HOME LIFE | SPECIAL PALM BEACH FEATURE
the atmosphere from the center hall. In the library, 19th-century English pine cases house the couple’s antique books and two early bronze works by Gina Porten, “Muna” and “The Globe.” “I started sculpting shortly after we arrived in Palm Beach by joining the Armory Art Center five years ago,” the artist says. “Since then it has become my life.” (Herman Porten just happens to be the center’s president.) She has had several art exhibits to her credit and recently had a one-person, sold-out show at the Ann Norton Sculpture Garden in West Palm Beach. Gina Porten’s nudes and busts have evolved from neoclassical to minimalist forms, and more recently to a newly found language of “bones.” She humanizes these anatomical structures and creates beautiful Giacometti-like inspirations including the two 24-inch works called “Femme Femur” in the dining room’s bay window depicting tibia, fibula and patella talking to one another, as if in conversation. She also recently designed a new Turtle Mascot with the Obama “Thumbs-Up” signature for the University of Maryland. “She is the most talented girl I know,” says Alma Gildenhorn, wife of the university’s board chairman, Joseph Gildenhorn.
Bill and Norma Tiefel on the landing of their home’s elegant drawing room.
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BILL AND NORMA TIEFEL The grounds of “Casa Bendita,” the former Phipps estate and one of the most storied properties of old Palm Beach, now house a small number of beautiful French-, Spanishand Mediterranean-Revival style residences. One of them, surrounded by 200-year-old banyan trees and giant palms, is the home of former Ritz-Carlton president Bill Tiefel and his wife, Norma Gewirz Kline Tiefel. Norma Tiefel transformed a dark and gloomy interior into a bright and elegant space, full of whimsy and charm. She retained the Mizner-style high-beamed ceiling and red Spanish tile flooring, but conceived warm, sunny yellow walls for the drawing and dining rooms. The former is a perfect setting for sumptuous furniture (including two seating arrangements that easily function as one) and whimsical sculptures by Claude and FrancoisXavier Lalanne, whose works have been
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