Karen in her Studio
I first met Karen Schwartz at a job site on a cold January afternoon. She and her husband were contemplating a renovation to their home in Atlanta and something about the progress of a project of mine that she drove past everyday had intrigued her. Very happily, I won the commission and a successful collaboration was begun.
From the beginning she said she wanted her home to be filled with light. Only after her home was well into construction did I discover the true reason behind this passionate desire for natural light. The woman I knew as a successful psychologist, was an extremely talented yet “closeted” painter! I was exposed to this quite accidentally as she delivered a double portrait she had done of the interior designer and her husband during a meeting. As soon as I saw it I was actively engaged and wanted to see more.
Barack Obama "Obama II" Mixed media on paper 11 x 15 inches
Karen is a natural artist. This means that without a lot of formal training, she has an incredible innate capacity to see and convey the essence of an individual without being literal. Even more remarkably she accomplishes this while avoiding a slip into caricature. It also means she is not bound by the conventions of teaching but has found her expression through a natural exploration of light and color in space. As you view her work, you step into and become part of an ongoing conversation. Her subject matter ranges from friends and family to public figures from the world of art and politics. Working primarily from photographs, she is somehow able to reveal the person behind the public mask.
Man in Menerbes Mixed media on canvas 22 x 52 inches
As an artist Karen believes a painting begins well before the first media is selected. The earliest memory she attributes to “painting” is daydreaming in seventh grade. It was the late 1960′s and she would spend her class time mentally altering the patterns and colors of the brilliantly colored shirts she saw on the students around her. She discovered that she could draw in 9th grade from an art teacher who simply told her to draw and turned her loose. There was not a lot of “how to” in that class.
"Cafe Gossip" Mixed media on canvas 36 x 52 inches
She went on to take some photography and art classes in college. At the time she considered a double major in art and psychology. In the end psychology won out. Her life trajectory continued on through marriage, practice and children. During that time she maintained her eye through photography. It wasn’t until she and her daughters were spending the weekend with an artist friend that she began to draw again. That is where the two passions of her life began to converge.
True to her 9th grade art teacher’s instruction Karen started to paint. She didn’t start with apples, she started with portraits- one of the most difficult things to do successfully. It is one thing to document a moment in time, it is quite another to capture the pause for thought between sentences. This is where everything comes together for her. Karen’s gift is her ability to observe. It is the reason she is a successful psychologist. It is what makes her paintings so wonderfully accessible.
"Women and Sawhorses" Mixed Media on Canvas 128x85 inches 2011
She recently joined Fine Arts Workshop, a studio led by artist Michael David. This studio was founded specifically for artists who have taken a round about journey to their art. The studio setting encourages them to push their limits while remaining true to their vision with stunning results. For Karen it pushed her into life sized figurative painting. What I find fascinating is that in the larger scale she has unleashed the power and vitality of her smaller scaled portraiture. The new work, executed in a sparer manner, results in an even more immediate and intimate portrayal of her subjects.
It has been a joy to watch her growth over the last decade as she has begun to actively show her work. From her initial leap into the art scene at the 2003 Biennale Internazionale Dell’ Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy to her ongoing collaboration with the Swan Gallery in Serenbe, Karen has used her shows to display her particular viewpoint. Her newest work will be on display at the Bill Lowe Gallery in Atlanta, beginning this Friday, November 11. Opening Reception 6-9.
To discover more of Karen’s work visit her website at http://www.uncommonportraiture.com/
"Dirty Dara" Mixed Media on Canvas 187x85 inches 2011
all photos courtesy of the artist and used with permission.
Former Street transformed into pedestrian plaza!
I was having lunch with a interior designer friend of mine the other day. While we were discussing what was going on in our lives and businesses, she brought up her upcoming trip to Serenbe. For readers not familiar, Serenbe is a planned development south of Atlanta based on new urbanist concepts combined with sustainability. We both commented that while it seemed to be a nice place to visit, it was just that. The reality is that it is merely a superbly marketed suburban enclave that has a definite entry price point. As my friend said “you don’t see the gardeners or cleaning people living there”. Let alone the artists who’s mecca the website would like you to believe it is. Its just not an “authentic” experience.
