Butterflies and Bees
A few years back, while Jim was working in the backroom of his studio two women walked into his gallery. Jim recognized one of them, Paradise Valley resident and noted art collector Carol Ann Mackay. The other woman turned out to be Mackay’s good friend, Lonnie Ali, wife of legendary boxer Muhammed Ali.
For three years, the woman had been looking for something to hang above Lonnie’s living room fireplace. It had to be “bold and beautiful”, according to Mackay, because directly opposite the fireplace hung a large Andy Warhol silk screen of Muhammed.
So, what do you do when you are up against Muhammed Ali and Warhol?
Well, you go big. Jim created a massive 5-foot square, 350-pound mural of a flowering prickly pear cactus. The pistil and stamen of each flower made up of hundreds of intricate butterflies and bees, a tribute to the boxer’s famous quote: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” For the cactus spines Jim sharpened metal rods and fired them directly into the clay.
The couple were delighted. “The mural is beautiful,” Lonnie notes, “It’s timeless. It’s one of those pieces that will be passed down through the generations.”
Agave Quintet
One of the things we hear from folks coming into the gallery is that there’s a wall or an area in the garden they just don’t know what to do with.
That’s just what we heard from a delightful couple who came into the gallery looking for our help “sprucing up” their backyard living space where they soon would hold their daughter’s wedding reception.
They had an area tucked underneath the living room deck, adjacent to the pool, that consisted of a wall 15-feet long and 3-feet high with a ground level planter in front. The planter had never been hooked up to the irrigation system. Not much will survive in an Arizona planter with no water. Unless, of course, the plants are made of clay.
So, that’s what we did. We designed a piece of art that consisted of 5 agave plants made from white stoneware, glazed in silver, against a satin black glazed background. The piece is 13 feet long by about 30 inches high. Because of the size, we had our metal fabricator make a powder-coated frame for the piece, and while he was at it, some 6-inch-high metal edging to enclose the dirt planter. After the art and garden edging were installed, the homeowners filled the planter area with black river rock.
They were so happy, they had us install 9 of our 14-inch agave rosette tiles on a stucco planter housing a lemon tree. And they bought a 5-foot blooming agave mural.
You know how it is with weddings; they can just get out of hand.
The Sun Is Up
While most of our large-scale work is created for private homes, occasionally we are fortunate enough to receive a commission for a public space. That was the case with this piece recently fashioned for Nespresso.
Nespresso, if you don’t already know, is a coffee company that prides itself on not only making extraordinary coffee but engineering innovative machines that use recyclable, single-serve aluminum capsules to brew an unbeatable cup.
To showcase their products, Nespresso has coffee boutiques in locations around the world. This year they added one in Scottsdale Fashion Square, Arizona’s premier shopping destination. When they open a new boutique, they search for an area artist to add a “local” touch to the shopping experience. For Scottsdale, they chose Jim.
Nespresso wanted a colorful artwork for a 12’ wall behind a row of tables. They wanted a piece that truly says Arizona, and to us nothing quite captures the wonder of our state like the rugged desert landscape and the, sometimes, inescapable sun.
Called “The Sun Is Up” the piece was created in three months using white stoneware clay and more than 15 different glazes. Measuring About 8.5 feet wide and over 5 feet tall, it was built in a metal frame for added stability. And just for fun, we incorporated pieces cut from Nespresso colorful aluminum capsules into the work. One night after the mall closed, about half a dozen people took part in the installation.
The client was happy; they even threw a party.
Let’s Build Something Great Together
Whether you’re looking to add a dramatic focal point to an outdoor living area or want to bring the beauty of the outdoors inside, I would love to work with you, your designer, or architect to make it a reality.