“I go to Milan, to Amsterdam, to Finland and Stockholm, looking at new designs and new products,” she says.  “There’s all this stuff there that Americans don’t get to see.” 

Frustrated by the lack of media outlets for product exposure, they started to do something about it  in 2008.   “There were fewer and fewer places to write about those products, how they were made and the stories behind them,” she says.

The pair stepped up initially with four – then six – presentations by designers each year.  A number of the events were held at Rockwell Group.  A website supports the events.

Each is oriented around a theme, with multiple designers from a range of fields. Each practitioner gives a five-minute talk about one of his or her products, touching on its development and the inspirations behind it – anything from a picture, a slide, or a physical prototype to a fabric’s texture, a piece of music, or a smell. After each presentation, audience members have a few minutes to ask questions.  In the audience are between 100 and 150 editors, retailers, students, designers and design aficionados. 

“They get to hear the story behind the design, and to feel what appeals to their senses when we pass the product around to the audience,” she says.

Questions can vary from choice of color to wattage in lighting.  Good design is sometimes regarded as a black box, she says, so the pair makes sure that the audience understands there’s no such thing as a stupid question.  “No one is laughed at – we wouldn’t tolerate it,” she says.  “There’s never any dumbing down.” 

The idea is to take a good look at design issues related to manufacturing, ethics, materials and lessons learned from early prototypes.  Guest designers are usually American, but they’ve hosted Canadians and British speakers also, depending on who’s in town at the time.  Between the journalist and the publicist, leveraging contacts usually is not a problem.

And the speakers aren’t there to put on a show.  “They’re just speaking from their hearts,” she says.  “They really connect.”

The next Product Placement event is Feb. 16 at the Museum of Art and Design at 2 Columbus Circle.

To sign up for the Product Placement mailing list, go to http://www.thisisproductplacement.com/

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“I wanted to learn either hair design or photography,” the Japanese/Brazilian artist says.  “I wanted to do something special, something high-tech.”

He chose photography – in Brazil.   And on Feb. 1, his work will be on display at 1500 Gallery in West Chelsea.  “Hidra” consists of 11 works, including a diptych and a triptych, curated by Brazilian artist Miguel Rio Branco.

The title refers to the many-headed beast of Greek mythology.  Moreover, the photos were shot in the bregas, or inexpensive brothels, found in Salvador da Bahia.  Hirosuke has been taking photos there for more than a decade.

Says Hirosuke:  “I didn’t have any interest in the visual arts until I began my photography,” he says.  “But now, the people who like my work say that it makes them think about the strong colors – some say that my photographs look like paintings.”

Hair design it’s certainly not – but it does emphasize the value of the road less taken.

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The intent of the film?

The first reason for making the film was to tell the story of a man whose vision and design can be seen all over the world. To me, his personal story is an inspiring example of someone who has risen from a modest, working-class family to the highest level of success through pure effort, will and risk-taking. The other reason for making the film was to try to communicate to a broad audience why architecture matters.

The inspiration for the film?

The inspiration for the film was Norman, his passions, and the architecture itself – which are all linked. At one moment making the film I realized that to show the buildings was to show the man, just like a poem gives you a particular insight into the soul of the poet. Some of the things that were constantly in our minds making the film are Norman’s love of clean lines, the way light plays with the exterior and interior of a design, his love of aircraft. A clear example of this is the Millau Viaduct sequence. It’s the world’s tallest bridge, a massive structure, and yet it looks like a delicate set of strings floating in the clouds. And if you see it from above, flying high up in the air the way it’s shown in the film- to me it’s the essence of Norman Foster.

The challenges inherent in making it?

