Local Interior Designers and Artists to Lecture at Show House

ArtFull Living designers and artisans to speak 

Differing aspects of interior design will be highlighted in a new lecture series offered in conjunction with Cold Spring’s ArtFull Living Show House, now displayed at Glassbury Court on Route 9. Each lecture will be conducted by a local designer whose work is featured at the show house. Topics include Creating a Collection, Applications of Feng Shui and How to Start with a Concept and End up with a Home. On Tuesdays, the talks will be combined with a tour of the show house and lunch, at a cost of $40 per person. Sunday talks feature artists of the show house lecturing on a range of themes including Inspirational Ways to See Art and talks related to their specific installation and discipline. These talks, which also include a tour, cost $20 per person. Space is limited so reservations are encouraged. Groups can be accommodated and lectures scheduled to their convenience.

Schedule
Tuesday, July 10, interior designer and curator Lithgow Osborne of Garrison will speak on Creating a Collection: A Little Money Can Go A Long Way. He says, “Creating a collection seems daunting to most people, but in fact if you look around your home and really begin to look and analyze your belongings, you’ll see that you already have a ‘collection.’ You may not look at it that way, but every time you purchase any non-essential, decorative object you are building your collection. The trick to creating a collection is focus and quality.”

Osborne is a native New Yorker. He received his undergraduate degree at Sarah Lawrence and studied at the New York School for Interior Design. In addition to being a decorator, collector and curator, he was a partner in one the first galleries to be established in Chelsea, which quickly became a mecca for modern art. Closing his firm in 2002, he moved from Manhattan to Putnam County. He recently ended a stint as the manager at Malmaison, a high-end, mid-century French antiques business in Manhattan.

Sunday, July 15, Beacon’s Jessica Wickham, wood artist, will speak on Transformation: A Table From A Tree. Wickham designs and produces custom sculptural and functional furniture using sustainably-sourced local hardwoods. She maintains an inventory of over 10,000 board-feet of self-processed, natural-edge wood slabs. She encourages clients to visit the studio, select unique pieces of wood and collaborate on the design of their project. Wickham was recently commissioned to design and produce the benches for Beacon’s new Roundhouse Hotel. She maintains a studio in Beacon.

Tuesday, July 17, Cold Spring interior designer Maryann Syrek will discuss Organizing Items Within a Space: Intuitive and Practical Applications of Feng Shui. Syrek’s lecture will show people how the placement of objects creates energy within a space and how that translates into visual harmony, well-being and the feeling of a balanced room. ​​

Two decades into interior design, Syrek’s M. Studio creates spaces imbued with color and light. Although the portfolio of clients includes a restaurant design for actor Stanley Tucci, ​Syrek considers every project and client equally essential to her expression. She considers herself a provocateur when discussing a project, directing it to a new vision perhaps that the client would never have imagined. A sense of humor is always welcome during the process, and listening with an open mind is the key to lasting relationships. The studio list of clients includes restaurants, commercial spaces and private home design.

M. Studio has participated in designer show houses in the Bel Air Estates in New Jersey and the Mills Mansion show house in Staatsburg, N.Y. Recently, Syrek was featured in the spring issue of Westchester Home magazine for a custom kitchen design for long-standing clients in Rye, N.Y. Her portfolio can be viewed at mstudiogallery.com  and on Facebook. 

Sunday, July 22 Garrison artist Sheilah Rechtschaffer will speak on Green as Source, Inspiration and Fine Art. In her words, “Though the color green has been a metaphor for regeneration and a political position in my work it has subconscious application in the world of interior design. I would like to open up this question in a public forum.”

The ArtFull Living Designer Show House is located in Glassbury Court at 3370 Albany Post Road (Route 9). It is open daily except Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12 to 4 p.m. The show house will remain open through Sept. 9, 2012. For reservations and more information call ArtFull Living at 845-265-3618 or email [email protected].