House - The Mining Journal

OPEN HOUSES: 3D
House
Unique design concept
Jazzed-up
STAIRCASES
2D
To
Home
THURSDAY
JULY 7, 2016
Local lenders surveyed
Check out current
MORTGAGE RATES
2D
On Gardening
Dogwood’s
beauty seen
all summer
T
he last of the “hounds of spring” is in its glory.
Dogwood. The flamboyant show began back in
late winter when cornelian cherry (Cornus
mas), a kind of dogwood, swathed its branches
in a veil of small, yellow
blossoms. That display
was followed by one from
the familiar flowering
dogwood (C. florida), on
whose heels, at ground
level, came bunchberry
(C. canadensis). Then it
was the turn of pagoda
dogwood (C. alternifolia),
its white blossoms on
branches tiered like the
roofs of a pagoda.
Summer is when white
blossoms begin spilling in
profusion from among
kousa dogwood’s (C.
LEE REICH
kousa) dark green leaves.
These blossoms are especially welcome because they fill
the vacuum that follows the burst of color from springblooming trees and shrubs.
NOT REALLY FLOWERS
In fact, what we’ve been admiring from all these
“hounds” are not flowers at all. These dogwoods’ true
flowers are relatively inconspicuous. The alleged flowers
are actually leaves — modified leaves called bracts, which
are petal-like in color and in the way they lie in a whorl
just behind the true flowers. (Poinsettias also owe their
flamboyance to bracts rather than to true petals.)
The only oddball, florally speaking, among these dogwoods is cornelian cherry. Its yellow bracts are relatively
small, not much larger than the true flowers. The leaves
and bracts make up for their small size by appearing in
profusion and in clusters.
MORE TO COME
Keep an eye on all these dogwoods for the rest of the
season, for more good things are still to come. Over the
next few weeks, their fruits will begin to turn red — first
those of pagoda dogwood, then those of bunchberry and
cornelian cherry, and finally those of kousa dogwood and
flowering dogwood. Pagoda dogwood’s fruits pass
through a red stage on their way to becoming bluish black,
but the fruit stalks remain a pleasing coral pink.
Besides good looks, these fruits provide food for wildlife
and even, to some extent, humans. The tastiest are cornelian cherry fruits, which, though rarely eaten these days,
have been eaten by humans for thousands of years. Remains of these fruits have been found at Neolithic sites in
Europe, and the Roman writer Ovid referred to the fruits
as part of the Golden Age in his “Metamorphoses.” The
plant was common in 18th century English gardens, with
the harvested fruit known as cornel plums. Cornelian cherry fruits are still popular in Ukraine. Fresh cornelian cherries are a bit too robust in flavor for my palate, but if they
sit for a couple of days the flavor mellows. Just ripe, or after sitting, they are good in jams, sauces and sorbets.
Kousa fruits, round with protuberances, look like miniature medieval weapons painted pink. They’re slightly
sweet and mealy.
Even as the fruits drop from the dogwoods, don’t take
your eyes off the plants. As summer cools into autumn, all
these dogwoods’ leaves will turn color. Depending on the
weather and the species, leaves might put on either a subtle or lively show.
All the dogwoods mentioned here have been purebreds,
but some worthy mutts have entered the yard of late. Some
result from mating between flowering and kousa dogwood. Elwin Orton of Rutgers University brought these
two species together to create the so-called Stellar Series
of dogwoods. Stellar Pink is a recently named variety.
And the Venus variety is part of the Jersey Star series that
Orton created by mating kousa dogwood with yet another
dogwood, Pacific dogwood (C. nuttallii).
Above and below, these undated photos provided by The Glass House shows part of the art exhibit titled “Yayoi Kusama:
Narcissus Garden,” at The Glass House in New Canaan, Conn. (Matthew Placek-Richard Barnes/The Glass House via AP)
Outdoor art
celebrates iconic
Glass House
By KATHERINE ROTH
Associated Press
NEW CANAAN, Conn.
