Papercity

“It’s the opposite of Never Land. We named it Ever Land after my paintings, and because we want to share it with everyone,” relays artist McKay Otto about the home and rambling 20-acre spread on a wildlife preserve in Wimberley that he shares with his partner, physician/researcher Keith Coffee. The painter and scientist discovered their compound and tract in the heart of the Hill Country in the summer of 2008. The uncompleted house with an ample guest wing, freely flowing spaces and expansive wraparound porch stood vacant; the previous owners had given up during the final stages of building. Otto and Coffee happily — and foresightedly — purchased the property and made it their own. Flash forward three years, and the couple’s airy, welcoming yet unpretentious and environmentally sensitive retreat (with rainwater-collection system) has an at-the-ready fully stocked larder and an epicurean wine cellar, chef-friendly indoor and outdoor kitchens, a light-drenched studio space for Otto and home office for Coffee, a two-story painting and sculpture gallery, and, most importantly, four guest rooms. These quarters are kept occupied, filled weekends year round with the pair’s friends, who drive or fly in from destinations near and far to soak up hospitality, marvel at the unpolished Central Texas landscape, breathe in fragrant stands of lavender, ogle rare orchids and admire Otto and Coffee’s ever-burgeoning art collection.

IMAGES:

Keith Coffee, McKay Otto and Henry, 2011

Coffee’s gleaming glass-pyramid greenhouse, which he designed and constructed, was completed in the summer of 2010. Its walkway is lined with local Texas limestone. Inside, exotic rare orchids and all manner of tropicals bring an unexpected greenscape to the Hill Country terrain. The pyramid is equal parts ancient Egypt and I.M. Pei’s creation for the Louvre, and features the same directional sightings as the Great Pyramid of Giza.

In the upstairs sleeping loft, Otto’s phosphorescent busts hold court. An early photographer’s images document the construction of the Eiffel Tower. The Model 75015 telescope is put to good use for star sighting off the upstairs deck. Vintage Corbusier chaise longue — a find from 19th Street in the Heights, from Otto’s days as a “junker.”

In the upstairs salon are works by Arthur Turner, Michael Macedo Meazell, Susie Rosmarin, Bill Davenport, The Art Guys, Ibsen Espada, Forrest Prince, Dennis Porter, Mary Wilbanks and several early Ottos.

The second-floor study/television room contains the odd and unique. Antique bench and hat-form head from Martin Mercader Antiques in the Heights. Front and center is an Otto canvas, which was exhibited at a breakthrough show at Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, in 2001. In the corner, an African sculpture of a “Seashell Man” found on 19th Street in the Heights.

In the upstairs study, Henry, a rescued Great Dane. The walls boast plentiful art, including canvases by Brian Portman (left) and Susan Plum (right), both featured in the volume Texas Artists Today. Stacked African leather stools date from Coffee’s two-year stint, post-college and before med school, in the Peace Corps in West Africa. The Texas pine floors are “something local and green,” says Otto.

In the second-floor gallery, a rocker from Coffee’s childhood cozies up to his own untitled portrait.

Kitchen pantry is “Texas-sized and ideal for living in the Hill Country where storage is queen,” notes Otto.

Even the kitchen pantry has its own artwork. Atop an African granite–topped linen cabinet is the recent Pheasant Frosting by Texan Franco Mondini-Ruiz, a Whitney Biennial talent who traded a law career for the art world. Above, Flounder by Ken Luce, from Meredith Long & Company, alludes to the frequent seafood feasts cooked up at Ever Land.

At the entrance, guests are greeted by a vintage grand piano that’s played at gatherings; the next performance is scheduled for Coffee’s upcoming fall Art Party. Atop the piano, Texas Artists Today, which highlights Otto as one of 62 contemporary talents. A pair of busts by Otto, circa 2010, stands beside a crystal ball, a gift from Coffee’s grandmother upon his graduation from medical school. On the wall, Sharon Kopriva’s sculpture Marlo, circa 1997.

In the kitchen, guestbook as blackboard. “Everyone leaves their art mark,” Otto says. “It fills, we photograph it for a future art book, then erase it for more creations. Truly, we are all one.”

In the entry, a Wimberley flea-market hat fashioned from recycled paper.

In a nook in the kitchen, Otto’s Ever Mortars and Pestles Ever, circa 1995 – 2008.

The two-story gallery boasts works by inimitable Texans McKay Otto, Celia Eberle, Perry House and Richard Fluhr.

Throughout the property, Otto’s ladder sculptures emerge from the underbrush — an installation of eight, circa 2009.

A Buddha head from Star Antiques in Wimberley emits benevolence from the fern-lined floor of Coffee’s greenhouse.

An enclosed porch does duty as a entertainment space with an outdoor grill, fireplace and dining nook. The round steel planters in the foreground hold garden herbs, lavender and Coffee’s rock sculptures.

A clean, well-lighted place: The porch and verandah serve as a beacon in the deep Texas night. The string of lights promises a party.  

Front-door welcome: Jason Lasco’s Thanks!, circa 2007, acquired during the couple’s time living in Nashville. Lasco is the only Tennessee artist in their collection.

Looking toward the downstairs gallery from the second floor reveals the couple’s commitment to Texas artists. This soaring two-story space also doubles as a dining room or is used for cocktail fund-raisers for causes from breast cancer research to, most recently, The Art Party — Coffee’s presentation of offerings by emerging to mid-career talents; the doc serves as curator but takes no fee, instead passing the sales directly to the artists.

Bicycles cast shadows on the west side of the house.

Sailcloth overhangs, visible just outside the windows, keep the studio light soft, even and diffused. In the foreground, Charles and Ray Eames aluminum-frame chair was another mid-century treasure scored decades ago from a now-shuttered dealer in the Heights. The painting on the floor was exhibited in the “Positivism Project” during Art Basel Miami Beach fair week in 2010.

Ibsen Espada’s Broken Avenue, circa 1992, reigns over the second-floor gallery; Espada is one of Houston’s acclaimed mid-career masters (with a current show at New Gallery/Thom Andriola). To the right, an untitled early -1990s assemblage from Otto’s days at a surrealist.

In the master bedroom, mohair pillows from West Elm and a blanket from San Miguel. The doors face west, for Hill Country sunsets.

Sunlight pours into Otto’s studio, which faces east to receive the morning rays. Left, Ever In This Moment Ever, circa 2010. Along the wall, the vast 120-by-80-inch triptych Ever Within Time Ever, also circa 2010, was just purchased by Wimberley Collectors, the artist reveals, “so it will stay local.”

In the master bedroom, Coffee designed a sculptural chest of drawers that winks at Donald Judd. To the left, Otto’s sculpture of stacked jigsaw-puzzle rings. A series from the late 1990s, it was recently exhibited at an environmental show in L.A. 

The master bedroom opens, via nine-foot doors, onto the porch, which wraps around the front and west side of the house. Catching a beam of afternoon sunlight is Aron Williams’ Separation Anxiety, circa 2009. Williams is an MFA candidate at Texas State University in San Marcos.