(Exit followed by a bear)

The Magpie held out hope ("here, take this piece of beauty") for as long as was possible. The red bear was not to be bribed by something it couldn't eat. And so we are packing up, to close in our Dryden Court location at the end of June.

So much good happened that we intend to be back in the public eye, somewhere else, asap. The bear's cubs have chosen to come to live with us.

A proper farewell blog, replete with thanks, will come at the right time.

[Above, Louis Wain's "For What We Are About To Receive" on three 8" x 8" ceramic tiles]

Why Not Live With Art instead of Design?

The technology of printing reproductions now extends onto functional objects, from bathroom tiles to zazzle's sneakers. Pleased with the lovely translation of Lynne Taetzsch's painting "I flit through life" into the functional language of a textured glass tile, which can be installed as a tile or, with its rubber bumpons on, used as a trivet or even a cutting board, I still paused, concerned with whether this type of reproduction had filtered out so much of the original image that what was left to please me was now Design or Graphic Art. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Per se. I will ask the artist, of course, and she is the decider in this case. But, this ultimatum aside, the question in the title of today's blog is also raised.

Dan Bacich "Thinking Outside the Box"

Harvard graduate in comparative theology and son of a Syracuse pieman, Dan Bacich is a Complex Simon. His autumn leaves paintings attract both former leaf-peepers exiled to southern states and connoisseurs of art as line, color, and composition. "Death is the mother of beauty," so Wallace Stevens.

As this youtube video reveals, Dan's muse expects a lot from him--litters of three-dimensional assemblages, viewable in their magical variety this week in Baldwinsville as the exhibit "Thinking Outside the Box." A number of the boxes will be exhibited at a major art museum in New York State starting in 2010.

We've had the pleasure of producing tiles and tile murals of Dan Bacich's paintings for the past two years (above top, 6" x 8" of "Ugly is Beautiful"). It was Phil "Loudeac Tile Studio" McCray who had the idea of putting Dan's assemblages on tile. Nothing can vie with the real things, but their photographic reproduction printed on tile produces delectable simulacra with their own appeal. (A detail from the assemblage "Little Vampire" appears above.)

You can see an example of this translation in the exquisite 12" x 12" ceramic tile of "Newton's Law" hanging at Magpie. Or visit one of Dan's shows this summer.

Lynne Taetzsch Making the Walls Sing

Above, "Culmination" by Lynne Taetzsch; top, Taetzsch's "Earth Songs" on 8" x 8" tile.
Lynne Taetzsch, a masterful abstract painter with a tremendous following, residing right here in Ithaca, has hung five of her original paintings in Magpie, some favorites, some new creations. From now until the end of June, you are welcome to come take in Lynne's work from 11-6 Tuesday-Saturday. Ceramic tiles of the paintings on display will also be available--ready to hang and to make your walls sing too!

You can also order a tile mural of one of Lynne Taetzsch's works. Check out the selection of images available on tile at our Loudeac Tile Studio web site.

We apologize for an unexpected closure on Tuesday. If you stopped by, please do come again soon.

Book Cover Coasters

Strain. The distortion set up in a material by the action of an external force.

Strength. The ability to resist physical forces imposed during handling or use.

Stress. Internal forces set up in a material by the action of an external force. (Materials Handbook: An Encyclopedia for Purchasing Agents, Engineers, Executives, and Foremen, George S. Brady, McGraw-Hill, 1944)
This old leather bound book serves as an antidote to the stresses of virtuality. I couldn't resist making some tiles 4.25" tiles of the embossed images of tools on the cover: the microscope, sickle, cog, and telescope. They might make a good Father's Day gift: coasters or a wall trio for the right nook. I will try to put them up in our online boutique this weekend.

Kazusuma Ogawa florals on tile

blown glass trinkets

A young fellow from Owego, NY, Eric Johnson, makes these blown glass ornaments. As pendants, they can be worn as jewelry or hung from your rear view mirror. We have two pretty pipes, also, one pictured above.

