All I Want for Christmas is....

All I want for Christmas is a few paintings, a few paintings, a few paintings........

Specifically:

"Flowers of Red and White" by Hope Hebert..www.hopehebert.com...14" x 14"....$195

"Forsyth Park" by Michelle Berg Radford from Parker Gallery in St Simons Island, GA www.parkerartgallery.com...9" x 12"...$250

"California Flowers" by Lue Svendson...www.luesvendson.com...at Rue du Pont Galerie et Studio in Breaux Bridge, LA...8" x 10"...$325

"Luminous Field" by Steven Schneider...from Grand Contemporary Gallery in Lafayette, LA...www.grandcontemporary.com...9" x 7"...$450

Wink, wink Santa Claus!!

Seriously, all I really want for Christmas is to feel better (I have pneumonia!) and to enjoy my time with family in Georgia and Louisiana. But if any of you need last minute gift ideas for art loving family and friends, I think any of these paintings would be an excellent idea! Art is a great gift!

A very Merry Christmas to you all! I look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Jeffery McCullough

Southern Art & Design

917 282 1880

Collector of the Week-Moi

This past week has been absolutely crazy for me. I planned to be in Lafayette for Thanksgiving and then my Grandfather passed away and I had to fly home to Georgia for the funeral. I have been at my parents house since Thanksgiving day and have really enjoyed some down time and days where I've been able to just be in my own little world tucked away in Mom and Dad's house (I often come here and stay "holed up" for several days at a time without much interaction with the outside world--my idea of heaven!). While I've been here, I have gone through the 1989-93 (my high school years) issues of Southern Accents magazine that my mother has in her den. Going through these old issues has taken me down memory lane and inspired me. In a 1990 issue was a house in Savannah that I was in many times during my early teenage years. It is the wonderful house on Little Comfort Road that Richard and Cindy Moore lived in for many years. My dear friend Paula Parker and I used to love to escape from Claxton to "Miss Cindy's" to drive the golf cart around the Landings (sometimes until it ran out of juice!) and hang out with our Savannah friends and be with our version of Auntie Mame, "Miss Cindy".

After going through these old magazines and feeling so inspired and invigorated by the wonderful Southern houses and collections that I had just discovered (and in the case of the Moore's house, rediscovered) in the glossy pages of a magazine, I sat down to work on this weeks posts of "Southern Art and Design". Maybe it's the "home" mindset that I am in right now, maybe it's the thought of time passing and loss of a family member but I couldn't stop thinking about home, family, my early years....where am I now? what do I love? what am I doing next? where do I live? (in my case, that's a tricky question with a convoluted answer!)

I started thinking about New York and the apartment I have there that I've never really connected with (and yes, I do believe one should connect with where they live and lay their head at night) and what I want to take from that apartment when I leave it behind...and there are only three things that I really care to take with me when I lock the door for the last time...family photographs, books, art....and exactly what art? I have about 40 pieces of art in New York that I will have to do something with eventually. What do I want to make the journey with me to the next place?

My "collection", you see, is an evolving collection that began with a couple of pieces that were gifts. It was exciting at the time to have two or three paintings that were considered fine art. I hung them in my apartment and looked at them every day but I have never had a real connection with them..a connection that a passionate collector feels when they see a photograph or painting or piece of sculpture..a connection that reminds them of something special, a time, a place, a person....

I felt that connection with art for the first time when I saw the photograph titled "Greenwich" (as in Greenwich, CT) by Foster Witt (http://www.fosterwitt.com/) Foster is from Richmond, VA, originally and he and I have many mutual friends. Foster was having his first big show at a gallery in New York. If I remember correctly, the post card announcing the show featured "Greenwich" on it and I was intrigued. I went to the show and there was a small book that featured the piece in it and I was more intrigued. Then I saw the piece hanging on the wall and I was in love..a mad, passionate love...the color, the symbolism (BMW, big diamond, Gucci purse, Lily Pulitzer pants), I want to know more!! I couldn't stop thinking about it..I couldn't afford the piece, but I talked to Foster and told him that I had to have this photograph. He told me the story that the series he had done for the show was called "Passengers" and he had carried his camera around with him and shot normal life moments. In fact, the girl in the passenger seat is our mutual friend, Hobby Williams. Now I really have to have it!! What do I do to get this piece? As many collectors do, I paid for the piece "on time" and about a year later, it was mine. The day it came to my apartment I was still madly in love. I knew I had made a good decision. That was about five years ago I believe and each time I look at it I still feel exactly what I felt when I first saw the photograph. In fact, I actually miss it when I am away from New York and can't see it. So that piece is definitely making the journey with me!!

Collecting art is a personal thing. Collecting art is a passion. Buy what you love. If you don't love it in a few years, no big deal. Give it to someone. Donate it to a charity auction. Sell it.

You will know your collection is as it should be when you live with the ones you love surrounded by the art you love.

