ARTIST TO FEATURE HER WORK
Showhome becomes art exhibit
Tiffany Cuffley ’s artwork will soon be viewed in a home that’s typically visited by more than 100,000 people over 10 days.
The 29-year-old Calgary native has been announced as the winner of this year’s Dream Home Artist Project contest held by Homes by Avi, putting Cuffley’s talent on a well-seen stage. She’ll produce between 30 and 40 pieces that will cover the walls of the Calgary Stampede Rotary Dream Home.
This year marks the 23rd time Homes by Avi will design and build the dream home, and the 10th time it’s held the artist project.
“My first reaction was, ‘are you sure?’ ” Cuffley says, laughing, on the news that she had been selected. “Then I was excited and ready to get to work.”
The broad exposure that the dream home provides is important, says Cuffley.
“This was my main reason for applying,” she adds. “I love the opportunity the dream home offers to artists as a platform. It’s hard as an artist to get your work seen by the public eye and the opportunity to share something you love doing with an entire city is such a gift to any artist at any point in their career.”
Cuffley says she’s always enjoyed visiting the annual showcase home, adding “once I became a part of the art community in Calgary I loved the experience even more.”
“It was always so amazing to go into the home and learn about a new artist that I may have not been aware of yet and couldn’t wait to look their work up,” she adds.
Cuffley works in abstract, using acrylic and aerosol. Her paintings and illustrations are a study of shape.
“Shape and abstract patterns have been the focal point of my process from the start,” she says. “It’s something I think is strongly influenced by experience as an athlete in figure skating. Structure and pattern were concepts you learned at a very young age in the sport and I think it has just taken a new form from ice to canvas.”
The builder says this year’s dream home will be a nod to midcentury design, blended with glamour and gold.
“After meeting with the wonderful interior designers for the dream home, they gave me so much inspiration to go off of,” Cuffley says. “The collection I will be creating will be filled with sharp edges, lots of shape and pops of mid-century golds. I’ll be working with moody colours but still keep a vibrant, funky feel to them.”
“Tiffany has a very raw, real talent,” says Julie Punter, manager of show home selections and presentation at Homes by Avi. “And she’s also very motivated. I have no doubt that she’ll take full advantage of the opportunities that winning this contest brings her.”
This year’s home is a 2,438-square-foot floor plan that will be later moved to a lot in the southeast Calgary community of Walden by Genstar Development Co. Last year’s artist project winner was John F. Gerrard.
Homes by Avi, which won four honours at the Canadian Home Builders’ Association 2018 National Awards for Housing Excellence recently, including the top trophy for home design, was also recognized for last year’s dream home.
The home, which featured lighttoned woods, greys, and black accents in a Scandinavian theme, earned the marketing award for interior decorating.