former athens mayor, gwen o’looney has anything but a dull personality and outlook on life. many of us artists and musicians give her much credit to making athens what it is today. the art and music filled city, that it is now known for; was fueled by her push for the arts while mayor.
gwen and her husband john, live in a home in the historic cobbham district. many of the houses in this neighborhood are rather traditional, a few with some color, but this one stands apart as it is truly a “one of-a-kind” beauty.
each wall is filled with artwork, trinkets, photographs, or anything else that tells a story about their life, travels, and life-long political involvement. gwen has such a green heart and is a big do-it-yourself-er, there are many great “recycled” art pieces throughout their home; including a mosaic designed table from broken r.wood studio pieces that she collected throughout the years. john is also an artist, his watercolors make several appearances throughout their home.
thanks gwen and john for sharing! -kristen
When Gwen and John O’Looney bought their home in 1982, Cobb Street was not a status address. Then Historic Cobbham was a blighted, mostly rental neighborhood with high crime and great risk of demolition. “My mother cried the first time she saw the house,” laughs Gwen, “and said she’d never seen so much work in one place.” Sixteen people lived in the two houses on the property. John and Gwen took the front apartment and set about repairing holes in the floor and replacing cardboard walls. Today, you can see that its renovation is an ongoing work of love for these two Do-It-Yourselfers.
Sited high off the street, you enter the O’Looney home through a Charleston side porch they added and live on most of the year. “Natural Beauty” reads a marble J&J find from Victoria Secret that announces the feeling of this outside room so key to the O’Looney lifestyle. Like the rest of the home, comfort is complimented by creative display of art, antiques and finds.
Since the porch is the main dining room, a 3-board primitive table is where most dinner parties are held. “John is an excellent cook who can produce a full meal quicker than anyone I know,” Gwen explains, “I get to arrange the hors d’oevres and set the table with Rebecca Wood’s wonderful art.” In his free time, the table becomes the studio for John, a self-taught water colorist who constantly challenges himself. Art underlies an O’Looney collection that highlights local potters such as Rich Panico, David Morgan and many others. When Gwen needed a narrow server for the porch table, she collected Rebecca Wood shards and created this mosaic table. The centerpiece is a “found” piece of marble and the legs are covered with Victorian tin tiles. “I love creating practical pieces by transforming trash treasures into what I think of as art,” she says.
Upon entering, visitors are greeted by one of the four fireplaces in the house and this one is filled with souvenirs from China and Vietnam, and the work of Georgia artists – Rich Panico, Andy Nasisse, Rebecca Wood and Howard Finster. An early water color of the Palm Court in the Georgian Hotel and a portrait by John, hint at the versatility and wealth of his art found in every part of the house.
The old front porch of the house was closed in during the Depression and now serves as the living room and kitchen. A lamp made from an art nouveau brass ice crusher centers the small corner “parlor” designed for comfortable intimacy with an eclectic mix of seating — a Hitchcock stationary rocker, an old Henredon sofa “off the street” and a turn of the century art nouveau settee found in a fruit stand in Bishop and now completely restored and covered in embroidered silk carried back from India. Next to the Moriage Satsuma umbrella stand on a Victorian plant stand found in a barn in Madison, are four silk Thai temple rubbings brought back by O’Looney in 1969. Below are WWII lacquered four season panels in semiprecious stones. Valances were made for City Hall Council Chambers and bought by O’Looney at the annual surplus auction in 1990.
A look to the right of the front door reveals the informal library that showcases John’s art. Her father’s favorite chair is covered in embroidered cotton from India and Gwen’s favorite chair is the art deco she bought for $5. Bendzunas glass pieces and Michael Simon pottery join foreign souvenir heads from Ukraine and China.
Nowhere is O’Looney’s penchant for turning her walls into an eclectic scrapbook of art, souvenirs, heirlooms and trash treasures more obvious than in her kitchen and bathroom. The 10’x10’ kitchen is topped by souvenir travel plates bought by her maternal grandmother and John’s many degrees and awards from Yale and UGA. The perfect accent is the striking floor cloth gifted by Gwen’s friend of almost fifty years, Atlanta artist Callahan McDonough.
Above the door is a picture of her first year on Athens City Council, the nameplate from her stint as head of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, and a Ho Chi Minh souvenir from her 2006 visit to Hanoi. Custom cabinets by David Graves store all and the plate rack features local pottery from Rebecca Wood and Keen Zero.
Gwen’s bathroom is another explosion of expression. “Days start and end here with the peace of beauty and memories,” she explains. O’Looney faux-painted the terra cotta feel of a cloister and built drawers extending to over 6’ under the attic stairs for storage. The personal quality of the wall art is exemplified by WWII candy tins her paternal grandmother sent to Australia where her father served, dresser items from her maternal grandmother and her father’s desk plate.
Keys to the city of past Mayors and O’Looney’s along with other metal souvenir and commemorative memorabilia top three lady musicians brought back from India on the door to the adjoining guest room.
An example of Gwen’s resourceful creativity with trash is the use of frame “dropouts” decorating her window molding. “When I learned these beautiful pieces of frame molding were being wasted, I started collecting them and sorting through them to find matches. Then I had to find a use,” she explained. Inside the window is a good example of the eclectic weaving of oriental, natural and souvenir objects that makes this home unique.
Guests get to stay in a fantasy of luxury. The brass bed was bought in pieces near the Martin Luther King Center in the early 70’s and sports a crazy quilt made with the jeweled frontispieces of Pakistani wedding vests. Above the bed hangs John’s treasured gift to Gwen of Mary Porter’s “Unmade Bed” and a Sousaphone yard sale find holding Gwen’s wedding bouquet. Acting as “nightstands” are a ceremonial triangular piece from an defunct religious order in the corner behind the bed and a Victorian man’s shaving stand. As with all rooms, the centerpiece is the fireplace, but this one is especially special. The surround and inset are a mosaic Gwen made from broken pieces, jewelry and all sorts of found objects.
What a fabulous creative and alive home. Such a welcome sight to see these photos after viewing many of the “vanilla” (or “death by taupe”, as my husband calls them) that are in vogue right now.