EyeDance Gallery

Adaptation

2011-06-21T09:37:00.012-07:00

Art that Evolves with Change

American families are on the move. According to U.S. Census data, we haven't changed our places of residence this often since the Great Depression. Whether the move is temporary or the beginning of a more nomadic lifestyle, today’s economic reality means many of us have had to pull up roots and relocate for employment reasons. Others have lost so much equity they were upside down in their mortgages and gave up their homes, renting for a while before jumping back into home ownership.

Surprisingly, family members adapt to new surroundings more quickly than one would expect. Like a Decorator Crab, we assimilate aspects of our new environment into our homes and our hearts. Even our pets adapt to a new home, as long as they have their old bed, familiar toys, and the right doses of attention.

Adaptation Poster

But what about the artwork that looked so perfect in its setting in your previous home? Chances are, the groupings and backgrounds that supported your art so well may no longer exist. Unlike people and pets, artwork can’t adapt on its own ––but with a little help from EyeDance Gallery, it can once again define the focal point of a new space.

EyeDance Gallery wall art is created to adapt to your changing needs

At EyeDance, our motto is “Walls talk, we listen.” This means in addition to creating art that is scaled to your space and to work perfectly with the colors, textures, and finishes of your new digs, our designers can create a custom color palette to blend the new with the familiar. With a customized SwatchMatch palette, you’ll be confident that any new background colors, fabrics, finishes, and accessories you need to select will not only work with the art in your new space, but will also enhance your favorite pieces making the move with you. All you need to do is to provide us with the colors you want to keep, and those of your new space, and our design professionals will customize a color palette for you.

Customizable art: the logical choice for commercial interiors

Mantra in Three Different Palettes

Customizable pieces mean EyeDance wall art is the perfect choice for commercial office space, too! The new focus on sustainable design and saving money finds more furnishings making the move with the company. Imagine the time and design consultation fees you’d save if you could simply rescale the existing artwork to the new space.

Choosing EyeDance wall art means never having to reselect new pieces—you can just order larger or smaller versions!

EyeDance Gallery: because new walls talk and we’re always ready to listen.

New from EyeDance Gallery: PopPup Art

2010-09-16T14:14:00.046-07:00

Ever imagined your pet as art? EyeDance Gallery's latest offering, PopPup Art, is a fun way to jazz up your interior space with unique images of Pal or Fluffy.

From a digital photo of your pet, we create custom pop art and add a personalized, hand-scripted signature of the pet's name (optional, at no extra charge). Want a pawprint instead? No problem!

Unleash Your Inner Artist

Send us your dog mid-flight catching a Frisbee, or whatever pose you've snapped that captures the essence of your pet.

All we need is a good quality digital photo or scanned jpeg image. From that, we'll create a mock-up of the PopPup Art for your approval. After we get your OK, your art will be printed to arrive on your doorstep within two weeks.

Choose your pop style--

Email us for options and pricing

PopPup Art--

The Creative Gift Solution
for Animal Lovers

Surprise someone special with a PopPup Art interpretation of their cherished pet or favorite species of animal! Sizes start at 8 x 10 (or 8 x 12) and prices begin at well under a hundred dollars, meaning your holiday gift-giving dilemma is over for all those special people in your life who are pet guardians or wild animal lovers.

Special Introductory Offer for Followers of EyeDance Gallery

For a limited time, we're offering our loyal followers, friends and family a special rate on PopPup Art. Contact us for details on turning your favorite photo of a Kool Kat or Haute Dog into jazzy canvas wall art. Not a follower yet? Simply click on the "Follow" link, and join the fun!

Questions? Contact us at info@eyedanceonline.com and we'll be happy to help you in creating your PopPup Art.

Till next time--

Shona and Di (+ Pedals, Spokes & Cruiser, hep-cats for all seasons)

http://www.eyedancegallery.com

Flaming Cacti - New Cactus Art Creations

2010-09-12T11:59:00.053-07:00

We're heading into fall in the Sonoran Desert basins. How do we tell? Our daily highs are finally under 100 degrees! Some variety of cacti are just now blossoming, splashing the desert with a different kind of fall color than you might be used to.

Desert cacti and succulents lend themselves to exceptional abstract art. For the images here, we took ultra close-ups of agave and prickly pear, simplified their forms, and punched up the color palette to create dramatic fine art. These art pieces are printed on high quality canvas.

Left: Flaming Agave by EyeDance Gallery.
Available individually or as a set.

Right: Prickly Pear Rush, by EyeDance Gallery.

