Category Archives: News & Events

tiny modern retreat in north georgia

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Jennifer Sams is a hunter by trade—an antiques hunter. It makes perfect sense that the owner of City Issue, one of Atlanta’s best sources of pristine midcentury furnishings, should wind down with her partner in a modern weekend cabin outfitted with Danish sconces, tulip chairs, and abstract paintings. Andrea and I spent a couple of days last October photographing, styling, and interviewing at the 500-square-foot cabin in the blue hills of Ellijay, Ga., and the article is finally out in Atlanta magazine’s HOME fall issue. Here’s a peek at the photography, including a couple of outtakes.

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teen artist masters realism in glitter

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My favorite thing about journalism (it ain’t the paychecks) is that it connects me with extraordinary people, like 17-year-old Hope Lennox. Throughout high school, the recent graduate of Atlanta’s Pace Academy blew off football games to stay home and make art, teaching herself to create realistic portraits in glitter. She developed a surprisingly sophisticated take on a medium associated with cheesy birthday cards. I’m sharing a few of her paintings here, and you can read all about Hope and her process in my profile for the Atlanta INtown paper.

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Q&A with actor and artist kevin christy

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Kevin Christy poses next to his portrait of Flannery O’Connor for the Atlantic

I pestered Print magazine into letting me interview actor and artist Kevin Christy, best known lately for his role as Lester on Showtime’s Masters of Sex. Kevin’s double life fascinates me: He’s a commercial illustrator and fine artist who pays the bills with minor parts for TV and movies. Most freelance creatives have bread-and-butter side gigs, but how many film for Dude, Where’s My Car? in the morning and paint a portrait for the Atlantic in the afternoon?

His dual gigs have more in common than I first realized. Rob Clayton, Kevin’s former teacher at Art Center College of Design, put it like this: “Being a character actor is really similar to being an illustrator. Because you get known for a particular thing, people hire you for that thing, and if you get big enough, you’re allowed to change and develop a new thing.”

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Concert poster collaboration with Brett Kilroe and Tina Ibanez
Kevin uses familiar logos as clues and emotional triggers in his latest personal work
Kevin uses familiar logos as clues and emotional triggers in his latest personal work

I think our talk revealed a few valuable lessons for artists and designers, and it’s also good for a few laughs (Kevin does stand-up comedy, too). Have a look on Print’s website and let me know what you think.

a wing-roofed home in atlanta for dwell mag

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The Sarvis residence designed by Dencity. Photo by Raftermen Photography.

Dwell, a favorite shelter magazine, just published about 200 words by yours truly. I covered a wing-roofed Atlanta home with cantilevered sections that appears ready for flight. You can read the article and see six more photos here. Also, I toured the home in 2013 as part of Modern Atlanta and posted a roundup of my favorite design moments here.

Finally contributing to Dwell feels like closing a circle, because I’ve been a fan since my old roommate PJ gave me my first issue in 2002, when I was writing a craft book. The modern interiors gave me a direction for Abode a la Mode’s “cheap chic” projects, and the magazine has been shaping my personal aesthetic ever since.

portraits of today’s lustron owners

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All photos in this post by Chuck Mintz

When you live in a Lustron, you’re part of a story. The tale begins in 1948, when the Lustron Corporation debuted its prefabricated, all-steel homes manufactured in a former airplane plant in Columbus, Ohio. The company imagined an American landscape drenched in seafoam, pink, harvest gold, and the other enamel hues of its mail-order ranches, but it sold only about 2,500 over three years.

Photographer Charles “Chuck” Mintz picks up the Lustron story today, documenting people who are holding onto these quirky, increasingly rare homes. He has traveled the country over the past couple years shooting portraits of more than 100 inhabitants. After the jump, I’ll show you more samples from his series, including his shot of me and Andrea on our patio.

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