Introduce Yourself!

[EyeDance]

Greetings, fellow MCM-ites! I grew up in midcentury AZ (Tempe, PHX, southern AZ), then off we flew to Cold War Berlin in 1965. Check out my blog about all that at http://eyedancegallery.blogspot.com/
I'm an interior designer and sustainability consultant, have an online art gallery and art consultation business (focusing on modern urban, but we offer something for everyone), and teach design part time at the Art Institute of PHX. My business partner, Shona Patel, is a branding expert and award winning artist. In my off hours, I'm an avid photographer, as is my urban planner husband, so we trek the globe in search of the perfect image--or at least the perfect set of tripod holes. We also have an antique mall space that we're transitioning to midcentury modern objects over the next few months. To relax in the evening, we head into the music room and jam together or throw on some 180g vinyl and a set of REAL headphones. Remember those? The kind that covered your ears and put you into the zone before you even dropped the needle?

[PixelPixie]

Hi Diana, have we been introduced yet? My husband and I are both at The Art Institute of Phoenix, too. Your blog is rich on content -- looks like you've been to our events before! Hope to see you around campus!

Alison and Matthew King

[kjrios]

Greetings! My name is Kathy Rios. I have lived just north of Paradise Gardens for 13 years, and I've enjoyed watching the transformation of the neighborhood over the years. I am a realtor with Keller Williams, and my husband is a plastering contractor. He has worked on many modern homes with contractors such as 180 degrees, Build inc, and the Construction Zone. We have 2 great kids, and are active in coaching their sports and keeping them busy.

I've seen your website for years, and decided it was time to sign up and start posting. I really enjoyed the article about the editor's backyard remodel project with Bill Tonnesen. We've had Bill at our house also. He has drawn up plans for an amazing backyard that our family could really enjoy. Now we just need to save up the money to get the work done!

[PixelPixie]

Welcome, Kathy! Looking forward to your contributions.

[genius]

Hooray! With the intercession of your kindly moderator I have finally been able to register as a blogger for MoPho. Hooray!

My partner and I are 5 weeks new to the Valley after having lived in NorCal for almost twenty years. With the help of the
internet and an incredibly MCM-savvy broker - George Wanner from Keller Williams - we just bought a stupendous Palm Springs
Modern fixer in Scottsdale. The previous owners had begun a scary HD reno in the middle of which they (fortunately) ran low on cash
before they finally put it up for sale. The good - no more cottagey fixtures; the bad - they wiped out everything original, including the
mature trees in the yard, which had been here for almsot fifty years before they bought it a year ago.

I have been in architecture for a good part of my life, first as an architectural photographer for about 20 years, and then ten years
ago I went back to school and got my degree in it and have been working for the last five years as an architectural designer. I had
to give up my job to move here but have absolutely no regrets. So far the MoPho website has been like a gift from the modern gods!
We've used three tradesmen we found in the Marketplace and intend to go on doing so at every phase of the renovation.

When we knew we would be moving to Arizona we started looking for links to anything mid-century which took us to the MoPho website.
Every time we thought we'd cave and buy a faux mediterranean and then do major surgery on it to get an MCM look, we would go back to
this website and become re-energized in our search to find the right house. Thanks and cheers!

Lynne

[PixelPixie]

Welcome, Lynne! Sounds like you have a fun project on your hands! Keep us abreast if you can in the DIY forum!

[brandonhowe]

Hi! I'm Brandon. Just on here doing some research for a client of mine. I'm a native of the Valley, but am quickly realizing there is sooooo much to learn about Modern Contemporary homes in the central Phoenix area! Thanks for all the info you have assembled here!

[Beechwood 4-5789]

Hello everyone!

My name is Brittany, and I am a marketing student at ASU. In my free time, I enjoy restoring classic muscle cars with my dad, collecting old records and sewing vintage clothing (60s Mod being my favorite genre.) After graduation, I hope to enter the advertising, branding or event coordination industries. I am using this year before I graduate to really determine in which I will excel.

