From Her with Love(3)
From Her with Love
Joanna is an artist, both painter and sculptor, in her own right. While the couple’s daughters—Anika, 35, and Sydney, 33—were young, Joanna studied sculpting with Artis Lane. Her teacher’s sculpture of actor Djimon Hounsou commands prime space on the Poitiers’ living room mantel. “He was one of our models,” says Joanna of the actor best known for his moving performance in Blood Diamond. A commercial success, Joanna sold her own sculpture of Hounsou, but many of her other bronzes decorate the home. The most treasured object in the family room is an elongated bronze of a ponytailed woman that Joanna gave Sidney for his 50th birthday.
An ability to casually slip into a career change—or any other new role in life—is a skill she has honed over the years. A native of Nova Scotia, she started adult life as a fashion model. After she appeared on a Vogue cover, a Hollywood movie director contacted her at her home in Paris, requesting that she travel to America for a screen test. “I refused. I said, ‘Look at my pictures and decide. I’m not testing.’ ” The director did precisely that, and Joanna accepted a role in Universal Pictures’ The Lost Man. “I met Sidney for the first time on the set,” she says. “It must’ve been destiny. I was engaged to someone else at the time.”
Here, an archway connects the family room to the sitting room, where several of Joanna’s own sculptures grace the library table.
Sources
Sofas: Ty-Teck Interiors, 323/876-8220. Sofa fabric (“Castello Aragonese’’ #32184, colorway discontinued): Clarence House, 800/803-2850, clarencehouse.com, trade only.
Bullion fringe: Westcoast Trims, 323/263-4421.
Large sofa against wall: Ty-Teck Interiors, 323/876-8220. Sofa fabric: Coraggio Textiles, 800/624-2420, coraggio.con, trade only.
Pillows on sofa: owner’s collection.
Area rug (antique); antique objects; lamps; Aubusson-covered benches; tole tray; sculpture; paintings; antique pillows on sofa: owner’s collection.
Table; chandelier; mirror; accessories; centerpiece: owner’s collection.
Upholstered chairs: Ty-Teck Interiors, 323/876-8220.
Mustard-yellow chair fabric: Randolph & Hein Inc., 415/864-3550, randolphhein.com, trade only.
Chair border: Coraggio Textiles, 800/624-2420, coraggio.com, trade only.
Bullion fringe: Westcoast Trims, 323/263-4421.
Area rug: Aga John Oriental Rugs, 310/657-0890, agajohncarpets.com.
Paintings: by daughter Sydney Poitier.
