Always on the prowl for the latest and greatest finds, Delta Sky Magazine’s Global Lifestyle Editor Jason Oliver Nixon is a style authority, foodie, world traveler, and self-professed wallpaper addict. Co-owner of interior design firm John Loecke Inc., Jason’s keen eye is caught by color, energy, passion, and verve. Check out his style in the SHO House: Weeds Lounge going live on September 7. Contributing writer Nancy Cost interviews this month’s Guest Curator, Jason Oliver Nixon.

How did you develop such a keen sense of style?

I am lucky enough to have super-cool parents who exposed me to everything, from art-house films to amazing, far-flung restaurants and gobs of travel. We would have Robert Rauschenberg come to dinner, we met Eudora Welty, we’d spend summers at Oxford where my mom was getting her PhD, and we’d hang out with my grandfather who was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “world’s most traveled man in a wheelchair.” We were odd ducks, and it was spectacular.

When did you first realize you had great taste?

Yikes, I can’t own up to that yet. I often throw dinner parties where I serve Popeye’s fried chicken and Prosecco with Håagen-Dazs bars, and that sort of sums me up. Maximal impact, minimal cash.

With a history in publishing, what inspired you to start an interior design business?

I always knew that I also wanted to run my own interior design firm. And after ten amazing years in publishing, I was finally able to hang up my own shingle.

What is your interior design philosophy?

Our designs reflect a respect for tradition tempered with bold splashes of color and playful patterns. Our designs also demonstrate a passion for fun and vitality. Banish the beige and the boring! Saturate your world in color-rich whimsy and sophistication. Most importantly, have fun with your home. We love glamour and style and are able to bring that passion to the most contemporary of home as well as the ultra-traditional. Frankly, we are all about the “F” words: frisky, fabulous and fun to be around.

What role does artwork play in your interiors?

Artwork is key. There’s no better way to accessorize your walls than with an ever-changing array of artwork.

What are your favorite art museums or galleries around the world?

I am obsessed with the Victoria & Albert, the Leighton House Museum, and Sir John Soane’s Museum, all in London. Also, the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston and The Getty in Los Angeles always send me over the moon.

What would our readers be most surprised to find out about your home?

Wallpaper covers nearly every ceiling in my home. And I collect tea towels.

As a style guru, what advice do you have for someone starting an art collection?

Have fun, take chances and buy what appeals to you. Be eclectic with your purchases and mix and match bold graphics with the soft and traditional. Dive in.

You have a dream job and you have experience in so many different areas of style. What frontier will you conquer next?

I want my own product line. I want to be the next Dorothy Draper with the marketing skills of Lady Gaga and Martha Stewart.

What inspires you in the worlds of art and design?

Music is key, I often pull inspiration from what I am currently listening to. I recently did up a couch based upon La Roux’s “Bulletproof” video, and Bryan Ferry and Goldfrapp have influenced many a living room.

What was the first piece of artwork you purchased? Where is it now?

My first purchases were a Michele Oka Doner gilt sculpture shaped like thorns and a black-and-white Lee Friedlander photograph of roses. The Oka Doner piece and the Friedlander photograph are both in my bathroom. I love putting artwork in unexpected places. I even have art hanging in my closet.

Being the busy jet-setter that you are, how, when and where do you find the time to shop for artwork?

While on the road, I am constantly hitting flea markets, department stores, and bazaars. I always make the time to sniff out the local scene. For me, having a world view is uber-important to my design lexicon.

Which hotel that you have been to recently has fantastic art?

I love the Chambers in Minneapolis—a crazy mix of video installations and a bespoke soundtrack and an ever-changing display of photographs and paintings. Very clever. And I would never leave Blake’s in London if my credit card could handle the expenditure.

What are your favorite cities for good food?

London. Mexico City. Antigua, Guatemala. Des Moines, Iowa.

What are your favorite restaurants?

Bern’s Steak House in Tampa, Florida, the Mountain Brook Inn in Bovina, New York’s Saturday-only dinners, and the Fat Duck in Bray, England.

Besides NYC, what is your favorite US city for culture? Why?

Chicago. I love the museums, the architecture, the glamour, the excitement. It’s far cooler than New York.

What’s your favorite design magazine?

The World of Interiors, hands down.

Does a Global Lifestyle Editor for Delta always fly First Class?