This chance conversation echoed an ongoing conversation I’ve been having with another friend, a self described “urban traveller” and kitchen designer. We have been meeting biweekly for coffee in a shop in Glenwood Park, another new urbanist development in Atlanta. Like Serenbe, Glenwood Park is a new development combining residential, live/work spaces with a retail district based on an earlier lifestyle pattern. It is an excellent concept, and well executed, but somehow misses the boat. Now entering it’s fifth year, the retail district is still fairly inactive and lacks activity. It has a few restaurants, but no distinctive retail identity. The few spaces that have been leased have been service oriented. Any retail that has attempted to open, quickly fades away. Many of the spaces have never been leased. It has an over designed, stage set quality to the public spaces that is frequently characteristic of a development planned at once. This quality is also a predictable outcome given the developmental controls that are in place.
Public Bocce Ball court at center of Glenwood Park retail area
In both of these examples, what is missing is the authenticity of a place that has developed naturally over time. Part of this is the result of their both being created as a piece to meet a developer’s vision of what should be. Contrast this with a center that evolves naturally to meet an actual need. Places that develop over time have their own character. Part of this is due to the fact that there is no single entity in charge of design. Each parcel is an individual reaction to a perceived need. To a large extent this character is created by the individual needs of the owner or user of the space. On a more subtle level, it is defined by what is created in the “leftover” spaces. Those unique corners where two adjacent and distinct visions don’t quite mesh. The offset stagger of two facades that become a place for a cafe table or pocket garden. Maybe a place for a piece of public art or a simple bench to sit and observe. These are the happy accidents that really define a place. They are where human ingenuity and creativity merge and create something special. In planned developments happy accidents can’t exist, there isn’t any room for them.
Saturday afternoon Glenwood Park Retail District
Juxtaposed against these examples are two others, also in Atlanta. Little 5 Points and Virginia-Highland. Both are historic neighborhood retail centers that once housed everything the surrounding neighborhoods needed. Groceries, movie theaters, drug stores, etc. With the rise of the suburbs and strip center shopping in the 1960’s these neighborhood centers severely declined. An intown renaissance of the surrounding residential neighborhoods combined with a major effort by local business owners enabled both these districts to reemerge as the vibrant areas they are today.
Little 5 Points has become a destination for those seeking out an urban bohemian experience. It is an artsy, edgy enclave of restaurants, shops and live theater. It’s storefronts are vibrant, exuberant and exhilaratingly discordant. It is home to one of Atlanta’s oldest and best Natural Food Groceries. It has actively developed and embraced an alternative and expressive culture, celebrating it to success. As a result it is busy day and night- without any large scale daytime office or hotel component nearby. It has become a destination in itself.
Another equally popular Atlanta destination, Virginia-Highland, developed as a slightly more upscale but equally vibrant district of restaurants, shops and music venues. It’s street scape is perhaps less exuberant and more “tasteful” than Little 5 Points, but each shop retains it’s individual character expressed through signage and displays. With an increase taste level comes the requisite increase in price point. The striking thing is that these neighborhood centers are within 2 miles of each other and revived almost simultaneously as their surrounding neighborhoods were rediscovered as desirable places to live. They were an organic outgrowth of the surrounding communities.
Liitle 5 Points Shops
Color - storefront material of choice.
Another commonality is that they each developed a clear identity. It was that readily identifiable personality that attracted other like businesses and consumers to explore a previously abandoned infrastructure. They each celebrate individuality and from that celebration emerged a distinctive “place”. Through their renaissance they have introduced several generations of Atlantans to a more traditional and unique retail experience, an authentic experience not replicated in the typical Mall or “planned” development. In a Mall or “planned” development, there are design guidelines or controls in place that reinforce the Mall or Development identity over the individual shop owner. In most instances the overriding identity is bland and indistinct. The resulting space is one that has literally been designed to death!
Does this mean I think new urbanism is a failed concept? No, I think it has a great deal of validity. Now that there are several communities that have been designed to those guidelines, perhaps it is time to critically examine what has been built to determine what actually works and what doesn’t. What is necessary is perhaps a fresh look at how those visionary principles can be applied to create a more authentic experience. To my mind that means more emphasis on creating a total human experience and perhaps a little less time on facade design. After all that can and should take care of itself.
All parked up, nowehere to shop- Glenwood Park Saturday
Souvenir brochure and ticket stub
I tend to tuck things a way. I was reorganizing some books and came across a photo album from long ago and far away. Glancing through the pages, I found my self reliving events that had fallen far away from my active memory. One of these memories centered around the Fourth of July weekend of 1989. That weekend found me as a tourist in New York City. It was the trip that forever convinced me that a 3 day holiday weekend in the summer is the perfect time to visit the city. It is hot, but much less crowded.
