Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Mariah Carey and her costume designer, Michael Costello, want to give the people sparkles WWD got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Michael Costello's designs for Mariah Carey's Las Vegas residency.The show, which opened on Valentines Day and closes this weekend, features five looks, all done by Costello, with the exception of an Adrienne Landau feather coat he selected for Carey. The drama begins in a black, long-sleeve, hand-beaded, appliqud bodysuit with a sheer black chiffon skirt covered in black Swarovski crystals, a look Costello calls all legs for days. She then changes into a bodysuit with the Adrienne Landau ostrich feather coat, at which part Carey calls Costello on stage for a glam moment and he drapes the coat over her; a strapless hot pink sequined mermaid dress, Costellos favorite, that is totally Mariah, and either a white or silver gown, depending on how shes feeling, for a few ballads."She wont just put a dress on shes very into the process as far as the sketching, the fabric, the color, the cut. She knows her body so well and she knows exactly whats going to work on her body. Weve worked with so many celebrities before and a lot of them are like either just, make it black, make it white, make it blue, make it pink. But Mariah knows whats going to hit her in the right areas and whats going to accentuate her the best. Lets face it, shes got all the assets, Costello said. Tap the link in bio to see all of the fabulous looks. Report: @leighen : @denisetruscello #wwdeye#mariahcarey#MichaelCostello#lasvegas

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Prada Introduces 'Hyper Leaves' With Talk About the Intersection of Art, Fashion and Retail - WWD

There arent many rules at Noisebridge, the pioneering 10-year-old hackerspace in San Franciscos Mission District. The first one: Be excellent to each other. The second: If you let someone in who hasnt been there before, you have to give them the tour.

There is plenty to see. Spread out over the entire third floor of its Mission Street building, the space is a playground for creative makers. Theres a woodshop stocked with tools that smells sweetly of sawdust, a mini recording studio complete with guitars and keyboards, 3D printers, a laser cutter and a ceramic kiln. All of it is open to the public and available to use by anyone, free of charge.

I think this place is sort of perfect, says Noisebridge regular John Backus. Its a creative home for lots of people.

Its also in jeopardy.

Since 2017, Noisebridge has been the subject of a complaint with the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection for converting the space into a workshop without proper permitting. Violations included installation of a ventilation system and construction of walls and bathrooms without permits. According to members of the hackerspace, they now need to install a full sprinkler system on the buildings lower floors to be in compliance. A rough estimate prices those upgrades at $150,000.

In an email provided to The Chronicle, the buildings owners wrote that they are not interested in doing the construction: The requested upgrades likely go over 150K and wont even be the last of the citys requests.

The hackerspace also didnt have the funding for the project. It would have been a little more than our entire bank account, says Noisebridge treasurer Tyler Maran. We run entirely on month-to-month donations. Were not piling up cash over here.

The only option would be to pick up and move.

Then at 8:24 a.m. Thursday morning, Maran received an email that the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken had deposited $150,000 worth of bitcoin into Noisebridges account. The only acknowledgement of the donation was a tweet from Kraken about the sprinkler requirement: Sounds like a subtle way of saying ya'll neckbeards need a shower. Anyway, we got you. @noisebridge

Within the hacker community, Noisebridge is an icon. Its been on Mission since 2009, open to anyone who rings the doorbell and walks up the rainbow-painted stairs. Theres no entry fee or membership charge, no official leadership or management running the show. Its open daily from about 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and hosts regular events from classes on 3D printing to the SF Stupid Sh*t That No One Needs and Terrible Ideas Hackathon 7 (March 28). About 1,000 people pass through the space every week and around 600 donate monthly via Patreon or a cash box affixed to the wall.

It operates according to do-ocratic principles: If you want to do something paint a mural, put up a piece of art, build yourself a wooden storage locker because the metal ones are full youre free to go ahead, provided youre accountable to anyone impacted by the change and willing to talk about it. A set of shelves for hands-off works-in-progress is tagged with signs that say Do not hack.

I started going to the space because I knew it had the equipment I wanted to use, but I stayed there because of the cool people, says Ruth Grace Wong, a Noisebridge regular whos on the board.

The vibe inside Noisebridge is really motivating, really encouraging, really inspiring, she says.

