ODD BITS: "Freeze/Thaw": Magical weather stations for fun and refuge in Toronto

The city of Toronto, in celebration of its spectacular waterfront landscape, recently 
held a second annual Winter Stations Design Competition -- a contest through which 
seven existing lifeguard stations were transformed into vibrant and playful temporary installations. Organizers of the competition, which was open to design professionals 
and students, wanted to add "color and refuge" to the winter shoreline, and to 
encourage the community "to come out of hibernation and go back to the beach!"

Flow 
designed by Calvin Fung and Victor Huynh, Toronto, Canada

This year’s theme was “Freeze/Thaw,” which asked participants to address 
the changing climactic conditions of Toronto's winter. All the installations had
to conform to basic rules: that they be built on the skeletons of existing steel-pipe 
lifeguard stands, that they not permanently alter or damage them,
and that they be completely recyclable when the exhibition closed.
The temporary installations have no power or other utilities. 

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Left and below:
 In the Belly of a Bear
by Caitlind R.C. Brown, 
Wayne Garrett, and 
Lane Shordee.

Images by Ben Rahn/
A-Frame Studio

Stargazers are invited to climb in and look out the circular window atop the sphere. 

“Inventive, playful and irreverent, all of the installations can be read like 
pieces of poetry on the beach,” Winter Stations jury 
 chairwoman Lisa Rochon said in a press release.

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Below: Aurora Borealis
by Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario
 image by Ben Rahn

Made from fabric, LED lights, and a welded aluminum frame, 

this kinetic sculpture floats above the lifeguard station 

like a whirling chandelier.

 

 "Designs have the opportunity to observe, reflect or contrast the immediate waterfront landscape, with its banks of snow and frozen ice. To this end, they should expect to be playful and provocative, creatively utilizing materials and site to inform concepts 
that echo the freeze/thaw narrative and will be engaging to the public."

                                                                                                 from WinterStations.com 

Left: Floating ropes 
by MUDO (Elodie Doukhan
and Nicholas Mussche)


Image by Ben Rahn 






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       Above: Sauna on a starry night 

 Sauna at sunrise 
 by Kent, U.K.’s FFLO (Claire Fernley and James Fox)
Image by James Fox 

The project also includes a community fireplace,
 designed by Ottawa architect Douglas Cardinal.
Mr. Cardinal's Aboriginal heritage influences his designwork, 
in its use of undulating lines and integration with nature. 

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For more information on this whimsical project,
link here or here. 

Update: These temporary installations have now been taken down.
Look for a new set of designs in the winter of 2017. 

ODD BITS: The "Tent of Tomorrow": A Modern Ruin in NYC

If you're ever driven on the Grand Central Parkway near Corona Park in Queens, NY,

you've probably wondered what that colossal, bizarre structure is that you're seeing 
but not quite believing. It's in fact the ruins of a building designed  by modernist 
architect Philip Johnson for the blockbuster 1964 World's Fair. 
The futuristic "Tent of Tomorrow" -- the expo's New York state pavilion -- 
 now stands crumbling, having garnered the dubious distinction of being named 

one of the world's top 100 endangered monuments.

Left: The New York State Pavilion in its heyday. The venue included observation towers, a
multi-colored glass ceiling,
and terazzo flooring.

“a sophisticated frivolity…seriously and beautifully constructed … a ‘carnival’ with class.”

Critic Louise Huxtable called the structure

“a sophisticated frivolity…seriously and beautifully constructed … 

a ‘carnival’ with class.”

Since its demise 50 years ago as a going concern, it has been used as 

a concert venue (1960s), a roller rink (1970s) and a film set. 

(The observation decks were re-imagined as spaceships in 

the original Men In Black.)

The New York branch of the AIA (American Institute of Architects)
will screen "Modern Ruin: A World's Fair Pavilion", a 2015 film about the 
building and recent efforts to repurpose it, on Wed., Feb. 10 at 6PM.  
Link here for details.

;

"The dreamers see beyond the cracks, rust, and neglect to a 

thriving community space that will serve New Yorkers for generations."