Give and Forgive: Father's Day gift

June 21st is Father's Day. Even if you loathe the commercialization of holidays, even if Father's Day was a commercial idea at its conception, you can still seize the day as an excuse to give Dad something that will tickle his heart*. For example, you can order this personalized image on a 4" ceramic coaster or 6" ceramic wall decor tile (or, on an easel, desk tile) from our web store. John Tenniel's frog footman and fish footman from his timeless series of illustrations for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
* One wouldn't think of saying his 'fat, black heart' " after Sylvia, said The Imp of the Perverse (Poe). Surely the verse below more appropriately leavens the dark oedipal residues that we want to leave out of a Father's Day gift. And perhaps Magpie will come up with a Father William tile, too.

Alice in Wonderland and, Through the looking-glass By Lewis Carroll, John Tenniel, Brigitte Bryan, William Makepeace Thackeray: ""

Film Studies on tile: Fritz Lang's Metropolis

Isn't she lovely, film historians? One 8" x 10" glossy ceramic tile of this vintage futurist image inspired by Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Thirty pfennigs translates into $25.00 at Magpie. The tile is lavishly backed with cork and has a tab hanger. One available, more possible. And wait until you see our Othello. We dig deep to find you rare public domain images and spare no pains to make them into beautiful colorfast art tiles.

Gifts for May birthdays and Mother's Day

We're all about Images on Demand in lasting form. But, at the same time, Wordsworth once wrote of the artist creating the taste by which he or she is to be enjoyed, and we have always done a large bit of that too. Magpie's own extreme eclecticism of good taste is evident if you spend just three minutes browsing our art tiles. If I were a thief with an ideal(ized) mother, I would be stealing the following from our shop to send to her: a little glass bud vase adorned with a miniature wood bird house and colorful curly wire that she can stick on the bathroom mirror holding the sprig of her choice (12.00); a 4" ceramic tile coaster blazoned with lilacs photographed by Chris Galin (8.00); and our Heart Nouveau (pictured below) 2" ceramic magnet (4.00) or coaster (6.00). These would all fit in a lacquered wood treasure box with a 4" tile inlaid in the lid, perhaps a personalized tile (30.00 at Magpie gallery shop).

Magpie mother's day

This photograph of a magpie feeding a baby almost as big as itself is an apt reminder of why mothers deserve a day of honor and presents.

Jewelry in Collegetown, part one.

Hooray. At last we have some jewelry in the shop. From Luna Librarian of Rochester, earrings, bracelets, watch bracelets, as well as some funky chunky mosaicized frame mirrors, corked bottles, and more. All of LL's handiwork is highly affordable. Just the thing for Collegetown Court apartment residents to snag as they zip past on their way to...everywhere. Pictures forthcoming. And P.S., Luna Librarian has provided us with one perfect gift for men, a one-of-a-kind pencil holder, studded with coins and glass. Actually, they're Playboy casino tokens, I think. It's very handsome. I want it, but there's only one and it's for sale at Magpie Gallery Shop.

Beatrix Potter marble coasters

I don't get nostalgic about children's books. I don't even know what "Goodnight, Moon" is, which probably reveals how ancient I am or how childless. I do love book illustrations. And I did get lost in and savor Beatrix Potter's books as a child. Or, they savored me. (See "Samuel Whiskers or The Roly Poly Pudding". Yikes.)

On 4" x 4" Botticino marble tile coasters with cork backing, Beatrix Potter's immediate and evocative little pictures can be enjoyed in lasting form. You may even want to frame one of these beauties. They are available at the Magpie Gallery Shop for 8.00 each.

Pictured above, from l. to r.: the cover image from Little Pig Robinson, The Tale of Tom Kitten (before they lose their clothes!), The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, and, from TTK again, Mrs. Ribby at the door.