Artist of the Week-Lisa diStefano

There are landscapes....and then there are landscapes done Lisa diStefano's way. The Baton Rouge, LA, native "employs subtle details, respectful suggestions, and rousing textures" to create mixed media landscapes that are simply divine. I first fell in love with diStefano's work about three years ago when I saw a few pieces at Grand Contemporary in Lafayette, LA. I've wanted a painting by Lisa ever since. And after seeing the most recent offerings from Grand Contemporary in the current show with Lisa diStefano's work (on display until end of December), I really, really want a painting by diStefano...particularly the framed mixed media on paper with the blue background (shown in top picture on left)!!

When I met Lisa at the opening of the current show on November 6th, she explained that this particular series of paintings was inspired by a trip to Grande Isle, LA. As the car was moving down the road, Lisa took photographs out the window. When Lisa had the pictures developed she essentially had "abstract moving landscapes." What resulted from this experiment is a group of paintings that you know are landscapes, you can recognize the horizon, you can almost touch the marsh grasses, yet they are abstract and the mind can have fun with them and imagine being there (well, really anywhere you'd like to be, which is what makes them interesting).

In addition to the mixed media on canvas and board pieces that are typical of Lisa's work, she has done some really interesting works on paper. I recently used a piece in my room at the Lafayette Symphony Showhouse that is crayon on paper (see below photo of the piece I used). This piece is available for $800 framed and can be seen at European Classics in Lafayette, LA. Hurry and buy it so I don't!

Currently, diStefano shows at Grand Contemporary Gallery (www.grandcontemporary.com) in Lafayette, LA, and Ann Connelly Gallery in Baton Rouge, LA. The Ritz-Carlton, Miami, and The Bellagio in Las Vegas have both recently purchased pieces for their collections. Traditional Home and Veranda magazines have both published and reviewed diStefano's work.

Collectors of the week..David and Hope Hebert

When I first met David and Hope Hebert, all I knew was that she was a local artist well known in Southwest Louisiana.What I didn't know I would find when I went to their house was a wonderful  collection of paintings, primarily by Louisiana artists. Fortunately, because I was hired by the Hebert's to re-design their house with them, I was lucky enough to get to consult on the art placement throughout the house. I have known the Hebert's for a year now and love seeing their collection constantly change. Hope and David are very committed to having pieces they absolutely love (not just "space fillers") so if an artist is in their collection it is because they truly admire that artists work.

David and Hope have a collection that means a lot to them. They only have original works of art and many have been purchased at charity auctions so they have been able to indulge in their passion for collecting while giving back to the community that they love so much. Hope remembers being so very excited about 15 years ago when she and David purchased their first piece of original art on a trip in New Mexico. Although she didn't know anything about the artist (Maurjo Reser), Hope fell in love with the small oil on canvas and today it has a prominent spot in the first floor guest bathroom in their River Ranch home. To this day, David and Hope agree that each has veto power on a piece and that they both have to love the piece equally for it to come home with them.

Because they purchase frequently, their collection is a revolving collection with some pieces put away at the moment while others take center stage. And some pieces go to their daughters' houses. At present, there are 60 plus pieces hanging throughout their large house. This number could swell or shrink depending on when Hope's own works go out for a show or, better yet, sell. 

In Hope and David's collection there are pieces by:

Pat Bourque (Hope's art teacher), Julie Breaux, M. Susan Broussard, Joni Domengeaux-Bayard (Hope's first art teacher), Adrian Fulton, Shanna Hebert (their daughter), Thad Morgan, Tony Mose, Mark Nikoff, John Perret, Lue Svendson, and Brooke Wilke.

And soon to join this roster of fine artists is John Palmer, whose piece Hope and David purchased at the PASA gala a few weeks ago. It hasn't even made it to their house yet, but Hope and David are already thinking of where it will be hung.

Hope and David know all of these artists personally and Hope paints with Pat, Julie, and Lue on a weekly basis-So you never know which Julie or Lue piece is coming home with Hope this week! And as a frequent guest in their home, I can't wait to see the new pieces as well!

Picture Guide:

Top:  A Julie Breaux gives femme power in Hope's office

2nd Row: A Pat Bourque gives a sense of elegance to the master bathroom

3rd Row: In the foyer, a Lue Svendson abstract (left piece) mixes well with two paintings by Hope Hebert herself

4th Row: A very famous man by Adrian Fulton and a woman by Tony Mose make a fine couple on the staircase

Bottom: A fun abstract by Shanna Hebert (the collectors' daughter) adds cheeriness to a stuffed animal filled hang out room for the Hebert's grandkids, Chloe and Clay

Artist of the Week...Mallory Chastant

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Up and coming artist...young, energetic, talented, beautiful....Mallory Chastant.

Growing up in Lafayette, LA, Mallory began taking art classes at ULL (University of Louisiana-Lafayette) when she was 4 and can "still smell the clay and remember the first day." After graduating from St. Thomas More high school in Lafayette, Mallory attended LSU in Baton Rouge and graduated with a major in Interior Design and a minor in Architectural History, all the while painting and living in "la la land just wanting to draw and paint."