                                                                      ... Matthew Silva, filmmaker and

                                                               co-founder of People For the Pavilion 

The public is invited to submit ideas for the repurposing

of the 1964 World's Fair NYS Pavilion. Link here

for more information about the Pavilion Ideas Competition, "an

'anything goes' approach to radically reimagine one of NYC's most 

iconic buildings and a defining landmark of Queens."

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JEWEL BOXES: On the scene report from Denver's quirky Kirkland Museum, by guest blogger Murphy Birdsall

Kirkland Museum, Denver, CO, built in 1910
photo by Michael Schonbach
(yes, that dot in the picture is me)

The clock is ticking on the current incarnation of the more-than-mildly eccentric Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art in Denver. The much loved venue, with its "Annie's Attic" atmosphere, will be open for just another couple of months; it will close on May 1, prior to a move into its vastly expanded new digs downtown. Ground was broken for the new Kirkland in September, 2015, and the opening date of the modernized building is set for some time in 2017.

Happily, my longtime friend and fellow design aficionado Murphy Birdsall was on the scene recently, and filed this breezy memoir of her day at the museum for all of Mad for Mod's readers. I really enjoyed seeing this remarkable collection through such perceptive and joyful eyes. Thanks for the tour, Murphy!!

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Animals, Color and the Cosmos at Denver's Kirkland Museum

words and pics by Murphy Birdsall 

Whoa, what the heck do I look at, with my wide-open eyes ricocheting from floor to ceiling, wall to wall? A cozy seating area from a 1930s ocean liner, a riveting Coloradan painting, a bakelite radio and doorways to rooms beyond ... I’ve just stepped into the Kirkland Museum.

My sister had suggested that this might be a place to go while I was visiting her and her husband in their art-filled Victorian brick Denver home. They tried to describe it to me: Vance Kirkland, the painter & art educator, his work done while hanging belly down in a sling (he was short, the canvases were large, and it would otherwise have been difficult to reach the entire work), and the museum filled with 20th century decorative arts, along with his paintings. Describing didn't come close to experiencing.

 

It's a feast. And I immediately thought of my friend, Judy Polan, writer of this blog, and how much she would love this. So much of the collection is Art Deco and Mid-Century furniture and decorative objects. I knew she had to come here.

 Art Deco child's tableware
by Acro Agate Co, Clarksburg, West Virginia
They made marbles for the boys, and "doll dishes" for the girls.

 It turned out she had come there, and knew well this overflowing collection. I am thrilled 

 to be contributing a guest post.

I had to narrow the focus of the piece, so I scrolled through the photographs I had been able to take on my phone, and went with what I found. Mainly, I saw color and a  surprising number of animals. I had been capturing what shots I could get in the crowded exhibits, particularly of designs that I wanted to email to Judy, to say, "Look at this!" ... Things that delighted me.

 

 Above: Alexander Calder demitasse cup for Braniff Airways
 

Boy, those were the days - airplanes that were orange, blue, lemon yellow; Pucci-designed flight attendant uniforms; and Calder demitasse cups, adorned with a 
multi-colored many-legged creature.

 
Below: Pony Chair by Finnish furniture designer Eero Aarnio

 

Cute, huh? I'm sure Judy has written about Aarnio's Ball Chair. [You're right, Murphy; a link is here.] This soft orange pony would look perfect beside it, like your own little pet, with platform hooves.

And then, shelves crammed with Clarice Cliff's Bizarreware ... 

 

In 2007, Judy introduced me to the British Art Deco designer, Clarice Cliff, in the terrific piece she wrote (with its gorgeous photographs) for Modernism magazine. It is impossible to imagine not responding with joy to Cliff's brilliant, goofy tableware.

[You can link here

to the article.]

 

Above: Knit dress inspired by Kirkland painting

This stunning dress was made by Russian artist/costume designer Nadezhda Bogdanova, who was inspired to create it by seeing a painting by Vance Kirkland. The soft tubular gown is brilliantly colored, has an elegant neckline and slinky back, and even looks comfortable to wear. 

