Weird Homes Tour – San Francisco Bay

When Jaina Bee purchased their home in 1997, they had the vision of creating a collaborative-art utopia.  Jaina’s mother, a nonconformist, started a commune in Santa Cruz where everyone and anyone could crash out. Jaina wanted the same for their own house. Creative friends and friends of friends came and went as they pleased, each contributing to and transforming the space as they went. The result was a home that had a life of its own. And so Granny’s Empire of Art was born and continues to grow to this day.

Perhaps the most striking piece is Jason Mecier’s PencilVania art installation enveloping Jaina’s three-story stairwell. Made out of over 185 THOUSAND colored pencils, this piece mesmerizes you with its intricate patterns and details. Jaina still catches new details to this day. PencilVania also helped inspire the home’s name with Mecier’s Granny portrait of a (hypothetical) elderly Jaina.  Of course, this is made out of pencils too! No wonder Pee Wee Herman loved it all!

Another wonderful installation is Jaina’s bathroom, named The Yellow Submarine Crash Lands on Gaudi’s Beach House in Brazil (The Movie).  It’s an under the sea adventure complete with psychedelic and glow-in-the-dark curved mosaic walls, portholes and a periscope (by Michael Brown) that plays 60’s surfer videos. Just sit in the yellow submarine painted tub with the Fab Four and get ready to visit an octopus’s garden in the shade.  Jason Mecier, JennyB The Shady Lady, Christine Shields, Kate Fenker, Pat Kadyk and Marko the Anarchist Plumber all collaborated to create this masterpiece.

And don’t miss their fur mediation closet, Faux Rea Diner, circus carpet and Haunted Parlor. There’s SO MUCH TO see and do at Granny’s Empire of Art!