One of New York's most prominent interior designers - portraits of Sister Parish's dogs

I was commissioned by Sister Parish of Parish-Hadley (she decorated the White House for Jacqueline Kennedy) to paint her  beloved Pekinese dogs in the early 1980's. The oil paintings are quite small, the largest being 3" tall and they were all done in 1984.  Her dogs were notoriously beautiful but one was also mean and bit people. I used to meet Sister Parish for lunch in Far Hills, New Jersey with Nancy Pierrepont, another wonderful interior designer (who worked for  Brooke Astor),  and we spent lazy afternoons talking about about dogs, beauty and art.

I am a German Expressionist at heart!

My mother was half German, so it is only natural that a German Expressionistic side would show up in my art at some point. The objects and other paintings I do are usually done in a more precise, controlled manner, but in this series of small paintings of women (begun in the middle 1980's) I let my expressionistic side go wild, with lots of distortions, odd proportions, unusual perspectives and harsh lines, with a dash of evil, all characteristics of German Expressionism.

Remembering Fab by Jarrett Hedborg

I found a photo of this painting recently and was thinking how some dogs can remind you of a certain time in your life. This is Miriam's portrait of Jack Nicholson's dog Mr. Fabulous, or " Fab", as he was known to his close friends.

Two stories about Fab:

Jack shared a driveway with Marlon Brando so after entering the gate, it was left to Marlons' and right to Jacks'. At Jack's Fab was always there to greet you, this large black lab with soulful eyes. Marlon had two mean German Shepherds that lunged at you car. I think a man's dog says alot about him. I must admit Marlon was always nice to me, maybe not so much to others. One day while Jack was away I was at his house doing whatever was called for. I walked up the driveway to get the mail and Fab came along. Halfway down the driveway Fab started growling. I looked around and saw Marlon's two German Shepherds coming for me. Fab turned around, sat down on my feet and growled a growl that let the two Shepherds know what they were in for. Marlon's canine thugs stopped in their tracks, turned around and sulked away.

Second story:

Jack once set up a meeting with three people at the same time. On a cold morning there was me, Hal Ashby and, lets just say a talented prick in the entertainment industry. After Jack apologized for his over-scheduling, the talented prick demanded to be seen first as his time was quite valuable though history has shown that has not always been the case with him. Hal said, "Jarrett and I will be outside" as he escorted me and Fab out to Jack's cold windy deck. I wanted to go back and get my jacket but Hal said no, we were going to sit there and look at the view and ignore Jack and the prick. So there we sat , with Fab between us both of us hugging this large dog trying to keep warm. I finally said, "Hal I'm going to freeze out here", and Hal said, "No, If we laugh it will keep us warm", which made me laugh and which makes that cold day, sitting in the wind laughing with Hal Ashby and hugging Fab to stay warm...hard to forget

I suggested to Jack that Miriam should paint Fab's portrait which he thought was a good idea, and I asked him if there was anything Miriam should know about Fab? Jack said for her to seek Fab's essences, whatever that means. Miriam went to work and as we know she works slowly. By the time she was done with the portrait of Fab he had become ill and died, so when I took the portrait to Jack I was worried what Jack would think, had she caught the "essential Fab"? I brought the finished portrait up to Jack's one morning and put it in front of him as he was eating his breakfast, he looked at it, paused, and burst into tears...a boy and his dog. I noticed sometime later that he had put the portrait next to his bed which I found interesting as Miriam's portrait of my beloved dog hangs next to my bed. So Miriam's portrait of Fab hangs next to Jack's bed. In this jewel of a painting Fab's spirit lives on, watching, protecting his old friend.

Jarrett Hedborg - Miriam Slater furniture designs

This website features the furniture designs of Jarrett Hedborg and has some custom designs that we on over the years. To see more visit  jarretthedborgfurniture.com

The gold leaf and lacquer Japanese style crow table seen here (the table was Jarrett's design) was commissioned by Jack Nicholson who liked it so much he ordered two tables more in varying sizes for his other homes.

Other collaborations include the above backgammon table (with faux malachite inlay and trompe l'oeil items from the owner's magic memorabilia collection). The bottom dresser was done in silver leaf with painted Japanese fans and was done for Hedborg's client Anjelica Huston in the 1980's.

Lorser Feitelson inspired box

This lacquer letter box was inspired by a striking Lorser Feitelson “Magical Space Form” painting done in the early 1940’s. The color scheme is based on Feitelson’s use of a limited palette consisting mostly of reds and greens as can be seen in his magical space form painting on the bottom left. On the box, the focus is on a similar darker red and green palette, employing a variety of tints, hues and chroma. Although playing card designs are often seen in the lacquer boxes in this series, this is the only box done in this amorphic, surreal style.

In the 1980’s I also made a series of very small magical space form inspired paintings (such as the one at the bottom right which is 3.5 x 2". More of my surreal paintings can be seen at miriamslaterart.com).

Miriam Slater in Wikipedia

I am now in wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Slater

Miriam Slater's studio in Apartment Therapy Magazine

My studio was included in this article in Apartment Therapy Magazine: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/workspace/harry-miriams-artistic-creative-spaces--150522