Purple rain, Red Apple Falls, Shower o' Tiles

If rainbows could rain. That's what it feels like some days, in this business, if I focus on the negative space around the drab piles of paper in my inbox. We have so many new images coming in from artists--Jo Dunnick surprised us with watercolor renditions of Tillie Baldwin and other cowgrrrls (above), which we are turning into tile, along with new equine beauties and the sweet but not cloying "Pour Your Heart Out" (shown above on a 6" x 8" tile); Dan Bacich has been dodging into phone booths in between painting leaves, and bringing forth new (brilliant) assemblages--he calls them "boxes"--photographs of which are going to make some truly amazing tiles. Yes they are. We'll devote a future post to them. Meanwhile, we're working with Bill Callahan nee Smog on tile coasters and boxes, and we hope some "soft" goods, featuring images from his CDs, including the new Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle. Yes, we can provide Tuscan landscape murals for your backsplash, as well, and magnificent Victorian-neoclassic Tadema murals for your shower, but we can't stop the thirsty purple rain cloud that follows us around like a guardian angel and seems to be our brand identity and brand difference.

Guy Davenport

with which compare:
Guy Davenport, in Hugh Kenner's The Counterfeiters

an idyllic stone mural

...some years ago I passed most of an afternoon in an Amsterdam bruine cafe. Let us say that behind the bar was an impressive stone mural, to sit before which was to deliquesce in time and Jupiler beer, transported onto rhapsody and reverie, until, in the early evening I braved traffic and lights and, as in a dream, found myself finding my way back to the hotel.

Fresh flowers by Chris and Arnie Galin (on ceramic tile)

It's that time of year when artists are standing in line waiting for their ceramic art tile orders to be fulfilled for their first shows of the season. With Phil at Magpie Gallery Shop most days, and my mountain of you-know-which forms to attack and preferably kill off today, I'll just put up some pictures of Chris and Arnie Galin's lovely flower photography tiles. Keywords: mother's day gifts, pink extraordinaire, live nude flowers!

ceramic tile mural of photograph by Frank Muller

new sparklies in the store

We received our first batch of glass bud vases made by Deb Florian of Recreations by Deb (Buffalo, NY). This blue dragonfly is just one of the many themes of adornment Deb offers. There's the rubber duckie bud vase, a perfectly funky Easter gift or spring fetish, a black wooden bird vase, and silver hearts and crosses. These bud vases have a little sucker attached, allowing you to stick them on your bathroom mirror or a window (to catch the sun). Magpie also carries larger colored glass hanging vases, and inspiration vases, by Deb Florian. Check out Deb's web site at www.recreationsbydeb.com and then come pick out your own at Magpie Gallery Shop. You can't go wrong with these and you can get them in between classes.

glass cutting boards

A new image, "Morning Woodland" by Richard Murch, came out beautifully on this brushed glass cutting board or cheese board (dim. 7.5" x 11"). When you're not using it, hang it on your wall or prop it in a window to let the sun shine through claret.

Lear to Tile

Lear, sear, bear, beer, bier, tier, ties, hies, hiss, kiss, kist, kilt, tilt, tile. I invested 2.5 hours in the Trevor Nunn production of King Lear on PBS Wednesday night, and then another hour watching the later rebroadcast before I fell asleep. //I loved the ease with which Ian McKellen portrayed being nudged by his Fool to slip from his heart-bursting torment into soft laughter. Cordelia (Romola Garai) in scene one seemed to assume she and her fatal profession would be received through that same special door shared by Lear & Fool; hence her (to me) surprising chuckle as she walked straight into a storm. //I thought the shot of Edgar-Tom writhing almost naked on his back with limbs flexed like an infant was terrifyingly true to the play's evocation of "unaccommodated man." // The image of Lear (bottom) is a daguerrotype of Edwin Forrest in that role, attributed to Matthew Brady. (Courtesy of the Harvard Theater Collection). We carry a ceramic art tile of a Julia Margaret Cameron Lear albumin photograph (top)--among other Camerons.

Steven Palmer art

Dear valuable creatures

We visited the lovely U and G, and their ba-aad black cat, to view some of the jewelry that will soon be available in Magpie. Lapis lazuli, picture jasper, freshwater pearls, jade, carnelian, pyrite, diamond, gold, silver; earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings. I can't tell the full story (nor the full credentials of U and G) until the reveal is imminent, which should be soon. Meanwhile, Magpie is already full of lapidary and lustrous delights, so come by or "Come Buy" as the goblins sing in Christina Rossetti's poem, "Goblin Market." We want to see you walk in and hear you say:

This room is full of jewels as a mine,--
Dear valuable creatures, how ye shine!
Sometime to-day I must contrive a minute,
If Mercury propitiously incline,
To examine his scutoire, and see what's in it,
For of superfluous diamonds I as well may thin it.

