Market: High-Wire Act

Karen D. Singh, Alexia Brue, and Sheila Kim-Jamet -- Interior Design, 9/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

"Wire is an unforgiving material," gallery owner Lisa Fontanarosa says. "But in the hands of Barbara Gilhooly, it can be as wonderfully wispy as a spider's web." Part of a burgeoning movement, Gilhooly works in different gauges of annealed wire. Her latest pieces—for which she cites such influences as Alexander Calder's playfulness and Paul Klee's deft dichotomy of organic and geometric—dangle with decorous insouciance and sometimes even do double duty as room dividers. One couple used ahost of of her Strands to curtain off adressing area in a bedroom.

"The shadows are an exciting part of the finished pieces," she says. Commenting that most sculptors make two-dimensional drawings before executing three-dimensional forms, she notes that the shadows cast by her three-dimensional pieces "sketch" their own lines on the wall. "I love the surprises after installation," she adds. We love the way she strikes the perfect balance between art and design. Lisa Fontanarosa Collection, 505-872-1929; lisafontanarosa.com. circle 429