Its an iconic part of SF tech culture, Backus says. Its something that I think inspired a trend all around the world that this is how to cultivate a culture where people can be creative and do things just for the fun of it.

The space is infused with the humor and inventiveness of its community. iZac, a Futurama-inspired bartending robot with a bucket for a body, overlooks the main workspace opposite a pastel portrait of Nikola Tesla on one wall. The Flaschen Taschen, a 10-by-9-foot video display made up of 1,575 beer bottles (that people from Noisebridge actually drank) each capped with an LED, blinks out colorful patterns.

The tech industry, and the wealth it has brought to San Francisco, has both threatened and aided Noisebridge. The hackerspaces landlord has raised the rent twice over the past few years, from about $4,000 per month to $7,000 monthly, an increase Noisebridge was only able to handle thanks to a $100,000 donation from Handshake, a decentralized service for domain names with its own crytocurrency.

There have been previous scares about Noisebridges finances and future such as whether it can afford building updates or make rent. Right now, the elevator that serves the third floor is broken.

We pride ourselves on being ADA compliant, Maran says, referring to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Weve lost members of the community.

This time around, it took Maran and other members of the Noisebridge community a while to understand how much it might cost to upgrade the buildings sprinkler system and allow Noisebridge to stay in its home of 10 years. The $150,000 estimate is just that, a guess at the price tag to modify a building that the hackerspace doesnt own.

After Noisebridge reached out to its immediate community for donations, on Wednesday Backus tweeted a thread about the importance of the space and the threats to its future. Nothing I've seen better captures **pure SF hacker culture** than Noisebridge, he wrote. It's *surrounded* by companies and VC firms that brand themselves as loving the values that define Noisebridge. I wish they helped fund it.

The next day, Kraken made its transfer. CEO and co-founder Jesse Powell quote-tweeted his companys response and added his own: Thanks for calling attention to this. Hopefully, were good.

What the influx of bitcoin means for the future of Noisebridge is still up in the air, but the money opens up options.

It was kind of a lost cause at first because we didnt have that kind of cash, Maran says. Were going to have to start talking to the landlord about it; were going to go to our upcoming hearing with the building department. Its a lot of work weve got to do now, if that means that we can stay, or if it means that we use that money to support us moving to another space.

Already Maran and others have been looking into the latter, touring spaces designed and permitted to house the kind of work that happens within Noisebridges mural-covered walls.

Weve always been searching for a forever home, Maran says.

Leaving the Mission building, if thats what the community decides to do, will be bittersweet. The layers of paint and posters and clever signage and circuit-board chandeliers that cover the walls and hang from the ceiling form a physical history of a place that means a lot to a lot of people.

Itll be really sad. Well have to have a party, says regular and board member Wong. Theres really a lot of beautiful murals there that well have to leave behind, but coming to a new space with a lot of blank walls, thats also really beautiful.

Sarah Feldberg is San Francisco Chronicle Culture Desk editor. Email: sarah.feldberg@sfchronicle.com

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Iconic hackerspace Noisebridge is saved by donation of $150K bitcoin - San Francisco Chronicle

Sophia WeiART, BUT MAKE IT FASHION: Textile artist Cat Mazza and members of her collective from UMass Boston will visit campus today to walk museum-goers through the Fast Fashion/Slow Art installation.

When you walk into the Boyd Gallery on the second floor of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA), you encounter Fast Fashion/Slow Artan exhibition that scrutinizes the contemporary garment industry through videos, installations and collaborations with contemporary artists and filmmakers.

The walls are covered with digital projections and tablets that display videos of how garments are made, distributed, used and discardedwith 10 videos in total designed to make you pause and think.

Theres a lot of information in these videos and also a lot of analysis and interpretation that the viewer can take, said Bibiana Obler, associate professor at George Washington University and one of the exhibitions co-curators. I didnt want people to come and just look, oh, how beautiful and then leave again, or how moving and leave again.

This exhibition is meant to make people stop and think about their choices, critiquing the concept of fast fashion through documenting how clothes are made, used and discarded. Some garments are kept for decades while some are for one-time usethis duality is explored through visual juxtaposition.