Flaming Agave, Prickly Pear Rush, and many more cactus and succulent interpretations, are available as custom orders at http://www.eyedancegallery.com/.

EyeDance Gallery Special Offer

For a limited time only, each piece can be printed at the size you need and even custom created to work with your own color palette, at no extra charge. It's our thanks for being loyal customers and fans, and a great opportunity to brighten your surroundings with sunny color all year 'round.

Unleash Your Inner Artist

Do you have a photo of a favorite plant or flower? We will create a unique piece of art from it, just for you. Have a special place you'd like to display it? Send us your interior color palette, and a photo of the space it will occupy, and we'll create a piece that works in your setting. For pricing and other questions, email us at info@eyedanceonline.com.

Your feedback, as always, is very important. We hope you'll take a moment to tell us what you think, and what else you would like to see from EyeDance Gallery.

Thanks for visiting with us!
Diana and Shona

Midcentury Modern--Falling in Love Again

2010-05-03T11:59:00.053-07:00

Modern Phoenix Week went by all too quickly, with activities, nostalgic slide shows, and lectures focused on Midcentury Modern homes in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area. It was amazing to see what people had done to put the retro back into their modern pads. But you don't have to splurge on a home designed by a famous fifties architect to enjoy modern living. Drive through fifties and sixties neighborhoods today in the southwest’s major cities and you expect to see kids on Firestone SuperCruiser bikes zipping by and Don Draper from the AMC series Mad Men pulling into the driveway. Tracts of modern homes, and ranch homes featuring modern elements, still dot the suburban landscape.

Photo: Di's father-in-law, Garth, proposing to Eileen about 60 years ago, in a desert setting about to boom in population.

Variations of the modern house existed in other parts of the country, to be sure. But the southwest cities found it easy to lure returning G.I.s with young families (along with a fair number of snow–weary northeastern suburbanites) to climate-controlled, single family tract homes nestled on large suburban lots, near shining new schools and sprawling shopping centers.

Suburbia boomed for two full decades. This was my world growing up--with one twist:

When I was a toddler, my Dad accepted an engineering job with the Department of Defense at Fort Huachuca, the Army’s largest Electronic Proving Ground, booming in the Cold War era for its own reasons. We moved from a new ranch house in suburban Scottsdale to very modern government housing on an old cavalry post. We planted roses and bedding plants, knowing they'd bloom for the family after us. It didn’t seem emotionally healthy to put down more roots than that--even so, Mom brought a spruce tree for the yard, transplanting it again and again as we moved to successively bigger houses with each of Dad’s promotions. The best was a flat-roofed modern house with decorative open cinder blocks surrounding a front courtyard. Of course, every house in the neighborhood looked just like ours--just painted a different color or with a reversed floor plan--with the same floor-to-ceiling glass living room wall and wood floors.

Above: A midcentury modern ranch house in Arizona.

Drones, satellites, and computers were a part of dinner conversation, but daily life “on post” was the military version of the idyllic Leave It To Beaver TV series. We’d leave early for the Sunday buffet at the Lakeside Officers’ Club, so I could plop down on floor pillows in the lounge and watch Bonanza and Disney’s Wonderful World of Color on the only color TV around (except for a Heathkit set built by Dad's friend and colleague, Chris). After dinner, I’d wander down to the lake and catch minnows in my hands, loving the feel of them tickling over my fingers as I released them back into the water. On clear nights, we’d go home and aim my little telescope up to the sky from our back porch, watching Sputnik--and later, Gemini capsules--orbiting Earth.

Listening in on adult cocktail-hour conversations was like watching an episode of Mad Men today. Bow-tied dads would be talking office politics, while moms in their patent leather high heels and sheath cocktail dresses chatted about new neighbors and the PTA. I still have Mom’s cocktail apron—a shimmering organza version of the cookie-baking apron, suitable for serving hors d’oeuvres and martinis. Of course, once in a while the topic would turn to whether or not the storage rooms off the indoor hallways of those places could be retrofitted as a suitable bomb shelter in the event of a Cuban-based missile attack. I was thinking NOT.

The San Diego Connection: Dad had a TDY (Temporary Duty) trip scheduled that was going to last most of the summer. We packed up the Impala and led a convoy of deuce-and-a-half trucks full of electronic equipment to San Diego, where Mom was stuck, but where I spent six glorious weeks either in the motel swimming pool or playing games with a gaggle of new friends whose dads were working on the same project. On weekends we'd sometimes tour new home subdivisions, spotted by their flags and signage designed to lure in young families like us.

