And now...a Fine Art Installation for Residential, Corporate, Retail and Hospitality.

One of a kind.
Hand made.
Unique.

The Art Room - a fine art gallery in Petersburg, VA - features a wall of squares...not quite tiles, and not exactly like many other installations of this kind. Today, 135 individual little masterpieces adorn one wall.

The squares, loving called "miroir aux alouettes," are not manufactured, not mass produced, not based on trends, and not for everyone. The name refers to traps for larks [the birds!] which always feature mirrors, like these small treasures.

They're not glass or wood... they are small canvas squares [6x6x1"] that are hand painted and embellished with all sorts of unusual things... old Christmas cards, real gold foil, vintage pendants, glass mirrors, cannibalized jewelry, keys, tiny animals, beads, rhinestones, toys, tiles, tacks, gears, bait, buttons, bows and bits and pieces of a zillion different things. No two are alike. 
They are hand made by a duo of artists [known as Ibby & Ommie] who found inspiration in many places, and save every little thing that might be useful.

Many other artisans create or manufacture memory blocks, tiles, or boxes...in plaster, paper, copper, tile...create installations of a few or hundreds of pieces. Here are some examples from Sid Dickens, Houston Llew and Cedar Mountain... and hand made mosaics from Dusciana Bravura in Venice, Italy.

Houston Llew Copper

Cedar Mountain Mass Produced Blocks

Dusciana Bravura Mosaics

Sid Dickens Plaster Memory Blocks

 
For a high-end client who wants to make a similar impact, but also wants something no one else can possibly own, consider a grouping of these unusual little masterpieces -- that will begin many a conversation. Everyone that sees these unusual works of art stays and looks, and wants to know more.

On a bookshelf

Tiger, tiger...burning bright

Oh, Deer!

Penguin on a Bike!

They are elaborate, yet lightweight and can hang on a single small nail. They are not perfectly square. The edges are painted and adorned with ribbon or webbing; all are sealed with gloss coating. They will last for years without any maintenance

Orange Mandala

A client in Calabasas, CA with her first

!

Currently priced at $125.00 USD per piece; with volume discounts for groupings. The artists can customize pieces with your clients' colors, themes, and can include bits and pieces, logos, marketing materials, etc. They can match pantone colors or interior paint colors.

And, they make lovely, unique gifts!

For more information, visit The Art Room's Facebook Page...The artists can also be contacted through www.TheArtRoomPetersburg.com
Follow on Instagram

What's on MY walls?

Most collectors ask me what art I have on my walls.
Boy, what a loaded question.
Do I hang my own art in my house?
2 Part answer.

All the art I have [on hand] is hanging in the studio. Done or in process...it surrounds me every day.

One piece of mine hangs in the house. It's the first "mosaic portrait" and a self-portrait. My husband is attached to it and won't let me sell it, although it has been in a few shows from time to time. A few acrylic floral paintings on the wall I did...mostly experimental stuff. And several pieces of needlepoint I designed and stitched when that was my job.
So if there's only a few of my pieces hanging in the house...what else is on the wall?

Plates. A ton of plates. A ridiculous amount of plates.

Plates from Mexico, Turkey, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Portugal, France, England, Denmark, several places in South America and Africa and probably many more places.

There's the antique Royal Doultons [for the Anglophile in me] a collection of Royal Copenhagen Christmas and Mothers Day Plates, Majolica, Faience, Talavera, Art Deco, Ethnic, some hand-painted, some decals... all have special meaning to me.

They're gifts, travel souvenirs, family heirlooms. They're old, they're new...oh, I think I might have painted one or two.

As for Art...

There are large Maxfield Parrish prints. Photographs, wood cuts & prints purchased from galleries and art fairs, a painting of my grandmother when she was a baby in Czechoslovakia. Some framed posters from the past. My favorite is this crazy painting of a ballerina in a off kilter, sand-blasted frame. It's crazy. It has to be from the 50's but I think my Mom bought it at a yard sale and it's one of those unknown things. I might have to take it to Antiques Roadshow someday.

But, mostly plates. I guess I collect plates.

Oh yes, there is a poster in the bathroom of a lighthouse...hanging over the bathtub. It's holding a space for a piece I was working on, but sold it [that's good] and I still think it's fun since the whole bathroom floor is supposed to look like water.

Almost every wall is covered in art of some sort...just not so much mine!