This is an exhibition that I think helps us to be aware of the many literal hands that may be involved in constructing the clothing that we wear, no matter what its origins may be, said Co-Director of BCMA Anne Collins Goodyear. But it also has made me more aware of the intellectual power of stitching, and the ways in which we may, ironically, sometimes deprive ourselves of creative engagement through the fact that we are constantly outsourcing so-called craft activities to third parties.

The exhibition was first shown at the George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., and is now showcased here in Brunswick to highlight how textile policies are made and where the natural textiles are made. It was curated by Obler and Phyllis Rosenzweig, curator emerita at the Hirshhorn Museum, with organizational assistance from Goodyear and Allison Martino, BCMAs Mellon postdoctoral curatorial fellow.

So the show opened in Washington, D.C., which of course is the policy-making center, and to travel here to Brunswick, where the town used to be centered around the textile mill up the road at Fort Andross, showcases the implications of textile policies and brings it full circle, said Goodyear.

The center of the room has an Electroknit Dymaxion, a map designed by textile artist Cat Mazza and the Lattice20 Collective, a group of students from UMass Boston who helped create the piece. When it was first installed in D.C., the sections were laid out on the wall to highlight the geographic implications of the fashion industry, creating an international scope within the exhibition. At Bowdoin, theyre shaped into a geographically-accurate globe, mirroring how they were made.

To continue the dialogues opened by the installation, Mazza and members of the Lattice20 Collective are coming to campus on Friday to walk students through an activity which showcases sustainability in the fashion world. The workshop will explain not only how the group created this centerpiece, but why.

Fast Fashion/Slow Art will be on display until August.

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'Fast/Fashion' sparks dialogue on clothing industry - The Bowdoin Orient

MANLIUS, N.Y. Sometimes it is the little things that make a house a home.

Take Tas Fazili, owner of the magnificent Walker custom built home at 4036 Deer Crossing Run in the Windsbury Hills subdivision of Manlius. When he was asked what his favorite feature or room of the home was, he had many to choose from.

He could have mentioned the wooded two-acre lot, the dramatic two-story foyer, the stunning great room or the beautiful master suite.

Instead, he chose a small dining area off the kitchen, near the awesome brick double-sided woodburning fireplace. It is where his family spent their time together, his children working at their homework at the small table and window seat there.

It is just a very cozy spot, with the fireplace and the views of the yard, Fazili said. It is a great home to raise a family.

Fazili and his family moved into the 2001 transitional home about nine years ago. Raising a family there was one of the homes biggest draws.

It was in a friendly neighborhood, with a big yard and was part of the Fayetteville-Manlius school district.

The house was loaded with windows and was always bright and very airy.

A professionally finished lower level was great for the childrens grandfather when he visited and for a very large casual family room.

The gourmet kitchen with cherry cabinets providing an abundance of storage, a butlers pantry and even more storage in the lower level makes the home perfect for a growing family.

In the relatively short amount of time that Fazili and his family have lived there, he has made several improvements and renovations.

The beautiful hardwood floors have been exposed and much of the interior paintwork has been updated.

Windows were added in a back room to create a three-season room with views of the back woods and the impressive swimming pool and landscaping Fazili had installed a few years ago.

In the master bathroom, the bathtub was removed in lieu of a giant shower unit and three closets.

I think it all worked well, he said.

After almost nine years in Manlius, Fazili is moving out-of-state because of a work opportunity.

He says that any potential buyer of the home is getting a beautiful, big house in a very peaceful neighborhood.

For more information about the home, please contact the realtor, Jason Jay Caporiccio. His contact information is below.

THE DETAILS

Address: 4036 Deer Crossing Run, Manlius, N.Y. 13104

Price: $675,000

Size: 4,600 square feet

Acreage: 2.03 acres

Monthly Mortgage: $2,490 (based on this week's national average rate of 3.72 percent, according to Freddie Mac, for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 20 percent down payment. Fees and points not included.)

Taxes: $19,162 (Based on assessed value of $522,600)

Built: 2001

School District: Fayetteville-Manlius

Kitchen: Gourmet kitchen features granite counters and cherry cabinets. Like much of the house, the kitchen has been window which create a bright, airy feel. Owner theres the kitchen has a lot of room to work in and has a tremendous amount of storage space, including butlers pantry with a wet bar. Appliances include a gas cooktop, double oven and built-in refrigerator. The microwave is built into island. Small dining area is among the owners favorites for the family to gather. It is near a large window seat and the double-sided fireplace.

