My Rootstein mannequin comes home!

Do any of you remember back when I owned the art gallery, Pine Street Art Works,  and had a bunch of mannequins there? Oh how I loved them. When I closed, back in 2009, I sold three of them, two Maira Kalman children and one Adel Rootstein. I kept three Maira Kalman/Ralph Pucci busts. 

I sold the Rootstein - Diane Dewitt - to someone who was crazy about her, and that made me feel better about losing her, but I found I really missed her. Years later, I heard that the new owner gave her away to a mutual friend. I emailed the friend and said if she ever decided that she didn't want the mannequin anymore, that I'd like her back. 

Lo and behold, the day arrived. Two days ago we were reunited. I rearranged my living room to welcome her and she is home at last! So please expect to see many more images of one of my favorite models. 



Here she is working hard at the shop, selling tableware. Glass by AO! Glass, placemats by Small Equals. 

Saying goodbye to Pine Street Art Works

Next week Pine Street Art Works will be closing. After five years. I will be opening another small shop, with a much tighter focus, so I'm excited about that. But meanwhile here's a small photo review of most of the shows I've curated since 2005.

My kids used to like to sit in the window and pretend to be mannequins. Liza Cowan Photo 2005

 

same window without kids. David Klein, Beanie For Peace. Liza Cowan photo 2005

 

David Klein, Beanie For Peace. Liza Cowan, FAKE! photo by Liza Cowan 2005

 

postcards for Flashbags and Charlie Hunter Show. 2006

 

Keith Wagner, pods, in show window. Hunter/Wagner show 2006. Photo by Liza Cowan

 

paintings by Charlie Hunter, sculpture by Keith Wagner. 2006. Photo by Liza Cowan

 

Show postcards for Cara Barer and David Putnam. Liza Cowan design. 2006

 

Cara Barer show. 2006. Photo by Liza Cowan

 

Cara Barer, Butterfly. Mannequin by Ralph Pucci. Photo by Liza Cowan circa 2009.

 

David Putnam show. Photo Liza Cowan. 2006

 

Bread and Puppet Theater, benefit performance at PSAW, photo Liza Cowan 2006.

 

Show card for Artifact, Liza Cowan design. Show card for SP Goodman, SP Goodman design. 2006

Show window for SP Goodman. 2006

 

Show cards for Paper Play, Alison Bechdel and Phranc The Cardboard Cobbler. Liza Cowan design 2006

20th Century Works on Paper Show, and general use postcard. William Steig poster 1944. Ralph Pucci/Maira Kalman mannequin. Card design by Liza Cowan.

Show cards, John Anderson, Denis Versweyveld. Liza Cowan design 2007.

John Anderson setting up his show. Liza Cowan photo 2007.

 

Denis Versweyveld show in Olive Room. Photo by Liza Cowan 2007

 

Paint by Number Show. Paint by number painting,  image based on Norman Rockwell painting. Design by Liza Cowan 2007

Paint by Number Show. Mark, the postal carrier, enjoys the work. Liza Cowan photo 2007.

Show cards for Nakki Goranin's American Photobooth and Connie Imboden. Design by Liza Cowan, 2007 and 2008.

 

showcard Amadou Sow. Design Liza Cowan 2007

Painting by Mr. Masterpiece. Show 2008

 

Show card Richard Gombar. Design Liza Cowan 2008

 

Heinrich Harrer photographs, Seven Years In Tibet. Curated by Leslie DiRusso. Card design Liza Cowan. 2008

 

Studio Glow lamps and sculpture in the show window. Photo Liza Cowan 2008

 

Tim Matson. Pilobolous photographs show. 2009

 

showcard for Bloom show. Liza Cowan design. 2009

Show Card David Powell. David Powell design 2009

 

Showcard Aline Smithson. Liza Cowan design 2009.

Aline Smithson photos at Pine Street Art Works. Photo Liza Cowan 2009

 

Showcard TMNK- The Me Nobody Knows, design Liza Cowan 2009

 

TMNK hanging his show. Liza Cowan photo 2009

 

Winter Holiday show window. Liza Cowan photo 2009

Showcard Carol Golemboski. Design Liza Cowan 2010

 

Front showroom, Carol Golemboski Show. Photo Liza Cowan 2010

 

OK, well that's the brief tour.

