At first I was startled by
passers-by peering through the garden gate. But when I realized they could
not see beyond the garden into the house (my waving elicited no response) I
relaxed and enjoyed. Sometimes they leave notes in the mailbox: My favorite is
from Redwood High School XC runners who admired aforementioned mailbox, etc.,
encouraged me to "keep up the good work," and signed off with a heart.
The world outside the gate beckons.
A left turn starts a hike on the trails straight ahead; a right is a
stroll past awesome redwoods to the six Zagat-rated neighborhood restaurants,
the Art Deco movie theater, shops, and such that grace the southern Marin town
of Larkspur. Inside the gate is a personal world experienced as a tranquil
sanctuary, a sunny oasis amidst the redwood groves. The space is enclosed by
an array of vines and hedges, walls and gates, that serve to define this
unique environment.
The long and narrow property leads
through the garden to a house staggered way back behind the neighbors',
shoehorned to follow the footprint of an old ramshackle cottage it displaced.
This is an 1836 sq. ft. Japonesque modernist loft-like
structure that I consider my largest sculpture. I designed the house with the
technical collaboration of architect Jared Polsky, who also held
occasionally exercised veto power.
I wanted to achieve a sense of
visual space, a flow of living space, and an abundance of storage space. The
perforated metal staircase was the most inspired concept. Rather than
imposing on precious space, the spiral floats through the center of the house,
beneath a huge skylight, subtly filtering light and views. The triangular garden
pavilion was my boldest move. An addition to the original footprint, it
extends the flow of space both inside and out. High ceilings invite vertical
storage and handsome teak ladders are on call. On a long wall, nine Japanese
fusima panels extend from dining room to kitchen to art studio, sliding open
to reveal in succession a sleeping nook with trundle bed, office, laundry, pantry,
and water heater. The pantry displays rows of small spice containers and
such, accessible and secure on indented shelves of my design.
Diverse furniture, art, and
artifacts fill the house, but not too full, for negative space is a positive
in this environment. I designed much of the furniture including sofas,
benches, music center, bar, coffee table, studio work table, etc. The
five-sided dining table with eight-chambered base was the most challenging; I
could not commit until I made a full scale model from foam board and
cardboard.
I perceived and designed the garden
as a collage of forms, colors, and textures. A path of Connecticut bluestone
runs straight down the middle to the center of the garden. the grand old pear
tree to the right is surrounded by a swath of anthracite coal from my Scranton
"homeland." The ancient cherry tree on the left shades a group of fragmented
stone seats/sculptures. An enormous wood sculpture spells the name of the
house and studio, THERE. (WHERE is my car license plate.) Black ceramic
spheres of various sizes are scattered about. They have been drilled and
wired to light the way. The path segues into a mosaic of stone, tile, and
glass. To the right an eight foot grass square grounds a steel sculpture. It
is balanced on the left by a cement board bench sculpture I designed to
frame a windmill palm. The bluestone path resumes, turning left, then right,
through a grove of black bamboo. A black wall appears to defy gravity until
one perceives that apparent spaces are actually strips of mirror. Butterfly
chairs surround a table that goes topless to reveal a fire pit.
Other outdoor spaces cast their
nets: The dining patio accessible from kitchen and studio also serves
as an outdoor studio area, shaded by a brilliantly hued trumpet vine. The rooftop
spa and deck are enclosed by an aubergine wall segmented with a Japonesque pattern
of black striping, and fringed with neighboring giant redwoods. The
small property lives large.
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