so lovely, right? but i want, no i’m sorry, i need to hang some art in there! my first thought was to gather up a whole bunch of tiny, vintage looking portraits by oregon based artist elizabeth bauman, and hang them in a little cluster, like this:

love! oh, or maybe just three simple, absolutely gorgeous textile assemblages {all of which are 22”x18”} by vancouver based artist jessica bell. i think the colors and textures in these pieces are fantastic,  don’t you?!

see – gorgeous! now, the other option is to ‘go big or go home’! this huge {60”x48”!!!}  pen on canvas piece by korean born, brooklyn based artist il lee is definitely in that camp:

gah! amazing. and created using only blue ball point pen – kinda perfect for a home office, no?

well that was fun! virtual rearranging might be exactly what i need! see you back here in a couple of weeks with a new room, and more art. if you have any suggestions for spaces, or pieces you’d like to see hung, please leave a comment here, and let me know! ~ the jealous curator

artist Olaf Hajek seems right at Home in Berlin on the selby this week, but he says he has a love/hate relationship with the city. it doesn’t show. his home is beautiful and bright and cheerful, much like his incredible illustrations. plus, he has the most rad socks ever. go have a look at the full tour on the selby.

for shame — it’s been utterly way too long since we’ve had an unexpected guest! but today i’m quite elated to be sharing designer and artist jill danyelle’s apartment in manhattan’s east village. i’m extra excited about this apartment, not only because it’s lovely, but because this coming may i’m headed to new york for the ICFF show and a bit of fun, and jill has very generously invited us to share her space for a few days! so i’m pretty thrilled to be staying in such a beautiful home. born in woodstock, formerly a therapist, jill danyelle is primarily an interior designer now, but has creativity bounding from her in countless artistic avenues — from fashion design to writing and photography. here’s what she had to share with us…

You’re kind of a creative entrepreneur with your hands in a bit of everything design related — how do you define what you do?

Currently, I am focused on interior design, but am hoping to grow the art/ photography/ print side of the business more this year. I definitely explored a lot prior to beginning this business and those experiences were invaluable. They contributed to my abilities, to who I am and allowed me to meet a lot of great people. Ultimately, they were not the right fit for one reason or another, but I am thankful that they led me to the path I am on today.

Is there anything you’d like share about your work, who you like to work with etc?

Doing interior design has been great so far. I find it creatively fulfilling, but I also really enjoy working with clients and solving problems. They may not be the kind of problems I was solving as a therapist, but I still feel good about the work I am doing. Being able to hire an interior designer can be seen as a luxury, but many of my clients opt for DIY plans which are fairly affordable. Sometimes it is hard to hand over the DIY plan and not be able to see a project through, but it makes me happy when I get emails from clients who have implemented their plan with good results.

As far as the art side of things, I need to be more diligent about making, making, making. I am not talking about making things to market and sell necessarily, but just developing more consistency in my practice. It is really therapeutic for me and I want to see myself progressing. When I photographed my garden over the course of a year, I felt like that was a really magical and productive time. Just by the nature of the project, I had to continually go there and shoot. Prioritizing time to create and make art is definitely a goal this year.

what are a few of your favorite things to do in the east village?

Some of my favorite things to do in the neighborhood are…share a meal with friends in the amazing community garden that I belong to…walk through Tompkins Square Park. I live just off the park and try to always make a path through it to admire the trees, see people of all walks of life and catch a glimpse of our resident hawks…grab a coffee at Ninth Street Espresso. I was never too particular about coffee, then came Ninth Street.

What’s your favorite flea market, or secondhand find?

Half my world seems to have been found secondhand or in a flea market, so picking a “favorite” might be difficult. I am quite fond of my Lightolier sconces and Dansk Kobenstyle pots and pans, recent additions in the last couple of years. My Danish Modern daybed probably wins for combined points of aesthetics and utility. I scored it many, many years ago at The Salvation Army. I think it was $75. There used to be a great flea market in the parking lot on the corner of Ave A and 11th St. You could find a vintage dress for $20 to wear out later that night, get some authentic tamales and horchata and pick up some old school music. It was the best. I bought this huge, kind of abstract print there of sailboat masts and rigging for $5. I was sailing on tall ships out of South St Seaport at the time, so thought it was extra cool.

What’s your favorite possession?

I am really fascinated by our relationship to our possessions. I am trying to get my feng shui on more and more in recent years and I think it takes a bit of detachment. As New Age as it sounds, I try to have faith that the Universe will bring what I need, when I need it – although, it still hasn’t answered my prayer for some brutalist brass chandeliers or a set of bottom basement priced Dansk Fjord teak flatware… maybe when I finally close on the house Upstate. Seriously though, if there is one thing that shopping at flea markets will teach you, it is that there is always another killer vintage dress and Danish Modern credenza to be had somewhere.

I liked Marion Melbourne’s 52 objects…I think that was a really nice practice to meditate on the things in her life, show appreciation in some way. Like her, most of my favorite things are imbued with some emotion, connected to some memory — a Mexican silver bracelet that I wear a lot, which was given to my Mom by my Dad. I actually love it aesthetically, but it is the history that gives it meaning and makes it special.

What five things can’t you live without?

love, nature, creative expression, challenges and growth.

