Evolving artistry
CLARE HOWARD GateHouse News Service

The foyer offers an immediate message about the home beyond.

PEKIN, Ill. - Thousands of people see Mariam Graff's street murals every day. The whimsical style of her public tableaux, with ironic insight and layers of meaning, echoes in her private environment as well, with one notable shift in accent.

At home, the loudest articulation is a passionate, soulful respect that honors individual creativity, acknowledges vulnerability and welcomes visitors to a unique world … sometimes painful, sometimes playful, always accepting.

Her home reflects a search for meaning. Honesty, not pretense, is the imperative.

"This house isn't about taste at all. It's about comfort No. 1 and about irony," Graff said. "It's an oddball house with a sense of humor. People who are very uptight can let loose in this house."

The artist and her husband, Denny, live in a 100-year old, 1 1/2-story wood frame home in a working-class neighborhood of Pekin.

The house had been repossessed by the bank when the Graffs found it. They worked on it for a year before moving in.

"This house is vintage gray shingles on the outside. I like the incognitoness of it. This house doesn't look like anything subversive or creative is going on inside," Mariam Graff said.

The inside foyer greets visitors with an immediate, welcoming proclamation: You are about to begin an artful, quirky trip.

The foyer is painted in a muted Chinese red with a Middle Eastern rug, Louis XV chair and pop art chest of drawers decorated with plastic jewels and baubles. Black velveteen drapes hang in the doorway of the foyer.

Inside, the dining room doubles as a studio.

The rooms in Graff's home have high ceilings and large windows.

The kitchen walls are painted soft orange. Kitchen cabinets are decoupaged with figures in historic Mardi Gras costumes.

The living room is often referred to by guests as "the red room," even though it's not painted red.

A vibrant Iraqi rug accounts for the room's nurturing red ambience.

Graff does not think in terms of color but in terms of effect and processes.

"Everything here is touched, created by someone. Another human being put some of their soul into these things," she said. "This house is not the classic American dream thing. It's oddball.

"This house will never be done. Artists are never totally happy with something. Our lives are about processes, and visually we're always seeking improvement. We love a blank canvas."

Clare Howard can be reached at choward@pjstar.com.