I'm moving, reinventing, reincarnating, all of those things. Opening Sept 10th at S.P.A.C.E Gallery 266 Pine Street in Burlington.

As soon as I'm settled, Seesaw will continue as usual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Set your table

Time to set the table. Holiday festivities are coming up, and then there's just plain every day gorgeousness. Check out what we've got for your table.

Here's what's on the table: Jello Placemats, made by Flashbags for Pine Street Art Works. Goblets by AO! Glass. Vase by AO! Glass. Mid century condiment bowls. Boxed sets of stationery as guest gift.

In the background: Ginny Joyner food illustration prints, mid century botanical school charts.

Also available for you table: Shinzi Katoh tea pots, Liquid Cardboard tabletop sculpture, more mid century vases and dishes, pottery from Paige Russell.

Did someone say party?

Tick Tock, time to think about holiday shopping

 
Tempus Fugit, pop out clock by Timeworks, Inc. Available at PSAW for $17.75

As I posted on my sandwich board today, "Tick tock, time to think about holiday shopping" Actually, as a retailer, I've been thinking about holiday shopping since mid summer. Truth be told, as a consumer I enjoy buying presents for my loved ones, but it's even more fun selling fabulous things to my customers. In this economy we're all being careful of what we spend, so I've worked at getting great stuff at reasonable prices. By reasonable, I try to mean under $50. Often under $25.

  
Pop Out Clocks from Timeworks, Inc. Seven different clocks available here.

These clocks are super cute and a brand new product from the Timeworks, Inc. Clock Company from Berkeley, CA.  They come in a reusable box and  assemble in a jiffy,  really.  I think they are made of melamine. The clock runs on a battery. Great little gift for under $20, easy to send, too.

  

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Check out the clock faces. Click the small image and it will pop up!

 

 
notecards, portfolios, labels, sticky notes etc. at PSAW

I've been a stationery lover my whole life. Mostly I've collected postcards and notecards, but anything with pretty images and shapes will catch my eye. Now that our local paperie, Scribbles, has closed (alas) I'm trying to fill the void a tiny bit. Above are some sets with images by Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol, Geninne D. Zlatkis. I also have Lotte Jansdotter and  Paul Frank as well as assorted classic botanical images.

  

 
Canetti Museum magnet frames and PSAW mini prints

Not new to PSAW but one of my favorites, the Canetti Museum Magnet Frame. At $28 these are a sensation and very popular with my customers.  Made of pure acrylic and tiny magnets by a small company in New York, (although manufactured in Thailand) these are the original  Magnet Frame. They inspired me to offer PSAW mini prints by PSAW artists, made to fit the frames. At $20 a pop, these are also a fun and charming gift.

  

 
glass pendant by Marc Kornbluh at PSAW. Aprox 2" diameter. $45

No two of these pendants by Marc Kornbluh are alike. Marc used to live in Burlington and his glass studio was one of my favorite places. Now he lives. in Nebraska, but I'm lucky enough to be able to sell his lamp-work jewelry. At $45, this is a gift that will be loved for generations.

 
Vintage cigarette tin. $16.

I've been collecting typewriter tins and cigarette tins, lovely for both their shapes and graphics. No two alike, only while stock lasts since buying them is a random operation. But I've got a bunch here now.

  

 
Sno Folk by AO! Glass

AO! Glass, whose retail shop is right here at PSAW (separate store - common roof) are in high production for their very popular little Sno Folk. Great, perfect holiday gifts, they can be a tabletop decoration, or hang from a tree or mantle. www.aoglass.com. Tove Ohlander also will custom etch the bowls and other pieces that she and her partner Rich Ahrentzen make.

There's more, but I'll leave that for another post. Just come on buy and check us out. Tick Tock.

 

 

PSAW ON DESIGN*SPONGE

Paige Russell, maker of the wonderful vessels we have for sale at Pine Street Art Works, is doing a guest blog at Design*Sponge this week.  Today she wrote about Burlington VT shops and artists, and featured some stores in Burlington's South End, including us!

Design*Sponge is one of the top design blogs in the country, and it's really rather thrilling to be mentioned on it. And it originates in Brooklyn, my former home. Yay Brooklyn.

Paige used to work next door at The Lamp Shop, and had a studio further down Pine Street, but, alas, she moved back to Canada.

Paige Russel Vessels. Photo Liza Cowan.

