"Our rooms should be a place to show off individuality, a place to dream and refresh, protected from all the theatrics of the outside world." ~CCH
Colette Cosentino Horjus’ gallery and studio is in the Arts District, a block from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. You’ll find Colette on any given day or time inside the ornate San Marcos building. Enter her atelier, an immense crystal chandelier and a shop cat named Tex greet you. Sometimes, Colette throws soirees in the courtyard.
Behind the John Saladino screen, you’ll find “the mess.” Create mode. Wallpaper trials for her collection with Schumacher across the walls. A mix of large-scale works in progress and her bestsellers, the “smalls.” There’s a loveseat for napping and a huge banister cabinet for storage. A vintage wood writing desk. An armchair with an ornate ancient fish design on the feet.
Colette has been in her studio for seven years, creating decorative and abstract works that span paintings, murals, and wallpaper. She got her break painting a last-minute mural for an event at Lotusland, and the rest is herstory.
She uses canvases with raw edges and muted “historical colors.” She describes her drip work to me. She starts at the top and “lets it rain” to create depth. Colette tells me about her world with passion and whimsy, and that’s when I realize she’s a dreamer like me.
And dream big she did when she decided to take a leap of faith to become a professional artist. She is much happier and healthier because of this and tells me, “You can have the most joy when you turn your work into the gifts you were given.” Her gifts sometimes reveal themselves as moody landscapes, but it’s her romantic pieces, gardens with flora and animals, golds and blues, I’d want in my home.
When did you start painting?
I began “creating” as a child. I have early memories of drawing with crayons on the kitchen walls. My young mother gave up trying to curb my enthusiasm and allowed the practice, a foretelling of my future occupation: creating large-scale works and wallpaper.
What feelings do you remember from when you first painted?
I remember from preschool when my teacher brought in a barrel of mosaic tiles. I never felt more alive. The very sight of the jewel-toned bits lit me inside like never before. And to hold them in my hand!
I picked up painting in my twenties, studying works created by European masters and using them as teachers for my work. I love visiting the Getty to view the religious art. Byzantine and Medieval art are delectable, and I try to emulate them. Antique Japanese panels are mesmerizing.
How does the muse show up for you?
I’m inspired most swiftly when presented with a great challenge, a project or a commission. I love getting right into the work and, layer by layer, bring it to its completion. My work is mainly spontaneous, and the story evolves as I go.
Iowa and Santa Barbara seem like very different worlds, or are they? Describe Iowa to me.
Iowa is like the Shire in Lord of the Rings. In the summer it’s warm and very green. It’s the place of my inspiration, specifically the family farm in a bucolic and rural location, with a view of the interstate more than a mile away.
Time stops as you sit on the farmhouse porch gazing out past our land to see the row of twinkly car lights making their way between Minneapolis and Des Moines.
I paint the family farm from memory. Vast skies with incredible cloud formations. Magical sunsets against a silhouette of deep green and black. Fields as far as the eye can see. Brown, gray, and white with snow in the winter; shades of pale green, lime green, and pink in spring. Then summer, hot, humid, glorious—the crops (soybeans and seed corn) rise before your eyes. At night, the fireflies dot the atmosphere, mysterious globes of light that are impossible to capture in film. Autumn is golden, and suddenly, you need a sweater, then a coat, and the seasons start all over again.
Where does your vintage appreciation come from?
I’ve always had a love for old things. I’m enamored by Midnight in Paris, where the main character feels he should have lived in a different time when design was exquisite and fashion was haute couture. I’m drawn to things with a story and history.
Tell me about your second wallpaper collection for Schumacher. How has it evolved from your first?
My second collection is still in the works. One design is a departure—it’s more graphic—yet still reads as my work. It’s entitled “Bird Song.” It’s been painted against a raw Belgian linen background, the inky colors translucent to let the linen come through. Another design is entitled “Psalm,” based on the scripture Psalm 1. It’s a sizeable flowing tree with petals and leaves scattered with the wind.
Atelier visits by appointment: info@colettecosentino.com
11 West Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara
colettecosentino.com | @colettecosentinoatelier
You can have the most joy when you turn your work into the gifts you were given.