At least in my mind, if not always in reality. I don’t really need first class, I’d rather have a rich experience and lots of adventure.

Anything exciting coming up that you want to tell our readers about?

I am off to India for a month in November, working on getting my Italian passport, designing an amazing home in New Orleans, and putting the finishing touches on the Weeds Lounge at the Showtime House opening in New York in early September. I wake up every day, and it’s a fabulous adventure. I am very lucky.

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Demetrius Oliver at The High Line

• Demetrius Oliver at the High Line opens September 7 at 6:30pm: Demetrius Oliver’s Jupiter will be installed on a 25-by-75-foot billboard adjacent to the High Line at West 18th Street. Jupiter features five round photographs exposing mysterious acts and props, but lacking a human presence. Set against a solid, black background, each photograph resembles a planet floating in a night sky, an association reinforced by how they appear to be incrementally rotating in space. Live musical performances and stargazing from the High Line will accompany the piece. Artist Blanche Bruce and multiple groups of student musicians will perform “Jupiter” by John Coltrane on September 7, 18, 21, and October 2, 2010. Additionally, Oliver will join the New York chapter of the Amateur Astronomers Association on the High Line on September 21, 2010 to celebrate both the autumnal equinox and the Jupiter opposition — the day Earth passes between the Sun and Jupiter, making the distant planet most clearly visible.

Showtime SHO House: Weeds Lounge by Jason Oliver Nixon and John Loecke

• Showtime SHO House 2010 opens September 7: Step into the only multimedia showhouse of its kind with Showtime House 2010. Three penthouses, atop Manhattan’s iconic Cassa Hotel and Residences, have been transformed into show-stopping rooms of modern design inspired by seven Showtime original series: The Borgias, The Big C, Weeds, Californication, Dexter, Nurse Jackie, and United States of Tara. Bringing the offbeat characters of Showtime to life with style, wit and drama is a group of trendsetting designers and architects including this month’s Zatista Guest Curator: Jason Oliver Nixon.

Kiki Smith, Messenger III at the Brooklyn Museum

• Kiki Smith: Sojourn at the Brooklyn Museum ends September 12: Since the 1970s, Kiki Smith has created an impressive body of work relating to the physical and emotional experiences of women. Her new site-specific installation at the Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, titled Sojourn, was inspired by a significant 18th-century needlework by Prudence Punderson, The First, Second and Last Scenes of Mortality. Via a range of Smith’s cast objects, sculpture, and works on paper, the exhibit explores milestones of female artists, from creative awakening to death. -Angela Ashman, Village Voice

Andy Warhol, Rorschach Image at the Brooklyn Museum

• Andy Warhol: The Last Decade at the Brooklyn Museum ends September 12: Andy Warhol: The Last Decade is the first U.S. museum survey to examine the late work of American artist Andy Warhol (1928–1987). Encompassing nearly fifty works, the exhibition reveals the artist’s vitality, energy, and renewed spirit of experimentation. During this time Warhol produced more works, in a considerable number of series and on a vastly larger scale, than at any other point in his forty-year career. It was a decade of great artistic development for him, during which a dramatic transformation of his style took place alongside the introduction of new techniques.

David LaChapelle: American Jesus, Paul Kasmin Gallery

• David LaChapelle: American Jesus, Paul Kasmin Gallery ends September 18: If you saw that Rolling Stone cover of Lady Gaga against a bright pink backdrop, wearing a bubble dress and with frizzed-out hair, then you’re familiar with the work of photographer David LaChapelle. LaChapelle, known for his outlandish and larger-than-life images of celebrities, now has a show at Paul Kasmin Gallery called American Jesus, with the martyr played by none other than Michael Jackson. In one, Jackson lies across the lap of a modern-day hippie Jesus in a forest; in another, titled Beatification, a ghostly white Jackson stands beside the Virgin Mary with a dove and a clock in his hand. Others making an appearance in this show: Naomi Campbell and the devil—though not as the same person. -Araceli Cruz,Village Voice

