i Madonnari 2024

I created a custom image to represent the historic house-museum of Casa del Herrero for Santa Barbara's 2024 i Madonnari chalk art festival, and then spent 16 hours completing the 4'x4' piece for the festival.

My research and reasoning below:

Camellia Detail: Carrie Steedman was locally reknown for her love of camellias. Her own Camellia Garden (aka the "Saints and Sinners Garden") provided her with blooms that won her countless awards at local and state garden shows.

German Clock Detail: George Fox Steedman's collection of clocks is extensive throughout the house - the most notable being the mermaid clock kept in the "Children's Room". Steedman loved mechanics and was often found tinkering in his workshop, taking things apart and putting them meticulously back together.

Tunisian Tile Detail: Done in Andalusian style, this tilework done by the Jewish-Tunisian J. Chemla set off a craze among designers, stylists, and collectors in Santa Barbara during the 1930's. The magnesium outline of botanically-inspired designs as well as the simple 4-color palatte gives the Chemla tiles a signature that is recognizable across his customer's projects in the area, from the Santa Barbara Courthouse to Ganna Walska's Lotusland. Steedman became seemingly obsessed and his home, Casa del Herrero, showcases thousands upon thousands of these (and more!) historic tiles. This tile fragment can be found in the Service Court, decorating one of Carrie's potting areas.

Silver Plate Detail: George Steedman was a tinkerer, crafter, mechanic engineer, and amateur architect. During the 1920's historic anglo-saxon metalwork became recognized as an art form, and practicing the craft became very popular in England and the United States. Steedman was no exception, and built an entire workshop dedicated to metalwork, and specifically to silvercraft. He crafted hundreds of pieces, many with customized caricatures of family members or gift recipients, and it is in the remaining collection of these pieces, as well as the detail-work in his home, that we see his sense of humor shine through.

This historic Montecito estate is celebrating it's 100th anniversary on June 29th 2025, and is worth making the time to visit if possible. Staffing is limited but all are very friendly and will accommodate accessibility needs as possible.

I was very proud to work on this project piece to help bring the Casa more attention within our community.