Street view approaching the towers
One of the major goals of that trip was a trip to the top of the World Trade Towers. Say what you might about their design, no one can deny their iconic power. The twin towers soared twice as high as anything else in the city and gave me an appreciation for the effectiveness of simplicity. They were there. From the street, they gently shimmered against the sky. From a distance their beveled corners elegantly reflected the sunlight, naturally highlighting their spare forms.
a much younger me and the view!
After an express elevator ride to the top (58 seconds according to the brochure), you entered an exhibit space on the 107th floor before taking your final trip by escalator to the viewing platform above the 110th floor, weather permitting. The day I was there the weather was glorious and the view from the top incredible. You could see for 55 miles. That is what I remember most about the trip. The view from the top of the World.
This country changed the day the towers were lost. Our national optimism that celebrated itself by building such towers vanished. Everything became clouded by a filter of fear. Our view of the world and our position in it was undeniably altered. Ten years later, I think that is what I miss most. The lost view.
One of the reasons I love Georgia is that it is about as far South as you can go (north of the equator) and still have 4 distinctly different seasons. I find seasonal rhythms important. They help mark the passage of time.
A few years ago I termed August the season of the spider. In August, spiderwebs show up everywhere overnight. The garden is fried past production. The yard is concrete hard and the surviving grass crunchy. Brown leaves start to drop from the trees and the azaleas and hydrangeas droop in the heat of late summer.
August is also marked by the appearance of the signature spiders in the garden. With their electric yellow and black markings and zigzag webs, they added a bold accent in a fading landscape. We used to find them throughout the yard. But not the past 2 years.
A few years ago we became tired of spraying ourselves with Deep Woods Off every time we wanted to go outside. We listened to our exterminator and enthusiastically signed up to have the yard sprayed for mosquitoes. We were assured that only there was no adverse affect and you know what? It worked!
The downside was that in addition to the mosquitoes, the lightning bugs were greatly diminished. Then I noticed nature’s insect controllers – the signature spiders and praying mantises were also gone. There was also a noticeable decrease in garden production. We stopped spraying the yard after that first season, but 2 years later I’m still missing my spiders. On the bright side, I did find a praying mantis this past weekend.
Given that the effect on our quarter acre lot, I can only imagine the wide spread consequences of spraying to control mosquitoes at the county level. Acting locally does impact globally.
William Livingstone House
As I was “stumbling” through my weekly Stumble-on suggestions, I hit upon this photoblog from the Denver Post. Entitled Captured: The Ruins of Detroit, it is a photo essay taken from a much larger book by French photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre. They have very successfully captured a moment in the decline of a once great American city. Their book “The Ruins of Detroit“ was published in December 2010. Many of the photographs that hauntingly and beautifully document this decline can be viewed on their website.
Founded in 1701, Detroit rose to prominence as the country grew, ultimately becoming synonymous with the American auto industry and music in the 20th century . Originally a trading settlement, by 1765 it had grown to a population of 800 becoming the largest city in French America between Montreal and New Orleans. Detroit reached its peak in 1950 as the 5th largest city in the country and has been in a steady state of decline ever since. Losing 25% of it’s population between 2000 and 2010, it now ranks 18th in population.
Outside of war or natural catastrophe, this type of decline is almost unprecedented in history. In the space of a single generation – 50 years, Detroit plunged from its brilliant zenith to become the poster child for urban decay and abandonment. Detroit’s decline began with the societal shifts that accompanied desegregation in the 60′s, but its acceleration can be directly attributed to more fundamental shifts in the economy as it continues to move away from a manufacturing base.
Perhaps most prevalent in the “rust belt”, similar images can be found in almost any American city today. They are indicative a larger problem facing those cities, namely what to do when the manufacturing base that built them fails. These ruins are the physical manifestation of that changing economy.
As a bittersweet reminder of a brilliant past, the ruins represent what is simultaneously the largest challenge and most daunting opportunity for the design community. How to adapt the existing urban landscape and leave a positive legacy. In the face of a rapidly changing economic reality, is it possible to successfully shrink cities and create something greater in the process. Can we discover a way for urban centers to become the vibrant beacons they once were, or are we truly faced with the dark and foreboding future unleashed in the Batman and Bladerunner films?
Downtown Los Angeles 2019 from the movie Bladerunner, Warner Brothers, 1982