My dream house as a child in the early Kennedy era was "Plan G" in a new San Diego subdivision called “View Northpoint,” a neighborhood I've been unable to find on the Internet or in GoogleMaps—I suspect it was swallowed up in its prime during the expansion of a local university some decades later. Plan G was the perfect house. Curving streets brought you up a hill to everything a modern home should offer: low-pitched roof angling skyward over an entryway with a bubble lamp pendant fixture, clerestory windows to show off the ceiling extending seamlessly from porch to interior, a sectioned wood room divider between the foyer and living room, mica mixed into the acoustic ceiling to add subtle sparkle, a breakfast bar, coppertone built-in appliances, and—best of all—a really huge picture window overlooking the bay. I sat cross-legged in the living room till darkness fell, the stars came out, and the city began to sparkle beneath us. I was not a happy camper when the real estate agent came to shoo us out so he could lock up the models.

I wanted my parents to move to San Diego. Our perfect life would be even more perfect there. And as far as I knew, none of the Soviet missiles were trained on San Diego. We all talked about how we loved Plan G—so what was the hold-up? I heard them talking one night about buying a cattle station in Australia and moving into a homestead.

I was just warming up to the idea of a pet Koala when Dad got a job offer he couldn’t refuse, and off we flew in the opposite direction, to Cold War era West Berlin. I tucked Plan G’s marketing brochure away in my suitcase; the perfect life would have to wait a while.

Photo: Di's Dad and Mom

at the Berlin Wall.

Partway into our eight years in Berlin, I realized the perfect life had merely changed continents. Still, I saved Plan G's floor plan in my hope chest well into adulthood.

I still like to muse over how I'd go about decorating Plan G now, if only I could find it again. After restoring its 1960s architectural features outside and in, I'd have to hit the retro shops for modern furniture (Danish teak? Hammary cherry tables with cylindrical aluminum legs?), and set them off with some Midcentury Modern wall art.

Of course, the color scheme would come from EyeDance Gallery's Retro Palette (left), taken from Midcentury Modern colors.

New versions of the old kitchen appliances would be the only logical choice (hmm...pink, turquoise, or coppertone?). But the most fun would be heading into that kitchen with the big box I rescued from Mom’s kitchen, full of cookbooks, candy thermometers, Pyrex, Revereware, blue cornflower patterned Corningware--and all those aprons.

Who says you can’t go home again?

Till next time!
Di & Shona

Be sure to see our latest wall art at http://www.eyedancegallery.com .

Bicycle Art

2010-02-23T15:42:00.009-07:00

We wanted to give you a sneak preview of some EyeDance art designed especially for our friends gearing up for all the road rides, mountain bike events, triathlons, charity rides, and just-plain-fun club rides that abound this time of year in the southwest. So many rides, so few weekends... how will we ever decide which to do? We've actually been getting some much-needed rain lately, so after a few blustery weekends, we know you can't wait to get back on the saddle.

Fortunately, you don't have to wait any longer for the newest bicycle art.

Bike Quad I is a duotone style print of four bicycle close-ups sure to spur you (or your favorite cyclist) on to greatness. Square-framed in black, it will fit easily into any decor.

For you future Arizona residents--you know who you are, the snow is still piled in your bike lanes--they're a pleasant reminder of the good times to come this Spring!

Wishing you downhills and tailwinds--
Di and Shona

http://www.eyedancegallery.com/

Love in Unexpected Places: Valentine’s Day Revisited

2010-02-23T14:28:00.006-07:00

Thorny Heart (top) Love Bug (bottom)

12" x 12" Canvas Wrapped Wall Photo Art

The time for Valentines may be past but love still blooms in Arizona! The prickly pear cactus always is full of surprises. A perky love bug among the thorns and a perfect heart-shaped prickly pear pad: these two small accent photo pieces will soon be added to the EyeDance Collection.

http://www.eyedancegallery.com

Art in Unexpected Places

2010-02-09T17:52:00.004-07:00

We were at The World Market Trade Show at Las Vegas last week (more from Diana on that). Loved the architecture of the building. It lends itself to nice graphics. Took these shots in a hurry. They have not been cropped or enhanced. I feel like kicking myself for not taking my good camera, but then I would have had to lug it around. No photography permitted at the show anyway. These shots are taken with the itty-bitty camera. What is amazing is that all design principles are the same. Good design is good design. The harmonious intersection of lines and forms create interesting shapes, be it in graphic/product design or architecture. Fascinating. Thinking of turning these crops into wall art for the gallery. Nice color palette too.

