I am currently in a post St. Valentine’s Day love affair with the home goods/home decorating/interior design firm and store Fringed Benefits. It is a manifestation of clever, inspirational design and good taste.
The brainchild of Interior Designer Amy Burns, who has established herself in the business locally for over twenty-years, and her partners Michelle O’Connor (business) and Kate Burns (designer), this venture is a stunning array of home decoration brilliance.
The store is located in the plaza adjacent to Wegman’s DeWitt (6825 E. Genesee Street, Fayetteville, New York 13066). It is closed on Sundays but operates every other day of the week. (Check their website for more information)
The venue is set up like a one-bedroom studio apartment with living-room, bedroom, office and dining-room decor supplemented by areas of small accessories, art, floral arrangements, gifts, candles and plenty of pillow options.
Retailer Glory took me on a tour including the back room, which is Burns’ design studio and offers personal assistance in home decorating including selecting fabrics and wallpapers. Glory’s enthusiasm for the products and budding business acumen made me want to make a purchase. It was a wooden heart ornament (pictured below) that I will cherish.
I had been a Facebook “Top Fan” of this place, but had never wandered in until today. It is an amazing store! You must go to there. Bonus if you tell them I sent you. <3
An illustrated children’s book, displayed as a storyboard, exists on a trail overlooking Round Lake at Green Lakes State Park – it’s between the upper and lower campgrounds and runs parallel to the street.
It is incredibly special. A magnificent way to engage children with art and writing in the fresh air while maintaining social distancing policies.
It is, like, finding a treasure without leaving the path. How cool is that?
Art is alive and well in Central New York. Art will always find a home here – find its way to you.
If you feel motivated to investigate this, there is something similar at Clark Reservation, as well. Those storyboards are placed closer together. They are in the open space between the playground and the museum. <3
By day, Penny Santy is a graphic artist. By night and weekends, she becomes a powerhouse superhero – an oil painting phenomenon who captures the essence and beauty of (as well as the struggle to find) the perfect relationship in a work of art.
I love having conversations about art with Penny. She was recently in Baltimore for the Diebenkorn and Matisse show and spoke passionately about the brush strokes and the artists’ implied intention resulting in their ultimate successful choices on canvas. It is this attention to things that Penny brings to her own work, a constant questioning of what instinctively works at any given time.
This is reflected in her literature.
My motivation for creating art is a search for what makes humans tick, and for finding emotion in the painted image. My work is derived from an exploration of human strengths, struggles, accomplishments or destruction. What is great about making art is that it goes much deeper than the outward appearance of things. I’m always searching through the process of painting for what is below the surface. The process allows me to discover, and I am excited by what I find. My paintings aren’t trying to present answers, but to ask questions.
Penny reworks paintings until they are to her satisfaction, whether it is the better choice of blue for a sky or the slightest value change in a complementary color scheme to tweak the flow of rhythm that is constantly in her vortex. Her presence as an artist is truly captivating.
I am really impressed with this new body of work, how it defines her vision, a place hovering between reality and abstract, which generates considerable movement with breathtaking perfection.
She sold several of these paintings at the opening last night at the Wilson Art Gallery in the Noreen Reale Falcone library at Le Moyne College (1419 Salt Springs Road, Syracuse, New York 13214). I observed patrons fighting over pieces (“okay, I’ll get that one and you can have that one” type stuff). It was really magnificent to witness her success. She is the real deal and I encourage anyone who wants to acquire her work to do so now before she skyrockets to the fame she deserves.
The show is titled Between Us. In addition to the butterfly series, Penny is sharing works she’d made for juried exhibitions including the winning entry from that Adirondack show and the Bowie-inspired one from the Tech Garden show last year. Her hen and sunflower paintings work as well here, as they reflect her proficient technical skills while fulfilling her criteria to share rhythm with respect to relationships between objects, nature and people.
The exhibition continues through February 24, 2017 and can be viewed during library hours. Call (315) 445-4153 for more information.
Make it a Penny Santy day today! Head over to see this show then take a drive out to Earlville, New York. You can meet Penny at the Earlville Opera House Art Gallery (18 East Main Street, Earlville, New York 13332) where she is exhibiting her series of bull paintings. There is an art reception from noon to 3:00 pm today!
Achieving harmony happens when you are living a life of happiness and joy, a life of positive energy and good vibrations. If you are searching for a short cut to this harmonious vibrational alignment, you might want to visit (get lost in) the sunflower maze in Camillus, New York.
It is located in the backyard of The Inn Between Restaurant at 2290 West Genessee Turnpike, also know as Route 5.
My friend Lisa suggested an outing via a Facebook all-call and a bunch of us headed out there to frolic among acres and acres of sunflowers. It is Syracuse’s version of a Christo and Jeanne-Claude happening, something fun for the whole family, and cheap – $5 admission for families, $2 for individuals and a senior citizen’s discount.
The photo ops are priceless! And if you are an artist or otherwise inclined, and want to channel your inner Vincent van Gogh, you’ll have plenty of resources to keep you occupied all winter.
You can purchase sunflowers, sunflower seeds and honey made on-site by the many bees working diligently just for the fun of it. You can have dinner in the restaurant or just cocktails at the bar, as my friends and I did last night. So fun!
The maze will be available to the public until Sunday, August 21, 2016.
