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Arizona / Hallelujah

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Catalina American BaptistChurch in Tucson by Architect Charles Cox, 1960
Here is the National Registernomination form for the building.

Not really the "Modern Service" I was looking for.


Rose and Erni Cabat Studio

Tucson is an interesting town

Gladys and David Wright House by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1951 in Phoenix

What's with the missing landscaping? 


The house is under threat of demolition.  You can read the story here.
View a slideshow here

Interesting Max Gottschalk rolling chair in use at a gallery in Scottsdale. 

Arizona finds: Eames DTM and Milo Baughman for Pacific Iron coffee table.
Brining California Design back to where it belongs.

Woolley / Dewey

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 Biblioscosmos by Ellamarie and Jackson Woolley, 1959 at the Fresno County Library
"Composition symbolizes the diverse but interlocked fields of knowledge within the Dewey Decimal System of book classification."

Source: Ellamarie Woolley: A Retrospective Exhibition, 1977

000 - Information science & general work

Jessica Davies was nice enough to allow me to use the photos she took of Biblioscosmos. 

100 -Philosophy and psychology

Photo: Jessica Davies

300 - Social Sciences

Photo: Jessica Davies

400 - Language


800 - Literature


900 - History, geography & biography


Woolley fish in the 200s.



A year after this library commission, Ellamarie and Jackson Woolley did another in Whittier, CA. 
You can check that one out here

Ellamarie and Jackson Woolley

Source: Metalsmith

MCASD / Junked Up

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The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego  is looking a little disheveled these days.

There's a trash bag in the middle of one of the galleries

A piece of cardboard is leaning against the wall

Seriously, an ashtray?

A cardboard box on a pedestal...

The box is actually by Robert Rauschenberg and it's part of MCASD's Lifelike exhibition in La Jolla. 
The group exhibition explores work from the 1960s to present day based on everyday objects and occurrences.
It's a really good one.

The hallway installation above is by Peter Fischli & David Weiss 
The trash bag marble sculpture is by Jud Nelson.
The cardboard laying against the wall is a Ugo Rondinone still life in bronze.
The ashtray is by Ruben Nusz.

Vija Celmins, 1967

Evan Penny, 2005

Jonathan Seliger, Giant Milk Carton
Sell By date of June, 13 2010 = Obviously spoiled.

Edward Kienholz, 1971

That's some deep stuff going on out there.

Maurizio Cattelan, 2001

Here's a video.

This is one of my favorite pieces in the exhibit. It's a wood sculpture by Japanese artist Yoshihiro Suda.
There was a similar piece at the Benesse House Museum on Naoshima, here.

No artwork here. That's just the view overlooking the museum's sculpture garden out back.



Ed Ruscha is actually the other way.

Right up there..
Brave Men Run In My Family

Peter Voulkos trio near the entrance

Peter Voulkos, 1978

Peter Voulkos, 1978

Konwiser Collection / Good Design

CA Craft / Bonhams

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Bonhams in Los Angeles had a couple of good sales earlier this week.

This Ruth Asawa sculpture from 1957 sold for $80,000.  
Asawa sculptures are some of the coolest things out there.

Soap Box Racer, 1975 by Michael Cooper 
This is sick and it was in California Design 76. It sold for $25,000

This Doug Ayers sculpture from 1976 sold for $3,750
That guy was good. 

This Sam Maloof Rocker went for $47,000. 
Is that a record for a Maloof rocker?

This  Claire Falkenstein sculpture sold for $8,125.
Someone got a good deal.


Heath / San Francisco

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This is the Heath Creative Studio at the new factory and retail space in San Francisco
My friend Tung Chiang is the Creative Lead and Studio Director at Heath Ceramics. This is his workspace.


Aalto in the house

Tung brought much of the vintage design from home.  He's quite the collector.

Glaze experiments with classic Heath forms.


The new studio was established as a space for inspiration and research and development for new product ideas.

Edith Heath studio ceramics for inspiration.

Another Edith Heath piece

Two pieces by Tung.  I had no idea he could throw like this. 

Another piece by Tung

Tile kiln


Cone level lesson


House Industries/ Heath Eames tiles in the Heath shop

Seating for the Blue Bottle cafe on the ground floor.
Good stuff and they serve everything in Heath of course.

Blue Bottle serves Edith Heath Bars too


"Made in California since 1948" 
Heath continues to do great things. 

st / Co

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Small Trade Company founder/designer Matt Dick is the sort of person who places magazines on a mat 
and pins posters on a wall and makes it look better than you and I could.

Small Trade Company designs uniforms for companies like Blue Bottle, Heath and Hakui.
Their studio is one of a few creative spaces located upstairs at the new Heath factory.




These books aren't just about the color coordination. There are some really good titles up there.
I'm talking Perriand, Prouve, Judd and some Japanese design books I wish I could have taken home.


Matt Dick studied indigo dying in Japan under Yasuo Nakajima.