I adore midcentury architecture -- well, midcentury anything, honestly -- which low, sleek ranch homes featuring large glass walls being my personal favorite style. That being said, I am really starting to educate myself on the various architects and their individual styles, which is how I came across this site! I am so glad I did, because this is a phenominal resource while being incredibly entertaining, as well.

Being born and raised in Phoenix, I had access to a vast array of amazing homes and buildings in the mcm style. I am afraid of losing these beautiful works of art to "progress," however, and a cause which is certainly near and dear to my heart is protecting older neighborhoods, hotels and corporate buildings and preserving them for the future generations. Just because it's old does not mean it's obsolete. I must get that impression from my dad with his cars His motto is "Don't crush 'em, restore 'em" which I feel is just as applicable here!

Thanks for letting me be a part of such a great and rewarding site. I hope to have many posts in the future!
Brittany, aka Beechwood 4-5789
Lover of all things retro

[PhxJohn]

At least the spam bots are introducing themselves now!

[emiles]

Hi, my name is Eric Miles, and am a real native phoenician. I grew up in north central phx and love this part of the world. I have a real-estate brokers license and enjoy working with people and their homes. I have a huge curiosity for mid century modern homes and am inspired by the creativity, the less complex the better, placed on some of the renovations. I enjoy the use of materials that are unfinished and representitive of themselves, sandblasted block, iron, glass etc. I first ran into modernphoenix.net when looking at the Al Beadle inspired lofts on 3rd St and Catalina?

[PixelPixie]

Welcome Brittany, Eric and Victoria and thanks for taking the time to introduce yourselves!

[rkevansjr]

Name is Rob Evans I have an MFA in Ceramics. My background is in Contemporary Art. Professionally, I have handled over 100 million dollars worth of artwork in the Greater Phoenix Area, for both private and public collections. I also pull a lot of side work doing carpentry for both residential and commercial spaces (mainly galleries and restaurants). I am co-owner of a self storage facility in Tempe (http://www.1700curry.com), which we were hoping to re-develop into a mixed use arts community, until the economy laughed at our plans. At this facility I curated a graffiti show a few years ago which included the work of over 80 artists from across the nation. I tore down the building (which the show was painted on) and am planning to hang a show of the doors from the building in the near future. I own a home in SoSco (south Scottsdale) just south of Sky Song, and between all my other gigs it seems to get the least amount of attention, I aspire to turn it into a more modern home, but have done plenty of work already. I enjoy reading the articles and forums here on Modern Phoenix, which I found thru a friend on Facebook! I am a good resource for recycled building materials, art installation, local and international graffiti artists, local contemporary artists, and general remodel and carpentry.

[Gazolba]

Hello Everyone,
My name is David. I'm a photographer and I've been wandering around Phoenix for years photographing buildings that I find interesting. I always seem to gravitate toward art deco, art moderne and 1950's styles. I'm particularly interested in the old motels and have shot quite a few of the remnants along Van Buren in Phoenix. and Main St. in Mesa. I liked your page of old motel Postcards. It's a shame that the prevailing attitude for years in Phoenix appears to have been to bulldoze the old to make way for the new without thought to preserving our heritage. This appears to be an excellent website to stir peoples interest in older architectural styles.

[PixelPixie]

Welcome, Rob and David! David, contact me about Van Buren, k?

[Trendspub]

My name is Bill Dougherty. I own Trends Magazine in Scottsdale. In 1993 I purchased my first Al Beadle condo at Bridgewood North Forty. I sold it when I got married purchased a stucco-yucko in Paradise Valley. Late last summer a long term renter moved out of a home my wife's parents purchased in 1993 as a tear down! The mid-century was built in 1961 and added onto in 1963. Very Palm Springs modern. When they told us we could buy the house, we did't even blink. Since late July we have been restoring the home. Suzanne Johnson of Gnosis, a friend for many years asked me to give Alison a call and intoduce myself. This is an amazing site!