Living areas: Visitors enter in dramatic two-story foyer. Views of the property can be seen from the homes many windows. The large great room features exquisite moldings, many windows and has the other side of the fireplace from the kitchen. The room makes entertaining a snap. A large front office could be remade into another bedroom. There is a formal dining room and a convenient first floor laundry room. Windows have been added to a three-season room which looks out onto back deck and wooded backyard. Hardwood floors have been redone as has much of the interior paintwork.

Bedrooms: There are four bedrooms in the house. The master suite has many windows and looks out over the swimming pool. The three bedrooms upstairs are moderately sized, with a the largest being the princess suite which has its own attached bathroom. There is potential for more bedrooms in the finished lower level.

Bathrooms: The master bathroom is very large, with double vanities and three closets. The Jacuzzi-style tub was removed, and a very large shower unit was installed. There are four full bathrooms and one half-bathroom total in the house.

Lower level: The professionally finished lower level has a very big family room and has the potential to be used as an in-law suite, with a full bathroom and small-kitchen area. The space features daylight windows and glass sliders out onto the backyard and pool. There is always plenty of space for storage.

Outdoors: Home is built on a two-acre wooded lot with a very large front yard and a sloping backyard. Owner says the property is private and very beautiful from spring through autumn. There is an inground swimming pool and back deck and stone patio. There is a three-car side loading attached garage. Owner calls the Windsbury Hills neighborhood very friendly.

Agent: Jason Jay Caporiccio

Associate Real Estate Broker and Your Concierge Agent of Coldwell Banker Prime Properties

Address: 8233 Park Ridge Path, Liverpool, N.Y. 13090

Phone: (315) 753-2878

Email: yourconciergeagent@gmail.com

Website: http://www.JayCaporiccioRealEstate.com

House of the Week: Contemporary home in Volney blends privacy, convenience and beauty

House of the Week: Owner calls herself faithful steward of Fayettevilles Sacre'-Coeur

House of the Week: Manlius home was designed to resemble an Italian villa

See our real estate transactions database

If you know of a beautiful or interesting house currently up for sale, please consider sending a nomination for it to be featured as a future House of the Week. Send an email with the listing to home@syracuse.com.

Do you know of any older homes in Central New York which have fallen on hard times but have a lot of potential should they be restored to their original grandeur? A fixer-upper with a lot of potential? Consider nominating them to our new feature, Save this Home, in which we will spotlight grand houses of the past around Central New York that need to be saved. Send nominations to home@syracuse.com.

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House of the Week: Magnificent Manlius transitional is a great home for raising a family - syracuse.com

Moab Museum interim Executive Director Forrest Rodgers, left, and T-I reporter Julia Crane discuss a dinosaur track during an interview at the under renovation museum. Photo by Doug McMurdo

Changes that began at the Moab Museum in 2014 including its closure for renovations since September of 2018 have progressed to the point the public can get a sneak peek Saturday ahead of the grand reopening scheduled for April 1.

No fooling.

The museum has been transformed to better fit the needs of future generations, and while many well-loved exhibits remain, modifications have been made to enhance the visitor experience, said interim Executive Director Forrest Rodgers.

Museums are like plays. Theyre storytelling. A lot of museums focus more on the objects than the story, said Rodgers.

The overall $800,000 cost of the renovations rounded out to about $300,000, while exhibit design, fabrication, and installation costs were roughly $500,000. Many changes were made to the layout of the building. The stairway to heaven staircase that graced the middle of the first floor has been removed in favor of more room.

The old museums flavor is being remodeled, as well. Rodgers spoke of the old museum as typical old Utah and not the Utah of today. Part of the upgrading process is opening it up and giving people more space to discover the past.

Some exhibits that have been placed on the floor include a topographical map, Today and Tomorrow, People and Land storylines, profiles of historical figures that contributed to Moabs history. The topographical map will be much like the previous one that attracted so many visitors, made out of balsa wood and encompassing much of the space in a room.

