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COLLECTOR HOMEI
n the foothills outside of Tucson, Arizona,
is a contemporary home skillfully fitted
into the landscape by architect Kevin B.
Howard, AIA. Part of his mandate was to
design a “modern, minimal home: a box that
seemed to have landed in the desert,” and to
accommodate a large and eclectic collection
of art amassed by his clients.
The couple met in Cincinnati when he was
an art director for a greeting card company
and she was studying for her degree in
pharmacy at the University of Cincinnati.
He had begun collecting art by his college
classmates in graphic design at MiamiUniversity in Oxford, Ohio.
“During our courting and early marriage,”
she admits, “I didn’t get it at first. All of
the walls of his efficiency apartment were
covered with art. He introduced me to his
passion and I began looking at art, furniture
and architecture. I enjoyed decorative arts
and soon I became interested in collecting.”
She became so interested, in fact, that she
decided she didn’t need an engagement ring
and chose to put the money into art for their
new home.
They began buying signed multiples by
artists such as Robert Indiana that, at that time,12DESERT
DWELLING
AN ECLECTIC AND AESTHETICALLY
PLEASING COLLECTION FILLS THIS
MODERN HOME IN TUCSON, ARIZONA.
BY JOHN O’HERN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANCIS SMITH