I think the greatest challenge was convincing Norman to agree to make the film. He was absolutely opposed to making something that would seem like self-promotion. He’s a very private person, so the idea of having someone follow him around with a camera horrified him. It was a long process, but once we realized what we were doing and how the architecture was being shot, he accepted the idea more and more. Also, we were very careful not to get in his way whenever we traveled together. Personally, I enjoyed being with the architects and seeing what they were doing. I learned a lot from how they work and from Norman’s approach to work in general. It influenced me as a filmmaker and I think that also made him more receptive.

Why Norman Foster?

There are many films about architects and architecture from a variety of viewpoints. This project in particular is the brainchild of Antonio Sanz, the executive producer. Antonio is the key collaborator in all of Elena Ochoa’s ventures in the world of modern art and publishing, specifically Ivorypress.  Antonio has a project in the works to make a series of films about masters of various crafts. It seemed logical to him to make the first of the films about Norman Foster, a master of his craft and a film that was feasible.

Why does his architecture matter?

Architecture is extremely important to the quality of our lives. It’s not just about making pretty buildings, which is not to say that aesthetics are unimportant. Your surroundings have a direct impact on how you feel, how you perform. Nobody is happy living in a dump. Add to that issues that we know today, like ecological impact and construction costs, and you have another example of where a good design can make a huge difference one way or another. Something as simple as where you put the windows has an effect on how much energy the building will consume. It seems obvious but there are myriad of examples where designers haven’t paid attention to these details. This, in an era where the majority of humanity lives in cities.

What’s he trying to achieve with it?

In my personal opinion I think Norman’s design is about simplicity, intelligence and elegance. I think this is most clear when you look at his drawings. I remember one sketch of a thread going through a needle– well, voila, there’s a bridge! I think all of his works follow basic principles. A building is not a dead chunk of glass, steel, and concrete, but rather more like a machine. Again, this goes back to environmental issues. How do you reduce energy by allowing more natural light to come in? How do you block that light when it’s too intense. How does the air flow in, out and around the building? How do people flow in, out and around the building? How can a design revitalize a dead space and transform it into a place where people gather together? How do you modernize a historical place without losing the “history” by creating a dialogue between the past, present and future? In the end, it’s all about asking the right questions. I think Norman is questioning what he does all the time.

What about the spirituality of his work?

In Norman’s own words: “Architecture, I guess, for me is something that moves the spirit, that really works in terms of all the senses. In that sense it’s about the things that you can measure you can quantify and, if you like, the spiritual dimension which is rooted in all of the senses and which you can’t measure. But you know it’s there. It moves you. It moves your spirit.”

For more information, go to http://firstrunfeatures.com/mrfoster/

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And she’s done that with “Windfall” – her first documentary film, art directed within an inch of its life – and one that delivers a profound message:

Look before you leap into wind power.

“People who are living with these turbines nearby are developing hypertension, migraines and heart palpitations,” she says.  “There are some really spooky health effects, even with a turbine a mile away – I’ve heard people say they can feel their heart beating at the same pace as the turbines.”

The effects of the turbines’ low frequency sound are chilling – nearby residents sleeping in basements, unable to stop the 24/7 noise and visual pollution.   But the budding industry – growing now at a startling 39 percent annually – is choosing not to deal with them.  “Instead of dealing with it, they’re trying to discredit the people complaining,” she says.

When the sun gets behind the blades of the turbines, an incessant and mechanical shadowy flicker is the result.  Closing shades and curtains makes no difference.  “It just doesn’t stop,” she says.  “People say you don’t get used to it – you get sick.”

“Windfall” documents the effects of a proposal of a wind developer on residents of the town of Meredith, N.Y.  Attracted at first by the green aspects and financial incentives that might boost their dying economy, many residents grew alarmed when they discovered the 400-foot-tall windmills would bring side effects they never imagined.

“People say it sounds  like a jet that never lands,” she says.

Sales people working for a contracting company usually approach a town and its elected officials, selling them on the idea and contracting for the use of their property.  Contactors then move in to build infrastructure – widening roads to transport the turbines, and installing transmission lines.  Energy produced is usually owned by the large power companies – sometimes Duke Energy, General Electric or Deepwater.