 I wish I had taken a picture of the specific painting of inspiration, which hangs above this    exhibit, but I will only say that it is along the lines of his "Forces of Energy From a Sun in the Open Star Cluster K 1."

Detail from Vance Kirkland's "Forces of Energy" painting

 

Which brings me to the Cosmos.

Vance Kirkland was synesthetic, experiencing music as color. This connection across senses is most obviously apparent in his later Abstract Periods, when his work explored the universe. With titles such as "Experience of Mysteries in Space,' "The Energy of Explosions Twenty-Four Billion Years B.C." and "The Illusion of Mysteries Near Mars," he reportedly took notes of color schemes he visualized while listening to classical music (generally compositions with some dissonance: Bartok, Ives, Stravinsky e.g.) and used these color combinations in evoking the forces of the universe.

A final note about Vance Kirkland that amused me, was his feeling that his paintings should not be considered to have a "right side up." He might sign it on the back, but he rarely put a signature on the face -- that would limit the direction in which the work was exhibited.

The museum is like that -- a vast maze of color and design in which you are allowed to stumble upon, or peer intently at, forces of energy. Highly refreshing.

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Note from blogmeister Judy:

I'll keep you posted on the relocation of the Kirkland Museum

to downtown Denver, as work progresses. I would, though, urge anyone who can 

to visit this remarkable collection in its existing venue.

Its singular charm will not be easily recreated.

 

Normandie Art Deco Vignette

photo credit: 303magazine.com

CELEBRATIONS: Happy Mid Mod Valentine's Day to you!

Happy Valentines Day, Mad for Mod readers! 

Vladimir Kagan sofa
The famed designer will participate in a conversation presented by Elle Decor 
at Palm Springs, CA's Modernism Week 2016, on Valentine's Day 

If you're lucky enough to be in Palm Springs, CA today, 
there is a multitude of events on offer at Modernism Week, 

most of them ticketed but some of them free. They include house tours, 

book talks, conversations with notable designers, an acclaimed film, 

and even a "think and drink happy hour program". 

 Among the February 14 highlights at Modernism Week:

• Unseen Midcentury Modern – Join author and photographer Dan Chavkin for a peek behind the covers of his new book.
• Do Just One Modern Thing with Danny Seo Presented by Bosch – Lifestyle expert and author on modern design and the simplified lifestyle.
• Hollywood Designs on TV and in Film Presented by West Edge Design
• The Modern Whiskey Drinker
• Ferguson Presents Design Insights: Danny Seo A Little Bit Country and a Little Bit Modern
• Modernism With a Twist – Think and drink happy hour program.   
•  
• Below, for stylish note-taking and more:

Princeton Architectural Press presents

grids and guides: a notebook for visual thinkers

A fun and fascinating volume, this engaging book "for
right- and left-brainers alike" contains 144 pages of varied
graph papers (great for architectural sketching) interspersed
with an eclectic array of charts and infographics that include:
musical instruments and their pitch ranges, perspective drawing,
knot tying, logical connectives (a bit beyond my understanding),
the golden ratio, and much more.

      Meanwhile, back at the festival ...

• ELLE DECOR Presents the Iconic Iconoclast Vladimir Kagan – a conversation between ELLE DECOR Editor in Chief Michael Boodro and furniture designer and legend Vladimir Kagan
• Iconic Houses, Film, and Preservation – 3 Ticket Package
• Gray Matters Premiere: Eileen Gray Documentary
• Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier

        Free

• Paul Kaplan Open Houses – Missed the tours?  Check out some of these classic  open houses.  Wander around to your heart’s content.
• Book Launch for William Krisel’s Palm Springs: the Language of Modernism 

Book jacket for William Krisel's Palm Springs
Authors: Heidi Creighton and Chris Menrad

Bonus pic, just because I like it:  
EZ Mod Kiss chair

A mini-tribute to Salvador Dali's iconic

"Mae West's Lips" sofa 
(1936)