The new map will be a permanent attraction, but the actual exhibit will be to provide visitors with the best learning experience.

We want to have a map to show people, especially traveling visitors, where Moab is in relation to a lot of other things, said Rodgers. Many of the old exhibits also included paid for props and not actual artifacts. The new exhibits feature more authentic content. As a result, were making the most of our still limited floor space, but its now a more inviting place for visitors to learn more about this place we call home, said Rodgers.

One of the advances the museum moved towards during the transition is the addition of several interactive screens the public can use to further their learning. The screens hold large collections of photographs, along with about 100 oral histories, to help visually tell the story of the regions history. They give people a flavor of what life might have been like. People dont read as much anymore, said Rodgers.

The public is invited to take a look from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 29 Leap Day. Residents will be able to walk through the museum and preview the content that is now being shown. Staff members will be available to answer any questions the public might have.

This is a chance for folks to get used to the museums different look and feel, and ask any questions they may have about what weve done and why weve done it, said Rodgers.

The idea to upgrade the museum started back in 2014, when thoughts formed of a natural history museum built by the river. Former Director John Foster and the board of trustees in place at the time announced a plan of a $60 million, 20,000-square-feet facility. But after consulting experts, the board realized the price tag was likely too high and not exactly what the public even wanted.

Rodgers said in an email, Interviews with key stakeholders conducted in 2017 indicated that people wanted the museum to stay downtown, develop high-quality contemporary exhibits about Moabs cultural history and geology, build the board, increase membership, and expand professional staff.

The changes that are happening now as a result of these preferences from the community were also done to refresh the visitor experience. We want people to be saying, I learned the answer to questions I never thought to ask, said Rodgers.

Crane, a senior at Grand County High School, is a student intern at The Times-Independent.

Related

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Museum moves into the future to hold onto the past - The Times-Independent

Miami interior designer Christopher Coleman had some fun with a childs bedroom in Coral Gables, Fla., putting a deliciously glossy deep pink Stark patent leather on the ceiling.

In the same home, Coleman installed a series of architectural wood beams across the ceiling in both the dining area and a bathroom, giving the spaces a Japanese country-house vibe.

In a Roxbury, Conn., country home, designer Philip Gorrivan ran wallpaper up the walls and across the ceilings in several rooms, including a Cole & Sons Fornasetti leaf print in the dining room and a storm-cloud print called Nuvolette, also by Fornasetti, in a boys room. Wrapping rooms in strong patterns like this creates drama, and in nurseries and childrens rooms can spark imagination.

Smooth-finished ceilings make it easy to apply whatever you can dream up: paint, peel and stick or traditional wallpapers, or even ornamentation like origami, decals, buttons, faux jewels, botanicals, twigs, garlands, ribbon, stencils or scarves.

Command strips will hold most lightweight objects firmly to a smooth ceiling, but if youre stuck with one of those textured ceilings, youll either have to refinish it or opt for wood paneling or tin sheets.

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Ceilings with something to say - Columbian.com - The Columbian

Pooja Khanna Tyagi

Although the staircase is one of the most functional elements of the house, its decor is not given too much attention. It is highly recommended to decorate the staircase such that it reflects your style and taste. Here are some ideas to get you going:

Railing design

The staircase railings play an important role in determining the overall look of the staircase. The different railing material include wrought iron, wood, glass and stainless steel. For a traditional look, consider ornate wrought-iron railings. Wooden railings impart a warm look while steel railings give a sleek modern look. Glass railings are a great way to brings in an element of lightness into the staircase design.

Shape of the staircase

If the home is at planning or construction phase, how about getting creative with the structural design of the staircase? Give the staircase and stairwell an interesting straight line or fluid shape for a stylish look.

Floating staircase

Floating staircases have become a popular addition to modern homes. These staircases have open risers and cantilevered treads that create a floating effect. One of the biggest advantages of a floating staircase is that the open risers allow light to penetrate into the lower floors of the building and gives the space a visually light cum airy look.

Decorate with artefacts

Give the staircase an artistic look by displaying artefacts like pottery, floor sculptures on the stair landings. You can also fix shelves on the walls or install a decorative mirror on the stair wall.

