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The screened porch, once an open-air patio, that adjoins the studio attests to Hansen's eye for objets trouvés. The antique metal European bed with its delicate 19th-century landscape was found in Warrenton, Texas. The metal chair, part of a set of four, was another find that made its way into Hansen's 2009 collaborative endeavor "Second Seating," a multi-month installation in downtown Houston that tapped seven fellow East Enders for a dinner-party tableau comprised of inventive forms of recycled, reclaimed and transformed materials. The $30,000 project's initial check (for $3,500) came from a DiverseWorks grant through the Warhol Foundation Idea Fund. "This was the first money raised for 'Second Seating,' and I cried when I opened the envelope," recalls Hansen. In the dining room, Hansen holds court amid a sea of canvases by Staley, circa 2008 to 2009."We're continually rehanging the house, and it looks different now from the day it was photographed," she notes. To the left, a spun-sugar cathedral from East End baker Claudio Garcia, acquired after he retired and sold his business. The tiled dining table came from a furniture maker in Fredericksburg and was purchased in the early 1970s. "Concept and collaboration, that's my art. However, my home is a slightly different story. It's over 40 years of collecting odd and weird and whimsical things I — Mary Margaret Hansen The eiderdown quilt that covers the guest bed was a find from the period when "I went nuts on eBay," Hansen reveals, as were a few of the gelatin mold–inspired clocks with shells and rocks embedded in resin — an homage to the Rococo period. Vintage chenille bedspread, discovered at a Wimberley flea market. Of her art, Hansen says: "Concept and collaboration, that's it. However, my home is a slightly different story. It's over 40 years of collecting odd and weird and whimsical things I loved at first sight." Inside the heart of the studio are more examples of Hansen's diverse interests and wide range of art-making. The crocheted collars rest on mannequins in readiness for her next trunk show. The mod chair in the foreground was decorated by Gonzo247 for "Second Seating"; the chandelier is another unique relic from the project. On the left, more scenes from our heroine's photographic/collage oeuvre. Hansen says, "I can't just go into my studio and make a picture; I'd rather be working on something that has a many moving parts and a big concept." She dedicated "Second Seating" to her late mother, Doris Bain Thompson, "for passing along the wherewithal to see visions of what can be." In the living room, Staley's Studio Night was painted in 1979. "I bought it in the early 1980s for my darkroom studio," remembers Hansen. For the rest of the story, read the artist's chapter in Coping with Transition: Men, Motherhood, Money, and Magic (signed copies at Brazos Bookstore). The chair is a Marcel Breuer classic Wassily. Alongside, Graciela Iturbide's instantly recognizable image of a peasant woman carrying a boombox, circa 1979. The Mexican mask on the pedestal, the exact one used in Staley's above canvas, was a gift to Hansen after the couple reunited.