ARTISTS AT WORK Published on October 12, 2002
© 2002- The Press Democrat
BY DEBRA D. BASS
During a casual tour of any home, visitors oooh over vaulted ceilings and picture windows, ahhhh over kitchen accoutrements and flooring, coo over tasteful and exotic furnishings alike, but they'll rave about the bathroom if it suits their fancy.
The quarters constitute a household necessity that probably has the greatest potential to inspire envy. Since ancient times when baths were havens of relaxation and reflection because of their rarity, bathrooms have retained a mystical allure.
Serene, indulgent nooks where new days begin, grueling episodes end and fantasies take flight are not more prevalent in any other form.
"It's a very sensuous space and can be very sacred to some people," said Santa Rosa artist Stephen Fitz-Gerald, who will debut his latest luxury bathroom fixture designs during the two-weekend ARTrails open studio tour beginning today.
ARTrails now includes more than 150 artists who produce original works that defy the norm and redefine the unexpected.
Typically a wonderful introduction for local artists to the public, the ARTrails tour has generally showcased works that an artist has produced especially for the occasion.
ARTrails artists invite the public into their private studios, generally open only by appointment, to display a mixed bag of art objects and styles, including jewelry, fused glass, silk scarfs, furniture, pottery, hats, photography, junk art, hand made decorative tile, handwoven fabric and a stunning array of original, oil, acrylic, encaustic and watercolor.
Show off custom work
Fitz-Gerald is among a growing number of artists using the four-day event that spans two weekends to show off commercial custom work as well. Instead of picking up a ready-made piece of art on display in his garden, home and studio off Wilfred Road, west of Rohnert Park, Fitz-Gerald plans to feature his latest venture.
A photographer, painter, steel-sculptor, architectural artist and furniture maker, he now uses stainless steel (his medium of choice) to produce a line of bathroom sinks and faucet handles that are sleek, stylish and deceptively simple.
One-of-a-kind crenulated bowls with sections of scalloped folds that look like fluid waves in a material thick enough to withstand a bullet is a wonderful contemporary twist on powder-room accessories. The bowls will be signed and numbered and likely retail for around $2,200.
"I don't want one of these in every bathroom in the U.S.," Fitz-Gerald said. "The only way I can tolerate reproducing a piece like this is because the process is organic, the results are different every time."
He uses an 11-gauge, 18-inch round stainless steel blank that looks a bit like a washer for a giant bolt and controls the deformation as he presses it into a cup-shaped mold.
A second line of bowls that Fitz-Gerald produces in tandem with Patrick Miller of Bohemian Stoneworks in Occidental creates a concrete habitat for his more austere rounded steel bowls.
Miller creates a versatile environment that envelopes the bowls to suit a variety of tastes and sensibilities. Miller has a concrete palette that drifts from golden tan to burgundy using colored gravel and rocks.
Emphasize color flecks
The countertops can be ground down to emphasize the flecks of color in the mixture of small stones or layered to create a monochromic counter-scape.
The item will appear selectively in high-end showrooms nationwide within the coming year, but don't expect to see them mass-produced at department stores.
Fitz-Gerald expanded his artistic endeavors to include the bathroom sink, because he saw an opportunity to contribute to an atmosphere, "that can change consciousness when it's done right."
Not only is the bathroom the one room in the house where someone can legitimately steal away for a little time alone and visitors can sneak into for some solo gawking time, it requires only a few choice embellishments to really thrive.
Modern-day bathrooms are probably the closest thing to meditative space in most homes -- a little oasis of solitude that doesn't have the stress of a home office, the drowsiness of bedrooms, the demands of a kitchen or the distractions of a family room.