On Art, Design Houses, and John Matthew Moore

Four years ago, I wrote about falling in love with a painting I saw at the DC Design House. I walked into a room that Marjory Segal designed and was stopped dead in my tracks. Marjory was in the room that day and I feel badly that the only thing I managed to ask was for the name of the artist who made the painting.  His name was John Matthew Moore.

Room designed by Marjory Segal / Photo from DC Spaces

Photo from John Matthew Moore's website

If you're a long time reader, you know that I was able to eventually able to bring Olivia the sheep home as a print and she's lived happily on my living room wall for years.

Over the years, I've seen John Matthew Moore's work here and there. I don't think a year has gone by that I didn't see his work (or Matthew himself) at the DC Design House. Two years ago, Lauren Liess used an amazing piece of Matthew's in her room at the house. You might have seen this room featured in Better Homes & Gardens last year.

From Lauren's blog, Pure Style Home

This past year, Matthew took over a space of his own in the design house. When I heard this, I assumed he'd do some sort of gallery space. Nope. He took over the foyer...and a couple stories of stairwells and hallways that connected to it. Check out these before images by Charlottesville's Robert Radifera:

Photos by Robert Radifera

I remember thinking "good luck with that!" But the end result was pretty amazing.

Photo by Angie Seckinger

Wow.

Photo by Robert Radifera  

Photo by Angie Seckinger 

 Super wow.

Photo by Angie Seckinger

The light fixture was amazing. Check out the before and after:

Photo by Robert Radifera

What happened to me when I saw Olivia the first time happened again. I saw something that delighted me so much that I had to have it. The thing is that it didn't get photographed! It was hanging at the top of some stairs in one of those hallways that Matthew took on in addition to the foyer. I'm scoured the web and even sent a message to Robert Radifera trying to track her down. If the Design House volunteers hadn't been so militant this year, I might have had just an iphone photo to share.

I knew she had to show up on Matthew's website eventually...