Iris, one of two statues that originally graced the Oriental Theater, stands sentry over the living room. The blown-glass sculpture mounted on the wall by the window is The Scepter by Seattle artist John DeWitt. Portland artist Kate Simmons describes her welded-steel sculptures, such as the one resting against the wall, as "pods."

Almost immediately, lips purse, foreheads furrow.

Larry knows the look.

As the owner of Art of Catering, he's grown used to seeing it, say, when his servers bring out the caviar on gold spoons with gleaming little shots of Chopin vodka, or the Thai salad rolls on delicate Chinese porcelain spoons that aren't rolls at all but perfect bite-sized salads.

"You see the curiosity on their face," he says. "It's that 'What the hell does he have a Chinese take-out carton on the wall for?' When we're passing platters, it's 'What do I do with this? What is that?' and then it goes from the question to that big smile. 'Oh, I get it' . . . and the light bulb goes on."

For the record, that take-out carton isn't really garbage, but a fine piece of art created from wood in its precise likeness. Sculpted by Chicago artist Tom Pfannerstill, it's one of Larry's favorites.

"When you explain to people that it's a carved and painted piece of wood, this piece they are perceiving as garbage turns into something beautiful in their eyes just instantly. Even though it's the same piece. The artist's whole philosophy is that there is more than one way to look at things."

And clearly Larry Grimes, patron of the arts, chef, husband, father, is a man who looks at things in uncommon ways.
 

Red marquee letters found at an antique shop in Atlanta define the kitchen, which is practically equipped with open shelves and commercial appliances.

In business, he is the guiding force behind what is undeniably the hippest, most creative catering company in town. He helped Wolfgang Puck stage the 2002 Academy Awards dinner and catered the celebration for a Dale Chihuly show in Venice several years back. At swank affairs in town, his servers pass platters custom-created for Art of Catering by Bullseye Glass, the same firm that manufactures glass for some of the best-known glass artists in the country. Guests dine from hand-cast resin trays by Vancouver, B.C., artist Martha Sturdy.

At home, a 2,400-square-foot loft in the trendy Pearl neighborhood, Larry shares his passion for the arts with wife Denise, director of Saks Fifth Avenue Club, a personal-shopping service. Here, on the second floor of this turn-of-the-century onetime warehouse, the couple is surrounded by sculptures of glass, wood, metal and fabric in a space that could virtually double as a fine-arts gallery.

But make no mistake, these are not the stereotypical snobby art patrons, and you won't find "logo" art, the big names that broadcast equally big price tags, on these walls. What you will find is the work of students and teachers, pieces purchased at a time when the artist's most valuable commodity might well have been promise.

Many have become the couple's friends, such as Gregory Roberts, an artist whose medium is the industrial honeycombed glass manufactured by Corning for catalytic converters.
 

	Red walls enclose the master bedroom and provide the backdrop for the handmade paper inside steel "Double Negative" by Pittsburgh teacher Carol Kumata, and an acrylic painting — one of the first pieces the Grimeses acquired — by Portland artist Michelle Biehler. On the floor by the leather upholstered bench is Seattle artist Cris Bruch's manila folder work, "Cowl."

There's work by Port Townsend artist Joel Burns, whose metal, wood and acrylic Katsura Garden is the first piece you see upon entering; sculptures crafted of manila folders by Seattle artist and teacher Cris Bruch; a cherrywood dress, fragile only in perception, by Portland's Kate Simmons.

It is a collection built one piece at a time, starting years ago when purchasing a piece often meant bartering Larry's culinary skills in exchange.

"When we started we couldn't afford it," Larry says. "We just worked with the galleries. If they realize you have a passion, they will work with you, even if it takes you three months to pay for it. They would rather have someone with a passion for a piece than someone who is just adding it because they can."

It was precisely the sort of passion that brought the pair to "the Pearl" back when the neighborhood was largely undesirable and undiscovered, save for a handful of struggling artists.

"That was one of the real attractions to that space," Denise recalls. "There was an incredible sense of artistic space. If people weren't creative, they were people who really appreciated the other's creativity and enjoyed being part of that process."

In 1995, they moved to the loft on Flanders Street. In 2000, the Food Channel featured the home in a segment on ultimate kitchens.
 

Built at the turn of the century, the building was originally a warehouse for a hotel-supply company. It later housed the Pacific Northwest College of the Arts ceramic workshop. Today, it's home to two lofts and a flower shop, and the neighborhood, once a downtrodden industrial area, has been revived and dubbed The Pearl.

By 2001, their collection had earned such renown that when the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery brought a group to Portland, the loft was on the list of must-sees.

What the group remembered most about the visit was the accessibility of the art in the home.

"They even wrote a letter saying they were really excited about a collector taking such chances," says Larry. "These are people who live in traditional homes and they were amazed that pieces they would normally think of putting on a pedestal, we would put on the floor. We live with it."

Even to the point that guests are encouraged to touch the sculptures, such as the trio of ceramic figurines, created by Adrian Arleo and inspired by Pompei, curled in fetal form by the dining area.

"The sculpture art, it should be touched," says Larry. "Only one piece makes me nervous. It makes everyone nervous."

That particular piece, a gift from Denise, resembles a porcelain version of Pick-Up Sticks. It arrived — all roughly 500 pieces of it — unassembled with instructions for completion.
 

	Guests to the loft are greeted by Joel Burns' three-dimensional mixed-media, "Katsura Gardens." Beneath, the stacked glass on concrete and straw blocks sculpture, by Larry Grimes, is topped with Greg Roberts' honeycomb ceramic. On the wall, the manila folder sculpture, "Tub," is by Cris Bruch. Opposite, the ceramic nail in recycled redwood is by Napa Valley artist Alan Pierson.

"You create a base out of 15 pieces you criss-cross," Larry explains, "then the other pieces you strategically drop in and they lock into place. Each person creates their own piece. If you break it down and move it to another area, it will be different; it will never be the same."

Friends often tell the Grimeses they should put names on the pieces, but that, Larry says, would be too much like putting the pieces on show, rather than simply living with them.

"The most joy comes from that we're able to live with the art. It changes every day from the weather outside, the way the light hits it. There are pieces we've had for 10 years, and as I pass them I see them in a different light. It inspires me in all aspects of life. When I go to work it carries over, in the food, in the presentation, in the passion, in creating things that will bring pleasure to other people."