David Mayernik lecture in Georgetown

Join the Washington Mid-Atlantic chapter of the ICAA in welcoming David Mayernik, architecture professor at Notre Dame, author, urban planner, artist, and architect,  to Georgetown to discuss his latest book The Challenge of Emulation in Art and Architecture. I've been told by his former students that he is a charismatic and inspirational speaker!

Emulation in the classical tradition was a challenging middle ground between imitating and inventing.  The disappearance of emulation fissured artistic production in the later 18th century into either copying the past or continually seeking novelty, approaches confirmed in the 19th century and mostly taken for granted today. Mayernik will show instead how emulation operated for artists and architects of the Renaissance and Baroque, and will describe his own process of emulation as an argument for its recovery today.

Find details on the event scheduled for Thursday March 13, 2014 on the website HERE. Hope to see you there!

Classic style doesn't date

 As you well know I'm a firm believer that classic style doesn't date.  An example of this is a room by talented designers Tom Fox and Joe Nahem from the 1980s when they decorated the dining room of the Castles on the Sound showhouse (featured in the book Interior Visions).

Working with the great bones of the space, mahogany paneling and a stone fireplace surround, they re-envisioned the formal dining room for everyday use TODAY (or at least 1980s today). Beautiful classic furniture, art, and objects create a space that anyone would be happy using in 1980 or 2014. How many times have you redecorated your own living or dining room since 1980 and at what cost? Do we need any more reason to shun the overtly trendy and revel in classic style