So hats off to Paige for writing about our little city (especially the South End, which is often treated like the Siberia of Burlington,) and to Design*Sponge for having the good taste to invite Paige to guest blog.

Check out Paige's blog, it's always worth a read.

THE RETURN OF THE LIGHT - SANTA LUCIA

We celebrate the return of the light. It's the human thing to do, all over the world, and in all different ways. Tomorrow at PSAW/ Atelier Tove, there will be a Santa Lucia Celebration.

404 Pine Street, Burlington, VT

 

Lucia, by Carl Larsson

Tove is Swedish, and Santa Lucia is the Swedish Festival of Lights. Lucia was an Italian saint remembered and revered for her kindness and love. And for surviving the brutal attacks by a man whose love she scorned. Like the light that returns, Lucia survived the darkness of patriarchal malevolence. Or, that's my reading of it.

Anyway, in Sweden her day is celebrated  with spicy gingerbread cookies and with girl children dressed in a candle laden crown, and boys in a pointy starry hat.

The earlier version of Santa Lucia was Italian, where Lucia was a christian revolutionary, bringing food to the persecuted christians hiding in tunnels underground, hence the candles on her crown. Then, more violence, persecution and finally victory and survival.

Maybe we'll do a little chanuka return of the light Next weekend but this weekend it Lucia.

Tove writes:
At 4 o'clock we welcome you to visit us for the Annual Lucia celebration. At 4:30 the Lucia Choir (a group of 4th graders) will sing about the light and the holidays.

Doors will be open from 9-6. All day we will show Works Of Art by the students that participated in the class Art By You & Me.

 

Cow in pasture by Nils Arentzen, Art by You & Me at Atelier Tove

Atelier Tove features Glass Art made by AO! Glass, jewelry made by Jen Wagner and Eco friendly kid wear by Moe O'Hara. 20% starting Saturday until christmas, plus you can get free text engraved on your purchased glass item.

AO! Glass, People Goblets at Atelier Tove at Pine Street Art Works.

GALLERY TOUR: PINE STREET ART WORKS

Every month or so I rearrange the gallery: each exhibit demands a different ambiance. Right now I've got the fabulous lamps from Studio-Glow, the wonderful husband and wife team of Riki Moss and Robert Ostermeyer from Grand Isle, VT.

Here are some Studio-Glow sculptures in the show window, from the inside. The sun going down behind Lake Champlain created this amazing blue glow. It's different each day, and of course, what the camera captures is always a bit different than what the naked eye can see.

These are some of the Studio-Glow table lamps in front of a 2004 series of reverse paintings I did of Leda and The Swan.

Gallery view with Studio-Glow Lamps and a variety of art and artifacts.

Every year at Winter Solstice I sell these wonderful beads and jewelry by Madlyn Erb, Mad Glass Beads.

 

art by TMNK and Shepard Fairey.

These pieces are  not for sale but I want everyone to see them. The picture in the upper left is by TMNK- The Me Nobody Knows, a wonderful artist from New York City, who will be here with his art next September for Art Hop. The small piece at the bottom is his also. The other two pieces are signed limited edition silk screens by Shepard Fairey. I'm not selling any of these pieces because they are from my personal collection and I'm just not willing to part with them but I want people to see them.

See, this is where my branding becomes really fuzzy. Because sometimes PSAW is a tiny bit more like a museum than a shop and people get confused, so I have to greet people by saying 99% of everying in here is for sale.

Meanwhile, if you love TMNK as I do, check out his blog and his sales on eBay. And I will be having his work for sale starting next September, which will be here sooner than you think.

 

Photo at Atelier Tove, by Jordan Silverman, SevenDaysVT copyright 2008.

One of the reasons I've redecorated this month is that I've leased my back room to Atelier Tove, run by Tove Ohlander, a glass blower from Sweden. Tove and I know each other because our kids are in fifth grade together. Small city, Burlington. Another fifth grader in their  class is the son of Ali Marchaldon from Flashbags. Schools build community.

But I digress. Tove is using the space to sell the glassware that she and her husband, Rich Arentzen, make under the name of AO Glass, and to give art classes for children. Here's an article about her from SevenDaysVT our local alt weekly newspaper.

AO Glass at Atelier Tove.

Today Tove is hosting a Create Your Own Obama Art event in her space.

Tove, Atelier Tove, prepping for Obama Art Event. TMNK painting in the background.