THE ART OF DESIGN
Artists, designers work together for new Cultural Council show.
Most interior designers don’t begin a project by picking a name at random. But the method presented an interesting challenge for the eight designers exhibiting in “Art & Decor” at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County in Lake Worth.
West Palm Beach interior designer Gil Walsh, a member of the council’s board, selected the designers, all based in Palm Beach County. Nichole Hickey, the council’s manager of artist services, chose eight artists, also county residents.
Everyone gathered in May at Arcature Fine Art in Palm Beach, where each designer drew an artist’s name out of a bowl. The designers selected works by the artists and created vignettes around them.
Hickey aimed to feature a variety of art forms, including painting, photography and sculpture. “I wanted to mix it up,” she said. “I was looking for people who represent the best of the best.”
Palm Beach designer Jennifer Garrigues built her vignette around sculptures and paintings created by the West Palm Beachbased team of Luis Montoya and Leslie Ortiz.
“I wanted to keep it minimal and let the art shine,” Garrigues said. “That’s not always me, but I restrained myself.”
Two big horizontal paintings of melon slices on a black background IF YOU GO
What: “Art & Decor”
When: Through May 12 Where: Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, 601 Lake Ave., Lake Worth
For information: Call 561-471-2901 or visit palmbeachculture.com Designer talks are scheduled for 3 p.m. on the following dates: April 5, Erin Cantu; April 12, Jackie Armour; April 19, Jennifer Garrigues. — one white and the other orange — dominate the back wall. A sculpture of a nude woman with a fish balanced on her head standing in a boat spans a narrow table beneath the paintings. A sculpture made up of whelk shells piled in a bowl rests on a copper kettle-shaped table in the center of the vignette.
Because the art was so organic, Garrigues complemented it with a faux zebra-skin rug and chairs upholstered with a purple snakeskin pattern. “It’s the simplest thing I’ve ever done,” she said.
Palm Beach-based designer Patrick Killian built his vignette around photographs Lake Worth photographer Jacek Gancarz shot during a trip to Ilulissat, a town in Greenland famous for its icebergs.
The photographs portray colorful cottages clinging to rocky soil as well as an iceberg surrounded by a glassy sea. All of the images exude a blue chill.
“We wanted to offset that with
a warmer feel,” said Ryan Messing, of Patrick Killian. “We wanted to make you feel as though you were in the village Jacek was in.”
The walls are taupe. Two commodious ivory-colored armchairs stand on peltlike white rugs. A wheat-sheaf lamp and small tables topped with log slices add to the natural ambiance.
The task with Stephen Mooney Interiors’ vignette was to merge the Palm Beach designer’s traditional style with Delray Beach artist Susan Romaine’s Edward Hopper-like street scenes.
“We started with oranges and rusty colors, brought in pops of blue from her paintings and filled in from there,” said Natalie Barrett, of Stephen Mooney Interiors.
The bold orange and white Brunschwig & Fils upholstery on one of the chairs is “outside the box” for Mooney but still traditional, she said. A marble-topped 19th-century English mahogany cabinet adds an authentic traditional touch, as does the antique child’s chair with a rush seat that’s become a signature piece in Mooney’s displays.
Other partners included in the show are: Dalton Designs and painter Carin Wagner, Allan Reyes Interior Design and painter Dana Donaty, designer Erin A. Cantu and sculptor Alexander Krivosheiw, Mona Sayve Interiors and painter Karen Salup and JMA Interior Design and painter Skip Measelle.