Art With an Edge

Allegiance by Sculptor/Painter Patrick Medrano

Detail of Allegiance

The piece is mounted in it's own architectural moment with lighting. The pendulum is a percussion grenade.

Art Display

Hollow Upbringings by Mindy Herrin; ceramic, vintage suede; silver, cheese cloth. The raven was found in Paris one Christmas season, displayed with its flock on a white tree.

This figure, more homunculus than baby, was originally displayed on a dark metal stand. We wanted something that did not require a table for display. A catalog came to the rescue again: Pottery Barn Kids arrived with a photo of this French highchair for a doll. We thought the chair would soften the edginess of this piece of art; however, Tall Husband's sister informed us that the contrast "disturbed" her "even more." Since I delight in disturbing her, I added the French corbeau (raven). It worked!

Displaying Unusual Art

Persecution Remembered by Mindy Herrin; silver, fabric, parchment; wood; glass. The poem on a parchment scroll rolls up via a tiny crank on his side and the small silver door in his belly closes to hide the poetry behind a small pane of glass.

This small figure (approximately 8'' tall) came with an unanswered question: how does one display an edgy, serious work of art? The piece was kept in his box for quite some time while we explored methods of display.

One afternoon, I took my grandchildren to the local science museum. I noticed that small, ancient pieces of art were effectively displayed on small white wooden cubes within a case. That night, as I lay falling asleep, the trip to the museum and our little figure came together in my head.

The next day I found cubes in a West Elm catalog and showed them to Tall Husband and told him of the idea for our figure. He liked the solution and when the cubes arrived (they come in a trio), he fabricated a metal stand and attached it to the cube. Now our little guy can be easily removed for cleaning, then placed back on his cube, where he looks as important as he is.

Red Gun

Red Gun, a photogravure by Dan Mitchell Allison

Tall Husband and I have collected Dan Mitchell Allison's art all during our marriage. In fact, my wedding gift to Tall Husband was a piece of Allison's work.

In the above triptych, from the top down are: Bit Part, Red Gun and Face the Music.

The hit of color that Dan Mitchell Allison's triptych gives the white, gray and black living room at My Ranchburger is invigorating. For this series, he used old movie stills of the film noir genre and added his own unique range of color. He placed the images on canvas and overlaid each with text, a mere story link that one must decipher in order to complete the story.

Click on each photo to enlarge.

Naü-haus Now

Paul Kittelson: Modern Conveniences at Naü-haus
September 6, 2008-September 30, 2008

Seen at Naü-haus: Floyd Newsum, Artist & Professor of Art at The University of Houston-Downtown and Artist Burt Long

Kurt Baxter, Owner of Designage in Houston and designer of The Bunny Bungalow blog card

Nancy Smith, Associate Director of Naü-haus

The man with two red shoes is not a spy, he is Dan Mitchell Allison, Naü-haus owner. Dan is also an artist. We have such an impressive collection of his art that My Ranchburger has been referred to as the Dan Mitchell Allison Museum.