WAV: Inside the apartments of Working Artists Ventura
By James Gilden It seems almost inevitable that a theater set designer would have a home that is theatrical. Such is the case for musician and artist Anna Karakalou and musician husband Panos Skourtis. They saturated their apartment with color and graphic designs, including this tree growing by a work table off the kitchen. Karakalou painted the trunk and branches with chalkboard paint, so the wall could be used for keeping score of games. An old Army trunk underneath is full of pinups from the 1940s and ‘50s. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
WAV, short for Working Artists Ventura, is a 2-year-old live-work complex for painters, sculptors, dancers, musicians, writers, actors, filmmakers and photographers -- 82 artists from 21 countries, living blocks from the California beach. Here’s a peek inside three of the units.
A refinished piano that was free for the carrying off sits beneath paintings by Karakalou. The mannequin came from the Museum of Ventura County, which was discarding it. “I like keeping everything kind of cheap,” Karakalou said. It frees her to get “rid of stuff” and move on. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
No mural on this wall, but a bright blue backdrop for artwork by Karakalou includes a piece based on a postcard from the 1800s showing conjoined twins. The red velvet sofa sits in front of a coffee table picked up for $5 at a thrift store, then refinished. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
A cityscape mural lines the staircase leading up to the bedrooms and loft space. “That’s how high I could reach so instead of making it a straight line I made it a cityscape,” Karakalou said. “That wall is my storage space for my misfit paintings.” (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
A coffee table found in an alley was stripped, refinished and painted with a geisha by Karakalou. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
The wall by the kitchen has a Karakalou painting of a man with a straw going to his heart. It’s part of a series titled “Paper Cuts.” (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
In another apartment, tenant Colin Gray pushes one of his four movable walls, which he shuffles around every two or three weeks to suit his mood. “I work in art museums and galleries and am often building walls to suit the exhibit,” he said. For his home he built a mini-version of metal storage bins in back. “Pretty much everything in my studio you can fold or it’s on wheels,” Gray said. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Wine, anyone? Glass storage is built into the shelf of the movable wall. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
A work in progress. “I get agitated when I see white spaces,” Gray said. “I find empty walls uncomfortable, and my imagination starts to fill them, and then I start working.” (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Under Gray’s illustrated gaze, a functional work space uses bookshelves from IKEA. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
The staircase is lined with fabrics, including his ex-wife’s scarves and cummerbunds in colorful fabric from Guatemala. More of Gray’s drawings are hung on the wall. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Gray at his work station facing the self-portraits. He uses the space, though technically a living area, as his work studio. “Essentially, now there is no difference,” he said. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Mosaic artist Larissa Strauss works in her studio space. The finished piece has since been installed in the Venice home of Ron Robinson, who has stores inside Fred Segal. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Strauss stands atop the stairs leading from the work area to the living room. The gray wall is decorated with mosaics, all by Strauss. On the ledge to the right, note more pattern in the form of a rug from Nepal. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Strauss and her pug, Lucy, sit in her living room with a Pakistani rug that was a gift from Strauss’ father. Paper lanterns from Chinatown are painted in watercolors to warm up the energy-efficient light bulbs. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
The bathroom off the work area is decorated in concentric circles, mosaics and wall paintings. The large painting on the left is of a woman amid more circles; it’s by Strauss’ sister, Hayley Strauss. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Strauss sits in the courtyard at a table she found and refinished. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
