One Room Challenge Week Five, The Art
This is me, taking a deep breath right here before writing this post.
So much of what is happening in the world right now (and especially the United States) makes this feel like blogging about design is the least important thing I could be doing. With an election still undecided and what’s bound to be a razor thin win when it comes, anxiety is at an all time high. Add in the pandemic cases/deaths surging again, and the countless injustices around the US and the world, life feels very heavy right now.
But then, I think about the clients we have worked with over this year whose spaces we are wrapping up and who are preparing to hunker down for the winter months ahead. I think about their grateful faces for the sanctuary that we have helped to create for them and their families and I am reminded of the importance of home. I want to acknowledge that having a home (and the finances and time) is a privilege that not everyone has. I am very aware of this and extremely grateful. Many of you reading this might be thinking about how you can create some level of control over a small portion of this world, how you can create a space that feels comforting and safe, a place you can snuggle your pets or feed your family and a space that feels like it is YOUR space. Despite the world events, there is still a place for the very important discussion of home and working to making your house, a home.
What is home? A place where you can sink in to that squishy pillow and you have that perfect little table to set your drinking glass. It’s where you have a place to stash the coats and footballs without tripping over them at the doorway. It’s a functional kitchen with a peninsula where you can roll-out the pizza dough with your two kiddos and get them excited about the process of cooking. Maybe it’s a place you can stretch out with the whole family and watch a movie or maybe it’s a place for candlelight dinners surrounded by a graphic wallpaper that gets more intriguing by the day. Home is a place that feels all at once delightful and full of discovery while still feeling perfectly comfortable. In many ways, I feel like home is an expression of love, be it for yourself, your family, of appreciating art, or telling your story.
Friends, if things are just feeling too heavy for you right now, I understand. Please feel free to step away and take a break, take care of yourself and the ones that you love. These words and images will be here for you when you’re ready.
Ok, let’s dive into week 5 of the One Room Challenge. This past week’s progress in the dining room has been a flurry of activity as the panel moulding was painted, Carla worked on the custom mural and the lighting was installed.
I have admired Carla Week’s work since I moved to Philadelphia. We first met when I was working on my handmade wood pieces. We were fortunate enough to be featured together as part of a home collection for Anthropolgie’s Anthro & Co.’s homeware’s collection (Carla made some beautiful handprinted napkins). Over the years I have collected some of her other pieces including a ceramics collaboration with Oatmeal Shop and I wallpapered the bathroom in our previous home in one of her patterned wallpapers.
Bathroom Refresh from our previous home. Image by Kyle Born
When we moved into this house and I decided to add the wainscoting, I wanted the element above the panels to be in contrast to the other formal elements of the room and Carla Weeks’ work felt like just the thing the room needed. As part of the development of the mural, my husband Adam and I gave Carla some inspiration for architectural forms inspired by of our personal interests/travels/likes as well as some ideas for color inspiration. It was really a great blend of both of us - I am forever enamored with the desert and it’s colors and Adam loves Roman/Classical architecture. Carla was able to create a really lovely marriage between our two loves.
I asked Carla to share her thoughts about her work and the collaborative creative process with you all this week. And since I know that many of you will be as in love with her work as I am, you can find out how to add her original pieces to your home below.
Lighting was installed this week with the loveliest backdrop of the completed mural and panel moulding.
Interview with Carla Weeks
vestige HOME: How would you describe your work and the inspiration behind it?
Carla Weeks: My work focuses on communicating a sense of place through abstracted shapes and colors. My paintings, textiles, and murals are informed by both natural landscapes and the built environment, distilling colors and forms into repeat patterns that stand in memory of a specific geographic location or time.
Custom Mural Installation for Sonder - Callowhill, Philadelphia. Curated by Paradigm Gallery
vH: Much of your work is influenced by your interactions with landscapes - both natural and engineered. How has the pandemic and the events of 2020 changed the way that you interpret those environments?
CW: The pandemic has definitely altered how I experience and process ideas about ‘place’, which is usually central to my work. Back in March, as travel restrictions were tightening and I was spending most of my time inside listening to the news, I decided to focus on shape and color relationships within my work, as opposed to specific places (which were feeling increasingly irrelevant in context of world events). Focusing on abstract color and shape for the last several months has been a way to both soothe and busy my hands while my mind is occupied with listening and processing events outside my studio.
Many of these works are now available through my gallery, Uprise.
Image Credit: Left by Carla Weeks, Right by Gab Bonghi
vH: Can you tell us a bit about how the private commission process works?
CW: The commission process is a collaborative effort- unique from my personal painting practice- seeking to combine my language of shape and color with my client’s experience of place. A commission for a painting or mural would start with a conversation to gain insight into my client’s goals and subject matter for the work. This would be followed by sketches to develop and tailor the work to fit their experience and needs for their space.
vH: How do you work with each homeowner to develop a unique design that is reflective of their individual style while still staying true to your overall design aesthetic?
CW: I always ask a client to provide their own reference images or photos of the place and ideas they wish to convey in the work. This way I can pull forward key shapes and colors that resonate with them, and use these elements as anchors for the mural (or painting).
vH: How can someone reach you to inquire about a custom mural for their own home?
CW: Email is best! carlajweeks@gmail.com
vH: What would your dream project look like?
CW: I have lots of ideas that are constantly shifting, but most of my dream projects are collaborative. I’m currently working on some textile elements for furniture pieces with my partner, Brian Christopher of Bicyclette.
vH: How can someone purchase one of your original pieces for their own collection?
CW: Paintings are available online via my gallery in NYC. I occasionally sell small items in limited editions on my website shop and I announce any new items on my Instagram (textiles coming next month!)
Image by Chris Setty
l love supporting local artists, so this feels very special to have something completely original in our space. We’re still in the process of discovering all of the subtle elements and seeing how the shapes move through the room and the colors shift throughout the day. It’s pretty delightful to think we’ll be taking this whole space in for years to come and hopefully enjoying it with friends and family when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.
Thanks so much for following along this week, I hope this brought you a little but of joy and perhaps some inspiration for your own space. Sending you lots of love!
Nicole