Rivane Neuenschwander: All The Little Things at The New Museum

• Rivane Neuenschwander: A Day Like Any Other, The New Museum ends September 19: Rivane Neuenschwander, who hails from Brazil, is more of a spiritual healer than an artist. Her show A Day Like Any Other showcases her conceptualism in painting, photography, film, sculpture, installation, collaborative actions, and participatory events. But here’s why we’re really going: “I Wish Your Wish” is a wall full of hundreds of “faithful” colorful silk ribbons with wishes on them written by visitors from past projects. Visitors will be invited to remove a ribbon, tie it to their wrist, and replace it with a new wish written on a slip of paper because, according to tradition, their wishes are granted when the ribbons wear away and fall off. And in her piece “First Love,” a police sketch artist will sit with visitors and listen as visitors describe the faces of their first loves; he will then produce portraits of these “first loves” to adorn the walls of the gallery for the duration of the exhibition. We can’t wait! -Araceli Cruz,Village Voice

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Treetop & Clouds by S. Josephine Weaver zatista.com

A tree house, a free house,
A secret you and me house,
A high up in the leafy branches
Cozy as can be house

A street house, a neat house
Be sure to wipe your feet house
Is not my kind of house at all-
Let’s go live in a tree house.

- Shel Silverstein

With Labor Day fast approaching, I’m already reminiscing about the loads of fun I had this summer. Here’s one thing I learned this season: kids love tree houses. I’m sure most of you veteran parents already knew this, but since I’m only three years into this parenting thing, I just this now remembered how magical a tree house can be. Ah…the squeals of glee and the hours spent in the branches! To whet your appetite for the infinite possibilities of next summer’s adventures, here are a few photos of some amazing tree houses. And they’re not just for kids; there’s a whole subculture of tree house hotels around the world where grown ups can hide out too!

Magical Tree Fort by Matt Gagnon www.mattstudio.com

Magical Tree Fort interior by Matt Gagnon www.mattstudio.com

Magical Tree Fort looking up by Matt Gagnon www.mattstudio.com

Tree House Play Room from Apartment Therapy Ohdeedoh

Architect Vic Johnson's Treehouse www.johnsonltd.co.uk

Artist Melinda Hackett's Treehouse in NYC

Architect Cary Bernstein's Treehouse www.cbstudio.com

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artist Richard Phillips courtesy of chrissystyles.com

outfit inspired by Richard Phillips art courtesy of chrissystyles.com

artist Jakub Julian Ziolkowski courtesy of chrissystyles.com

outfit inspired by Jakub Julian Ziolkowski art courtesy of chrissystyles.com

artist Will Cotton courtesy of chrissystyles.com

outfit inspired by Will Cotton art courtesy of chrissystyles.com

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"The Joy of Girls" by Allan O'Marra zatista.com

I’m curious to hear how you readers out there are spending your summers. Are you traveling or “staycationing”? Are you visiting friends and family? Are you at the beach? In the mountains? At the lake? Wherever you are, I hope you’re enjoying the bliss of summer: warm weather, cool swims, ice cream, picnics, bike rides, and kids staying up late.

"Picnic" by Peter Worsley zatista.com

For the art lovers, there are still some good outdoor art fairs to visit as summer turns to fall. Many of our Zatista artists are there selling their artwork. Maybe one of the fairs listed below is in your neighborhood. If you are out and about, let us know where you’ve been and what you’ve seen. Enjoy the rest of your summer and don’t forget to report back to us on what you find!

"Niece" by Xiuyuan Guo zatista.com

•    Charlevoix Waterfront Art Fair, Charlevoix, MI – August 14, 2010 Now in its 51st year, this fair has a good reputation with critics and collectors because of both the quality of the work and the great location.
•    Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA – September 3-6, 2010 On Labor Day weekend the stars of the contemporary art scene are showcased in this beautiful setting. Plan for a great time, with excellent food and music.
•    Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival, Lancaster, PA – Sept. 3-6, 2010 Featuring original work from 200 great artists from around the country. Free entertainment and great food all presented in a lovely park.
•    Arts, Beats & Eats, Pontiac, MI – September 3-6, 2010 This fair will take place in Downtown Royal Oak for the very first time.  The festival will offer more than 200 performances on ten stages, a highly ranked Juried Fine Arts Show, and local restaurants with some of the finest cuisine in metro Detroit
•   St. Louis Art Fair, Clayton, MO – September  10-12, 2010 A small event, only 165 exhibitors, competition is stiff to be one of the chosen exhibitors.
•    Atlanta Arts Festival, Atlanta, GA – September 18 & 19, 2010 Set in historic Piedmont Park, this fair is an event dedicated to bringing together outstanding artists from around the country with the enthusiastic art buying community of the Atlanta area.
•    St. James Court Art Show, Louisville, Kentucky – October 1-3, 2010 Held in the heart of historic Old Louisville among the country’s largest collection of Victorian homes, this art show has for over five decades provided the region with a rich cultural legacy.

