Perrier-Jouet Arts Salon and Prize

Salon Arts Salon & Prize 2013, Ritz Hotel London

I am very excited to announce that I am an inaugural member of the new Perrier-Jouet Arts Salon and Prize.

The concept of the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon stems from the origins of the Salons in Paris from the mid- 1700s, bringing together like-minded people under the roof of an inspiring host. Similarly, the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon members will meet twice a year with two main aims. Firstly, to bring together a diverse and dynamic body of people from the Arts to share ideas and debate on developments in the Arts. Secondly, the Salon will support the selection of an annual prize winner who will receive a substantial sum to support him/her in the development of their career.

Guided by Rosy Greenlees, Chair of the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon for 2013, the Salon members will select a London-based emerging talent in Contemporary Craft who has been working professionally for no longer than five years.

“In my position as Executive Director of the Crafts Council, I am delighted to Chair the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon, highlighting the talents of young British makers, whose craft will be given the opportunity to shine,” said Rosy Greenlees.

Candidates will be nominated by leaders in the fields of Applied Arts and Craft, and the winner’s work will best evoke a contemporary interpretation of the Art Nouveau spirit of the House of Champagne Perrier-Jouët, ‘transforming the mundane of everyday life into something truly beautiful’.

My fellow Salon Members are:

Chair for 2013 Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of the Crafts Council
Peter Aspden, art writer for the Financial Times,
Tord Boontje, Artist
Louisa Buck,  art writer and correspondant for the Art Newspaper
Tony Chambers, Editor Wallpaper
Claire Coles, Artist
Nancy Durant, art writer for the Times
Nicole Farhi, Fashion Designer
Harry Handelsman, Art Collector
Stephen Jones, Miliner
Kate MccGwire, Artist
Julia Royse, curator and art advisor

We had our first meeting at the Ritz last week, and what an evening it was.  We had a champagne matched dinner, which was amazing. Perrier-Jouet were wonderful hosts and made sure the evening was a great success.  It was also great to meet my fellow members, who are all such distinguished members of the art and design world and to have them all in one place was just wonderful. I am grateful indeed to have been invited to be part of the Salon.  At our next meeting we will be judging the 8 nominated artists, it will be interesting to see who has been nominated and make the big decision on who should win the prize. 

It was one of those evenings that the time just flies by and suddenly it's very late and I had to leave as I had to get up early for a flight the next day.

Here are some  photos of the evening.  I'll probably do another post as there are so many and I haven't even touched on the food and the different kinds of champagne they served with each course.

The photos are all by Helen Abraham, she has some more photos on her blog as well.

The start of the evening, there was much conversation to be had

me looking a bit serious 

I love this photo, the waitress looks so cute, and those canapes were delicious

There was lots of this...

and some more of this....

Rosy Greenlees - chair for 2013

The beautiful dining room

The place settings

James Robinson one of our hosts from Perrier-Jouet

Axelle de Buffevent, style director for Perrier-Jouet, also one of our hosts for the dinner

Neil Phillips, who talked us through all the different champagnes we had

I couldn't finish with out a couple more shots of the champage...

Wynwood Walls - Miami

Miami and Miami Beach are not cities that you can get around without a car, well not unless you only venture very short distances.  For a Londoner, who is used to walking most places or having amazing public transport it takes some getting used to.  Luckily I was with the BF and we had a car so we could venture out and one of my favourite places we visited was the Wynwood Walls.  This is a project where artists are invited to paint on the walls of small gated area in the Wynwood district (the art has also spread out side of the Wynwood Walls area).  It's amazing, the area is a little edgy but great to visit.  Here are some photos of my favourites.  I don't know who any of the artists are, there didn't seem to be any information about that, but you can find out about the project on the Wynwood Walls website.  It's well worth a visit if you are in Miami.

Here is a selection of my photos

A little bit of summer in December

I was very lucky to go to Miami last December, it was my second trip and I have to say I love it, the weather, the art, the cocktails and the food.

We had such a great time and there is so much great art in Miami, from the galleries to the street art (I will do a separate post about this), it's like the ideal combination, swimming in the sea in the morning, visiting a couple of galleries in the afternoon and cocktails in a glamourous hotel bar in the evening. Ah it seems like a dream now, but I know I was there, I have the photos to prove it!

Here are a few photos I took and some images of the art I saw.  Rather foolishly I didn't write down who any of the artists are, I must try harder next time, for I shall be back in Miami, that's for sure!

The life guard stations in Miami Beach are painted such beautiful colours.

Vizcaya 

One of the art works I saw

A pigeon in the Rubell Family Collection

A beautiful textured painting

Another piece by the same artist