I’ve always been a pretty lucky duck when it comes to filling our walls with great art. My mom is an artist, and because she has more masterpieces than she has wall space at her house, she’s been kind enough to lend us lots of great pieces. After all, she says, the paintings are safer on the walls than they are hiding in the basement. True dat, Mommio.
I think that fortunate exposure to (and abundance of) so much original work has allowed Jared and I a little time and wiggle room when it comes to finding new pieces for our place. We decided way back when that original work was the way to go and thought it would be fun to start collecting a bit of local fare from the places we travel and live together. So on our honeymoon, we snagged a moody little oil-painted seascape from an art shop in Monterey that we loved, but we hadn’t done much art buying since. Until I came across the adorable map pictured above. Swoon.
The map was made by Kristen Brown of Hoot Design Co., a design business based here in Columbia. I’ve been a fan of Hoot Design Co. for a while now but hadn’t sprung for any pieces. Then a few weeks ago I was browsing Young House Love and came across this little gem on one of their posts. And wouldn’t you know it? The featured piece was a map of our very own Columbia, Mo.! Woo to the hoo! Needless to say, I purchased one from Hoot’s Etsy store tout de suite. And no, it isn’t because I’m a mappy person (actually, just the site of most maps makes me instantly carsick. Eesh!). But I love that this hyper-local, not-so-typical approach to cartography screams, “I heart Columbia!” loud and clear. Not to mention that now, no matter where life’s road might take us, we’ll always have this adorable typographic take on our first home together. Aww.
And in the spirit of loving on the locals, another one of my recent faves is the letterpress art from 1canoe2, a snazzy design duo that operates an old-as-time printing press from Shryock’s Big Red Barn just east of Columbia. They do amazing work: all hand-drawn art that they turn into plates to be fed through the printing press and made into all sorts of happy-inducing products like prints, calendars and recipe cards. I’m currently loving this coaster set (we had a handy set of cardboard-ish coasters from a restaurant in Atlanta, but puppy-aged Ella chewed them to bits). Wouldn’t you love to set your drink on a donut? Too cute.
So that’s a sampling of the local fare around our Midwestern hub. What’s looking pretty in your neck of the woods? Any favorite pieces from recent travels? How do you go about buying art for your space?
XO,
Katrina
1canoe2 image from http://www.etsy.com/shop/1canoe2.