AT HOME IN THE VALLEY LOCAL RESIDENCE STARS IN METRO MURAL.Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer NORTH HOLLYWOOD - With memories of her own childhood and a fondness for the image of a classic suburban ranch-style home, artist Anne Marie Karlsen snapped a picture and secured a place in history for a small triplex triplex /tri·plex/ (tri´pleks) triple or threefold. triplex triple or threefold. near one of the Valley's new Metro Rail stations. Little did the owner or tenants of the Klemp Avenue house know that the residence is depicted de·pict tr.v. de·pict·ed, de·pict·ing, de·picts 1. To represent in a picture or sculpture. 2. To represent in words; describe. See Synonyms at represent. for thousands of commuters to see in a painted-tile mural mural Painting applied to and made integral with the surface of a wall or ceiling. Its roots can be found in the universal desire that led prehistoric peoples to create cave paintings—the desire to decorate their surroundings and express their ideas and beliefs. titled ``Present Day North Hollywood.'' ``I'm speechless speech·less adj. 1. Lacking the faculty of speech. 2. Temporarily unable to speak, as through astonishment. 3. Refraining from speech; silent. 4. about it, and yet it's so odd this house was chosen,'' said the owner of the home after she was informed of the mural. ``Maybe it's because it's the only one that doesn't have a fence.'' Recollecting her first visit to the street in April 1997, the artist couldn't pin down just what it was about this particular house that inspired her. ``It was a really nice example of a house that had been really well maintained,'' Karlsen said. The modest owner, who wished to remain nameless, said she had purchased the home in 1979. ``It's been an enjoyable residence for me ... and I've had a really delightful experience with the tenants,'' she said. Karlsen was one of four artists commissioned to work on the murals depicted at the three Valley Metro Valley Metro can be one of the following:
Eleven of her murals at the North Hollywood station have drawn numerous people to stand and reflect on the images displayed as fragments of reality. The ``Present Day'' mural took three years to complete. The subway subway: see rapid transit. subway Underground railway system used to transport passengers within urban and suburban areas. The first subway line, 3. station marks a new medium for Karlsen, who mainly paints on canvas. In addition to showing her work professionally, she also spends her time as an art professor at Santa Monica College Santa Monica College was first opened in 1929 as Santa Monica Junior College. Current enrollment is 32,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. The college also has one of the largest international student populations of any community college in the US, with approximately . But the challenge of piecing together small tiles to form a big picture posed a unique opportunity. ``On a personal level, I see the world as a complicated place,'' Karlsen said. ``The idea of taking fragments and reassembling them is much of how our own memory works.'' The light-colored Klemp Avenue home is depicted at the center of the mural, with a red Ford truck parked in front, palm trees on the side and a night view of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. in the background. The painting portrays a light-gray home with two neatly manicured bushes in front. The real house, with Christmas lights that hang year-round from the eves, hasn't changed from the day Karlsen first saw it. Pale pink flowers decorate the real house, which is light blue. There's no red Ford in the driveway. It was inspired by a truck Karlsen had seen parked in front of a company, east of the subway station, that provides vehicles to the film industry. Because the angle of the old photograph and the mural shows only the front of the house, when Karlsen visited the home again on Friday, she was surprised to see it was actually a triplex. She produced her work at the Urban Clay ceramic This article is about ceramic materials. For the fine art, see Ceramic art. The word ceramic is derived from the Greek word κεραμικός (keramikos). tile studio Tile Studio is an editor for graphics of tile-based games. The application contains a bitmap editor for creating tiles and sprites and a map editor for designing level maps. The output format is programmable, so it can be used together with most programming languages. in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , with the help of 14 artisans. Laurie Garris, the Metro Art project manager for all three Metro Rail stations, said Karlsen was selected from 200 applicants because of her thorough research into the history of the Valley and her organization. ``I think her work was very successful in capturing the community, both historically and in its present state. She combined a lot of images that were unique.'' Garris said the ``typical'' Valley home displayed is a flat, plain home that, through its depiction, has become an icon. ``I wanted people to look at things they are familiar with a different way,'' Karlsen said. ``I wanted them to see the gems in their community.'' Karlsen said the home reminded her of what early residents moving into the Valley - mainly families with relatives in the aerospace industry - aspired for in the 1950s and 1960s. The image conjures recollections of her own childhood just outside Detroit where square ranch ranch, large farm devoted chiefly to raising and breeding cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. The cattle ranch was introduced from Latin America to Texas and the plains of the W United States and Canada. houses lined up in rows. It was the dream of the typical suburban family. She had also chosen the home because she thought residents living close to the station would appreciate seeing something from their own neighborhood. But no one at the Klemp Avenue residence knew about its newly acquired star status until the Daily News brought it to their attention. The owner said she guessed the home was built in the 1940s and that she's been happy in the home and is in no hurry to leave it - not even to see its likeness on the subway walls. She will take a trip to the tunnel to see the mural, she said - ``one day when it's not so hot to walk over (to the station).'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- 2) Above, artist Anne Marie Karlsen revisits the North Hollywood home she featured in her mural at a Valley Metro Red Line station. Below, the artist's rendition ren·di·tion n. 1. The act of rendering. 2. An interpretation of a musical score or a dramatic piece. 3. A performance of a musical or dramatic work. 4. A translation, often interpretive. of the small triplex is painted on tiles in a scene she titled ``Present Day North Hollywood.'' Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News |
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