I also find brunch to be pretty important. When I lived in Barcelona people did not brunch and everything was closed on Sunday. Five people sitting around the kitchen table, hungover, staring at one banana and a cup of yogurt is not pretty.

If you could go flea market shopping with anyone in the world, who would it be?

Lisa Eisner. Maybe we’d just skip the flea market, sit in her garden having cocktails and then try on some of the Sammy Davis Jr suits she owns or maybe some feathered hats. Then Roman Alonso would come over and offer me his apartment for any time I wanted to crash in L.A.

What bores you to death?

Chronic negativity.

• all photos courtesy of jill danyelle.

toronto based holly farrell is one of my favorite artists – ever! a few months after i wrote about her for the first time, i was lucky enough to meet her in person. not only is she insanely talented, she is also soooo sweet! don’t you love it when that happens!? anyway, it’s very easy to have an art crush on her, thanks to her vintage subject matter, her muted color choices, her unbelievable painting skills, and of course, her just-mentioned sweetness! Have a look:

gah! so lovely! i have so many favorite pieces that it took me forever to decide which one to start the post with, but i knew exactly how to finish things off. this may very well be my latest “holly farrell” fave!

love that cozy little hat! oh, and one more little tidbit to share with you – i’m thrilled to say that i’m curating a group show this spring (details to come soon!) and holly is one of the artists! so excited! i’ll keep you posted – until then, i’ll see you back her in two weeks ~ the jealous curator xo

it’s like a biology text book and a ball of yarn fell madly in love, got married and had a few babies! and the matchmaker who got these two crazy kids together? brooklyn based artist emily barletta. i have to admit, i might be a little bit in love too. i have a soft spot in my heart for work that blurs the line between art and craft, and she has definitely done that with these stunning, organic sculptures. crochet, embroidery, clay, bead work beautifully crafted into, well, diseased cells. i’ll let emily explain:

“i have a spinal disease that has always been a present and physically painful force in my life. the majority of my art stems from this fact, but to say that i make artwork as therapy would be untrue. i make artwork and it is therapeutic. this is the same to say that i make art and i am in pain; instead of saying i make art because i am in pain. i cannot separate these ideas. the objects that result from this are the invented anatomical structures of my imagination and my biology. these structures relate to cells, veins, organs, skin, blood, and bones. but they tend to express themselves as flowers, plants, tubes, topography, diseases, bacteria, growths, mold, and organisms. they spread, spill, leak, and grow their way into existence through yarn and a crochet hook.”

what beautiful way to deal with pain – so inspiring. but wait, there’s more! i recently went back to emily’s site, expecting to find a few new tapestries, but instead i found these little beauties:

simple shapes, red embroidery thread, and thick white watercolor paper. i want them. i want them all. emily, you truly are amazing, on so many levels.

~ the jealous curator xo

one of my favorite artists is at it again — creating beautiful images to enhance and enchant our walls. camilla engman has created a new studio line – studio morran in honor of her awesome little dog, morran and their adventures among the woodland creatures. i love these latest prints, and in fact ordered all three the moment i saw camilla tweet about them. there’s a new calendar for 2012, too. check out studio morran.

well, this is a super fun post for me! y’all may already be following some our twitter antics and know by now that san francisco-based artist lisa congdon and her lovely girlfriend clay are good pals of mine. we like to tweet on and on about project runway and other interests of ours, and somewhere along the line of lisa’s tweets i found out she had recently redecorated her art studio. so, admiring it from afar was just not enough for me, and i think i just went right ahead and invited myself to photograph it!

and so, lucky you — you get to see lisa’s studio up close and personal too! it’s so smashing — with its tall loft ceilings and exposed brick painted white, and big old skylights to provide lisa with all the natural light she needs to happily paint her days away. and i can assure you, it’s a pretty cool place to hang out — like a mini museum displaying many of the infamous collections that grace the pages of her book, a collection a day. thanks for letting me share, lisa! for more of lisa’s work, visit her brand new blog, website, and etsy shop.

i love the work of artist jennifer collier. jennifer focuses on creating work from recycled paper; by bonding, waxing, trapping and stitching she produces unusual paper ‘fabrics’, which are used to explore the ‘remaking’ of household objects.

jennifer treats paper as if it’s cloth, with the main technique employed being stitch; a contemporary twist on traditional textiles. The papers themselves serve as both the inspiration and the media for her work, with the narrative of the books and papers suggesting the forms. jennifer tends to find items, and then investigate a way in which they can be reused and transformed; giving new life to things that would otherwise go unloved or be thrown away. be sure to visit jennifer’s workshop & gallery space to view more of her incredible projects.

this weekend Death Cab For Cutie headlined at the Treasure Island Music Festival. local artist jason munn was happy to have the chance to make a poster for the show, but for those of us who were unable to make it, the posters will be available on jason’s website starting today. cutie, indeed!

oh yes! california based artist amanda smith creates these gorgeous oil paintings on ceramic slabs, and then adds little bits and pieces of sculpted clay, usually in the form of leaves and flowers, to create these stunning pieces. they are a series of beautiful, strange, girly worlds {with fantastic little details, so look closely!} that really should be hanging on my wall :

~ and she finishes it off with a tiny golden apple. ok, this girl crush just became official.

see you soon! ~ the jealous curator xo