galleries are closed from January 10 to 28 but it has...

...35 acres of beautiful rolling woodland with 75 works of art, open from dawn to dusk, that would be a beautiful walk on a sunny winter's day.   

And if you haven't had enough of the outdoors, Henry David Thoreau's Walden Pond is just a few miles away.  Everyone should walk around it once in their lives. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing Paul's work.  

Clark Gallery

145 Lincoln Road

Lincoln, MA  01773

781-259-8303

New Year, New Projects

Finishing my first major renovation project this year feels like a great accomplishment.  I'm thrilled that it's done but, at the same time, I'm a little sad it's over.  There was quite an adrenaline rush (or various combinations of sickness and excitement) in seeing my house stripped back to its 168-year-old core...

...and put back together. 

 I miss coming home to see progress being made.  I'm eager to see that progress continue on the inside but the renovation coffers are depleted for a little while.  

In the meantime, I have several projects I can work on.  

First, I need to finalize the plan for the new kitchen and the two bathrooms.  I have a sick feeling that I'm going to have to get another variance for the windows changes I want to make for the new kitchen layout.  

As I mentioned earlier, I want to redecorate the guest bedroom.  Future renovations will not involve this room at all so it's a good opportunity for me to work on establishing a new feel/mood for the inside that better fits the new exterior.

I'm envisioning something that's a little Ralph Lauren...

...a little European country...

...and a little junk shop.

Here are some of the things inspiring this look.  Remember my glazed wallpaper experiment?  I'm leaning toward glazing it in the same color as I've used in the living room but I'll try to leave more of the gray pattern showing through.  Many of you liked the gray glaze--as did I--but I think I want to keep the house light.  I may do a few accent walls in a darker gray.  

I found the ivory matelasse coverlet (with Grecian urns no less!) on a recent trip to Maine for 70 PERCENT OFF!  (That NEVER happens to me. )  The pillow sham with the gray stripe is Belgian linen from Restoration hardware.

I'll add to that some of the vintage things I love to collect, primarily wood and black metal.

I'm still trying to think of a creative way to display my collection of vintage show forms.

I would like to paint this old bow-front dresser that was left in the house...

...to look something more like this Gustavian piece.

The dining room that's right next to the living room will also get a makeover.  I've never been happy with the modern dining room table in my old house.  It's too sleek and takes up too much room.

I recently found this chunky pedestal table base...

...and I'm going to pair it with this tabletop that will be wrapped in zinc.  It's going to be cut in two and put on an expanding frame so two leaves can be put in for larger dinners.

Remember these chairs I bought on ebay?  They turned out to be too small for the living room so I'm going to overhaul these to go with the new zinc-topped dining room table.  They're pretty scary right now but just a simple change in color...

...would really change their look.  Or I could...

...no, I'm just kidding.

I'm thinking they'll be painted a dark gray or brownish gray...

...and upholstered to look more like this bed.

I just got these wingback chairs for the living room.  I find these so horrible they're almost wonderful,  if you know what I mean.  I think I'll leave the natural brown legs and then I'll have them recovered.  These might also work in the bedrooms as a nice comfortable place to sit and read before going to bed.

I like this windowpane fabric but I'm thinking I'd like them to be more masculine with perhaps a houndstooth or herringbone on the outside...

...with just linen on the back and seat.  

And in between all of that, I've got 10 windows that need to be painted on the inside.  Getting the windows painted actually is my first priority but I'll try to work in these other projects and keep you updated as progress is being made.

*****

It's been almost a year since Trina from A Country Farmhouse encouraged me to start a blog.  I wasn't sure anyone would be interested but I particularly wanted to document my process of getting a variance in Cambridge, Massachusetts and going through a renovation in a congested urban area.  Along the way, I've found people were interested and I've been encouraged by those of you who are kind enough to leave (mostly) supportive comments.  I've "met" some wonderful, interesting and inspiring people around the world and I've gotten frequent e-mails from people who are renovating homes in the area or who grew up or lived in Cambridge.  

To all of you, I send out a thank you and a sincere wish for a happy, healthy New Year.

Steve

Blizzard

When blizzard warnings went up yesterday I thought it would fun to take a few before and after photos to show those of you who don't live in a Northeast city all the fun you're missing.

My side yard has about 30 inches of drifted snow.

I hope Sam doesn't need his tools until spring.

The side steps

To stay on top of the snow, I shoveled every two hours until 11:00 p.m. and then got up at 4:00 a.m. to dig out again, and then shoveled again at 6:00 before venturing off to work.

The back porch.

If you're fortunate, you have a driveway...

...because if you don't, you end up with this...

...or this.

Did you get snow?