the other day we passed a field covered in wild flowers. we stopped and my daughter picked me a bouquet. a good reminder to stop and see the beauty!
photos and words by kristen bach
Homes & Habitats
candlefish in charleston
on my recent trip to charleston, sc our friend stacey from perla anne told us to stop in to candlefish. they had me when i saw their windows covered in hand painted jasmine. the store was filled with mainly candles and they also had their own line (library) of candles in 100 or more different hand-crafted scents.
the shop didn't just have a great variety of candles, but they also hosted classes and made their own candles. overall it was a very well curated and designed shop. and i won't lie.... i like to splurge on a good candle! i picked up an amber and moss candle as well as a campfire scented candle that smells just like a campfire!
photos and words by kristen bach
dwelling in athens
dwelling in athens is an instagram account that is dedicated to shining light on historic homes in and around athens, georgia. i created the account a few months ago when i realized how often i was snapping photos of cool houses around town. it has now evolved to be something that really brings the community of athens together to acknowledge our history. i love posting the big grand victorians and also small mill houses on side streets. all of these homes and the stories they tell are important, beautiful, and need to be recognized by future generations.
follow @dwellinginathens
photographs and words by kristin karch
pearl's house
years ago, when i was raising my kids in the boulevard neighborhood of athens, i used to always admire this house. it had flowers growing from the porch railing to the street. i thought it was the best house ever. years later, i ended up renting the house from a friend, and came to learn about pearl. she lived there from the early 50's until she died in 1998 at age 98. she was a hard-core gardener. she planted roses, camellias, azaleas and fig trees all around the house that are now ancient, huge and majestic. alas, the front yard flowers had become decimated with neglect and poaching, so i'm excited to rehab it to how i remember it.
i have a picture in my mind's eye of all the phlox, daisies, foxglove, queen anne's lace, roses, etc. that were in the front yard. my son-in-law brought me a dump truck load of compost, which we spread all over the front yard. all fall i went to plant sales and garden shops, planting bulbs and perennials, waiting for spring. now, things are starting to come up and bloom, including snowdrops and hyacinths that i didn't know were there. my plan is to draw flowers all year, and admire...
photos and words by rebecca wood
Perla Anne
last week we popped over to charleston SC for a book signing. on our way out of town we stopped by our friend stacey bradley's printing studio, perla anne. she was getting ready for the big saturday farmers market but kindly let me peek around and take some photos.
her studio, covered in vines was tucked away in the woods behind their house. inside it was filled with hundreds and hundreds of carved wood and linoleum blocks and collections of prints from over the years. i have always had a soft spot for her work. many of her prints are sweet reminders of family and the simpler things in life.
thanks stacey for the fun and inspiring visit! if you want to read more about perla and anne you can visit her etsy shop here!
nettles & french studio
i recently visited the studio of nettles & french, aka paige french and eve nettles. the two friends partnered last fall- eve is a sculptor and paige a photographer- and they have released a series of prints based on their creative collaborations.
their studio is situated out at the hill in an old shack (you know we love shacks around here, and here, and here). it is a simple, one room space with just the right amount of room for working out ideas.
words and photographs by rinne allen
amanda and bain's family home
our friends amanda and bain live in a sweet little mill house in the boulevard neighborhood of athens with their two children, ages 5 & 7. they moved in 8 years ago after renovating the house themselves. they did such a good job of opening up the house by removing a few walls and raising the door heights throughout to make it feel open and airy. it is a sunny, well-loved home, full of color from art made by friends and their kids. thank you for letting us into your home, amanda & bain!
words and photographs by rinne allen
foxfire
most folks around here have heard of foxfire and their popular books, but if you aren't familiar with them, you should take a moment and learn about their work. based in the north georgia mountains, foxfire began in the 60's and now, 40 years later, holds a vast archive of oral histories, photographs, and knowledge of appalachian folkways, all gathered by local high school students.
foxfire began when a young teacher moved the area in the 1960's to teach in a local high school. he wanted to engage the students in something that really interested them, so after alot of brainstorming, the idea of producing a magazine was born; the teacher and his students went out in the community and interviewed local everyday people and made photographs of them. many of these interviews were bound in book form, but the magazine itself still exists today too. not only did the magazine help to preserve the traditions of the area, it also helped the students explore and learn about about their community.
