Last Tuesday evening, we had a reception to celebrate the opening of a special month-long exhibition in an annex gallery right next door to our store. It features the internationally celebrated artist Benjamin Long (UNC ‘67), a variety of other artists, and a new selection from Magoo’s incredible collection of antiques. A portion of the proceeds will go to benefit the Women’s Center of Chapel Hill.

Ben Long will be joining us for an informal reception tomorrow evening. He will be in town for several days to paint the portrait of UNC president Erskine Bowles. If you’re in the area, please stop by! The reception begins at 6:30 in our Annex Gallery, 144 East Franklin Street (right next door).

Dale Dixon admires Ben Long drawings

antique sofa with updated linen upholstery, Louis St. Lewis paintings above; Jonathan Robinson pieces center and at left.

Vintage French posters

Toots, Magoo, Louis St. Lewis, Kimberly Kyser

photography by Jonathan Young

Who’s ready for Spring? At Toots & Magoo, we have all been craving sunshine and a warm breeze. We are so anxious that we put together a spring inspiration board with some of our favorite items. A few themes came about: bright colors, soft textiles and floral patterns. Makes you want to kick off your sandals, sit on the grass and sip on a glass of sweet tea…

Tom’s Shoes Founder Blake Mycoskie

Good looks aside, this Blake guy is really something special. Bill Clinton recently introduced him as “one of the most interesting entrepreneurs [he’s] ever met.”

Blake has created a “One for One” business model that is revolutionizing the way people shop, encouraging conscientious consumerism. Not only that, he’s inspiring a new (and crucial) wave of entrepreneurialism, asking people who want to start small companies to incorporate giving into the model. Seeing Blake’s business thriving during an “economic downturn” makes me wonder. Surely, things aren’t so bad. Maybe it’s time to change the way we do things.

It was an amazing surprise to host him at the shop yesterday during his campus visit and even more amazing to hear Blake say Toots & Magoo “is the kind of store [he] could spend all day in.”

Thanks, Blake!

In case you’re wondering, he bought a rainproof journal. Go figure.

(Also, check out Blake’s new AT&T commercial.)

Opening: Thursday, February 5, 5:30-8:00pm
Exhibition: January 29 – February 21, 2009

Kiki Smith
Falcon, 2003
Etching, aquatint and drypoint on mold-made Hahnmühle paper
Plate: 25″ × 20″ Sheet: 34.75″ × 28″
Publisher and printer: Harlan & Weaver, Inc., New York
Edition: 30

Valerie Hammond
Kiki Coral Tree, 2005
Print process on wax, hand beaded
30″ × 42″

One of the artists we represent was recently featured in the New York Times!

Jonathan Robinson –- the featured artist -– is originally from the US, but has lived in France for many years. His studio is in a converted mill called the Moulin Bregeon in a remote but stunning region of the Loire valley. In addition to studio space, he uses the mill as a guest house, which was the main focus of the article. Robinson focuses on oil paintings, as well as large scale pastel works. While the pastels are interesting to me it is his paintings that really shine in my eyes. Many of them are small and intimate in scale and named after his neighbors. There is just something so charming about the combination of bold color and the antique human characters in period dress.

Robinson’s pastels are larger than life and initially rendered in exquisite detail. He then brushes back over them, to obscure the details, in a process analogous to forgetting a memory. What was once crisp is now a little bit blurry around the edges, but no less beautiful for it.

In this picture of his studio from the Times’ slide show, many of the works shown are now exhibited in our gallery.

You can read the article here or follow go see the Moulin Bregeon web page.