— Philip Johnson’s Glass
House, built in this leafy
corner of Connecticut in
1949, was always about
more than architecture.
While Johnson and his partner David Whitney lived in
the house, they turned it
and the grounds into a
haven for avant-garde art.
Artists like Andy Warhol,
Donald Judd and Frank
Stella were encouraged to
experiment and take creative risks on the 49-acre
estate — which along with
the house includes a pond,
neoclassical-style pavilion
in concrete and other small
structures.
In keeping with that tradition, the Glass House has
commissioned three outdoor
installations
by
Japanese artist Yayoi
Kusama, whose works
Johnson collected.
The works surround the
house, which is a national
historic landmark, and
highlight its art-world legacy in celebration of its 10th
tourist season and the
110th anniversary of Johnson’s birth.
“Kusama is an artist
Johnson both collected and
admired,” said Irene Shum,
curator and collections
manager at the Glass
See Glass p. 2D
2D The Mining Journal
Thursday, July 7, 2016
House to Home
Snazzy staircases set mood
By MELISSA
RAYWORTH
Associated Press
We give lots of thought to
decorating rooms but often
overlook the staircase, despite the fact that in many
homes it’s the first thing people see when they walk in the
door.
Staircase areas can be “a
great spot to introduce your
personal style,” says Brian
Patrick Flynn, who designed
HGTV’s “Dream Home
2016,” the design network’s
annual house giveaway.
A bold paint color that
might be overpowering in a
large living room can be perfect used on the tiny risers between steps. And a rug pattern that “might seem kind of
wild in a room” can add a
nice pop of style when used
as a slender runner down the
center of a staircase, says
Bethany Willard, lead designer and founder at the
Pittsburgh-based interior design firm Studio 1049.
“The simplicity of a staircase allows for a bit of fun,”
she says.
Here, Flynn, Willard and
designer Roric Tobin of the
New York design firm B&T
Global share advice on creating an inviting, stylish staircase that blends with the rest
of a home’s decor.
ASSESS THE BANISTER
It doesn’t have to be expensive to replace a boring bannister with something snappier.
“If it’s something historical
that has beauty, there’s no
sense in ripping it out,” Tobin
says. But if it doesn’t serve
the space, change it.
Or consider painting or otherwise updating the banister.
“Just putting some thought
into that detail, Willard says,
“can really personalize the
space.”
SHOWCASE YOUR
FAVORITES
“Stairwells, often considered dead space, are ideal for
showcasing
collections,”
says Flynn. “I prefer to mix
different frames in a variety
of wood finishes and metals,
and then throw in three-dimensional objects as well to
break up the rigid lines.
“When all else fails, I say
stick with black-and-white
photos, and if you’re using
art, pay close attention to
how palettes play between
each piece. If you have 11
pieces and eight of them have
similar palettes, maybe use
the other three in a different
room.”
For an entrance stairway,
Tobin suggests aiming for a
look that’s appealing but not
overpowering. Perhaps three
or four prints by the same
artist, he says, that form “a
cohesive, pared-down collection ... not too distracting.”
300 respond to social media
post promising free houses, cash
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (AP) —
About 300 people showed up outside Highland Park City Hall in hopes of getting a free
house and $100,000 in cash. They got neither.
The crowd responded Monday to a post on
social media that advertised the giveaways
as part of Black Independence Day.
Highland Park City Hall was closed Mon-
Glass from 1D
House. The new works are
meant to “playfully engage
the entire site, creating a
celebratory mood.”
Johnson and Whitney,
both of whom died in 2005,
“were great patrons of the
arts, and art interventions
like this are in complete
alignment with our history,”
she said.
NARCISSUS GARDEN
The highlight is a landscape installation, “Narcissus Garden,” which Kusama
first created for the 1966
Venice Biennale. It is comprised of 1,300 stainlesssteel spheres, each about a
foot in diameter, drifting
and bobbing on the newly
restored 1957 pond, built
by Johnson in a little valley
just below the Glass House.