Create a gallery wall

This is one of the most popular ways to decorate the staircase. As one climbs up or down the staircase, the eyes get busy seeing the gallery wall. The staircase wall can be decorated with some family and personal photographs, a series of paintings or prints and so on. However, if the staircase is small or dark, just hang one big picture frame or photograph.

Accentuate the wall

Highlight the wall as it will act as a perfect backdrop for the staircase. Use colour on the staircase wall or clad it with material like natural stone, porcelain tiles, 3D wall panels, wall paper, textured paint, etc.

Highlight the treads and risers

The treads are the horizontal surface of the stairs while risers form the vertical section of the stairs. The highlight can be done by using contrast colour flooring material on the treads and risers. The popular options include highlighting the risers with highlighter tiles, installation of patterned tiles on the risers and use of different colour of marble on the treads and risers.

Light it up

The staircase lighting is important for safety and to complete the overall look of the staircase. Pendant lights, chandeliers and bracket lights improve the aesthetics. Consider pendant lights with slits or perforations as these cast interesting patterns on the walls. For additional safety, install LED lights on the walls at an equidistant spacing near each step.

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Infuse a good dose of style and personality into the staircase of your bungalow or duplex apartment - The Tribune India

Feng Shui (literally means wind-water or geomancy) is a traditional Chinese art dedicated to furnishing, building, and arranging homes in a calculated manner.

The reason this is done is because it is believed that by practicing this ancient art, a positive and healthy energy will be projected, helped by the balance of the natural forces of Yin; and Yang.

HistoryFeng Shui dates back 6,000 years, back to the time when people believed in it as a method to build prosperous villages. It was initially used to create farms in a way that would protect farmers from dangerous energies and ensure that they prospered within the protective guard of mountains. This negative energy was discovered to be harsh winds that could topple houses and blow away produce. Despite that, the art of Feng Shui continued to grow, being passed down from father to son then eventually producing learned scholars and ending up inside the Imperial Court. Feng Shui masters were forced to keep their methods secret.

MethodsAs a general rule of thumb, Feng Shui discourages, and even outright refuses in certain cases to use harsh angles in furniture. Their furnishings must match each other, whether they are of the same colour or same style. It is very much suggested that furniture must contain solid wood to ensure a balance of being tied to the five elements; wood, water, fire, metal, and earth.

Living Room Welcoming and AccommodatingLet us begin with the first room of a typical house or apartment the living room. The front door must be sturdy and made of wood. In addition, it must open inwards to provide a welcoming and friendly sense. After all, guests must be treated with the utmost respect. The pathway to the entrance itself must always be clear of debris and other obstacles to create an open, clear path for positive Chi to flow through.

Bedroom Happiness, Assurances, and PositivityFor positive energy to flow freely in the bedroom, one must do the following. First, you must use a solid, wooden bedframe for the sole purpose of spiritual and physical stability. One must also have a clear, open space under the bed for an open flow of energy that will create inner happiness and health within the room. Next, allow for symmetry by having a wooden, identical nightstand by each bedside to bring peace and reassurance to ones mind.

Hang pictures of nature such as a landscape image of the mountains and views of plant life in order to project a sense of serenity and relaxation. An inspirational quote is a good option too; it can create courage and positivity in ones mind.

Warm colours such as creams and browns must be used. These hues can ensure that a soothing, calm, and positive atmosphere is achieved. This priority on order with colours is once again used when organising books. Books that are organised by colour, rather than other traits, are believed to bring both order and purpose.

Kitchen The Heart of the HomeThe kitchen is believed to be an integral part of ones home, mainly because it is believed to be the heart of the home. As a result, much care has been put into ensuring everything goes smoothly within the kitchen, starting with the use of dark, earthy tones in furniture whenever possible. Masters of Feng Shui believe that these colours have a grounding effect to ensure stability.

The stove should never face the door because this force users to cook with their backs facing the door. This is considered taboo since it is said to invite negative energy, causing bad luck throughout the persons day. The fridge, stove, and sink should also form a triangle for good luck. Feng Shui masters suggest that the kitchen table must be surrounded by chairs in order to create a sense of community. And finally, corners must always be illuminated because it is believed that dark spirits hide in the shadows, especially in corners.