“The landowner profits a little bit, and the town a little bit - if they make a good deal,” Israel says.  “The companies profit most, because most of the benefits come from federal subsidies to build and to sell wind energy for more money.”

The intent of “Windfall,” which opens in Manhattan at the Quad Cinema on Friday, Feb. 3 is to open up the topic to communities nationwide.

“I want to create discussion and encourage people to look at this industrial development for what it is – industrial development,” she says.  “I want them to discuss it in a more balanced way.”

Don Quixote, she’s not.  And she’s certainly produced an eye-opener of a film.

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Its moderate summers appealed to tourists from the South and its short winters were a balm to their counterparts up North. A visiting George Vanderbilt liked the area so much that he bought 125,000 untamed nearby acres. Vanderbilt recruited Beaux Arts master Richard Morris Hunt and landscape guru Frederick Law Olmsted – and the gifted trio would open the doors to a private and lavishly appointed Biltmore Estate on Christmas Eve, 1895.

But Asheville would become known as a year-round health resort too. Doctors sent patients there to recover from respiratory ailments, including tuberculosis.  Among these was Edwin W. Grove, a millionaire tonic inventor whose St. Louis physician recommended the area to him as a cure for his bronchitis and bouts of exhaustion.

Halfway up the slope of Sunset Mountain, he would open the Grove Park Inn in 1913 with 150 guest rooms.  Its massive stones, some weighing as much as 10,000 pounds, were hoisted into wagons and moved by “auto train” to the site. Chains, pulleys and timbers manipulated the granite blocks inside to form twin fireplaces in the Great Hall. Each one, composed of 120 tons of granite, rose two stories high and spread 36 feet wide, designed to burn eight-foot logs.

With its Arts and Craft furnishings by the White Furniture Company of Mebane, N.C., its fixtures by the Roycroft Copper Shop of East Aurora, N.Y, and its carpets woven in France, it was at once quite grand – and rustic too.

But Asheville has a fantastic collection of Arts & Crafts homes as well, according to Bruce Johnson, who’s organizing his 25^th annual Arts & Crafts Conference at the Inn from March 17^th through the 19^th.  “In Ashville you can see not just the typical Arts & Crafts bungalows, but plenty of homes as big as their Queen Anne and Victorian counterparts,” he says.  “They were homes to many of those who lived and to the craftspeople who came here to work – they built Biltmore House and the Grove Park Inn.”

About 3,000 people attend the conference every year, filling the Inn’s expanded 510 rooms.  They come to see and purchase more than 20,000 original and newly crafted Arts & Crafts furnishing, carpets and accessories presented by 50 antique dealers and 50 contemporary crafts firms. “Every piece in the show has a price tag, so you know if it’s $50 or $1,500,” he says.

At Johnson’s urging, the city is now jumping on the Arts & Crafts bandwagon too.  Citing the role that the Arts & Crafts movement has played in the “artistic, architectural, aesthetic and economic development of the City of Asheville,” Mayor Terry Bellamy has signed an official proclamation earmarking the week of February 12th-18th as Arts & Crafts Heritage Week.

It’s a week of group discussions, presentations, tours and workshops – and much of it’s free.

For more information on the “Arts & Crafts Capital of the South,” and the conference, go to http://www.arts-craftsconference.com/acheritageweek.html

For more information on the Grove Park Inn, go to http://architectsandartisans.com/index.php/2010/05/the-grove-park-inn-a-southern-tonic/

For more information on Biltmore Estate, go to http://architectsandartisans.com/index.php/2010/09/a-proper-home-for-napoleons-chess-set/

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“He took a different tack – that the negative didn’t have to be the departure point,” says Phillip Prodger, exhibition curator and PEM’s curator of photography.  He’s currently pulling together 90 of Uelsmann’s images and three-dimensional projects, some never seen before, for an exhibit that opens Feb. 11 at the museum in Salem, Mass.