Weekend / Stuff

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Tackett eggheads and fish, Ray Komai fabric and a table. 

Vibey ceramic

Wood wall sculpture

Paolo Soleri / 1919 - 2013

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Visionary architect and artist Paolo Soleri has died at 93

Paolo Soleri at Taliesin West in 1948.  
Frank Lloyd Wright and Paolo Soleri both died on April 9th. There has got to be something to that. 

Photo: Lois D. Gottlieb, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives 
(The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York). 
Via Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

The Landing / Robert Strini / Highrose

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Robert Strini: Fluidity in Wood
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 11th, 6 - 9 pm 
On Display: April 11th - July 13th
The Landing at Reform


Robert Strini's work is in the permanent collections at the Smithsonian, the Oakland Museum of Art and 
the University of Virginia Art Museum, among many others.

Along with The Landing opening, The WindowObject, Galerie Half and the other furniture, art and design galleries
located near Highland and Melrose will be open as part of Open Door Thursday.
This is the first event put on by the Highrose Art and Design district.

Modern / Fresno

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Fresno County Courthouse. 

There are so many great examples of mid-century modern architecture in the Downtown Fresno area. 
The government and business leaders of that era did a commendable job of investing in the infrastructure, art and 
architecture of their city.  They were really ahead of the curve back then.

Stan Bitters ceramic mural on the Midland Savings & Loan building by Architect Eugene E. Hougham


Hey, what happened to that fountain?  
The building is now a law office, figures.


Bitters '66

I'm not sure what's going on with the construction at the Pilibos Building at 830 Van Ness Ave.
Stan Bitters/Hans Sumpf did the facade.  There is an image pre-plywood here.  
Thankfully  building is on the  Local Register of Historic Resources so they can't mess with it too much.

Van Ness is the street adjacent to the Fulton Mall, where people are talking about doing some really lame stuff.
More on that later.  In the meantime watch this video. It sure doesn't seem like the current  Fresno city leaders have seen it. 


Fresno: A City Reborn - A 1968 documentary by Victor Gruen Associates
More on Victor Gruen can be found here


Fulton Mall / Option 3

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In the mid-1950s Downtown Fresno merchants and city officials were looking for ways to revitalize the central business district.
They hired Victor Gruen to create a visionary plan. With the help of legendary landscape architect Garrett Eckbo, they 
created a grand pedestrian orientated design that linked the six-block business district to the civic center. 
The Fulton Mall opened in 1964 and was a nationally-recognized success, both commercially and in terms of design.

The mall includes a pedestrian-only linear shopping center and a series of great public gathering spaces.  
This is a concept that municipalities and private shopping center developers all over the world are currently spending 
millions on to accomplish.  Save the Fulton Mall!!! is doing a great job of sharing these sort of developments.

The art at the Fulton Mall includes 20 sculptures by artists  found in major museum collections, like this 
Claire Falkenstein sculpture (1of 3 in the mall).  The art was initially funded by private citizens to 
provide “an outdoor Museum of Art.”  The sculpture, mosaics, and Jan De Swart  clock tower cost over $200,000 in 1964. 
A 2011 appraisal estimated the total value of this art collection to be $2 million. 
That seems like a low ball estimate to me.  That's only $100,000 each. 

Along with the Fresno economy as a whole, downtown Fresno has been in a state of decline for decades.
The City of Fresno recently went through a planning process to look at ways to revitalize the Fulton Corridor.
The result of the process  is the Fulton Corridor Specific Plan.
At this point the plan has three preferred options: 
1. Reconnect the Grid on Traditional Streets. Completely remove the existing Mall and introduce a narrow, two-lane, two-way enhanced street with oversize sidewalks, stately trees, and onstreet parking, throughout the Fulton Mall and its cross streets. 
2. Reconnect the Grid with VignettesIntroduce a two-way street through the Fulton Mall, keeping selected original features in their original Mall contexts (“vignettes”), in a manner that provides improved retail visibility and some on-street parking. Transform Kern, Mariposa and Merced into enhanced streets with narrow traffic ways, ample sidewalks, stately trees, and onstreet parking. 
3. Restoration and Completion. Keep Fulton Street, Merced Street, Mariposa Street, and Kern Street Malls pedestrian-only. Renovate and repair them in their entirety, including their landscape and hardscape, and restore the artwork.

The Downtown Fresno Partnership, a property-based Business Improvement District, is pushing for Option 1.
This organization is funded and represented by property owners in the downtown area. 

This plan puts cars and parking where art, fountains and public space now exists. 
17 of  the 20 existing sculptures would be relocated. 
They feel this is the best way to bring commercial activity back to the Fulton Mall. 


This is option 2, which is basically a toned down option 1. 
The cars and parking still replace most of the pedestrian space, but some areas are still kept original.
6 of  the 20 existing sculptures would be relocated. 


Option 3 is to restore the mall to its original condition,

Option 3 also adds additional lighting, new restrooms  and wayfinding. 