Typically, lists of chores or work are pasted on the refrigerator door. However, Feng Shui masters encourage using positive images. These include pictures of family, nature, and quotes. Finally, adding vases of flowers or a bowl of fresh fruits is believed to help balance the five elements.

Why use Feng Shui?The main reason why Feng Shui has remained an important centrepiece for many families is that it is believed to work magnificently; it truly creates a strong sense of peace, positivity, and prosperity in the household. As a bonus, their homes are beautifully decorated, shown by how neat and well planned everything is. Whether youre choosing to partake in Feng Shui for the promise of positive energy or for its aesthetically pleasing style of dcor, theres absolutely no doubt that this art is one you must try.

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The Art of Feng Shui - Indonesia Expat

The second half of Thursday nights Dallas Symphony Orchestra concert, devoted to Tchaikovskys Manfred Symphony, was stunning.

The guest conductor was Ukrainian Kirill Karabits, principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony in England (where one of his predecessors was former DSO music director Andrew Litton).

Nearly an hour long, Tchaikovskys symphonic interpretation of Lord Byrons dramatic poem is a major challenge for both conductor and orchestra. As with the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, composed 55 years earlier, it evokes a traumatic love, with a turbulent first movement, a contrasting pastoral evocation and finale imagining an infernal orgy. (Berlioz turned down a proposal to compose a Manfred symphony.)

Tchaikovskys second movement depicts a waterfall in sonic burbles and cascades worthy of Berlioz. In general, though, sounds here are laid on with a much heavier hand, working up massive climaxes in each movement.

Holding all this together is no simple matter, but Karabits did so, brilliantly. This was the musical equivalent of feng shui, the Chinese concept of controlling energy through space, but in this case through time. Timing and shaping the music most expressively, Karabits sustained tension as powerfully through romantic hushes as through great explosions of sound.

Aside from a couple of fuzzy spots for violins, the orchestra played gloriously, producing quite a sonic extravaganza. Special praise goes to solos by Gregory Raden and Andrew Sandwick (clarinets), Erin Hannigan (oboe) and Kevin Haseltine (horn). Cameron Carpenter played the harmonium part near the end on the organ; its hard to imagine how a lowly reed organ could manage that climactic moment.

Carpenter was the featured soloist in the first-half performance of Belgian composer Joseph Jongens Symphonie concertante. With the Meyerson Symphony Centers massive and indeed famous Fisk organ, its a disgrace that the DSO so rarely programs major organ-and-orchestra works. The Jongen, a splashy, tuneful, Hollywood-meets-Brussels affair from 1926, has been on my wish list for years.

There are at least half a dozen Dallas organists, starting with the DSOs own Bradley Welch, who could have given superb performances of the piece. But the DSO tapped Carpenter, a touring showman with a formidable technique but little respect for composers intentions.

Carpenter thrills rabid fans who know nothing about the organ or its music, and mostly appalls professional organists. He distorts compositions in ways that would be permitted from no other instrumentalist.

Performing from memory, he mostly played what Jongen wrote. At other times he arbitrarily pecked at what should have been legato lines, arpeggiated chords and added silly little decorations. Some registrations were fine, others grotesquely out of scale.

Grabbing stops by hand, seemingly making it up as he went, he resorted too much to the loudest reed stops and most thunderous pedal registers. Crescendos and decrescendos were overdone.

Karabits and the orchestra did what they could under the circumstances, and there were some lovely and exciting moments; but the opening fugue nearly came unglued. There was a rousing ovation at the end.

Repeats at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 29 and 2:30 p.m. March 1 no Friday performance at Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St., Dallas. $24 to $139. 214-849-4376. mydso.com.

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The artist David Capra with his sausage dog, Teena, looking at the artwork Puppy by Jeff Koons. James D. Morgan/Getty Images

Giving voice to the silenced has long been a concern of art, from the Realist movement of post-revolution France and the 20th century muralists of Mexico, to body politics in performance art and video art from the last few decades. Chicago-based artist Adrian Wong, however, has been interested in communicating with those silenced in biological sense, connecting with peoples deceased or, for his most recent project, their living pets. Emerging from an urge to discover the non-linguistic state beyond our physical and communicative realm, Wong initially began working with young children as a social scientist after receiving a graduate degree in psychology from Stanford University in 2003. Realizing, as he explained to Observer, that human affect is something poorly-suited for examination through a scientific lens, he changed gears, getting his MFA from Yale University.

