In midieval San Gimignano tall towers were the symbol of wealth and power. Eventually there were 72 such structures rising ever higher in this Tuscan hilltop village. Today few still remain. In Palm Beach, Florida such symbols are thriving and are indeed literally living testaments to it’s denizens modern day power and wealth. Let me introduce you to the…
If only I had a last name that sounded fabulous spelled backwards. Arnold Issacs had such luck. In 1954 he was commissioned to create 10 dresses for a General Motors magazine ad. He charged $1,000 per dress, a vast sum in the fifties, and insisted that his name be emboldened in each ad. As the…
I didn’t manage to capture the dolphins dancing and playing for us in the bay below our house but did capture the hummingbirds feeding on the cactus flowers. Here is a photo gallery of some of the wild goats ,chickens , donkeys ,insects, lizards,birds, flowers and trees that make St. John their home.
New article on me in the Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/article/932594–artist-in-residence-vivian-reiss Artist in Residence: Vivian Reiss – thestar.com Outside, it is your standard, upscale red brick Annex house. Inside, it could be the domicile of the love child of Scheherazade and Salvador Dali.
One of the joys of walking on the beach is looking for seashells and other objects the tide has placed there. Training your eye on the ground, you see new forms and shapes both in and out of context. I found a big piece of polished coral with a hole carved out of it and thought…
This is my new website, check out all my projects! http://www.vreissdesign.com/landscapes/`
Buying groceries at the local supermarket named Starfish, I was also perusing the aisles for local fare. The only thing I came up with were basketfuls of tubers; tania, local sweet potatoes and yams. They were positioned in baskets next to several varieties of potatoes. I asked the women behind the deli counter how to prepare them. As I held…
Rainbow St. John Balmy tradewinds or Arctic blast? As I am in the the Caribbean, I thought those in the cold would enjoy a virtual dose of vitamin D, a video that Dan Goodbaum took at my rooftop garden tomato tasting in Toronto last August. http://www.foodbomb.org/2010/video/530
I am on the furthest eastward point of St. John US VI in a beautiful rented villa open to the sea and air on all sides. The only discordant part of the gorgeous setting and decor are the fake indoor plants that seem to be de rigueur in vacation homes. The silliest is the fake banana tree…
Touring Hungary, several years ago, I had to laugh as we passed Lake Balaton. Even being used to flowery Hungarian exaggerations, the fact that Hungary is a landlocked nation, and that Lake Balaton is the largest lake in central Europe, Balaton, didn’t seem to be “the great inland sea” that I had always heard it called. What passed as Hungary’s “ocean”…