HUGH T. WILLIAMS & CARRIE WAITE: Rocking their world
If the guitars on display in his living room didn't tip you off that Hugh T. Williams loves rock 'n' roll, the paintings he makes — and often hangs in the home he shares with his wife, photographer Carrie Waite — would. There's the stoic portrait of Johnny Cash and the one of Elvis with a glittering pompadour; there's Frank Sinatra gripping a cigarette, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins casting a hypnotic gaze. When he's not busy working at a record store or playing drums for three Bay area bands — Dank, the Kevin K. Band and the Weapons of Ass Destruction, named Loudest Band in CL's Urban Explorer's Handbook 2007 — Williams renders portraits of musical greats in his trademark style, a graphic outline reminiscent of Pop Art great Roy Lichtenstein, sans the Benday dots.
Inside their Spanish-style home in south St. Petersburg, the couple's artwork — his paintings, her black-and-white photography of bands and musicians — complements their collections of local art and found objects. Colorful masks (some painted by Williams but most by other artists and artisans) line the foyer walls. In the living room, his paintings dominate crimson walls paired — improbably but brilliantly — with electric blue carpet, while ample collections of tiki mugs and ceramic Jesus and Virgin Mary figures perch on a shelf and the fireplace mantle, respectively. (Amid the rows of Catholic kitsch, a Joey Ramone bobblehead doll stands out.) Paintings and prints by local artists Carl Cowden, Natty Moss Bond, Hugo Porcaro and Carrie Price mingle with folk art and works by Roy Finster, son of the famed outsider artist Howard Finster (best known for his collaborative work on album covers with R.E.M. and the Talking Heads).
A tropical bar area replaces a formal dining room that didn't suit the couple's laid-back lifestyle, a second-hand rattan bar and found barstools setting the tone. Hawaiian print curtains and a cabinet laden with Mexican Day of the Dead collectibles complete the look, along with photography by Waite and others. In the kitchen, an army of action figures awaits a call to action above the cupboards, while Florida-themed cocktail trays hang on a wall behind a vintage diner table.
Williams may have arrived at painting later in life (after a harrowing car accident nine years ago; read his account at hughtwilliams.com) but art — and collecting — clearly come naturally.
BRIAN & ANN-ELIZA MUSOKE TAYLOR: The real deals
Self-described "thrift whores" Brian and Ann-Eliza Musoke Taylor have transformed their 1914 Craftsman-style bungalow near Ybor City into a veritable museum of cheeky tchotchkes and mid-century modern design. Their approach to hipster elegance on a budget relies on combing estate sales and secondhand stores for gems like Jonathan Adler pottery — once scoring four pea-green pieces for $100 — and a coffee table that resembles a classic Isamu Noguchi design. Amid collectibles with faux-Oriental flair, artworks by local artists grace the home's walls, including two portraits of Musoke Taylor painted by her husband.
In the larger of the two portraits, which hangs in the home's foyer, a sleeping Musoke and a fiery dragon entwine. Brian, an artist and DJ who teaches art at Middleton High School, painted it as a gift to his then-future wife on their first birthday together. As she recalls, her present to him was a gift certificate; it's a story Musoke, a student at Stetson University College of Law, enjoys telling to illustrate the inequities inherent in shacking up with an artist. Ten years later — five married and living in the Ybor home — the couple's environment is a work of art in its own right. Many of the individual pieces on display were produced by members of Tampa artist collective Experimental Skeleton, to which both belong.
From the outside corner lot, the broad front porch and steeply pitched tin roof hint at the home's interior expanse; inside, original, dark-stained floors and wainscoting warm the space. A cocoa-brown wood cabinet with carved inlay — a wedding gift from Taylor's sister — dominates the dining room, which samples from Polynesian, Asian and African art and design. In each room, a color scheme sets the tone: a cool, green master suite with tropical flair; a retro red-and-orange kitchen; a black-and-white cocktail nook with a black leather bar and mod swirl curtains.
But the pièce de résistance is Taylor's music room, a red-and-yellow man cave dominated by shelves containing hundreds of vinyl record albums. A closet with red folding doors opens to reveal a two-turntable-and-soundboard set-up that serves as audio headquarters for the house. Album covers, vintage erotic posters and a bubble-like convex mirror adorn the walls.
A preponderance of knock-offs — including a miniature copy of a Richard Prince painting in the study — leads Musoke to jokingly refer to the home as "La Casa de Rip-Off." But if there's one thing the couple's domicile has in abundance, it's authenticity.
BLAKE WHITE & CAROL SACKMAN: Mosaic mania
Nearly two decades ago, artists Blake White and Carol Sackman bid adieu to Baltimore's frigid winters for the year-round sunshine of Pinellas County. After 10 years in Tarpon Springs, they moved to a ranch-style home in Dunedin. Since then, the couple's efforts to encrust the home's exterior walls with glittering ceramic mosaics have made it a neighborhood attraction, signaling visitors with a whimsical purple-and-green mailbox. (Sometimes friends and strangers even leave behind bags of porcelain or pottery as donation.)
The couple's mosaic mania began in 2000, when they took a creative approach to redecorating one of the home's tiny bathrooms, covering the floor and lower walls with brightly colored ceramic shards and tile, painting the upper surfaces a vivid tangerine and creating a faux-mosaic of abstract patterns inside the shower. As a finishing touch, they mounted one of White's stained glass pieces over the window. The tiny room spurred a tradition that spilled out onto the home's façade, where they've installed mosaics along two exterior walls, outside Sackman's garage studio and along a backyard fence. And they're not finished yet.
Inside, the home is a riot of tropical colors: fuchsias, tangerines, lemons and limes. A guest room inspired by Mexico features bright orange walls and accessories, from a desk painted by Sackman to a fluorescent sunflower bedspread. In the "coffee lover's kitchen," yellow cabinets stamped with a steaming mug pattern show off her skill at carving rubber slabs into detailed stamps. A comparatively low-key living room in soothing green tones showcases paintings of wildlife, a large landscape painted by Sackman's grandfather and a handcrafted Norwegian-style wood cabinet stocked with ceramic folk art. In the bedroom, a harmonious den of rose and green, more of White's striking stained glass pieces and Sackman's painted furniture take center stage along with her collection of dolls from around the world.
In a backyard dense with foliage (home to the couple's six cats), mosaic-covered birdbaths stud the landscape along with outdoor sculptures produced by other artists. Along a wooden fence and Sackman's studio, the couple's large-scale mosaics spin narratives through pictures. Often, hers depict strong female figures in painted ceramic form — e.g., a series of self-portraits completed by the artist's closest friends — while his explore myths of creation and strife between powerful ancient Egyptian and Aztec gods. Though each makes a living in a different fashion — White as a commercial painter, Sackman by making jewelry, paintings, stamps and painted furniture — the mosaics offer a glimpse into the center of their creative universe.
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2008.