Elizabeth Murray Evolving.... Monterey's First Artists' Colony Returning to Life The Carmel Pine Cone March 13, 2003 By Margot Petit Nichols Back from her third trip to the rain forest of Ecuador where she taught children of the Amazon to paint, Elizabeth Murray returned, artist-in-residence, to her 103-year-old Monterey National Trust historic home. Her seven-year-old Couton du Tular, Toulouse (“Toulie”) Lautrec (who is the same age as his mom in dog years) and a friendly house ghost awaited her. Readers of The Pine Cone may remember our Elizabeth Murray progress reports: how she is the original landscape designer for Del Monte Shopping Center; how she was invited to help with the restoration of Monet's gardens at Giverny, France where she resided more than a year, and to which she returns annually; and that she has written books and lectured extensively on the creation of impressionistic “painterly” photographs, cultivating sacred spaces, and turning spaces into sanctuaries. In recent years Murray has been restoring the 1900 home of Monterey artist Charles Rollo Peters (1862–1928), known for his arresting nocturnal paintings. She is recreating the gardens, and working toward returning the property to a “sustainable, beautiful place as an artists'colony.” Elizabeth Murray just keeps on evolving. Charles Rollo Peters opened his sixty-acre estate to San Francisco artists displaced by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The extensive grounds held a number of cottages (two on Murray's property and one now on a neighboring parcel) which became domiciles for the homeless painters, turning the estate into a true artists' colony. Peters created a gallery at the Hotel Del Monte where the wealthy could admire and buy the artwork created nearby. He held lavish parties at the home known as Peters Gate, inviting well-to-do collectors, thus affording valuable exposure of the artwork. Members of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco came down the coast for weekend visits with Peters. Carmel's poet, George Sterling, came over for a friendly visit and read his poetry. Jack London was another invited guest. So large was his estate, visitors entered through the arched Peters Gate on the periphery of the property. The gate is still standing at Munras and Alameda, but the property has shrunk to one acre on the crest of Avenidas Maria Road. When she learned that the property was up for subdivision and a developer wanted it, Elizabeth Murray set about to acquire it and have it declared a National Trust historic home. To that end, she researched the property exhaustively, hiring an historian to delve into old records. She learned that Charles Rollo Peters had founded the first Peninsula artists' colony there (even before the Carmel-by-the-Sea colony was established). Murray was successful on all accounts and moved into the large 14-room house in need of so many repairs and whose decay became more apparent with every passing day. When Murray's cat, Chi Chi, walked across the bedroom floor upstairs, the living room ceiling below moved. Before going off on the first of her three Ecuador art trips, she spent the best part of last year having the second floor of the century-old home shorn up. The upper floor, with its three bedrooms, bath, staircase and dormer windows, was sinking and the living room ceiling collapsing beneath it. The upper story had already sunk six inches when it was decided the floors had to be ripped up, holes cut in the side walls, temporary walls created to “hold everything up,” and buttressed from the outside. Nine thousand pounds of custom steel had to be fabricated and installed by masterful engineers. Because the house and property are listed on the National Trust, Murray qualified for some government sponsored grants administered by the historic planning department of the City of Monterey. “No one had seen these kinds of problems before,” Murray said. But together with architect Terry Wilson (“He worked out my specific ideas and completely respected the authenticity of the house,” Murray said), historic engineer Mel Green, steelmaker/welder John Fox, and contractor Marty Newman, “everyone came up with a solution,” she said. “It was miraculous.” Every day she worked with “the guys” and prayed. She even enlisted Toulie as her support dog throughout the grueling months, and told the house ghosts (who scare Toulie at the top of the stairs and who show up as misty ectoplasm in photographs) that they had to behave; if not, they could leave. Heaven knows, she needed no playful poltergeists queering the works. For this sensitive renovation, both Murray and Wilson received a home owner major outstanding design award for a multi-family design last October from the City of Monterey. But problems persist. In the last big storm there were seven leaks in the house and the top part of one of the chimneys fell off. The next project is to restore the three chimneys and clad the living room beams in redwood to match the rest of the room. In the meanwhile, as artist-in-residence, Murray instructs creativity workshops on impressionist photography (classes for executives and executives'spouses who come from Pebble Beach Lodge) retreats and conferences. “I prepare photographic elements ahead of time for them to photograph. We make enlargements and paint the photographs, which they take home. They come to Peters Gate thinking they can't do anything artistic, and wind up understanding art and the creative process.” Murray keeps Petersí Gate as an open studio where she invites people to learn about creating art or creating sacred space. Different groups come, including teachers who work with Hospice and Master Gardeners. Her on-going art project now is a book for the children of the Amazon. With the art materials Murray took to them, they created “wonderful paintings.” Murray is editing the book's text in Spanish, English and Achuar to accompany the artwork. Independent funding and underwriting will allow Murray to self-publish Nantu and Auju a myth of the rain forest of how the moon and the great potoo bird came to be. A thousand copies of the book will be given to the children of the rain forest and the remainder will be sold to earn more money. She will visit Ecuador again in April, and in November will lead trips for the Pachamama (Mother Earth) Alliance. As for the gardens on the one-acre Monterey property, landscape designer Murray has done as much with them as her budget and time will allow. So far, she said, “I planted many fruit trees (apple, pear andpersimmon) and more pine, cypress, oak and birch. I planted 27 rare varieties of bamboo, hedges of variegated pittosporum, and herbs, flowers, and thousands of bulbs.” In the garden there are two cottages that have been totally restored and enlarged to make them viable as rentals, but all the outside boards of the board and batten construction and the windows were saved and put back in place. Looking at them now, one would think they were original buildings that had been spruced up. Inside, they are marvels of light and airy elegance, with cleverly placed skylights, different levels and enchanting garden views. One of the cottages started out as a 10-by-12-foot storage shed for lawn mowers, but had 600 square feet added. Both cottages had new foundations, studs, insulation, dry wall, floor braces and new floors installed. To defray costs of the renovations, Murray is currently renting the small houses to a therapist and an entrepreneur, but eventually the cottages will house artists, writers or poets, returning the property to its original status as a haven for the creative. In the meanwhile, Murray supports herself with her lectures and workshops here and around the country, various photographic products which include calendars, notecards posters and paintings. Her mural-size photographs of Monet's gardens as “healing views” are installed in several hospitals (including Natividad in Salinas and St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco). She also photographs gardens and creates sanctuaries in homes and gardens for her clients. Murray is currently photographing a Carmel garden throughout the year and in each season to be made into a book. Several of her clients are “professionals who contribute to our community, but have no time or energy” to create relaxing spaces in the garden and in the interior of their home, looking out. “We are trying to enrich them,” Murray said. As for the friendly ghosts at Peters Gate, she believes there is at least one left in residence who seems quite content with the renovation.

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