Cocktail Hour with Skip and Olivia, and Karen Lofgren cake conversation
As the big day draws closer, the list of things we need to think about grows longer. I'm sure this is the case for any couple getting married, but as our strategy for making a wedding is drastically different than all others, we're pretty sure that we're having more fun, and unique fun at that. Whereas most brides would be pulling pages out of a Martha Stewart magazine, or pulling out their hair, we're meeting with artists to talk about their ideas for the flowers, the program, and just about everything else. These past few weeks have been like a studio visit train and the ride continues...
Bec, Ruben, Tif and I had the pleasure of visiting Skip Arnold and Olivia Prime (a married couple as it so happens) in their studio recently to check in on the progress of their pieces. Skip will make a work based on the tradition of throwing rice as the couple leave the ceremony. Olivia will be making the program. We're not going to spoil any surprises here, but we will confess our excitement for the ideas they've been brewing. I will however tell you that Skip had originally proposed a very romantic, somewhat uncharacteristic piece wherein the bride and groom leaving the ceremony would break through a thin sheet of water barracading the exit. Their exit would be filmed and the slow motion moment of breakage would be the piece. I loved it...fairly shivered with delight, but after talking it through with Bec and Ruben after he'd proposed an alternate idea, we decided to go with the latter, since it is more Skip-like, and I want the works to reflect their makers. Olivia will be making an interactive program - one in which each program will be like a single cell in a beehive, and as guests arrive and take their own proam, the structure will change, shrink and disassemble. It's brilliant. Thanks Skip and Olivia for the invitation to a lively cocktail hour in your studio.
Last week we met with Karen Lofgren who is making the cake, Get Hubbied style. Originally we asked Karen to approach the cake topper sculpturally; it usually depicts a figurine of both bride and groom in full wedding attire. She proposed to also design the cake itself, and with my blessing and to our delight did so in the most singular way. What artist doesn't think about their podium? Again, we're not going to give anything away, but what we can say is that this is going to be a rare dessert - 'one-of-a-kind' does not do it justice.
This weekend we're meeting with artists George Stoll and next week, Tyler Hubby.