Artworks that make a home

By Kristen Peterson

Monday, Nov. 27, 2006 | 7:19 a.m.

Dana Hofflander and her interior designer were discussing plans for Hofflander's home when in walked another expert, Naomi Arin.

Forget the French doors, the furniture or flooring, Arin was there to talk art. The co-owner of Dust Gallery is responsible for the Stephen Hough, a monochromatic painting hanging in the dining room; the Peter Fox, a delicious two-piece painting in the living room; and the Kathleen Kucka, an abstract acrylic on linen in the foyer.

The family room and kitchen are next. Essentially, she's helping to outfit much of the home.

While most serious collectors invest years perusing auctions and staying abreast of East and West Coast galleries, newcomers find it difficult to navigate the mystique of the art world.

"I know what I like, I just don't know how to find it," says Candace Stuart, who built a collection for her Anthem home over the summer with Arin's help. "We designed a new home that was contemporary. We needed large pieces that have flow and shape to them. She immediately knew which artists to contact."

Stuart, who describes herself as a "do-it-yourself kind of person," has never even worked with an interior designer, but now has Arin working on the art for their second home in Del Mar, Calif.

Hiring a pro to build a residential collection isn't common. But as sophistication ripples into the Las Vegas suburbs and serious art collections turn up in tract homes as well as custom-built wonders, Arin is carving her niche. She has even left her law practice for the gig.

"Most people piece together their own collections," says Diana Judson, president of Global Art Transport of Las Vegas, who has seen her share of high-end residential collections. "Others rely on interior designers. But art isn't always a designer's focus."

Design schools, such as Parsons in New York, include art history as part of the interior-design program. "They (the students) know the difference between commercially driven work and quality art," says Danielle Galland, acting director of the interior-design program at Parsons.

"But sometimes people do have private curators. These kinds of people usually are experts in art and come from gallery backgrounds. It's sort of like getting antique appraisers when they're looking for 18th-century French furniture."

Locally there are art advisers and the Guggenheim Young Collectors Council to help educate newcomers. The city is full of print and commercial galleries. But the Hofflanders weren't interested in prints: "We wanted something refined, but contemporary."

So they hooked up with Arin, who has a reputation as a local barometer for what's current in the art world. Arin came to Las Vegas after working as a grant writer for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and opened Dust Gallery, at 1221 S. Main St., in 2003 with Jerry Misko. For home collections, budgets can be as low as $5,000, but easily exceed $100,000. The process begins with a house visit and a laptop full of images. Ideas are discussed, measurements are taken and the search begins.

"Most people say they don't know anything about art, but they know what they respond to," Arin says. "I show them a ton of stuff and see what makes their eyes dilate."

The Hough piece at the Hofflanders' is made from enamel car paint and carved plexiglass. It replaced an ornate mirror above the buffet in the dining room full of gilded furniture, a large palm tree and windows that look into the back yard.

The painting "takes this really formal classical room and brings it up to 2006," Arin says. "The piece has to be really simple because everything else is so ornate."

The rest of Hofflander's spacious home has creme-colored marble floors and classical ornate accents that share space with wall-mounted flat screen televisions and 21st-century sound systems. The art will complete the makeover.

"Art is the most important piece of the house," Hofflander says. "It represents you. There's nothing worse than coming to your home and not feeling like it's your own."