Vintage Style for Modern Living
Nude – John. C. Lytle – Watercolor – circa 1960’s
Seated Nude – John. C. Lytle – Watercolor – circa 1960’s
Found these two watercolor nudes while searching the countryside earlier today. We don’t run across many nudes in our area and these two are exceptional.
Both are now on display at The Purple Moon.
It’s hard for us to believe but as of this week The Purple Moon has now been in our Quarrier Street location for one year.
The Purple Moon has been a labor of love for us but the success we have realized is solely because of the huge amount of support and patronage shown to us by you and others in the Kanawha Valley and our friends across the globe who visit us online.
As our way of saying Thank You, during this Thursday’s ArtWalk from 5pm to 8pm, The Purple Moon will be hosting a special event to celebrate our first year on Quarrier Street.
For this we will be opening a vintage art show, 20th Century ARTifacts, in The Over the Moon Gallery and for Thursday night only pieces from the ARTifacts exhibit will be available at a 25% discount. There will also be specials on our vintage glass, home accessories and furnishings in our main showroom, door prizes and, of course, wine and laughter.
We hope you will join us so we can have the opportunity to say “Thank you” in person.
The Purple Moon announces a call for artist submissions for the juried exhibit, Hard Times: a new dollar for america.
Submissions for this show are being accepted in two categories – 1) artists 18 years of age or older, or 2) student artists currently enrolled in high school. The second category, exclusively for young artists, is in keeping with The Purple Moon’s commitment to supporting arts education programs.
Artworks in all mediums (except video and ceiling mounted) are eligible and artists may submit up to three works. All works must fall within the theme of the show and meet the requirements outlined in the Prospectus.
DOWNLOAD PROSPECTUS HERE (PDF format)
Please review the Prospectus carefully as submissions which do meet follow the format for submission and show criteria will not be considered.
Submissions will be accepted via email and mail only and must be received on or before June 5, 2009. There is no entry fee for this exhibit.
Hard Times: a new dollar for america is The Purple Moon’s first juried art exhibit and will open the evening of June 25th, 2009 in conjunction with the ArtWalk and Festivall 2009 and will run through July 31, 2009..
The goal of the exhibit is to artistically focus on the changing and challenging economic landscape the nation and the world now finds itself in and examine the impact and perception of the dollar in modern society.
Submissions by artists must follow the theme of the show with works of art which re-design, revalue or re-evaluate the American dollar and which artistically address at least one of the following:
1 – A redesign of the American dollar bill.
2 – The revaluation of the dollar and its role in 21st Century.
3 – Alternatives to the dollar in the 21st Century.
For more information on this special exhibit visit the Hard Times: a new dollar for america website.
Our friend Kay shared this lovely photo with us this week.
The Purple Moon will be presenting Filters of color, word & light: Works by Sharon Lyn Stackpole beginning Friday, February 27th in the Over the Moon Gallery. The show will open with a reception with the artist from 6 – 9 pm in the gallery at 906 Quarrier Street in Downtown Charleston.
Sharon Lyn Stackpole studied art at Fairmont State and West Virginia University, but has also read poetry in coffeehouses in San Francisco, and worked as an award-winning reporter for the Wheeling Intelligencer and News-Register. Recently her series, Fictionaries, traveled around the state of West Virginia and also exhibited at the Beehive in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Fictionaries was all about the blending of word and image.
Ms. Stackpole’s current show is continuation and expansion of that blending. In discussing her work she said:
“As I continue this journey, this immersion into my art, I’ve gone through various obsessions. Obsessions with words, with sculpture, with painted glass, and with glass itself. Obsessions with color have transcended into obsessions with light — what changes it, what transforms it, what alters light, what filters it. I want those filters. I want to hold them in my hands and build.”
To read more about Sharon Lyn Stackpole visit her blog, s.m.ART.
Porcelain Vases by Kaiser, Heinrich and Kaiser (from left to right) – W. Germany – circa 1960’s
These stunning porcelain vases are fabulous alone but look even better is small groupings. Produced by the masters of porcelain in the Bavarian region of West Germany in the 1960’s these bisque porcelain vases are typically hard-to-find in the United States.
The ones shown here are excellent examples of the Op Art and organic styles these vases are normally found in. The one on the left by Kaiser measures 12 inches tall and features a glorious bursting sun Op Art design. The center piece by Heinrich has a cabbage leave pattern and the one on the right, designed by one of the leading mid-century porcelain artists, M. Frey, for Kaiser has a spectacular cratered moon surface. All of these vases are glazed only on the inside to hold water while still retaining the outside bisque finish.
These vases usually run anywhere from $60 – $150 dollars with some designs going as high as $250. They are difficult to find in the United States however you sometimes can run across them at vintage shops and online. Most found online are being sold from Germany so shipping can be high and slow. The three shown here are currently available in our gallery.
These make wonderful gifts and you can pretty much rest assured the recipient won’t get another one like it.
The ArtWalk is the showcase of Downtown Charleston’s thriving art scene. Join us for an evening of art, wine and fun on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
A great event to brinig your Holiday out-of-town guests and family to show off Charleston!
ArtWalk venues for November are:
Art Emporium
Callen McJunkin Gallery
Chet Lowther Studio
Clay Center
Gallery Eleven
Good News Mountaineer Garage
Stray Dog Antiques
Taylor Books – Annex Gallery
The Purple Moon
For more information visit the ArtWalk website.
Lushpad – New online marketplace for modern collectors
Looking for top-of-the-line modern furnishings, art and accessories online then go to Lushpad. This newly launched marketplace will make you salivate for all of the mid-century modern and contemporary goodies on sale there.
Just launched last August Lushpad already has a devoted group of higher-end sellers including The Purple Moon. You can see my listings here.
Simple, elegant and easy to navigate and use a stop by Lushpad should be in your future if you are as crazy about modern design as I am.
Change – Bask – 2008
Yes we can! Please vote.
Jazz Musician Plaster Wall Plaques – circa 1955
You can almost hear the sax and the bass coming from these fabulous mid-1950’s decorative wall plaques. Plaster (or chalk) wall decor was prevalent in the 1950’s but often leaned more to the traditional in their theme. These modern beauties have a sculptural feel reminiscent of the figures by Alberto Giacometti.
What is also unique about this quartet is simply the fact they have survived intact and without a chip. These mid-century marvels are currently on display at The Purple Moon.