Uelsmann is often described as the “Father of Photoshop,” because of the darkroom techniques he pioneered 60 years ago.  The synthetic images he created then are now routinely developed with a computer.  “His work foreshadows what has become a major form of photography today,” Prodger said.

In the late 1950s, Uelsmann began experimenting with multiple enlargers and advanced masking, diffusing, burning and dodging techniques, to create imaginary images.  His work references surrealists like Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, and Man Ray, as well as modern photographers such as Edward Weston and Ansel Adams.

“He said he discovered the surrealists late in life,” Prodger said.  “When he found them, he said it felt like discovering long-lost friends.”

Uelsmann attended Rochester Institute of Technology, where he studied with Beaumont Newhall, who introduced him to the history of photography, as well as with “equivalents” photographer Minor White.

Prodger prepared for “The Mind’s Eye: 50 Years of Photography by Jerry Uelsmann” by going into the artist’s studio and reviewing every one of the thousands of photos in his collection.  “There were thousands and thousands,” he said.  “Because of the way he operates, he makes many variations on a theme.  He wanted to cover all the themes – home, relationships, places, politics and psychology.”

Earch is represented there, in a show that runs through May 13.

For more information, go to http://www.pem.org/calendar/event/549-opening_day_a_master_of_photography_jerry_uelsmann

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It’s as though he’s still gathering information as he’s photographing the grit and rust of urban walls – but interpreting them now in a highly personal way.

He likes the random splash of pink or yellow, the sketchy old signs and the ancient posters still plastered to walls.

“Ultimately, it all represents a reflection of my personal vision of our culture,” he says.  “It’s about our engagement with the world around us – a blend of culture that comes in through my eyes and processes through my filter.”

Not surprisingly, he’ll open an exhibit in September at the Jung Center of Houston, an institution dedicated to the education of the human spirit through psychology, the arts and the humanities.  It’s named for Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, who founded analytic psychology at the turn of the last century. The discipline emphasizes the value of an individual’s creative forces and the development toward wholeness.

Thetford’s “Seven Questions” series of mixed media works are designed to create a dialog between the viewer and the artwork. “The Juggler,” for example, seeks to look at an individual trying to balance work, career and family, while “The Man in the Boat” asks whether an individual is all alone, or if we might all be in this together.

So it’s all about questions, rather than answers.

“It’s about ‘What is this?’ or ‘Who am I?’” he says.  “ It’s amazing what people bring to these – one person will see love and hope, while another says it’s full of pain.”

There is, he says, a lot of projection going on.

That would be true for the paintings as well as those who experience them.

For more on Daryl Thetford, go to http://www.darylthetford.com/darylthetford.com/HOME.html

For more on the Jung Centerof Houston, go to http://www.junghouston.org/

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He had a paper route, he said, and hoped that the architect might design for Eddie, his black Lab, a house “which would be easy to build and would go with our house.”  His father had commissioned Wright to design a house in 1952, and would spend 20 years building it in San Anselmo, Calif.

Wright wrote back.  A dog house for Eddie would be “an opportunity,” he responded.  “Someday I may design one, but just now I’m too busy to concentrate on it.  You write me next November to Phoenix, Arizona and I may have something then.”

Berger complied, and sure enough received a full set of working drawings for a triangular-shaped dog house of four square feet, to be built of the mahogany and cedar scraps left over from the main house.

“It looks like a Star Wars cruiser,” says Michael Miner, who’s taking a reconstructed version of the original on a coast-to-coast tour to promote Romanza, his film on Wright’s work in California.  “Frankly, it’s the best story ever about Wright.  People think he was this curmudgeonly old architect, but here he was, breaking down and doing something wonderful for a 12-year-old.”

Berger would grow up to join the army, and never build the dog house.  But his father and brother took up the project, completing it in 1963.  After his father died in 1973, Jim’s mother would take it to the dump and discard it.

