(re-post)
As a first-wave Baby Boomer I grew up across the years now called mid-century modern; an ongoing influence, I now realize.
The bohemian/hippie lifestyle of the Sixties segued into home and family. Salvation Army finds turned out to be antiques when we stripped off the paint and learned about refinishing. Our first home, an 1867 Arts and Crafts that had stood empty for seventeen years, welcomed the Quebec armoires, Ontario pine boxes, Mission oak rocking chair, brass beds, Hoosier cabinet, tin ceiling tiles, wicker floor lamp, church vestry carpet … and in the renovation/restoration we added to them.
Several years later a growing family and an irksome commute took us from small town Ontario to Toronto and we adapted the furniture, accessories, architecture to the different space, different environment; the simplicity of Scandinavian and Shaker and Art Deco crept in to join the kept antiques and complement them; to influence the renovations.
Since then, across many moves and many changes, this kind of fine-tuning continues.
Aged sixty-five. Now what? I look around and observe.
We are already more than a decade into the new century. I see myself, and others, being attracted to – some! – of the mid-century modern of our childhood: chrome, simple lines, lightness, one instead of many, geometrics, convenience, meaningful.
I am now on a quest, with this awareness, to identify new-century modern in what already exists today and more consciously use it in my own work.