Press Coverage — 4 Selected Stories

Originally published in The Colorado Springs Gazette on July 29, 2006. Reprinted here for historical and archival purposes.

Pyramid Power

Blank Walls, Unique Shape of Home Inspire Painter to Perfect Her Art

By Danielle Stratton-Coulter
The Colorado Springs Gazette
July 29, 2006

Glinting from the top of a hill in Manitou Springs, three copper-colored pyramids have for years drawn curiosity from motorists traveling along the red-rock-lined U.S. Highway 24.

But in the fifteen months since the current owners moved in, what has become most unusual about the home is what is inside.

Artist debi Story Maddox (who prefers not to capitalize her first name so as not to inflate her own importance) and her husband, Michael Maddox, moved from a sprawling Texas property near Dallas into the three interconnected pyramids. Ever since, Story Maddox has been painting, bejeweling, and otherwise decorating almost every conceivable surface of the home's 2,575 square feet.

It is a process that Story Maddox, who also has a small studio on the property, says is ongoing.

"When we moved in," she says with a wrinkled nose, "it was all tan."

She certainly cannot say that anymore.

Guests entering through the double glass doors are greeted by a concrete pillar shimmering with copper leaf. To complement the Egyptian pyramid theme, Story Maddox painted the adjacent wall with symbols she found in Egyptian history books—imagining what might have appeared in the dwelling of an ancient pharaoh.

"I try to make it seem like it could really be in there," she says.

Wearing a flowing bright yellow skirt adorned with fabric flowers, she glides up the stairs to the main pyramid, which contains the kitchen, dining area, and living room. Her bespectacled, ponytailed husband, still carrying a Texas drawl, follows behind, admiring the intricate beauty his wife has created.

Although many aspects of the house are unusual—including an eighteenth-century Egyptian chandelier suspended from the main pyramid—it also contains the conveniences of a traditional two-story home. The pyramids include rooms with conventional vertical walls, and the kitchen features DeWils cabinetry, a Thermador cooktop, and tile countertops. A passive solar heating system keeps the home warm during the colder months.

Around the corner, however, are more whimsical touches, such as a likeness of Bob Dylan, one of Story Maddox's favorite musicians, painted directly onto a wall.

It is a good thing the house offers plenty of wall space, Michael Maddox jokes. He knows from experience what happens when his wife runs out of canvas.

"Once, I made the mistake of not making sure she wouldn't run out of canvas," he says. "I came home and she had painted on all of my hats."

Today, Story Maddox confines her artistic expression to canvases, wall hangings, floor coverings, and the walls of the home. Using trompe l'oeil techniques, she has created the illusion of windows and open skies in the guest room and in her husband's home office.

There, and at his offices in Old Colorado City, Michael Maddox provides Christian-based counseling and encouragement for artists—including his wife. He also hosts a radio program on Christian station KGFT (100.7 FM).

The couple recently completed construction of Story Maddox's studio and gallery adjacent to the home, where visitors may view her work by appointment.

In addition to painting, she creates jewelry, designs and decorates clothing, and writes poetry. Although she has never received formal artistic training, her work has been exhibited at several prominent Texas venues, including the Dallas Biblical Arts Museum. Her clothing designs are carried by Safron boutique in Manitou Springs, while Black Cat Books also in Manitou Springs offers her published works.

In 2002, Michael and debi Story Maddox co-authored the book Lightning Bolts and Butterflies. Story Maddox also authored the allegorical fantasy Wordivore World and published Visual Prayers, an art book.

She often writes in a quiet corner of the master bedroom, located in one of the three pyramids and reached by a staircase from the family room. Windows on two sides of the suite provide breathtaking mountain views.

"We wake up facing Pikes Peak," Story Maddox says, "and depending on the time of year, the moon follows you."

She transformed the bedroom's wooden floor to resemble massive stone slabs, while colorful peacocks spread their feathers across the wall above the bed.

The artistic theme continues into the master bathroom, where smoky lavender walls are accented by copper fixtures, including the faucets and the exterior surfaces of the two-person shower and soaking tub.

Few surfaces have escaped her imagination. Even the door to the small toilet room includes a stained-glass window designed to bring in additional natural light.

"I just did it because it was small and it was just like a cave," she says with a laugh. "It just brought in a little more natural light—in the loo. I was going to paint the door anyway, inside and out, and thought I would add another feature. To me, doors are just a palette to paint on."

Realtor Linda Lafferty says the Maddoxes are exactly the kind of people she imagined would eventually purchase the home.

"It is such a unique house," Lafferty says. "It's a lifestyle home, and that's the way I advertised it. It takes a special person to live in that house."

For the Maddoxes, it has proven to be the perfect fit.

"We lived in the country in Texas, so being this close to a city is different for us," Story Maddox says. "But what attracted us to the house were the architectural elements. You're going to be buried in a box, so you might as well not live in one your whole life."

Source: The Colorado Springs Gazette