“Then it occurred to me in 2010 to ask if it might be rebuilt,” Miner says.  “So Jim and his brother Eric built it exactly to Mr. Wright’s specifications.  They finished it in the fall of 2010.”  Miner filmed the constuction process, and included it in Romanza.

The new dog house will likely prove more popular than the original, which was shunned by Eddie and all subsequent dogs.  “He didn’t like it – he liked to sleep by the warmth coming out of the front door,” he says.

Even the new little house suffers from that complaint common to many of Wright’s larger designs:

“Yes, it does leak,” Miner acknowledges.

For more on Michael Miner and Romanza, go to: http://www.designedbyfranklloydwright.com/

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From 7:00 to 11:00 PM on Saturday, March 10, a salon-style runway event at A+D will feature wearable artworks provided by top talent from the realms of architecture, design, fashion, graphic, product, industrial and visual arts.

On display on live models and mannequins, the donated pieces will be auctioned that evening and available for sale through an advance online “Buy It Now” feature.  All proceeds will benefit the museum.

Nine hundred attended a similar event in 2010, fetching between $50,000 and $60,000 for the museum.  “We hope to do better this year,” says Tibbie Dunbar, executive director at A+D, about the event she’s calling “Celebrate: The Wearable.”

She’s got plenty of help from the right kinds of people.  Among the designers are architects Robert A. M. Stern and Richard Meier, as well as culinary artist Wolfgang Puck.  More than 40 professionals have lined up to contribute their work.

The concept of The Wearable is to explore the commonalities between structure, form and body with no limits to design or materials.  “We’re pushing what the meaning of that word “wearable” could be in fashion design,” she says.

More than a fashion show, the event is an enormous endeavor for Dunbar’s committee of 15 volunteer stylists, interior designers and communications professionals.  “Even though I pitched the idea, I’ve never even watched ‘Project Runway,’” she says.  “But others on the committee have.”

From the look of the designs already trickling in, though, this event could exceed all preconceived ideas about fashion shows anywhere – televised or otherwise.

For more information, go to www.aplusd.org or contact Sarah Lane at 323-932-9393. Tickets: http://aplusd.org/celebrate-tickets.

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Now, photographer M. J. Sharp has found a new application for the long-retired camera once produced en masse by Graphlex in Rochester, N.Y.

She makes C-prints from night-time exposures that range from four minutes to four hours.

“I used to do photojournalism and I loved it,” she says.  “Now I want to be out in the dark purposefully.”

She’s drawn to subjects that are often abandoned or overlooked – a basketball backboard, a storage pod or a lone outbuilding stranded in a field – things that others might not give a second look.

“My hope is that these can be meditations – visual poetry that people can luxuriate in,” she says.  “Night shooting lets you get to the bones of a situation.  In the daytime, there are all these distractions.  At night, everything is very muted.”

She draws her inspiration from Minneapolis artist Teresa Handy, whose spare Midwestern landscapes, composed of bifurcated horizontal color fields, usually start out as digital photographs.  Handy paints in acrylic over top of her photos, seeking to create a dialog between print and paint.

Sharp, though, is strictly a photographer – and one who works in the dark.  “The easy part is going out into the world in the middle of the night with no agenda,” she says.  “The hardest part is to get the perfect print.”

That’s a long way from photojournalism, even if she is using that profession’s once-favored camera.

“In journalism, you’ve gotta fill that hole on the page,” she says.  “Now, if I know what picture I’m coming to, I have no interest.  It has to be a mystery.”

Her work is currently on exhibit at the Craven Allen Gallery in Durham, N.C.  She’ll be giving a talk there on Tuesday, Jan. 17, while creating a long-exposure  image and seeking interested audience members to help put the finishing touches on the composition.

The exhibition runs through Jan. 28.

For more on M. J. Sharp, goto: http://cravenallengallery.com/press/

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