Whether a design project starts with choosing the art or whether the art is the finishing touch that pulls a design together, perfectly punctuating the visual and feeling tones, art is essential to interior design.
This is true whether the art is hanging in your living room, or on the wall of a restaurant, as is in the case of my firmโs recently-completed commercial project, The Wolf.
We have many art dealers, galleries, and visual artists, with whom we consult on art sourcing. For The Wolf, we turned to our own LMBI designer, and professional visual artist, Andi Yablonski, and David Coyleโs limited-edition fine-art printmaking studio, ArtBrokers, Inc.
Andi had previously created paintings for another of our commercial projects, Oaklandโs Lampwork Lofts, and since she worked on the design for The Wolf, she was intimately connected to the project.
The process of searching for just the right pieces led our clients to commission Andi to create them.
Andi explains: โAs the designer, I knew the art that I wanted in the space. The luxury of being the artist as well as a designer is that I was able to create custom pieces that are the exact sizes, colors, and textures we wanted.โ
In this case, that meant one piece in particular that was going to be very large scale. Andiโs favorite format. She says, โI love working on large canvases. Iโm not that tall, so a piece thatโs 60 inches tall, thatโs my height. That large piece is 48 x 80. Working on it, itโs almost like Iโm a part of the painting; itโs a physically-demanding full-body experience.โ
โSลurs dโรขmeโ โ commissioned work by Andi Yablonski
Andiโs abstract paintings adorn the main dining rooms. For the private dining room, we turned to David Coyle, founder of ArtBrokers Inc.
ArtBrokers Inc. is a unique fine-art printmaking studio. Representing a select portfolio of artists, the company makes very high-resolution images (500-600 MB) of original artworks, which are then giclee-printed in a way that is similar to artistsโ etchings; the print is not a reproduction, but rather, respectful of the new medium it is being translated into, an art piece in its own right. Also like traditional printmaking, each artwork is produced in a limited-edition run.
David says, โI looked at the colors and finishes Laura was doing and we quickly settled on Jeff Faust for the elements of surrealism with a lighter feel in his work.
โWaiting for Scotlandโ by Jeff Faust. Limited edition gallery-quality giclee print sourced via David Coyle at artbrokersinc.com
โIn โWaiting for Scotlandโ thereโs a cow sitting in an altered state, it gets you thinking; you canโt get your arms around it in terms of understanding it completely. That keeps you looking at it and keeps it fun.
โโPlacing the Moonโ is a bit of a daring image. It has a candid feel and a Romanesque style, like an old world painting, but in the context of the California coast. The color matches the color of our water at the Golden Gate. When Faust painted that piece, he was living in Sausalito.โ
David was the perfect resource for us. I often say, when we near completion of a project, the right art pieces usually find us (in part because we have relationships with such wonderful vendors and colleagues in the art world). In the case of The Wolf, we certainly had a leg up with Andi on our team. And Davidโs suggestions of what images might spark delight was spot on.
โPlacing the Moonโ by Jeff Faust. Limited edition gallery-quality giclee print sourced via David Coyle at artbrokersinc.com
โPlacing the Moon,โ in particular, spoke to my heart.
Readers may recall my writing in this blog about my personal journey with this space; how my sister Rebekah Wood and I celebrated so many milestones in our lives at Bay Wolf, how exciting it has been for us to collaborate on her and her husband Rich Woodโs restaurant ventures: The Wolf, and before that, Wood Tavern and Southie.
When we were younger, my sister used to love to sing the song โBlue Moon,โ and she sang it to her daughter Riley Celeste when she was a baby.
Itโs arduous work to place a moon. Womenโs work. To me, this painting is the story of my sister, building her dream as a restaurateur and a mother.
View ArtBrokers Inc.โs collection of images at artbrokersinc.com
Andi is available for commissions for your home or restaurant. Contact her at [email protected]
View more photos of our interior designs at The Wolf at quillwhorl.shop/commercial
All photos by Gillian Walsworth
A version of this article appeared in the Piedmont Post
Click here to view our video of this project: The Wolf, Oakland
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