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).

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.

Steven Palmer art

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!