“Can you paint a rug?”
Katerina Spilio, who’s painted and restored more than 100 churches and secular sites like Harvest on Hudson, had to think twice. Then she said, “Why not?”
Greece-born Spilio, who inherited BAS Decorative & Conservation Arts from her father, the Rev. John Spilio, met with the art collector client and was inspired by the art in her home (Lichtenstein to name one). Spilio envisioned an homage to famed Dutch muralist M.C. Escher and created a pattern similar to some of his fish-like kaleidoscopic motifs.
She made a sketch; projected it onto the oak floor, which had been chemically stripped; and used transfer paper to create a 6-foot design on the wood.
Then came the fun part: six weeks sitting or kneeling on foam. She and four assistants used custom acrylics to paint in the unique design.
When the painting was finished, it was covered with four coats of polyurethane. “You don’t own it, because it belongs to the house,” she says.
Spilio has created something rather iconic: art that will live on after she and the apartment owner are gone.
