mj neal

Fifth TSA Award! (5) – First Muga 82! (1)

| mjneal
El vino bueno
El vino bueno: a Prado Enea Muga 1982 a Rioja Gran Reserva

THAT is a bottle of Prado Enea Muga 1982 a Rioja Gran Reserva that we’ve had for years. We had very good reasons to open it. We just won our fifth TSA design award! It was GREAT, both the wine and the winning:-)

Thanks, Texas Society of Architects. Jurors were Philip Freelon, FAIA, president of the Freelon Group in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Mary Margaret Jones, FASLA, president of San Francisco-based landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Associates; and Rick Joy, AIA, founding principal of Rick Joy Architects in Tucson, Ariz. (Rick Joy, oh man!)

The awarded project was, again, the Wolfe Den.

Only two Austin projects were awarded at this state level this year… what a tough, tough jury! It can really be a lottery… the rest of the awarded firms/projects were in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.

Let me tell you, we were not counting on this one. The Austin design awards were tough competition already and we saw oodles of nice work there, so we were not counting on a TSA award this year, especially with MR Joy in the jury, we know just how demanding he is! Because he can.

So we’re opening wine bottles and other things:-) We were also celebrating my upcoming exhibition in Palo Alto.

And we have great news on the horizon, I think. So stay tuned! Time to celebrate and smile after all the hard work and paltry times.

Larkey is Getting There!

| mjneal

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about "Larkey is Getting There!", posted with vodpod

Viviane’s Photography to be Exhibited at the NYAXE Gallery in Palo Alto

| mjneal

(Extracted from the myartspace.com blog and email announcement)

Congratulations to the artists selected for representation at the NYAXE Gallery. 3 artists– Jane Fulton Alt, Leah Tomaino, and Miles Holbert, will have their work physically represented at the gallery. 17 others will be represented digitally.

The digitally represented artists for the May 21st NYAXE Gallery exhibit (click to view their myartspace.com profile):
(…)
The previous exhibition at NYAXE, February-March 2009
The previous exhibition at NYAXE, February-March 2009
NYAXE Gallery is located at 818 Emerson St. in Palo Alto, CA. The represented members were chosen from a selective– ongoing –competition that allows members of the myartspace.com community to compete for NYAXE Gallery representation. The gallery serves as a bridge between the online and physical art world.
The NYAXE Gallery in Palo Alto, CA marks myartspace.com as one of only a few social art sites to have a physical presence in the form of a brick & mortar gallery– as well as the only online art community to have a physical gallery presence in the heart of Silicon Valley. The NYAXE Gallery places myartspace.com members art within reach of some of the most powerful– and wealthy– professionals in the United States.
Veronicas Hair One by Viviane Vives
Veronica's Hair One by Viviane Vives
Catherine McCormack-Skiba, Founder and CEO of myartspace, notes “It’s very exciting to energize the creative spirit in Silicon Valley with world-class contemporary art. The blend of the technology innovation center of the world, and compelling art is very inspiring” (…)
Natalie by Viviane Vives
Natalie by Viviane Vives
The exhibit will open on May 21st . NYAXE Gallery is managed by Catherine McCormack-Skiba, the founder of www.myartspace.com and www.nyaxe.com. For more information about the winners visit, www.myartspace.com/nyaxegallery/winners.
(…)
How about them apples, eh? I wasn’t expecting this, not in a million years. I had forgotten all about it! They wrote that they might also have some small prints at the exhibit. I hope they pick some of mine…  their email said:
Congratulations!  Our jury panel has selected your work as part of the NYAXE Gallery Spring Exhibition.  You should be very proud — the breadth and depth of submissions was significant, and your work really stood out.
I way prefer that to… Sorry sucka’!!!!
… I’m having fun… 
Posted by Viviane

Me

| mjneal

back when I smoked…

Photo: Magda Bonet

Stopping smoking is the best thing I’ve ever done for my son, the second, I think, is taking him to the KPM Institute’s SAM School

I was elated at this TED conference video on education, besides being allowed to be free and self-initiate his education at SAMS, Kilean goes to ballet 3 times a week and is in two bands. He wrote a Haiku yesterday, though he has completely forgotten it today. I love you more than anything in the world, Kilean. My wish for you is total freedom.

And since I’m posting videos and talking about creativity, see Leonard Cohen in concert. The most fun I’ve had in a decade was on April 1 at the first Austin concert by the sexiest 70 yr old to ever live and the greatest poet of our time. I’ve been reading and listening to him since I was fifteen. It was me yelling “I love you Leonard” as explained in this review. A magic night alright. You can’t describe it with words. Go see the man if he comes by your town… To make this post a full circle, my friend, the writer Magda Bonet, who took my picture way back when and just sent it to me a million years later and a thousand kisses deep, is very good friends with the virtuoso guitarist Javier Mas who is from my home town.

Dance, Architecture, and the Senses.

| mjneal

Just perfect. MJ will like this one when he comes back from Texas Tech.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Dance, architecture, and the senses.“, posted with vodpod

Design Award 2009: The Wolfe Den

| mjneal

The American Institute of Architects in Austin has awarded MJ Neal Architects a 2009 Design Award for the Wolfe Den. We started competing for these city design awards in 2003 and we’ve won every year except for 2006, when we didn’t enter.

You can see the winners for the last three years at the AIA site.

Please enjoy the new slide show below. It’s the selection that I’ve put together for the upcoming publication in Dwell and Dwell.com. There are shots that have already been posted here and there are brand new ones! Alex and Jamie look like movie stars:-)

Wolfe Den Slideshow

tsa pool69
Storage everywhere! 

 

 

more about “the slide show“, posted with vodpod

FIlm and Architecture anyone?

| mjneal

We, us, MJ Neal, AIA and Viviane Vives, taught a graduate advanced design studio at the University of Texas, Arlington.

This video explores how the use of film as a research tool in architecture informed the students’ projects and changed them. The students achieved a completely different relationship to the site by the use of documentary filmmaking.

Film was also used as a creative expression medium and a presentation element but the emphasis was on it’s use as a knowledge base tool. All self-consciousness was left at the door. We wanted truth, passion, we particularly fought any “architect’s preciousness.”  Focus was on obliterating mythologies and keeping it real, to open them up and to make them reach the bottom of the reality of the site and the people that inhabited it.

All students shared a pool of footage and learned from each other, sharing their findings and drawing their own conclusions.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “FIlm and Architecture anyone?“, posted with vodpod

Devil’s Backbone’s Taking Shape

| mjneal

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about "Devil’s Backbone’s Taking Shape", posted with vodpod

Larkey Addition + Remodel Progress Report

| mjneal

The house is really fleshing out and I think these shots reflect how the house is starting to feel! We are excited about how this project is turning out.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Larkey Addition + Remodel Progress Re…“, posted with vodpod