JAN DANIELS X BLEU BEE DESIGNS
On June 7 an artist sent me a message on Instagram. I have never been contacted by an artist prior to this and I honestly didn’t know what to expect.
I certainly would not have thought that only months later we would be launching more than just an Instagram collaboration, but let’s take it back to the beginning.
When Jan Daniels (@artist.jan) first reached out to me she casually wanted to know if we could chat about working together. I was open to the idea since I am a huge supporter of collaborating with other creatives.
After a couple of phone calls with Jan, “Design is Art+Art is Design” was born.
While I have always felt drawn to art as an inspiration point in designing spaces, now I had the opportunity to truly work alongside an artist and discover how closely related our creative processes actually are. This realization is actually how we named our collaboration.
Jan and I decided initially on a six -week collaboration where she would provide art pieces that she created and I would design the spaces to enhance her artistic abilities.
Throughout our time working together a friendship between creatives, flourished. Jan and I realized that our love for color runs deep … into our closets! As fans of the most colorful and inspiring artistic wardrobe (all prints are actually hand drawn first!) when Jan and I met in person for the first time we were both wearing our favorite, Lilly Pulitzer.
Walking into an artist’s home studio like Jan’s, is such a treat for someone who has only ever seen art as a finished product being sold to others. To see the ins and outs of many pieces of work while they are in progress truly brought to life my appreciation for art on a different level. Jan shared with me the stories of Rae, which was born out of the love for her granddaughters and the desire to bring about a more lighthearted sense of art that would be used in children’s spaces.
It was almost ironic when I realized that I had been followed by an Instagram account just a couple of months prior called The Untamed Square , and one of the pieces that I absolutely adored on this account was by none other than Rae- who come to find out is Jan‘s “alter ego” as we lovingly call it.This led to an almost comical confession that I had felt so deeply drawn to this whimsical portrait of two girls side-by-side that I had no idea I would one day be working alongside the artist who created it.
As our six week collaboration ensued, Jan would send me pieces often times sending me home with physical pieces of art so that I could then render a room, or style art shelving, or complete fabric and textile complements to her art. Our friendship and business began to grow as we both saw a boom in new followers and have since become rather good friends, especially when it comes to rescuing one another.
I would be remiss if I did not tell y’all the story of being stranded in San Marco, an adorably historic neighborhood in Jacksonville Florida. It was your typical hot and steamy summer day in July when Jan and I met to exchange artwork and to photograph the very final video for our series “art is design design is art.”We had grand plans to take Jan‘s art which I had been lent and photograph it around the historic and beautiful tree-lined streets of San Marco. No sooner did we finish the video for our final week of our series then I went to have Jan get in my car and drive around scouting out photo locations for her art. We had both been so excited about the prospect of getting such beautiful photos in nature with art that is clearly inspired by Jan‘s love of nature. My car wouldn’t start and that was just the beginning of it. If you don’t know Jan personally I need you to know that she humbly claim to not be an expert at jumping cars but she sure gives it her absolute best!So here we are two Lilly – loving girls Stranded in the historic San Marco Square sweating our tails off and looking anything but chic.Admittedly my sweetie came to the rescue and seven hours later my car was towed off. It turns out Jan really did know how to use jumper cables but alas the problem was bigger than that.
But I digress, Jan and I are able to laugh at the many memories that we have created throughout our six week collaboration which I am excited to say will launch into something bigger next month.
I can’t give away all of the details just yet but I hope that you will take the time today, as you relax and sip on your Sunday coffee this afternoon to read The Untamed Square‘s most recent blog post by none other than Jan Daniels, herself.If you have not yet had the privilege to either know an Artist, to see the artistic process from beginning to end, or to have purchased a piece of painting that you know the heart and soul of the artist who created it, I formally invite you to head over to check out The Untamed Square .
The Untamed Square is an online art collective of Art for the Home – Made in the Home.Each artist that is in the collective was hand selected by a very discerning team of creatives. There you will find the stories and souls of the most wonderful artists that we have gathered to this point.
Again, I encourage you to follow this link to read Jan Daniels’ most recent blog post for The Untamed Square, and keep a close eye out around the middle of September for some exciting news! Happy Sunday y’all!
Creatively,
Bee
I remember thus story from Jan’s perspective! So glad she sent that message! To new beginnings!