i recently visited the foxfire museum in mountain city, georgia where over 20 buildings stand on a hillside; all were moved here to the site and put back together by the students, using traditional methods.
images of some of foxfire's subjects hang on a wall in the museum, alongside quotes from each subject:
words & photographs by rinne allen
walter anderson's ocean springs community center
i have written about my love for walter anderson's work before...recently, we were passing by ocean springs and we stopped in the walter anderson museum of art, a favorite place of mine. here are images of the murals inside the community center that walter anderson painted in 1951. take a moment to really look at his brushstrokes and how he rendered the images he saw in his head. enjoy.
words & photographs by rinne allen
magnolia love
i can remember my first southern spring here so vividly. i was driving to work and i passed a japanese magnolia tree that i could have sworn was bare the day before. it was covered in magenta-colored magnolia blooms. i recall pulling over to the side of the road and just staring at it like i had never seen anything like it before.
ten years later, i still find magnolias to be just as beautiful as the first time i saw them and i continue to pull over to the side of the road.
photos and words by kristen bach
outside at fort pickens
we just returned from a camping trip to fort pickens which is just outside of pensacola, florida. fort pickens was a short jaunt from our campsite so we did a lot of exploring over there. today i wanted to share some of the exterior of the fort and batteries. it is so crazy to think of all of the masonry work that went into all of this! enjoy!
stately home
usually, houses are built on a rise, but for some reason, this one is on stilts in a hollow. must have been a reason. anyway, it's grand and stately in its setting, and is quite prominent sitting at a crossroads.
words and photographs by rebecca wood
deserted
near an old farmstead i spied this one a little further down the red dirt road. no chimneys. now it's full of old posts and lumber. still sitting under the pecan trees like it always has.
words and photographs by rebecca wood
a stone beauty
once a focal point to this tiny town, the remains of this stone building now sit still. covered in a patina of vines, moss, and lichen it's mysterious bones leaves passersby like myself in wonderment.
studio visit: leslie snipes
this year, i really wanted to feature more artists at work here on beauty everyday, so i have spent the last few weeks visiting some of our favorites here in athens...continuing in our series of studio visits, i would like to introduce the work of leslie snipes. leslie came to athens to work on her MFA years ago and decided to stay on. she works at r.wood studio, and draws in her home studio everyday. her minimalist drawings are sublime- quiet and complex. i love watching her work.
leslie also works in watercolor:
for you locals, leslie will be having an opening in athens at BMA at home on Friday, February 20th from 5-8 p.m. & Saturday, February 21st from 1-4 p.m.
ice beauty
every morning i take my dogs on the same walk through a neighborhood path and down the train tracks. it is a quiet and peaceful time that i have to myself and look forward to each day. one thing that i love about it is seeing how things that i see everyday change from day to do...with the weather and the seasons. it may be the leaves starting to change color, buds coming out, flowers blooming, dew, or frost from a cold night. the other day i walked past a puddle that had iced over from the cold evening. it was just starting to break as the sun was starting to warm thing up. it was lovely.
photos and words by kristen bach
studio visit: cameron garrard of eloquin
our friend and neighbor cameron garrard works out of a backyard studio behind her house near downtown athens. cameron studied jewelry & metalwork at UGA and has since made jewelry and other things by commission out of this studio space. i love the diffuse light over her main work table and all of the textures and edges around...
to see more, visit www.eloquin.com
words & photographs by rinne allen
rebecca's house, part two
two weeks ago, rebecca shared photographs of her new house. here, i am sharing photographs of her house that i took this fall...i love how rebecca has something from outside- a cutting, a flower, a pod- in every room of her house. most of these things end up in her paintings eventually, but in the meantime they make for beautiful vignettes.
dark landscapes
on a warm grey afternoon, I explored the nearby community garden. the light made the landscape look like a painting by courbet, dark and deep.
words and photographs by rebecca wood
rebecca's house
I moved into the cutest place ever this past year. it's a little house on a corner, built in 1918. it reminds me so much of my young art school days because back then we all lived in rented rooms in old houses in this neighborhood. inside is a surplus of visual beauty, and outside, garden space galore and a secret garden out back! more on that later...
for now, here's some of the beauty I am blessed to see every day.
words and photographs by rebecca wood