Trunk Show at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Jade Nepal pendant necklace by Laura Castriotta

Jade Nepal pendant necklace by Laura Castriotta

Are you in or near Houston this week? If so, you may want to stop by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) for a little retail therapy. The MFAH Shop is hosting a trunk show for designers Lynn Smith and Laura Castriotta where you might find just the thing to ask Santa for.

The show is Friday and Saturday, December 19 and 20th, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday the 21st, from 12:15 to 3 p.m. For more information, contact the museum shop at 713 639 7360.

And while you’re there, visit the Helen Williams Drutt collection of contemporary art jewelry and prepare to expand your mental boundaries of what jewelry is.

Taking Us by the Neck

Rebato, by Jesse Mathes

Rebato, by Jesse Mathes

The neck is the most fragile and important parts of the body. The spine runs through it, connecting the brain—our center of thought–from the rest of the body that it operates. The trachea allows air to move from nose and sinuses to the lungs, allowing us to breathe and live. Air from the lungs passing through the larynx enables us to speak, which some say sets us apart from other species. The esophagus allows food to pass through to the stomach keeping the body nourished. The carotid artery and the jugular vein run through the neck carrying blood and oxygen to keep the brain operating and cooled, and carrying that de-oxygenated blood back to the heart. The surest way to kill a body—and a brain—is through the neck. Continue reading

Bringing Midnight Black Titanium Drusy to Tucson

Midnight-drusy-cropped-saveMany years ago I joined a gem buying tour to Brazil. It was a wild ride in more ways than one driving for hours through miles of red, red earth stripped of trees, or looking into lush chasms filled with what I would call jungle. It was fascinating to visit the mines, the lapidary schools, the cutting shops set off sometimes in what seemed like nowhere, and to watch the open air trading in parks and on the streets in gem mining areas. And the people! What beautiful and fascinating faces. If I were a portrait painter, I think I’d die happily in Brazil. Continue reading

Beauty and the Artist

Aside

“Some historical periods have defined the artist’s job as the creation of beauty. Others see the artist as capturing rather than creating beauty and others think the arts should be no more concerned with beauty than anything else.”

Design Language by Tim McCreight