One for the kids!

For the August issue of Better Homes & Gardens I got the opportunity through the Style/ Fashion section of the magazine to meet and work with Karen Kimmel who is a L.A based Artist and also Teacher. Karen has had a prolific career as a conceptual and installation artist, yet she is also a mother of two which may have inspired her to start a new venture — Kimmel Kids, a line of educational tools and toys aimed at getting children and their parents involved in making art. The Exchange Collection, one of her first efforts, is a set of laser-cut plastic stencils, neon pencils and a coloring book, all packaged in a stylish zippered canvas case that you can buy to make a start, see www.karenkimmel.com

Karen has been stressing the importance of creating art and helping kids make "some sick stuff" from California to New York, setting up workshops in which the kids and parents can create.

For our shoot we wanted to emphasize the marriage of art meets kids, Karen kindly shipped over some the rugs she had been working on for an exhibition, collaboration with kids that acted as colorful islands on a very white backdrop. Using her stencils I had the idea of adhering them to the wall in a graphic and simple way, we also used an all white easel, that we had painted white and white chairs, stools and a saw horse table with the materials Karen uses to create in her workshops. 

The story was shot once again by Fashion Photographer, Perry Hagopian, www.perryhagopian.com. You can see him pictured here on set. Mykl Cummins my assistant seen packing up here along with Jeanne Lurvey (not shown) did a fantastic job of helping me. You can also see my sketch created to help the team at Better Homes & Gardens’ understand my initial vision for the set, Usually I stick pretty close to the sketch allowing some wiggle room for things to change, as they always do! : ) 

Hardly "Bob the Builder"!

In the August issue of Better Homes & Gardens, my assistant Jeanne Lurvey and I were called upon to create a set for the magazines Style section, I do this for them every month. The section uses real women, professionals or mom's that are making a difference. This month we were given the opportunity to work with Kate Frick, co founder of Brubacher Building Workshop, a contract design firm based in Lawrence, Kansas. Kate's background is in fine art and architecture, her partner and boyfriend Jesse Brubacher is in construction, They work as designers and builders rolled into one, both taking on the designing and construction together. Check out there work on www.brubacherbuilding.com.

Kate can get down and dirty on a construction site so the juxtaposition of her dressed in feminine clothes to a representation of her environment was an interesting one. I used a finish on the wall that was evocative of finishes she does in her own work. Using a rough wooden floor and building elements such as vintage tools and tool boxes, hard hats, we created a "workshop feel" that would fit in with the theme. You can also see my initial sketches for the set, something that I do for every set designed.

The behind the scenes shots here show the scope of the set, It is not a huge set by any means but it can be surprising how much goes into even creating one set, often for one image. Here are also some details of that set that may have been lost in the final outcome.

The story was shot by the very talented Fashion Photographer, Perry Hagopian, www.perryhagopian.com.