I am selling my entire kanzashi collection to benefit the environment...

As some of you know, over the years I put together a collection of antique Japanese hair ornaments. I was touched by their exquisite craftsmanship, the refined aesthetic and their poetic quality. After a lot of personal reflection it has become apparent to me that it is now time to sell these beautiful objects and give the proceeds in the defending and protection of nature. The kanzashi will be slowly listed on ebay and all proceeds will benefit the tortoises and elephants that gave up their lives for these pieces. The rest of the proceeds will go to ending the ongoing, absolutely heart wrenching slaughter of dolphins which occurs in Taiji, Japan every year (on a daily basis for months on end). That  little village has slaughtered one million dolphins to date, and all the damage is done by a group of 40 or so men. It is time for this practice to end since they also kill endangered dolphins species as well.  For those of you who wish to learn about the plight of the dolphins in Japan please take a look at the award winning movie "The Cove".  I am happy to become an active voice and assist in the ending of this barbaric practice.

My collection

Trailer for the cove

Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project

My new wine label design for the Diana Basehart Foundation

The Diana Basehart Foundation has been helping low income dog/cat owners pay for their pets medical expenses which as we all know, are quite high these days. It was founded by the lovely Diana Basehart, who also founded Actors and Others for Animals in Los Angeles.  Diana (who was married to actor Richard Basehart), is an animal activist, has saved the lives of many thousands animals over the course of her life and continues helping them through her foundation in Santa Barbara. I recently did a portrait of her Yorkie Nell (a rescue dog) which will be used on the wine from Dog Hill Winery in Santa Ynez. The wine will be available in November with all proceeds going to the care of sick animals in the county. More information on what the foundation does can be seen at http://basehart.org/

Diana Basehart is shown below her beloved Nell and with board member Tipper Gore.

A love affair with faux leopard....

I have always painted faux leopard and other animal skins over the years. There is something about the luminous mottled textures of leopard skin that is so striking visually. Here are some examples of some faux leopard skin art I did dating from the 1970's on through to today. The leopard fans are currently available on Etsy.

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.