:-)

Shona

http://www.eyedancegallery.com

Color Trends 2010

2009-12-15T13:17:00.028-07:00

Just in time to lift our spirits this fall, the Spring/Summer 2010 color palettes are out! On the home fashion scene, new versions of late sixties/early seventies mod colors, paired with tropical brights, add just the right amount of punch to last year's globally inspired palette. So you won't have to start completely over to update your decor! This is good news for us all--if it's going to take some time for the economic wave to crest again, it's a relief to be able to keep our favorite pieces and inject some fun and freshness with art, linens and accessories.

This month's EyeDance newsletter features two new palettes, Vivant and Optima, both featuring colors from the 2010 forecast.

To help you incorporate the fresh new color introductions, EyeDance's resident artist has paired the palettes with accessories available at leading retailers, and our interior designer has provided helpful tips to save you the price of an initial design consultation. What's not to love? Above: Fuchsia Dahlia, from the Optima palette, pairs beautifully with accessories from the fall/winter collections of leading retailers.

Above: Celebration, from the Vivant palette, is shown with accessories from leading retailers including Z Gallerie, Williams Sonoma, and Design Within Reach (clock).

The coming year's updated sixties mod colors, paired with the new colored metallics, let us keep the colors of special celebrations and holidays surrounding us all year long, adding joyous spirit to our daily lives.

http://www.eyedancegallery.com/

EyeDance Exhibits at UnVeiled Trade Show

2009-10-05T11:24:00.021-07:00

UnVeiled, the leading annual trade show for the Scottsdale/Phoenix interior design and architecture community, served up a plate of marvelous new resources with a generous splash of optimism about the marketplace. EyeDance Gallery participated as a vendor this year, and we were excited to see the great turnout.

Most design professionals who stopped by our booth had a new project in the pipeline and were looking for something cutting-edge to make it stand out. We got rave reviews from designers and architects on our wall art collection and our customization/personalization capabilities. Most felt the art was unique, and told us the customization option was just what the market had been missing. Armed with all the positive feedback, we can’t wait to get back to the drawing board and create more fabulous art for the urban design community and our faithful following of retail clients!

Trends noted at the show:

Urban-focused products: From wall and window panels to furniture, from floor coverings to lighting and accessories, it’s all about European styling, cutting-edge colors and materials, minimalist design and integrity of materials. Products exhibit clean lines, but nurture us in a very organic way. The overall feel is less heavy and hard-edged. Textures appear everywhere. Metals exhibit hand-forged qualities, valued from ancient times but restyled for modern day. Fabrics are distinctly textural and tangible, in soft, nubby, adorned and embroidered varieties, inviting to be touched.

Uniqueness: Valued now more than ever. Clients still want something unique, and are willing to go the extra mile to seek out products they can customize to their needs.

Clients are applying new criteria when selecting a product:

· It must speak to them, and it must not exude an air of wasteful extravagance.

· They want it to fit and function in a transitional space—workplace furniture is on wheels, and so are our coffee tables these days. Kitchens and living areas, not just spare rooms, support several functions. Art and accessories need to be flexible as furnishings are rearranged to accommodate multiple functions.

Quality. Value. Uniqueness. Customization.
These are the buzzwords of the day, and at EyeDance Gallery, that’s what we’re all about.

http://www.eyedancegallery.com/

Kensington Custom Wall Art

2009-09-28T12:21:00.049-07:00

EyeDance Custom wall art brings special flair for the holidays!

Left and top right: "Kensington" custom designed wall art, created by EyeDance Gallery to match Williams-Sonoma's new Burleigh dinnerware pattern, shown bottom center and right

“Kensington,” created by EyeDance Gallery, is a new custom designed wall piece inspired by the latest exclusive Burleigh collection of heirloom china from Williams-Sonoma.

A new twist on a 150 year old tradition, this fine line of Wedgwood/Staffordshire-inspired dinnerware, handcrafted in England, is recreated in rich sienna and browns on linen tones.

In contrast to Staffordshire’s Burleigh Blue Calico, this pattern features a distinctly American oak leaf and acorn design, offering a refreshing alternative to the traditional English dinnerware patterns.

Whether enjoyed daily on richly stained wood tables sans linen, or as part of a formal setting for the Thanksgiving holiday, those entertaining at home will find Kensington and Burleigh a perfect complement for one another.

