Grand Getaway: The Salamander Resort & Spa, Southern Lady Magazine, March/April 2015

May 20, 2015 by Annalise DeVries in Editorial writing, Travel Writing

As the road winds its way through Middleburg, Virginia to the Salamander Resort & Spa, the trees give way to grassy fields that have long attracted equestrians, wine connoisseurs, and avid golfers to the area. The resort, however, offers something new. Here plush sofas, cozy fireplaces and a carefully curated art collection send the message of freshly added luxury. It can be hard to imagine that a few years ago the property was a quaint farm. Yet when Sheila Johnson first set eyes on the site, she conceived of an alternative use for the space. “I immediately saw the opportunity to build something different—a luxury retreat for the Washington, D.C. area,” she says.

Richly Restored: The Inn at Little Washington, Southern Lady Magazine, March/April 2015

March 03, 2015 by Annalise DeVries in Travel Writing, Editorial writing

When Patrick O’Connell was growing up in Washington, D.C., his parents would take the family on excursions through central Virginia to the Shenandoah Valley. These were the days before interstate highways, when small towns littered with gas stations and restaurants served as important stopping points for travelers traversing the country. Though Patrick had no way of knowing it at the time, he would later make a tire shop in the small, drive-through town of Washington, Virginia, into his own special corner of the world.

Women, Entrepreneurship and Chalk Paint, freshstylemag.com, Jan. 7, 2015

January 07, 2015 by Annalise DeVries in Editorial writing

Cara Worthley had worked as an elementary school teacher for several years when she started to feel an internal yearning to chart a different course. Perhaps she would enjoy something else more; maybe there was a better option for her. “I wanted a more creative and hands-on outlet,” she explains. So Cara started painting interiors, which soon led to decorative painting and refinishing furniture. When a friend fortuitously introduced her to Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan, Cara knew she had found what she was looking for.

“I literally searched ‘women small business painted furniture,’ and all paths kept leading to Annie Sloan,” Cara recalls

Grand Getaways: Grove Park Inn, Southern Lady, Jan/Feb 2015

January 01, 2015 by Annalise DeVries in Editorial writing

Warmth pours from a larger-than-life fireplace as guests at the Grove Park Inn seek respite from the Asheville, North Carolina, chilly winter. A step inside the Grand Hall offers not only ample heat but also a sense of walking into timeless luxury. There are carefully crafted wood furnishings, classic cocktails at the nearby bar, and, of course, views of the surrounding Appalachian peaks.

Since Edwin Wiley Grove opened the doors in 1913, the Grove Park Inn has beckoned the weary to drink deeply of the restorative relaxation that made this corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains famous. Like so many new arrivals to Asheville in the early 20th century, Grove came to western North Carolina for health reasons, hoping to find a reprieve from chronic bronchitis and persistent hiccups. His recovery was so profound that he set about making his experience available for others. Grove created a place at home in its woodland setting, building the inn from the area’s stone and crafting an experience inside that likewise emphasized the natural and holistic.

Graphic Arts: Tazewell Morton, fresh style magazine, Nov/Dec 2014

November 01, 2014 by Annalise DeVries in Editorial writing

BLACK SILHOUETTES ON a brightly colored background, faces stylistically painted in overlapping profiles, musicians on wheels, a crab playing cards—such is the multifaceted portfolio of Tazewell Morton. After more than 60 years as a professional artist, he does not describe his career as a particular kind of progression. “I’ve worked in so many different directions,” he says instead. “I just enjoy doing whatever it is I’m doing.”

Tazewell can point to the consistent influence of modernist artists like Picasso, and the graphic quality gleaned from years in advertising. His achievements include a stint at Auburn University’s art department, his alma mater, where he designed a university flag that traveled to the moon aboard Apollo 16 with fellow alumnus and astronaut Ken Mattingly. Tazewell also spent nearly 30 years working with advertising firms in New Orleans, Birmingham, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Boston.

Caught on Film: Lara Porzak, fresh style magazine, Sept/Oct 2014

September 01, 2014 by Annalise DeVries in Editorial writing

LARA PORZAK HAS JUST RETURNED from 10 days in the woods. The fine art photographer traveled from her home near Venice Beach to New Mexico, then to Colorado and, finally, all the way to New Hampshire making tintypes. “I’ll follow anybody anywhere if they’re doing tintypes,” she says, referring to a 19th-century photography style where chemicals produce an image on metal. Says Laura, “It’s one of the messiest things you can do.”

No matter the physical labor or volatile chemicals involved, Lara commits herself to the particular photographic aesthetic you cannot preview on the back of a digital camera. Using old techniques—from the Leonardo pinhole camera to the century-old daguerreotype to the 1960s Diana—she captures raw emotions, even spiritual sensibilities in grainy shades of gray.

Soul Style: A Creative Collaboration with St. Paul and the Broken Bones, fresh style magazine, Sept/Oct 2014

September 01, 2014 by Annalise DeVries in Editorial writing

MAKING THE VIDEO
While St. Paul & the Broken Bones were making their circuit at local venues, their soulful and robust crooning caught the attention of indie filmmakers Jen West and James Martin of Four X Productions. The pair was interested in applying their background in short film production to a music video and approached the band’s management. With St. Paul’s first single “Call Me” in need of a video, the label gave an enthusiastic go-ahead.

The project had one catch, though. As the first album released by Single Lock Records, the video had a limited budget of $700. By coalescing a community of talented professionals and capable do-it-yourselfers, Jen and James transformed those budgetary constraints into creative capital.