This next feature is actually a collaboration of two insanely talented artists…Catherine Conlin, creative designer of Wiggy Flowers and Lauri Levenfeld (who brought along her partner, Kate Webber, to help shoot the photos) of Zoom Photography. The pair work together regularly on some of the Bay Areas most gorgeous events, so it seemed natural for them to partner up on this project.
Lauri is well versed in Catherine’s unique style of beauty and grit, thus the photos represent both of the vendor’s philosophies…”finding the unusual, the experimental, the industrial and the modern, while encompassing the sensual, the sensible, the romantic and the whimsical.”
When searching for studio space, Catherine was looking for a raw urban space with great light and community. It took her nearly a year, but when she stumbled upon Tammy Bickel’s incredible metal sculpture studios and garden, she knew that this would be the ultimate space for her work. The studio became a melting pot for all of Catherine’s loves and dedications.
The studio houses three wall size Monopoly paintings by Catherine herself. Catherine had been playing Monopoly with her nephews, when she came up with a plan to help her fellow artists obtain studios for their artistry. While she created all the property cards for the monopoly board in life-size, (the paintings are 5’3” wide—her height—by 6’ tall, to scale of the cards), her metal sculptor friends would make the die cast pieces in statue size, and others would make the game board. At the end, Catherine had hoped to have an interactive Monopoly game and auction where all the proceeds would go towards grants for living spaces for artists, however, Wiggy Flowers took off in a whirlwind of excitement and she never had the opportunity to finish the set.
Overall, the studio is an imaginative structure housing an eclectic, yet decisive style. Conlin’s design sensibilities come from the concept of clean and modern in the midst of ruin and decay. Beauty in cracked walls, patterns in conduit pipes. And the end result is nothing short of gorgeous.