Mallory's big break came when she moved back to Lafayette after graduation and had her first show at Tsunami downtown in Lafayette. Five paintings were hung and all five sold. Since then she has constantly had work hanging in Tsunami and has been as successful as she was with her first show there. The most recent work hung at Tsunami is from Mallory's Editions 25 series of abstract acrylics on wood panels and they are fantastic! (see left photo above of installation currently at Tsunami-412 Jefferson St)

I discovered Mallory's work when Nina Ward of W Home Furnishings in Lafayette recommended I use some of Mallory's pieces in the bedroom I did at the Acadiana Symphony Show House in October. Nina had a couple of Mallory's pieces in the W showroom for me to see which just weren't quite right for my room. As I was leaving W, and forgetting about Mallory and her work, I ran into Mallory and her business partner Emily on the sidewalk. Mallory offered to take me to her studio/store (Vinyl, a very artsy graphic design/sign/banner company in River Ranch) to see more of her work........the love affair began! What I found was the absolute most perfect diptych to go over the bed in the room....(see 2nd photo above for proof). During the three week run of the show house, so many people would stop and stare at them and ask about them. And when I would say that they were by a 25 year old Lafayette native, everyone would say "She's talented..that's real talent". I am happy to say that I sold one of the two to a local Lafayette collector and it is now hung in her foyer.

Recently, Kim Mallia of Darnall, Sikes, Gardes & Frederick CPA firm in Lafayette tagged Mallory, along with Erin Chance, to participate in the Art for All Seasons show that Kim curates quarterly. Mallory has 12 pieces from her Contemporary Tye Dye Collection (the series I used in my room in the show house) on exhibit at DSG&F that range from $300-$800. These pieces will be on exhibit until mid December. To see these pieces in person, you can go to Darnall & Sikes in the new Iberia Bank Building at the corner of Kaliste Saloom and Camellia anytime they are open or call Kim Mallia at 337 739 4849 to schedule a tour of the show with Kim as your guide.

So what's next for Mallory Chastant? Surely great, great things...a show in a fantastic gallery perhaps? I'll keep you posted! Meanwhile, don't miss the opportunity to buy your favorite Mallory Chastant piece now..all good collectors know that once an artist is picked up by a gallery, the prices will go up!

You can always contact Mallory directlyat www.mallorypage.com    or at www.thevinylpage.com

Things to Come!

I am very excited to announce some exciting and fun changes in my life. I have longed to be in the art world in some way and to have the opportunity to merge my design experience and career with opportunities in the art world that have come my way. That time has finally come and I began as a freelance assistant gallery director at a contemporary art gallery (Grand Contemporary Gallery in Lafayette, LA) this past week (www.grandcontemporary.com). The arts world in Louisiana is thriving and has been for so long (oddly enough Louisiana is a state that really fosters its' artists and their endeavors). 

Of course I've always loved "pretty things" but my passion for original art began when I was exposed to so many wonderful pieces of art and experiences surrounded by art when I worked for Eric Cohler Design (www.ericcohler.com to see the incredible use of art in his projects). I started collecting art myself about 6 years ago with no real rhyme or reason but just purchasing pieces that I fell in love with. Many of these pieces were purchased at various charity art auctions such as the annual Bailey House auction (which I am on the committee for), the annual GLAAD art auction, and through Acria--check out www.baileyhouse.org, www.glaad.org, and www.acria.org for more info on these organizations. Some of the pieces were purchased from artist friends (i.e. photographer Foster Witt (www.fosterwitt.com) and photographer Trisha Cunningham) and some were gifts. I have loved living with every piece I have and have missed them tremendously when I have used them in show houses and they were gone from my apartment.

After living in New York full time for 8 years (and missing the South tremendously) and spending the last year or so primarily in Lafayette, LA, I decided to make Southern Artists the focus of my collection as it grows. In doing this, I have done a lot of research on artists whose work I have seen in person (or in many cases want to see in person) that I would like to have in my collection and/or in clients' collections. This research has led me to start this blog with plans of doing a weekly post on a different artist.

Each of these artists will be Southern (or live in the South) and, yes, I am including Texas as Southern (reluctantly, no doubt!). I will feature an artist, post images of the work, and tell where the artist is represented. All of this in hopes that I will give these incredible artists exposure and hopefully at some point be a representative for the artist featured.

I am very excited about this and I hope I will introduce you to artists that you love as much as I do and that one day you will have these artists in your own collections.

Expect a post next Friday or Saturday introducing the first artist...I won't tell you now who it will be but I will share with you a list of the artists I will be introducing you to over the next few weeks...

Hope Hebert

Lue Svendson

Sidney Creaghan

Maureen Dugas

Janine Collins

Eric Svendson

Foster Witt

Emily Kean

Lisa diStefano

George Marks

All the best...

Jeffery McCullough

Southern Art and Design

917 282 1880