If you've never seen these exotic bromeliads in person, stop by the studio and check them out. I designed my ceramics specifically to hold these low-maintenance beauties which require no soil, moderate light, and minimal water (just a good soak once a week). Their graphic, alien silhouettes really pop against the high gloss curves of my pots and provide a perfect organic counterpoint to the most minimalist of interiors. Plus, they have really cool sounding names. Let's meet them, shall we?

Victoriana: the spiky leaves flow up then cascade down the sides kind of like my hair used to in the 80's. That phallic protuberance in the center is the bud about to flower.

Juncea: (left) tall and grassy blades will yeild a tall pink spike with purple blooms if you treat her right. Caput Medusae: (right) velvety green tentacles undulate seductively and will give birth to tall red spikes with purple flowers. (They remind me of the mean Puerto Rican cashier's glamour length nails at the old Gristede's supermarket in the East Village.)

Ionantha: this voluptuous beauty turns pink before it blooms, which is appropriate since it's nestled in one of the most unintentionally suggestive pots I've ever made. Think Georgia O'Keeffe meets Eva Zeisel, with a dollop of vintage Britney thrown in.

P.S. I love the selection at Air Plant Supply Co. They have a beautifully designed website, a great logo (very important), and friendly customer service. Tell them the Rural Modernist sent you.

Rural Modernist Studio

3780 Main Street (rear cottage)

Stone Ridge, NY 12484

Open weekends from 1-4 pm or by appointment

* "LIKE" us on Facebarf and follow us on Twatter, too.

"Got a dime?" The proprietors, Jason and J.R. working the ho' stroll right on Main Street. Real classy.

Are you in the Hudson Valley/Catskills area on this sultry, sweaty weekend? Take a break from fanning yourself dramatically like Blanche DuBois and stop by the Rural Modernist Studio before all of our soaps and candles melt into a messy yet fragrant puddle. Also, the Special Word of the Day is: BEDIZENED. Use it in a sentence when you come into the studio and get a special surprise!

Some of our still solid handmade soaps wrapped in vintage graph paper.

Trying out the Hipstamatic photo app on my new iPhone. Wow. That sounds super douchey doesn't it?

This is Ella, one of our fluffiest patrons.

We guarantee that all of our outsider art will not melt in 100% humidity.

Rural Modernist Studio

3780 Main Street (rear cottage)

Stone Ridge, NY 12484

Open weekends from 1-4 ish or by appointment

* Follow us on Facebarf and Twatter (I still don't know how to use it, but since everyone else is doing it I'll at least make an attempt) for the latest news, announcements, special offers, comments, suggestions, criticisms, previews, polls, dog pictures, gardening projects, etc. (And that's going to be the best way to find out when we're open, too.)

Welcome to the Rural Modernist Studio

It's always been a pipe dream of mine to have a little studio space of my own where I could work on my various extra curricular creative projects at my own leisurely pace and then throw the doors open to the public so they could peruse my various wares in one location. Finally, the dream has come true right here in Stone Ridge, New York in the Hudson Valley.

I still make my living as an illustrator, but I also do custom portraits, Rural Modernist Ceramics (and now handmade soaps and candles), Handsome Devil Press greeting cards, and Doodle Whore. And my partner, J.R. Craigmile, a production accountant for film and t.v. by day, is an avid collector of outsider art by night. When this space became available I just mashed it all together and somehow it all just works. If you find yourself in the Catskills/Hudson Valley 'hood on a weekend, come on over and say hello.

Rural Modernist Ceramics by Jason O'Malley takes center stage (at the moment). I blogged about taking my first pottery class almost two years ago and I'm still at it. You can see J.R.'s outsider art displayed salon style on the far wall.

Jason's Madonna Face Project is throwing shade from the back wall.

Gotta cigarette?

I've really stretched myself by adding matte black glaze to my usual color palette of high gloss white. Baby steps, people.

Rural Modernist soy candles wrapped in Eames-y mid-century flavored papers. They smell clean and fresh and mask a multitude of unpleasant odors with flair.

Rural Modernist Studio

3780 Main Street (rear cottage)

Stone Ridge, NY 12484

Open weekends from 1-5 pm or by appointment

* Follow us on Facebarf and Twatter (I still don't know how to use it, but since everyone else is doing it I'll at least make an attempt) for the latest news, announcements, special offers, comments, suggestions, criticisms, previews, polls, dog pictures, gardening projects, etc. (And that's going to be the best way to find out when we're open, too.)