SUMMER WINDOW

Looking at my past creations for new inspiration.... here is a summer window display I created. I love this zen approach...... sometimes it is the most successful approach as each element certainly takes on a high degree of importance! Had fun with this one.

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RED in Design - RED in February

How about RED!  Well, it is February and RED is everywhere in the retail stores on Main Street or online cyber stores to create the spirit of Valentine gift giving.  To foster the spirit I will share my creative endeavors in various mediums using the color RED. Above, The RED Violin is a photograph used as stock photography in several publications and has come to life in an E-MotionCard - The Violin.

Window Display - The top RED pepper spinning says "Do You Want"...... with the remaining spinning peppers plus peppers on the floor holding choices of:  Denial - Bliss - Lies - Truth -  Reality - Love - RED Peppers or Byblos (the designer of featured clothing).  I was playful in spirit with this window installation and at the same time hoping it would be somewhat thought provoking.

The RED Shoes - Photograph used as Stock Image.  For quite some time I got lost in the world of photographing small objects.  Was a delightful world of discovery as you could only guess what the finished print would reveal.  Of course this was in the day of the film cameras and One Hour Photo.  

As a set decorator for major ad campaigns I had a huge range of assignments.  This RED tent was one of my favorite challenges.  The shoot was on a dry lake bed in California for several days with lots of props.  I was responsible for renting a full size circus trapeze set, gigantic kites, and miscellaneous props with the most exciting assignment of designing a RED satin tent that could change shape for the various shots. 

The RED Chair is another small world photograph used as a stock image in a variety of publications.  

Baby Guess - 0 to 14-  store windows were great fun to conceptualize and install.  Here I chose the theme of a 50's like ice cream parlor for the kids.  This corner is just a very small area in a large window display with lots of kids and babies having fun or taking their job very seriously as this little girl is!  RED accents in the clothing and the set brought the scene to life.

Ah, and this is a new motion Valentine e-card I just designed for E-MotionCards using figures from vintage postcards,  romantic piano music, love and the color RED. Check it out!  Magical Love

Last image in my RED story is this majestic RED Dalhia, a photograph I took as a fine art print. It has found it's way into an E-MotionCard also.  The RED Flower.

All images are copyright by Sherrie Hunt 1996 - 2009 and may not be reproduced without consent of the artist.

DESIGN ON DISPLAY

The rock stars, the movie stars, producers and directors, the trendy, and the wanna-a-be-seen along with other celebrities of the world would pass through the doors of Maxfield, the Los Angeles boutique for avant-garde designer clothing while I was on the other side of the wall working in the window or searching through the racks for inspiration. Creating cutting edge, visual or thought provoking windows for the highest profile window in southern California, which I did in the mid 90's, was indeed a challenge as I changed the display once a week for two years! Previously I had designed the windows for the Baby Guess stores with story-themed displays often times playing out inner personal relationships with the baby and kid mannequins ........ well that is another story for another time.

Inspiration came from diverse sources - the usual and expected: museums and gallery shows in L.A .and N.Y., diverse prop rental houses, amazing weekly swap meets as well as pouring through periodicals of all sorts, art history books but many of my most successful windows were inspired by my inner world and the need to express feelings or angst, communicate beliefs or the desire to be experimental with materials and ideas. As the challenge was before me once a week, I had the opportunity to follow many paths and ideas, but oh, when those ideas didn't come easily wasn't exactly what I would call a good time.

The photos are of the two test windows I designed and installed in hopes of landing the gig. I had to do a lot of fast talking to even grab the opportunity to do a test window as my experience was based on children's clothing store windows which were at the opposite end of the spectrum of cutting edge and quite honestly I didn't fit the profile for an L.A. window designer. I was older than the young flamboyant designers, didn't have spiky or red flaming hair as one fan who had not previously met me expressed he expected. Indeed, it was a great adventure and growing experience as an artist.

First window (above):
After purchasing a mannequin and an outfit from a thrift store I painted the dressed guy solid light blue. From there I created a set in which I painted everything the same color except for several orange plastic fish. The finished design had a surreal storyline with the fish flying out of the bowl and all else oddly placed. The merchandise was a pair of leather shoes I was reluctantly given for fear the heat of the window would shrink the $1,000. pair of shoes! Oops.

For the second window I created a design in honor of the painter Frieda Kahlo whose work was being shown at the Los Angeles County Museum. After purchasing a mannequin I painted her face to resemble that of Frieda Kahlo and dressed her with thrift store clothes (except for a scarf that was merchandise), created the bird necklace as was in one of her paintings, painted an oil painting referencing several of her paintings and built the picture frame out of formcore. The window was a huge success.

Check out the E-MotionCards e-card Guardian Angel created using an image of one of my window designs.