Funky & punky, mathematical & chemical…Asia Webber discusses some of her inspiration for the artwork you can expect to find at The Bancroft, opening in the spring of 2014.

I have been having a blast shopping for artwork for The Bancroft.  Finding unique vintage works on paper is something I love to do in my own home, and I have found some real gems for the restaurant.   My personal design aesthetic leans toward the 60s/70s era.  While this isn’t the overall vibe of the restaurant, I am looking to mix in some funky artwork from that period with more traditional and classical furnishings to punch up the volume and make the space interesting and unique.

I have been spending a lot of time shopping auction houses to find these great pieces at a good value.  Auctions are one of my favorite ways to shop for art.  I love finding great pieces that need reframing to bring them back to life.  For instance, for the Scarlet Oak Tavern I sourced over 180 pieces of artwork, ranging from 19^th century European oil paintings to gilded Victorian canning labels to 18^th century etchings.  I found an incredible antique book at an antique shop with hundreds of hand-colored plates of various fungi.

The mushroom art pieces are featured throughout the restaurant and are really incredible and intricate.  For this project I am looking for edgier, more colorful, larger scale pieces to decorate the 19-1/2’ high walls of The Bancroft.  A couple key finds so far- a set of vintage Sex Pistols “God Save the Queen” art posters by Jamie Reid.  So cool.  This image is the iconic image of the punk rock era.  If I can bring a little punk rock vibe to The Bancroft, I think we will all enjoy it that much more….

I also loved finding these James Rosenquist pieces from his High Technology series.  The Bancroft is sited in the middle of the hi-tech corridor of Burlington, surrounded by places like iRobot, pharmaceutical and medical companies, and Oracle.  I think our customers with science and engineering backgrounds will be attracted to the mathematical and chemical imagery Rosenquist used in his collages.  I think they are very alluring and dynamic.