Outdoor Art Comes ​“Full Circle”

With David Sepulveda’s new work on residential Westville street.

Full Circle came about in response to a blank wall of the standalone building immediately adjacent to the main house on the Westville corner. ​“We wanted to make it more welcoming,” Sepulveda said. By ​“we” he meant himself and the house’s owner, Jonah Shanahan. ​“The side of the building needed something.” Shanahan was developing the main house into a four-unit income property, and the standalone building into an AirBnB unit. Finding wall art that could work on the exterior of a building turned out to be difficult. So Sepulveda decided to make a piece of art himself.

For inspiration, Sepulveda turned the work of artist Louise Nevelson, who roamed New York City looking for found objects to then incorporate into large collage-like sculptures, some of them almost ​“altar-like structures,” he said. ​“I remember when I was a teacher, we made some smaller versions of Nevelson-like artwork.”

Instead of roaming the streets of New Haven, however, Sepulveda instead collected things from other artists by asking them if they had any interesting objects they might like to donate to the cause.

“The forms and objects were gifts from fellow artists,” Sepulveda said.

Sculptor Susan Clinard gave him a violin. Adam Chistoferson at Musical Intervention donated parts of other musical instruments. Sepulveda received a rolling pin from the 1950s that he ​“sliced and diced” into several pieces. Amie Ziner gave him wooden lion heads, a shoe form, and other elements ​“that were so beautifully vintage that I was loath to paint them over.”

That hesitancy went for the whole piece once Sepulveda constructed it. Travis Smith, a carpenter who lives across the street, built the frame. ​“To really follow the history, Louise Nevelson painted her sculptures,” in monochrome, Sepulveda said. But when he posted a picture of the unfinished work online, a lot of the feedback enjoined him not to go through with it.

In the end, however, Sepulveda’s original vision prevailed. The piece with all the original colors felt ​“very busy and folk art-ish,” he said. By painting it all one color, ​“it becomes more sculptural. The forms really stand out. It’s largely an abstract shape.”

The building that Full Circle appears on used to be an antiques shop and now can be rented through AirBnB. Shanahan, who owns the building and the adjoining house, describes himself as ​“just a small-time developer.” Under Shanahan’s ownership, the kind of attention to detail and support of community manifest in Full Circle and the building pervade the entire property.

Shanahan grew up in a three-family home on Hubinger Street, across Edgewood Park from Westville. ​“I always appreciated the gestalt of these homes,” he said — the overall feeling created by the architectural details, from high ceilings to fireplaces. ​“You just want to keep it alive,” and if anything, amplify ​“the original intentions of the house.”

Shanahan is 39 years old and has been a developer for 18 years. His first income property was in Meriden; New Haven properties were too expensive for him at the time. But ​“after I got 10 houses, I said, ​‘I’m going to start in New Haven,’” he said.

The house on the corner of Central and Willard, Shanahan said, ​“is the perfect opportunity for me to express what I’m trying to do.” He said that he ​“just kept driving by the property,” waiting for it to go on the market. Finally he got tired of waiting and approached then-owner Deena Myers.

“What are you doing here?” Shanahan recalled Myers saying.

“I’m here to buy your house,” Shanahan said.

“That’s funny,” Myers said. ​“I was about to put it on the market.” They worked out a deal before that ever happened.

As Shanahan got started on renovations, Sepulveda said he ​“invited me to do the interior design” of the outbuilding, which had acquired the playful name of Square 6ix. For Sepulveda, part of that involved ​“going on treasure hunts” to look for the mid-century modern furnishings he had in mind. But another part of it was about supporting the neighborhood’s artists — such as Kehler Liddell Gallery member Frank Bruckmann and Creative Arts Workshop instructor Steven DiGiovanni — by buying their art for the walls.

Sepulveda then worked with Shanahan on the landscaping of the entire property and consulted on what the exterior colors of the house could be, including the ​“pop of orange” on the house’s shutters, he said.

“I’ve done a lot of gardening projects,” Sepulveda said, ​“and I can’t think of anyone who’s willing to finance and invest in every little idea I’ve had.”

For his part, Shanahan has found that paying attention to aesthetics has been good for business. ​“It’s not always money in my pocket” in the short term, he said with a chuckle, but in the longer run, it has paid off. ​“People appreciate your enthusiasm,” he said. He has also found that tenants are willing to pay more rent to live in beautiful spaces. ​“It’s part of the business model,” he said.

Sepulveda said he has also noticed ​“the opposite of the broken-window syndrome” when houses are restored or improved; it tends to inspire the neighbors to make their own restorations and improvements. The development of the property, Sepulveda said, is also tapping into the same energy behind the opening of Pistachio and Camacho Garage, two new Westville businesses that have paid as much attention to the aesthetics of their spaces as they have to the food they serve.

“It’s a self-fulfilling feedback loop,” Sepulveda said, that even applies to the contractors and workers hired to do the restorations and improvements. The crew ​“wants to be creative,” he said.