Local woman’s garden wins award

By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT-Artist Darlene Graeser relaxes in her home studio in Thousand Oaks. Her garden was recognized in the May issue of Better Homes and Gardens for its bold use of color. And her art-filled home will be featured in the August issue.

Darlene Graeser’s Thousand Oaks home is a Disneyland of design.

She’ll be the first to tell you she isn’t afraid of anything, especially color. And her home of more than 30 years reflects that statement inside and out.

Graeser’s use of color in her garden won second place out of 7,500 entrants in the Better Homes and Gardens Better Home, Better Living contest.

The tiny picture in the May issue does little justice to Graeser’s garden, with its hand-set mosaic floor tilework and uncommon art. The pool, set back in the yard, beckons guests to explore further, while the huge shaded area affords protection from the afternoon sun.

Go inside Graeser’s home and you’ll find an artistic treasure at every few feet. Try to describe what you see with a single word—such as whimsical or extraordinary—and it just doesn’t do the discovery justice.

Graeser’s designs—her home is chock-full of them—require more than a few words. Take the nude giant man of plaster who’s climbing Graeser’s fireplace while cobalt blue tile streams across the wall. She designed and built him. You can’t take your eyes off of him—or the tiled entryway floor that Graeser created—or the huge Monopoly board, complete with life-sized game pieces.

The stairs to Graeser’s art loft are made of stainless steel, like those found on the steps of Bigfoot truck cabs. She wanted to make the staircase look interesting.

Don’t get the idea that her home is cluttered. It’s not; it’s just full of love and life and love of life: Graeser’s personality comes shining through.

Better Homes was so impressed with Graeser’s flair for color and hand-set tilework that the magazine will feature her home in a larger piece in August.

Jacqueline Heriteau is writing it. "I’ve never seen anybody use color outdoors so boldly, so happily and so successfully," said Heriteau, who lives on the East Coast and must rely on the dozens of pictures shot by the magazine’s photographers.

To know Graeser’s home is to know her. As you might expect, the mother of two daughters and two grandchildren is a fascinating person. She’s a practicing psychologist with offices in Van Nuys and Thousand Oaks and an accomplished painter, having had gallery showings locally and in Beverly Hills.

In her practice, Graeser works with AIDS patients, addressing gloomy topics of death and dying. For her, art acts as a release.

"My art is a way to express the angst that I feel as a result of working with (them)," Graeser said. "Maybe it’s God. I think it’s a gift. Every human has some gift and it’s up to them whether they use it or not."

Self-described as hyperactive, Graeser said it’s only been in recent years that she’s slept longer than three hours a night. She loves staying awake, she said, and puts her energy into making rugs; setting tile artwork; painting furniture, including a line of children’s furniture; and painting on canvas.

"I have so much to do," she said.

Her husband, John, is intriguing in his own right. A dentist, he comes from a line of Ventura County medical pioneers. John’s father was the county’s first orthodontist, his grandfather the first doctor.

For more information on Graeser’s artwork, visit her website at www.darlenegraeser.com.