Yes, if you come in quoting this joking piece of Keats, and get all six lines right, free 2" ceramic magnet?

Magpie shop hours, and a location glitch

Our hours are 11-6, Tuesday-Saturday. Wouldn't you know, our address, 108-110 Collegetown Court, Ithaca, NY 14850 pulls up zilch on Mapquest. Because? Because the street name is still on the books or in the databases as Dryden Court. Search on 108-110 Dryden Court, Ithaca, NY, and there we are. Not quite seamless, but there we are.

Yesterday, during the sad quiet of Cornell's Spring Break, we had a Welcome Day open house at Magpie. Only after did it occur to me that we'd in fact thrown a decent party--all thanks to the friends and artists who stopped by and hung out. Despite the prevalence of magpies, no decorations were stolen, only sold: ach, it happens. In the photo, l. to r., Frank Muller, Ursula Richards, Jean Callahan. In the background, off in their own worlds, Proust's Odette de Crecy recreated in paint by the amazing David Richardson of Laguna Beach and imprinted on tile, and a tile mural of Tamara de Lempicka's art deco classic Printemps. Spring!

Name Dropping, part 2

Of the Green Valley Artists group, Magpie has photography by Frank Muller and paintings by Ursula Richards and Ann Parker Bloom. And from Binghamton, Steven Palmer, founder of gagrags ("you gotta be shirtin' me") and wicked painter (acrylic, mixed media, expressionist, sometimes wild...see left, "Van Bleu"), Janet Bunnell (decoupage, Cute n Kinky collages, painted furniture).

Name Dropping part 1

Artists Magpie has on tile or in other media, or both: Amanda Hone ("Abstraction Art," bold colorful imaginative energetic witty acrylics, printed on tile. We will also carry some of her brilliant knitting patterns. Amanda lives in Wales), Richard Murch (of Cleveland, Ohio, works magic with photography and digital art), Gwen Marston (world-renowned quilt designer), Dan Bacich of Syracuse, NY, (autumn leaf paintings that appeal at several levels, including the metaphysical), Chris and Arnie Galin of Rome, NY (photography: flowers, lighthouses, and fantasy), Cornelia Yoder, Vestal, NY (fractal artist extraordinaire), Anne Vis from Amsterdam, the Netherlands (computer artist and designer: things you've never seen!), Paul McMillan of Enfield, NY, but Texan, (western and southwestern landscapes, night paintings, realism-surrealism, local wonders, in oils--and on tile), JD Logan, Massachusetts (American folk art painter, Quaker-influenced New England landscapes)

New Richard Murch tile

A new image by Richard Murch on a 6" x 8" ceramic tile. I needed this color.

Full Disclosure

We aren't the first people to settle on the name "Magpie" for an enterprise involving the collection and hawking of bright, shiny objects. But the Magpie itself has a black glamor, as this snippet from "Birds of Ill Omen" suggests.
"
A possible moral: Embrace the danger. Next post, Magpie drops names, those of the working artists whose images adorn/grace/leap off/burn windows through the walls of the gallery shop.

Your destination

A glimpse of what lies in store. Magpie is closed today because it's Monday. So we are going out to procure signage, visibility from Dryden Road, off of which this Court lies.

Steven Palmer of Binghamton designed the logo you see in the window. Many of his marvelous canvases share the wall you see with a gicle of one of Paul McMillan's night paintings: Taughannock Falls at Night.

How to Find Magpie Gallery Shop

You are at the right place at the right time. When is this statement true? Let's immediately shrink the frame of reference way down, as we don't want to be discovered like an asteroid crater thousands of years from now. Magpie is in Ithaca, NY, in Collegetown. 108-110 Collegetown Court, forty paces up from the intersection, around the corner from Big Red Barbershop, across from the Palms bar. Magpie is open 11-6 Monday - Saturday.