My studio practice focuses on fields that operate outside of the empirical sciences, such as feng shui and geomancy, energy manipulation, astral projection, sound healing, cromniomancy, and most recently alchemy, he explained ahead of a solo presentation at Chicago-based Carrie Secrist Gallerys booth at the Armory Show. His project will be part of the fairs Focus section, organized by Jamillah James, a curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Presented during the 25th edition of New Yorks quintessential art fair, Wongs installation will center around his collaboration with telepathic animal communicator Lynn Schuster, who will sit down for half-hour readings with fairgoers to communicate with their pets, based on their photos.

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Self-representation and personal truths, revisionism and projecting other possibilities into the world, are the sections main threads, James explained Observerand Wongs psychic collaboration certainly fits. The idea of animal communication and telepathically communing with a non-verbal entity connects to this idea of wanting to believe in something and manifesting it, materially, psychically, and emotionally, she said. Though she admitted The idea of it may be met with skepticism.

Participants are made aware that Schusters observations have the potential to provide a basis for artworks by Wong, similar to those which will be on view across the booth, including photographs, sculptures and paintings that stem from the duos recent collaborative work. Wong responds to Schusters readings by creating a customized pet furniture, such as a dog house or cat tree, a portrait of the animals previous life, or a cosmic geometry wall installation in tune with the animals spirit, in an attempt to reconcile the mediums conversation with the pet in form. At his Chicago studio, the artist creates the artwork in house, using software programs Sketchup and Rhino for his furniture sculptures and pet portraitists from across the country for the paintings.

Wong initially connected with Wisconsin-based Schuster when the artist heard about a three-legged missing dog, named George, which eventually became more of a spiritual guide than a subject. Wongs next encounter with the medium was a personal, and heartbreaking, occasion, after the unexpected passing of his pet rabbit, Omar. The shock and following grief after a sudden loss prompted the artist to reconnect with the medium, whose communication with Omar revealed that the rabbit was a reincarnation of Snoopy, the childhood pet cat belonging to Wongs wife

Adrian Wong, The House That Snoopy Built, 2019. Annotated Sketch. Adrian Wong

There is so much joy and excitement that my eyes are tearing up, says Schuster, when I ask about her first reaction looking at a picture of my five-year old rescue dog, Bagel, who I adopted from Tennessee with my ex-partner when he was a two-month old puppy. Bagels feelings about our separation and loss of an important person in his canine life have been a curiosity of mine for over a year.

Was he happy living with me? How would he react if he saw his former co-parent? Schusters eyes closed, He would hide behind you if he saw him in a crowd, says Schuster, elevated by the emotional intensity she felt through communicating with Bagel, whose behavioral range has always been dependent on the amount of attention and physical connection hes given. He is a happy dog who is healing himself and you, she observed, laughing a little as she felt my four-legged companions impassioned energy.

When I ask Schuster about Bagels feelings about my current partner, she positively responds: There is a conversation on telepathic level between themthey see through each others eyes and souls. Wong joins the conversation to ask Schuster to draw a picture of our current life through the dogs perspective. What appears is a white light surrounding Bagel standing in our living room, where my current partner seems to be standing on his one side, me perched on a couch. There are pastel shades of pink and minty green, the medium adds. The artist begins to describe an abstracted image drawing on the aesthetics of cosmic geometry that could represent the balance of pet- human relationships, and our unique one in particular. Schuster, then, catches blobby shapes above Bagels head, which she regards as symbols of nurturing with their soft shapes, round on the edges, without any rough corners.

Wong notes that the fair setting, populated by collectors, enthusiasts and art world fixtures fiercely roaming over hundreds of booths, will be quite different than his typical work environment marked by calmness and serenity. Both the artist and Schuster are up for the challenge, ready for the unbelievable stories New Yorkers have to share through their pets.

The Armory Show is open to public from March 5 to 8 at Piers 90 and 94.

Link:
An Animal Psychic Will Communicate With Fairgoers Pets at the Armory Show - Observer