This is Option 1 again.  How could anyone think another "anywhere USA" street is really going to solve 
Downtown Fresno's problems.  The issue isn't the lack of cars on the street, it's the lack of people and
the activities to draw them to downtown.  There are plenty of streets in Fresno that look like Option 1
and investors aren't rushing to those areas. 


Next year will be the 50th anniversary of The Fulton Mall, one of Fresno's most unique and special places.   
It was a visionary investment by Fresno's leadership in the 50's and 60's and it has remained intact up to this point. 
Restoring this icon would not only be wise in a historic preservation sense but it makes sense for the future of Fresno. 
Ripping out great public space and artwork for more real estate dedicated to the automobiles is  poor and outdated planning.
Actually, the City of Fresno should probably just adhere to the concepts outlined in the Public Realm section of the 
Fulton Mall Specific Plan.  Option 3 is the only concept that would be consistent with the the goals laid out in that chapter.

The real way to improve the Fulton Corridor is to invest in it.  The mall has suffered from years of neglect.  It's no wonder why
private investors stopped investing in it.  The introduction of housing would also be a huge benefit to the downtown area.
I know if I lived in Fresno, I'd want to live in a loft with the a view of the Jan de Swart clock  tower.

 
Clock Tower, Jan de Swart
The tower would be relocated in both Options 1 and 2. 

Big A, Peter Voulkos
 Would also be relocated in both Options 1 and 2. 

I wonder what local man Stan Bitters has to say about plans to rip up all his fountains?

I know the people at Save the Fulton Mall!!! don't like the idea,

Robert Strini / The Landing / Reform

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Sheridan Piece
Robert Strini: Fluidity in Wood
On view at The Landing at Reform




Sheridan Piece in Craft Horizons

Robert Strini: Fluidity in Wood is at the Landing until June 29th

Andrew Bergloff pots at Reform

James Wayne on Design Line. 

Paul Tuttle


Pomona Tile / Saul Bass

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I was rolling in the LBC and came up on this huge wall of "Diamond" Sculpturted Tiles designed by Saul Bass.
Bass, along with George Nelson, Millard Sheets, Paul Laszlo, Dorothy Liebes and
Paul McCobb were part of a designer series for Pomona Tile Co.

The tiles are on the outside of an antique mall. 
Unfortunately they were the only thing worth buying there.




Here is a really good post on this line by Pomona Tile: Planner, Perimeter, Predictor, Paul McCobb

Weekend / Stuff

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Greta Grossman Good Design chair, Kenji Fujita, Soleri bell

Greta Grossman


WOOLLEY / woolley

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The Museum of California Design has produced a enamel pin based on my enamel plaque by Ellmarie Woolley.

MOCAD is also working on an exhibition catalog for CALIFORNIA´S DESIGNING WOMEN 1896-1986, 
A Museum of California Design exhibition curated by Bill Stern. The book design is by Felis Stella.
More details on the catalog can be found at MOCAD 
Photos oft the exhibition are here

Tackett / Eggheads

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1959 ad for Eggheads, you know for pretzels. 



No doubt slogans for chip holders.

Frimkess / Cultured Pot

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1973 Craft Horizons

Michael Frimkess in his Venice, CA studio.
Source: Craft Horizons, December 1973

Frimkess uses classic ancient forms from various cultures and time periods to create "melting pots". 
Source: Craft Horizons, December 1973

Frimkess thrown pot with Magdalena Suarez decoration, 1968 
Source: Craft Horizons, December 1973

Chinese ginger jar with Peruvian handles. Michael Frimkess thrown pot with Magdalena's decoration.
Source: Craft Horizons, December 1973

There is currently a show of Frimkess (pre-Magdalena) "Kook Pots" at South Willard
Great stuff, as usual, at South Willard.

Lustig / Exhibition

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In 1949 Alvin Lustig designed a display system for an exhibition of his design work.
Image: Display

The exhibition toured to a number of museums, universities and galleries.
Image: Display

The first stop was the A-D Gallery in New York
Alvin Lustig: An Exhibition of His Work, 1949

Alvin Lustig: An Exhibition of His Work, 
Frank Perls Gallery in Los Angeles, 1950

Lustig Exhibit at the Walker Art Center, 1950
Image: Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig

Entrance to the exhibit at the Walker Art Center
Image: Everyday Art Quarterly, Walker Art Center


Lustig Mural at the Walker Art Center
Image: Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig

There was an article about the exhibition at the Walker Art Center in the museum's Everyday Art Quarterly periodical.

Image: Display

Shelving

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Muriel Coleman for California Contemporary
Image: House & Garden

Peter Rooke-Ley for California Contemporary
Image: Wright

The planter is a nice touch.
Otto Kolb / Kolb Associates
Image: Display

Gerald Ifert
Image: Meubles Nouveaux

This one is pretty great. A rich man's CSS.
Jean Prouve 
Image: Phillips

I'd take this one over all of them. That basket!
Yujiro Yamaguchi
Image: Meubles Nouveaux

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