Sara Carter: An Artist in Residence

Our friend Sara Carter is both an artist and a collector. Her Northern California home is layered with art, each vignette created for the particular needs of the space (whether it’s a corner in a hallway or a focal point over the fireplace). How does she put it all together?

“I look at a space and intuitively sense what needs to go there,” she says. “The sensibility of living in a space is important to me; I like to fill the walls with work I love.” In her collection: a drawing by Willem de Kooning, photographs by Cara Phillips, works by Suzanne Caporael, Florence Pierce, and portraits in oil by Karim Hamid. An artist on her wish list? Scottish abstract painter Callum Innes. To see Carter’s own work, go to Sara Carter.

Photography by Douglas Sterling for Remodelista.

Above: A Rose Tarlow chair sits in a corner of Carter’s bedroom; a row of works by Suzanne Caporael wraps around the corner.

Above: Oil portraits of the artist and her daughter by Karim Hamid.

Above: One of Carter’s early works from her Travel Series (acrylic on canvas) hangs above the fireplace. The mantle made from Buxy Beige limestone was designed by architect Jerome Buttrick of Buttrick Projects (formerly Buttrick Wong Architects), who oversaw recent renovations of the house. Carter commissioned the fireplace screen based on one she admired; it becomes a work of art in itself.

Above: A portrait of Rafael, painted in the late 15th century; “it’s not grand, but it’s done in the style of the Italian painters of the period,” Carter says. The mahogany side table is from Rose Tarlow.

Above: Carter found the 1800s pewter bowl at a local antique store; she fills it with a collection of stone eggs and other objects, including a Kosta Boda glass head.

Above: Two photographs by Cara Phillips hang in a hallway; Phillips is noted for her use of UV imaging in her work.

Above: Carter’s own acrylic on canvas from the Grid Series hangs above two Windsor chairs flanking a Ciao table by Gary Hutton Design.