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MODERNdesign PASADENA SAN FrANciSco SANtA BArBArA
A Tuscan Style Desert Retreat
$5.99 US/CAN
FEBRUARY 2012
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Artful living This Stunning Light-Filled Montecito Home Showcases The Work Of More Than Sixty Santa Barbara Contemporary Artists TEXT BY LESLIE A. WESTBROOK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CIRO COELHO
No surface is left uncovered in the Gifford house/gallery. The entrance hall showcases works by Saul Gray Hildebrand, Alexis Pittmon, Frances Scorzelli, and Dan Levin, among others.
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“The best way to find good artists is to ask other artists…they all know each other.” —Nancy Gifford
ABOVE A large head made of tea bags by Santa Barbara City College graduate Chloe Gray rests unexpectedly on a platter in the center of the large circular UFO dining table by Ferruccio Laviani for Emmemobili, imported from Italy. Other works in the dining room are by Penelope Gottlieb, Cass Ensberg, Zack Paul, Nancy Gifford (“Rip in Time” on back wall) and “The Priest” by Henry Rasmussen (right wall). LEFT The glass-walled living room, dining room and master bedroom look out to a magenta powder coated sculpture by Santa Barbara City College professor Ed Inks. The wood construction on the wall is “Vessels” by Nancy Gifford, and hangs aside her collection of Buddha heads.
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The roots of Nancy and Michael Gifford’s stunning, light-filled, Montecito home filled with contemporary art evolved from a simple adobe packing shed on a fifty acre lemon orchard that was part of a turn of the century estate. Over the years, the original thick-walled adobe was slowly expanded to suit the needs of various owners: first as a garage, then as a music room and later as an enlarged living quarters now including four bedrooms, four and half baths, an office and art studio. “When we purchased the house from a sculptor, we didn’t change the footprint but we did reconfigure the interior spaces. He had already converted and
enlarged the garage into a sixteen foot high studio,” says Nancy Gifford, a former high fashion model who is now a contemporary artist in her own right. After two years of renovation, the couple finally began the fun task of decorating. Their collection evolved organically out of Nancy’s immersion in the local art scene. “We had no idea that we were going to fill the house with the artwork of Santa Barbara artists,” she says. “But I spent those two years during the renovation visiting studios in Santa Barbara and now have the work of more than sixty local artists.” The pieces on display include whimsical drawings, bold paintings, quirky assemblages and both indoor and outdoor sculpture.
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Living room furnishings include Quadra 2 sofa from Poltruna Frau; swivel chairs from DIVA on Robertson and Saarinen womb chairs by Knoll Studio from Design Within Reach covered in reproduction of the original bouclé fabric in mushroom shade from 1920s. Artwork, from the left, is by Henry Rasmussen, Brad Howe (floor sculpture), Kathy Kissik (above), Philip Argent (right), and Rafael Perea de la Cabada.
The biggest obstacle was finding the artists that were doing the more edgy work that suits the couple’s personal taste. When Nancy began her search, she found there were few galleries locally that handled many of these mid-career contemporary artists. She did her own investigative work. “The best way to find good artists is to ask other artists,” she says, “they all know each other.” Her first studio visit was to Colin Fraser Gray. He told her about Julia Ford, so Nancy sought her out and continued her search from there. Artists represented in the collection include Richard Aber, Tony Askew, Ken Bortolazzo, Hillary Brace, Jane Callister, Virginia McCracken, Rafael Perea de la Cabada, Peggy Ferris, Penelope Gottlieb, Mike Irwin, Hugh Margerum, Keith Puccinelli, and Susan Tibbles, among many others. 80 | CALIFORNIA HOMES
Only the most astute observer of the works on the walls will notice the tiny map pins that identify each piece displayed in the 6,400 square feet space. Interior designer Joani Stewart-Georgi, ASID, IIDA of Montana Avenue Interiors in Marina Del Rey was responsible for the modern furnishings that blend with the neutral palette of white, beige and gray. Natural materials used throughout include massive amounts of glass, blonde woods, pale plush fabrics and cool travertine marble floors. Paint surfaces were created to Nancy Gifford’s specifications. For the crisp museum effect in the interior, titanium was mixed into the white paint. For the exterior, at least a dozen trials were needed to finally obtain a neutral N7 artist gray. Most commercial grays have either too much blue or
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ABOVE RIGHT Ellen P. Bildsten, A.I.A., LEED AP, was the architect of record who designed a perfect setting for Nancy and Michael Gifford’s Montecito home/gallery that showcases serious, colorful and often amusing and whimsical works by Santa Barbara artists. RIGHT An art tableau includes stripe oil painting “Che” by Leah Modigliani and a limited edition of “The Insomnia Drawings” by Louise Bourgeois.
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ABOVE Even the kitchen, designed by Santa Barbara Kitchens, features art including works by Jeff Koons (one of the few artists in the Gifford collection who is not from Santa Barbara), Neal Crosbie, and Julia Ford. The wall relief sculpture by Inga Guzyte is constructed entirely from used skateboards. Shark stools by BonTempi flank the sleek, glass counter. ABOVE LEFT Lap pool with a stripe wall designed by Nancy Gifford, opens to mountain views. LEFT Artist and Santa Barbara arts patron Nancy Gifford in her home studio.
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green that is enhanced by the sun. Dunn Edwards has the formulas listed under “Gifford White” and “Gifford Gray.” The pool and gardens were designed by Nancy, but she is quick to give credit to head gardener Augustin Vega and his brother David Vega for bringing her vision to life. “Augustin is a rose specialist extraordinaire and David meticulously measured between each succulent in order to create a diagonal grid pattern on the terraces until the plants mature.” From the roof deck, looking down at the entrance gardens, the design could be mistaken for one of Nancy’s formalist art constructions. The residence is often used for fundraising events for non-profit organizations, while museum councils from as far away as Laguna Beach, are frequent visitors. “We are not a commercial gallery, but many people who visit fall in love with a particular piece of art,” she says. “We sell the work right off the wall, then replace
it soon after with another piece by the same artist. It’s about encouraging people to buy locally and giving them a place to discover artists previously unknown to them.” As a result of her activities Nancy Gifford now sits on the boards of the Contemporary Arts Forum, The Arts Fund, The Advisory Council for Westmont Museum of Art and is a founding member of the Contemporaries of Santa Barbara Museum of Art. “When we came to Santa Barbara we knew we wanted a contemporary house, but we didn’t know how hard it would be to find one”, she says. “We looked at more than one hundred houses before settling on this one. I got the added bonus of having an existing art studio on the property.” Not only did the Giffords succeed in finding a contemporary house, but one perfectly suited to showcase their constantly changing collection that supports the talented—and now better known— artists of Santa Barbara. CH FEBRUARY | 83