Taking Creative Living to the Next Level

A inspiring glimpse into James and Anne Hubbell's over-the-top art-home

Sometimes it just feels good to see things with fresh eyes.

I recently had a chance to wander around the sprawling former home and studio of artists James and Anne Hubbell, near Santa Ysabel, California, and it’s given me a new take on my living environment. 

Especially as a city dweller, I am used to unconsciously navigating lots of 90-degree-angles, straight lines, and symmetry in the urban grid. The efficiency of modern life is built upon a template of familiar shapes, textures, and colors. We assume we know what a doorknob or a window looks like. Even among artists and creative types, most of us don’t challenge the makeup of our physical environments beyond decoration or curation. 

But a doorknob can be a squiggle. A window can be an ornate, bejeweled portal. A roof can soar and undulate, and a ceiling can envelop. If you can dream it, maybe you could also make it. 

In the Hubbells’ world, any surface is fair game for an intricate mosaic. A garden path can simply melt into the landscape, letting Mother Nature’s creations be the canvas for a whimsical archway or a tiny, rough-hewn sculpture.

The Hubbells crafted an incredible property over more than six decades (James passed away at 92, back in May). Currently an art center, nature space, and retreat called the Ilan-Lael Foundation, the historically designated site is truly a magical place. I was fortunate enough to visit at the invitation of a family member.

At every turn, there are creative gestures large and small, incorporating brick, adobe, tile, iron, ceramic, and even molten glass (which evoked an historic forest fire that engulfed the area more than 20 years ago). Eleven unusual structures are scattered amid trees and fragrant white sage bushes at the top of a mountain with dramatic surrounding views. 

The “big studio” at the heart of the property is an impressive metalworking workshop with curved ceilings and shapely framed windows that feel as if you’re inside a living creature. I was reminded of the belly of a whale, if the whale were also a ship sailing over waves of greenery. Nestled up a small staircase is the stained glass studio, where jewel-toned shapes are illuminated by the bright skies outside. 

A meditative chapel space rises like a white nautilus facing a panoramic vista, its mosaic terrace leading visitors to the curved shelter housing a stained-glass window that beckons like hidden treasure.

Certainly this space feels sacred, but even the more mundane corners of the property refuse to be ordinary; I have never seen such an elaborate, joyful, surreal shower room in my life. It’s a swirl of celestial bodies, flowers, animals, and waves splashed from floor to ceiling in intricate shards of glass and inlaid shells. 

I imagine every shower inspires singing in a space like that.

In Bert Hubbell’s Sculpture Garden, I was delighted by tiny ceramic creatures made by James Hubbell’s late brother, who lived in Japan and also celebrated nature in his art. If you walk slowly and look carefully, these small-scale sculptures are tucked in unlikely places near the path. I appreciated how these reminded me of the little devotional statues I come across during my own visits to Japan’s mystical mountain power spots. 

It feels encouraging to know that a place like this exists in this world – a place that celebrates nature and creativity and the joy of existence. I’m inspired by the simple lesson to create beauty wherever and however I want. 

We aren’t limited by the templates that surround us. We don’t have to color between the lines, or keep those lines perfectly straight. We can question it all, reinvent, remold, and build the world we want. 

The only limits are the ones we make for ourselves.