The mirrored surfaces of the
paper-thin spheres reflect
viewers and the scenery
around them, including the
Pond Pavilion (1962), also
by Johnson.
The spheres skitter across
day for the July Fourth holiday. Some in the
crowd became upset and clashed with police
after learning the offers were bogus.
Police have arrested a man they say created
the post on Facebook. Chief Chester Logan
says the department is seeking a warrant
against him. About 11,000 people live in
Highland Park. The U.S. Census lists its median household income at about $20,000.
the surface with the passing
breeze and make a slight
pinging sound when they
bump against one another.
You can see them glinting
in the sunlight from much
of the estate. Versions of the
installation have appeared
in
Australia,
France,
Britain, Brazil and, in 2004,
New York’s Central Park.
In this version, the spheres
are larger, more numerous
and unrestrained.
Before its restoration, the
pond “had never been
dredged and was in danger
of becoming a wetland and
disappearing as a pond,”
Shum said.
When “Narcissus Garden”
was first installed, “the
frogs were croaking and
jumping and singing,” said
Christa Carr, a spokeswoman for the Glass House. “It
was a truly joyful moment.”
PUMPKIN
Tucked on a hillside of native grasses just above the
Glass House is one of the
87-year-old Kusama’s most
recent works, “Pumpkin”
(2015). Made of red, glittering steel, the pumpkin is
over 4 feet tall.
“In Japanese, a ‘pumpkin
head’ is an ignorant man or
a pudgy woman, but for me,
I am charmed by its shape,
form and lack of pretension,” says Kusama, who
grew up on a farm.
Both installations are to
remain on view through
Nov. 30.
DOTS OBSESSION
An additional Kusama installation, “Dots Obsession
— Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope,” will open Sept. 1
This undated photo provided by Brian Patrick Flynn shows a staircase designed by Flynn for
HGTV.com. In this entryway the stair risers are wallpapered in contrasting patterns, bringing a
dose of style and personality to a space that is often overlooked in many homes. (Brian Patrick
Flynn/Scripps Networks Interactive/HGTV.com via AP)
EMBRACE BOLD
PATTERNS AND COLOR
Tobin recommends using
bold, large-scale print wall
coverings to “really draw
your eye up the staircase.”
Homeowners often assume
that small-print patterns will
look best, he says, but they
can be boring.
One option he likes is a
flocked wall covering with
some metallic sheen, which offers warmth and classic style
but can also look contemporary if the print is modern.
Bold patterns are also great
for stair risers. You can stencil a pattern on the risers with
paint, which can easily be
painted over if you decide the
pattern isn’t for you. Or paint
them one or several rich colors.
Willard has a client who
chose to paint her risers in
various shades of green —
lightest at the top and darkest
at the bottom, in a sort of ombre effect.
Mortgage Index
30-YEAR
Rate-Fee/Pts.
15-YEAR
Rate-Fee/Pt.
High rate
3.625
1
2.75
1
Low rate
3.125
1
2.375
1
Average rate
3.343
1
2.562
1
and run through Sept. 26. It
will cover the outside of the
Glass House with red vinyl
dots of various sizes — the
first work ever to be installed on the house itself.
“It will be installed in the
fall when the leaves are all
turning, so that it can really
play on the surrounding colors,” said Carr.
All three Kusama works
can be viewed from inside
and outside the house, and
“Dots Obsession” is meant
to temporarily transform it
into what Kusama has
dubbed an “infinity room,”
featuring both the dots and
the shadows they create.
“My desire is to measure
and to make order of the infinite, unbounded universe
from my own position within it, with polka dots,”
Kusama says. “In exploring
This graphic represents
a Tuesday survey of regional lending institutions. Figures are based
on rates at Range Bank,
Northern Michigan Bank,
mBank, Marquette Community Federal Credit
Union and TruNorth
Credit Union.
this, the single dot is my
own life, and I am a single
particle amongst billions.”
Thursday, July 7, 2016
The Mining Journal 3D
Real Estate Classifieds
Open Houses
4D The Mining Journal
Thursday, July 7, 2016