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Kate Moss in Leopard Print Coat

But at the moment I’m talking about something more like this:

William Wegman "No Fun Sleeping Under A Picture Like This+ Pink Elephants" 20x200.com

We all have our photos of Pooch and Kitty on the mantel at home, but animals in art don’t have to be cute.

Catherine Ledner "Camel" catherinesanimals.com

In fact, sometimes it’s more interesting when things get a little… strange. I’m not talking about really strange, I’m talking about a 1/4 tsp. of strange.

Catherine Ledner "Armadillo 1" catherinesanimals.com

Like how beets sometimes taste like dirt or how cilantro can taste like soap. Just strange enough to leave you walking away with a ‘curious’ feeling.

Mr. French Poster Cannibal Kingdom Beaver by Charles S. Anderson Design

Molly Wortham "You'll Be Poison" zatista.com

Susan Grissom "Lady and Her Bird" zatista.com

Of course, it’s all a matter of personal taste. This is just one woman’s opinion and I think it’s refreshing when ‘animal art’ doesn’t hit you over the head with a ton of cute.

Nathan Oliveira "Baboon (Celadon)" Marsha Mateyka Gallery

Besides, you’ve got plenty of opportunity for that in the kids’ rooms!

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Have unique thoughts on art, design, and style?

This summer we’re inviting our community to be guest bloggers! If you love WallSpin and are interested in being a contributing blogger, send a note or submit a post to: nancy@zatista.com. Know anyone else who may be interested? Forward this to your friends.

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Have you heard of it? If not, you’ve got to check it out. It’s a group art project and anyone can participate.  You don’t have to be an artist to enter, all types of people are part of this project. To receive a sketchbook, pay $25, choose a theme from a list of 24 intriguing possibilities including: The View From Up Here, Face in the Crowd, Things That Changed Other Things, or opt for the project to choose a theme for you.

Sketchbook by Duncan Reid

Enter by October 31, 2010, return your completed sketchbook by January 15, 2011. Tour begins March 2011.

Sketchbook by Ken McCarthy

The Art House Co-op says, “Thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way on tour across the country. After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be barcoded and available for the public to view.

Sketchbook by Kate Castelli

Once barcoded, artists will be able to track where on the tour their book is viewed and how many times it’s pulled it from the shelf – we want to make sure you can stay connected with your sketchbook!”

How cool is that? Let’s do it!

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Until then, enjoy some examples of Mary Lea Bradley’s colorful and dreamy paintings here. These expressive images are hard to resist!

Mary Lea Bradley "328 Untitled" zatista.com

Mary Lea Bradley "351 Untitled" zatista.com

Mary Lea Bradley "377 Untitled zatista.com

Mary Lea Bradley "409 Untitled" zatista.com

Mary Lea Bradley "Unchained 5" zatista.com

Mary Lea Bradley "Unchained 4" zatista.com

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John Hamm as Don Draper Photo: courtesy of AMC

Talk of the style-setting show Mad Men is rampant. Media outlets and audiences far and wide are intoxicated by the sleek mid-century cool of the show’s fashion, interiors, and cocktails. Now in its fourth season, Mad Men inspired style is in the spotlight everywhere from Design Within Reach to Banana Republic to QVC.

Steven Miller "Untitled #16"

I’m tickled that Mad Men is raising the profile of one of my favorite time periods, as far as style is concerned.

Alex Lupse "Noise"

The show’s set decorator Amy Wells, twice nominated for an Emmy for her work on the show, has created pitch-perfect early 1960s interiors representing Manhattan swank, Palm Springs modern (my fave) and suburban traditional.

Maude Andrade "Warm Snow"

If you love the look, consider adding a touch of Mad Men style to your walls. Whether you Draperize your living room with florals:

Ann Painter "Irises After Van Gogh"

Bernard Victor "Tropical Fruit, Flowers and Candle"

Elizabeth Miller "Bouquet"

or Sterling Cooperize your loft with abstracts,

Mary Lea Bradley "Intrigue"

Harold Smith "Jazzstract - Albert Ayler"

Sandra Wray "Untitled (13)"

these original works of art from Zatista will evoke a bygone era and help you mix a little bit of madness into your world.

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