-Kensington is a custom designed piece and is not featured on our website. EyeDance Gallery can create a commemorative piece to your holiday décor and favorite accessories.
-For more information on custom creations, email us at info@eyedanceonline.com and visit:
http://www.eyedancegallery.com/

Juxtaposition: adding the element of surprise to decor

2009-08-04T11:40:00.020-07:00

The EyeDance Nantucket Palette evokes weather-beaten wharfs, wind swept beaches, water, sand and sky. The swatches pull in deep earth tones, pale background washes with peppy blues for contrast and accent.

Aquatica the coordinating art piece from EyeDance Gallery is designed for the Nantucket Palette. Set against walls of distressed concrete, contrasted by spartan wooden floors and clean lines of contemporary furniture, it makes a bold statement by bringing organic motion and textural layering to this loft-style urban interior.

Professional Tip : add drama to interiors by juxtaposition

Rough textures against smooth
Mottled backgrounds against plain
Organic forms against clean lines

What is SwatchMatch?

SwatchMatch is EyeDance Gallery’s no-fail color selection system, designed to take the uncertainty out of picking artwork and colors for your interior decor. Explore the Art Coordinates section of the Eyedance Gallery website to find color coordinated artwork for different palettes. When you view an art piece with its palette, it’s easier to see how the colors in the room work together.

EyeDance SwatchMatch Palettes can be used several ways:

Creating an overall color scheme for your décor
Choosing wall colors for the wall where your art will hang, as well as adjacent walls
Providing a color guide for selecting furnishings and accessories
Selecting the perfect wall art to complement your taste

For more art and inspiration check out EyeDance Gallery

Global Inspiration: The Versatility of Regional Design

2009-06-18T12:01:00.009-07:00

Travel, television, and the Internet have made the world a smaller place. They’ve broadened our horizons and opened our hearts and minds to cultures where daily life is punctuated by intense colors, wonderful textures, and the tastes and smells of exotic foods—where the natural environment is an intrinsic part of the lifestyle, not extraneous to it.

The EyeDance Encanto Color Palette for 2010 is inspired by temperate coastal regions worldwide. Born of organic materials, it is amazingly versatile.

The sunny hillsides of mission-inspired Santa Barbara mixes earthy Mediterranean and sunset hues with orchards, vineyards, and ocean colors.

In Guatemala. Belize, and Costa Rica, brightly dressed shoppers fill village markets set against a backdrop of rain forests and volcanoes that rise up by the sea.

In Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, the tribal art of the Makah is painted in rain forest greens, muted reds and driftwood browns. These earthy colors contrast against the vibrant corals and purples of Pacific sunsets. This simple three-color palette takes on complexity and layered richness when the transient colors of the sunset are added.

Regional color palettes are inspired by natural surroundings. Specific shades and tints are often derived from indigenous plants, flowers and minerals. Their local flavor is captured by using colors in different intensities, combining them in varying proportions to one another, and applying them to various textures.

Tints and shades such as corals, blue-greens and gray-browns connect our interiors to the outdoors as effectively in the desert as on the coast. Whereas the corals and blue-greens are used sparingly in the southwest, they are predominant in the color palette of seaside homes.
Whether we live in a custom or tract home, there is a universal desire to freshen our interiors as color trends evolve. The EyeDance Encanto Color Palette can be adapted to large or small spaces, formal or informal interiors, and works in a variety of architectural and design styles to bring a creative edge to home décor.

Coming soon to EyeDance Gallery:

A new Wall Trends series inspired by

the Encanto Color Palette!

Aloe-ha Spring!

2009-02-13T13:56:00.001-07:00

The gentle curves of Aloe Leaf nourish your spirit, melting away the dry, cold winter drearies. Printed on 1.5" thick Gallery Wrapped canvas and available in multiple sizes, it arrives ready to hang. Aloe Leaf's soothing green and gold tones against a warm, dark background provide the perfect complement to Thomasville's Felicity and Lumine' collections, and add life to the Libre and Vega collections of Design Within Reach.

New Mantra for Spring!

2009-02-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

Add some cool pep to spring décor. Mantra Fresh is an abstract two-part composition in vibrant chartreuse and lime that evokes the optimism and buoyancy of spring. Printed on 1.5” thick Gallery Wrapped canvas, it is available in a selection of sizes to suit your wall space. Throw in some matching pillows and a bowl of fresh flowers to complete the outdoorsy look. Mantra Fresh works beautifully with the new Crate & Barrel Spring line: Zoey & Chaparral Pillows, Lehtimaja and Tamara Linen collection and Optic Sea Glass Lamps in translucent greens and yellows.
For more spring wall décor ideas go to:
www.eyedanceonline.com