Spectra Home announced this week it will put on two educational events for retailers and designers at the upcoming High Point market.
“A Curator’s Talk on Art & Furniture,” is set for Sunday, April 15 at 10 a.m. in the Spectra Home showroom located in the Hamilton Wrenn design district in the North Court of 200 N. Hamilton (Space 213). The special presentation features Maxine Campbell, founder of Unique Home Art & Objects Unlimited, and an all-star cast of artists who will be on hand to discuss their work. Campbell, who served as curator of High Point University’s Sechrest Art Gallery for a decade, will focus her talk on the finer points of pairing art and furniture, considering genre, scale, color palette and arrangement.
Much like the opening of a major gallery, a meet-and-greet with featured artists will include young contemporary artist, Jon Rollins, who makes abstract and non-representational work through media experimentation and variations of process. A 2017 recipient of the Penland School of Craft’s David Marshall Scholarship, he has exhibited work throughout North Carolina and in the Ars COCO Collection, an initiative showing worldwide emerging artists in Madrid galleries. Also in the mix are children’s book illustrator Janet Oliver, Greensboro artist and licensed designer Kathy Phillips and UNCG art teacher Mariam Stephan who works abstractly with ink washes.
On view throughout Market will be the atmospheric works of Argentinian artist Fernanda Piamonti and pastels by the late Richard Furmanski, an illustrator for the N.C. Shakespeare Festival whose work is part of High Point University’s permanent art collection. Also featured among the selections of fine art from national and internationally recognized artists will be works by the late Ben Gilbert and Virginia Rose Campbell.
According to Campbell, the Unique Home Art & Objects artworks are printed on white-coated aluminum, giving them a distinct, modern quality with a surface that glows like glass.
“Unique Home’s curated lines of art are the ideal complement for Spectra Home’s upholstered furniture offerings which, while accessibly priced, appeal to consumers with higher taste levels,” notes Greg Curry, Director of merchandising and product development. “For independent dealers interested in creating excitement on their floors and generating usable ideas that will engage their customers, Maxine is a not-to-be-missed speaker.”
On Monday, April 16 at 10 a.m., the focus turns to performance fabrics. “The fact is that there are now more pets in America than children,” Curry relates. “Couple that with a sea-change in consumer attitudes about sustainable furnishings, and you have the makings of a performance fabric revolution.”
As such, Spectra Home has invited special guests Mike Willoughby and David Hancock of Revolution Performance Fabrics for “You Say You Want a Revolution,” for an in-depth look at this fast-growing category.
“A domestic line made with upcycled polypropylene and no chemical treatments, Revolution products are virtually unstainable, easy to clean and extremely durable, yet beautiful and soft,” Curry relates. “We are excited to partner with them and their provocative, fast-paced presentation will provide retailers and designers with everything they need to understand and profit from this new and important direction in upholstered furniture.”
